The Language of Editing

If you have used other text editors, you likely think of editing as selection followed by an action.

  1. Move mouse to start.
  2. Click and drag to select text.
  3. Press Backspace or Ctrl+C.

In Vim, editing is a conversation. You tell the editor what to do using a grammatical structure similar to English: Verb + Noun.

🧠 The Formula

Operator (Verb)
+
Motion (Noun)
≥
Action

Examples:

  • d + w = Delete Word
  • c + $ = Change to End of Line
  • y + ap = Copy Paragraph

1. The Operators (Verbs)

Operators are commands that wait for a motion to tell them what to operate on.

Key Name Mnemonic Description
d Delete Delete Cuts text into a register (clipboard).
c Change Change Deletes text and immediately enters Insert Mode.
y Yank Yank Copies text into a register.
> Indent Shift Shifts text to the right.
< Outdent Shift Shifts text to the left.
= Format - Auto-indents code.

[!TIP] The c (Change) operator is one of the most useful. It saves you a keystroke by combining “delete” and “insert”. Instead of dw then i, just type cw.

2. The Motions (Nouns)

Motions define the range of text the operator will affect. They answer the question: “From where the cursor is now, to where?”

Basic Motions

Key Name Mnemonic Movement
w Word Word Start of next word.
b Back Back Start of previous word.
e End End End of current word.
$ EOL - End of line.
0 BOL - Start of line (column 0).
^ Soft BOL - First non-whitespace char of line.
G End File Go Last line of file.
gg Start File - First line of file.

Precision Motions

Key Description Example
f{char} Find occurrence of {char} forward df, (delete up to and including comma)
t{char} Till occurrence of {char} forward ct. (change up to, but NOT including dot)

[!NOTE] f includes the target character. t stops right before it.

3. Combining Them (Sentences)

Now we can form sentences.

d + w = Delete Word

Deletes from the cursor position to the start of the next word.

c + $ = Change to End

Deletes everything from cursor to the end of the line and puts you in Insert Mode.

y + G = Yank to End of File

Copies everything from the current line to the end of the file.

Doubling Operators

If you type an operator twice, it acts on the current line.

  • dd: Delete current line.
  • cc: Change current line (clears line, keeps indentation, enters Insert).
  • yy: Yank (copy) current line.

4. Quantifiers (Adjectives)

You can add numbers to multiply motions. This adds an “Adjective” to our sentence.

Structure: Operator + Count + Motion

  • d2w: Delete 2 words.
  • c3w: Change 3 words.
  • y4j: Copy current line and 4 lines down (5 lines total).

5. Interactive Motion Trainer

Practice forming Vim sentences. Type the command required to perform the action described.

Vim Command Dojo

Score: 0
Goal:
Delete the next word
var count = 10;