How long has it been like that?

[Tae-Bbong-E]

I have seen one sentence. Now I am wondering if "it" is a placeholder or "it" really refers to something.

<Context>
A guy is seeing his friend's finger trick like the under picture. Then now he is asking his friend like this.

A guy: How long has it been like that?

 

[emsr2d2]

I [STRIKE]have seen[/STRIKE] saw [STRIKE]one[/STRIKE] the sentence at the end of this post. Now I am wondering if "it" is a placeholder or "it" really refers to something.

Context: (no pointy brackets round the word are needed)
A guy is [STRIKE]seeing[/STRIKE] looking at his friend's finger trick, like the one in the [STRIKE]under[/STRIKE] picture below.
View attachment 3877

[STRIKE]Then now[/STRIKE] He [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] then [STRIKE]asking[/STRIKE] asks his friend [STRIKE]like this.[/STRIKE][STRIKE]A guy:[/STRIKE] "How long has it been like that?"

Please note my corrections above. I would take "it" to refer to "your finger".

 

[Tdol]

That looks like a question of how long the person has been able to do that.