RE: replace a textblock in multiple files

["Jay Bingham" <b.jc-emacs@netzero.net>]

On Tuesday, September 26, 2006 6:18 AM Christian wrote:

> 1) i want to work on several subdirectories, not only in one
>    directory
> 2) i want to replace blocks consisting of more
>    than one line.

> is that possible at all

> p.s. i know it's always possible with programming elisp. but
> i want to know if it's possible with simple emacs commands

Yes, it can be done.  You did not say which version of Emacs you are 
running, that might make a difference.  That said here is how I would 
do it if I were running version 21.3.

Load the ibuffer.el package, load the dired-x.el package.
The ibuffer.el package is available from: 
www.shootybangbang.com/software/ibuffer.el
The dired-x.el package is a part of Emacs but must be explicitly 
loaded/enabled in your .emacs.

Once you have these to packages active you can use the % g dired 
command to locate the files that contain block of text you want to 
replace.  Then you can use the C-u F dired command to load the files.
Once the files are loaded invoke ibuffer and use the / c command to 
limit the view to files containing the block of text.  Then use the t 
command to mark all the files.  Finally use the U command to replace 
the block of text defined by a regular expression with the new text.

There may be other ways to do this, but this is the easiest way that 
I know of using simple emacs commands.

Good Luck,
__
J_)
C_)ingham 


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