It's called "column mode editing". Look here:
Column mode editing (rectangular selections)
There is basic support for column mode editing. To use it, create a rectangular selection by holding down the Control and Shift keys (or Alt and Shift on Windows) while selecting some text. Once a rectangular selection exists you can start editing the text within this selection and the modifications will be done for every line in the selection.
It is also possible to create a zero-column selection - this is useful to insert text on multiple lines.