Neovim Tricks

Published: April 4, 2024

This is a short cheat sheet for important keybindings in vim more specific for neovim. I am using NVChad as such not all keybindings are applicable to standard vim/nvim.
Capitalization is important!

Modes:

• ESC, switch to normal mode.
• v, switch to visual mode.
• i or a, switch to insert mode.
• R, replace mode.

Navigation:

• arrow keys, shame on you!
• Movement keys, can be combined with arbitrary number
  • h, to the left.
  • l, to the right.
  • j, downwards.
  • k, upwards.
  • Example: 10j jumps 10 lines downwards, 5k jumps 4 lines upwards.
• _ or 0, beginning of the line.
• $, to the end of the line.
• e, one word forward.
• b, one word backward.
• :NUMBER, jumps to the line number.
• f + CHAR, jumps to the next character matching the input char.
• F + CHAR, jumps to the previous character matching the input char.
• gg, moves to the top of the files.
• G, moves to the bottom of the file.
• 20G, moves cursor to line 20.

Navigating Code:

• %, to the matching bracket.
• [ + {, jumps to previous curly bracket.
• ] + }, jumps to next curly bracket.
• ] + m, next method beginning.
• [ + m, previous method beginning.

Files:

• :w, save current file to disk.
• :wall, saves all open files to disk.
• :q, closes current window.
• :qall, closes all windows.
• :qall!, forcefully closes all windows.
• :wq, saves and closes window.

Selecting:

• v + i + p, select the current paragraph.
  • can be repeated vipipipip.
• y + a + p, yanks paragraph.

Editing:

• d + POSTFIX, stands for delete depends on postfix.
  • d, deletes whole line
  • $, deletes from current postion up to last character in the line.
  • _, deletes from current postion up to first character in the line.
  • e, deletes next word.
  • b, deletes previous word.
• D, same as d$.
• u, undo last change.
• STRG + r, redoes the last change.
• In visual mode: y, copy(yank) the selected text.
• y + y, yank current line.
  • can be paired with a number, example 5 + y + y, yanks the next 5 lines.
• p, paste the yanked text after the cursor.
• P, paste the yanked text before the cursor.
• x, deletes current character.
• c + c, remove current line and edit it.
• " + BUFFER + p, chooses a clipboard buffer and then pastes it.

Search:

• /, searches for patterns forward.
• ?, searches for pattern backward.
• n, jumps to next found pattern.

Misc:

• vsp, vertically splits screen.
• hsplit, horizontal splits screen.
• In visual mode >, intends marked lines in the right direction.
• In visual mode <, intends marked lines in the left direction.
• z + =, correct spelling mistake.

Telescope File Browser

• <leader> + fb, opens the telescope file browser.
• ctrl + f, switches between file and folder mode.
• In normal mode:
  • c, create a file.
  • r, rename a file.
  • y, copy a file.
  • d, delete a file.
  • g, goes to parent folder.

Search and Replace

• :%s/foo/bar/gc, changes all occurence of foo in the current file to bar, asks for confirmation
• :%s/foo/bar/g, changes all occurence of foo in the current file to bar, doesn’t asks for confirmation
• :%s/<foo>/bar/gc, Changes only whole wors exactly matching foo.

Debugging Neovim

0. Start Neovim
1. Find the PID of neovim :lua print(vim.fn.getpid()) or use something like htop or btop.
2. Attach the debugger to neovim gdb -tui -p PID nvim, the gdb interactive prompt will appear, useful commands:
   -n step over the next statement
   -s step into the next statement
   -c continue
   -finish step out of the current function
   -bt to see the backtrace from current location
3. Reproduce the bug and check the backtrace

References:

• Neovim Dev Tools
• NvChad Doc