Vim motions: stop counting arrow keys

The quick answer

Vim operators such as d, c and y combine with motions and text objects. daw deletes a word, ci" changes inside quotes, and yip yanks a paragraph.

daw  ci"  yip

What's going on?

Vim operators such as d, c and y combine with motions and text objects. daw deletes a word, ci" changes inside quotes, and yip yanks a paragraph.

Understanding the underlying mechanism makes troubleshooting much easier than memorising a command in isolation.

Dig a little deeper

Start with w, b, e, 0, $, gg and G. Then combine them with d, c, y and text objects such as iw, ap and i(.

Hands-on commands

Try these in a suitable test environment. Read each command before running it, especially if you have elevated privileges.

vimtutor
# In Vim try: dw, ciw, yyp, gg, G