How do I quickly toggle options and navigate lists using bracket mappings in Vim?

Explanation

The vim-unimpaired plugin by Tim Pope provides a consistent set of bracket-based mappings for toggling Vim options, navigating paired lists, and performing common line operations. Instead of memorizing verbose :set commands, you get intuitive [ and ] shortcuts that follow a memorable pattern.

Option toggling

Unimpaired uses the pattern [o, ]o, and yo followed by a letter to enable, disable, and toggle Vim options:

[os    " enable spell check (:set spell)
]os    " disable spell check (:set nospell)
yos    " toggle spell check (:set spell!)

[on    " enable line numbers
]on    " disable line numbers
yon    " toggle line numbers

[or    " enable relative numbers
]or    " disable relative numbers
yor    " toggle relative numbers

[ow    " enable line wrapping
]ow    " disable line wrapping
yow    " toggle line wrapping

[oh    " enable search highlighting
]oh    " disable search highlighting
yoh    " toggle search highlighting

[oc    " enable cursorline
]oc    " disable cursorline
yoc    " toggle cursorline

[ox    " enable cursorline AND cursorcolumn (crosshairs)
]ox    " disable crosshairs
yox    " toggle crosshairs

[ol    " enable list mode (show invisible characters)
]ol    " disable list mode
yol    " toggle list mode

The mnemonic is: [ turns on (opening bracket = start), ] turns off (closing bracket = end), and y toggles (flip).

Navigation pairs

Unimpaired provides [ and ] mappings for navigating paired lists:

[q / ]q    " previous/next quickfix entry (:cprev / :cnext)
[Q / ]Q    " first/last quickfix entry (:cfirst / :clast)
[l / ]l    " previous/next location list entry
[L / ]L    " first/last location list entry
[b / ]b    " previous/next buffer
[B / ]B    " first/last buffer
[a / ]a    " previous/next file in the argument list
[A / ]A    " first/last file in the argument list
[t / ]t    " previous/next tag
[T / ]T    " first/last tag

Line manipulation

Unimpaired also adds commands for inserting blank lines and moving lines:

[<Space>   " add a blank line above the current line
]<Space>   " add a blank line below the current line
[e         " move the current line up (exchange with line above)
]e         " move the current line down (exchange with line below)

These accept counts: 3[e moves the current line up 3 positions.

Tips

• All unimpaired mappings accept counts: 3]q jumps forward 3 quickfix entries, 5]<Space> inserts 5 blank lines below
• The [e and ]e line-move mappings work in visual mode too, letting you move selected blocks up and down
• Unimpaired is a lightweight plugin with zero configuration — install and it works immediately
• Many Neovim distributions (like LazyVim) include unimpaired-style mappings by default because they are so universally useful