Vim operators: delete, change, copy and change case

An operator is a verb. d deletes, c changes, y copies and gU uppercases, and the motion you type after it says how far. Learn six operators and every motion you already know becomes six new edits: dw, c$, yf,, gUiw.

Each example shows a line before and after, with the keys in between. Unless a row says otherwise, the cursor starts on the first character. Every example was replayed in the Vim engine that runs the game and checked in Neovim.

The grammar: operator + motion

A Vim edit reads like a short sentence: verb, then how far. The verb is one of these operators:

"How far" is any motion: w to the next word, $ to the end of the line, t) to just before the next ), G to the last line. The operator covers the text from the cursor to wherever that motion would have moved it.

Counts go in front of the operator, in front of the motion, or both. 2dw and d2w both delete two words. Two counts multiply: 2d3w on a b c d e f g h deletes six words and leaves g h.

Delete in Vim: d

Here is d with a few motions on the quick brown fox jumps:

Backward motions like b and 0 delete the text behind the cursor and leave the character under it alone. That is why d0 keeps the b of brown.

How to delete a word in Vim

• From the start of the word: dw. It deletes the word and the space after it.
• From anywhere inside the word: daw deletes the word and the space after it, so the sentence closes up. diw deletes only the word and leaves both spaces.
• The word before the cursor: db, or Ctrl-w while you are typing in Insert mode.
• Several words: put a count in, as in d3w.

daw and diw use text objects, which work wherever the cursor stands inside the word. That makes daw the safest choice when you are not sure the cursor is on the first letter.

Why dw and de stop in different places

Look at dw and de above. w moves to the first letter of quick, but dw does not delete that letter. e moves to the last letter of the, and de does delete it. The difference is built into each motion:

• Exclusive motions stop the operator just before the character they land on: w, W, t, l.
• Inclusive motions include the character they land on: e, E, f, $, %.

Backward motions (b, F, T, 0, ^, h) are all exclusive: they delete the character they land on but never the one under the cursor.

You rarely have to think about it, because the result is nearly always what you meant. It shows most with t and f:

Use t when you want to keep the character you are aiming at, and f when it should go too.

Delete lines: dd, counts and linewise motions

Type an operator twice and it works on the whole line: dd deletes the line, and 3dd deletes three lines starting with this one. Motions that move between lines, such as j, k, G and gg, are linewise: after an operator they cover whole lines, whatever column the cursor is on.

In each row the buffer holds the five lines one to five, and the cursor starts on two:

To delete single characters there are two shortcuts: x deletes the character under the cursor (the same as dl) and X the one before it (dh). With a count, 5x on hello world leaves  world.

One special case: when the word is the last one on the line, dw stops at the end of the line instead of joining the next line. On one two, with three on the next line, dw from the t of two leaves one  and keeps three on its own line, even though w alone would jump to three.

Change in Vim: c

c deletes like d and then puts you in Insert mode. Type the new text and press Esc. Because the delete and the typing are one command, u undoes both and . repeats both.

Notice the first row. dw deletes the space after a word, but cw does not: on a word, Vim treats cw as ce, because when you change a word you nearly always want to keep the space after it. c2w likewise stops at the end of the second word.

cc and S replace the text of the line but keep the line itself. If the line is indented, Neovim and Vimrealm keep the indent. Vim keeps it only when the autoindent option is on, which it is not by default.

How to change a word in Vim

• From the start of the word: cw, type the new word, Esc.
• From anywhere inside it: ciw. You do not need to move to the first letter, and . repeats it on the next word no matter where the cursor lands.
• The rest of the line: C. Up to a character: ct and the character, as in ct; or ct).

Copy and paste: y and p

y copies over a motion without changing anything. p pastes after the cursor and P before it. Text copied as whole lines pastes as whole lines, below or above the current one.

yy copies the line. In Vim and in Vimrealm, Y does the same. In Neovim, Y copies to the end of the line, like y$, to match D and C.

d, c and x also keep what they deleted, ready for p. So a delete followed by a paste is a move, and a few classic tricks fall out of that:

Change case: gU, gu, g~ and ~

The case operators take motions like any other operator. They do not enter Insert mode and they do not store anything for p.

~ on its own is not an operator. It toggles the case of the character under the cursor and moves one to the right, so ~ on hello gives Hello, and 3~ gives HELlo.

How to uppercase a word in Vim

• The word under the cursor, from anywhere in it: gUiw. Use guiw for lowercase.
• From the start of the word: gUw.
• Only the first letter: ~ on that letter, or gUl if it must end up uppercase whatever it was.
• The whole line: gUU.
• A selection: select it in Visual mode with v and press U (or u for lowercase).

Doubled operators and one-key shortcuts

Typing an operator twice applies it to the current line. A few common edits also have a one-key shortcut:

Operators with text objects

After an operator you can also type a text object: i or a followed by what to work on, such as w for a word, " for a quoted string or ( for parentheses. A text object covers a whole thing around the cursor, so the cursor can be anywhere inside it.

In the second row the cursor starts outside the quotes. Vim looks ahead along the line for the string. Vim text objects explained lists every object, with more examples.

Operators and the dot command

. repeats the last change, and an operator with its motion counts as one change. So once you have made an edit, you can move and press . to make it again:

In the last row ; repeats the t) search, which jumps to the y just before the next ), and . repeats dt) there. Edits that do not depend on the exact column, like ciw and daw, repeat best. The dot command guide has more on planning edits around it.

Real Vim has more

Once d, c and y feel natural, the same grammar works with a few more operators, motions and registers. Vimrealm does not teach these yet:

• > and <: indent and unindent, as in >> for one line or >} for a paragraph
• =: re-indent, as in =G to the end of the file
• gq: wrap text to the line width, as in gqq
• Searches as motions: d/end Enter deletes up to the next end
• Named registers: "ayy copies the line into register a, and "ap pastes it, so you can keep several things copied at once

Where the commands are taught: x, X, dd and ~ in chapter 6, The Breaking Arts; d, c, D, C, cc, s, S, gu, gU and g~ in chapter 8, Operator Sanctum; text objects in chapter 9; y, p and . in chapter 10; Visual mode and U in chapter 12. These are part of the full version ($7.99, one payment). See how the course works or keep the cheat sheet entry for operators open while you practise.