Implementation of a search-and-replace feature

[davidbrochart]

Hi @jonathanslenders,

Here is a search-and-replace feature that is a first step towards the Vi substitute command. It doesn't follow the :s/foo/bar/g syntax, instead you need to hit s in selection mode, enter the searched text, hit /, enter the replacing text, and finally hit Esc. The matching text inside the selection will be replaced.

[davidbrochart]

When we get the exact Vim syntax, we can have neovim's incremental substitute for free ;-)
https://asciinema.org/a/92207

[jonathanslenders]

Yeah, that's something I'd like to have for Pyvim at some point. However, it will probably never be fully compatible. Having the performance of Vi and its regex engine is not possible in pure Python.

For this in particular, I'm also considering to go for the "multiple cursors" route. It should be possible to turn a search operation in multiple cursors. But then again, that's not something standard Vi, and I prefer to keep following standards.