Re: Inserting text of arbitrary length before rectangular region

[Paul Fox]

marc wrote:
 > I'd go the traditional vi route,

Yes, clearly in this case, where the insertion is at the start
of a line, that's easiest.

paul

 > 
 >     :.,/Tom/s/^/Name of applicant:
 > 
 > Or if the range wasn't so straightforwardly expressible, you could
 > mark the first and last lines first (e.g. ma, mb), then
 > 
 >     :'a,'b/^/Name of applicant:
 > 
 > /M
 > 
 > On Thu, Mar 5, 2020 at 8:23 AM Paul Fox <address@hidden> wrote:
 > >
 > > gerard wrote:
 > >  > I'm having difficulty understanding rectangular regions.
 > >  >
 > >  > Let's say I want to enter the text "Name of applicant: " at the
 > >  > beginning of each line below:
 > >  >
 > >  > John
 > >  > Henry
 > >  > Mike
 > >  > Tom
 > >  >
 > >  > Positioning the cursor at the first character on line 1, I create a
 > >  > rectangular region with 3q3jq
 > >  >
 > >  > I then do c^S and at the prompt I enter "Name of applicant: " (without
 > >  > quotation marks), but only the first letter N is entered.
 > >  >
 > >  > Have I misunderstood what should happen here?
 > >
 > > Your expectations were fine, it just doesn't work that way.  It
 > > probably should, but I must have thought it was too hard at the time.
 > >
 > > A rectangular 'c'hange command will only operate _inside_ of the defined
 > > rectangle -- it can't expand that rectangle.  There should really be
 > > a rectangular 'i'nsert command, to do what you're trying to do.
 > >
 > > What I do is first open the rectangle I need, either with ^A-r, or
 > > simply by shift the lines over, mark a corner with 'ma', then go to
 > > the far corner to change it with 'c`a'.  Or you could sweep it out with 
 > > 'q'.
 > > If I opened the space too big, I then have to trim it back down.
 > > Clumsy, I know.
 > >
 > > Maybe someone else has a better way.
 > >
 > > paul
 > > =----------------------
 > > paul fox, address@hidden (arlington, ma, where it's 45.7 degrees)
 > >
 > >
 > 


=----------------------
paul fox, address@hidden (arlington, ma, where it's 45.5 degrees)