Enough to get real work done — go cold turkey after this chapter

Chapter 3 — Basic Editing

Enough to get real work done. After this chapter, you should go cold turkey — use Vim for everything. You'll be slow at first, but that's how you build muscle memory.

3.1 More Ways into Insert Mode

You know i enters insert mode at the cursor. But Vim gives you five more entry points, each putting you exactly where you need to be:

Each of these saves you a motion. Instead of pressing i and then navigating to the end of the line, just press A. Instead of pressing i, then Enter to make a new line, just press o. Pick the insert command that puts you where you need to be.

3.2 Word Motions

Moving character-by-character with h and l is slow. Word motions jump by words — much faster for navigating code.

What counts as a "word"? Vim defines a word as a sequence of letters, digits, and underscores — or a sequence of other non-blank characters. So in my_var, that's one word. But in my-var, that's three words (my, -, var) because the hyphen breaks the word boundary.

These four motions will become your bread and butter. You'll use w and b constantly to navigate within lines.

3.3 Line Motions

Jump to specific positions on the current line:

The difference between 0 and ^ matters for indented code. 0 takes you to column zero — the leftmost position. ^ takes you to the first character that isn't a space or tab. In Python or any indented language, ^ is what you usually want.

3.4 File Motions

Jump anywhere in the file:

These are the motions that make scrolling with j and k feel primitive. Need to check the top of a file? gg. Need the bottom? G. Got a compiler error on line 42? 42G. Three keystrokes and you're there.

3.5 Deleting Text

Now we meet Vim's most important concept: the operator + motion pattern. d is the delete operator. On its own, it waits for a motion to tell it what to delete:

This is your first taste of Vim's composable grammar: d is the verb (delete), and the motion is the noun (what to delete). Every motion you know works with d: dj deletes two lines, dG deletes to the end of the file, dgg deletes to the top. You already know a dozen delete commands just by combining d with the motions from the last three sections.

3.6 Changing Text

Change = delete + enter insert mode. The c operator deletes the specified text and immediately drops you into insert mode, ready to type the replacement.

The c operator follows the same grammar as d: cw changes a word, cj changes two lines, cG changes to the end of the file. Same motions, different operator. The grammar scales.

3.7 Yank and Put (Copy and Paste)

Vim calls it "yank" and "put" instead of "copy" and "paste." The y operator yanks (copies) text, and p puts (pastes) it.

Two handy tricks with yank and put:

ddp — swap two lines. Delete a line (it's now in the paste register), then put it after the line below. Instant line swap.

xp — swap two characters. Delete a character, put it after the next one. Fixes typos like 'teh' → 'the' in two keystrokes.

3.8 Replace

Sometimes you just need to fix one character. rX replaces the character under the cursor with X — without entering insert mode. No mode switch, no Esc needed.

This is a micro-optimization that adds up. Need to change a comma to a semicolon? r;. Need to fix a capitalization? rG. One motion, one keystroke, done.

Quick Reference