Enumerate existing text in Vim (make numbered list out of existing text)

Question

I have a source document with the following text

Here is a bunch of text
...
Collect underpants
???
Profit!
...
More text

I would like to visually select the middle three lines and insert numbers in front of them:

Here is a bunch of text
...
1. Collect underpants
2. ???
3. Profit!
...
More text

All the solutions I found either put the numbers on their own new lines or prepended the actual line of the file.

How can I prepend a range of numbers to existing lines, starting with 1?

Answer 1

It makes for a good macro.

1. Add the first number to your line, and put your cursor back at the beginning.
2. Start a macro with qq (or q<any letter>)
3. Copy the number with yf<space> (yank find )
4. Move down a line with j
5. Paste your yank with P
6. Move back to the beginning of the line with 0
7. Increment the number with Ctrl-a
8. Back to the beginning again with 0 (incrementing positions you at the end of the number)
9. End the macro by typing q again
10. Play the macro with @q (or @<the letter you picked>)
11. Replay the macro as many times as you want with <number>@@ (@@ replays the last macro)
12. Profit!

To summarize the fun way, this GIF image is i1. <Esc>0qqyf jP0^a0q10@q.