!{motion}{cmd}
The ! operator in normal mode lets you pipe any motion's text through a shell command and replace it with the output.
editing #editing #shell #external-command #normal-mode #filtering
:normal!
The :normal! command (with !) executes normal mode keystrokes exactly as Vim defines them, ignoring any user-defined mappings.
O (visual-block)
In Visual-Block mode (), pressing O moves the cursor to the diagonally opposite corner of the rectangular selection.
:set keywordprg=:help
By default, pressing K in Normal mode runs the word under the cursor through an external program — usually man.
[/ and ]/
Vim provides two motions for navigating C-style block comments (/ .
:m.+1 and :m.-2
The :move (:m) command relocates a line to a new position without cutting and pasting.
g+ and g-
Vim's undo history is a tree, not a linear stack.
[{ and ]}
The [{ motion jumps to the previous unmatched { — the opening brace of the block enclosing your cursor.
<C-v>{motion}~
Visual block mode () selects a rectangular column region, and pressing ~ at the end toggles the case of every character in that exact column range across all se
!{motion} {cmd}
The ! operator passes text selected by a motion through an external shell command, replacing it with the command's output.
:%s/\(\w\+\)/\u\L\1/g
Vim's substitute command supports case-conversion escape sequences in the replacement string.
qqq
Pressing qqq in normal mode is the quickest way to empty a macro register.
zg and zw
When Vim's spell checker marks a word as incorrect but it is intentionally spelled that way (a name, abbreviation, or domain-specific term), you can permanently
gI
Most Vim users know I to insert at the start of a line — but I actually jumps to the first non-blank character, skipping leading whitespace.
:let @a = 'text'
Vim's :let command lets you assign a value directly to any named register without performing a yank or delete operation.
registers #registers #macros #vimscript #ex-commands #normal-mode
:argdo normal @a
The :argdo command applies any Ex command to every file in the argument list.
/\%>80v.
The pattern /\%>80v.
:for i in range(1,10) | execute "normal @q" | endfor
Using a Vimscript :for loop with execute "normal @q" lets you run a macro with a dynamically computed iteration count and interleave other Ex commands between i
:put =execute('{cmd}')
The :put =execute('{cmd}') idiom inserts the output of any Vim Ex command as text in your buffer.
registers #registers #ex-commands #command-line #normal-mode
"_d{motion}
Vim's black hole register (") acts as a write-only sink: anything sent to it is discarded without affecting any other register, including the unnamed register (
