Editing and Deleting Text · Onivim 2 User Manual

Insert Mode

Insert mode is the mode you usually think about in a text editor - when you press a key, the corresponding character is inserted.

To enter insert mode from normal mode:

i - enter insert mode before the cursor position, on the same line.
I - enter insert mode at the beginning of the current line.
a - enter insert mode after the cursor position, on the same line.
A - enter insert mode at the end of the current line.
o - create a line after the current line, and enter insert mode.
O - create a line before the current line, and enter insert mode.

To leave insert mode, and go back to normal mode, you can use the following keys:

Escape
Control+c
Control+[

Operators

Besides insert mode, there are other ways to manipulate text in normal mode - that's where operators come in. Vim and the 'vi' family of editors, like Onivim, provide a sort of text-editing-language, and operators are an important piece of this language.

Basic Operators

dmotion - delete the text described by motion.
cmotion - change the text described by motion.

A motion is a cursor movement, as described in Moving Around.

Examples:

c$ - change the text from the cursor position to the end-of-theline.
dd - delete the current line.
d10j - delete the 10 lines below the cursor.
dG - delete to the end of the file.

Other operators

ymotion - yank text to a specified register.
gumotion - convert text described by motion to lowercase.
gUmotion - convert text described by motion to uppercase.
>>motion - shift lines described by motion to the right.
<<motion - shift lines described by motion to the left.

Repeat

The . "dot operator" is a very useful command - it repeats the last command.

For example, if dd was used to delete a line, pressing the . key would repeat the command, and delete another line.

Undo / Redo

It can be scary to experiment with the operators and motions, for fear of losing your work!

However, you can always undo your change:

In insert mode, you can use Command+z (Control+z on other platforms)
In normal mode, u will undo the last change, while Control+r will redo it.