How to select from line to line in vi?

user_2605112 0
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I frequently want to select multiple lines in vi. e.g. from line 1 to line 10.

So, what I usually do when I want to jump from line to line is I type :110 to jump to line 110, e.g.

And, when I want to select from line to line, I usually press v to get into visual mode, and then I just scroll down using k or l.

So, intuitively it makes sense to me to just press v, and then type :<line number>. but that doesn't work.

How to select from line X to line Y in vi?

vi text-editor vim text
4 Answers

Let's assume you want to highlight from line 10 to line 20. You can use:

10GV20G

Breakdown:

  • 10 enters 10 into the buffer
  • G goes to the line number in the buffer
  • V enters visual line mode
  • 20 enters 20 into the buffer
  • G goes to the line number in the buffer

Note that G means Shift+g (capital G).

Source and a : command are here.

user_62433520

Selection by itself isn't meaningful; you usually want to invoke a command on the selection. Many commands that work on the visual selection have a corresponding Ex command. With that, going through visual mode is unnecessary if you already know the exact ranges. The great benefit of visual mode is that you can interactively and iteratively adapt the selected area if there's no single motion or text object.

The benefit :help :range is that you can succinctly specify the lines. For example, lines 110 to 120 can be written as :110,120, but also as :110;+10.

user_8136020

simple just press Shift v line number gg

example: your current line to line 41 Just press Shift v 41 gg

note: you can move to selected line by press line number gg

user_108621970

If you set both number and relative number it becomes easy to see the target end line.

:set number relativenumber

So, let's say you are at the line 10 and the target line shows 11, you start your selection with capital V, then press 11j

V11j

If your block has blank lines before and after, just type vip (visuall inner paragraph)

user_25718810
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