How do I cycle through my jump history in Vim?

Explanation

Vim maintains a jump list of positions you have visited. <C-o> goes back to previous positions and <C-i> goes forward, like a browser's back and forward buttons.

How it works

• <C-o> jumps to the previous position in the jump list (older)
• <C-i> jumps to the next position in the jump list (newer)
• Jumps are recorded when you use commands like G, /search, n, {, }, %, marks, etc.

Example

You jump from line 10 to line 50 with 50G, then to line 100 with 100G. Pressing <C-o> takes you back to line 50. Pressing <C-o> again takes you to line 10. Pressing <C-i> goes forward to line 50.

Tips

• :jumps shows the full jump list
• :clearjumps clears the jump list
• Small motions like j, k, w do not create jump entries
• The jump list is per-window