~ / neovim / blank-lineslesson 2/7

Room to breathe: [<Space> and ]<Space>

Add empty lines above or below without leaving Normal mode.

?how it works

]<Space> adds an empty line below the cursor line and [<Space> adds one above. You stay in Normal mode and the cursor stays on the same text, so you can carry on moving and editing. A count adds several: 3]<Space>.

Compare o<Esc>: it costs the same two keys but moves you onto the new line, so getting back means another key. The bracket mappings leave the cursor where it was, and . repeats them (count included).

Mnemonic: [ means before or above, ] means after or below. Neovim uses the same idea for [d/]d and [q/]q.

A common slip is reaching for o out of habit and then having to climb back up. If you only want space, use the brackets.

⌨keys

`[<Space>`	add [count] empty lines above the cursor linenvim
`]<Space>`	add [count] empty lines below the cursor linenvim
`.`	repeat the last change, including these

Nin neovim

Added in Neovim 0.11, together with other bracket pairs inspired by vim-unimpaired (:h [<Space>).

3 drills

Frame a line: Add one empty line above and one below the cursor line.
Several at once: Add the empty lines shown in the target with a single counted mapping.
Spread them out with .: Put an empty line between each pair of lines. Add the first one, move, and repeat it with ..

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