Super Insert for Visual Studio Code

An extension to insert sequences, numbers, uuids or dates.

Table of Contents

Super Insert for Visual Studio Code

Why another `insert numbers` extension?

There are already quite a few extensions with similar features, but I prefer Excel’s formatting approach — it’s more intuitive, especially for non-programmers.

Furthermore, those extensions is not easy to extend, especially If I only want to insert same simple fixed sequences, e.g. Monday/Thuesday etc.

So I created my own tool. It supports:

Excel-like format
Inserting numbers or random numbers
Inserting dates
Inserting UUID or NanoID
Inserting built-in or custom sequences, and allows to add custom sequences by only configuring vscode settings

Installation

Search "Super Insert" in vscode Extensions pane or
Download from Visual Studio Marketplace or
Download from openvsx

Usage

Command: `Super insert: Number`

Insert numbers

Keybindings: (ctrl|cmd)+alt+n
Basic numbers
Decimals/Fraction numbers

Command: `Super insert: Random`

Insert random numbers

Random numbers

Command: `Super insert: Date`

Insert dates starts from now

Dates

Command: `Super insert: Sequences`

Insert built-in or custom sequences

Sequences

Command: `Super insert: UUID`

Insert uuid or guid

Command: `Super insert: NanoID`

Insert nano id

Command: `Super insert: (Shortcut)`

Do the insertion with predefined shortcuts

Keybindings: (ctrl|cmd)+alt+y

Command: `Super insert: (History)`

Do the insertion from input history, allows editing before run

History

Input

Usage	Input	Example	Output	Notes
Numbers	<start>:<step>:<format>	1:1:00#	001	formats documented in the following sections
		1:00#	001	Default step is 1
		1	1	Default step is 1
			0	Default start is 0, default step is 1
Randoms	<min>:<max>:<format>	1:100:#	32	Generate random numbers between 1 and 100, output with format #
		1:100	32.0225...	Generate random numbers between 1 and 100, output raw numbers
		100	32.0225...	Generate random numbers between 0 and 100, output raw numbers
			0.225...	Generate random numbers between 0 and 1, output raw numbers
Dates	<step>:<format>	1d:yyyy-mm-dd	2025-09-19	step can be numbers as seconds, or can be numbers with one of "dhms", e.g. d for days, h for hours, m for minutes, s for seconds
		yyyy-mm-dd	2025-09-19	Default step is 1d
		yyyy-mm-dd	2025-09-19	Default step is 1d
UUID	<format>	u	BAA60E3D-CF21...	u or U stands for upper case, default is lower case, { or } will force to add brackets around
Nano ID	<format>:<size>		YcWb_wDm4M_v6...	default size is 21. format can be: h means only use hex characters 0-9 and a-f, in this case, the default size is 10
		10	UHh-G_X3FZ	force size to 10
		h	3307f3d51e	default size is 10 for hex characters
Sequence	(one of the pre- or custom-defined sequence item)	Monday	Monday Tuesday …	There are built-in sequences or user defined sequences

Format

The format is controlled by a Excel cell format string, i.e. excel's TEXT function.

excel cell format

More please consult examples given in the Excel text function documentation.

Some of the Number format

Symbol	Inerpretation
#	A # is a placeholder for a digit, but it will not display if there are no digits to fill that place
0	A 0 forces to display a digit in that position, even if it is a leading or trailing zero.
%	A percent makes the value to be a percentage, e.g. 1 to be 100%
,	comma, numeric seperator, to make the result separate thousands
.	decimal separator
/	fraction seperator

Exampes:

Original	Fixed								Fraction
	#	0	0.00	00.0	#.##	0.##	0,0.## #,#00.##	#,#.## #,###.##	#/#	# #/#	# #/40
4000	4000	4000	4000.00	4000.0	4000.	4000.	4,000.	4,000.	4000/1	4000	4000
-8.8	-9	-9	-8.80	-08.8	-8.8	-8.8	-08.8	-8.8	-44/5	-8 4/5	-8 32/40
-5.6	-6	-6	-5.60	-05.6	-5.6	-5.6	-05.6	-5.6	-28/5	-5 3/5	-5 24/40
-2.4	-2	-2	-2.40	-02.4	-2.4	-2.4	-02.4	-2.4	-12/5	-2 2/5	-2 16/40
0.8	1	1	0.80	00.8	.8	0.8	00.8	.8	4/5	4/5	32/40
4	4	4	4.00	04.0	4.	4.	04.	4.	4/1	4	4
7.2	7	7	7.20	07.2	7.2	7.2	07.2	7.2	36/5	7 1/5	7 8/40

Original	Thousand and Percent			As Literal		Scientific			Literals
	#,k	#.#%	#,0.#%	,#.#-, ,,#.#-,	%#.#	0.00E+00	0.00E-0	##.#E-0	#-#.#	#"abc"#.#	#中#.#
4000	4k	400000.%	400,000.%	,4000.-,	%4000.	4.00E+3	4.00E3	40.E2	400-0.	400abc0.	400中0.
-8.8	-k	-880.%	-880.%	-,8.8-,	-%8.8	-8.80E+0	-8.80E0	-8.8E0	--8.8	-abc8.8	-中8.8
-5.6	-k	-560.%	-560.%	-,5.6-,	-%5.6	-5.60E+0	-5.60E0	-5.6E0	--5.6	-abc5.6	-中5.6
-2.4	-k	-240.%	-240.%	-,2.4-,	-%2.4	-2.40E+0	-2.40E0	-2.4E0	--2.4	-abc2.4	-中2.4
0.8	k	80.%	80.%	,.8-,	%.8	8.00E-1	8.00E-1	80.E-2	-.8	abc.8	中.8
4	k	400.%	400.%	,4.-,	%4.	4.00E+0	4.00E0	4.E0	-4.	abc4.	中4.
7.2	k	720.%	720.%	,7.2-,	%7.2	7.20E+0	7.20E0	7.2E0	-7.2	abc7.2	中7.2

Counting time examples: e.g. how may hours or minutes for n dates, n is the input number:

Original
	[h]	[m]	[h] m	[h] m s
4000	96000	5760000	96000 0	96000 0 0
-8.8	-211	-12672	-212 48	-212 48 0
-5.6	-134	-8064	-135 36	-135 36 0
-2.4	-57	-3456	-58 24	-58 24 0
0.8	19	1152	19 12	19 12 0
4	96	5760	96 0	96 0 0
7.2	172	10368	172 48	172 48 0

Note: Some versions of Excel will output "#####..." for negative numbers with format "[h] m" and "[h] m s"

Conditional format

Conditions can be specified in square brackets, like this: [<comparator> <numberic constant>]<format>, e.g. [>3]# (means value greater than 3 will be output as integer, that is 3.1 will be converted to "3", but 1.1 will remains "1.1"), which is called conditional format.

A format can contain multiple conditional formats, seperated by semi-colon. e.g. [>3]#;[<2]#.#;0.00 means value greater than 3 will use # format, less than 2 will use #.#, and others 0.00.

comparator listed below:

comparator	meaning	notes
<>	not equal
<=	less than or equal
<	less than
>=	greater than or equal
>	greater than
=	equal
%	mod, 0 for true, others for false	not supported by excel

Example:

Original
	1.5:0.5:[%1]#;#.#0
1.5	1.50
2	2
2.5	2.50
3	3
3.5	3.50
4	4

Some of the Date format

Symbol	Inerpretation
d	day of the month, as a single digit
dd	two-digit day of the month, possibly with a leading zero
ddd	Abbreviated day of the week, represented by the thee initial letters
dddd	Day of the week
m	single digit month number if the last seen symbol was a date part, otherwise single digit minute
mm	two-digit month number if the last seen symbols was a date part, otherwise two-digit minute
mmm	Abbreviated of the month, represented by the thee initial letters
mmmm	Month full name
y or yy	Two digit year
yyy+	Four digit year
h	single digit hour
hh+	two-digit hour, possibly with leading zero
s	single digit second
ss+	two-digit second
A/P	Instead of 24h time, use 12h with A or P suffix
am/pm	Use 12h time with AM or PM suffix

Examples:

yyyy/m/d hh\:mm\:ss	yyyy-mm-dd hhmmss	ddd, mmm dd - yyyy	dddd, dd of mmmm of yyyy	m/d/yyyy h\:mm AM/PM	hham/pm	hh a/p mm
2025/9/3 10:02:00	2025-09-03 100200	Wed, Sep 03 - 2025	Wednesday, 03 of September of 2025	9/3/2025 10:02 AM	10am	10 a 02
2025/9/3 19:02:00	2025-09-03 190200	Wed, Sep 03 - 2025	Wednesday, 03 of September of 2025	9/3/2025 7:02 PM	07pm	07 p 02

Note: colon (:) must be escaped with backslash (\), because colon is the default seperator in format.

Pre-defined sequences

Weekday	Weekday	Music Symbol	Roman	Astro	Alphabet		中午周		中文数字	中文数字	大写货币		星座	节气	天干	地支	60甲子	生物	颜色
Sun	Sunday	Do	I	Aries	a	A	周日	日	零	零	零	零	白羊	立春	甲	子	甲子	域	红
Mon	Monday	Re	II	Taurus	b	B	周一	一	一	一	壹	壹	金牛	雨水	乙	丑	乙丑	界	橙
Tue	Tuesday	Mi	III	Gemini	c	C	周二	二	二	二	貳	貳	双子	惊蛰	丙	寅	丙寅	门	黄
Wed	Wednesday	Fa	IV	Cancer	d	D	周三	三	三	三	叁	叁	巨蟹	春分	丁	卯	丁卯	纲	绿
Thu	Thursday	Sol	V	Leo	e	E	周四	四	四	四	肆	肆	狮子	清明	戊	辰	戊辰	目	蓝
Fri	Friday	La	VI	Virgo	f	F	周五	五	五	五	伍	伍	处女	谷雨	己	巳	己巳	科	靛
Sat	Saturday	Si	VII	Libra	g	G	周六	六	六	六	陆	陆	天秤	立夏	庚	午	庚午	属	紫
			VIII	Scorpio	h	H			七	七	柒	柒	天蝎	小满	辛	未	辛未	种
			IX	Sagittarius	i	I			八	八	捌	捌	射手	芒种	壬	申	壬申
			X	Capricorn	j	J			九	九	玖	玖	摩羯	夏至	癸	酉	癸酉
				Aquarius	k	K			十	十	拾	拾	水瓶	小暑		戌	甲戌
				Pisces	l	L				百		佰	双鱼	大暑		亥	乙亥
					m	M				千		仟		立秋			丙子
					n	N				万		萬		处暑			丁丑
					o	O				亿		億		白露			戊寅
					…	…								…			…

Note: Consult BuiltInSequences.ts for more.

Settings

All settings are under superinsert property.

Setting Key	type	Description	default
start	number	Will be used when user inputs nothing	0
step	number	Will be used when user does not input step for numbers	1
defaultRandomFormat	string	Will be used when only input 'rand' or 'random'
defaultDateFormat	string	Will be used when only input 'now' or 'today'	yyyy-mm-dd
defaultDateStep	number or string	Will be used when the start is 'now' or 'today', number stands for seconds	1d
defaultLocale	"en-US" or "zh-CN"	Will be used to control weekday and month name
customSequences	{ sequence?: string[], caseSensitive?: boolean }[]	Will be used when user wants to input sequence
shortcuts	{ input?: string, label?: string, format?: string, step?: number, start?: number, locale?: string, }[]	Will be used when invoke the "Shortcut" command. "locale" is used for weekday and month name

customSequences example

"superinsert": {
    "customSequences": [
        {
            "sequence": [
                "风",
                "雷",
                "雨"
            ],
            "caseSensitive": false,
        }
    ],
}

shortcuts example

"superinsert": {
    "shortcuts": [
        {
            "input": "yyyy-MM-dd hh\\:MM\\:ss",
            "type": "date",
            "label": "date and time"
        },
        {
            "input": "yyyyMMdd",
            "type": "date",
            "label": "date simple"
        },
        {
            "input": "dddd, dd of mmmm of yyyy",
            "type": "date",
            "label": "date complex",
            "locale": "zh-CN"
        },
        {
            "input": "1:100:#",
            "type": "random",
            "label": "random number between 1 and 100"
        },
        {
            "input": "1234:##\\,##",
            "type": "number",
            "label": "4 digits with comma in the middle"
        }
    ],
}

NOTE: the old version (before 0.1.0) can have a prefix before format, like below:

"superinsert": {
    "shortcuts": [
        {
            "input": "yyyy-MM-dd hh\\:MM\\:ss",
            "label": "date and time"
        },
        {
            "input": "rand:1:100:#",
            "label": "random number between 1 and 100"
        },
        {
            "input": "1234:##\\,##",
            "label": "4 digits with comma in the middle"
        }
    ],
}

Though it is still supported, but recommended to add a type field, to reflect the changes to the UI

these are the available types:

date, nanoid, number, random, sequence, guid, uuid

Trouble Shooting

Nothing output with some formats

Sometimes there is nothing output, you can open OUTPUT panel, and select "Extension Host", there should be some error information, follow it to fix your format.

Output of extension

Examples:

input	error	description	fix	output
`[hh\:mm\:ss]`	SyntaxError: Expected "<", "<=", "<>", ">=", "h", "m", "s", or [%=->] but "y" found.	square brackets indicates condition of conditional format, so it is expected to be a comparer at the start	use backslash to escape `square brackets` to be normal "text" like this: `\[hh\:mm\:ss\]`	`[13:17:15]`

NOTE:

\n is not support in prompt input, but supported in shortcut mode.

Development

Build

This project depends on a fork repo of datadocs/rose-formatter, for customizations.

So I added the fork repo as submodule, to correctly build it, you need to clone and build the submodule as well.

Below is the example steps:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/QueenKunkun/super-insert.git
cd super-insert

# build the submodule first
cd rose-formatter
npm i
npm run build

# build this extension
cd ..
npm i
npm run package # or debug directly, more information please see vscode's development guide

Debug tests

There are rare cases you want to debug tests, e.g. changing test infrastructures causes no tests to run etc.

To debug tests, it needs some configurations.

launch.json example, note: VSCODE_TEST_OPTIONS is a must env (found after debugging from package.json, maybe there are better ways, e.g. create a custom runner, I will leave with it for now)

{
    "name": "Extension Tests",
    "type": "extensionHost",
    "request": "launch",
    "runtimeExecutable": "${execPath}",
    "args": [
        "--extensionDevelopmentPath=${workspaceFolder}",
        "--extensionTestsPath=/Users/apple/code/kk/github/super-insert/node_modules/@vscode/test-cli/out/runner.cjs"
    ],
    "outFiles": [
        "${workspaceFolder}/out/src/test/**/*.js"
    ],
    "env": {
        "VSCODE_TEST_OPTIONS": "{\"mochaOpts\":{\"_\":[\"/Users/apple/.nvm/versions/node/v22.14.0/bin/node\",\"/Users/apple/code/kk/github/super-insert/node_modules/.bin/vscode-test\"],\"config\":\"nearest .vscode-test.js\",\"skip-extension-dependencies\":false,\"skipExtensionDependencies\":false,\"jobs\":19,\"j\":19,\"slow\":75,\"s\":75,\"timeout\":2000,\"t\":2000,\"diff\":true,\"reporter\":\"spec\",\"R\":\"spec\",\"$0\":\"/Users/apple/code/kk/github/super-insert/node_modules/.bin/vscode-test\"},\"colorDefault\":{\"level\":3,\"hasBasic\":true,\"has256\":true,\"has16m\":true},\"preload\":[],\"files\":[\"/Users/apple/code/kk/github/super-insert/out/src/test/parser.test.js\"]}"
    }
}

Note: Before debug, run npm run compile-tests or automatically compile tests by npm run watch-tests, to make test code updated.

Add new types

If you want to support more types, follow this guide:

Implement a IValue class and put it under values folder
Implement a IInsertMetaBuilder class under builders folder
1. use @Builder decorator to register the class, given the builder name which should be the same as the command name
2. import the class in builders/index.ts
3. add the builder name in BUILDER_NAMES for command registering when activating
Optionally, you may need to create a IRenderer under renderers folder, to render the IValue with a custom format
Register the command in package.json under contributes/commands node
1. example: <command type> should be the same as builder name, <Command Name> is the given name
```
  {
    "command": "super-insert.<command type>",
    "title": "Super insert: <Command Name>"
  },
```

Thanks

Inspired from or made use of these projects:

For more information or bug reports

GitHub

Super Insert

KristinZhang