Learning Vim

Chapter 4 — Changing Text

The Operator + Motion Grammar

In Chapter 3 we built a vocabulary of movement commands. Now we pair those movements with operators — commands that act on text — and unlock the composable editing system that makes Vim so powerful.

Almost every editing command in Vim follows one simple grammar:

For example: d3w means delete (operator) 3 words (count + motion). The operator and every motion from Chapter 3 can combine freely. Once you have learned the operators in this chapter you effectively have hundreds of editing commands without memorising hundreds of individual keystrokes.

The three core operators are:

Deleting Text

The d operator

The d operator deletes the text covered by whatever motion follows it. Critically, deleted text is not just removed — it is placed into a register (Vim's internal clipboard), from where it can be pasted back with p. Think of it as "cut" rather than "delete".

dw       # delete from cursor to start of next word
de       # delete from cursor to end of current word (leaves trailing space)
db       # delete from cursor back to start of current word
d$       # delete from cursor to end of line
d0       # delete from cursor back to start of line
d^       # delete from cursor back to first non-whitespace char
dG       # delete from current line to end of file
dgg      # delete from current line to start of file
d}       # delete to end of paragraph
d/word   # delete from cursor up to (but not including) the next "word"
3dw      # delete 3 words (count before motion)
d3w      # same — count can go before or after the operator

Doubled operators — whole-line shortcuts

Doubling any operator applies it to the entire current line. This is one of the most-used patterns in Vim:

dd       # delete the entire current line
5dd      # delete 5 lines starting from the current line
yy       # yank (copy) the entire current line
3yy      # yank 3 lines
cc       # change the entire current line (clears it and enters Insert mode)

Shorthand delete commands

A few delete operations are so common they have single-key shortcuts:

The xp trick — swapping two characters

A classic Vim idiom for fixing a transposition typo (e.g. "teh" instead of "the") is xp: x deletes the character under the cursor into the unnamed register, and p immediately pastes it after the new cursor position — effectively swapping it with the next character.

# Fix "teh" → "the": place cursor on 'e'
x    # deletes 'e', cursor moves to 'h' → "th"
p    # pastes 'e' after 'h' → "the" ✓

Undo and redo

Every deletion (and every edit) can be undone. Vim maintains a full undo history for the session:

Yanking and Pasting

The y operator — yank (copy)

"Yank" is Vim's word for copy. The y operator works exactly like d in terms of motions — the difference is that yanking does not remove the text, it only copies it into a register.

yw       # yank from cursor to start of next word
ye       # yank to end of current word
y$       # yank to end of line
y0       # yank from cursor to start of line
yy       # yank entire line (most common)
3yy      # yank 3 lines
yG       # yank from current line to end of file
y}       # yank to end of paragraph

The p command — put (paste)

After deleting or yanking, p puts the text back. The exact position depends on what was copied:

Practical workflow — duplicate a line

yy    # yank the current line
p     # paste it below — now you have two identical lines

# Or, to duplicate a line and move it somewhere else:
yy    # yank
15j   # move 15 lines down
p     # paste below the new location

Visual Mode for Selection-Based Editing

Sometimes the operator + motion model does not map neatly to what you want to select. Visual mode lets you select text first, then apply an operator to the selection.

The three visual modes

Once in any visual mode, use any motion command from Chapter 3 to extend the selection. Then press an operator to act on the highlighted region:

# Select three lines and delete them:
V         # enter Visual Line mode (current line selected)
2j        # extend selection 2 lines down (3 lines total highlighted)
d         # delete all selected lines

# Select a word and replace it:
viw       # visual select "inner word" (entire word under cursor)
c         # change — deletes selected text and enters Insert mode
# now type the replacement word, then Esc

# Select a paragraph and yank it:
V         # Visual Line mode
}         # extend to end of paragraph
y         # yank the selection

Visual Block mode — column editing

Visual Block (Ctrl+V) is unique — it selects a rectangular region of the screen, letting you edit multiple lines simultaneously. This is invaluable for tasks like adding a comment character to a block of lines, aligning columns, or deleting a column of whitespace.

# Delete the first 4 characters (indentation) from 5 lines:
Ctrl+V    # enter Visual Block
4j        # extend down 4 lines (5 lines total selected)
3l        # extend right to cover 4 columns
d         # delete the selected block

# Add a "#" comment to the start of 4 lines simultaneously:
Ctrl+V    # Visual Block
3j        # select 4 lines
I         # Insert at start of block (capital I)
#         # type the characters to insert
Esc       # the text is applied to all selected lines

The Change Operator

The c operator is a shortcut for the extremely common pattern of delete something, then type something new. It works exactly like d but drops you into Insert mode immediately after the deletion, ready to type the replacement.

cw       # change word: delete to start of next word, enter Insert mode
ce       # change to end of word (more precise — does not eat trailing space)
c$       # change to end of line (also written C)
c0       # change from cursor to start of line
cc       # change entire line
ciw      # change inner word (deletes entire word, even from middle)
ci"      # change inside quotes: deletes content between " " and enters Insert
ci(      # change inside parentheses: deletes content between ( ) 
c/text   # change from cursor up to next occurrence of "text"
3cw      # change 3 words

Registers — Vim's Multiple Clipboards

Every time you delete or yank text, it goes into a register. By default it goes into the unnamed register ("), which is what p pastes from. But Vim has 26 named registers — one for each letter of the alphabet — letting you store multiple pieces of text simultaneously.

Why named registers matter

The problem with relying solely on the unnamed register is that any subsequent delete or yank overwrites it. If you yank some text, then accidentally delete a word before pasting, your yanked text is gone. Named registers solve this:

# Copy a function signature to register 'a':
"ayy          # yank current line into register a

# Do other edits (the unnamed register may get overwritten)...
dd            # delete a line (overwrites unnamed register)

# Paste the function signature from register 'a' — still safe:
"ap           # paste from register a

Register syntax

# General syntax: "x before any operator or paste command
"ayy          # yank line into register a
"bdw          # delete word into register b
"cp           # paste from register c
"Ayy          # APPEND to register a (uppercase = append, lowercase = overwrite)

# View all register contents:
:registers    # (or :reg for short)

Special registers

Search and Replace

Vim's substitute command is one of its most powerful features. It uses the same regular expression engine as the / search and can replace text across a range of lines or the entire file.

The substitute command

:s/old/new        # replace FIRST occurrence of 'old' on the current line
:s/old/new/g       # replace ALL occurrences on the current line (global flag)
:s/old/new/gc      # replace all on line, ask for confirmation on each
:s/old/new/gi      # replace all, case-insensitive

Specifying a range

:%s/old/new/g      # replace all in the ENTIRE FILE (% = all lines)
:5,15s/old/new/g   # replace all between lines 5 and 15
:.,+5s/old/new/g   # replace all from current line (.) to 5 lines below
:'<,'>s/old/new/g  # replace in Visual selection (range is set automatically)

Useful substitute patterns

# Replace and use the matched text in the replacement (\0 or &):
:%s/error/**&**/g        # wrap every "error" in ** **

# Delete all blank lines:
:%s/^$//g

# Remove trailing whitespace from every line:
:%s/\s\+$//g

# Confirmation flags — responses when using /gc:
#   y = yes (replace this one)
#   n = no (skip this one)
#   a = all (replace all remaining without asking)
#   q = quit (stop substituting)
#   l = last (replace this one, then quit)

Spell Checking

Vim has a built-in spell checker that is disabled by default. It is useful for documentation, commit messages, or any prose writing done in Vim.

:set spell           # enable spell checking
:set spelllang=en_gb # set language (en_us, en_gb, fr, de, etc.)
:set nospell         # disable spell checking

When spell checking is on, misspelled words are highlighted. Use these keys to navigate and fix them:

Commands Introduced in This Chapter