Repeating characters in VIM insert mode

vim

Is there a way of repeating a character while in Vim's insert mode? For example, say I would like to insert 80 dashes, in something like emacs I would type:

Ctrl+U 8 0 -

The only way I know how to do it in VIM is to exit normal mode for the repeat argument, then go back into insert mode to type the dash, then exit to insert the actual dashes, AND then go back into insert mode to carry on typing. The sequence is a really long:

Esc 8 0 a - Esc a

It would be nice not to switch in and out of modes.

Best Answer

If you are OK with leaving INSERT mode only once (at the end), this sequence works:

Ctrl+o 80i- Esc

Ctrl+o is used to issue normal commands without leaving INSERT mode,
80 the repetition,
i to insert,
- the character you want to insert,
Esc to leave INSERT mode.

Another one without EVER leaving INSERT mode:

Ctrl+o :norm 8ia Return

Use `\r` instead of `\n`.

Substituting by \n inserts a null character into the text. To get a newline, use \r. When searching for a newline, you’d still use \n, however. This asymmetry is due to the fact that \n and \r do slightly different things:

\n matches an end of line (newline), whereas \r matches a carriage return. On the other hand, in substitutions \n inserts a null character whereas \r inserts a newline (more precisely, it’s treated as the input CR). Here’s a small, non-interactive example to illustrate this, using the Vim command line feature (in other words, you can copy and paste the following into a terminal to run it). xxd shows a hexdump of the resulting file.

echo bar > test
(echo 'Before:'; xxd test) > output.txt
vim test '+s/b/\n/' '+s/a/\r/' +wq
(echo 'After:'; xxd test) >> output.txt
more output.txt

Before:
0000000: 6261 720a                                bar.
After:
0000000: 000a 720a                                ..r.

In other words, \n has inserted the byte 0x00 into the text; \r has inserted the byte 0x0a.

Eclipse – How to duplicate a whole line in Vim

yy or Y to copy the line (mnemonic: yank)
or
dd to delete the line (Vim copies what you deleted into a clipboard-like "register", like a cut operation)

then

p to paste the copied or deleted text after the current line
or
P to paste the copied or deleted text before the current line

Best Answer

Related Solutions

How to replace a character by a newline in Vim

Use \r instead of \n.

Eclipse – How to duplicate a whole line in Vim

Related Topic

Use `\r` instead of `\n`.