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11.4. Movement Commands

A number preceding a command repeats the movement. Movement commands are also objects for change, delete, and yank operations.

11.4.1. Character

Command Action
h, j, k, l Left, down, up, right (, , , )
Spacebar Right
Backspace Left
Ctrl-H Left

11.4.2. Text

Command Action
w, b

Forward, backward by word (treating punctuation marks as words).
W, B

Forward, backward by word (recognizing only whitespace, not punctuation, as separators).
e

End of word (treating a punctuation mark as the end of a word).
E

End of word (recognizing only whitespace as the end of a word).
), ( Beginning of next, current sentence.
}, { Beginning of next, current paragraph.
]], [[ Beginning of next, current section.
Ctrl-D Move to previous tab setting.
Ctrl-T Move to next tab setting.
Ctrl-W Move back one word.

11.4.3. Lines

Command Action
0, $ First, last position of current line.
^, _ First nonblank character of current line.
+, - First character of next, previous line.
Return First nonblank character of next line.
n| Column n of current line.
H Top line of screen.
M Middle line of screen.
L Last line of screen.
nH n lines after top line.
nL n lines before last line.
Ctrl-J Move down one line.
Ctrl-M Move to first nonblank character of next line.

11.4.4. Screens

Command Action

Ctrl-F, Ctrl-B

 Scroll forward, backward one screen.

Ctrl-D, Ctrl-U

 Scroll down, up one-half screen.

Ctrl-E, Ctrl-Y

Show one more line at bottom, top of window.

z Return

Reposition line with cursor to top of screen.
z.

Reposition line with cursor to middle of screen.

z-

Reposition line with cursor to bottom of screen.

Ctrl-L, Ctrl-R

 Redraw screen (without scrolling).

11.4.5. Searches

Command Action
/pattern Search forward for pattern.
/ Repeat previous search forward.
/pattern/+n

Go to line n after pattern.
?pattern Search backward for pattern.
? Repeat previous search backward.
?pattern?-n

Go to line n before pattern.
n Repeat previous search.
N Repeat previous search in opposite direction.
%

Find match of current parenthesis, brace, or bracket.
fx Move forward to x on current line.
Fx Move backward to x on current line.
tx Move forward to just before x in current line.
Tx Move back to just after x in current line.
,

Reverse search direction of last f, F, t, or T.
;

Repeat last character search (f, F, t, or T).

11.4.5.1. Line numbering

Command Action
Ctrl-G Display current filename and line number.
nG Move to line number n.
G Move to last line in file.
:n Move to line number n.

11.4.5.2. Marking position

Command Action
mx Mark current position with character x.
`x (backquote) Move cursor to mark x.
'x (apostrophe) Move to start of line containing x.
`` (backquotes) Return to previous mark (or location prior to search).
'' (apostrophes) Like preceding, but return to start of line.
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