How do I join a wrapped paragraph into one line without manual cursor moves?
vipJ
When text is hard-wrapped for readability in git diffs or markdown source, you sometimes need the paragraph as a single line for refactoring, search, or export.
Tag: visual-mode
How do I prepend text to every selected line even with uneven indentation?
:'<,'>normal! I//
Visual Block insert (I.
How do I execute a macro from bottom to top over a selected range?
:'>,'<normal @q
Running a macro over a range usually goes top to bottom, but that can break when the macro inserts or deletes lines.
macros #macros #ex-commands #visual-mode #normal-mode #refactoring
How do I fully justify a selected text block to a fixed width using Vim's built-in justify plugin?
:packadd justify | :'<,'>Justify 72
Vim can wrap text, but full left-and-right justification is a different task.
plugins #plugins #formatting #visual-mode #text-manipulation
How do I make right-click extend a selection instead of opening a popup menu?
:set mousemodel=extend
If you use the mouse occasionally in Vim, mousemodel=extend makes selection behavior much more predictable.
How do I uppercase text inside an HTML tag without changing the tags?
vitU
When editing markup-heavy files, you often need to transform only the tag contents while preserving the surrounding structure.
How do I prepend text to every line in a visual block selection?
I{text}<Esc>
When you need to add the same prefix to many adjacent lines, Visual Block insert is faster and safer than repeating macros or substitutions.
How do I apply my last normal-mode change to every line in a visual selection?
:'<,'>normal! .
When you already made one correct edit, replaying it is usually safer than retyping it by hand.
How do I remove trailing spaces only within the currently selected visual block?
:'<,'>s/\%V\s\+$//
Sometimes you need to clean alignment artifacts in a rectangular region without touching the rest of each line.
visual-mode #visual-mode #substitution #regex #formatting #editing
How do I create a Visual selection for the previous search match instead of the next one?
gN
Most users know gn for selecting the next search match, but its counterpart gN is the real power move when you need to work backward through matches.
visual-mode #visual-mode #search #motions #editing #normal-mode
How do I uppercase only the text inside braces using a visual text object?
f{vi{U
When editing structured text, you often need to transform content inside delimiters without touching the delimiters themselves.
How do I run a normal-mode append on only matching lines inside a visual selection?
:'<,'>g/let /normal! A;<CR>
When you need a structural edit in part of a file, Visual mode ranges combine well with :global and :normal!.
visual-mode #visual-mode #command-line #ex-commands #editing
How do I reselect the previous visual area and convert it to linewise selection?
gvV
gv is well known for reselecting the previous visual area, but pairing it with V is a practical upgrade when your next action needs linewise semantics.
How do I allow block selections past end-of-line while still permitting one-char past EOL cursor movement?
:set virtualedit=block,onemore
virtualedit controls whether the cursor can move to positions that do not yet contain text.
How do I run an Ex command on exactly the current visual selection without typing the range manually?
:
In Visual mode, typing : does more than open the command line: Vim automatically inserts the exact selection range as '.
How do I sort selected lines numerically in visual mode using the first number on each line?
:'<,'>sort n /\d\+/
Plain :sort n is useful, but it only works when the numeric key starts at the beginning of each line.
visual-mode #visual-mode #sorting #ex-commands #text-processing
How do I sort only a visual selection using a fixed virtual column as the key?
:'<,'>sort /\%20v/
When lines contain aligned columns, plain :sort often gives the wrong order because it compares from column 1.
visual-mode #visual-mode #sorting #text-processing #command-line
How do I append the same suffix to every selected line in Visual mode?
:'<,'>normal! A;
Visual selections are not just for direct operators; they also define an Ex range.
visual-mode #visual-mode #normal-mode #editing #ex-commands #automation
How do I reindent the previous visual selection and keep it selected?
gv=gv
When you are iterating on indentation, repeating selection steps is wasted motion.
visual-mode #visual-mode #indentation #editing #formatting #workflow
How do I decrement a visual block of numbers as a sequence?
g<C-x>
Most people know decrements one number under the cursor, but g in Visual mode performs a sequential decrement across the selection.