Vim Navigation

Vim provides keyboard motions that work in a terminal without requiring a mouse. Some Vim configurations also support mouse input, but learning motions makes navigation composable with editing commands.

Press Esc before practicing to return to Normal mode.

Moving by Characters and Screen Lines

The foundational Normal-mode motions are:

• h: Move one character left.
• j: Move one screen line down.
• k: Move one screen line up.
• l: Move one character right.

Arrow keys commonly perform similar movement, but h, j, k, and l keep your hands near other commands. On a wrapped display line, j and k normally move by file lines; gj and gk move by displayed screen lines.

Prefixing Motions with Counts

Type a positive count before many motions to repeat them. For example:

5j
3l

5j moves down five lines, while 3l moves right three character positions when possible. Counts also combine with word and editing commands.

Moving by Words

Useful word motions include:

• w: Move to the beginning of the next word.
• b: Move to the beginning of the current or previous word.
• e: Move to the end of the current or next word.

Uppercase W, B, and E use whitespace-delimited WORDS, treating punctuation differently. Prefix a count to move through several words, such as 3w.

Moving within a Line

These motions target positions on the current line:

• 0: Move to column zero.
• ^: Move to the first nonblank character.
• $: Move to the end of the line.

The difference between 0 and ^ matters on indented lines.

Moving through the File

Use these Normal-mode commands for larger jumps:

• gg: Move to the first line.
• G: Move to the final line.
• 42G: Move to line 42.
• Ctrl+F: Move forward approximately one screen.
• Ctrl+B: Move backward approximately one screen.

The command :42 followed by Enter is another way to jump to line 42.

To practice keyboard navigation while editing a disposable file, try this hands-on lab:

1. Edit Text Files in Linux with Vim and Nano - Practice creating files, editing text, saving files, and navigating with both Vim and Nano in a real Linux environment.

Summary

You can now navigate a Vim buffer at several useful scales.

1. Move by characters or lines with h, j, k, and l.
2. Repeat motions with a numeric prefix.
3. Move between word boundaries with w, b, and e.
4. Target the start, first text, or end of a line.
5. Jump to file positions with gg, G, or a line number.