Vim - key combinations to change text

I'm a fan of Vim, I've been using Vim syntax in my work for more than a year, and I so love it. The most thing I love in Vim is the key combinations, which help me quickly edit the text. So today I'd like to share with you guys some key combinations that I usually use in my daily work. I hope they can help you be more productive in coding and inspire you to use or learn Vim.

Combinations

Below are examples of my screenshoots to show how the combinations work, they are not completely enough and I can add more later.

"ciw"

Change inner the word under the cursor

"cit"

Change the content inner a tag

"ci("

Change the content inner round bracket

"ct="

Change the content from the cursor to before the "="

"cc"

Change current line - Delete the current line and turn into insert mode

Main keys

"c" is the main command to change text object in Vim. There are many types of text object such as word, content inside a tag or brackets, or content before, after a character, etc. Below are two key combinations I always use:

• i - is a command to turn into insert mode in Vim, but when it combines with "c" like "ci", "i" means inner a text object.
• a - is also a command to turn into insert mode but the text editor cursor will place after the current cursor. "ca" means change the text object and the thing around it.

We can combine many keys to represent the boundary like:

• ci" to change the content inner the ""
• ci< to change inner the <>
• ca< to change the content inner the <> and also delete the <>

And more.

You might think there are lots of things to remember, but believe me, when you practice and practice everyday, you can dance with those combinations like a pro.

Comments

[Max Shen]

Here's a little trick: cib is equivalent to ci(. I use cib because it is a little bit faster to press b instead of ( which is Shift + 9 in QWERTY layout. This improvement seems small, but over the time this can make a big difference.

[Documendous]

Very good point. Thanks for the post, Max!

[Khang Nguyen]

Wow. Thanks @m4xshen. That's a good trick. Is there any same thing that we can apply for [], and {}?

[Max Shen]

Yes, can use ciB instead of ci{. However I personally don't use this because the speed are pretty much the same (pressing B also requires Shift key).

[Ben Sinclair]

You can also do c% if you're on the character itself, regardless of what that character is so long as it is part of a matched pair.

[huantd]

Great article, Khang!
I have an explanation for 'ct':
"ct=" change text til the "="
We also use "ct" with another character. Eg: "ct,", "ct:", "ct_". It's really helpful when working with objects or JSON.

[Khang Nguyen]

Yeah, thanks @huantd1 for your explanation, that makes "ct" command more clearly.

[Ahmed Helmi]

Very insightful!

[Tyler Smith]

This is great. The gifs really help visualize what's happening.

[Documendous]

Very good write-up Khang!