Is it possible to use the :put Ex command using column numbers?

Question

The documentation for :put says that the command accepts a line. That is, it puts the content after the line specified. Is it possible to put the content at a particular mark?

For example, say I am in the middle of refactoring an anonymous JavaScript function into a named JavaScript function. I have the following in-process code (mid-refactoring), and I want to move the anonymous function to before the semi-colon on line 2.

function createClickListener(element) {
    return ;
}

var listener = createClickListener(element);
element.addEventListener('click', function() {
    alert("You clicked the element!");
}, false);

In normal mode, I can place my cursor at the beginning of f in the anonymous function, type "fc/}/e (followed by the <enter> key) to cut the anonymous function into the named register f and enter insert mode, and then type listener.

However, in order to put the code on line 2, I have to move the cursor to the semi-colon then type "fp. If I were to do this with the :put command (e.g., :2put f) the anonymous function would be placed after line 2.

Is it possible to use the :put command to put content mid-line or at a mark? Or is there an alternative (or better) way of doing this (I guess I could jump using marks more...)?

Answer 1

No, it's not. You'll have to use other means:

• go to the right position and use p or P normal mode commands thanks to :normal -> :normal! P for instance. You may need first to put your variable into a register.
• you could insert the new thing at cursor position also thanks to :exe "normal! i".the_string. But you may have to fight against automatic indentation.
• obtain the line with getline(line_nr) do your computations and write it back with :call setline(line_nr, new_line). But that'll be extremely tricky to use if you want to move several lines, and if you have multi-bytes characters.
• use :substitute along with column specifications -> :2s/\%42c./\=a_string_variable.submatch(0)/. See :h /\%c and :h :s\=. I suspect, you'll have to reindent what have been modified afterwards as well.

Answer 2

Use :[range]g/.*/put

where [range] is what ex accepts (ie. n,m, %, .,$, etc.).