Manipulating Selected Text

Advanced techniques for working with visual selections in Neovim.

Visual Mode Basics

Entering Visual Mode

v                              " Character-wise
V                              " Line-wise
Ctrl-v                         " Block-wise (column selection)
gv                             " Reselect last selection

Expanding Selection

o                              " Jump to other end of selection
O                              " Jump to other corner (block mode)

Text Objects

Text objects let you select semantic units of text. Use with v, d, c, y, etc.

Inner vs Around

Prefix	Meaning
`i`	Inner (excludes delimiters)
`a`	Around (includes delimiters)

Word Objects

iw                             " Inner word
aw                             " A word (includes surrounding space)
iW                             " Inner WORD (space-delimited)
aW                             " A WORD

Example: With cursor on “hello” in say hello world:

viw selects hello
vaw selects hello (with trailing space)

Delimiter Objects

i"                             " Inside double quotes
a"                             " Around double quotes (includes quotes)
i'                             " Inside single quotes
a'                             " Around single quotes
i`                             " Inside backticks
a`                             " Around backticks

Bracket Objects

i(  or  ib                     " Inside parentheses
a(  or  ab                     " Around parentheses
i{  or  iB                     " Inside braces
a{  or  aB                     " Around braces
i[                             " Inside square brackets
a[                             " Around square brackets
i<                             " Inside angle brackets
a<                             " Around angle brackets

Block Objects

it                             " Inside tag (HTML/XML)
at                             " Around tag
ip                             " Inner paragraph
ap                             " A paragraph
is                             " Inner sentence
as                             " A sentence

Combining with Operators

di"                            " Delete inside quotes
ci(                            " Change inside parentheses
ya{                            " Yank around braces
>ip                            " Indent paragraph

Block Visual Mode

Block mode (Ctrl-v) enables column editing.

Insert on Multiple Lines

1. Ctrl-v                      " Enter block mode
2. Move to select column       " j/k to extend selection
3. I                           " Insert mode (capital I)
4. Type text
5. Esc                         " Text appears on all lines

Append to Multiple Lines

1. Ctrl-v                      " Enter block mode
2. Select lines                " j/k to extend
3. $                           " Extend to end of each line
4. A                           " Append mode (capital A)
5. Type text
6. Esc                         " Text appears on all lines

Replace Column

1. Ctrl-v                      " Enter block mode
2. Select rectangle
3. c                           " Change
4. Type replacement
5. Esc

Delete Column

1. Ctrl-v                      " Enter block mode
2. Select rectangle
3. d                           " Delete

Case Changing

In Visual Mode

u                              " Lowercase selection
U                              " Uppercase selection
~                              " Toggle case of selection

In Normal Mode

~                              " Toggle case of character under cursor
g~w                            " Toggle case of word
g~iw                           " Toggle case of inner word
guw                            " Lowercase word
gUw                            " Uppercase word
gU$                            " Uppercase to end of line
gu$                            " Lowercase to end of line
gUU                            " Uppercase entire line
guu                            " Lowercase entire line

Joining Lines

Basic Join

J                              " Join current line with next (adds space)
gJ                             " Join without adding space
3J                             " Join next 3 lines

Visual Mode Join

1. V                           " Line-wise visual
2. Select lines
3. J                           " Join all selected lines

Indentation

Visual Mode

>                              " Indent selection
<                              " Unindent selection
=                              " Auto-indent selection

Repeat Indentation

.                              " Repeat last indent
2>                             " Indent twice

Normal Mode

>>                             " Indent current line
<<                             " Unindent current line
==                             " Auto-indent current line
>ip                            " Indent paragraph
=i{                            " Auto-indent inside braces

Sorting and Filtering

Sort Selection

1. V                           " Select lines
2. :                           " Enter command (shows :'<,'>)
3. !sort                       " Sort alphabetically

Sort Options

:'<,'>!sort                    " Alphabetical
:'<,'>!sort -n                 " Numeric
:'<,'>!sort -r                 " Reverse
:'<,'>!sort -u                 " Unique
:'<,'>!sort -t',' -k2          " Sort by 2nd CSV column

Other Filters

:'<,'>!uniq                    " Remove adjacent duplicates
:'<,'>!column -t               " Align as table
:'<,'>!tac                     " Reverse line order
:'<,'>!shuf                    " Shuffle lines

Surround Operations

These require the vim-surround plugin (or similar in Neovim).

Add Surroundings

ysiw"                          " Surround word with "
ysiw)                          " Surround word with ()
yss"                           " Surround entire line with "

Change Surroundings

cs"'                           " Change " to '
cs)]                           " Change () to []
cst<div>                       " Change tag to <div>

Delete Surroundings

ds"                            " Delete surrounding "
ds(                            " Delete surrounding ()
dst                            " Delete surrounding tag

Visual Mode Surround

1. Select text
2. S"                          " Surround selection with "

Formatting

Text Wrapping

gq                             " Format selection (wrap to textwidth)
gqq                            " Format current line
gqip                           " Format paragraph
gw                             " Format and keep cursor position

Set wrap width:

:set textwidth=80

Align Text

:'<,'>center                   " Center lines
:'<,'>right                    " Right-align
:'<,'>left                     " Left-align

Practical Examples

Comment Multiple Lines

1. Ctrl-v                      " Block mode
2. Select lines (j/k)
3. I                           " Insert
4. //                          " Comment syntax
5. Esc

Add Semicolons to Line Ends

1. Ctrl-v                      " Block mode
2. Select lines
3. $                           " Go to end
4. A                           " Append
5. ;
6. Esc

Extract and Sort Unique Values

1. V                           " Select lines
2. :'<,'>!sort -u              " Sort and dedupe

Change Variable Name in Block

1. Ctrl-v                      " Block mode
2. Select the variable column
3. c                           " Change
4. newName
5. Esc

Wrap Selection in Function

1. v                           " Select text
2. S)                          " Surround with parens (vim-surround)
3. i                           " Insert before
4. functionName

Tips

Use . to repeat - Visual operations can be repeated on new selections
Use gv to reselect - Handy after an operation to do more
Block mode + $ - Handles uneven line lengths
Text objects are powerful - Learn i", i{, it for common editing
Filters are composable - Chain with | like !sort | uniq

Tags: #neovim #cli