gerard wrote: > I'm having difficulty understanding rectangular regions. > > Let's say I want to enter the text "Name of applicant: " at the > beginning of each line below: > > John > Henry > Mike > Tom > > Positioning the cursor at the first character on line 1, I create a > rectangular region with 3q3jq > > I then do c^S and at the prompt I enter "Name of applicant: " (without > quotation marks), but only the first letter N is entered. > > Have I misunderstood what should happen here?
Your expectations were fine, it just doesn't work that way. It probably should, but I must have thought it was too hard at the time. A rectangular 'c'hange command will only operate _inside_ of the defined rectangle -- it can't expand that rectangle. There should really be a rectangular 'i'nsert command, to do what you're trying to do. What I do is first open the rectangle I need, either with ^A-r, or simply by shift the lines over, mark a corner with 'ma', then go to the far corner to change it with 'c`a'. Or you could sweep it out with 'q'. If I opened the space too big, I then have to trim it back down. Clumsy, I know. Maybe someone else has a better way. paul =---------------------- paul fox, [email protected] (arlington, ma, where it's 45.7 degrees)
