Re: I need to fool vim to think buffer starts at column n

On 2018-12-03, Magnus Woldrich wrote:
> Hi list,
>
> I'd like to stop vim from modifying the first n columns of a buffer, no
> matter what I do in it.
>
> Consider the following data, where the number isn't vims internal line
> numbers, but actual data:
>
> 50 ./bin/
> 51 ./cgi/
> 52 ./dev/
> 53 ./devlaleh/
> 54 ./emu/
> 55 ./etc/
>
> Now, I'd want to perform any action in this buffer, for example a simple:
>
> :%s/ /_/
>
> and I need vim to *think* that the buffer starts at column 9.
>
> I know that I can solve this with mappings and functions, but this isn't
> an option in this case.
>
> How would I go about solving this please?

There are a couple of ways to do that.

One would be to delete the first 8 columns of the buffer into
a register, then put them back when you're done editing. E.g.,
in normal mode,

gg8|<C-v>0G"ad

where <C-v> is the single character Ctrl-V, do your editing, then

gg0"aP

Another would be to prefix your patterns with at atom that matches
after a specific column, e.g.,

:%s/\%>8c /_/

See

:help /\%>c

Regards,
Gary

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