Regex for Vim (Posix-like)

NOTE

VIM regex is based on POSIX: check out the Regex for SED for the core syntax.

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VIM-Specific Extensions

VIM introduces a few additions on top of standard POSIX:

Pattern	Meaning
\d	Any digit — shorthand for [[:digit:]]
\w	Any word character — shorthand for [[:alnum:]_]
\s	Any whitespace — shorthand for [[:space:]]
\u	Uppercase letter — shorthand for [[:upper:]]
\l	Lowercase letter — shorthand for [[:lower:]]

Uppercase = opposite, same rule as VSCode: \D, \W, \S match the negation.

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Magic Modes

VIM controls how special characters are interpreted via magic modes, set at the start of a pattern:

Prefix	Mode	Behaviour
\m	magic (default)	., * are special; +, ?, { need \
\M	nomagic	Only ^ and $ are special
\v	very magic	All special chars work without \ — closest to ERE/VSCode
\V	very nomagic	Everything is literal except \

Tip: Use \v at the start of your pattern to write regex in a VSCode/Perl-like style without escaping everything.

Example:

:%s/\v(High|Mid|Low)-level/LEVEL/g

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How to Use Regex in VIM

Command	Description
/pattern	Search forward
?pattern	Search backward
:%s/pattern/replacement/g	Replace all occurrences in the file
:s/pattern/replacement/g	Replace on current line only
n / N	Jump to next / previous match