deleting blank space in beginning of line in vi

UNIX Solaris
1

How can we delete all the blank spaces in the beginning of some lines in a text in vi?

Thanks,

2

To delete blank spaces at the start of lines 7 thru 21:

:7,21s/^ +//

That's [colon seven comma two one s slash carot space plus slash slash]

To do it on every line:

:%s/^ +//

That's [colon percent s slash carot space plus slash slash]

Colon = command mode
numbers or % = lines to edit
s = substitute
slashes separate pattern and replacement strings
carot = start of line
space = actual space
plus = one or more
2 slashes = empty replacement string = delete

hth,
dv

3

I tried it .It didn't work the first time with the following error: Pattern not foun ^ +. I simply escaped the + sign :

%s/^ \+// and it worked.

Thanks so much,