Vim faster way to select blocks of text in visual mode

Question

I have been using vim for quite some time and am aware that selecting blocks of text in visual mode is as simple as SHIFT V and moving the arrow key up or down line-by-line until I reach the end of the block of text that I want selected   My question is - is there a faster way in visual mode to select a block of text for example by SHIFT V followed by specifying the line number in which I want the selection to stop   via  35 for example  where 35 is the line number I want to select up to - this obviously does not work so my question is to find how if something similar to this can be done

User · Answer

Text objects  http   vim wikia com wiki Creating new text objects  http   vimdoc sourceforge net htmldoc motion html text-objects

User · Answer

It could come in handy to know   In order to select the same ammount of lines for example use 1v You should have done some modification to be able to use 1v  blockwise or linewise   Today I saw this amazing tip from here     5mark  lt    10mark  gt    normal gvV   5mark  lt    10mark  gt    normal gv   You can also reset the visual block boundaries doing so   m lt             sets the visual mode start point m gt             sets the visual mode end point

User · Answer

v35G will select everything from the cursor up to line 35   v puts you in select mode  35 specifies the line number that you want to G go to   You could also use v  which will select everything up to the beginning of the next paragraph

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You can press vi  to select the block surrounded with    brackets where your cursor is currently located   It doesn t really matter where you are inside that block  just make sure you are in the outermost one   Also you can change   to anything that has a pair like   or

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You can always just use antecedent numbers to repeat actions    In visual mode  type 35 downarrow  and the cursor will move down 35 times  selecting the next 35 lines In normal mode   delete 35 lines 35dd paste 35 times 35p undo 35 changes 35u etc

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Vim is a language   To really understand Vim  you have to know the language   Many commands are verbs  and vim also has objects and prepositions   V100G V100gg   This means  select the current line up to and including line 100    Text objects are where a lot of the power is at   They introduce more objects with prepositions   Vap   This means  select around the current paragraph   that is select the current paragraph and the blank line following it   V2ap   This means  select around the current paragraph and the next paragraph     V-2ap   This means  go to the end of the current paragraph and then visually select it and the preceding paragraph    Understanding Vim as a language will help you to get the best mileage out of it   After you have selecting down  then you can combine with other commands   Vapd   With the above command  you can select around a paragraph and delete it   Change the d to a y to copy or to a c to change or to a p to paste over   Once you get the hang of how all these commands work together  then you will eventually not need to visually select anything   Instead of visually selecting and then deleting a paragraph  you can just delete the paragraph with the dap command

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G                       Goto line  count   default last line  on the first                         non-blank character linewise   If  startofline  not                         set  keep the same column                          G is a one of jump-motions    V35G achieves what you want

User · Answer

means move cursor to next paragraph  so  use v  to select entire paragraph

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Shift V n j or Shift V n k  This selects the current line and the next previous n lines  I find it very useful

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For selecting all in visual  Type Esc to be sure yor are in normal mode   0    type ENTER to go to the beginning of file  vG

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simple just press Shift v line number gg   example  your current line to line 41 Just press Shift v 41 gg

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I use this with fold in indent mode    v open Visual mode anywhere on the block  zaza toogle it twice

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v   will select the whole block   Play with also   v   vp  vs  etc   See help    help text-objects  which lists the different ways to select letters  words  sentences  paragraphs  blocks  and so on

User · Answer

In addition to what others have said  you can also expand your selection using pattern searches  For example  v foo will select from your current position to the next instance of  quot foo  quot  If you actually wanted to expand to the next instance of  quot foo  quot  on line 35  for example  just press n to expand selection to the next instance  and so on  update I don t often do it  but I know that some people use marks extensively to make visual selections  For example  if I m on line 5 and I want to select to line 35  I might press ma to place mark a on line 5  then  35 to move to line 35  Shift   v to enter linewise visual mode  and finally  a to select back to mark a

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For selecting number of lines   shift v 9j - select 10 lines

User · Answer

v 35 j  text added for 30 character minimum

[vim] Vim: faster way to select blocks of text in visual mode

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