Nneovim notes

Neovim turns 'startofline' off by default, so gg, G, {count}G and :{count} keep the cursor in the same column (when the line is long enough). Classic Vim moves you to the first non-blank character instead. The same goes for H, M, L and the scrolling keys. To get the Vim behaviour back, :set startofline.

Because Neovim leaves 'startofline' off, H, M, L and the CTRL-D/CTRL-U/CTRL-F/CTRL-B scrolls keep your column instead of jumping to the first non-blank. Neovim also turns the mouse on by default, and the scroll wheel scrolls the window rather than moving the cursor.

Neovim turns autoindent on by default (classic Vim doesn't), so a line opened with o or O starts with the same indent as the line you were on.

Out of the box Neovim maps <C-w> to <C-g>u<C-w> and <C-u> to <C-g>u<C-u> (see :h default-mappings). The <C-g>u starts a new undo step first, so if one of them deletes too much, u after <Esc> brings the text back while keeping what you typed before it.

Neovim inserts named and numbered registers (a–z, 0–9, +) literally, like pasting with p. Classic Vim "types" them in, so options such as autoindent and textwidth can reshape multi-line text on the way.

Neovim colours the = prompt with its own expression parser while you type (:h expr-highlight), so mistakes like a missing bracket stand out before you press <CR>.

Neovim maps Y to y$, so it yanks to the end of the line just like D and C. In classic Vim, Y yanks the whole line (the same as yy).

Neovim also turns 'autoindent' on by default, which is why cc and S keep the line's indent. Classic Vim's default is off, so there they start at column 0.

Neovim adds a default mapping for * and # in Visual mode: select some text (it doesn't have to be a whole word) and press * to search for exactly that.

Neovim's 'nrformats' defaults to "bin,hex", so a number with leading zeros is decimal and keeps its width: <C-a> on 007 gives 008. Vim's built-in default also includes "octal" (its defaults.vim removes it), which would turn 007 into 010.

Neovim loads the matchit plugin by default. In file types that set it up (HTML, Lua, Vim script, shell and more), % also cycles through matching keywords and tags, like if/else/end or <div>/</div>. With syntax highlighting on, it also skips brackets inside comments and strings. This trainer only matches brackets.

Neovim saves your uppercase file marks in its ShaDa file (its replacement for Vim's viminfo), so 'A still takes you back to that file after you restart.

Neovim adds the 'jumpoptions' option. :set jumpoptions+=stack makes the list behave like browser history: jump somewhere new from the middle of the list and the newer entries are dropped. view also restores the scroll position when you jump back. And in terminals that support it, CTRL-I and <Tab> can be mapped separately.

With :set jumpoptions+=view, Neovim also restores the scroll position when g; and g, take you back to a change (the same goes for the jump list and marks).

Neovim has one more object: gc in Operator-pending mode is the block of commented lines around the cursor, so dgc deletes a whole comment block and gcgc uncomments it.

Neovim 0.12 also adds Visual-mode an and in, which select by syntax node using Treesitter (or the language server when there is no parser): an selects the parent node and in a child node, so repeating an grows the selection one meaningful chunk at a time. They need a parser, so this practice editor does not have them.

Neovim adds a few Visual-mode defaults on top of Vim's: * and # search for the selected text (see the Neovim module), and @{reg} on a linewise selection runs a macro once per selected line (see Macros).

Neovim 0.12, the current release, repeats Visual edits by size, exactly as described here (and as this editor does). The development version changes that: . replays the selection keys themselves, so viwU followed by . would uppercase the next word whatever its length. Until that ships in a release, count on the size rule.

In Neovim 0.12 a Visual repeat works by size, as described here. Neovim's development version replays the selection keys instead, which makes vi"U + . adapt like an operator would. Operators + text objects behave the same in every version, so they're the habit worth building.

In Neovim Y yanks to the end of the line, like D and C, instead of the whole line. Use yy for whole lines: Yp would put the rest of the line inline, not a new line.

Neovim's system clipboard is the "+ register: "+y copies to it and "+p pastes from it. Neovim talks to the clipboard through a tool such as pbcopy on macOS. To make every yank and put use it, add set clipboard+=unnamedplus to your config.

Want yanks to fill "1–"9 too, like a yank ring? Neovim's help has a ready-made Lua autocommand for that: see :h yankring.

Visual P keeping your registers untouched is how Neovim (and Vim 9) behave. Older Vim treated P and p the same in Visual mode, so older tutorials may tell you to use "0p for this instead. That still works too.

In Neovim, <C-r> with a letter or number register inserts the text literally, the way p would. Vim inserts it as if you had typed it, so options like autoindent can reshape it on the way in.

Neovim has a default mapping for this: in linewise Visual mode (V), @a runs register a on every selected line, just like :'<,'>normal @a. See :h v_@-default.

Neovim's 'nrformats' default is bin,hex, so a number with leading zeros is still decimal: <C-a> on 07 gives 08, keeping the zero padding.

In Neovim Y yanks to the end of the line (like y$), so 0"aY puts the line in register a without its line break, one key shorter than 0"ay$.

Neovim turns on 'hlsearch' and 'incsearch' by default, so every match lights up and the cursor previews the first match while you type. It also shows a match count like [2/5] after each search: Vim hides that unless you remove S from 'shortmess', Neovim leaves S out. Run :nohlsearch (:noh) or press <C-l> to clear the highlighting until your next search.

Neovim adds * and # in Visual mode by default (:h v_star-default): select some text, press *, and it searches forward for exactly that text, dots, slashes and spaces included (# searches backward). Plain Vim has no such mapping. The Neovim module has drills for it.

Both options are off in a fresh Neovim. To get this editor's behaviour, add vim.o.ignorecase = true and vim.o.smartcase = true to your init.lua. 'smartcase' only applies to patterns you type: * and # use 'ignorecase' but ignore 'smartcase'.

Neovim (like Vim) can open the search history in a small window with q/, where you edit an old pattern with normal Vim keys and press <CR> to run it. That window isn't available in this editor; <Up> and <Down> in the prompt are.

Neovim shows the match count, like [3/7], every time you search or press n (it leaves S out of 'shortmess'), so for a quick count you can often skip :s///gn.

Neovim previews a substitution live in the buffer while you type it (the 'inccommand' option, nosplit by default). This editor only highlights the matches.

Neovim turns 'incsearch' on by default, and with it <C-r><C-w> skips the part of the word you already typed: on counter, typing :s/cou then <C-r><C-w> adds only nter.

Neovim shows a status line on every window by default ('laststatus' is 2), so you can always see which buffer each window holds. It also has :set laststatus=3, which swaps them for one global status line at the bottom.

New splits open above or on the left. If you prefer below and right, put vim.opt.splitbelow = true and vim.opt.splitright = true in your init.lua.

Neovim adds floating windows, which LSP hovers and many plugins use. A float that is marked non-focusable gets no window number, so <C-w>w, <C-w>W and {N}<C-w>w skip it: cycling only visits windows you can actually work in.

Neovim turns on 'hidden' by default. When the last window on a buffer with unsaved changes closes, the buffer is simply hidden (your changes stay), so :close and :only never stop to ask. In Vim without 'hidden', :only leaves windows with unsaved changes open unless you add !.

Y is a default mapping to y$ (:h Y-default); :unmap Y gives you Vim's version back. 'nrformats' defaults to "bin,hex" (:h 'nrformats'). The full list lives in :h vim-differences.

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

Built-in commenting arrived in Neovim 0.10 (:h commenting). With a treesitter parser installed, code embedded in another language (say, Lua inside Markdown) gets the marker for its own language.

The gc text object is a Neovim default too (:h o_gc), and it only exists after an operator: in Normal and Visual mode gc is the comment toggle.

These are default mappings (:h v_star-default, :h v_#-default). A count works: 2* in Visual mode goes to the second copy.

In Vim, & is the same as :s, which forgets the flags, so the g would be lost. Neovim maps & to :&&<CR> (:h &-default).

In Vim, Q switches to Ex mode; Neovim moved that to gQ (:h vim-differences). Visual Q and @ running per line arrived in Neovim 0.10 (:h v_Q-default).