CODEWITHSUNDEEP
vimvi
David Tuite
David Tuite

Reputation: 22643

Move forward/backwards one word in command mode?

Lets say I am copying a file with the vim command mode and my cursor is at the end of the line.

:!cp path/to/original/file path/to/new/file

Is there a way I can jump back a word like I can in the shell by typing Esc b?

Upvotes: 7

Views: 2998

Answers (4)

mc0e
mc0e

Reputation: 2820

In vim's command mode, I just use ctrl-left and ctrl-right arrows. The same works in bash - I wasn't aware of the esc-b method there.

No editing of the .vimrc file is required for this on my Ubuntu and Debian systems, but YMMV on others. It's presumably based on the standard configuration that's packaged for the OS

Upvotes: 0

William Pursell
William Pursell

Reputation: 212248

A nice vim feature is ctrl-f. Typing ^f (or whatever key is specified in the cedit option, with ctrl-f being the default) from command line mode has the same effect as typing q: from normal mode; it pulls your entire command history into a window and lets you edit it as a buffer. Try :help cmdwin for more details.

Upvotes: 3

darcyparker
darcyparker

Reputation: 1219

For entering and editing complex commands, you may like working directly in the command line window which is accessed with the normal mode command q:. See :h 20.5 and :h q:. Or if you are already in command mode, you can access the command line window with C-f.

  • For example, in normal mode type q: to get into the command line window. (or type C-f from command line mode.
  • You can move around previous commands using standard motions and you can edit as usual.
  • When you want to execute a command that you just edited, press enter in normal mode in this command line window. The line your cursor is on will be executed as a command in
    the window you were in before you opened the command line window.

Another option to consider is to edit/yank the command from another buffer. You can do this by yanking the desired text and pasting it in command mode by typing C-R n, where n is the register you yanked to.

BTW: I like the mappings that @rks provided. But if you don't have these mappings, you can use the out of the box commands. Look up :h c_<S-Left> and :h c_<S-Right> and :h 20.1.

Upvotes: 3

rks
rks

Reputation: 920

You cannot use "Esc b" because, obviously, that would discard the command you where typing. However you can bind some keys to move around.

The question as already be answered here : Navigating in Vim's Command Mode

The easy way is just to add :

cnoremap <C-a> <Home>
cnoremap <C-e> <End>
cnoremap <C-p> <Up>
cnoremap <C-n> <Down>
cnoremap <C-b> <Left>
cnoremap <C-f> <Right>
cnoremap <M-b> <S-Left>
cnoremap <M-f> <S-Right>

In your .vimrc

Upvotes: 8

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