How to insert text at the beginning of a multi-line selection on GVim?

Question

I have a large block of text, and I want to insert comment delimiters // at the beginning of every line. I am using X11 forwarding to run GVim from a remote Linux box on my local windows machine. I can use the Ctrl+Q to enter the block selection mode as suggested in this post. When I try to press Shift+i to insert in the selected block, it deletes what I have selected and instead inserts the letter "I" at the top line of my selection and puts me in insert mode.

Any suggestions on how I can insert comment delimiters at the beginning of every line in a block? I would love to solve the problem with block insert, but a work-around would also be appreciated.

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 26 '14 at 15:41

1

have you tried :s command?

select those lines
then :s#^#//#

answered Aug 26 '14 at 15:41

Kent

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When I press ":" it just deletes the lines and inserts ":", even when I'm not in insert mode. – GBleaney Aug 26 '14 at 15:48
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Do not use select mode, but use visual mode (for lines, one usually uses `V`) – Christian Brabandt Aug 26 '14 at 15:54
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@GBleaney it sounds like your Vim is set to `behave mswin`? Try `:behave xterm` and then follow @Kent's suggestion. – Ben Aug 26 '14 at 15:54
@Ben , it will let him insert `:behave ...` :) – Kent Aug 26 '14 at 15:57
@Ben, if you want to turn your comment into an answer, I'll accept it. Not only did that fix my problem, it fixes a lot of other little issues I've had as well. – GBleaney Aug 26 '14 at 17:59

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 27 '14 at 07:02

The behavior of replacing the selection is a characteristic of select mode. You need to use visual mode for the column-insert via I.

How you got into select mode depends on your configuration. If <C-Q> gets you there, you likely have the cmd value in the 'selectmode' setting.

  This is a comma separated list of words, which specifies when to start
  Select mode instead of Visual mode, when a selection is started.
  Possible values:
     mouse        when using the mouse
     key          when using shifted special keys
     cmd          when using "v", "V" or CTRL-V

Also check the options listed under :help :behave. You may have turned on :behave mswin, and that causes all such unexpected effects.

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 27 '14 at 08:14

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Your Vim is set to behave mswin. You can use :behave xterm to make it behave in the default manner, and then the other suggestions should work.

answered Aug 27 '14 at 08:14

Ben

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How to insert text at the beginning of a multi-line selection on GVim?

3 Answers3