How to add comments to multiple lines in VIM?

Question

I know how to comment out multiple lines in VIM, but what if I wanted to add comments in the end of each line? For example:

function dir.ls(path)
    local i,files = 0,{}
    local pfile = io.popen('ls "'..path..'"')
    for fname in pfile:lines() do
        i = i + 1
        fpath = path..fname
        files[i] = fpath
    end
    pfile:close()
    return files
end

Now with added comments:

function dir.ls(path)
    local i,files = 0,{}
    local pfile = io.popen('ls "'..path..'"')
    for fname in pfile:lines() do
        i = i + 1
        fpath = path..fname  -- your comment goes here
        files[i] = fpath -- your comment goes here
    end
    pfile:close() -- your comment goes here
    return files
end

I found another question similar to yours, you may wanna check it: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1676632/whats-a-quick-way-to-comment-uncomment-lines-in-vim — IdemDitto, Nov 06 '16 at 11:39
This is **commenting out** the lines, I want to **add** comments. — minerals, Nov 06 '16 at 11:45

romainl · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-06T12:13:21.010

Append your comment to the first line:
```
A -- your comment goes here<Esc>
```
Move the cursor to the next line you want to add a comment to.
Repeat the last edit:
```
.
```
And so on…

In your example:

A -- your comment goes here<Esc>
j.
jj.

Another method, but in a single step:

:,+3v/end/norm A -- your comment goes here<CR>

That command is easier to understand if it is explained from right to left:

The :normal command allows you to execute a sequence of normal mode commands from command-line mode. Here, we use it to append the comment to the given line, just like in the first step of the multi-step method.
v/pattern/command is a companion to the :global command. It means "run the given command on every line in the given range that doesn't match pattern". Here, we run our :normal command on every line in the given range that doesn't contain end.
,+3 is the range of lines on which we want to run the :v command. It is a shortened version of .,+3 which means "the current line and the next three lines".

I see, can you please explain how the single step method works? — minerals, Nov 06 '16 at 11:57

How to add comments to multiple lines in VIM?

1 Answers1