How can I replace a word in a column without changing the width

Question

I'm writing cucumber example tables, which are formatted like this:

| title   | title  |
| data    | data   |
| data    | data   |

How can I replace one of the data or title cells with a word of differing length without disturbing the layout?

Answer 1

If you were using Vim them you could use some alignment plugin, as mentioned on the question comments. Or you could use the vimwiki plugin, which provides several helpers to use tables.

As you are using VsVim, you could try to isolate the table formatting function in vimwiki/autoload/vimwiki/tbl.vim and adapt it in a VsVim plugin:

function! vimwiki#tbl#format(lnum, ...) "{{{
  if !(&filetype ==? 'vimwiki')
    return
  endif
  let line = getline(a:lnum)
  if !s:is_table(line)
    return
  endif

  if a:0 == 2
    let col1 = a:1
    let col2 = a:2
  else
    let col1 = 0
    let col2 = 0
  endif

  let indent = s:get_indent(a:lnum)
  if &expandtab
    let indentstring = repeat(' ', indent)
  else
    let indentstring = repeat(' ', indent / &tabstop) . repeat(' ', indent % &tabstop)
  endif

  for [lnum, row] in s:get_aligned_rows(a:lnum, col1, col2)
    let row = indentstring.row
    call setline(lnum, row)
  endfor

  let &tw = s:textwidth
endfunction "}}}

Answer 2

Just copy paste the below functions (https://github.com/imbichie/vim-vimrc-/blob/master/MCCB_MCCE.vim) in your .vimrc or .gvimrc file and call the MCCB or MCCE function.

" MCCB - Move the Character to the Column from the Begin of line
" This is a function for Moving the specified Character 
" in a given range of lines to a the specified Column from the Begin of the line
" NOTE 1 :- If the specified character and the first character of the line are same
"           then the number of Occurrence (num_occr) will be one less than the actual
" NOTE 2 :- Maximum space between the specified character with in the range 
"           of lines should be less than or equal to 80, if we need more than 80
"           then we need to insert more spaces by increasing the value 80 in the 
"           "nmap s 80i <ESC>" line inside the function
" Usage :-  in command mode do it like below
" Eg 1:-    :5,11call MCCB(1, '=', 8)
"           The above command will move the 1st Occurrence from the begin of Character =
"           to the 8th Column of the lines from 5 to 11
" Eg 2 :-   :7,10call MCCB(2, '+', 12)
"           The above command will move the 2nd Occurrence of Character + to the 12th
"           Column of the lines from 7 to 10
    function! MCCB (num_occr, mv_char, col_num) range
        if (a:firstline <= a:lastline)
            nmap s 80i <ESC>
            let line_num = a:firstline
            while line_num <= a:lastline
                execute "normal " . line_num . "G0" . a:num_occr . "f" . a:mv_char . "s" . a:col_num . "|dw"
                let line_num = line_num + 1
            endwhile
            nunmap s
        else
            execute printf('ERROR : Start line %d is higher thatn End line %d, a:firstline, a:lastline)
        endif
    endfunction

" MCCE - Move the Character to the Column from the End of line
" This is a function for Moving the specified Character 
" in a given range of lines to a the specified Column from the End of the line
" NOTE 1 :- If the specified character and the last character of the line are same
"           then the number of Occurrence (num_occr) will be one less than the actual
" NOTE 2 :- Maximum space between the specified character with in the range 
"           of lines should be less than or equal to 80, if we need more than 80
"           then we need to insert more spaces by increasing the value 80 in the 
"           "nmap s 80i <ESC>" line inside the function
" Usage :-  in command mode do it like below
" Eg 1:-    :5,11call MCCE(1, ';', 20)
"           The above command will move the 1st Occurrence from the End of Character ;
"           to the 20th Column of the lines from 5 to 11
" Eg 2 :-   :7,10call MCCE(5, ' ', 26)
"           The above command will move the 5th Occurrence from the End of Character " " (white Space)
"           to the 26th Column of the lines from 7 to 10
    function! MCCE (num_occr, mv_char, col_num) range
        if (a:firstline <= a:lastline)
            nmap s 80i <ESC>
            let line_num = a:firstline
            while line_num <= a:lastline
                execute "normal " . line_num . "G$" . a:num_occr . "F" . a:mv_char . "s" . a:col_num . "|dw"
                let line_num = line_num + 1
            endwhile
            nunmap s
        else
            execute printf('ERROR : Start line %d is higher thatn End line %d, a:firstline, a:lastline)
        endif
    endfunction

Answer 3

For what you've asked, there may be a simpler solution than employing alignment plugins. What you need is a text object for table cells:

For reference: http://learnvimscriptthehardway.stevelosh.com/chapters/15.html

onoremap ic :<c-u>normal! T\|vt\|<cr>                                                                                                                                                                             
onoremap ac :<c-u>normal! F\|vf\|<cr>

I noticed the ic, ac (mnemonic: inside cell, around cell) objects are free, but you can of course change them to i| a|.

Then for changing the content of a cell, just press cic or combine with whatever operator you need. (dac : delete a cell)

For completeness, i found a mapping useful which creates a separator row:

inoremap \|\| <Esc>kyyp:s/\v[^\|]/-/g<CR>:nohlsearch<CR>                                                                                                                                                           

So that you can press || while starting a new row to copy the line above and essentially replace anything but pipes with a dash.