Vim multiline editing like in sublimetext?

Do yourself a favor by dropping the Windows compatibility layer.

The normal shortcut for entering Visual-Block mode is <C-v>.

Others have dealt with recording macros, here are a few other ideas:

Using only visual-block mode.

1. Put the cursor on the second word:

   asd |a|sd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   

2. Hit <C-v> to enter visual-block mode and expand your selection toward the bottom:

   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   asd [a]sd asd asd asd;
   

3. Hit I"<Esc> to obtain:

   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   

4. Put the cursor on the last char of the third word:

   asd "asd as|d| asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   asd "asd asd asd asd;
   

5. Hit <C-v> to enter visual-block mode and expand your selection toward the bottom:

   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   asd "asd as[d] asd asd;
   

6. Hit A"<Esc> to obtain:

   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   

With visual-block mode and Surround.vim.

1. Put the cursor on the second word:

   asd |a|sd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   asd asd asd asd asd;
   

2. Hit <C-v> to enter visual-block mode and expand your selection toward the bottom and the right:

   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   asd [asd asd] asd asd;
   

3. Hit S" to surround your selection with ":

   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   

With visual-line mode and :normal.

1. Hit V to select the whole line and expand it toward the bottom:

   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   [asd asd asd asd asd;]
   

2. Execute this command: :'<,'>norm ^wi"<C-v><Esc>eea"<CR> to obtain:

   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   asd "asd asd" asd asd;
   

   • :norm[al] allows you to execute normal mode commands on a range of lines (the '<,'> part is added automatically by Vim and means "act on the selected area")

   • ^ puts the cursor on the first char of the line

   • w moves to the next word

   • i" inserts a " before the cursor

   • <C-v><Esc> is Vim's way to input a control character in this context, here it's <Esc> used to exit insert mode

   • ee moves to the end of the next word

   • a" appends a " after the cursor

   • <CR> executes the command

   Using Surround.vim, the command above becomes

   :'<,'>norm ^wvees"<CR>
   

Those are some good out-of-the box solutions given above, but we can also try some plugins which provide multiple cursors like Sublime.

I think this one looks promising:

• https://github.com/terryma/vim-multiple-cursors

It seemed abandoned for a while, but has had some contributions in 2014.

It is quite powerful, although it took me a little while to get used to the flow (which is quite Sublime-like but still modal like Vim).

In my experience if you have a lot of other plugins installed, you may meet some conflicts!

There are some others attempts at this feature:

• https://github.com/osyo-manga/vim-over (search-replace only, but with live preview)
• https://github.com/paradigm/vim-multicursor
• https://github.com/felixr/vim-multiedit
• https://github.com/hlissner/vim-multiedit (based on the previous)
• https://github.com/adinapoli/vim-markmultiple
• https://github.com/AndrewRadev/multichange.vim

Please feel free to edit if you notice any of these undergoing improvement.

There are several ways to accomplish that in Vim. I don't know which are most similar to Sublime Text's though.

The first one would be via multiline insert mode. Put your cursor to the second "a" in the first line, press Ctrl-V, select all lines, then press I, and put in a doublequote. Pressing <esc> will repeat the operation on every line.

The second one is via macros. Put the cursor on the first character, and start recording a macro with qa. Go the your right with llll, enter insert mode with a, put down a doublequote, exit insert mode, and go back to the beginning of your row with <home> (or equivalent). Press j to move down one row. Stop recording with q. And then replay the macro with @a. Several times.

Does any of the above approaches work for you?

if you use the "global" command, you can repeat what you can do on one online an any number of lines.

:g/<search>/.<your ex command>

example:

:g/foo/.s/bar/baz/g

The above command finds all lines that have foo, and replace all occurrences of bar on that line with baz.

:g/.*/

will do on every line