Column Mode editing

Editing rectangular areas

A special way of editing files is column mode editing. This means that text can be selected in columns, rather than rows (effectively meaning 'vertical editing'). The column editing support is done via Scintilla, but with a few supplements of Notepad++. To initiate a Column mode selection, depress the Alt key (default) when selecting text (using mouse or cursor keys), moving the cursor downwards or upwards as needed. This works best if a non-proportional (monospaced) font is used, because then each character will be visually aligned with the ones in the same column above and below it (refer to Styler Configurator for more information).

When text is selected in this so called rectangilar mode, typing will change each selected column of characters into the typed character, or insert such a column. Use the ESC key to exit this special typing mode. To back up one column, use the Edit->Undo feature, instead of the Backspace key.

Before typing "done"	After typing "dne"

The column editor

The Column Editor dialog is designed to make working with columns easier. It can be opened by selecting Edit->Column Editor.

There are two types of insertions that the column editor supports, regular text or number sequences.

• By selecting the Text to insert option, it will overwrite each selected row with the given text.
• The Number to insert option will change each selected row into a numeric value, depending on the parameters given:
  • The Initial number is the first number to be inserted.
  • The Increase by value gives the value by which each consecutive number will increase.
  • If the Leading zeros option is checked, smaller values will be padded with zeros to make them the same size as larger values, character wise.
  • Finally, you can choose which radix to use for numbers (Format), default is Decimal (10 base).