Question

I have a file that has tab separated data. I need to delete 2 columns. So, what command(s) can I use to delete everything from the current tab to the next tab?

Answer 1

To delete columns 4 and 5:

:%s/^\(.\{-}\t\)\{3}\zs.\{-}\t.\{-}\t//

Explanation:

^  => start of line

.\{−} => as few characters as possible
\( .\{-}\t \)\{3} => three times as few characters as possible followed with a tab

\zs => start of match

It could be clearer with the \v switch:

:%s/\v^(.{-}\t){3}\zs.{-}\t.{-}\t//