Hey All,

I’ve got lines like this:

bibbity
boo
bobbity
yo

And I want to turn those into:

bibbity     : zip
boo         : zoobity
bobbity     : zop
yo          : pudding

(Note the pretty alignment.)

My instinct is to do column select along the right side of my original lines & then start typing, but the select follows the ragged right edge of the lines if you know what I mean, so it’s not easy to type nicely aligned colons.

Is there a way to get sublime to stay in the same column as I extend the selection downward, whether or not the text on the lines reaches that far, and have it insert spaces to make up any short lines. Or am I doomed to have to visit each line & do my own space-padding manually?

If anyone can tell what the heck I’m trying to ask…

Thanks!

-Roy

I use this plugin:
wbond.net/sublime_packages/alignment
I make my column selection on the ragged edge, hit cmd+option+a (that’s what I’ve bound it to) and then everything’s aligned like magic.

Thanks much for the response! That doesn’t actually work for the example I gave (I guess b/c of the colons?) but that example is of course made-up–most times it is equal signs I want to align around. So this is a 95% fix for me…

Thanks!

-Roy

While the alignment plugin will align equals signs in one selection, it will also will align selections on multiple lines. This second case is the one that’s relevant to you: column select along the right (or select all the lines, cmd+shift+l, cmd+right), press your “align” shortcut, then press ": " and all you have left to do is write out your puddings.

Ah, that’s perfect–many thanks!