How to insert line number followed by a space in Vim?

Question

I know the command :%s/^/\=line('.')/ will insert line number at the start of each line as below.

Before

line1
line2
line3

After

1line1
2line2
3line3

But I want to insert a space after the line number as below.

1 line1
2 line2
3 line3

I tried giving a space after line('.') in the command, but doesn't work.

:%s/^/\=line('.') /

Edit: The question and the answers provided here are different from those of another question.

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 07 '15 at 12:40

6

You can correct your try like this: :%s/^/\=line('.').' '/

The problem was that it was parsing your space as part of the expression line('.'). But as you are inside an expression, you can use the . (dot) operator to concatenate strings.

answered Oct 07 '15 at 12:40

yolenoyer

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Is there a way to line up things as well as the answer from ronalch does? – Sagar Jain Oct 07 '15 at 12:50
1

@SJain : not easily; ronalchn's solution is really better for this. – yolenoyer Oct 07 '15 at 18:22

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 07 '15 at 12:37

5

You can do this:

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

This also means you can pad out the integer so that things line up:

%s/^/\=printf('%4d ', line('.'))

or to put a dot or colon:

%s/^/\=printf('%4d. ', line('.'))

answered Oct 07 '15 at 12:37

ronalchn

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How to insert line number followed by a space in Vim?

Edit: The question and the answers provided here are different from those of another question.

2 Answers2