Vim multiline editing like in sublimetext?

Question

I started to use gvim, and I can't quite understand how the multiline edit works in gvim.

For example:

Original text:

asd asd asd asd asd;
asd asd asd asd asd;
asd asd asd asd asd;
asd asd asd asd asd;
asd asd asd asd asd;
asd asd asd asd asd;
asd asd asd asd asd;

ctrl+q, jjjjjj , $ everything is selected, then i press I to do a multiline insert.

My intention is to insert quotes like in the first line, and then to press Esc:

asd "asd asd" asd asd;
asd asd asd asd asd;
asd asd asd asd asd;
asd asd asd asd asd;
asd asd asd asd asd;
asd asd asd asd asd;
asd asd asd asd asd;

What happened? I expected a behavior similar to sublimetext's one:

If you don't know how that works, it just repeats the actions for every line. How can achieve that? And what is vim doing here?

Answer 1

Do yourself a favor by dropping the Windows compatibility layer.

The normal shortcut for entering Visual-Block mode is <C-v>.

Others have dealt with recording macros, here are a few other ideas:

Using only visual-block mode.

1. Put the cursor on the second word:

   asd |a|sd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   

2. Hit <C-v> to enter visual-block mode and expand your selection toward the bottom:

   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   

3. Hit I"<Esc> to obtain:

   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   

4. Put the cursor on the last char of the third word:

   asd "asd as|d| asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   

5. Hit <C-v> to enter visual-block mode and expand your selection toward the bottom:

   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   

6. Hit A"<Esc> to obtain:

   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   

With visual-block mode and Surround.vim.

1. Put the cursor on the second word:

   asd |a|sd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   

2. Hit <C-v> to enter visual-block mode and expand your selection toward the bottom and the right:

   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   

3. Hit S" to surround your selection with ":

   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   

With visual-line mode and :normal.

1. Hit V to select the whole line and expand it toward the bottom:

   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   

2. Execute this command: :'<,'>norm ^wi"<C-v><Esc>eea"<CR> to obtain:

   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   

   • :norm[al] allows you to execute normal mode commands on a range of lines (the '<,'> part is added automatically by Vim and means "act on the selected area")

   • ^ puts the cursor on the first char of the line

   • w moves to the next word

   • i" inserts a " before the cursor

   • <C-v><Esc> is Vim's way to input a control character in this context, here it's <Esc> used to exit insert mode

   • ee moves to the end of the next word

   • a" appends a " after the cursor

   • <CR> executes the command

   Using Surround.vim, the command above becomes

   :'<,'>norm ^wvees"<CR>
   

Answer 2

if you use the "global" command, you can repeat what you can do on one online an any number of lines.

:g/<search>/.<your ex command>

example:

:g/foo/.s/bar/baz/g

The above command finds all lines that have foo, and replace all occurrences of bar on that line with baz.

:g/.*/

will do on every line

Answer 3

There are several ways to accomplish that in Vim. I don't know which are most similar to Sublime Text's though.

---

The first one would be via multiline insert mode. Put your cursor to the second "a" in the first line, press Ctrl-V, select all lines, then press I, and put in a doublequote. Pressing <esc> will repeat the operation on every line.

---

The second one is via macros. Put the cursor on the first character, and start recording a macro with qa. Go the your right with llll, enter insert mode with a, put down a doublequote, exit insert mode, and go back to the beginning of your row with <home> (or equivalent). Press j to move down one row. Stop recording with q. And then replay the macro with @a. Several times.

---

Does any of the above approaches work for you?

Answer 4

Those are some good out-of-the box solutions given above, but we can also try some plugins which provide multiple cursors like Sublime.

I think this one looks promising:

• https://github.com/terryma/vim-multiple-cursors

It seemed abandoned for a while, but has had some contributions in 2014.

It is quite powerful, although it took me a little while to get used to the flow (which is quite Sublime-like but still modal like Vim).

In my experience if you have a lot of other plugins installed, you may meet some conflicts!

There are some others attempts at this feature:

• https://github.com/osyo-manga/vim-over (search-replace only, but with live preview)
• https://github.com/paradigm/vim-multicursor
• https://github.com/felixr/vim-multiedit
• https://github.com/hlissner/vim-multiedit (based on the previous)
• https://github.com/adinapoli/vim-markmultiple
• https://github.com/AndrewRadev/multichange.vim

Please feel free to edit if you notice any of these undergoing improvement.

Answer 5

Ctrl-v ................ start visual block selection
6j .................... go down 6 lines
I" .................... inserts " at the beginning
<Esc><Esc> ............ finishes start
2fdl. ................. second 'd' l (goes right) . (repeats insertion)

Answer 6

I'm not sure what vim is doing, but it is an interesting effect. The way you're describing what you want sounds more like how macros work (:help macro). Something like this would do what you want with macros (starting in normal-mode):

1. qa: Record macro to a register.
2. 0w: 0 goto start of line, w jump one word.
3. i"<Esc>: Enter insert-mode, insert a " and return to normal-mode.
4. 2e: Jump to end of second word.
5. a"<Esc>: Append a ".
6. jq Move to next line and end macro recording.

Taken together: qa0wi"<Esc>2ea"<Esc>

Now you can execute the macro with @a, repeat last macro with @@. To apply to the rest of the file, do something like 99@a which assumes you do not have more than 99 lines, macro execution will end when it reaches end of file.

Here is how to achieve what you want with visual-block-mode (starting in normal mode):

1. Navigate to where you want the first quote to be.
2. Enter visual-block-mode, select the lines you want to affect, G to go to the bottom of the file.
3. Hit I"<Esc>.
4. Move to the next spot you want to insert a ".
5. You want to repeat what you just did so a simple . will suffice.