I need to annotate a text file, so I would like to add a |
pipe character to the end of each line to put my annotations relatively close to the original text. Each line is up to 72 characters in length. How might I move to the 74th character of the line, even if the line itself is shorter (i.e. add spaces if needed)?
My current solution is to simply add 72 spaces to the line, then to move to position 74 and delete the remaining spaces. Is there not a more elegant method in VIM?
My current (inelegant) macro:
qq$74a<space><esc>74|i|<esc>lDjq
I'm currently using VIM 8.0.133 on CentOS 7.3.