Replace text when in visual-block mode
Why don't you select 4 columns and hit c
?
<C-v>
2j
3l
cDone
<Esc>
Also, you could use :h normal
:
V
2j
:'<,'>norm 7lRDone
<Esc>
If you want to substitute within a visual block, you can use the vis.vim
plugin.
http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Applying_substitutes_to_a_visual_block
To install:
Download vis.vba.gz from http://www.drchip.org/astronaut/vim/index.html#VIS
# Open vis.vba.gz in Vim 7.1 or later.
vim vis.vba.gz
# Source the open file.
:so %
# Quit Vim
:q
Once installed:
ctrl-v to enter visual-block mode
Move to select the block you want
:B s/pattern/newtext/
Even better, you can perform any Ex command on the visual block, not just substitutions. For example :B !sort
.