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.
Tag: motions
How do I yank text from the cursor to the next occurrence of a pattern without entering visual mode?
y/{pattern}<CR>
Any operator in Vim can take a search motion as its argument.
How do I allow the cursor to sit one position past the end of the line in normal mode?
:set virtualedit=onemore
By default, Vim's cursor cannot go past the last character of a line in normal mode — pressing $ lands on the final character, not after it.
How do I move to the first or last non-blank character of a soft-wrapped display line?
g^ and g$
When wrap is on, long lines wrap visually across multiple screen lines.
How do I sort a range of lines by piping them through an external sort command using the ! operator?
!{motion}sort
The ! operator in Vim filters a motion's text through an external shell command, replacing it with the output.
What is the difference between the inner word (iw) and inner WORD (iW) text objects in Vim?
iW vs iw
Vim has two flavors of the "inner word" text object that are easy to confuse: iw (lowercase) and iW (uppercase).
How do I jump to any visible text on screen with a two-character search using flash.nvim in Neovim?
flash.nvim
flash.
How do I use gn as a text object to delete or yank the next search match?
dgn
The gn motion is a versatile text object that selects the next occurrence of the last search pattern.
editing #editing #search #text-objects #normal-mode #motions
How do I change each occurrence of a search match one at a time, confirming each with the dot command?
cgn...{text}<Esc>.
The cgn + .
How do I force a Vim operator to act linewise even when the motion is normally characterwise?
dV{motion}
In operator-pending mode — the brief state after typing an operator like d, c, or y but before entering the motion — you can prefix the motion with v, V, or
How do I visually select multiple paragraphs or text objects at once using a count prefix?
v2ap
In Vim, text objects accept a count prefix in visual mode, letting you select multiple consecutive text objects in one keystroke.
How do I position the cursor at a specific character offset from a search match?
/pattern/e+2
Vim's search command supports an offset suffix that controls where the cursor lands after a match.
How do I use the filename under the cursor as a value in a Vim mapping or command?
expand('<cfile>')
The expand('') function returns the filename that Vim sees under the cursor — the same file that gf would open.
command-line #command-line #ex-commands #navigation #editing #motions
How do I indent all lines from the cursor to the matching closing bracket in Vim?
>%
Vim's > operator (indent) works with any motion or text object — including %, which jumps to the bracket, parenthesis, or brace matching the one under the cur
editing #editing #indentation #text-objects #normal-mode #motions
How do I use a named mark as a motion target for operators like delete, yank, or indent in Vim?
d'a
Named marks are not just jump destinations — they serve as motion targets for any operator.
navigation #navigation #marks #editing #motions #normal-mode
How do I shift-indent all lines from the current cursor position to the end of the file?
>G
The >G command applies a right-indent shift to every line from the cursor through the last line of the buffer.
How do I replace exactly N consecutive characters with the same character without entering visual mode?
{count}r{char}
The {count}r{char} command replaces a precise number of characters starting at the cursor position with a single repeated character.
How do I jump between matching #if, #else, and #endif preprocessor directives in C code?
[#
Vim includes built-in motions for navigating C preprocessor conditional blocks: [# jumps backward to the previous unmatched #if or #else, and ]# jumps forward t
How do I use a count with a text object to operate on multiple words, sentences, or paragraphs at once?
d3aw
Most Vim users know you can put a count before an operator (3dw) or use a text object once (daw).
editing #text-objects #editing #delete #normal-mode #motions
How do I move to the start of the current screen line rather than the start of the buffer line when text is soft-wrapped?
g0
When wrap is on, a long buffer line can span multiple screen (display) lines.
navigation #navigation #motions #wrap #display-lines #normal-mode