Aligning Text

Vim has built-in capability to align text within the buffer:

Each command follows the signature:

:[range]{command} [width]

Where:

• optional range is the range of lines to align. The default range is the current line, and can be set by visual selection.

• command is one of left, center, right

• optional width specifies the number of columns to align the content within for center and right (default the width of the window), and the number of columns of indentation for left (default 0).

These will become clear with a few simple examples, using the following buffer:

First, lets center the entire buffer within the width of the window:

Next, lets right-align the text to a width of 40 columns:

Finally, lets left-align the buffer with an indentation of 4 columns: