Incrementing and Decrementing Numbers

Vim · 21. 3. 2020 · [edit]

Some of you might know that pressing <C-a>/<C-x> in command mode increases/decreases the next number on the line the cursor is currently on:

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There is 12 apples. -<C-a>-> There is 13 apples.

But did you also know that it can handle other bases and even alphabetical characters (worked for me but might need to be configured – see this wiki article):

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There is 0b1100 apples. -<C-a>-> There is 0b1101 apples.
There is 0xc apples. -<C-x>-> There is 0xb apples.
This is 'a'. -<C-a>-> This is 'b'.

Equipped with this knowledge, one can easily add to and subtract from any number (10<C-a>), create a list of numbers in a given base (a relatively simple macro), play around with caesar cypers and generally do many things that would likely not be possible in other text editors.