How do I jump to the opening or closing brace of the block surrounding my cursor?

Explanation

The [{ motion jumps to the previous unmatched { — the opening brace of the block enclosing your cursor. Its counterpart ]} jumps forward to the next unmatched }. These are distinct from %, which hops between a matched pair. [{ intentionally skips fully closed inner blocks and finds the nearest unmatched { — the one that actually contains your current position.

This makes them essential for deep code navigation: jump straight to the function or if-block header without scrolling or counting lines.

How it works

• [{ — scan backwards, counting { and } until an unmatched { is found
• ]} — scan forwards, counting } and { until an unmatched } is found
• Analogous commands for parentheses: [( and ])
• The [ prefix means "backwards/up"; ] means "forwards/down"

Example

Given this code with the cursor on the return line:

void process() {
    if (ready) {
        for (int i=0; i<n; i++) {
            return;   ← cursor here
        }
    }
}

• [{ moves the cursor to the { on the for line
• [{ again moves to the { on the if line
• [{ once more moves to the { on the void process() line

Tips

• Prefix with a count: 2[{ skips to the second enclosing brace instead of the immediate one
• Use [( and ]) for the same behaviour with parentheses — useful inside function call arguments
• Combine with operators: d[{ deletes from the cursor back to the enclosing {; v[{ selects the region for further action
• Works in any file with C-style braces, including JavaScript, Go, Java, and more