How do I force a motion to act blockwise, linewise, or characterwise?

Explanation

Vim lets you override the natural type of any motion by pressing v, V, or <C-v> between the operator and the motion. This forces the operation to be characterwise, linewise, or blockwise respectively.

How it works

• v forces characterwise (even if the motion is normally linewise)
• V forces linewise (even if the motion is normally characterwise)
• <C-v> forces blockwise (column-based operation)

Examples

" dj normally deletes 2 full lines (linewise)
" d<C-v>j deletes a 1-column x 2-row block instead
d<C-v>j

" yV} yanks to end of paragraph as full lines
yV}

" dv} deletes to end of paragraph characterwise
dv}

Practical use case

If you want to delete a rectangular column of text without entering visual block mode first:

d<C-v>3j3l

This deletes a 4-row by 4-column block starting from the cursor.

Tips

• This is one of Vim's least-known features but extremely powerful for precision editing
• Works with any operator: c, y, d, gq, etc.
• Documented under :help forced-motion