Hide (or fold) columns of text in (g)Vim (horizontally)

Question

is there a way to hide columns of a buffer (text file, you know what I mean) while editing it in Vim? e.g. text visible in the buffer before hiding column 2&3:

abbcccccc
accdddddd

And after hiding them:

acccccc
adddddd

(Not to mention I'm working with really huge files (sometimes over 200 gb).)

And yeah, I had found foldcol.vim, but it requires a patch, and I don't have gcc to compile it as a user on a server.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Cannot be done in stock vim; there is a conceal patch that has not been accepted. The most recent version is only for vim7, and not 7.2 (much less 7.2+patches), so it's probably best considered dead.

Answer 2

Is foldcol.vim maybe what you need? No clue if it works on your huge files though. 200 gb! Impressive in a geeky kind of way. =)

Answer 3

The best version I have seen so far is following:

https://github.com/paulhybryant/foldcol

this github project is based on http://vim.sourceforge.net/scripts/script.php?script_id=1161

however it has some improvements - it actually shows hidden column as '*'

it needs vim-maktaba plugin, so in order to install this in your vim, then do following:

add to your ~/.vimrc file :

" set the runtime path to include Vundle and initialize                                                    
set rtp+=~/.vim/bundle/Vundle.vim                                                                          
call vundle#begin()                                                                                        

" let Vundle manage Vundle, required                                                                       
Plugin 'VundleVim/Vundle.vim'                                                                              

" Install vim-maktaba plugin for plugin developers - used in foldcol                                       
Plugin 'google/vim-maktaba'                                                                                
" Install foldcol - folding columns using <ctrl-v> visual mark, then :VFoldCol                           
Plugin 'paulhybryant/foldcol'                                                                              

" All of your Plugins must be added before the following line                                              
call vundle#end()            " required

Notice the two plugins added in the vundle.begin -> vundle.end section ; the vim-maktaba and the foldcol

After adding this to your ~/.vimrc file then start vim as administrator or if you are running on ubuntu then write sudo vim

then write :PluginInstall and if needed then write your user and password for your GitHub account - this will give you access to downloading and installing vim plugins from github

example usage in terminal vim started; use <ctrl-v> and mark column :

it may seem cumbersome, however it is actually just adding two lines to your ~/.vimrc file and running :PluginInstall

enjoy