Insert a column of text with sublime text 3

Question

How do I cut and paste a column of text in Sublime text 3 -

For example:

File A

Alpha
Beta
Gamma
Delta

File B

AAA
BB
CCCCC

I want to end up with file B having

Alpha AAA
Beta  BB
Gamma CCCCC
Delta

score 24 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 17 '14 at 22:16

24

Select and copy the lines on File B you want to copy. Move to File A, select the lines you wish to copy into. Press Ctrl+Shift+L to split your selection into a multiple line selection, move the cursors to wherever you want and paste.

The one limitation of this is that the cursors will keep their relative positions, you may not want this. Perhaps you want them all to remain in a fixed column.

Hold down the middle mouse button and drag to select one or many columns of text, again press Ctrl+Shift+L to split your selection into lines and proceed as before.

answered Jan 17 '14 at 22:16

owl

414
2
4

1

Fantastic! Thank you. For those on Mac: use Command-Shift-L to get Selection > Split into Lines. Also might be worth adding that 'move the cursors to wherever you want' is generally going to mean 'press the right arrow key' :). – Sam Dutton Oct 29 '14 at 11:44
1

That's much better than the accepted answer. – ﾤﾡ Feb 06 '18 at 21:59
2

I think I am missing something: Each time I paste, the full content of `B` appears at each selected location of `A`. – Martin R. Mar 15 '18 at 10:40
After the split line command you have to copy again. – some-non-descript-user Sep 21 '18 at 07:28
1

@MartinR. This happens if the number of lines selected does not match the number of lines pasted. – juanitogan May 08 '19 at 07:28
2

@juanitogan Thank you! Your comment saved my butt. I didn't realize **it's so imperative that the copied number of lines match the destination number of paste lines.** – elbowlobstercowstand Sep 04 '19 at 21:11
thank you @MartinR. , repeatedly failed until i read your note. – nd34567s32e Jan 11 '21 at 14:54

score 17 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 16 '21 at 07:32

17

First, select the lines in File B that you want copied. Note the number X of lines (this should be displayed on the bottom of your screen).

Second, select the first X lines of File A so that there is a cursor at the end. To do this:

move your cursor to the end of the first line,
go up to the Selection menu, and use the shortcut for Add Next Line until X lines are selected. On OSX, its controlshiftdown.

In this example, there will be 3 cursors at the end of File A that look like this:

Alpha|
Beta|
Gamma|
Delta

Finally, press tab once, then paste your lines. You should have the results you want.

Because of the way this is done, its easier to paste into File A. However, if you really want to paste into file B or some other file, just copy the lines in File A into the target file before you start, and do the same process.

edited Jan 16 '21 at 07:32

Basj

1,489
7
47
90

answered Jan 15 '14 at 16:38

LMNOP

322
2
5

1

I'm accepting your answer as it answers my question as stated. Unfortunately I was really after something a bit more like the column insert available in other editors like Notepadd++ or Visual Studio but it looks like there is no simple way to do this in Sublime. I don't think your solution would work if I wanted to insert the column into the middle of line rather than at the end. Also I got some odd results on windows when I tried extending the line selection down through a ragged set of lines. I didn't have time to investigate this further for now. – Mike Jan 17 '14 at 11:13
Was searching for this answer, couldn't make it happen with sublime, atom, visual studio code; however, Visual Studio came to the rescue thanks to your comment!. – oyalhi Jul 05 '17 at 09:07

score 12 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 03 '15 at 20:27

12

Steps:

Go to File B, and enter multi-selection (⌘+⇧+L OR Ctrl+shift+ L) on
```
AAA
BB
CCCCC
```
making sure everything is selected, and not just parts of the lines you want to copy.
While in multi-selection mode, copy (⌘+C OR Ctrl+C)
```
AAA|
BB|
CCCCC|
```
Go to File A, and make sure to enter multi-selection on exactly the same number of lines (in this case 3).
```
Alpha|
Beta|
Gamma|
Delta
```
Paste (⌘+V OR Ctrl+V) & voilà :)

Let me know if this works for you!

edited Aug 03 '15 at 20:27

antoine

143
3

answered Jan 07 '15 at 10:51

Q8i

221
2
5

This worked perfect for me. – jefffan24 Jan 07 '15 at 19:29
@Q80, I asked a follow-up question http://superuser.com/q/930035/319136, Could you answer if you know the solution please? Thx – nehem Jun 19 '15 at 16:41

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered May 27 '15 at 21:43

2

Little late but found this package on SublimeText forum called Paste as Column. You can find it in Package Control.

Works well, at least enough to get the data in the right area

RE: Original Forum page: https://www.sublimetext.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10008

answered May 27 '15 at 21:43

Tab

121
2

way simpler. Works on ST3 and Mac, too. Note: once installed you use it by right clicking at the desired location and choosing `Paste in Column`, right top of dropdown menu. Another item that ST3, for the price, really should include and document out of the box. Couldn't get the CTRL/Command-Shift-L to work, or at least I didn't understand it well enough to. – JL Peyret Apr 11 '18 at 19:22

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 05 '17 at 05:47

go to file B -> do a multi line select, which on macos can be done by using option and mouse press and drag.

go to file A -> do a multi line select and paste.

What was confusing to me in the previous answers was, how to do the selection in the file B. I was doing a cmd+A, selecting everything.

So the only thing out of the obvious here is you have to do a multi line select in the file B.

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 05 '15 at 12:25

0

I found the simple solution in the manual

I just used my middle mouse button (see the manual for other options) to select my insertion point, and then I typed in what i wanted (or pasted it) and it worked.

answered Jul 05 '15 at 12:25

Vijay

1,120
13
31

Insert a column of text with sublime text 3

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