How do I move to the first non-blank character of a line?
^
The ^ command moves the cursor to the first non-blank character of the current line.
Search: :normal
953 results for ":normal"
How do I search backward in Vim?
?pattern
The ?pattern command searches backward through the file for the given pattern, starting from the cursor position and wrapping around to the end of the file if n
How do I change the case of text using operators and motions?
gU{motion} / gu{motion} / g~{motion}
Vim has three case operators that work with any motion or text object: gU for uppercase, gu for lowercase, and g~ for toggle case.
editing #editing #case #operators #text-objects #normal-mode
How do I automatically apply the first spelling suggestion without opening the full suggestion list?
1z=
The z= command opens an interactive numbered menu of spelling corrections for the word under the cursor, requiring you to type a number and press Enter.
How do I add more keystrokes to the end of an existing macro without re-recording the whole thing?
qQ (or any uppercase register letter)
When recording a macro with qq, you can append additional keystrokes to the existing macro by recording into the uppercase version of the same register.
How do I move the cursor to the horizontal midpoint of the current screen view?
gm
The gm command moves the cursor horizontally to the middle of the current screen width on the current line.
How do I open or close folds one level at a time across the entire file?
zr and zm
The zr and zm commands let you incrementally adjust the global fold depth across the entire buffer — one level at a time.
How do I make Vim display partial key sequences and selected character counts in real time?
:set showcmd
The showcmd option makes Vim display the currently-typed command in the bottom-right corner of the screen, giving you live feedback as you build up key sequence
How do I move the cursor to the top of the visible screen?
H
The H command moves the cursor to the first line of the currently visible screen (the "High" position).
How do I recover the last small deletion without disrupting my numbered registers?
"-
Vim silently stores every deletion of less than one line in the special "- register (the "small delete" register).
How do I programmatically combine or modify the contents of Vim registers?
:let @a = @a . @b
You can manipulate register contents directly using the :let command with the @{reg} syntax.
How do I convert text to title case (capitalize first letter, lowercase the rest of each word)?
:%s/\(\w\+\)/\u\L\1/g
Vim's substitute command supports case-conversion escape sequences in the replacement string.
How do I use look-behind assertions in Vim regex to match text only when preceded by a pattern?
\@<=
The \@<= operator is Vim's zero-width look-behind assertion.
How do I replay the last executed macro with a single key in Neovim?
Q
In Neovim, the Q key is mapped to replay the last executed macro — the same as @@ in both Vim and Neovim.
How do I reselect the last visual selection?
gv
The gv command reselects the exact same area that was last selected in visual mode.
How do I open the file path under my cursor in a new split window?
<C-w>f
How it works You may already know that gf opens the file path under the cursor in the current window.
How do I switch between visual mode and select mode in Vim?
v{motion}<C-g>
Vim has a lesser-known select mode that behaves like selection in typical GUI editors: any typed character replaces the selection.
How do I run a substitution only within the exact characters of my visual selection?
:%s/\%Vpattern/replacement/g
The \%V atom restricts a regex match to the last visual selection — more precisely than :'s/.
How do I match a pattern only when it is preceded or followed by another pattern, without including that context in the match?
\@=
Vim's regex engine supports zero-width lookahead and lookbehind assertions using the \@ family of atoms.
How do I highlight only the line number of the current line without highlighting the entire line?
:set cursorlineopt=number
When cursorline is enabled, Vim highlights the entire line the cursor is on.