How do I change the content inside square brackets without deleting the brackets themselves?

Explanation

ci[ (change inside [) deletes the content between the nearest pair of square brackets and puts you in Insert mode. The brackets themselves are left intact. This is one of Vim's text-object operations — it targets the content between delimiters rather than requiring you to navigate manually.

How it works

• ci[ or ci] — change inside square brackets
• ca[ or ca] — change around (including the brackets themselves)
• di[ — delete inside brackets
• yi[ — yank inside brackets
• vi[ — visually select inside brackets

Supported bracket pairs

Example

Given: myArray[index + 1]

With cursor anywhere on the line, ci[ deletes index + 1 and enters Insert mode inside the brackets — ready for you to type the replacement.

Given: import {useState, useEffect} from 'react'

ci{ deletes useState, useEffect and puts cursor inside the braces.

Tips

• The cursor can be anywhere on the line — Vim searches forward to find the nearest bracket pair
• 2ci( changes the content of the second level of parentheses out from the cursor
• These work in Normal mode as operators and can be prefixed with counts
• :help text-objects lists all built-in text objects