I have a file with following pattern

property1:  value1
property2:  value2
property3:  value3
property4:  value4
property5:  value5

Value could be ipv4/ipv6 ip address, number, string etc.

How can this be modified to something like using available text editor tools:

property1  "value1";
property2  "value2";
property3  "value3";
property4  "value4";
property5  "value5";

>Solution :

One simple way is to record a macro.

1. Place a cursor on first line, first column
2. Make sure you are in "normal" mode.
3. Start recording a macro into "q" register by typing "qq"
4. f:xwi"<Esc>$a";<Esc>0j
5. Stop recording by typing q
6. Transform next line by typing @q
7. Repeat macro by typing @@

You will see your file transforming.

Detailed explanation of step 4:

• f<char> moves the cursor to next occurence of . That’s how we get from the first column of the line to the index of :.
• x delete char under cursor.
• w moves us to next word, essentialy we are jumping over the whitespace
• i enters insert mode, so we can type new characters. We are inserting " and exiting insert mode by pressing Esc.
• $ gets us to the end of the line.
• a again enters insert mode, but cursor is placed after current position (essentialy $a means append to end of the line)
• We insert last chars "; and we again exit insert mode with Esc.
• 0 moves to the beginning of the line, and j moves one line down. This last step is so the macro can be repeated without much thinking.