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I accidentally discovered that the key combination will concatenate the current line and the next line. However, I do not recall it being mentioned in the quickref. After a quick Google, I did not find anything. Do any have a clue about where in the documents can I find more about this key combination?

BTW, I have confirmed that this is not mapped in the :map.

Update:

With the help from a comment, (Curiously, I saw it in a message. But after I opened the website, it disappeared.) I found that I am actually using the <shift-j>, i.e. <J> key to join lines. Thanks to this post.

Update 2:

J in visual mode provides extra capabilities. See :help v_J. (Thanks to @Antony's comment.)

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  • 2
    Yeah. J joins lines,
    – Durga Swaroop
    Commented Jul 15, 2016 at 3:57
  • See :help v_J . Prefix Visual mode commands with v_ to find them in the documentation. This is explained at :help.
    – Antony
    Commented Jul 15, 2016 at 17:59
  • the help command led me to gJ, which doesn't add spaces ♥️
    – redbmk
    Commented Aug 12, 2020 at 17:11

1 Answer 1

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I am guessing you were holding the Shift key even while pressing j. Because V + j alone would not have concatenated the lines.

V is for selecting the entire line.

j moves the selection down.

So, this is not the combination that did that for you.

V + J on the other hand does exactly that. (holding shift for v and j)

J here joins the current line to next line (J for Join), which is a default setting in Vim.

You will get the same functionality without having to press V. Press J in normal mode and it will Join the next line with the current line.

For more info, try help :join in Vim.

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  • As a side note, using V to select multiple lines will cause a different effect than just doing J. It just happens to be the same with only one line.
    – DJMcMayhem
    Commented Jul 15, 2016 at 4:45
  • What effect are you referring to? The indentation issue?
    – Durga Swaroop
    Commented Jul 15, 2016 at 10:17
  • J with mulltiple lines selected joins all the lines in the selection - it gives you one VERY long line.
    – the_velour_fog
    Commented Jul 16, 2016 at 7:46
  • Yeah. That's what it is supposed to do. J joins lines. Plain and simple
    – Durga Swaroop
    Commented Jul 16, 2016 at 10:03

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