Enumerate existing text in Vim (make numbered list out of existing text)

Question

I have a source document with the following text

Here is a bunch of text
...
Collect underpants
???
Profit!
...
More text

I would like to visually select the middle three lines and insert numbers in front of them:

Here is a bunch of text
...
1. Collect underpants
2. ???
3. Profit!
...
More text

All the solutions I found either put the numbers on their own new lines or prepended the actual line of the file.

How can I prepend a range of numbers to existing lines, starting with 1?

Reread [this answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/253041/1890567) from the second question you posted and explain how that doesn't answer your question. — FDinoff, Aug 17 '15 at 14:45

score 12 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 07 '21 at 22:43

12

It makes for a good macro.

Add the first number to your line, and put your cursor back at the beginning.
Start a macro with qq (or q<any letter>)
Copy the number with yf<space> (yank find )
Move down a line with j
Paste your yank with P
Move back to the beginning of the line with 0
Increment the number with Ctrl-a
Back to the beginning again with 0 (incrementing positions you at the end of the number)
End the macro by typing q again
Play the macro with @q (or @<the letter you picked>)
Replay the macro as many times as you want with <number>@@ (@@ replays the last macro)
Profit!

To summarize the fun way, this GIF image is i1. <Esc>0qqyf jP0^a0q10@q.

edited Apr 07 '21 at 22:43

Peter Mortensen

30,738
21
105
131

answered Aug 17 '15 at 14:49

Kristján

18,165
5
50
62

3

Excellent. That keystroke summary at the end was vital. Thanks. – user1717828 Aug 17 '15 at 16:35
Would it be possible to first select the lines and then apply these only those (instead of running the macro of times)? – nocibambi Feb 05 '20 at 09:41
Do you remember which screen capture software you used to record? – user1717828 Mar 25 '20 at 11:41
I've been using LICEcap a while: https://www.cockos.com/licecap/ – Kristján Mar 26 '20 at 19:29
@nocibambi see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3337926/vim-macro-on-every-line-of-visual-selection – Kristján Mar 26 '20 at 19:29

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 11 '18 at 17:55

4

To apply enumeration for all lines:

:let i=1 | g/^/s//\=i.'. '/ | let i=i+1

To enumerate only selected lines:

:let i=1 | '<,'>g/^/s//\=i.'. '/ | let i=i+1

answered Jul 11 '18 at 17:55

DmitrySandalov

3,879
3
23
17

Could you explain what the top commands is doing? I get that `i` is a counter and `g` is matching beginning of lines, but not anything else. – user1717828 Feb 05 '20 at 11:06

outoftime · Answer 3 · 2021-02-15T18:48:02.837

Set non recursive mapping with following command and type ,enum in command mode when cursor is inside the lines you are going to enumerate.

    :nn ,enum {j<C-v>}kI0. <Esc>vipg<C-a>

TL;DR

You can type :help CTRL-A to see an answer on your question.

{Visual}g CTRL-A        Add [count] to the number or alphabetic character in
                        the highlighted text. If several lines are
                        highlighted, each one will be incremented by an
                        additional [count] (so effectively creating a
                        [count] incrementing sequence).
                        For Example, if you have this list of numbers:
                                1. 
                                1. 
                                1. 
                                1. 
                        Move to the second "1." and Visually select three
                        lines, pressing g CTRL-A results in:
                                1. 
                                2. 
                                3. 
                                4.

If you have a paragraph (:help paragraph) you can select it (look at :help object-select). Suppose each new line in the paragraph needs to be enumerated.

{ jump to the beginning of current paragraph
j skip blank line, move one line down
<C-v> emulates Ctrl-v, turns on Visual mode
} jump to the end of current paragraph
k skip blank line, move one line up

required region selected, we can make multi row edit:

I go into Insert mode and place cursor in the beginning of each line
0. is added in the beginning of each line
<Esc> to change mode back to Normal

You should get list prepended with zeros. If you already have such, you can omit this part.

vip select inner paragraph (list prepended with "0. ")
g<C-a> does the magic

I have found it easier to enumerate with zeroes instead of omitting first line of the list to enumerate as said in documentation.

Note: personally I have no mappings. It is easier to remember what g <C-a> does and use it directly. Answer above describes usage of pure <C-a> which requires you to manually count whatever, on the other hand g <C-a> can increment numbers with given value (aka step) and have it's "internal counter".

You put "`g` does the magic" when I think you meant ``. Also, this is awesome. Could you help me understand the difference between `g ` and ``? The latter just increments numbers. Also, is there some pattern to using `g`? I know to join lines I use shift+j but to join without spaces I use `g` then shift+j. Is it some sort of global shortcut modifier? — user1717828, Feb 15 '21 at 03:15
type `:help CTRL-A` in vim you will see help for `{Visual}g CTRL-A`. I doubt that `g` modifier has common meaning for each command. I suppose `g` is used as A in alphabet - first and most handy character. Also it is just IMHO, I haven't read all user manual\reference docs yet. — outoftime, Feb 15 '21 at 17:21

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 25 '20 at 06:16

1

Create a map for @DmitrySandalov solution:

vnoremap <silent> <Leader>n :<C-U>let i=1 \| '<,'>g/^/s//\=i.'. '/ \| let i=i+1 \| nohl<CR>

answered Mar 25 '20 at 06:16

Konstantin Glukhov

1,898
3
18
25

This is cool, thanks. I'm not too sharp with maps, could you add instructions and an example of how to use it in vim? – user1717828 Mar 25 '20 at 11:37
See vim help for maps (:help map) – Konstantin Glukhov Mar 27 '20 at 06:40
Ok. If anyone else understands vim maps and this answer and can augment it with an example of how to use it and input/output, that would be appreciated. – user1717828 Mar 27 '20 at 11:36

Enumerate existing text in Vim (make numbered list out of existing text)

4 Answers4

TL;DR