search for brackets and add \ to it in gvim

Question

I am new to Vim. Please help to search and add \ to the string.

For example, for [1][sometest & numbers][7] , the output should be [1]\[sometest & numbers\][7] .

I could change the open bracket, [ , with this

:%s/\[[a-z]\&\[/\\\[/g

but couldn't do it for ] (close bracket).

Answer 1

To match any ] or [ that are not part of a [<DIGITS_HERE>] substring, you may use

:%s/\v\[(\d+])@!|(\[\d+)@<!]/\\&/g

Here,

• \v - truns on very magic mode
• \[(\d+])@! - a [ char not followed with 1+ digits and then ]
• | - or
• (\[\d+)@<!] - a ] char not immediately preceded with [ and 1+ digits
• /\\& - replacing the matches with \ and the found match
• /g - globally.

Answer 2

Well the basic idea here is to split the string up into parts:

[1][sometest & numbers][7]

can be split into:

1. [1]
2. [
3. sometest & numbers
4. ]
5. [7]

Then you build your string back with part 1 + \[ + part 3 + \] + part 5.

This can be done with capturing groups. have a look at :h \( . This should point you in the right direction. Have fun!