Making ASCII Art in Vim
13 hours ago
- Use :set virtualedit=all to move the cursor beyond the end of a line, automatically filling whitespace when inserting.
- Visual block mode (Ctrl+v) allows inserting, erasing, or copying/pasting columns of text, such as adding squiggles or clearing a box.
- Copy and paste blocks in Visual block mode: use y to copy, then 1vP to paste over existing content without shifting.
- Record macros (e.g., qw) to repeat sequences of keystrokes, useful for repetitive tiling or drawing patterns.
- Enable mouse support with :set mouse=a to click and move the cursor anywhere in the window.
- Use :set list to visualize whitespace (e.g., dollar signs for line endings) and configure with listchars.
- The author emphasizes that no special tools are needed; a text editor with a fixed-width font is sufficient for ASCII art.