I sometimes find document traversal to be too slow in Vim when using h, j, k, l.
Is there a way to temporally increase the number of lines / characters that these keys move the cursor? (I.e. instead of moving 1j, pressing j will move 3j)
Edit:
Solution:
:map <F8> :noremap j 3j <CR>
:map <S-F8> :noremap j j <CR>
I wanted something like this so that I can easily browse longer bodies of code that am not necessarily familiar it. This approach allows me to easily toggle between "browsing" mode and "coding" mode.
While possible (use :noremap j 3j Enter and :noremap j j Enter to restore), it may not be useful for very long to change the behaviour of these keys.
There are many ways to navigate in Vim. Of course you can advance by full screens using CtrlF and CtrlB.
You can, as you alluded to, enter a number of moves before executing the navigation.
You can also go directly to a specific line using :9Enter, for example.
If you see the text to which you want to navigate, use / or ? followed by the text.
For h and l, you can navigate word boundaries more quickly with b, w, and e, and contiguous non-whitespace with B, W, and E.
Try Ctrl+D/Ctrl+U and Ctrl+F/B (Up/Down, Forward/Back respectively).
These will traverse the document much faster than h,j,k,l.
What #Bryan Ross have suggested is absolutely right. I want to add just a thing. Use relativenumber, it will help you to use j and k more efficiently.
Answered by Jay is sufficient, I would like to add the following !
There are many different kinds of navigation possible in vim, ( where as the h, j, k, l are just line navigation ). Some more are:
screen navigation
spl navigation
search navigation
word navigation
Refer this write up to find out the short cut keys to do it: Essential Vim editor navigation
Another thing that helps is to have line numbers turned on (:set number). If you see on the screen where you need to go and see the line number, it's just G.
If you deal with code in blocks, % will move you to a matching brace, parenthesis, etc.
If you deal with files with lots of wacky characters, t, T, f, and F are very helpful.
try CTRL + Y & CTRL + E to scroll instead of moving the line
use the CTRL + B to scroll to bottom of page and CTRL + F to scroll to top of page
use the H (Height), M (middle), L (low) to move the cursor to top, middle and bottom of screen
you can also increase the speed of CTRL + Y and other keys as of this answer explained https://stackoverflow.com/a/7990810/10539792
I know there's so many vim tricks to traversal quickly, but for me is the most comfortable is a mechanical keyboard, with built in repeat rate increase when u hold a button it increase the repeat reat etc for the j or k so the traversal will be quick and smooth too. (So nice!)
But its annoying when u have your vimrc but didnt have your keyboard so not a universal solution.
Related
One tiny piece of functionality I find myself missing increasingly often is the ability to move vertically in a similar fashion to f and t. Usually what I want is to move to the top or bottom of a paragraph without losing my column position, and while I "could" just write a script for it, I wondered if there is any known way around this problem that you guys know of.
Example ( [ ] = current position, < > = destination ):
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set <s>ofttabstop=4
set gfn=Source\ Code\ Pro:h14
set encoding=utf-8
set [t]_Co=256
set number
Like a vertical fs, or t<space>.
Again, this is usually useful when working with blocks of code. Any ideas?
vim regex provides \%nc (n is col idx) to match only in certain column.
so without installing plugin, what you could do is :
nnoremap <leader>f :<c-u>exe line('.').'/\%'.col('.').'c'.nr2char(getchar())<cr>
in this way, you press <leader>f, then press a key, vim will search that char in the same col. next, you press n/N
If you want to have the same but search backwards, use ?.
The most basic way is to use forward search, /t_<CR> and backward search, ?so<CR>, ideally with set incsearch.
But there are quite a lot of plugins designed around that idea:
EasyMotion,
Sneak,
Fanfingtastic,
and a few others…
For moving vertically without changing columns, you can use <n>j or <n>k. That doesn't completely help with "top of paragraph" or "bottom of paragraph" without counting the lines. There's also '{' and '}' for jumping between paragraphs. Not sure there's a single command to do exactly what you want...
I recently implemented the JumpToVerticalOccurrence plugin (just published), which implements an f{char} equivalent as ]V{char}. It also has related mappings that jump to the same character the cursor is under, or to non-whitespace in the same column.
I have a mapping that might be useful in visual selection.
To extend the selection downwards (<leader>j) or upwards (<leader>k) from the current column, but not beyond the block of text:
vnoremap <leader>j <Esc>m`:let b:ss=#/<CR>:let b:zz=col('.') - 1<CR>/\%<C-r>=b:zz<CR>c.\zs.\+\n.\{,<C-r>=b:zz<CR>}$<CR>:let #/=b:ss<CR><C-v>``o
vnoremap <leader>k <Esc>m`:let b:ss=#/<CR>:let b:zz=col('.') - 1<CR>?^.\{,<C-r>=b:zz<CR>}\n.*\%<C-r>=b:zz<CR>c.\zs.<CR>:let #/=b:ss<CR><C-v>``o
It also avoids clobbering the search register. At least, that's how I avoid clobbering the search register.
I am trying to find an easy way to copy the word that the caret is currently on top of.
I know that I can select to the front of the word: press v e y.
But this seems crazy, I can simply press * above a word to search for it, surely there is a better way to copy the word. Maybe even in a single key press?
You can use y i w (Yank In Word). Though it is just as many keystrokes. If you are at the beginning of the word you can drop the i and use either y w or y e.
Alternatively you can map the command to a key any way you like. For example, you could put this in your vimrc file:
nmap <F8> yiw
The F8 key is right near the * key so it would be easy to remember that it acts similar to the * word highlight. This would be a single key to yank the word.
UPDATE:
Satoru.Logic's comment is definitely a good way to go. If you are not sure what <leader> means, have a look at this post.
To search forward in Vim for cake, I'd type /cake, but the cursor jumps to the first match when I press return. Is there a Vim command analogous to "find next"?
It is n for next and N for previous.
And if you use reverse search with ? (for example, ?cake) instead of /, it is the other way round.
If it is installed on your system, you should try to run vimtutor command from your terminal, which will start a tutorial of the basic Vim commands.
Rob Wells advice about * and # is also very pertinent.
The most useful shortcut in Vim, IMHO, is the * key.
Put the cursor on a word and hit the * key and you will jump to the next instance of that word.
The # key does the same, but it jumps to the previous instance of the word.
It is truly a time saver.
When I was beginning I needed to watch a demo.
How to search in Vim
type /
type search term e.g. "var"
press enter
for next instance press n (for previous N)
You may be looking for the n key.
Typing n will go to the next match.
As discussed, there are several ways to search:
/pattern
?pattern
* (and g*, which I sometimes use in macros)
# (and g#)
plus, navigating prev/next with N and n.
You can also edit/recall your search history by pulling up the search prompt with / and then cycle with C-p/C-n. Even more useful is q/, which takes you to a window where you can navigate the search history.
Also for consideration is the all-important 'hlsearch' (type :hls to enable). This makes it much easier to find multiple instances of your pattern. You might even want make your matches extra bright with something like:
hi Search ctermfg=yellow ctermbg=red guifg=...
But then you might go crazy with constant yellow matches all over your screen. So you’ll often find yourself using :noh. This is so common that a mapping is in order:
nmap <leader>z :noh<CR>
I easily remember this one as z since I used to constantly type /zz<CR> (which is a fast-to-type uncommon occurrence) to clear my highlighting. But the :noh mapping is way better.
If you press Ctrl + Enter after you press something like "/wordforsearch", then you can find the word "wordforsearch" in the current line. Then press n for the next match; press N for previous match.
I have word-wrap enabled and tend to have quite long lines.
But moving around inside a line that's actually 4 lines high with "w" is cumbersome. I keep using / to jump to the word I'm looking for, but that seems overdoing it a bit.
Any hints on how to move more quickly inside of a line?
Thanks,
MrB
You can use $, 0, and ^ to move to line endpoints and then use w and b. Also, adding a numeric argument to w and b can accelerate the process, so using 6w instead of just w can put you about to where ou need to be.
Using f and t to move to individual characters will help also. (I use this typically with punctuation. If, for example, I have four sentences on one long line 2f. will go to the end of the second sentence)
Using the ( and ) keys are an alternative way to navigate entire sentences.
Splitting out long lines into multiple lines (manually, or with set tw=72 [or 80]) can make editing them simpler. You can always join them later with J.
Something I just discovered, you can move up and down one displayed line by using gj and gk. That way, you can treat your one wrapped line as multiple lines.
If you comment on the type of data you're editing, it might make it easier for us to make suggestions.
I think you can benefit from gk and gj instead of just k and j.
Also look at 'virtualedit' for some options that allow you to cursor through 'void' areas without flicking the cursor to the next best physical character.
You might want to (temporarily)
nnoremap <buffer> k gk
nnoremap <buffer> j gj
Leave out the <buffer> part to apply this globally.
You can use ( and ) to navigate by sentence; it just looks for ., but that can be immensely helpful, especially if you don't like the sentence and want to change it: (c) will jump to the beginning of the current sentence, then change the entire sentence.
You can also use w and e, with count modifiers, to move words. 3w will move three words at a time.
You can also use f and F to search forward and backwards for a specific character. This is much more useful if you're looking for the word quite or syzygy than the. :)
My preferred strategy while jumping around long lines is to use f F and t T to zero in on the character. What makes this family of motions supercharged is that you can utilize the ; and , motions, so you don't have to count the position of character relative to cursor, but just step through them (extremely useful with
' " . etc)
Let's say we have a line:
reallyLongObjectName.longMethod().prettyPrettyLongMethod().burp();
If we need to jump to, say, the third dot from the beginning of the line, we can use either 3f. or f.;; visiting two dots and landing on third.
While the ; , style can use more keystrokes, I found it more agile and fun overall.
If you choose to go the route of remapping these:
nnoremap k gk
nnoremap j gj
here are a couple others along the same lines:
nnoremap 0 g0
nnoremap $ g$
nnoremap ^ g^
I recently started using a plugin that I find really nice to move very quickly inside a line (or the whole file).
The plugin's name is PreciseJump and you can find it here.
When you use this plugin it defines to mappings _f and _F.
If you type _f followed by x it will highlight all x characters and will replace temporarily with other characters that you can press to jump to that location. Check the script page for an illustration.
You can also move around with W B that will skip to the next space :)
G moves to the end of the document
Please notice that using "g" followed by Up or Down arrows indeed works fine, but if you have long lines and move quickly you may enter "gg" by mistake and end-up at the top of the text...! (Undo will not bring you back, and AFAIK there is not one-key-pressed way to go back to where you were.)
It happened to me too many times.
What I did was, and I suggest you, to modify (or create) your "~/.vimrc" and add these two lines:
map <C-Up> g<Up>
map <C-Down> g<Down>
This will map you control-up and control-down to the movements commands. Will make mistyping "gg" impossible and is perfectly coherent with control-right and control-left to move around long lines.
If you add these other two lines, you can use the same command in insert mode (!)
imap <C-Up> <C-[> g<Up> i
imap <C-Down> <C-[> g<Down> i
(VIM is great !)
Greg Ruo
I use MacVim (and gvim) a lot. I'm familiar with and use a lot of the basic movement commands (b, w, $, 0, G). However, for a lot of things—such as selecting particular lines on the screen or jumping to a particular column in a different line—I use the mouse (sometimes in concert with my left hand on the keyboard). It also helps that my mouse has a scroll wheel and buttons for changing tabs.
I also need to admit... I use the arrow keys on my keyboard rather than hjkl.
I think that my speed (and posture at the computer) will be improved by not having to escape from insert mode, and from keeping both hands on the main part of the keyboard.
What convinced you to abandon the mouse? What are the most helpful shortcuts for moving quickly between lines and columns, scrolling, etc.?
This question is inspired by this recent post
I think that my speed (and posture at
the computer) will be improved by not
having to escape from insert mode
No, you must escape from insert mode right after you typed what you want. It quickly becomes a reflex, so you don't really lose time (I sometimes even press escape after completing a web form...). Normal mode isn't just for moving around, it's used to perform most operations (save from typing): for instance deleting or moving sections of text. You also benefit from entering insert mode with the appropriate key: o to start a line, S to replace a line (while keeping indentation), A to move to the end of the line, c+motion to replace a few words or until a given character... All of these save keystrokes.
The mouse seems fast, but in reality it isn't precise, so you lose time (in addition to the constant back and forth with the keyboard). ViM has a long list of moving commands (see :help usr_03) which, when mastered, are faster than the mouse in most situations.
Use search the most you can (/, ?, *, #, f, t...). I personally use Ctrl+(d,u,f,b) a lot. Also, Ctrl+(o, i) and `` are really useful to go back where you were before a search or something else.
h, j, k, l are there to place your right hand near to useful commands (i, u, o...): I always have my fingers on them. The arrows force you to move your hand a lot.
Try to look at a few commands in :help, then use them a lot, and you'll get habits about what you should use to move according to the situation. Nobody uses ViM the same way.
The more I used the keyboard movement in vim, the less I wanted to use the mouse. It doesn't help that extended periods of time where I'm constantly moving from keyboard to mouse can take a toll on my wrist.
If you want to force doing things the vim way, unplug your mouse for a while! The more you use the keyboard, the more you will love it. This worked for me.
For moving between lines, I usually just use jk but I often skip to lines using :line_num. Getting to a specific column in a line, I typically use wbe^0$ and put modifiers in front of w, b, or e if I'm skipping through several words. And there is also the shifted versions, WBE which also come in handy often.
I have to admit that I often use the arrow keys for specific movement in vim.
I rarely use hjkl. However, I find that most of my navigation is done with other commands such as w (skip a word forward), b (skip a word backwards). Combine this with modifiers such as 3w (3 words forward). : skip to a specific line.
I've never really had to abandon the mouse since I never really started with it. All I can say is that attempting to use editors without all the keyboard shortcuts that vim has can feel quite painful.
I'd run vimtutor from the command line (Terminal.app in OS X). It runs vim with a tutorial document. That document was what really made me realize the power of some of the commands. You'll pick up some that are most useful to you and gain more over time. Eventually you'll find yourself using the mouse less and less.
One command that will really improve your movement speeds is f. f plus a character will jump to the first occurrence of that character on the current line. Pressing ; will jump to the next occurrence. Of course this can be used in combination with other commands. So, for example, removing all characters up to and including the first closing parenthesis is achieved by pressing d+f+).
You can seriously revolve your life around jk in hjkl.
nnoremap <c-k> ddkP "move current line up one
nnoremap <c-j> ddp "move current line down one
vnoremap <c-j> dp'[V'] "move visual block down one
vnoremap <c-k> dkP'[V'] "move visual block up one
"These may be a bit more esoteric to me"
inoremap jj <esc>o "Insert mode can move to next line (works mid line)
inoremap kk <esc>O "Insert mode new line on previous line
also for the desktop gui (ion3 and gnome)
winj - next window
wink - prev window
(This beats alttab if your editing in vim all day)
also read :he motion.txt in its entirety using j and k to scroll up and down as you do.
I learned vi so for me the mouse has never been something to use with a text editor.
I don't use hjkl except when the machine/network/keyboard/whatever-in-between is not comfortably configured.
Use the mouse where it makes sense. It often does (copy/paste to and from other gui applications).
To answer your question, though: Once you start using vim as a tool for transforming text bits with macros, the movements will all start to fall into place ;)
I think you're wondering if there's a quick way to move around while in insert mode (without using the mouse or arrow keys) but unfortunately there isn't; you have to escape out of insert mode. However I know that jumping all the way to your Esc key can be really annoying, which is why I've gotten into the habit of escaping with Ctrl+c, it's much faster.
I almost never use hjkl because it's too tedious. I usually try to jump right to where I want to go. There's a great cheat sheet out there (a Dvorak version is a available also (although it's in PDF)) that you can stare at and imagine the possibilities.
Mostly I use f, F, t, and T, and sometimes they're enhanced by typing a number up front like d2t) will delete up to the second close paren. Sometimes I use search. A lot of the time I use w, W, b, B, e, and E. They're all fantastic.
When I see vim users arrowing all over the place in visual mode just to delete text it makes me shudder, because there are so much easier ways (and hjkl only make you move your arm less, they don't change the number of button presses).
Something I did that I don't know if it's common or not is remapped my arrow keys to be <Esc><Up> and so on. For whatever reason I started out always arrowing around and assuming I'd be back in normal mode, so I just made it do that...
The biggest bummer about Vim is that now when I edit anything anywhere else I hit escape all of the time and type :w after every change...