How do I draw line in VIM?

Question

How do I draw a vertical line instead of typing one by one?

For example, I wanna set a vertical line in column 10 for 20 rows. Just like my first line. how do I do that in smart way?

Answer 1

First, set virtualedit=all, to allow yourself to navigate past the end of a line:

:set virtualedit=all

Then...

10|<C-V>20jr|

Where:

• 10|: moves you to screen column 10
• ctrl+V: enters blockwise visual mode
• 20j: moves you down 20 lines (adjust to taste)
• r|: replaces the selection with bars

Answer 2

The following is an alternative solution to setting virtualedit=all in order to make 20 rows with a | in column 10:

1. Starting in Normal mode, make an example line, e.g. 10i<space><esc>r|
   • 10ispace will insert space ten times, and pressing esc followed by r| will replace the last character with a |
2. Copy the entire line with Y
3. In Normal mode, paste the copied line 20 times with 20p
   • This will paste the recently copied line 20 times below, giving you a total of 21 identical lines

In sum:

10i<space><esc>r|Y20p

Answer 3

This appears to be a VIM plugin to do exactly what you are looking for:

http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=40

I have not tried it myself.