How do I make word motions like w, b, and e treat hyphens or other characters as part of a word?
:set iskeyword+=-
By default, Vim treats hyphens, dots, and many punctuation characters as word boundaries.
Tag: text-objects
How do I change the case of a specific column of text using visual block mode?
<C-v>jjlU
Visual block mode lets you select rectangular regions of text, which means you can target a specific column and apply case changes only to that area.
How do I fix the indentation of a code block without affecting surrounding code?
=i{
When editing code with messy indentation — after a paste, a merge conflict, or a refactor — you often need to fix just one block rather than the entire file
How do I move all lines matching a pattern to the top or bottom of a file?
:g/pattern/m 0
The :global command combined with :move lets you restructure a file by relocating all lines that match a pattern.
How do I reformat a paragraph or visual selection to fit a specific line width?
gq
The gq operator reformats text to fit within your configured textwidth.
How do I create a custom operator that works with motions and text objects?
:set operatorfunc=MyFunc<CR>g@
Vim lets you define custom operators that behave like built-in ones (d, c, y) — they wait for a motion or text object, then act on the selected region.
How do I reformat a paragraph to fit a specific line width in Vim?
gqap
The gq operator reformats text by wrapping lines to fit within the textwidth setting.
How do I progressively expand or contract a visual selection by text objects?
v3aw
In visual mode, repeating text object motions progressively expands the selection.
How do I yank text inside delimiters into a specific named register?
"ayi(
Combining named registers with text object motions lets you precisely yank structured content — like function arguments, quoted strings, or bracketed expressi
How do I select functions, classes, and other code structures using Treesitter?
:TSTextobjectSelect @function.outer
The nvim-treesitter-textobjects plugin provides syntax-aware text objects powered by Treesitter's AST parsing.
How do I select, change, or delete function arguments as text objects?
cia (with targets.vim) or daa
While Vim doesn't have a built-in argument text object, the targets.
How do I visually select a code block enclosed in curly braces including the braces themselves?
vaB
The aB text object (around Block) selects everything from the matching { to the closing } — including the braces themselves.
How do I visually select the text of a sentence without selecting surrounding whitespace?
vis
The is (inner sentence) text object selects the sentence the cursor is in — excluding any leading or trailing whitespace that separates sentences.
How do I visually select a double-quoted string including the quotes themselves?
va"
Vim's text objects let you select structured regions of text with two-keystroke shortcuts.
How do I visually select an entire sentence in Vim?
vas
The vas command visually selects the current sentence, including surrounding whitespace.
How do I change surrounding quotes or brackets from one type to another with vim-surround?
cs'"
The vim-surround plugin (by Tim Pope) adds three powerful operators for working with surrounding delimiters — quotes, brackets, parentheses, and HTML tags.
How do I select text inside angle brackets?
vi<
The vi).
How do I delete a word and save it to a specific register?
"adiw
The "adiw command deletes the inner word under the cursor and stores it in register a.
How do I change the content inside backticks?
ci`
The ` ci ` command changes the text inside backtick delimiters.
How do I add, change, or delete surrounding characters with vim-surround?
cs"' (change), ds" (delete), ys iw" (add)
The vim-surround plugin by Tim Pope adds commands for working with surrounding characters like quotes, brackets, and tags.