How do I increment and decrement dates, times, and other structured sequences in Vim?

Explanation

vim-speeddating (by Tim Pope) extends Vim's built-in <C-a> and <C-x> increment/decrement operators to understand dates, times, roman numerals, and other ordered sequences. With the plugin, pressing <C-a> on 2024-01-31 advances it to 2024-02-01 — correctly rolling over month and year boundaries.

How it works

• <C-a> on a recognized sequence — increments it (date forward, time later, etc.)
• <C-x> on a recognized sequence — decrements it
• Supported formats include:
  • Dates: 2024-01-15, January 15, 2024, 15 Jan 2024, 2024/01/15
  • Times: 12:00, 12:00:00, 23:59
  • Days/months: Monday, January
  • Roman numerals: XIV
  • Ordinals: 1st, 2nd, 3rd
• Vim's built-in <C-a>/<C-x> still works for plain integers; vim-speeddating takes over only when a structured format is detected

Install with: Plug 'tpope/vim-speeddating'

Example

With the cursor on the date in:

Deadline: 2024-01-31

Press <C-a> → 2024-02-01 (month rolls over correctly) Press <C-x> → 2024-01-30

With the cursor on Monday: <C-a> → Tuesday

Tips

• Use a count: 7<C-a> on a date advances it by 7 days
• Works in Visual mode too: select a column of dates and press g<C-a> to increment each by a sequential amount (1, 2, 3…)
• vim-speeddating respects leap years and varying month lengths automatically
• Combine with macros to generate date sequences: record a macro that moves down a line and <C-a>-increments the date