I use the lazyvim.org distro, I have autosave enabled, so I don’t worry about saving and to quit I just press <leader>qq
The traditional way:
To write and quit:
:wq
ZZ - shift-Z-Z (the Z’s are uppercase)
To quit without saving
:q!
ZQ - shift-Z-Q (uppercase too)
To just save, or just quit
:q - quit if you haven’t made any changes
:w - save without quitting
If you want to try the configuration you’re looking at
I have a video in which I explain how to install the lazyvim.org distro, kickstart and the config that you see on the video:
Neovim modes
Neovim has several different modes, but the ones discussed in this tutorial will be:
normal
insert
visual
command line
Normal mode
What is normal mode
This mode allows you to navigate and perform different actions
This is the mode I’m using to navigate when moving around in the video
Get to normal mode
The way I get to normal mode:
When I’m editing text (insert mode) and I want to go to normal mode, I have a keymap:
kj
This is a combination of letters you almost never have to type, so that’s why it works great
Some people prefer jj, kk or jk.
The traditional way:
[esc]
I re-mapped escape to capslock because it’s easier to press
ctrl-[
Normal mode navigation
Basic navigation
In neovim, instead of navigating with the arrow keys (which you also can, but not recommended), you navigate with hjkl
It’ll be tough to get used to, but once you do, you won’t have to lift your hand to look for the arrow keys, and it’ll be faster:
j - move cursor down by one line.
k - move cursor up by one line.
h - move cursor left by one character.
l - move cursor right by one character.
My top picks for normal mode navigation
w - moves to the start of the next word (stops at symbols)
e - moves to the end of the next word (stops at symbols)
b - moves to the beginning of the previous word (stops at symbols)
C-u - (ctrl+u) moves up half page
C-d - (ctrl+d) moves down half page
gg - go to the top of the file
G - go to the end of the file
50gg - go to line 50
'' - (single quote 2 times) jump back to the position of the cursor before the last jump
Let’s say you’re in line 200, and press gg to go to the top of the file, but then want to jump back again to line 200, you press ''
Let’s say you’re in line 200, and press 50gg to jump to line 50, but then want to jump back again to line 200, you press ''
These are custom keymaps I configured:
gl - takes you to the last character of the line
gh - takes you to the first character of the line
gj - takes me to the markdown header below
gk - takes me to the markdown header above
Normal mode text manipulation
My top picks for normal mode manipulation
Undo and redo
u - undo (press multiple times to keep undoing)
ctrl-r - redo (press multiple times to keep redoing)
. - the last entered command, and leaves you in command mode:
Let’s say you pressed dw or db then keep pressing . to execute them multiple times
Indent
S+>> - (shift+>+>) indent line to the right
S+<< - (shift+<+<) indent line to the left
Delete, cut, copy and paste
Text copied to the registry(clipboard) stays there until replaced with something else, which means it can be pasted multiple times
delete = cut
yank = copy
put = paste
d and x cuts text but also copies it to the clipboard
yw - yank word
yy - copies an entire line
P - paste before the cursor (or above if its a line)
p - paste after the cursor (or below if its a line)
x - deletes the character the cursor is on (leave pressed, same as supr)
dd - deletes entire line
dw - delete word starting from cursor position (stops at symbols)
db - deletes to the beginning of previous word (stops at symbols)
Useful when navigating with w and then press db
D - deletes until end of line, starting at cursor
These is a custom keymap I configured:
Y - yank to end of line starting from cursor
Change, replace, join
cw - change word starting at the cursor, leaves you in insert mode
r - replace a single character and automatically puts you back in normal mode
J - joins 2 lines together. Keep pressing it to join more lines, adds a space
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Here I am adding some text to show you how to join lines when they are separate,
I will be pressing the keys shown above to test this, this text is just random
stuff, so do not pay attention to it
Around inside
All the following motions work with d, y, c, v
So for example you could run dap, yap, cap, vap
I know, it seems there should be a fap, but there’s not
a stands for around, deletes spaces around
i stands for inside, does NOT delete spaces around
dip - delete inside paragraph
yip - yank inside paragraph
cip - change inside paragraph
vip - select inside paragraph
Remember that instead of d below, you can switch it for y, c or v
caw or ciw - for a word, doesn’t matter if you’re in the middle
I use code blocks a lot, so this is my favorite of all times, but the v variant:
vio
This plugin can do way much more
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- first paragraph
- first paragraph
- first paragraph
- another line
test
There’s a lot more of these motions, if in lazyvim press ci to list them
Til (to) find
All the following motions work with d, y, c, v
So for example you could run dt7, yt7, ct7, vt7
Instead of [ type any character you want to find:
ct7, ct{, ct(, etc
ct[ - change til [beginning of square bracket]:
will delete everything from your cursor until the character 7
it doesn’t delete the [ itself
cf[ - change find [beginning of square bracket]
similar to above but will delete the [
Insert mode
What is insert mode
This mode allows you to edit text as you do regularly in any editor
Get to insert mode
To enter insert mode there are several options, here are some useful ones:
i - “insert” text before the cursor position.
a - “append” text after the cursor position.
I - “insert” text at the beginning of the line.
A - “append” text at the end of the line.
o - “open” a new line below the cursor and enter insert mode.
O - “open” a new line above the cursor and enter insert mode.
gi - takes you back to the last position you were in insert mode
Indent text in insert mode
When in insert mode use <C-T> and <C-D>
indent this
Visual mode
What is visual mode
This mode allows you to visually select text, to then manipulate it
Visual mode navigation
v - enter visual mode and then move with any navigation option:
Using the hjkl keys
vgl - select to the end of the line (gl is a custom mapping I have)
vgh - select to the start of the line (gh is a custom mapping I have)
vw - select word, keep pressing w to keep selecting words
Basically use any normal navigation commands when in visual mode
V - selects entire line
gv - takes you to the last selection you had in visual mode
vig - select entire file
This is a keymap that comes with the lazyvim.org distro and uses the mini.ai plugin
Visual mode text manipulation
Once you have text selected in visual mode, you can:
c - change it
d - delete it
y - yank it
P - paste over it
> - indent it to the right
< - indent it to the left
Pasting text in visual mode
When pasting text over in visual mode I personally paste with P:
P - does not put the REPLACED text in the unnamed "" register:
This means that if you paste multiple times, you will paste the original text
p - puts the REPLACED text in the unnamed "" register:
This means that if you paste again, you will paste the text that was replaced
Do not paste with cmd+v on macOS or it will mess up the lines you have below
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Laborum aute multiple means text.
Laborum aute multiple means text.
liquip non aliquip exercitation pariatur
liquip non aliquip exercitation pariatur
do eu pariatur minim.
do eu pariatur minim.
Vertical visual mode navigation
What is vertical visual mode
This mode allows you to edit multiple lines vertically, to enter it press ctrl-v
Append same text to end of each line
ctrl-v - enter vertical visual mode
Scroll vertically to select the desired lines
$ - to move to the very end of every line
A - lowercase A to append
Type the desired text, you will see it only in 1 line
[escape] or kj - and text shows in all the lines
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- testing line 1
- testing random 2
- testing whatever 3
- testing other line 4
- testing one new extra line 5
Insert same text at the beginning of each line
ctrl-v - enter vertical visual mode
Scroll vertically to select all the lines
0 - OPTIONAL in case you’re not at the beginning of the line already
I - uppercase I to insert
Type the desired text, you will see it only in 1 line
[escape] or kj - and text shows in all the lines
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testing line 1
testing random 2
testing whatever 3
testing other line 4
testing one new extra line 5
Replace same text on each line
Put cursor at beginning of word you want to change
ctrl-v - enter vertical visual mode
Scroll vertically to select all the lines
l or e - to select the rest of that word or words
c - c to change
All the selected text will be deleted and you’ll stay in insert mode
Type the desired text, you will see it only in 1 line
[escape] - and text shows in all the lines
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new word line 1
new word random 2
new word whatever 3
new word other line 4
new word one new extra line 5
Command line mode
What is command line mode
You normally enter command mode when you need to enter Neovim commands like: save, quit, search, checkhealth, etc
: - takes you to command line mode when you’re in normal mode
Anyway, it’s good to know at least this one that replaces all occurrences of “whisky” with “juice”:
First enter command line mode with :, then
%s/whisky/juice/g
% - represents all lines in the file
s - is to substitute
g - means globally (entire file)
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whisky word will be replaced, I have written whisky three times, even though I
this is just some sample whisky text that has some test words in which the
do not drink anymore, but whisky is just the first word that came to mind
checkhealth
:checkhealth - allows you to see if there are errors in your neovim configuration
There’s way more
Most of the plugins you install have command line mode “commands”, so there’s thousands of commands that is difficult to learn by heart
What’s usually done, is to create keymaps to enter those commands
You can also create your own keymaps that execute specific actions
My complete Neovim markdown setup and workflow in 2024
If you like this current article, you will find this quite useful:
Search, find replace
Search find
This is useful if you open a file with neovim, and need to search for a specific word
For all the following options:
n - keep searching the same word forward
N - keep searching the same word backward
/unicorn[enter] - search forward for the word “unicorn”
?unicorn[enter] - search backward for the word “unicorn”
* - moves to the next occurrence of the word where the cursor is
# - moves to the prev occurrence of the word where the cursor is:
