How to write vertically?

Question

Lets say I want to produce the following text in my document:

%
%            Not Important
%    O ------------------------->
%    |
%  S |
%  o |
%  m |
%  e |
%    |
%  M |
%  s |
%  g |
%    |
%    V

Is there any easy way of writing the "Some Msg" vertically as above without having to manually insert each character in each line?

Answer 1

Really good solution would probably require some more work, but "not bad" is not very hard to achieve.

Idea

All we need is to move one line down after each character, so let's do just that via InsertCharPre auto-command!

Code

Put it into .vimrc or better yet to some file under plugin/ directory.

" enters insert mode to write vertically
function! VertStart()
    augroup Vert
        autocmd!
        " handles each entered character and moves cursor down
        autocmd InsertCharPre * call feedkeys("\<left>\<down>", 'n')
        autocmd InsertLeave * call VertEnd()
    augroup END

    inoremap <BS> <Up><Del>
    startinsert
endfunction

" cleans up on leaving insert mode
function! VertEnd()
    iunmap <BS>
    augroup Vert
        autocmd!
    augroup END
endfunction

" command to start writing vertically
command! Vert call VertStart()

Usage

Enter :Vert command to start writing vertically. Leaving insert mode automatically disables this "mode". Of course, you can map it to a shortcut if you need to use this command often.

Known Issues

1. Vertical writing won't be disabled if you leave insert mode via Ctrl-C (this is a result of Ctrl-C being implemented in a slightly strange way with regard to InsertLeave event, which is not fired; thus using the key requires one to be careful).

Answer 2

You can type as usual and then convert the current horizontal text into vertical by using substitution in Vim as follow (applies to the current line):

:s/\(.\)/\1\r/g

Or much easier to remember method is to execute one of the following commands (for all lines):

:%!fold -w1
:%!grep -o .

To apply only for the current line or more lines, precede with V, expand the area for more lines if needed, and execute above (but without %).

^{For PowerShell on Windows, check the substitution for fold.}

To define simple key mapping (e.g. F2), try the following:

:nnoremap <F2> V:!fold -w1<CR>

Then type something and press F2 to make the text vertical, simple as that.

---

Other alternative is to set automatic word wrapping, e.g.

:set tw=1 " textwidth
:set formatoptions+=t

That will automatically wrap text as close to 1 character as white space allows. The disadvantage is that each letter needs to be followed by space (so it's almost the same as you would be pressing Enter

Answer 3

I find that macros are an awesome way to do unusual stuff if you are interested in doing that no more than once in a blue moon. Let's say you have the following table:

%
%            Not Important
%    O ------------------------->
%    | Stuff in side the table
%  S |
%  o | So you can't just write your
%  m |
%  e | text and transform it into
%    |
%  M | the shape that you want
%  s |
%  g | Macros help here
%    |
%    V

And let's say you want to replace Some Msg with Other Message. First off, let's extend the table for the extra character (line before last yy5p:

%
%            Not Important
%    O ------------------------->
%    | Stuff in side the table
%  S |
%  o | So you can't just write your
%  m |
%  e | text and transform it into
%    |
%  M | the shape that you want
%  s |
%  g | Macros help here
%    |
%    |
%    |
%    |
%    |
%    |
%    V

The macro I'm going to come up with is going to take care of converting the text from horizontal to vertical while replacing the old text. Start by typing the text in the first location (cursor is at the end of Other Message):

%
%            Not Important
%    O ------------------------->
%    | Stuff in side the table
%  SOther Message |
%  o | So you can't just write your
%  m |
%  e | text and transform it into
%    |
%  M | the shape that you want
%  s |
%  g | Macros help here
%    |
%    |
%    |
%    |
%    |
%    |
%    V

Record the following macro:

• qq: start recording macro named q
• ^: go to beginning of line
• 3l: move to the column where the text is going to be placed
• x: delete the old character
• l: move right, leaving one character from the message in place of the old character:
• v: go to visual mode
• f|: jump to |
• 2h: move back two characters
• d: cut selection
• j: move down
• P: paste before cursor
• q: terminate recording the macro

At this point you have:

%
%            Not Important
%    O ------------------------->
%    | Stuff in side the table
%  O |
%  other Message | So you can't just write your
%  m |
%  e | text and transform it into
%    |
%  M | the shape that you want
%  s |
%  g | Macros help here
%    |
%    |
%    |
%    |
%    |
%    |
%    V

Repeat the macro enough number of times (i.e, the number of characters, but you don't need to know it in advance. Just underestimate, and continue once you see how close your estimate was). So let's go with 10@q. You get:

%
%            Not Important
%    O ------------------------->
%    | Stuff in side the table
%  O |
%  t | So you can't just write your
%  h |
%  e | text and transform it into
%  r |
%    | the shape that you want
%  M |
%  e | Macros help here
%  s |
%  s |
%  a |
%   ge |
%    |
%    |
%    V

Ok, one more (@q):

%
%            Not Important
%    O ------------------------->
%    | Stuff in side the table
%  O |
%  t | So you can't just write your
%  h |
%  e | text and transform it into
%  r |
%    | the shape that you want
%  M |
%  e | Macros help here
%  s |
%  s |
%  a |
%  g |
%   e |
%    |
%    V

Your cursor is now on the last e. The macro doesn't work well with the last letter (you can try with @q and then u (undo) for unsatisfactory results). Simply adjust it yourself (X for backspace).