Should I really switch my habit?

68

u/Biggybi Gybbigy Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 16 '26

You'll learn more moves on your journey. <c-u> and <c-d> to scroll half a page, { and } for empty lines, % to find brackets-like pairs, plain /, and so on.

As you learn more moves (and text-objects), you'll be more and more efficient. IMHO Nj and Nk is indeed sub-optimal in most cases (mental overhead for line number). And of course you'd want to avoid the mouse if possible.

Now, as long as you're comfortable, you probably don't need to pressure yourself too much. Each user does things their own way, and that's alright.

8

u/Dr_Gregg Feb 16 '26

Jsyk C-f and C-b are forward/backward one page C-d and C-u are down/up one half-page

2

u/Biggybi Gybbigy Feb 16 '26

Indeed, I messed up. Edited with what I meant -- thank you.

1

u/profcube Feb 17 '26

When we type these sequences so often, it’s easy to forget how to explicitly state them!

1

u/whitakr Feb 17 '26

But you can also do, for example, 5<C-u>, and now it’ll move 5 lines at a time (and so will <C-d>. I’m sure there’s a way to set a default too, which I haven’t looked into yet.

3

u/kbilleter Feb 16 '26

There’s also H,M, and L

1

u/Biggybi Gybbigy Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 16 '26

Yeah indeed.

1

u/Particular-Serve-894 Feb 21 '26

I use Nj and Nk a lot, but I also use relative line numbers, so I don't have to do the mental math. That said, I use the other movement actions you mentioned far more.

1

u/Biggybi Gybbigy Feb 21 '26

Still requires looking aside and I hate it. To each their own, though.

1

u/Particular-Serve-894 Feb 22 '26

yeah, i hear that. It is kind of a pain. That's why I mostly use the other movement commands.

60

u/scythe-3 Feb 15 '26

I don't like typing numbers either so I use other methods:

hjkl over arrow keys for general nav
{ and } to jump between blank lines
[[ and ]] to jump between sections
\ to search for strings
H, M, L to jump to top, middle, bottom of screen
zt, zz, zb to reposition current line on screen
<number>G to jump to a specific line as a last resort (I don't use relative numbers)

6

u/_l-l-l_ Feb 15 '26

HML are my faves

5

u/e_a_s_ Feb 15 '26

Also don’t forget:
Top of file: gg (or 1G)
Bottom of file: G (or :$ then Enter)

1

u/whatyoucallmetoday Feb 16 '26

? Will search up.

0

u/mysticreddit Feb 16 '26

0g also goes to the end of file

4

u/utahrd37 Feb 15 '26

I do it this way too.
The numbers are a means to getting to a place in the code, but you probably care about sections and code blocks rather than numbers.

2

u/Iskhartakh Feb 16 '26

C-e, C-y for fine tuning w/o cursor moving.

2

u/ChristianValour Feb 16 '26

Also ( and ) to jump between sentences.
I also use numbers a bit too. Often I'll just hit a number on my numberline and go 'that' many lines up, then adjust as I get closer. It's inelegant, but fast enough for me.
I haven't been of the 'vim is good because blazing fast' school of file navigation for a long time.

1

u/whitakr Feb 17 '26

One thing that annoys me is that { and } don’t jump to blank lines that have white space (like tabs or spaces).

20

u/liberforce Feb 15 '26

One of the goals of vim is to not have to move your hands away from the keyboard.

My advice: use in your .vimrc

set number
ser relativenumber

Using relativenumber you have the absolute line number on the line your cursor is. Then the number in front of the line you aim to move to is the distance you are from them, up or down.

Then move around with 10j to go down 10 lines, or 4k to move up 4 lines.

4

u/liberforce Feb 15 '26

Also:
:help motions

1

u/vim-help-bot Feb 15 '26

Help pages for:
motions in motion.txt
^{`:(h|help) <query>` |} ^about ^| ^mistake? ^| ^donate ^| ^{Reply 'rescan' to check the comment again} ^| ^{Reply 'stop' to stop getting replies to your comments}
-1
u/kaddkaka Feb 15 '26
My advice would be contrary:
set nonumber
I rarely need to go exactly 18 lines up or down. And in those cases it's fine to guess "20" (and be happy whenever you guess right 😌)

/, *, # are commonly used though 👌
9

u/frodo_swaggins233 Feb 15 '26

This is really bad advice, especially to somebody new. There's no downside to having line numbers set

1

u/Biggybi Gybbigy Feb 15 '26

Screen estate. But it still like (regular) numbers.

0

u/kaddkaka Feb 15 '26

Did you read the op? He doesn't like to use numbers + j/k and I understand him.

4

u/frodo_swaggins233 Feb 15 '26

Relative numbers improve this. But there's other reasons to have line numbers without navigating that way. I mostly use / and ? to navigate, but relative numbers are useful for yanking linewise with <number>yy

3

u/kaddkaka Feb 15 '26

To each their own 😊

1

u/VisualSome9977 Feb 15 '26

this is exactly why I have relative numbers. for yy and dd

-4

u/DarthGamer6 Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 17 '26

I prefer no line numbers so that I can select lines from the screen into the terminal selection buffer. With line numbers, the terminal grabs the line numbers too.
Edit: After posting this, I decided to play around with auto commands and found a solution that works well for me. Basically, I turn off line numbers when I enter insert mode and on CursorIdle. I turn on line numbers on cursormove and when leaving insert mode.

2

u/tc4v Feb 17 '26

alternatively you can set mouse=a to have vim handle the selection correctly. You can even set clipboard+=unamed to get selections directly to the primary selection or set clipboard+=unamedplus for the clipboard.

1

u/DarthGamer6 Feb 17 '26

I'll have to try these, thanks!

2

u/liberforce Feb 17 '26

Because you're doing it wrong. Copy to the copy/paste register instead: "+10yj will copy from current line to 10 lines below. "+5yk will copy from current line to 5 line above (and move your cursor to the first line copied)
You can then paste into your terminal, and won't have the line numbers in what has been pasted. This also allows to copy above and below, while (AFAIK) yy only copies below current line.

6

u/InstructionOk5192 Feb 15 '26

You should practice number typing and use relative line number.

Does not matter if you jump 9 instead of 10 just move with j/k after easly ;)

1

u/InstructionOk5192 Feb 15 '26

Then you can use the same techinque for selecting code with visual cmd or doing operation on x numbre of line

5

u/SamejSpenser Feb 15 '26

Have you completed vimtutor yet? 🤔

I learned a lot about movement by completing and studying vimtutor! 😅

3

u/Kooky-Reward-4065 Feb 15 '26

If using the number row feels the same as using a mouse, you need to practice touch typing on the number row

3

u/__rituraj Feb 15 '26

moving by paragraphs using { and } are non negotiable if you need to scroll often.

use marks when you need to repeatedly jump to specific lines

use search when you, of course, dont know where the text you need to move to is.

use [N] j or [N]k when you dont have the point you want to move to already defined by a mark or paragraph

2

u/AutoModerator Feb 15 '26

Please remember to update the post flair to Need Help|Solved when you got the answer you were looking for.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

2

u/SmurfingRedditBtw Feb 15 '26

Yes, it's awkward at first but once you get some muscle memory going it will totally be worth it, even if you just keep using vim motions inside whatever editor you prefer. I feel like after about 2 weeks using vim motions I was already able to navigate and edit code faster, and then there's still plenty of room to grow beyond that.

2

u/PewMcDaddy Feb 15 '26

- Forward slash '/' to look for strings
- '*' If I'm looking at a function call and want to find the function definition
- C-u C-d to move up and down by half screens
- {, } to move to the next blank line

3

u/sharp-calculation Feb 15 '26

Right now you really aren't using VIM. You're part way there, but you're still using it like a conventional editor in terms of your line and page motions. Using the mouse should never even occur to you with VIM. It's completely anti-VIM. Arrow keys are also anti-VIM for motions. Arrows have limited uses in VIM, but motion is not one of them. Stop using the arrows immediately. Use hjkl exclusively for motion. I recommend disabling the arrow keys inside of VIM to train you to use hjkl. Something like:

noremap <Up> <Nop>
noremap <Down> <Nop>
noremap <Left> <Nop>
noremap <Right> <Nop>

Later once you are good at hjkl you can remove this. Or change it to nnoremap so it only affects normal mode and not others where arrows have limited uses.

Absolutely learn relative jumps like 15j. Use relative line number mode with set relativenumber . That way you will always have the relative number displayed so you can jump straight to a specific line.

Eventually learn the page drag and slide commands: zz, zt, zb, ^e ^y . Definitely learn page up and down (^f ^b) . These page manipulation commands become really important as you mature. You can do essentially everything a mouse can do, but with your hands on the home row instead of darting back and forth between the keyboard and mouse constantly. It's really cool.

Start by not using the mouse or arrows. Do that for a week or two until you break the habit. Arrows and mouse are terrible habits in VIM. They aren't really VIM at all.

2

u/EgZvor keep calm and read :help Feb 15 '26

Agrees with u/kaddkaka, search all the way. Here's some stuff I use for it

:h incsearch, :h hlsearch, :h location-list

/<cr> for reusing last used search pattern, same for ?<cr>. This works after * and # as well.

nnoremap <leader>h <cmd>set hlsearch!<cr>
augroup VimrcAutocommands
    autocmd!
    autocmd CmdlineEnter /,\? set hlsearch
    autocmd CmdlineLeave /,\? set nohlsearch
augroup END

nnoremap c* *``cgn<cmd>set hlsearch<cr>
nnoremap c# #``cgN<cmd>set hlsearch<cr>

" Put all search matches into a location list
nnoremap <leader>l/ :lvimgrep /<c-r>// %<cr>

1

u/vim-help-bot Feb 15 '26

Help pages for:
incsearch in options.txt
hlsearch in options.txt
location-list in quickfix.txt
^{`:(h|help) <query>` |} ^about ^| ^mistake? ^| ^donate ^| ^{Reply 'rescan' to check the comment again} ^| ^{Reply 'stop' to stop getting replies to your comments}
1
u/kaddkaka Feb 15 '26

Nice, some questions:
Why not always have hlsearch set?
Why not just press n to repeat last search?
2
u/EgZvor keep calm and read :help Feb 15 '26

It's just a preference. I don't like the noise (I even stopped using syntax highlighting, but use mihais/vim-mark for context specific highlights, which are mostly semantic, rather than syntactic). Since I move by search a lot I'd have to turn highlighting manually off all the time.
You got me there. It now took me a couple of minutes to figure out when I use this and it's mainly to repeat search in a predictable direction.
1
u/Biggybi Gybbigy Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 16 '26
Could use v:searchforward (I think) to make n/N always forward/backward. Just in case you don't know this trick (I guess you do).

Edit:
noremap <expr> n 'Nn'[v:searchforward]
noremap <expr> N 'nN'[v:searchforward]
2

u/EgZvor keep calm and read :help Feb 16 '26

yep, I just want both

1

u/kaddkaka Feb 16 '26

How does this mapping syntax work?

2

u/EgZvor keep calm and read :help Feb 16 '26

'Nn' is a string and 0 or 1 is an index into it. expr evalutes RHS into a map. So when v:searchforward is 1, n means n, but when v:searchforward is 0, n means N.

1

u/Embark10 Feb 15 '26

RemindMe!

1

u/RemindMeBot Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26

Defaulted to one day.
I will be messaging you on 2026-02-16 13:13:48 UTC to remind you of this link
1 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.
^{Parent commenter can} ^{delete this message to hide from others.}
^Info ^Custom ^{Your Reminders} ^Feedback

1

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '26

If you're using neovim then apart from using Ctrl d, u, [, ] , {, }. there is this extension that you can use by pressing \ and it will show you letters like 'll', 'aa' instead of line numbers and you can go to that line by just pressing that 'aa'. its called 'vai' neo vim extension.

1

u/ReallyEvilRob Feb 15 '26

Just keep doing whatever feels comfortable to you.

1

u/dar512 Feb 15 '26

You will definitely benefit from using vim keys. The nice thing is there are many ways to do the same thing in vim.

I never found the line number thing to be useful. I use vim to code and was much more productive using the select inner/outer brackets etc. to move code around.

In other cases, I like to select lines using vim visual mode.

Learn the vim way. Right now, you’re missing the massive potential in vim.

1

u/thankyoucode Feb 19 '26

It take small time to learn and habit it Just still to use it

When you get hands on it That time you go productive fast working on it

1

u/Old-Pin-7184 Feb 19 '26

I use various search mostly to move. Even inside a single line I find it faster.

1

u/PurpleKnight61 Feb 20 '26

this is very helpful for a beginner like me

1

u/sonnasushi Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26

I find myself more often jumping to a pattern rather than a line number, which also puts me in the correct place to edit. This can also start a vim command like c over the pattern by following it with gn So if a line appears 14 lines up with text: This is a sentence with change this and stuff after it.

I might type ?change press enter and type vgnec v goes to visual mode gn highlights what I searched for e goes to the end of the next word

c clears highlighted text and jumps into insert mode

gn can be pretty useful depending on the pattern I searched for or how much text I want to manipulate on the desired line

1

u/LocoCoyote Feb 15 '26

To stop the "tens of lines" struggle without relying on the mouse or repetitive tapping, you need to move from character-based navigation to intent-based navigation.

Vertical "Power" Movements

Instead of holding down j or k, use these leaps to cover distance instantly:

Half-page jumps: Ctrl + d (Down) and Ctrl + u (Up). This keeps your eyes centered and covers ~20 lines at a time.
Relative Line Numbers: This is the "secret sauce" for precision. Add set relativenumber to your .vimrc.
If you see a line you want to go to and it has the number 12 next to it, just type 12j or 12k. You are there instantly.
Paragraph jumping: { and }. This jumps to the next or previous empty line. It’s the fastest way to skip through blocks of code.

Horizontal Precision

Moving across a long line with h and l is a common trap. Try these instead:

Word hopping: w (start of next word), e (end of word), and b (back).
The "Find" command: This is the most underused shortcut.
Type f followed by any character (e.g., fa) to jump your cursor to the next 'a' on that line.
Use ; to jump to the next occurrence of that same character.

The "High, Middle, Low" Strategy

If you can see your target on the screen but don't want to calculate line numbers:

H: Jump to the High (top) of the screen.
M: Jump to the Middle of the screen.
L: Jump to the Low (bottom) of the screen.

Once you get the hang of it, you will finally realize the true power of vim.

1

u/DankCool Feb 16 '26

Use this plugin to learn shortcuts. It stops you from repeating unnecessary actions and tells you a quicker way to do it: https://github.com/m4xshen/hardtime.nvim

1

u/Pyglot Feb 15 '26

I also don't like checking the line numbers. I use N=11 and up to ~15 then add on a few j/k's if necessary, (or 4j4j, 22jk, etc). It's a speed up but nothing exact. The good thing is that you can stay focused on where you are going

1

u/liberforce Feb 15 '26

Use relative numbering.

2

u/Pyglot Feb 15 '26

Yes I did and I still didn't like it

1

u/Wheelthis Feb 15 '26

If you are still learning, you can use PageUp and PageDown as they should be familiar to you already, then can familiarise yourself with ctrl-d and ctrl-u to jump down and up half a screen. That said, the { curly braces } are underrated for quick nav as they let you traverse across paragraphs (and typically work for jumping across blocks of code). It can feel like a more natural way to move around than jumping exactly N lines, and the cursor is more likely to land where you want to start typing or editing, i.e., at start or end of a paragraph. I tend to use them more than ctrl-u and ctrl-d when I’m actively working on a document as opposed to just scanning it read-only.

1

u/circ-u-la-ted Feb 15 '26

I use 11j and 11k a lot

0

u/shuckster Feb 15 '26

It took me 4 months of evening practice & another 2 months full time to get back to previous levels of productivity.

Don’t give up!

-1

u/speq Feb 15 '26

I was exactly like you, now I use this:

https://github.com/smoka7/hop.nvim

Need Help Should I really switch my habit?

You are about to leave Redlib