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- Newsgroups: comp.editors
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!darwin.sura.net!jvnc.net!princeton!sheps!bvaughan
- From: bvaughan@sheps.Princeton.EDU (Barbara Vaughan)
- Subject: Re: Arbitrary text blocks (Was: VI??? GROSS!)
- Message-ID: <1992Nov17.145011.24541@Princeton.EDU>
- Originator: news@nimaster
- Sender: news@Princeton.EDU (USENET News System)
- Nntp-Posting-Host: sheps.princeton.edu
- Organization: Princeton University
- References: <1992Nov16.065935.27173@rc.nokia.fi> <1992Nov16.221338.42264@datamark.co.nz>
- Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 14:50:11 GMT
- Lines: 47
-
- In article <1992Nov16.221338.42264@datamark.co.nz> david@datamark.co.nz (David Rowland) writes:
- >
- >I agree. I though vi was used for editing programs and text files. If
- >any one is looking for something which allows selecting rectangle
- >blocks and columns, shouldn't they be using a word processor or a
- >spread sheet???
- >
-
- Back in the days when I mostly worked with MSDOS and had a good editor
- that handled rectangular blocks easily, I used to use it to prepare data
- so I COULD read it into a spreadsheet or word processor. For instance, if
- I have a file of formatted data:
-
- 123456789
- 987654321
-
- I can use my editor to insert a column of blanks in front of each field so
- it can be read into a spreadsheet program:
-
- 12 34 56 78 9
- 98 76 54 32 1
-
- Or if I have some ugly SPSS CROSSTAB output, where cells are separated by
- dashes, plus signs and vertical bars:
-
- 1 | 23 |
- -----+----+
- | |
- 3 | 45 +
- -----+----+
-
- I can get rid of those vertical bar columns in a jiffy with a good
- editor, so that I can do the rest of the job of making a nice document in
- WordPerfect.
-
- I also found this feature useful when writing programs. Let's say I have
- a section of code I decide to make conditional, so I want to indent it to
- make an "if.. then.." block. I just insert a column of blanks in front of
- that section of code.
-
- There are other ways of doing all these things, but if you've ever used an
- editor that handles column blocks easily and quickly, believe me, you'll
- find lots of uses for the feature. Kedit recognized column blocks, line
- blocks and "sentence blocks", and once blocked, you could copy, move,
- delete, or fill with a character.
-
- Barbara Vaughan
-