*cmdline-ranges* *[range]* *E16*

Some Ex commands accept a line range in front of them.  This is noted as
[range].  It consists of one or more line specifiers, separated with ',' or
';'.

The basics are explained in section |10.3| of the user manual.

						*:,* *:;*
When separated with ';' the cursor position will be set to that line
before interpreting the next line specifier.  This doesn't happen for ','.
Examples: >
   4,/this line/
<	from line 4 till match with "this line" after the cursor line. >
   5;/that line/
<	from line 5 till match with "that line" after line 5.

The default line specifier for most commands is the cursor position, but the
commands ":write" and ":global" have the whole file (1,$) as default.

If more line specifiers are given than required for the command, the first
one(s) will be ignored.

Line numbers may be specified with:		*:range* *{address}*
	{number}	an absolute line number  *E1247*
	.		the current line			  *:.*
	$		the last line in the file		  *:$*
	%		equal to 1,$ (the entire file)		  *:%*
	't		position of mark t (lowercase)		  *:'*
	'T		position of mark T (uppercase); when the mark is in
			another file it cannot be used in a range
	/{pattern}[/]	the next line where {pattern} matches	  *:/*
				also see |:range-pattern| below
	?{pattern}[?]	the previous line where {pattern} matches *:?*
				also see |:range-pattern| below
	\/		the next line where the previously used search
			pattern matches
	\?		the previous line where the previously used search
			pattern matches
	\&		the next line where the previously used substitute
			pattern matches

						*:range-offset*
Each may be followed (several times) by '+' or '-' and an optional number.
This number is added or subtracted from the preceding line number.  If the
number is omitted, 1 is used.  If there is nothing before the '+' or '-' then
the current line is used.
						*:range-closed-fold*
When a line number after the comma is in a closed fold it is adjusted to the
last line of the fold, thus the whole fold is included.

When a number is added this is done after the adjustment to the last line of
the fold.  This means these lines are additionally included in the range.  For
example: >
   :3,4+2print
On this text:
	1 one ~
	2 two ~
	3 three ~
	4 four FOLDED ~
	5 five FOLDED ~
	6 six ~
	7 seven ~
	8 eight ~
Where lines four and five are a closed fold, ends up printing lines 3 to 7.
The 7 comes from the "4" in the range, which is adjusted to the end of the
closed fold, which is 5, and then the offset 2 is added.

An example for subtracting (which isn't very useful): >
   :2,4-1print
On this text:
	1 one ~
	2 two ~
	3 three FOLDED ~
	4 four FOLDED ~
	5 five FOLDED ~
	6 six FOLDED ~
	7 seven ~
	8 eight ~
Where lines three to six are a closed fold, ends up printing lines 2 to 6.
The 6 comes from the "4" in the range, which is adjusted to the end of the
closed fold, which is 6, and then 1 is subtracted, then this is still in the
closed fold and the last line of that fold is used, which is 6.

							*:range-pattern*
The "/" and "?" after {pattern} are required to separate the pattern from
anything that follows.

The "/" and "?" may be preceded with another address.  The search starts from
there.  The difference from using ';' is that the cursor isn't moved.
Examples: >
	/pat1//pat2/	Find line containing "pat2" after line containing
			"pat1", without moving the cursor.
	7;/pat2/	Find line containing "pat2", after line 7, leaving
			the cursor in line 7.

The {number} must be between 0 and the number of lines in the file.  When
using a 0 (zero) this is interpreted as a 1 by most commands.  Commands that
use it as a count do use it as a zero (|:tag|, |:pop|, etc).  Some commands
interpret the zero as "before the first line" (|:read|, search pattern, etc).

Examples: >
	.+3		three lines below the cursor
	/that/+1	the line below the next line containing "that"
	.,$		from current line until end of file
	0;/that		the first line containing "that", also matches