~ / macros / numbered-listslesson 5/6

Counting with CTRL-A

Number lines with a copy-and-increment macro, or with g CTRL-A in Visual mode.

?how it works

<C-a> adds one to the number under or after the cursor (<C-x> subtracts one; a count adds more). That makes macros count:

qayyp<C-a>q copies the line below and bumps its number. 5@a then makes five more, each one higher than the last.

For lines that already exist, Visual mode has a shortcut: select them and press g<C-a>. The first selected line gets +1, the second +2, and so on, so a column of identical numbers becomes a sequence.

To number plain lines, first give every line the same number with a block insert (<C-v>, select, I0. <Esc>), then gv reselects that block and g<C-a> counts it up: 1, 2, 3…

⌨keys

`<C-a>`	add 1 to the number under or after the cursor
`<C-x>`	subtract 1 from the number under or after the cursor
`{Visual}g<C-a>`	add 1, 2, 3… to the numbers of the selected lines
`gv`	reselect the last Visual area

Nin neovim

Neovim's 'nrformats' default is bin,hex, so a number with leading zeros is still decimal: <C-a> on 07 gives 08, keeping the zero padding.

3 drills

Copy and count up: Turn the single line into the numbered run in the target. Record yyp<C-a> (copy the line below, bump its number) into register a, then replay it until the last number in the target.
Make the ones count: Every item says 1. Select from the second item to the last one with V and press g<C-a>, so they count up.
Number plain lines: Number these lines. Put a 0 prefix on every line with a block insert, reselect the block with gv, and let g<C-a> count them up from 1.

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