How do I yank a visual selection to a specific named register?
"ayv
Using named registers with visual mode lets you store multiple independent snippets simultaneously.
Category: visual-mode
How do I see a live preview of substitutions as I type in Neovim?
:set inccommand=split
Neovim's inccommand option provides real-time visual feedback as you type substitution commands.
How do I replace a visual block selection with digraph or special characters?
<C-v>jjr<C-k>12
Visual block mode combined with the replace command and digraph input lets you replace a column of characters with special Unicode characters.
How do I transform text in a visual selection using awk or sed?
:'<,'>!awk '{print toupper($0)}'
Vim can pipe any visual selection through external Unix commands and replace the selection with the output.
visual-mode #visual-mode #external-command #awk #text-transformation
How do I convert between tabs and spaces in a visual selection?
:'<,'>retab!
The :retab! command converts between tabs and spaces based on your expandtab setting.
How do I ROT13 encode text using visual mode in Vim?
g?
Vim has a built-in ROT13 encoding operator accessible via g?.
visual-mode #visual-mode #encoding #rot13 #text-transformation
How do I align columns in a visual selection using an external command?
:'<,'>!awk '{printf "%-20s %s\n", $1, $2}'
By piping a visual selection through awk with printf formatting, you can align columns to fixed widths.
visual-mode #visual-mode #formatting #alignment #external-command
How do I append text at the end of lines with different lengths using visual block?
<C-v>j$A;<Esc>
When lines have varying lengths, a normal visual block selection stops at the shortest line.
How do I insert sequential line numbers using visual block mode?
<C-v>jjI\=printf('%02d ', line('.')-line("'<")+1)<CR><Esc>
By combining visual block insert with Vim's expression register, you can insert dynamically computed line numbers at the start of each selected line.
visual-mode #visual-mode #block-mode #line-numbers #expression-register
How do I move a column of text to a different position using visual block mode?
<C-v>jjxp
Visual block mode lets you select, cut, and paste rectangular columns of text.
How do I select a rectangular block past the end of shorter lines in visual block mode?
:set virtualedit=block
By default, Vim's visual block mode () is limited by line length — if some lines are shorter than others, the block selection gets ragged.
How do I select to the end of each line in visual block mode?
<C-v>$
In visual block mode, pressing $ extends the selection to the end of every line, even when lines have different lengths.
How do I run a search and replace only within a visually selected region?
:'<,'>s/pattern/replacement/g
When you make a visual selection and then type :, Vim automatically inserts ' as the range — the marks for the start and end of the last visual selection.
How do I visually select a code block enclosed in curly braces including the braces themselves?
vaB
The aB text object (around Block) selects everything from the matching { to the closing } — including the braces themselves.
How do I visually select the text of a sentence without selecting surrounding whitespace?
vis
The is (inner sentence) text object selects the sentence the cursor is in — excluding any leading or trailing whitespace that separates sentences.
How do I visually select a double-quoted string including the quotes themselves?
va"
Vim's text objects let you select structured regions of text with two-keystroke shortcuts.
How do I visually select an entire sentence in Vim?
vas
The vas command visually selects the current sentence, including surrounding whitespace.
How do I comment out multiple lines at once in Vim without a plugin?
<C-v>I#<Esc>
Vim's Visual Block mode lets you prepend characters (like comment markers) to multiple lines simultaneously.
How do I filter a visual selection through an external shell command?
!sort
Vim can pipe a visual selection through any shell command and replace the selection with the command's output.
visual-mode #visual-mode #ex-commands #external-commands #filtering
How do I convert a visually selected block of text to uppercase or lowercase?
U
In visual mode, pressing U converts all selected characters to uppercase and u converts them to lowercase.