vim replace only for whole-word match

Question

code sameple:

for file in files:
  do_something(root+file)

"file" is warned as "redefined symbol", so now I want to replace file to f but I must keep files

usually I use below command:

:%s/file/f/gcI

but it will match files, is there any way to match only whole word, and notice the (root+file) syntax.

Answer 1

Does this do it?

%s/\bfile\b/f/gcI

Answer 2

Use \< and \> to match the beginning and the end of a word:

:%s/\<file\>/f/gcI