How do you clear what you accidently typed in normal mode?

Question

Vim is an interesting program and all, but I switched back to nano for the time being because normal mode keeps behaving strangely. This might be bugs, yet I think its just as likely that I accidently uses one of Vim's gazillion features and I don't know how to get out of it.

If you've typed things you didn't mean to in normal mode, and you want to clear what you typed, what is the way to tell Vim to start over? Does what you type in normal mode go into a buffer that needs to be cleared?

Answer 1

I am a newbie but realised a few things so far. Vim is the beast but this comes with price: you need time to get used to it!

In Normal mode (aka command mode), you simply press u and undo the last change, which could be a deleted line, the result of regexp substitution, a repeated change by pressing . etc.

However, in insert mode, Vim considers the last change everything since the last time you entered the Insert mode: if you wrote the whole paragraph and realised you are wrong, pressing Ctrl - Ou will remove everything since you entered the mode; this is equivalent of pressing u in Normal mode, afterwards.

You can also activate a new change while in the Insert mode by pressing Ctrl - Gu and Vim will consider last change at that point.

Have a look at :help i_Ctrl-G_u and Undo in insert mode.

Answer 2

I had the problem when I started using Vim and the following advices helped me a lot.

Before the command is finished

If your buffer is not yet modified but your are in the middle of a command (e.g.: di) you can simply escape and cancel the command using Esc

If you add to your .vimrc file:

set showcmd

you'll see at the bottom right of the screen the command partly entered.

If you add to your .vimrc file:

set notimeout

Vim will wait forever that you complete the command (and not cancel it after a timeout). I found that useful to let me see what I'm typing in normal mode.

After the command has been executed

If your buffer has been changed and you want revert it back you can:

• Go to normal mode using Esc
• Undo your changes using u

Advice: Switch back regularly to Normal mode when you edit files (insert text) such that the granularity of the undo is fine enough.

Stuck in other modes

Busy recording a macro

If you hit qa you are busy recording macro a. You have in the bottom left a text telling you recording @a.

To stop you can either type Ctrlc to cancel the recording or q to stop the recording.

In the Ex mode

If you hit Q you are in the Ex mode:

To leave the visual mode you have to type visual Enter

The Ex mode is very exotic. A number add:

nnoremap Q <Nop>

This prevent you to go the Ex mode.

In the "Ed" mode

If you hit :i Enter or :a Enter you enter in "Ed" mode:

In this mode you have no visual clue to indicates you that you are in that mode.

You type a text that will be inserted if you validate it with .Enter

To leave the "Ed" mode without inserting anything you can type Ctrlc to go back to Normal mode.

In Summary

If you hit twice Ctrlc you can be nearly sure you are back to normal mode (with the only exception of Ex mode that I advice you to deactivate)

Cursor move

Sometime your buffer isn't changed but your cursor is moved. You can use: Ctrlo to moves it back to the previous location.

If you go too far back you can use: Ctrli to move forward in the history.