KEYBINDINGS.md

Vid Keybindings Reference

A comprehensive reference of all keybindings in vid, the minimal vim-like text editor.

Normal Mode

Navigation

Key	Action
h	Move cursor left
l	Move cursor right
k	Move cursor up
j	Move cursor down
w	Move to next word
W	Move to next WORD (whitespace-delimited)
b	Move to previous word
B	Move to previous WORD
e	Move to end of word
E	Move to end of WORD
ge	Move to end of previous word
gE	Move to end of previous WORD
0	Move to start of line
^	Move to first non-blank character
$	Move to end of line
gg	Move to start of file
G	Move to end of file
{	Move to previous paragraph
}	Move to next paragraph
(	Move to previous sentence
)	Move to next sentence
%	Jump to matching bracket
Ctrl+D	Move down half page
Ctrl+U	Move up half page

Find Characters

Key	Action
f{char}	Find next occurrence of character
F{char}	Find previous occurrence of character
t{char}	Move till (before) next character
T{char}	Move till (after) previous character
;	Repeat last find
,	Repeat last find in reverse

Search

Key	Action
/	Search forward
?	Search backward
n	Repeat search
N	Repeat search in reverse
*	Search for word under cursor (forward)
#	Search for word under cursor (backward)

Editing

Key	Action
i	Enter insert mode
a	Append after cursor
A	Append at end of line (alias for $a)
I	Insert at first non-blank (alias for ^i)
o	Open line below
O	Open line above
r	Replace single character
R	Enter replace mode
s	Substitute character (alias for cl)
S	Substitute line (alias for ^C)
x	Delete character under cursor (alias for dl)
X	Delete character before cursor (alias for dh)
D	Delete to end of line (alias for d$)
C	Change to end of line (alias for c$)
J	Join lines
~	Toggle case of character under cursor
p	Paste after cursor
P	Paste before cursor
Y	Yank line (alias for yy)
u	Undo
U	Redo
.	Repeat last change
Ctrl+A	Increment number under cursor
Ctrl+X	Decrement number under cursor

Operators

Operators can be combined with motions or text objects (e.g., dw deletes a word, ci( changes inside parentheses).

Key	Action
d	Delete
c	Change (delete and enter insert mode)
y	Yank (copy)
gu	Convert to lowercase
gU	Convert to uppercase

Double an operator to apply to the whole line: dd (delete line), cc (change line), yy (yank line), guu (lowercase line), gUU (uppercase line).

View Control

Key	Action
zz	Center view on cursor
zt	Scroll cursor to top of view
zb	Scroll cursor to bottom of view
zh	Toggle syntax highlighting
Ctrl+W	Toggle word wrap

Visual Mode

Key	Action
v	Enter visual (character) mode
V	Enter visual line mode
Escape	Exit visual mode / collapse multi-cursor

Multi-Cursor

Key	Action
Enter	Add cursor below
Ctrl+K	Add cursor above
Ctrl+N	Select word under cursor
Tab / ]s	Cycle to next selection
Shift+Tab / [s	Cycle to previous selection
]S	Remove primary selection

LSP Commands

Key	Action
gd	Go to definition
gr	Find references
gR	LSP rename symbol
ga	Show code actions
gl	Show line diagnostic
gs	Show symbols
Ctrl+R	Find references
K	Show hover information
go	Jump back
gi	Jump forward

File & Buffer Management

Key	Action
q	Quit
ZZ	Write and quit
ZQ	Force quit (discard changes)
Ctrl+P	Open file picker
Ctrl+F	Open buffer selector
Ctrl+T	Open theme selector
Ctrl+E	Open diagnostics

---

Text Objects

Text objects are used with operators in the form {operator}{a|i}{object}.

• a = "around" (includes delimiters/whitespace)
• i = "inside" (excludes delimiters)

Brackets & Quotes

Object	Inside	Around
Parentheses ()	i(, i), ib	a(, a), ab
Braces {}	i{, i}, iB	a{, a}, aB
Brackets []	i[, i]	a[, a]
Angle brackets <>	i<, i>	a<, a>
Double quotes "	i"	a"
Single quotes '	i'	a'
Backticks `	i`	a`

Other Text Objects

Object	Inside	Around
Word	iw	aw
WORD	iW	aW
Sentence	is	as
Paragraph	ip	ap

Examples:

• di( — delete inside parentheses
• ca" — change around double quotes
• yiw — yank inside word

---

Insert Mode

Key	Action
Escape	Return to normal mode
Backspace	Delete character before cursor
Enter	Insert newline
Ctrl+N	Show completion
Ctrl+P	Show completion

Any other key inserts the typed character.

---

Replace Mode

Key	Action
Escape	Return to normal mode
Backspace	Undo last replacement

Any other key replaces the character under cursor.

---

Visual Mode

In visual mode, motions extend the selection. Operators act on the selection.

Key	Action
Escape	Exit visual mode
v	Exit visual mode
o	Swap selection anchor and cursor
x	Delete selection
s	Substitute (change) selection
Tab / ]s	Cycle to next selection
Shift+Tab / [s	Cycle to previous selection
Ctrl+L	Remove primary selection
Ctrl+G	Split selection into per-line selections
Ctrl+A	Select all matches of current selection
Ctrl+N	Select next match of selection

---

Visual Line Mode

Key	Action
Escape	Exit visual line mode
V	Exit visual line mode
o	Swap selection anchor and cursor
x	Delete selected lines
s	Substitute selected lines
I	Insert at start of each selected line
A	Append at end of each selected line
Tab / ]s	Cycle to next selection
Shift+Tab / [s	Cycle to previous selection
Ctrl+L	Remove primary selection
Ctrl+G	Split selection into per-line selections
Ctrl+A	Select all matches of current selection

---

Command Mode

Enter command mode with :.

File Commands

Command	Action
:q / :quit	Quit
:q! / :quit!	Force quit
:w / :write	Write (save) file
:wq / :x / :exit	Write and quit
:e {file} / :edit {file}	Edit/open file
:o {file} / :open {file}	Open file
:r {file} / :read {file}	Read file into buffer

Buffer Commands

Command	Action
:bn / :bnext	Next buffer
:bp / :bprev / :bprevious	Previous buffer
:b {name} / :buffer {name}	Switch to buffer
:bd / :bdelete	Close buffer
:bd! / :bdelete!	Force close buffer
:ls / :buffers / :buf	List buffers

LSP Commands

Command	Action
:lsp	LSP status/info
:d / :diagnostics	Show diagnostics
:da	Show all diagnostics
:rename	LSP rename
:fmt / :format	Format document
:sym / :symbols	Show symbols
:ref / :references	Find references

View Commands

Command	Action
:nowrap	Disable line wrapping
:charwrap	Enable character wrapping
:wordwrap	Enable word wrapping

Selection Commands

Command	Action
:s / :sel / :select	Select pattern
:selclear	Clear selections

UI Commands

Command	Action
:th / :theme / :themes	Open theme picker
:f / :files / :browse	Open file browser

---

Popup/Picker Mode

When a popup (file picker, completion, etc.) is open:

Key	Action
Escape	Cancel/close popup
Enter	Select item
Ctrl+N / ↓	Move down
Ctrl+P / ↑	Move up
Ctrl+D	Page down
Ctrl+U	Page up
←	Filter cursor left
→	Filter cursor right
Home / Ctrl+A	Filter cursor to start
End / Ctrl+E	Filter cursor to end
Backspace	Delete filter character

Any other key adds to the filter.

---

Count Prefixes

Most commands accept a numeric prefix to repeat the action:

• 5j — move down 5 lines
• 3dw — delete 3 words
• 10x — delete 10 characters

Numbers 0-9 can be used as count prefixes in normal, operator-pending, and visual modes. Note: 0 alone moves to start of line; use it as a count prefix only after other digits.