~ / visual / repeat-visuallesson 3/6

Repeat a Visual edit with .

. replays the last Visual edit on the same amount of text at the cursor.

?how it works

. repeats Visual-mode edits too. It doesn't remember which text you selected, it remembers the size: the same number of lines after V, the same rows and columns after <C-v>, the same number of characters after v. The repeat starts at the cursor.

That makes indenting painless. Vjj> shifts three lines once, and because > leaves the cursor on the first of them, each . shifts the same three lines again. Watch the code move and stop when it looks right; no counting up front.

It shines in block mode, where Normal mode has no equivalent. Shift a column right with <C-v>jj> and keep going with ., or insert a prefix into a block with I, move somewhere else and press . to insert it into a block of the same height there.

A count works as well: Vjj3> shifts three times in one go. . is nicer when you're judging by eye.

⌨keys

`.`	repeat the last change (after Visual: same-size area at the cursor)
`>`	Visual: shift the selected lines (or block) right
`<`	Visual: shift the selected lines (or block) left
`{count}>`	Visual: shift right {count} times

Nin neovim

Neovim 0.12, the current release, repeats Visual edits by size, exactly as described here (and as this editor does). The development version changes that: . replays the selection keys themselves, so viwU followed by . would uppercase the next word whatever its length. Until that ships in a release, count on the size rule.

3 drills

Indent, then . again: Indent the three lines under the cursor by two levels. Select them with V, shift once with >, then repeat with ..
Push a column right: Push the aligned column 4 spaces further right on the lines that change in the target. Select it as a block, shift it with >, and repeat with ..
Same block insert, somewhere else: Add the prefix from the target to both groups of lines. Do the first group with a block insert (<C-v>, I), then move to the second group and press ..

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