Surround two words with quotes in Vim

Question

I am working with vim-surround and the following text. (* is the place of the cursor)

This is a lo*ng line and I want to highlight two words

I want to surround both the words long and line within quotes, so that it becomes

This is a "long line" and I want to highlight two words

Is it possible to do it without getting into visual mode?

score 41 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 21 '12 at 10:34

41

Try: ys2w" (ys takes a motion or text object, and then the character with which you want to surround).

answered Apr 21 '12 at 10:34

Benoit

1

This will work if my cursor is at *long, but since my cursor is at lo*ng, it become lo(ng line) – Sudar Apr 21 '12 at 10:38
18

To avoid having to move first: `ys2aw"` – Chris Johnsen Apr 22 '12 at 04:01

Anji · Answer 2 · 2012-04-21T12:21:16.707

6

Press b first and then ys2w"

edited Apr 21 '12 at 12:21

answered Apr 21 '12 at 11:32

Anji

Sarah · Answer 3 · 2012-04-21T12:59:34.907

3

When using surround commands, I find the most logical solution is to sequence the "marking" and the "surrounding" operations.

Thus, with text objects, I use v2aw to visually mark the two words, then s" for the total of

v2aws"

edited Apr 21 '12 at 12:59

answered Apr 21 '12 at 11:33

Sarah

I have tied it. Seem like it is surrounding only for the first word – Anji Apr 21 '12 at 12:25
Huh? v2iw will visually mark two inner words. s" will surround the visual selection with "". Can you give a sample text and cursor location where it does not work? – Sarah Apr 21 '12 at 12:54
Actually, I have the same problem that you describe on my Mac version of Vim. I wonder if there's some incompatibility... I'll look into it. – Sarah Apr 21 '12 at 12:57
Cool. Please do comment when you figure it out. It will be helpful. – Anji Apr 21 '12 at 12:58
It works with "a" word instead of "inner" word. I will update my answer. – Sarah Apr 21 '12 at 12:59

3 Answers3