Normal Mode: File Navigation

Normal Mode: File Navigation

One of vim’s major ideals is that the user’s hands never need to leave the keyboard. Meaning various keys and keystrokes have been programmed to give the user navigation controls.

Most navigation occurs in Normal mode.

Warning

This article will use the user-data.csv used in the previous grep and sed sections. If you do not already have the file, you can re-download it with:

curl -s https://launchcodelearning.org/api/walkthrough/user?data_format=csv > user-data.csv

After running the command you should have a new copy of the user-data.csv file:

validation image of the curl command validation image of the curl command

The file should have 25001 lines in it (run wc -l user-data.csv):

wc -l user-data.csv output wc -l user-data.csv output

Open user-data.csv with vim

First open the file:

vim user-data.csv

Output:

vim user-data.csv output vim user-data.csv output

By default, vim opens the file in Normal mode.

Basic Navigation

In Normal Mode the j key will move the cursor down one line.

Upon pressing the j key exactly one time it will move the cursor from over the f in first_name to the A in Amy immediately below it.

Try it out:

vim normal mode j press output vim normal mode j press output

Notice the cursor moved over the A in Amy.

What happens if the j key is pressed five more times? It should be over the W in Wesley:

vim normal mode j press five more times output vim normal mode j press five more times output

In Normal mode the k key will move the cursor up one line.

As the cursor is currently over the W in Wesley pressing k one time should place the cursor over the B in Brian:

vim normal mode k press output vim normal mode k press output

In Normal mode the l key will move the cursor right one character.

The cursor is currently over the B in Brian pressing l one time should place the cursor over the r in Brian:

vim normal mode l press output vim normal mode l press output

In Normal mode the h key will move the cursor left one character.

The cursor is currently over the r in Brian pressing the h key one time should place the cursor over the B in Brian:

vim normal mode h press output vim normal mode h press output

Advanced Navigation

The Normal mode basic navigation keys (h, j, k, l) are analogous to the direction keys in Insert mode. Both suffer from the same drawback: tedious and slow navigation. Using the mouse would be a better experience than trying to navigate through a 25001 line file with the basic navigation commands.

Luckily, vim has a ton of advanced Navigation commands in Normal mode we will explore:

  • go to specific line
  • go to next word
  • go to previous word
  • go to beginning of line
  • go to end of line
  • go to top of file
  • go to bottom of file

Go to specific line :[line-number] + <enter>

The cursor is currently on B in Brian typing:66 and hitting enter will navigate to the 66th line of the file:

vim normal mode :66 enter output vim normal mode :66 enter output

This command took us to the first character of the 66th line E in Ernest.

Let’s navigate back to line 6 typing :6 and hitting enter:

vim normal mode :6 enter output vim normal mode :6 enter output

Note

Two things to take notice of:

  • giving a goto line is a Normal mode command requiring an enter key press
  • the bottom right corner of the vim terminal window displays two numbers (like 6,1) representing the cursor location

The following picture will highlight the cursor location:

vim normal mode cursor location highlighted vim normal mode cursor location highlighted

In Normal mode the w key will move the cursor forward one word.

The cursor is currently on B in Brian (line 6) pressing w one time will place the character on the next word (in this case the comma):

vim normal mode w press output vim normal mode w press output

Pressing w three more times should move the cursor to the i in [email protected]:

vim normal mode w three more presses output vim normal mode w three more presses output

In Normal mode the b key will move the cursor back one word.

The cursor is currently on the i in [email protected] pressing the b should move the cursor back to the , preceding the word:

vim normal mode b press output vim normal mode b press output

In Normal mode the 0 (zero) key will move the cursor to the beginning of the current line.

The cursor is currently located at 6,14 pressing the 0 key will move the cursor to 6,1:

vim normal mode 0 press output vim normal mode 0 press output

Navigate to End of Current Line $

In Normal mode the $ (shift + 4) key combo will move the cursor to the end of the current line.

The cursor is currently located at 6,1 pressing the $ key combination will move the cursor to 6,45:

vim normal mode $ press output vim normal mode $ press output

In Normal mode the gg key combo will move the cursor to the top of the file.

The cursor is currently located at 6,45 pressing the gg key combo will move the cursor to 1,1:

vim normal mode gg press output vim normal mode gg press output

In Normal mode the G (shift + g) key combo will move the cursor to the bottom of the file.

The cursor is currently located at 1,1 pressing the G key combo will move the cursor to 25001,1:

vim normal mode G press output vim normal mode G press output

Recap

Navigating in vim can be accomplished in either Normal or Insert modes with basic navigation commands.

However, vim Normal mode provides many additional commands for navigating the file in an efficient manner.

Note

There are additional navigation commands in vim, but you will have to research those on your own!

Bonus

You can provide a numeric prefix to the majority of the navigation commands like 5 and it will perform the provided navigation action the provided number of times.

For example:

  • Navigate down five lines with 5j
  • Navigate up 15 lines with 15k
  • Navigate 32 characters to the right with 32l
  • Navigate 6 characters to the left with 6h
  • Navigate forward 3 words with 3w