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copied!<p>You can use the <code>:s</code> command with the <code>\=</code> aka sub-replace-expression.</p> <pre><code>:s#\v^\s*\S+\zs(\s+)(.{-})(\s+)\ze\S+\s*$#\=substitute(submatch(1).submatch(3),'\v^(\s*)(\1\s=)$','\1'.escape(submatch(2),'~&\').'\2','')# </code></pre> <p><strong>Overview</strong></p> <p>Capture the text (including white-space) between the <code>>>></code> and <code><<<</code> marks. Divide up the white-space on both sides of the text in half and substitute in the non-white-space text in between. This white-space balancing act is done via the regex engine's backtracking because math is hard. Lets go shopping!</p> <p>Notes:</p> <ul> <li>using <code>\v</code> or <code>very magic</code> mode to reduce escaping as this command is long enough already</li> <li>use <code>#</code> as an alternative separator instead of the usual <code>/</code> for <code>:s/pat/sub/</code> in hopes to make it slightly more readable</li> </ul> <p><strong>Matching Pattern</strong></p> <pre><code>:s#\v^\s*\S+\zs(\s+)(.{-})(\s+)\ze\S+\s*$#... </code></pre> <ul> <li><code>:s</code> with no range supplied only do the substitution on the current line.</li> <li><code>^\s*\S+</code> match the starting white-space followed by non-white-space. <code>>>></code> in this case.</li> <li><code>(\s+)(.{-})(\s+)</code> match white-space followed by the "text" followed by white-space</li> <li>3 capture groups: 1) leading white-space, 2) the "text", and 3) trailing white-space. These will be later referenced by <code>submatch(1)</code>, <code>submatch(2)</code>, and <code>submatch(3)</code> respectively</li> <li><code>.{-}</code> is vim-speak for non-greedy matching or <code>.*?</code> in perl-speak</li> <li>without the non-greedy matching the second capture group would include too much white-space at its end</li> <li><code>\S+\s*$</code> match the non-white-space (i.e. <code><<<</code>) and any trailing white-space</li> <li>Use <code>\zs</code> and <code>ze</code> to designate the start and end of the match to be replaced</li> </ul> <p><strong>Replacement</strong></p> <pre><code>\=substitute(submatch(1).submatch(3),'\v^(\s*)(\1\s=)$','\1'.escape(submatch(2),'~&\').'\2','') </code></pre> <ul> <li><code>\=</code> tells vim that replacement will be a vim expression. Also allows the use of <code>submatch()</code> functions</li> <li><code>substitute({str}, {pat}, {sub}, {flags})</code> Our expression will be a nested substitution</li> <li><code>substitute(submatch(1).submatch(3), ...)</code> do a substitute over the concatenation of leading and trailing white-spacing captured in <code>submatch(1)</code> and <code>submatch(3)</code></li> <li>The <code>{pat}</code> is <code>^(\s*)(\1\s=)$</code>. Match some white-space followed by white-space of the same length as the first or 1 character longer. Capture both halves.</li> <li><code>escape(submatch(2),'~&\')</code> escape <code>submatch(2)</code> for any special characters. e.g. <code>~</code>,<code>&</code>,<code>\1</code>, ...</li> <li>The <code>{sub}</code> is <code>'\1'.escape(submatch(2),'~&\').'\2'</code>. Replace with the the escaped <code>submatch(2)</code> (i.e. the "text" we want to center) in between the halves of white-space, <code>\1</code> and <code>\2</code> from the <code>{pat}</code></li> <li>No <code>{flag}</code>'s are needed so <code>''</code></li> </ul> <p><strong>Usage</strong></p> <p>If you use this often I would suggest creating a command and putting it in <code>~/.vimrc</code>. </p> <pre><code>command! -range -bar -nargs=0 CenterBetween <line1>,<line2>s#\v^\s*\S+\zs(\s+)(.{-})(\s+)\ze\S+\s*$#\=substitute(submatch(1).submatch(3),'\v^(\s*)(\1\s=)$','\1'.submatch(2).'\2','')#` </code></pre> <p>Otherwise use this once and then repeat the last substitution via <code>&</code> on each needed line.</p> <p><strong>For more help see</strong></p> <pre><code>:h :s/ :h :s/\= :h sub-replace-\= :h submatch( :h substitute( :h escape( :h /\v :h /\S :h /\{- :h /\zs :h & </code></pre> <p><strong>EDIT by Kent</strong></p> <p>Don't be jealous, your answer has it too. ^_^</p> <p>I didn't change the command, just cp/paste to my vim. only add <code>|noh</code> at the end to disable highlighting.</p> <p>If execute this command, it looks like:</p> <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/q4lkP.gif" alt="enter image description here"></p>

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