The CHANGE primary
command changes one string into another.
Syntax
.-.ZFIRST--.ZLAST-.
>>-+-CHANGE-+--string1--string2--+-----------------+------------>
+-CHA----+ '-labela--labelb--'
+-CHG----+
'-C------'
.-NEXT--. .-CHARS--.
>--+-------+--+--------+--+----+--+---------------------+------><
+-ALL---+ +-PREFIX-+ +-X--+ +-start_col-----------+
+-FIRST-+ +-SUFFIX-+ '-NX-' '-left_col--right_col-'
+-LAST--+ '-WORD---'
'-PREV--'
- string1
- The search string you want to change. See Finding, seeking, changing, and excluding data.
- string2
- The string you want to replace string1.
See Finding, seeking, changing, and excluding data.
- labela, labelb
- Labels identifying the start and end of the group of lines the
CHANGE command is to search.
For more information about using
labels to identify a group of lines, see Labels and line ranges.
- NEXT
- Starts at the first position after the current cursor location
and searches ahead to find the next occurrence of string1.
- ALL
- Starts at the top of the data and searches ahead to find all occurrences
of string1.
- FIRST
- Starts at the top of the data and searches ahead to find the first
occurrence of string1.
- LAST
- Starts at the bottom of the data and searches backward to find
the last occurrence of string1.
- PREV
- Starts at the current cursor location and searches backward to
find the previous occurrence of string1.
- CHARS
- Locates string1 anywhere the characters
match.
- PREFIX
- Locates string1 at the beginning of
a word.
- SUFFIX
- Locates string1 at the end of a word.
- WORD
- Locates string1 when it is delimited
on both sides by blanks or other non-alphanumeric characters.
- X
- Scans only lines that are excluded from the display.
- NX
- Scans only lines that are not excluded from the display.
- start_col
- The first column to be included in the range of columns to be
searched. When you specify only one column, the editor finds the string
only if the string starts in the specified column.
- left_col
- The first column to be included in the range of columns to be
searched.
- right_col
- The last column to be included in the range of columns to be searched.
Description
You
can use the CHANGE command with the FIND and EXCLUDE commands to find
a search string, change it, and then exclude the line that contains
the string from the panel.
To change the next occurrence of "ME" to "YOU" without
specifying any other qualifications:
- On the command line, type:
CHANGE ME YOU
- Press Enter. This command changes only the next occurrence of
the letters "ME" to "YOU". Since no other qualifications
were specified, the letters "ME" can be:
- Uppercase or a mixture of uppercase and lowercase
- At the beginning of a word (prefix), the end of a word (suffix),
or the entire word (word)
- In an excluded line or a non-excluded line
- Anywhere within the current boundaries
To change the next occurrence of "ME" to "YOU",
but only if the letters are uppercase:
- On the command line, type:
CHANGE C'ME' YOU
- Press Enter. This type of change is called a character string
change (note the C that precedes the search string)
because it changes the next occurrence of the letters ME to YOU only
if the letters are found in uppercase. However, since no other qualifications
were specified, the change occurs no matter where the letters are
found, as outlined in the preceding list.
For more information, including
other types of search strings, see Finding, seeking, changing, and excluding data.
Examples
The example shown changes the
first plus ("+") in the data set to a minus ("-"). However,
the plus must occur on or between lines labeled .E and .S and it must
be the first character of a word:
CHANGE '+' '-' .E .S FIRST PREFIX
The
example shown changes the last plus in the data set to a minus. However,
the plus must occur on or between lines labeled .E and .S; it must
be the last character of a word; and it must be found on an excluded
line:
CHANGE '+' '-' .E .S LAST SUFFIX X
The
example shown changes the plus that immediately precedes the cursor
position to a minus. However, the cursor must not be positioned ahead
of the lines labeled .E and .S. Also, the plus must occur on or between
the labeled lines; it must be a standalone character (not part of
any other word); it must be on a non-excluded line; and it must exist
within columns 1 and 5:
CHANGE '+' '-' .E .S PREV WORD NX 1 5