How do I jump to the next section or function definition in Vim?

Explanation

The ]] motion jumps forward to the next line that starts with { in the first column, which is typically the beginning of a C-style function or section. This is incredibly useful for navigating large codebases where functions are separated by opening braces.

How it works

• ]] — jump forward to the next { in column 1
• [[ — jump backward to the previous { in column 1
• ][ — jump forward to the next } in column 1
• [] — jump backward to the previous } in column 1

These motions work as standard Vim motions, so you can combine them with operators.

Example

Given this C file with the cursor on line 1:

void foo()
{
    printf("hello");
}

void bar()
{
    printf("world");
}

Pressing ]] moves the cursor to line 2 (the first {), and pressing ]] again moves to line 7 (the second {).

Tips

• Use d]] to delete from the cursor to the next section boundary
• In languages without column-1 braces, some filetype plugins remap ]] to jump between function definitions
• Combine with V]] to visually select entire sections