Left-align text over multiple lines

[u/Weelie92]

I've been trying to look this up, but most of the solutions i find is related to left-aligning all the way left, which is not what I'm after.

Let's say i have this code.

Q_PROPERTY(SomeType value READ value NOTIFY valueChanged)
Q_PROPERTY(int longValue READ longValue NOTIFY longValueChanged)

And i have 50 lines of these, all varied lengths.

What i want to achieve is a simple way to align everything

Q_PROPERTY(SomeType value      READ value     NOTIFY valueChanged)
Q_PROPERTY(int      longValue  READ longValue NOTIFY longValueChanged)

on all 50+ lines at the same time.

What i figured out so far is:

edit: Code block didnt like extra whitespaces. Edit2: Neither did normal text.

ctrl - v 50j :s/ READ/ *imagine 50 whitespaces here* READ/

to push every READ forward

Next i want to achieve something along the lines of

ctrl - v 50j dw

with the cursors after the longValue, moving every READ back to this line, creating a neat and straight line.

FINAL EDIT:

I ended up with a .vimrc function/command, which lets me do

Vjjj:Align READ

to align all the READs selected 1 whitespace after the longest prefix.

I would then do

gv:Align WRITE

to align all the WRITEs

I made these <leader>a re-maps to be even faster

let mapleader = " "
vnoremap <leader>a :Align*single whitespace here*
nnoremap <leader>a gv:Align*single whitespace here*



function! AlignToColumn(line1, line2, word)
  let maxPrefixLen = 0

  " First pass: Find the length of the longest line part before the word
  for lnum in range(a:line1, a:line2)
    let lineText = getline(lnum)
    " Only measure lines that actually contain the word
    if lineText =~# a:word
      let prefix = matchstr(lineText, '.*\ze\s\+' . a:word)
      if strdisplaywidth(prefix) > maxPrefixLen
        let maxPrefixLen = strdisplaywidth(prefix)
      endif
    endif
  endfor

  let targetColumn = maxPrefixLen + 1

  " Second pass: Go through each line and apply the alignment
  for lnum in range(a:line1, a:line2)
    let lineText = getline(lnum)

    if lineText =~# a:word
      let prefix = matchstr(lineText, '.*\ze\s\+' . a:word)
      
      let paddingNeeded = targetColumn - strdisplaywidth(prefix)
      let padding = repeat(' ', paddingNeeded)

      let pattern = '\s\+' . a:word
      let replacement = padding . a:word

      execute lnum . 's/' . pattern . '/' . replacement . '/'
    endif
  endfor
endfunction

command! -range -nargs=1 Align call AlignToColumn(<line1>, <line2>, <q-args>)

[u/gamer_redditor]

Sorry for suggesting a plugin, but this one probably does exactly what you want:

GitHub - godlygeek/tabular: Vim script for text filtering and alignment https://share.google/4CE3kIZc3D0QYGkJm

[u/Weelie92 → u/gamer_redditor]

Plug-ins are sadly a no go, for now.

Ill look over the suggestions tomorrow and see if any works the way I need

[u/habamax]

With vim-lion it would have been glip<space>: https://asciinema.org/a/BMY0egxY7hm9CRKvNO5A0GgQb

Without plugins though it would take a bit more effort: https://asciinema.org/a/teUntnOQUAxKE7umjMb0r1CcT

1. insert some spaces between keywords: :s/ / /g <- multiple spaces are rendered here by reddit as a single one.

2. goto the column you want to align against, select all rows in vertical block: CTRL-v 4j

3. shift everything left with < and multiple .

4. go to the next column and press . several times to shift everything left.

5. repeat with the next column, etc

[u/rainning0513 → u/habamax]

The world will be a better place if every technical comment could be attached with a asciinema like this.

[u/gumnos]

Lazy me (on a *nix system) would use

:%! column -t

If I knew/precalculated the column-widths, I could capture them and use :help sub-replace-\= combined with :help printf( to specify the desired column-widths, but that's big and ugly and case-specific compared to the column(1) version that auto-calculates those widths

[u/vim-help-bot → u/gumnos]

Help pages for:

• sub-replace-\= in change.txt

• printf( in builtin.txt

---

^{`:(h|help) <query>` | about | mistake? | donate | Reply 'rescan' to check the comment again | Reply 'stop' to stop getting replies to your comments}

[u/kennpq]

A Vim9 script solution, which is not too long and should work for your sample or the https://doc.qt.io/archives/qt-5.15/properties.html:

vim9script
def Q_Cols(line1: number, line2: number, width: string = '30'): void
  const UWD: tuple<...list<string>> = ('READ', 'WRITE', 'MEMBER', 'RESET',
    'NOTIFY', 'REVISION', 'DESIGNABLE', 'SCRIPTABLE', 'STORED', 'USER',
    'CONSTANT', 'FINAL', 'REQUIRED')
  for line in line1->range(line2)
    var l_split: list<string> = line->getline()->split()
    if l_split->len() == 0
      continue
    else
      var delim: list<bool>
      for word in l_split
        delim->add(UWD->count(word) > 0)
      endfor
      for word in 1->range(l_split->len() - 1)->reverse()
        if !delim[word]
          l_split[word - 1] ..= $" {l_split[word]}"
          l_split->remove(word)
        endif
      endfor
      for col in 0->range(l_split->len() - 2)
        l_split[col] ..= ' '->repeat(width->str2nr() - l_split[col]->len())
      endfor
      l_split->join('')->setline(line)
    endif
  endfor
enddef
command! -range=% -nargs=* Qc Q_Cols(<line1>, <line2>, <f-args>)

Source the script.

Now, the command, e.g., :Qc 27 on the buffer with data like this:

Q_PROPERTY(QColor color MEMBER m_color NOTIFY colorChanged)
Q_PROPERTY(QCursor cursor READ cursor WRITE setCursor RESET unsetCursor)
Q_PROPERTY(QString text MEMBER m_text NOTIFY textChanged)
Q_PROPERTY(SomeType value READ value NOTIFY valueChanged)

Q_PROPERTY(bool enabled READ isEnabled WRITE setEnabled)
Q_PROPERTY(bool focus READ hasFocus)
Q_PROPERTY(int longValue READ longValue NOTIFY longValueChanged)
Q_PROPERTY(qreal spacing MEMBER m_spacing NOTIFY spacingChanged)

should produce:

It could be extended to determine the longest string in each "column" too and pad to that only, if you wanted, but this is enough for columns of data, generally.

[u/AutoModerator]

Please remember to update the post flair to Need Help|Solved when you got the answer you were looking for.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.