How do I change text from the cursor up to a specific character?

Explanation

The ct{char} command deletes everything from the cursor up to (but not including) the specified character and drops you into insert mode. It combines the change operator c with the t ("till") motion for precise, surgical edits within a line.

How it works

• c is the change operator (delete and enter insert mode)
• t{char} is the "till" motion — it moves the cursor to just before the next occurrence of {char} on the current line
• Together, ct{char} deletes from the cursor to just before {char} and enters insert mode

Example

Given the text with the cursor on H:

Hello, World!

Pressing ct, deletes Hello (everything before the comma) and enters insert mode:

|, World!

Type Goodbye and press <Esc>:

Goodbye, World!

Tips

• Use cf{char} to change through the character (including it), versus ct{char} which stops just before it
• Use cT{char} and cF{char} to change backwards to a character
• dt{char} and df{char} are the delete equivalents — they delete without entering insert mode
• Combine with ; to extend: if the first match of {char} isn't the one you want, use c2t{char} to change up to the second occurrence
• This is extremely useful for editing function arguments: with the cursor at the start of a parameter, ct, changes just that one argument
• Pair with . to repeat the same change-to-character operation elsewhere in the file