Question

Example: I have some text, like this php code

if(empty($condition)) {
    // work here...
}

And my default register contains the string “$NewCondition”.

I want to place the cursor inside the first set of parens (...) and perform a command that will result in this:

if($NewCondition) {
    // work here...
}

So my question: Is there some way to replace the text inside the parens using the default register?

Most suggestions I’ve found, such as this one, fail when there’s nested parens.

I also know I can name registers, such as "ayi( to yank all text in parens into register a, but I don’t want to have to type two extra characters every time I’m yanking. That’s why I’m asking about the default register.

In an ideal solution the default register would still contain “$NewCondition” when the replace is complete.

Answer 1

vi("_dP

• vi( to select empty($condition)
• "_d to delete it into the blackhole register
• P to put the content of the default register before the cursor which is now on the last )

I use this a lot so I have this mapping to make the whole thing shorter:

vnoremap <Leader>p "_dP

so (with , as the mapleader) I do vi(,p.

As a side note, if your cursor is in the second set of parenthesis you can do vi(i( to go one level up and so on.