You might like kakoune (https://github.com/mawww/kakoune https://github.com/mawww/kakoune), which does exactly that: first you select the range (which can even

You might like kakoune (https://github.com/mawww/kakoune https://github.com/mawww/kakoune), which does exactly that: first you select the range (which can even be disjoint, e.g. all words matching a regex), then you operate on it. By default, the selected range is the character under cursor, and multiple cursors work out of the box. It's also generally lean and follows the Unix philosophy, e.g. by using shell script, pipes, and built-in Unix utilities to do complex operations, rather than inventing a new language (vimscript) for it. (Not affiliated with the creator, but kakoune has been my daily driver for years now.)