How do I navigate by screen lines instead of file lines when text is wrapped in Vim?

Explanation

When wrap is enabled, long lines span multiple screen rows but remain a single file line. Normal motions like 0, $, j, and k operate on file lines, jumping past the visual rows in between. The g-prefixed screen-line motions let you navigate what you actually see.

How it works

• g0 — move to the first character of the current screen line (like 0 for file lines)
• g^ — move to the first non-blank character of the current screen line
• g$ — move to the last character of the current screen line
• gj — move down one screen line (equivalent of j for visual rows)
• gk — move up one screen line

All five are available in Normal and Visual mode.

Example

Consider a single file line that wraps across three screen rows:

This is a very long line that wraps across multiple screen rows in your terminal window when editing

With the cursor at the start of this line:

• $ jumps all the way to g (end of file line, far off-screen)
• g$ stops at the last visible character on the current screen row
• gj moves the cursor down to the next wrapped screen row, staying in the same column

Tips

• Many users remap j/k to gj/gk in their vimrc to always move by screen line:

  nnoremap j gj
  nnoremap k gk
  

• These motions are particularly valuable when writing prose with set wrap linebreak
• In Visual mode, gj/gk extend the selection by screen row rather than file line