Re: Quick insert of characters into a column?

[Ken Goldman <kgold@watson.ibm.com>]

Search the docs for 'rectangle'

Specifically

C-x r t runs the command string-rectangle
    which is an interactive compiled Lisp function in `rect'.
(string-rectangle START END STRING)

Replace rectangle contents with STRING on each line.
The length of STRING need not be the same as the rectangle width.

Chad wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm using emacs to edit a latex file to create a table with many rows,
> say 20.  I need to insert & to separate the columns, so I need a
> column of 20 ampersands.
> 
> What is the quickest way to do this?  I'd like to highlight a region
> (column) and then tell emacs to insert the ampersand into that region,
> but I can't figure out how to do this.
> 
> Thanks for your help!
> 
> Chad