2.x — Chapter 2 Summary and Quiz#

Let’s consolidate what we’ve learned about Vim navigation and test your understanding.

Chapter Summary#

Lesson 2.1: Character and Line Movement#

Basic movement keys (hjkl):

Key	Direction
h	Left
j	Down
k	Up
l	Right

Line boundaries:

Command	Position
0	Column 0 (absolute start)
^	First non-blank character
$	End of line
g_	Last non-blank character

Line jumps:

• gg — first line
• G — last line
• {n}G or :{n} — go to line n

Counts: 5j moves down 5 lines, 10l moves right 10 characters

Lesson 2.2: Word-Based Movement#

Two types of “words”:

• word (lowercase): separated by punctuation and whitespace
• WORD (uppercase): separated only by whitespace

Motion	word	WORD
Forward to start	w	W
Forward to end	e	E
Backward to start	b	B
Backward to end	ge	gE

With operators:

• dw — delete word
• ciw — change inner word
• yaw — yank a word (with surrounding space)

Lesson 2.3: Line Navigation#

Find and Till:

Command	Action
f{char}	Find forward (cursor ON char)
F{char}	Find backward (cursor ON char)
t{char}	Till forward (cursor BEFORE char)
T{char}	Till backward (cursor AFTER char)
;	Repeat last find
,	Repeat last find (reverse)

Key insight: df, deletes through comma; dt, deletes up to comma.

Lesson 2.4: Screen and File Navigation#

Screen position:

• H — High (top of screen)
• M — Middle of screen
• L — Low (bottom of screen)

Scrolling:

Command	Amount
Ctrl-f / Ctrl-b	Full screen
Ctrl-d / Ctrl-u	Half screen
Ctrl-e / Ctrl-y	Single line

Screen repositioning:

• zz — center cursor on screen
• zt — cursor at top
• zb — cursor at bottom

Paragraph/Section:

• { / } — previous/next blank line
• % — matching bracket

Jump history:

• Ctrl-o — older position
• Ctrl-i — newer position

Navigation Command Reference#

Category	Commands
Basic	h, j, k, l
Words	w, b, e, W, B, E
Line Start/End	0, ^, $, g_
Find	f, F, t, T, ;, ,
File	gg, G, {n}G
Screen	H, M, L
Scroll	Ctrl-f, Ctrl-b, Ctrl-d, Ctrl-u
Reposition	zz, zt, zb
Jumps	Ctrl-o, Ctrl-i, %, {, }

Quiz Time#

Test your navigation knowledge!

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Question #1

What’s the difference between 0 and ^?

Show Solution

• 0 — moves to column 0, the absolute start of the line (even if it’s whitespace)
• ^ — moves to the first non-blank character on the line

Example: On line int x;

• 0 moves to the first space
• ^ moves to the i in int

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Question #2

You need to delete from your cursor to the end of the line. What command do you use?

Show Solution

D or d$

Both delete from the cursor position to the end of the line. D is a shorthand for d$.

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Question #3

What’s the difference between w and W?

Show Solution

• w — moves to start of next word (letters/digits/underscores OR sequences of other characters)
• W — moves to start of next WORD (any non-blank sequence)

Example: On user.name = "value"

• w from start stops at: user, ., name, =, ", value, "
• W from start stops at: user.name, =, "value"

Use w for fine-grained movement, W to skip over punctuation.

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Question #4

How do you jump to line 42?

Show Solution

Multiple ways:

• 42G — Normal mode
• 42gg — Normal mode
• :42 — Command-line mode

All three take you to line 42.

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Question #5

What’s the difference between f( and t(?

Show Solution

• f( — Find the (, cursor lands ON the parenthesis
• t( — Till the (, cursor lands BEFORE the parenthesis (on the character before it)

This matters with operators:

• df( deletes through the ( (including it)
• dt( deletes up to the ( (not including it)

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Question #6

You’re looking at the bottom of your screen and want to jump there quickly. What command?

Show Solution

L — moves cursor to the Low (bottom) of the visible screen.

Related commands:

• H — High (top) of screen
• M — Middle of screen

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Question #7

What does ; do and when would you use it?

Show Solution

; repeats the last f, F, t, or T command in the same direction.

Use case: Finding all commas in a line:

1. f, — jump to first comma
2. ; — jump to next comma
3. ; — jump to next comma
4. , — (comma key) go back one if you went too far

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Question #8

How do you scroll down half a screen?

Show Solution

Ctrl-d — scrolls down half a screen.

Related scrolling:

• Ctrl-u — up half screen
• Ctrl-f — down full screen
• Ctrl-b — up full screen

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Question #9

You just made a jump to the end of the file with G. How do you get back to where you were?

Show Solution

Ctrl-o — jump to older position in the jump list.

Vim maintains a jump list of significant movements. Ctrl-o goes back through this list.

Alternatively, `` (two backticks) jumps to the exact position before the last jump.

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Question #10

You want to center the current line on your screen. What command?

Show Solution

zz — repositions the screen so the current line is centered.

Related:

• zt — current line at top of screen
• zb — current line at bottom of screen

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Question #11

You’re on an opening brace { and want to jump to its matching closing brace. What command?

Show Solution

% — jumps to the matching bracket.

Works with:

• () parentheses
• [] square brackets
• {} curly braces

Pressing % again returns to the original bracket.

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Question #12

How do you delete from the cursor to the third comma on a line?

Show Solution

d3f, or 3df,

Both delete from cursor through the third comma:

• d — delete operator
• 3 — count
• f, — find comma motion

If you wanted to delete up to (not including) the third comma: d3t,

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What’s Next?#

In Chapter 3, we’ll learn the heart of Vim’s power: Operators and Motions. You’ll understand:

• How operators and motions combine
• The full power of the dot command
• Advanced counts and repetition

This is where Vim starts to feel like a language you speak rather than commands you memorize!