replacing multiple lines in nvim based on an array

Question

If I have the following content

head = cfg["head"]                                                     
head = cfg["head"]                                                     
head = cfg["head"]                                                     
head = cfg["head"]

Assuming I have a list as below

:let list = ['head', 'hhea', 'os2', 'post']

How can I transform that content into

head = cfg["head"]                                                     
hhea = cfg["hhea"]                                                     
os2   = cfg["os2"]                                                     
post  = cfg["post"]

romainl · Accepted Answer · 2025-12-02 08:14:02Z

1

You could consider using g together with execute

:let list = ['head', 'hhea', 'os2', 'post']                            
:let i = 0                                                             
:'<,'>g/head/exe 's/head/' . list[i] . '/g' | let i += 1

You could also consider the following approach (put, map), although it feels a bit hard‑coded

:pu = map(list, {i, val -> printf('%s = cfg["%s"]', val, val)})

In this case it works, but the contents of the list will be modified

'<,'>g/head/exe "s/head/" . list->remove(0) . "/g"

edited Dec 2, 2025 at 8:14

romainl

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answered Dec 2, 2025 at 6:21

Carson

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Comments

Kent · Accepted Answer · 2025-12-18 00:18:45Z

1

Taking your example, if you can first visual select those lines, this :s command may help you:

'<,'>s/head/\=list[line('.')-line("'<")]/g

Note This command doesn't check if the number of lines you selected matches the number of elements in the list

answered Dec 18, 2025 at 0:18

Kent

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