Vim :s replace specific N < g occurrences on a line

Question

i am try to use a comma (,) to separate the thousands in the first two numeric fields using vim command

%s/\([0-9]\)\([0-9]\)\([0-9]\)\([0-9]\);/\1,\2\3\4;/g

but in this case it gonna add comma also to 9,995 in the second line , what can i use to replace specific N < g occurrences .

input

BitstreamCyberCJK;Freeware;30275;28686;v2.0 ;beta (1998-03-17)
Y.OzFontN;Freeware;21957;7621;v13.00 sfnt rev 9995; Pen-Ji (2010-08-24)

expected output

 BitstreamCyberCJK;Freeware;30,275;28,686;v2.0 ;beta (1998-03-17)
 Y.OzFontN;Freeware;21,957;7,621;v13.00 sfnt rev 9995; Pen-Ji (2010-08-24)

Answer 1

There is a way to repeat the last command: @: also, you could specify the number of repeats, for example: 10@:.

So, start from replacing only first match: %s/\([0-9]\)\([0-9]\)\([0-9]\)\([0-9]\);/\1,\2\3\4;/

Then, as we already have done one of N substitution, repeat it N-1 times.

For example, to replace the first 10 numbers, use:

%s/\([0-9]\)\([0-9]\)\([0-9]\)\([0-9]\);/\1,\2\3\4;/
9@:

Answer 2

I would use a shorter and more manageable search pattern:

:%s/\(\d\)\(\d\{3}\);/\1,\2;/g

Then, I would drop the /g flag to only substitute the first match on each line, since the goal is specifically not to substitute all matches on all lines:

:%s/\(\d\)\(\d\{3}\);/\1,\2;

Then, I would repeat the last substitution on every line:

g&

See :help \d, :help \{, :help :s_flags, and :help g&.