Modes

One keyboard, several meanings. Because d only deletes when you're in the mode where d means delete, HUME can put a whole editor's worth of commands on plain letters — no modifier gymnastics.

The active mode is shown on the right of the status bar. Esc always takes you back to Normal.

Normal mode

Normal mode is the default. You land here at startup and return here with Esc. In Normal mode, keys are commands — they move the cursor, modify text, or switch to another mode. Nothing you type appears in the buffer.

Enter from: any mode via Esc

Insert mode

Insert mode lets you type text directly into the buffer. The cursor changes to a bar to indicate you are inserting.

Enter from Normal:

Enter Insert mode with i, a, I, A, o, O, or c. See Editing for what each key does.

Exit: Esc or Ctrl+c

Extend mode

Extend mode works like Normal mode, but every motion extends the current selection instead of replacing it. Use it to build up a multi-character or multi-line selection before acting on it. Motions also run in reverse: moving back toward where you started shrinks the selection instead of growing it.

Enter: e (toggles; status bar shows EXT)

Exit: Esc, e again, or ; (collapse to head) / Ctrl+; (collapse to anchor, kitty only)

Command mode

Invoked with :, command mode opens the command line at the bottom of the screen. Type a command name and press Enter to execute. Press Esc to dismiss.

See Commands for a full list of commands.

Search mode

Invoked with / (forward) or ? (backward). Type a pattern and press Enter to jump to the first match. n / N cycle through matches afterward.

Select mode

Invoked with s in Normal mode. Select mode opens a regex prompt (⫽). Enter a pattern and press Enter to filter each existing selection, keeping only sub-ranges that match. Use it to split a selection into individual tokens.

Enter from Normal: s

Multi-key sequences

Some Normal-mode keys wait for a second key before doing anything. Either they open a small family of related commands, or they take a single character as their argument.

Prefixes

Prefix	Keys	Purpose
Goto	g + key	Jump to a line or column position — see Moving Around
Match	m + key	Select text objects and surrounding delimiters — see Selections
Match WORD	M M	Select the WORD under the cursor — see Selections
View	z + key	Scroll the view to a position — see Moving Around
Pane	Ctrl+p + key	Move focus between panes — see Key Reference
Register	" + char	Target a specific register for yank, paste, or delete — see Editing

Keys that take a character

Keys	Purpose
f, F, t, T + char	Jump to a character on the current line — see Moving Around
r + char	Replace the selected characters with the typed character — see Editing
m w + char	Wrap the selection in that character — see Selections

Count prefix

Prefix	Purpose
1–9 then [0-9]*	Repeat the next command a number of times — see Editing