How to search and replace globally, starting from the cursor position and wrapping around the end of file, in a single command invocation in Vim?

Question

When I search with the / Normal-mode command:

/\\vSEARCHTERM

Vim starts the search from the cursor position and continues downwa

Answer 1

Here’s something very rough that addresses the concerns about wrapping the search around with the two-step approach (:,$s/BEFORE/AFTER/gc|1,''-&&) or with an intermediate “Continue at beginning of file?”-prompt approach:

" Define a mapping that calls a command.
nnoremap e :Substitute/\v<=expand('')>//

" And that command calls a script-local function.
command! -nargs=1 Substitute call s:Substitute()

function! s:Substitute(patterns)
  if getregtype('s') != ''
    let l:register = getreg('s')
  endif
  normal! qs
  redir => l:replacements
  try
    execute ',$s' . a:patterns . 'gce#'
  catch /^Vim:Interrupt$/
    return
  finally
    normal! q
    let l:transcript = getreg('s')
    if exists('l:register')
      call setreg('s', l:register)
    endif
  endtry
  redir END

  if len(l:replacements) > 0
    " At least one instance of pattern was found.
    let l:last = strpart(l:transcript, len(l:transcript) - 1)
    " Note: type the literal  (^[) here with :
    if l:last ==# 'l' || l:last ==# 'q' || l:last ==# '^['
      " User bailed.
      return
    endif
  endif

  " Loop around to top of file and continue.
  " Avoid unwanted "Backwards range given, OK to swap (y/n)?" messages.
  if line("''") > 1
    1,''-&&"
  endif
endfunction

This function uses a couple of hacks to check whether we should wrap around to the top:

• No wrapping if user pressed L, Q, or Esc, any of which indicate a desire to abort.
• Detect that final key press by recording a macro into the s register and inspecting last character of it.
• Avoid overwriting an existing macro by saving/restoring the s register.
• If you are already recording a macro when using the command, all bets are off.
• Tries to do the right thing with interrupts.
• Avoids “backwards range” warnings with an explicit guard.