vim column of increasing numbers

Question

usually I deal with files that look like this:

0.98   3.45
2.45   3.90
.
.
.
4.56   8.45

lets say with 100 lines. I would like to get something like this:

1   0.98   3.45
2   2.45   3.90
.
.
.
100 4.56   8.45

with a first column of integers. What I usually do is to generate a column file with just the numbers 1,2...100 and then select that block and paste it into the file with two columns. As the number of rows is almost always different my approach seems to be very slow.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks.

Duplicate question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/252766/add-line-numbers-in-vim — Edward, Aug 13 '13 at 22:01
@mhinz Actually, the question doesn't mention alignment, and the example is not aligned. (Plus I was typing while you were and so didn't see your answer.) But if I was doing it, I would want the numbers right-aligned too, so I'm glad you've shown me something I didn't know. Cheers. — Edward, Aug 13 '13 at 23:07
@Edward Sorry for nit-picking here, but the second column of the example output actually is aligned. :) — mhinz, Aug 14 '13 at 07:37
@mhinz Oh, I see what you mean now. My bad. I had thought you meant the right-justification of the line-numbers themselves. Carry on. ;) — Edward, Aug 14 '13 at 15:40
It doesn't suit the OP's question but for other circumstances `:put =range(1,15)` for example, is great. — NeilG, Feb 22 '20 at 14:05

mhinz · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-14T07:36:12.327

16

:%s/^/\=printf('%-3d ', line('.'))

More information:

:help :s\= 
:help printf()
:help line()

edited Aug 14 '13 at 07:36

answered Aug 13 '13 at 21:59

mhinz

3,291
20
20

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 03 '21 at 04:50

Here's an alternative vim-only Normal mode version. With your cursor in the first column, on the first row:

<C-v>GI0 <ESC>gvg<C-a>

<C-v> visual block mode (:help visual-block)
G is select to the bottom of the screen (:help G)
I starts insert mode on line 1 (:help v_b_I)
0 enter a literal zero and a literal space
<ESC> go back to normal mode
gv reselect the last visual selection (all of column 1) (:help gv)
g<C-a> increment sequentially all numbers in the selection (:help v_g_CTRL-A)

Turns this

0.98   3.45
2.45   3.90
4.56   8.45

into this

1 0.98   3.45
2 2.45   3.90
3 4.56   8.45

This is the best reply, but works only from Vim 8. – Antonio Jul 04 '22 at 08:35 — Antonio, Jul 04 '22 at 08:35

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 28 '13 at 01:29

I find VisIncr invaluable for similar operations (here's the GitHub version for those who use Vundle or NeoBundle). The plugin "facilitates making a column of increasing or decreasing numbers, dates, or daynames". An example of adding line numbers follows:

Select the first column of the file in visual block mode:

gg<C-v>G

Insert a starting number (1 in this case) and a column separator (I'm assuming Tab here):

I1<Tab><Esc>

Reselect the first column of the file:

gv

Run a VisIncr command to increase the numbers:

:I<CR>

You could right-justify the numbers instead with a different command:

:II<CR>

Incrementing dates, letters, hex, and roman numbers is just as easy.

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 14 '13 at 07:47

3

:%!cat -n

is a quick solution. Followed by

:%s/^\s*//g

it gives you what you want pretty quickly.

answered Aug 14 '13 at 07:47

romainl

186,200
21
280
313

if use external command/tool. `nl` would be better than `cat -n` it provides format options – Kent Aug 14 '13 at 08:00
@Kent, you are perfectly right. However, we don't even know if the OP has access to `cat` or `nl` so neither one nor the other may be useful to him. – romainl Aug 14 '13 at 08:02

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 09 '18 at 11:17

2

For generating a column of sequential number, nl is your friend. Suppose you want to generate from 1 to n:

Create a file with n lines in vim.
Run :%!nl.

Now you can use <C-v> to select the column of numbers and copy them elsewhere.

answered Jul 09 '18 at 11:17

Cyker

9,946
8
65
93

vim column of increasing numbers

5 Answers5

Linked