How can I move around in the Vim command line?
VimVim Problem Overview
If you're typing a command in Vim (I mean you've started with : and you're working in the bar at the bottom of the screen) is there a way to move the cursor around other than tapping the arrow keys? In particular, can you move it to the beginning, end, back n characters, or back one word?
Vim Solutions
Solution 1 - Vim
Tap Ctrl+F while in command-line mode (just after :). There you'll get command-line window which could be edited&navigated as a regular vim window (hjkl etc.).
See :h cmdline-window for details.
Solution 2 - Vim
Type
:h cmdline-editing
for details. I am listing a few of the interesting non-arrow commands that do something similar to what you want.
- ctrl-B: cursor to beginning of command-line
- ctrl-E: cursor to end of command-line
- ctrl-W: delete the word before the cursor
- ctrl-U: remove all characters between the cursor position and the beginning of the line
Solution 3 - Vim
To add to Maxim Kim's Answer,
In the Normal Mode ..
q: -> cmdline window for commands
q/ -> cmdline window for search forward
q? -> cmdline window for search backward
Ctrl-C or <CR> will take you out of cmdline-window
Solution 4 - Vim
- ctrl+left arrow: move back a word
- ctrl+right arrow - move forward a word
- ctrl+b - back to the beginning of the line
- ctrl+e - go to the end of the line
- ctrl+w - remove one word before the cursor
- ctrl+u - remove line
- ctrl+f - if you need more editing power use ctrl+f and you will edit your command in normal mode. For example, if you want to move 5 characters to the left, use ctrl+f and then
5h.
Solution 5 - Vim
nnoremap q; q: to facilitate typing. usr_20.txt and cmdline.txt contains all useful infos.
Solution 6 - Vim
You can actually add your own movement keys. For example, I use the following in my .vimrc to make moving around the command mode finger-friendly in an hjkl way (abusing the
" moving aroung in command mode
cnoremap <c-h> <left>
cnoremap <c-j> <down>
cnoremap <c-k> <up>
cnoremap <c-l> <right>
cnoremap ^ <home>
cnoremap $ <end>
where ^ and $ are really < ctrl-^ > and < ctrl-$ > respectivelly, typed as < c-v >< c-^ > and < c-v >< c-$ > in the .vimrc (for some reason < c-^ > and < c-$ > won't work, at least in my setting, but the former do)
Solution 7 - Vim
On Mac OS,
- Shift+left arrow: move back a word
- Shift+right arrow: move forward a word