tabular

Basic usage

:Tabularize /{pattern}

Select lines visually first (or let it detect the paragraph), then run the command.

Common patterns

Align by =

# before
foo = 1
longer_name = 2
x = 3

# :Tabularize /=

foo         = 1
longer_name = 2
x           = 3

Align by => (Ruby hashes)

# before
{ foo: 1, bar: 2 }
{ foo: 'a', longer_key: 'b' }

# :Tabularize /=>

{ foo:        => 1 }
{ longer_key  => 'b' }

Align by ,

:Tabularize /,

Align by :

:Tabularize /:\zs

\zs shifts the alignment point to after the :, keeping the colon attached to the left word.

Align Markdown tables

:Tabularize /|

Visual selection workflow

1. Visually select the lines to align (V + motion or Shift-V + mouse).
2. Run :Tabularize /=>

The selection is the most reliable way to scope alignment.

Lazy-loading note

Tabular lives in pack/bundles/opt/ and is loaded automatically the first time :Tabularize is invoked — no startup cost.