Editing Fundamentals

The Grammar of Editing

Neovim's editing model is often described as a language with a grammar:

[count] + operator + motion/text-object

This composability is what makes Neovim powerful.

Operators

Operator	Action
`d`	Delete (also cuts to register)
`y`	Yank (copy to register)
`c`	Change (delete and enter Insert mode)
`>`	Indent right
`<`	Indent left
`=`	Auto-indent
`gU`	Uppercase
`gu`	Lowercase

Text Objects

Text objects define a region of text. They work with any operator.

Text Object	Meaning
`iw`	Inner word
`aw`	A word (includes surrounding whitespace)
`i"`	Inner double-quoted string
`a"`	A double-quoted string (includes quotes)
`i'`	Inner single-quoted string
`i(` or `i)`	Inner parenthesized block
`a(` or `a)`	A parenthesized block (includes parens)
`i{` or `i}`	Inner brace block
`i[` or `i]`	Inner bracket block
`it`	Inner XML/HTML tag
`at`	A XML/HTML tag (includes tags)
`ip`	Inner paragraph
`ap`	A paragraph (includes blank line)
`is`	Inner sentence
`as`	A sentence

Composing Examples

Command	What It Does
`dw`	Delete to end of word
`d$`	Delete to end of line
`dd`	Delete entire line
`3dd`	Delete 3 lines
`diw`	Delete inner word (the word under cursor)
`dap`	Delete a paragraph
`ci"`	Change inner double-quoted string

yi{ | Yank inner brace block | | gUiw | Uppercase inner word | >ip | Indent inner paragraph |

Other Essential Editing Keys

Key	Action
`x`	Delete character under cursor
`X`	Delete character before cursor
`p`	Paste after cursor
`P`	Paste before cursor
`u`	Undo
`Ctrl-r`	Redo
`.`	Repeat last change
`~`	Toggle case of character
`J`	Join current line with next line
`r{char}`	Replace character under cursor with `{char}`

The Dot Command

The . command is one of the most important keys in Neovim. It repeats the last change. Combined with search (n), this lets you make repetitive edits very efficiently:

/foo — search for "foo"
cgnbar<Esc> — change the match to "bar"
n — go to next match
. — repeat the change
Repeat steps 3-4 as needed.

Search and Replace

Basic Search

/pattern       " Search forward
?pattern       " Search backward
n              " Next match
N              " Previous match
*              " Search word under cursor (forward)
#              " Search word under cursor (backward)

Search Options

:set ignorecase     " Case-insensitive search
:set smartcase      " Case-sensitive if pattern has uppercase
:set hlsearch       " Highlight all matches
:set incsearch      " Show matches as you type
:nohlsearch         " Temporarily clear highlighting (shortcut: :noh)

Substitute (Find and Replace)

:s/old/new/         " Replace first occurrence on current line
:s/old/new/g        " Replace all occurrences on current line
:%s/old/new/g       " Replace all occurrences in entire file
:%s/old/new/gc      " Replace all with confirmation
:5,10s/old/new/g    " Replace on lines 5-10

Useful Patterns

:%s/\s\+$//        " Remove trailing whitespace
:%s/\n\{3,}/\r\r/g " Collapse multiple blank lines to one
:%s/\<foo\>/bar/g  " Replace whole word "foo" only (word boundaries)