In Vim, what is the easiest way to combine all the lines in a file into one line?

Question

I want to combine all the lines in a file into one line. What is the easiest way to do this? I unsuccessfully tried using substitution ( \r\n or \n does not seem to be matched correctly in the case of s/\r\n// on Windows). Using J in a range expression does not work either (perhaps because the range is no longer in “sync” after the first command is executed).

I tried :1,$norm! J :1,$norm! J , but it only did half the file - that makes sense because it just joins each line once.

Answer 1

Ah, I found the answer.

 :1,$join 

It works like a charm.

EDIT : As stated in the comment:

 :%join -or- :%j 

... removes the range.

Answer 2

Another way:

 ggVGJ 

" ggVG " visually selects all the lines, and " J " concatenates them.

Answer 3

You can do this with three keystrokes, starting in normal mode:

 :%j 

• : switches to command line mode
• % applies to all lines in a file
• j executes the join command

Now it seems that this adds a space between the lines. I'm not sure if you want this.

Answer 4

You can do this with three keystrokes:

 :1,$j 

not significant?

Answer 5

Cryptic way:

 qqqqqJ@qq@q 

(the first three q clear the q register, qqJ@qq writes the macro to the q register, which makes the connection, then calls q , and the last @q starts it.

Answer 6

Im surprised no one even mentioned otherwise:

 :%s/\n/ / 

I am also surprised that no one indicated that the range 1,$ has an abbreviation for % .

(This does not do the same as concatenating strings, but depending on circumstances, which may be more appropriate.)

Answer 7

What if I want to join, but replace the end of the line with ";" ? I think one way is to first replace $ with; and then join, but is there an easier way?