vi.html

A markdown editor with vim keybindings

Composability

Vim commands are built from parts: an operator (what to do) combined with a motion or text object (to what). Learn the parts and you can construct hundreds of commands from a small vocabulary.

Operator	Action
d	Delete (cut — goes to a register for pasting)
c	Change (delete, then enter Insert mode)
y	Yank (copy)
gq	Reflow / hard-wrap text
gw	Reflow, keep cursor
>	Indent
<	Dedent

Motion / Text Object	Target
w	From cursor to next word
iw / aw	Inner word / a word (includes trailing space)
is / as	Inner sentence / a sentence
ip / ap	Inner paragraph / a paragraph
i" / i( / i{	Inside quotes / parens / braces
$	To end of line
}	To next blank line
G	To end of file

Any operator + any motion = a valid command. dap deletes a paragraph. ciw changes a word. gqap reflows a paragraph. >} indents to the next blank line. Every new motion you learn works with every operator you already know.

Semantic Line Breaks

Semantic line breaks mean putting one sentence per line in your source. The rendered output joins them into paragraphs — the line breaks are for the writer, not the reader.

Vim is a natural fit for this style. Its line-oriented commands become sentence-oriented: dd deletes a sentence, yy copies one, p moves one. { and } jump between paragraphs since blank lines mark the boundaries. And gqap reflows a paragraph while respecting its structure.

Getting Around

These motions work in Normal mode. They also work after an operator — d} deletes to the next blank line, c$ changes to end of line.

Key	Action
h j k l	Left, down, up, right
w / b	Next word / previous word
e	End of current word
0 / $	Start / end of line
^	First non-blank character
( / )	Previous / next sentence
{ / }	Previous / next blank line (paragraph boundary)
gg / G	Top / bottom of document
42G or :42	Jump to line 42
Ctrl-d / Ctrl-u	Scroll half-screen down / up
fx / Fx	Jump to next / previous x on this line
tx / Tx	Jump to just before next / after previous x
; / ,	Repeat / reverse last f/F/t/T
%	Matching bracket
* / #	Next / previous occurrence of word under cursor

Entering Insert Mode

Each of these drops you into Insert mode at a different position. Press Esc to return to Normal.

Key	Action
i / a	Insert before / after cursor
I / A	Insert at start / end of line
o / O	Open new line below / above
R	Replace mode (overwrite characters in place)

Changing and Deleting Text

The c (change) operator deletes text and drops you into Insert mode. The d (delete) operator removes text and stays in Normal. Both work with any motion or text object.

Key	Action
ciw	Change inner word (whole word, regardless of cursor position)
cw	Change from cursor to end of word
cc	Change entire line
C	Change from cursor to end of line
ci"	Change inside quotes (also ' ` ( [ {)
dd	Delete entire line
D	Delete from cursor to end of line
diw	Delete inner word
dap	Delete a paragraph (including trailing blank line)
di(	Delete inside parentheses
x	Delete character under cursor
~	Toggle case of character
Ctrl-a	Increment number under cursor
Ctrl-x	Decrement number under cursor

Copying and Pasting

Vim calls copying “yanking.” The y operator works with any motion or text object, just like d and c.

Key	Action
yy	Yank (copy) entire line
ymotion	Yank over motion (e.g. yap = yank a paragraph)
p	Paste after cursor (or below, for whole lines)
P	Paste before cursor (or above)

System Clipboard

Use the "+ or "* register to yank and paste with the system clipboard:

Key	Action
"+yy	Yank current line to system clipboard
"+ymotion	Yank motion to system clipboard
"+p	Paste from system clipboard after cursor
"+P	Paste from system clipboard before cursor

In the Preview pane, the Copy button copies the document as rich text (minimal HTML) for pasting into Word, email, or other rich text editors. The plain-text fallback is the raw markdown.

Text Objects

Text objects select structured chunks of text. Prefix with i for “inner” (contents only) or a for “around” (includes delimiters or trailing whitespace). Use them with any operator.

Object	Meaning	Example
w	Word	diw = delete inner word
W	WORD (whitespace-delimited)	daW = delete around WORD
s	Sentence	cis = change inner sentence
p	Paragraph	gqap = reflow around paragraph
" ' `	Quoted string	ci" = change inside quotes
( [ {	Bracket pair	di( = delete inside parens

Working with Prose

The gq and gw operators hard-wrap text to a specified width. Set your preferred width with :set tw=72. If textwidth is 0, they wrap at 79 columns (matching vim’s default). gq moves the cursor to the end of the formatted text; gw keeps the cursor in place.

Key	Action
gqq	Reflow current line
gqap	Reflow current paragraph
gq}	Reflow from cursor to next blank line
gqj	Reflow current line and next
Visual + gq	Reflow selected lines
gwap	Reflow paragraph, keep cursor position

With textwidth set, lines also wrap automatically as you type in Insert mode. Lines are broken at word boundaries and indentation is preserved.

List Continuation

Pressing Enter in Insert mode on a markdown list item starts the next line with the same marker and indent. Numbered lists increment automatically (1. → 2.), and task-list checkboxes carry forward unchecked.

Supported markers: -, *, +, 1. / 1), and GFM task lists (- [ ] / - [x]).

To exit a list, clear the empty marker with Backspace, or press Esc to return to Normal mode and use dd to remove the empty line.

Finding and Replacing

Key	Action
/pattern	Search forward
?pattern	Search backward
n / N	Next / previous match
* / #	Search for word under cursor (forward / backward)
:noh	Clear search highlighting

Command	Action
:s/old/new/	Replace first match on current line
:s/old/new/g	Replace all on current line
:%s/old/new/g	Replace all in file
:%s/old/new/gc	Replace all in file, confirm each
:g/pat/cmd	Run cmd on every line matching pat
:v/pat/cmd	Run cmd on every line not matching pat

The Dot Command

The most powerful key in vim. . repeats your last change — whatever you just did, do it again.

The dot command repeats the entire last edit, including what you typed in Insert mode. So ciw + new text + Esc is a complete repeatable unit.

Macros

Where . repeats your last change, a macro records an arbitrary sequence of keys into a named register and replays it on demand.

Key	Action
qa	Start recording into register a (any letter a–z)
q	Stop recording (while recording)
@a	Replay macro from register a
@@	Replay the last macro you ran

Undo and Redo

Key	Action
u	Undo
Ctrl-r	Redo

Counts

Most commands accept a numeric prefix: 5j moves down 5 lines, 3dd deletes 3 lines, 2dw deletes 2 words.

Marks

Bookmarks within your document.

Key	Action
ma	Set mark a (any lowercase letter)
'a	Jump to the line of mark a
`a	Jump to the exact position of mark a

Visual Mode

Select text, then act on the selection.

Key	Action
v	Character-wise visual mode
V	Line-wise visual mode

Use any motion to extend the selection, then apply an operator: d to delete, c to change, y to yank, gq to reflow, > to indent.

---

vi.html Commands

Type : in Normal mode to enter the command line.

Command	Action
:w	Save current buffer to storage
:e	Reload current buffer (with name: open buffer)
:editor	Switch to Editor tab
:pre[view]	Switch to Preview tab
:help	Show this help
:tog[gle]	Toggle between Editor and Preview
:persist	Enable auto-save (default)
:nopersist	Disable auto-save
:clear	Wipe saved content from storage
:settings	Show all current settings
:exrc	Edit startup commands
:wq	Save and quit (in exrc: save and apply)
:q!	Quit without saving (in exrc: discard changes)
:ls	List all buffers
:b name	Switch to buffer
:bd	Delete buffer
:sav[eas] name	Save-as to new buffer
:f name	Show or rename current buffer

Buffers

vi.html supports multiple named buffers — like files on disk, but stored in your browser. Each buffer has its own content and cursor position. Buffers persist across sessions until you delete them.

Command	Action
:e name	Open or create a buffer (without name: reload current)
:b name	Switch to a buffer by name
:b#	Switch to the alternate (previous) buffer
Ctrl-^	Toggle alternate buffer (Normal mode)
:ls / :buffers	List all buffers
:w name	Name an unnamed buffer, or save-as to a new name
:sav[eas] name	Copy current buffer to a new name
:f name	Rename current buffer (without name: show current)
:bd [name]	Delete a buffer (default: current buffer)

vi.html Options

Set with :set option. Boolean options can be negated with :set nooption. Use :exrc to persist settings across sessions.

Option	Short	Type	Default	Description
textwidth	tw	number	0 (off)	Auto-wrap lines at this column in Insert mode
number	nu	bool	on	Show line numbers
relativenumber	rnu	bool	off	Relative line numbers
tabstop	ts	number	4	Tab display width
shiftwidth	sw	number	4	Indent width for >> / <<
expandtab	et	bool	on	Insert spaces instead of tabs
wrap		bool	on	Soft-wrap long lines
spell		bool	off	Enable spell checking (uses browser spellcheck)
spelllang	spl	string	en	Spell checking language (e.g. en_us, fr, de)
foldgutter	fdc	bool	on	Show fold indicators in gutter

vi.html Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Context	Action
\p	Normal mode	Toggle between Editor and Preview
\	Preview / Help	Return to Editor
Ctrl-^	Normal mode	Toggle alternate buffer

Abbreviations

Define short text expansions that trigger automatically in Insert mode. When you type an abbreviation followed by a non-keyword character (space, punctuation, Enter), it expands to the full text. To persist abbreviations across sessions, add them to your :exrc.

Command	Action
:ab[breviate] {lhs} {rhs}	Define abbreviation: typing lhs expands to rhs
:ab[breviate]	List all defined abbreviations
:ab[breviate] {lhs}	Show the abbreviation for lhs
:una[bbreviate] {lhs}	Remove the abbreviation for lhs
:abc[lear]	Remove all abbreviations

Example: :ab teh the — now typing teh in Insert mode produces the . Multi-word expansions work too: :ab sig Best regards, Alice.

See :help Abbreviations in the vim docs.

exrc (Startup Commands)

vi.html supports an exrc — a list of Ex commands that run every time the editor loads. Use it to persist your :set options, abbreviations, and other configuration.

Type :exrc to edit your startup commands. The editor switches to your exrc text. Use :wq to save and apply, or :q! to discard changes.

Lines starting with " are comments. Blank lines are ignored. Example:

" My vi.html config
set ts=2
set sw=2
set tw=72
ab teh the
ab dont don't
persist

Any valid Ex command works. Changes take effect immediately after saving.

See :help exrc in the vim docs.

End-of-Buffer Lines

Lines below the end of the document are marked with ~, matching vim’s end-of-buffer indicator. These are not part of the document — they show where the file ends and empty screen space begins.

Status Bar

The bar across the bottom of the editor shows the current vim mode, the active buffer name, the cursor position (line:column), and a word count with an estimated reading time at 200 words per minute (e.g. 543w · 3m). For documents under 200 words the reading-time estimate is omitted. When you select text in Visual mode, the indicator switches to count just the selection (e.g. 47w sel).

Folding

Markdown headings can be folded to hide their content. Folding is nested: closing a heading hides everything under it, including sub-headings.

Command	Description
zo	Open fold at cursor
zc	Close fold at cursor
za	Toggle fold at cursor
zR	Open all folds in buffer
zM	Close all folds in buffer

Persistence

• Buffers are auto-saved as you type and persist until explicitly deleted with :bd. Use :ls to see all your buffers.
• Settings and abbreviations are ephemeral by default. To persist them, add commands to your :exrc.
• Disable auto-save with :nopersist. Re-enable with :persist. To persist this setting, add nopersist to your :exrc.
• Clear all buffers and reset with :clear.

Preview & SmartyPants

The Preview tab renders your markdown with full GitHub Flavored Markdown support: tables, task lists, strikethrough, and fenced code blocks.

SmartyPants typography is applied automatically in the preview:

You type	Rendered as
"hello"	“hello”
'hello'	‘hello’
it's	it’s
--	–
---	—
...	…