zz / zt / zb
Vim's z scroll commands reposition the screen relative to the cursor without moving the cursor itself.
navigation #navigation #scrolling #viewport #cursor-position
( ) { } [[ ]]
Vim provides structural navigation motions that move by sentences, paragraphs, and sections.
:pop or <C-t>
When you jump to a tag definition with , Vim pushes your location onto a tag stack.
w vs W, b vs B, e vs E
Vim distinguishes between "words" (sequences of keyword characters) and "WORDS" (sequences of non-blank characters).
gj and gk
When wrap is enabled, long lines wrap across multiple screen lines.
{count}{motion}
Almost every Vim motion and operator accepts a numeric count prefix that repeats or amplifies the action.
^ vs 0
Vim has two distinct motions for moving to the start of a line: 0 goes to column 1 (the absolute start), while ^ goes to the first non-blank character.
navigation #navigation #motions #line-navigation #indentation
`a vs 'a
Vim has two ways to jump to marks: backtick (` `) jumps to the exact line AND column, while apostrophe (') jumps to the line only, positioning the cursor at the
[m and ]m
The [m and ]m motions jump to the start of method/function definitions in languages with brace-delimited blocks.
qq;.q then @q or @@
The dot command (.
:wviminfo / :rviminfo
Vim can persist register contents (including macros) across sessions using viminfo (Vim) or shada (Neovim).
qa...@aq
A recursive macro calls itself at the end of its recording, causing it to repeat until a motion or search fails.
/pattern<CR>cgnreplacement<Esc>.
The gn text object selects the next search match, and cgn changes it.
f{char} ; ,
The f, F, t, and T motions search for a character on the current line.
:lvimgrep /pattern/ %
While :vimgrep populates the global quickfix list, :lvimgrep uses the window-local location list instead.
qa/pattern<CR>dd@aq
By starting a macro with a search command, the macro becomes conditional — it jumps to the next match before acting, and terminates when no more matches are f
:nnoremap <leader>x :norm! @a<CR>
Once you've perfected a macro by recording and testing it, you can make it permanent by converting it into a mapping in your vimrc.
:let g:debug_macro=1 | normal @a
When a macro doesn't work as expected, debugging it step by step is essential.
:move +1 / :move -2
The :move command relocates lines to a specific position without using delete and paste.
:%norm A;
The :%norm command runs normal mode commands on every line in the file (or a range).
