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We previously learned about text objects , and more specifically about Vim's definitions for words and words . In this section we will learn another way to move horizontally within a buffer, using motions than move the cursor across one or more words. Command Action w cursor N words forward W cursor N WORDS forward e cursor forward to the end of word N E cursor forward to the end of WORD N b cursor N words backward B cursor N WORDS backward ge go backwards to the end of the previous word gE go backwards to the end of the previous WORD Let's first look at how w behaves with the first line of text: Start 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Initial Conditions T his is a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:1 Move the cursor w T his i s a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:6 Move the cursor (again) w This i s a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:9 Move the cursor (again) w This is a l ine with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:11 Move the cursor (again) w This is a l ine w ith sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:16 Move the cursor (again) w This is a line w ith s ample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:21 Move the cursor (again) w This is a line with s ample t ext. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:28 Move the cursor (again) w This is a line with sample t ext . This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:32 Move the cursor (again) w This is a line with sample text . T his line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:1 Now, let's look at how W behaves with the same text: Start 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Initial Conditions T his is a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:1 Move the cursor W T his i s a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:6 Move the cursor (again) W This i s a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:9 Move the cursor (again) W This is a l ine with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:11 Move the cursor (again) w This is a l ine w ith sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:16 Move the cursor (again) w This is a line w ith s ample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:21 Move the cursor (again) w This is a line with s ample t ext. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL Top 1:28 Move the cursor (again) W This is a line with sample t ext. T his line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:1 w and W behave almost the same for this text. The only difference is the way the trailing period is handled. w stops at the period in step 7, while W steps over the period and proceeds to the next line. Now, lets look at w with the second line of text: Start 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Initial Conditions This is a line with sample text. T his line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:1 Move the cursor (again) w This is a line with sample text. T his l ine has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:6 Move the cursor w This is a line with sample text. This l ine h as other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:11 Move the cursor w This is a line with sample text. This line h as o ther types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:15 Move the cursor w This is a line with sample text. This line has o ther t ypes/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:21 Move the cursor w This is a line with sample text. This line has other t ypes / kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:26 Move the cursor w This is a line with sample text. This line has other types / k inds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:27 Move the cursor w This is a line with sample text. This line has other types/ k inds o f words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:33 Move the cursor w This is a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds o f w ords (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:36 Move the cursor w This is a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of w ords ( and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:42 Move the cursor w This is a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words ( a nd WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:43 Move the cursor w This is a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words ( a nd W ORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:47 Move the cursor w This is a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and W ORDS ) ! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:52 Move the cursor w This is a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS ) ! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 50% 3:1 And again, with W Start 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Initial Conditions This is a line with sample text. T his line has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:1 Move the cursor W This is a line with sample text. T his l ine has other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:6 Move the cursor (again) W This is a line with sample text. This l ine h as other types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:11 Move the cursor W This is a line with sample text. This line h as o ther types/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:15 Move the cursor W This is a line with sample text. This line has o ther t ypes/kinds of words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:21 Move the cursor W This is a line with sample text. This line has other t ypes/kinds o f words (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:33 Move the cursor W This is a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds o f w ords (and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:36 Move the cursor W This is a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of w ords ( and WORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:42 Move the cursor W This is a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words ( and W ORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 33% 2:47 Move the cursor W This is a line with sample text. This line has other types/kinds of words (and W ORDS)! This is a new paragraph. This is another sentence. And this is another line. NORMAL 50% 3:1 The differences between how w and W behave are highlighted in this text.

Vim comes with a wide variety of commands that move the cursor around a buffer. We differentiate (generally) horizontal motions from the (generally) vertical motions , which are discussed in the next section. Horizontal motions move the cursor in the same line that is being edited. These are the motions that are used while actively editing text or code, and therefore are some of the most commonly used motions. We start with a few motions that move the cursor to absolute positions with the current line: Command Action 0 cursor to the first char of the line <Home> same as "0" ^ cursor to the first CHAR of the line | cursor to column N gM go to character at middle of the text line g_ cursor to the last CHAR N - 1 lines lower $ cursor to the end of Nth next line <End> same as "$" The following motions are similar to those above, but move the cursor to absolute positions within the current (visible) screen: Command Action g0 when 'wrap' off go to leftmost character of the current line that is on the screen; when 'wrap' on go to the leftmost character of the current screen line g^ when 'wrap' off go to leftmost non-white character of the current line that is on the screen; when 'wrap' on go to the leftmost non-white character of the current screen line gm go to character at middle of the screenline g$ when 'wrap' off go to rightmost character of the current line that is on the screen; when 'wrap' on go to the rightmost character of the current screen line Let's demonstrate some of these commands to highlight the differences and how to use them. Starting from the following buffer: Initial buffer content < ul> <li>one</li> <li>two</li> <li>three</li> </ul> NORMAL Top 1:1 First, let's move to the end of the current line, using $ . Move to end of line $ < ul > <li>one</li> <li>two</li> <li>three</li> </ul> NORMAL Top 1:4 For those of you not yet familiar with patterns , $ in a pattern refers to the end of the pattern, which provides a useful mnemonic for remembering how to get to the end of the current line. $ and <End> are equivalent, so use whichever feels most natural. $ (as well as g_ ) also accepts a count. When a count is used, Vim first moves the cursor down [count-1] lines, then moves the cursor to the end of that line. Move down one line 3$ <ul > <li>one</li> <li>two</li > <li>three</li> </ul> NORMAL 50% 3:16 Next, lets move to the first character of this line, using ^ : Move to start of text ^ <ul> <li>one</li> < li>two</li > <li>three</li> </ul> NORMAL 50% 3:5 Similar to $ , in patterns ^ refers to the start of the pattern, so makes a nice mnemonic to remember moving to the start of the line. ^ and <Home> are equivalent, so use whichever feels most natural. Next, move the cursor to the middle of the current line: Move to the middle of the line gM <ul> <li>one</li> < li> t wo</li> <li>three</li> </ul> NORMAL 50% 3:9 This could have also been accomplished using | . In general, gM provides a quick jump to the middle of the line, while | is useful when more precision is required. Finally, lets move to the first column of this line, using 0 Move to start of line 0 <ul> <li>one</li> <li> t wo</li> <li>three</li> </ul> NORMAL 50% 3:1 Now that we have seen how to move horizontally to absolute positions, we will next look at how to move horizontally relative to characters in the line.

One of Vim's super-powers is the breadth of commands available to move the cursor around a buffer. We will first look at some of the commands for moving the cursor (generally) horizontally. In many cases these are the most commonly-used commands, since they control cursor location while typing sentences or lines of code. Command Action f{char} cursor to Nth occurrence of {char} to the right F{char} cursor to the Nth occurrence of {char} to the left t{char} cursor till before Nth occurrence of {char} to the right T{char} cursor till after Nth occurrence of {char} to the left ; repeat latest f, t, F or T N times , repeat latest f, t, F or T in opposite direction N times & repeat last :s Let's demonstrate these commands, using the following buffer: Initial buffer content K nowledge can be conveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught. - Siddhartha NORMAL Top 1:1 First, lets jump to the first e using fe : Move to first e fe K nowl e dge can be conveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught. - Siddhartha NORMAL Top 1:6 Note that the cursor moved directly on top of the character we were searching for, e . f{char} also accepts a count, so let's jump to the 2nd e using 2fe : Move to second e 2fe Knowl e dge can b e conveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught. - Siddhartha NORMAL Top 1:16 The t{char} command is similar to f{char} , except instead of moving the cursor on top of the target, it moves the cursor up next to the target: Move up to first o to Knowledge can b e c onveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught. - Siddhartha NORMAL Top 1:18 Like f{char} , t{char} also accepts a count: Move up to second o 2to Knowledge can be c onveyed, but n ot wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught. - Siddhartha NORMAL Top 1:32 Now, to demonstrate repeating a search, ; repeats the previous search: Repeat previous search ; Knowledge can be conveyed, but n ot wis d om. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught. - Siddhartha NORMAL Top 1:39 , repeats the previous search but in the opposite direction: Repeat previous search in reverse , Knowledge can be conveyed, but no t wis d om. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught. - Siddhartha NORMAL Top 1:34 Note that in this search we were moving up to the o . The previous search started from the n in not , while the reverse search ended at the t .

We were introduced to sentences when we learned about text objects . In this section we will learn a motion that allows us to navigate over one or more sentences at a time, which can be very handy when editing a group of sentences at the same time. Command Action ) cursor N sentences forward ( cursor N sentences backward Lets see how this motion behaves, using the following buffer: Initial Conditions K nowledge can be conveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught. - Siddhartha NORMAL Top 1:1 Move the cursor ) K nowledge can be conveyed, but not wisdom. I t can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught. - Siddhartha NORMAL Top 1:44 Move the cursor (again) ) Knowledge can be conveyed, but not wisdom. I t can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught. - Siddhartha NORMAL 71% 5:1 Move the cursor (again) ) Knowledge can be conveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught. - Siddhartha NORMAL 86% 6:1 Move the cursor (again) ) Knowledge can be conveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught. - Siddharth a NORMAL 86% 6:12 First, note that these motions move to the next sentence, even if it is on another line.

Up to now we have reviewed many ways to navigate through a document, from simple cursor movements, to paging, to text objects. Vim also provides the ability to search a buffer for specific text or a pattern for desired text, then quickly navigating through matching text. Searching forward The first search operator we will look at it / , which searches the buffer forward from the current cursor location. Starting from the following buffer: Initial Conditions 1 . Beautiful is better than ugly. 2. Explicit is better than implicit. 3. Simple is better than complex. 4. Complex is better than complicated. COMMAND Top 1:1 /comp Initiate the search by typing / , followed by the text you want to search for, then finally hit enter to start the search. Search forward 1 . Beautiful is better than ugly. 2. Explicit is better than implicit. 3. Simple is better than c omplex. 4. Complex is better than complicated. NORMAL 60% 3:26 Vim found the text, and moved the cursor forward to the start of the first match. Since there are often multiple matches, Vim provides a shortcut command for repeating a search. To repeat the search, hit n . Repeat the previous search n 1. Beautiful is better than ugly. 2. Explicit is better than implicit. 3. Simple is better than c omplex. 4. Complex is better than c omplicated. NORMAL 80% 4:27 Repeating the search moves the cursor to the location of the next matching text. The cursor is now at the last match, what happens if we repeat the search once more? Repeat again n 1. Beautiful is better than ugly. 2. Explicit is better than implicit. 3. Simple is better than c omplex. 4. Complex is better than c omplicated. NORMAL 60% 3:26 When Vim is not able to find matching text, it "wraps around" to the top of the buffer and continues the search. In this example there are only two matches in the document, so the cursor returns to the first match. Searching backward Searching backward uses the ? operator, but otherwise operates the same as searching forward: Search backward 1. Beautiful is better than ugly. 2. Explicit is better than implicit. 3. Simple is b etter than c omplex. 4. Complex is better than complicated. NORMAL 60% 3:14 The n also works when searching backward, and like most operators this shortcut accepts a count . To move the cursor to the "second next match", precede the operator with a count of 2: Repeat search with count 2n 1. Beautiful is b etter than ugly. 2. Explicit is better than implicit. 3. Simple is b etter than complex. 4. Complex is better than complicated. NORMAL Top 1:17 As expected, this moves the cursor to the start of the first match. Now, suppose we moved the cursor too far, and wanted to jump to the second match. Vim has a second shortcut for repeating a search, but in the opposite direction: N . Repeat in the opposite direction N 1. Beautiful is b etter than ugly. 2. Explicit is b etter than implicit. 3. Simple is better than complex. 4. Complex is better than complicated. NORMAL 40% 2:16 Search for word under cursor Vim provides two additional shortcuts, & and # , for searching in the forward and backward directions, respectively. These shortcuts initiate a search and populate the search pattern with the word that is currently under the cursor, so that the search executes by simply hitting <CR> . Here is a quick summary of the search-related operators: Command Action /{pattern} search forward for the Nth occurrence of {pattern} ?{pattern} search backward for the Nth previous occurrence of {pattern} & repeat last :s # search backward for the Nth occurrence of the ident under the cursor n repeat the latest '/' or '?' N times N repeat the latest '/' or '?' N times in opposite direction This section has introduced the basics of searching a buffer with simple patterns. Vim extends the searching function with powerful patterns that can pinpoint specific text, and also supports the ability to search and replace text that has been matched.

We learned about modes in the fundamentals chapter. In Vim, basic navigation is performed in normal mode , which you can get to from (almost) any situation by hitting the Esc key. The most basic cursor movements (known as motions in Vim) are those used to move the cursor in small increments within a buffer. Most Vim distributions also support using the arrow keys for simple cursor movements, but it is good practice to ignore the arrows and get used to using these: Command Action h cursor N chars to the left l cursor N chars to the right j cursor N lines downward k cursor N lines upward Moving the cursor As a simple demo of basic cursor movements, we can start from the following buffer: Initial Conditions W e are not going in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps. NORMAL Top 1:1 Hitting the j key moves the cursor down one line, as described above: Move cursor down j W e are not going in circles, we are going upwards. T he path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps. NORMAL 67% 2:1 Using Counts Now, suppose you want to move the cursor 4 columns to the right. One option is to type l 4 times, but Vim provides a better way, called counts . Vim motions accept a count , which precedes the motion and specifies how many times to repeat the motion, following the basic pattern: [count][motion] So, rather than hitting l l l l , one can simply type 4l : Move cursor to the right 4l We are not going in circles, we are going upwards. T he p ath is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps. NORMAL 67% 2:5 Note that the default count is 1, allowing the count to be omitted as in the first example.

Simple cursor navigation within the command-line can be achieved using the left and right arrow keys. Here is a summary of cursor movements in the command-line: Command Action <Left> cursor left <Right> cursor right <S-Left> cursor one word left <S-Right> cursor one word right C-B cursor to begin of command-line C-E cursor to end of command-line C-H same as <BS> <Del> delete the character under the cursor C-W delete the word in front of the cursor C-U remove all characters Inserting content from registers You can directly insert the content of a register with C-R followed by the register. Selecting from the Completion Menu Some commands, such as :edit , open a completion menu to allow the user to select from available options. Selections can be made form the completion menu using C-N and C-P for the next and previous menu items, respectively.

Neovim originated as a fork of Vim and while it continues to maintain backward-compatibility with Vim, the two projects have slightly different goals which has led them to evolve down slightly different paths. While Vim continues to be a great project with a great community, Neovim has added several new features that in our opinion significantly upgrade the user experience: Lua First and foremost, one of the major advantages of Neovim over Vim is the inclusion of Lua as a first-class alternative to Vimscript for plugins and configuration . Lua is easy to learn, read, and write, executes quickly, and allows Neovim to benefit from a lot of great work being done by Lua's extensive community. Tree-sitter Tree-sitter is a fast document parser that maintains a syntax tree for each document as it is edited, which basically replaces slow and often-inaccurate regular expressions when implementing a variety of features. Prior to Tree-sitter, syntax-highlighting, indentation, and folding were implemented using regular expressions, which was often slow, inaccurate, and lacked features such as the ability to handle nested code blocks. By leveraging Tree-sitter's syntax tree, Neovim gains additional contextual information about the document that can be leveraged to provide accurate and consistent syntax highlighting, indentations, and folds, improved navigation between classes, functions, parameters, conditional statements, as well as some useful extensions to text objects . You can learn more Neovim's Tree-sitter integration at the nvim-treesitter and nvim-treesitter-textobjects repos. Language Server Protocol (LSP) Neovim includes a built-in Language Server Protocol client, which provides a wide range of functionality. Whereas Tree-sitter improves the experience of working with documents, LSP provides similar benefits to projects , to provide improved code-completion, snippets, formatting, jump to definition, refactoring, etc. Learn more about setting up Neovim's LSP at the nvim-lspconfig repo. More Information This is just a brief summary of the key improvements that Neovim offers vs Vim. If you are transitioning from Vim to Neovim you can find a complete list of the differences here Neovim.io Github Home Github Releases Documentation

Vertical motions move the cursor up and down the document that is being edited, and are critical for efficiently navigating a document. We start with a few motions that move the cursor to absolute positions in the buffer: Command Action gg cursor to line N, default first line G cursor to line N, default last line % find the next (curly/square) bracket on this line and go to its match, or go to matching comment bracket, or go to matching preprocessor directive.

Vim includes a group of motions that move the cursor vertically relative to the screen: Command Action H cursor to line N from top of screen M cursor to middle line of screen L cursor to line N from bottom of screen Here is a brief demonstration of these commands and how they behave: Start 1 2 3 Initial Conditions S iddhartha by Herman Hesse THE SON OF THE BRAHMAN In the shade of the house, in the sunshine of the riverbank near the boats, in the shade of the Salwood forest, in the shade of the fig tree is where Siddhartha grew up, the handsome son of the Brahman, the NORMAL Top 1:1 Move the cursor to bottom of screen L S iddhartha by Herman Hesse THE SON OF THE BRAHMAN In the shade of the house, in the sunshine of the riverbank near the boats, in the shade of the Salwood forest, in the shade of the fig t ree is where Siddhartha grew up, the handsome son of the Brahman, the NORMAL 90% 9:1 Move the cursor to middle of screen M Siddhartha by Herman Hesse T HE SON OF THE BRAHMAN In the shade of the house, in the sunshine of the riverbank near the boats, in the shade of the Salwood forest, in the shade of the fig t ree is where Siddhartha grew up, the handsome son of the Brahman, the NORMAL 50% 5:1 Move the cursor to top of screen H S iddhartha by Herman Hesse T HE SON OF THE BRAHMAN In the shade of the house, in the sunshine of the riverbank near the boats, in the shade of the Salwood forest, in the shade of the fig tree is where Siddhartha grew up, the handsome son of the Brahman, the NORMAL Top 1:1