How to insert a column of text after another column of text in Vim?

Question

I have two columns with text, and I want them to be side by side. For example, I have

abc def ghi 

and

 123 456 789 

I want too

 123 abc 456 def 789 ghi 

All I can find is to insert the same row at the end of each row in the column. I cannot figure out how to insert a multi-line block of text at the end of another column.

Answer 1

Use the visual block ( ctrl-v ) to cut out the column of letters. Then go to the first row of the number column. Move to the end and make one space. Then insert a column of letters.

Answer 2

I was wondering why “visual block mode” does not work for me. The key is yank (or delete) in visual mode.

I need to copy some things from excel columns with variable length. Here is how I do it:

 Names Donald Knuth Sebastian Thrun Peter Norvig Satoshi Nakamoto Age 100 50 60 45 

Let's say you want to put the second column after the first.

• Remove it in visual mode:
  • Move the cursor to the beginning of Age
  • Press Ctrl + v to enter visual mode.
  • Move the cursor 5 to 45
  • Press y to remove (or d to remove)

You are now twitching in visual mode.

2. Paste (in normal mode)

   • Go to the end of the first line and add more spaces because it is shorter than the second line, for example. If you insert a “block” without adding extra spaces, it overwrites “run” in Sebastian Thrun.

   • Now you are on the first line, insert some spaces after the last character. Make sure you are not in insert mode and press p to insert the block. (If you want to paste in insert mode, use ctrl+r " )

Answer 3

You have:

 abc def ghi 123 456 789 

Move the cursor to a . Then CTRL+V and move the cursor to i . Press y .

Then add a space after character 3 and press p .

Done.

Answer 4

This may seem obvious, but if you paste from an external copied buffer, it will not work with pasting only visual mode. What you can do is first make a plain paste in the empty area and vertically cut / paste using the above method.

Answer 5

If you want to manually set the register type, say block, use this

 :call setreg(0, getreg(0), 'b') 

or

 :call setreg('*', getreg('*'), 'b') 

Useful for inserting a column from a spreadsheet editor.

See :help setreg and vimtip for details.

Answer 6

If you are on a Mac and cannot understand why the insert inserts the block into new lines, this is because you are using a system board.

No problem, just paste / paste with buffers:

1. Ctrl v - select what you want to pull
2. " letter y - jerk to the letter buffer
3. Go where you want to paste
4. " letter p - insert from letter buffer

Make sure letter not + as it is a buffer of the system buffer and, therefore, it will have the same effect.