vim column of increasing numbers

Question

usually I deal with files that look like this:

0.98   3.45
2.45   3.90
.
.
.
4.56   8.45

lets say with 100 lines. I would like to get something like this:

1   0.98   3.45
2   2.45   3.90
.
.
.
100 4.56   8.45

with a first column of integers. What I usually do is to generate a column file with just the numbers 1,2...100 and then select that block and paste it into the file with two columns. As the number of rows is almost always different my approach seems to be very slow.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks.

Lashonlashond

Duplicate question: https://mcmap.net/q/247413/-how-to-add-line-numbers-to-range-of-lines-in-vim – Nickelson

@Nickelson These answers don't speak about alignment, though. – Conjugated

@Conjugated Actually, the question doesn't mention alignment, and the example is not aligned. (Plus I was typing while you were and so didn't see your answer.) But if I was doing it, I would want the numbers right-aligned too, so I'm glad you've shown me something I didn't know. Cheers. – Nickelson

use cat: :%!cat -n – Illyrian

@Nickelson Sorry for nit-picking here, but the second column of the example output actually is aligned. :) – Conjugated

@Conjugated Oh, I see what you mean now. My bad. I had thought you meant the right-justification of the line-numbers themselves. Carry on. ;) – Nickelson

It doesn't suit the OP's question but for other circumstances :put =range(1,15) for example, is great. – Incontinent

Answer 1

:%s/^/\=printf('%-3d ', line('.'))

More information:

:help :s\= 
:help printf()
:help line()

Conjugated

Answer 2

Here's an alternative vim-only Normal mode version. With your cursor in the first column, on the first row:

<C-v>GI0 <ESC>gvg<C-a>

• <C-v> visual block mode (:help visual-block)
• G is select to the bottom of the screen (:help G)
• I starts insert mode on line 1 (:help v_b_I)
• 0 enter a literal zero and a literal space
• <ESC> go back to normal mode
• gv reselect the last visual selection (all of column 1) (:help gv)
• g<C-a> increment sequentially all numbers in the selection (:help v_g_CTRL-A)

Turns this

0.98   3.45
2.45   3.90
4.56   8.45

into this

1 0.98   3.45
2 2.45   3.90
3 4.56   8.45

Repeated

This is the best reply, but works only from Vim 8. – Lavin

Answer 3

I find VisIncr invaluable for similar operations (here's the GitHub version for those who use Vundle or NeoBundle). The plugin "facilitates making a column of increasing or decreasing numbers, dates, or daynames". An example of adding line numbers follows:

Select the first column of the file in visual block mode:

gg<C-v>G

Insert a starting number (1 in this case) and a column separator (I'm assuming Tab here):

I1<Tab><Esc>

Reselect the first column of the file:

gv

Run a VisIncr command to increase the numbers:

:I<CR>

You could right-justify the numbers instead with a different command:

:II<CR>

Incrementing dates, letters, hex, and roman numbers is just as easy.

Pulvinus

Answer 4

:%!cat -n

is a quick solution. Followed by

:%s/^\s*//g

it gives you what you want pretty quickly.

Publicspirited

if use external command/tool. nl would be better than cat -n it provides format options – Henni

@Kent, you are perfectly right. However, we don't even know if the OP has access to cat or nl so neither one nor the other may be useful to him. – Publicspirited

Answer 5

1. Type the number 1 then copy it 100 times for example

   y + 100
   

2. Enter to visual block and select all the numbers starting from the second row

3. Finally press

   g + <C-a>
   

Hume

Answer 6

For generating a column of sequential number, nl is your friend. Suppose you want to generate from 1 to n:

1. Create a file with n lines in vim.

2. Run :%!nl.

Now you can use <C-v> to select the column of numbers and copy them elsewhere.

Octavo