How many times have you wanted
to replace a column of text with something. With vim
it's easy. Just use CTRL-V to select a column using a visual block.
Once it's selected, you can do a search and replace, yank, cut and other actions. For example, here's the keystrokes to change a column.
- Put cursor and beginning of text to select
- Press
CTRL-Vto begin select of the column - When you reach the end of your select, type '
c' - Type the new text. Note that this will only replace the first instance.
- Now hit
<ESC><ESC>. All the text has been changed!
The same thing works with plain old 'v' (select character by
character) and SHIFT-V (select by line).
Happy vimming!