Editing a sequence of fields in vim

Question

I have a file like this:

INSERT INTO `example`
(`name`, `location`, `height`)
VALUES
('A', '', ''),
('B', '', ''),
('C', '', '');

I want to fill in the middle set of quote marks (the ones under location) so that I end up with

INSERT INTO `example`
(`name`, `location`, `height`)
VALUES
('A', 'one',   ''),
('B', 'two',   ''),
('C', 'three', '');

What's a good way to do that? Aligning the third column of quotes isn't necessary, but preferred.

Where's the 'one,two,three' coming from? Are you typing it, pasting it, from another file, etc?
@KennyYounger: Typing it. I'm trying to avoid having to navigate character-by-character to align my cursor with the middle column of quotes.

Thor · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-21 22:54:50Z

up vote 1 down vote accepted

I would suggest a similar approach to rush, but remaining more in insert mode:

/''/e lands you in between the quotes.

i one

Ctrl-o 2n

two

Ctrl-o 2n

three

As for aligning the columns I would suggest using Dr. Chip's Align plugin, then a simple :'<,'>Align , would put the columns right.

edited Aug 21 '12 at 22:54

answered Aug 21 '12 at 20:13

Thor
4,671827

	What's `/e` in the first command? (Or, even better, where can I find the documentation for it?) – Snowball Aug 21 '12 at 21:53
	`e` means set cursor at the end of the match. This is the offset specification, you can go back, forward, up, and down. It's documented as `search-offset`. – Thor Aug 21 '12 at 22:50
	Comes in very handy when using the search as a motion for an operator, e.g. delete until `pattern`: `d/pattern/-1`. Or delete until pattern + 2 lines: `d/pattern/2`. – Thor Aug 22 '12 at 11:19

rush · Answer 2 · 2012-08-21 18:30:47Z

up vote 1 down vote

gg # will jump to the first string

/'',Enter # will jump to the first '' occurence

a one Esc # will add one into '' into second column

W i Tab Esc # will jump to the third column and add Tab if necessary. optional step

n #this will move you to line 2

answered Aug 21 '12 at 18:30

rush
8,5671438

	The `n` should be doubled or `2n`. – Thor Aug 21 '12 at 20:09
	nope. As you can mention, the search pattern includes comma at the end. And it will match only the second column. Therefore I need only one `n`. – rush Aug 21 '12 at 20:17
	Ah I see, you're right. – Thor Aug 21 '12 at 20:18

2 Answers