Ragged ends and block change
In a block, $ reaches the end of every line, so $A appends to ragged rows; c changes the block on every line and r fills it with one character.
Friday, 12:20 p.m. The old import tool the investors' accountants use wants a semicolon at the end of every row. The rows are every length there is. And while you're in there: the export wrote last year's year on every date, and the phone numbers have to be masked before the file leaves the building.
Three column jobs, and the first one has no column.
Warm-up from earlier chapters
Two from earlier chapters, from memory, before the new idea. Two wrong tries show the answer.
! after a block one character wide, on this line and the next.! after a block one character wide, on this line and the next.Follow each line to its end
In a block, $ pulls the right edge of the highlight out to the end of every line, however long each one is. Then A writes after that ragged edge: Ctrl-v, down to the last row, $, A, ;, Esc, and every row ends in a semicolon.
2201,al-pastor,1,9.50,delivered2202,veggie,1,8.25,late2203,carnitas,3,10.00,delivered2201,al-pastor,1,9.50,delivered;2202,veggie,1,8.25,late;2203,carnitas,3,10.00,delivered;Semicolons
Five rows, five lengths, one semicolon at the end of each. Ctrl-v, down, $A.
This exercise needs a keyboard. Read on, and play it at your computer.
Without the dollar
A block one column wide sits on the c of the first line and runs down three lines. You press A, type ; and Esc, without $. What happens to the short middle line a?
Write over the highlight
c on a block changes it on every line: the highlighted text goes, you type the new text once, and Esc writes it into every line. The year in a fixed-width date is the classic case: a block over 2025 four lines deep, c, 2026, Esc.
This year
Every date says 2025. A block over the year on all five rows, c, and the right year.
The first exercise of every lesson is free. Pro unlocks the rest, every track, for good.
See ProThis exercise needs a keyboard. Read on, and play it at your computer.
One character in every cell
r followed by a character fills every cell of the block with it, on every line, no Esc needed. d or x cuts the block out entirely. Masking a column of phone numbers is r* on a block over the digits.
Mask the phones
The phone numbers line up in one column. A block over all eight characters of each, four rows deep, then r*.
The first exercise of every lesson is free. Pro unlocks the rest, every track, for good.
See ProThis exercise needs a keyboard. Read on, and play it at your computer.
A column that only looks like one
Here the date comes after the item name. A block four wide starts on the first 2025 and runs down three rows; you press c, type 2026 and Esc. What does the veggie row become?
Years that don't line up
The payment provider's refunds file has the same wrong year, but its dates come after the item names, so they don't line up. A block is the wrong tool here. Each year is a word of its own, though: change one, and repeat it on the others.
Stuck? Show a hint
The first exercise of every lesson is free. Pro unlocks the rest, every track, for good.
See ProThis exercise needs a keyboard. Read on, and play it at your computer.
Ragged and rectangular, from memory
Press the keys.
; to the end of this line and the two below, all different lengths.; to the end of this line and the two below, all different lengths.Ends and columns
Eight runs of lines missing an ending or a prefix, across the codebase.
The first exercise of every lesson is free. Pro unlocks the rest, every track, for good.
See ProThis exercise needs a keyboard. Read on, and play it at your computer.
The import file
1:00. The file for the old import tool, top to bottom by column: the year on every date becomes 2026, the phone numbers get masked with *, and every row ends in a semicolon. Check the columns line up before you trust a block.
Stuck? Show a hint
The first exercise of every lesson is free. Pro unlocks the rest, every track, for good.
See ProThis exercise needs a keyboard. Read on, and play it at your computer.
Extra practice optional
The chapter is done. These rounds keep going as long as you like: stop whenever it stops being useful.
Ragged, endlessly
Endless runs of lines missing the same ending.
The first exercise of every lesson is free. Pro unlocks the rest, every track, for good.
See ProThis exercise needs a keyboard. Read on, and play it at your computer.