Column Vertical selection with Keyboard in SublimeText 3

Question

I m on a Mac  I have 7 columns in Sublime Text 3  each 300 lines each  If possible  I would like to select only the 4th column using a single keyboard shortcut    Unsuitable options   ctrl   shift   up down alt   mouse   drag ctrl   alt   up down   This actually doesn t do anything  nor does it appear in my console session and nor is it a single keyboard shortcut   I d also prefer not to use VI VIM mode just for this as it s not regular part of my workflow   What I ve tried    A macro  but it isn t specific enough   using command and  page down  with ctrl and  shift   no luck SublimeText 3 Column-Select plugin  did not seem to work for me   My ideal solution would be that my cursor could be placed anywhere in a column and I would hit a shortcut  e g  ctrl-alt-shift-a  and it would select the whole column    Here is an example   John         Sally      Benson       Mariah      Patrick    Samantha    Martin  Simon        Kate       Carey        Delores     Joshua     Samuel      Eliza  I want to select the column with Maria and Delores with one keystroke  I perform this action often so for various reasons  cut paste  change case  append  add quotes  run macro etc  and thus would want something quick and repeatable   How would I do this

User · Answer

For macOS  you don t need install any plugin or mouse  just do like this  -  Ctrl Shift Down

User · Answer

You should see Sublime Column Selection      Using the Mouse      Different mouse buttons are used on each platform       OS X         Left Mouse Button       OR  Middle Mouse Button   Add to selection      Subtract from selection              Windows         Right Mouse Button   Shift   OR  Middle Mouse Button   Add to selection  Ctrl   Subtract from selection  Alt         Linux         Right Mouse Button   Shift   Add to selection  Ctrl   Subtract from selection  Alt         Using the Keyboard      OS X         Ctrl   Shift       Ctrl   Shift             Windows         Ctrl   Alt       Ctrl   Alt             Linux         Ctrl   Alt       Ctrl   Alt

User · Answer

I know notepad   has a feature that lets you select blocks of text independent of line column by holding control   alt   drag  So you can select just about any block of text you want

User · Answer

Alright  here s the best solution I ve found that meets all the requirements    Download the Sublime-Text-Advanced-CSV Sublime plugin and install    Specify a delimiter for your column  default is       via the  CSV  Set Delimiter  command    Hit  ctrl     s   or select from Command Palette  and your column will be selected       No need for mouse interaction whatsoever

User · Answer

The SublimeText 3 Column-Select plugin should be all you need  Install that  then make sure you have something like the following in your  Default  OSX  sublime-keymap  file          Column mode        keys     ctrl alt up     command    column select    args     by    lines    forward   false           keys     ctrl alt down     command    column select    args     by    lines    forward   true           keys     ctrl alt pageup     command    column select    args     by    pages    forward   false           keys     ctrl alt pagedown     command    column select    args     by    pages    forward   true           keys     ctrl alt home     command    column select    args     by    all    forward   false           keys     ctrl alt end     command    column select    args     by    all    forward   true     What exactly about it did not work for you

User · Answer

In my case  Linux  is alt shift up down      keys     alt shift up     command    select lines    args     forward   false         keys     alt shift down     command    select lines    args     forward   true

User · Answer

Commenting just so people can have a solution to the intended question   You can do what you are wanting but it isn t quite as nice as Notepad   but it may work for small solutions decently enough   In sublime if you hold ctrl  or mac equiv   and select the word characters you want on a single line with the mouse and still holding ctrl go to another line and select the word characters you want on that line it will be additive and you will build your selection  I mainly use notepadd   as my extractor and data cleanup and sublime for actual development   The other way is if your columns are in perfect alignment you can simply middle click on windows or option   click on mac and this enables you to select text in a square like fashion  Columns  inside the lines of text

User · Answer

This should do it    Ctrl A - select all  Ctrl Shift L - split selection into lines  Then move all cursors with left right  select with Shift left right  Move all cursors to start of line with Home

User · Answer

The reason why the sublime documented shortcuts for Mac does not work are they are linked to the shortcuts of other Mac functionalities such as Mission  Control  Application Windows  etc   Solution  Go to System Preferences -  Keyboard -  Shortcuts and then un-check the options for Mission  Control and Application Windows  Now try  Control   Shift    Arrow keys   for selecting the required text and then move the cursor to the required location without any mouse click  so that the selection can be pasted with the correct indentation at the required location

[keyboard-shortcuts] Column/Vertical selection with Keyboard in SublimeText 3

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