vim language quick reference
Published 2018-05-06, last edit 2020-08-04
Example command di" (| is the cursor below):
somefunc("here is a |string") --> somefunc("")
The general form is <action> <operator> <text object>, or as I like to
think, <action> <verb> <noun>. Verbs modify nouns.
So, for di" above:
dis the action (delete)iis the verb (inside)"is the noun (matching quotes)
Verbs are optional depending on the noun, but with this outline there are many commands you compose.
1. Actions #
| action | mnemonic | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| c | change | delete and enter insert mode |
| d | delete | delete |
| g | go | movement/jump to |
| p | paste | paste |
| r | replace | replace |
| v | visual | enter visual mode |
| y | yank | copy |
2. Verbs #
| verb | mnemonic | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| a | around | inclusive of noun selector |
| i | inside | exclusive of noun selector |
| f | find | forward to character, inclusive |
| F | backward to character, inclusive | |
| t | till | forward to character, exclusive (character is the verb) |
| T | backward to character, exclusive |
3. Nouns #
| noun | mnemonic | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| b | block | blocks of surrounding ([{ (implicit) |
| p | paragraph | paragraph |
| s | sentence | sentence |
| t | tag | <tags> pairs of </tags> |
| w | word | word |
| % | matching [{( under cursor, inclusive | |
/ |
forward to search result | |
| <,> | <tags> pairs of </tags> |
|
| ? | backward to search result | |
', ", ` |
surrounding "'` pairs |
|
(, [, {, }, ], } |
surrounding ([{ pairs |
You can install plugins to get more nouns and nice contextual actions. For example with tpope’s
commentary you get a gc action for commenting in whatever programming language you are in – which
you can compose with any of the above nouns and verbs!