Default Keys

Every default key, by mode. Use your browser's search (or the search box above) to find one fast.

INFO

Keys with a ✓ in the Kitty column require the kitty keyboard protocol, auto-detected at startup on supported terminals. See Terminal compatibility. Legacy terminal encodings cannot transmit those key combinations, so the bindings are unavailable there.

Normal mode

Movement

Key	Command	Kitty	Action
h / ←	move-left		Move left one grapheme
l / →	move-right		Move right one grapheme
j / ↓	move-down		Move down one visual line
k / ↑	move-up		Move up one visual line
w	select-next-word		Select next word (plus one adjacent whitespace run by default; see word-selects-whitespace)
b	select-prev-word		Select previous word (plus one adjacent whitespace run by default)
W / B	select-next-uppercase-word / select-prev-uppercase-word		WORD variants of w / b
Home	goto-line-start		Start of line (idiomatic form is g h)
End	goto-line-end		End of line (idiomatic form is g l)
{	goto-prev-paragraph		Select the previous paragraph
}	goto-next-paragraph		Select the next paragraph
#	goto-matching-pair		Jump to the matching bracket or tag
PageDown / PageUp	page-down / page-up		Scroll one viewport down / up
Ctrl-d / Ctrl-u	half-page-down / half-page-up		Scroll half a viewport down / up
Ctrl-o	jump-backward		Jump list back
Ctrl-i	jump-forward		Jump list forward
Tab	jump-forward (legacy) / pane-focus-next (kitty)		Jump list forward (under kitty, Tab focuses the next pane instead)
Ctrl + a motion key, e.g. Ctrl-h/j/k/l/w/b	the motion's own command, extended	✓	One-shot extend of that motion. Keys with their own Ctrl binding keep it; Ctrl with a key that is not a motion does nothing

Character find

Key	Command	Kitty	Action
f + char	find-forward		Find char forward (inclusive)
F + char	find-backward		Find char backward (inclusive)
t + char	till-forward		Find char forward (exclusive: stops before)
T + char	till-backward		Find char backward (exclusive: stops after)
=	repeat-find-forward		Repeat last find forward
-	repeat-find-backward		Repeat last find backward

After f/F/t/T, HUME waits for the target character. Tab counts as a target character; a line ending never does, since these motions never leave the current line.

Selection

Key	Command	Kitty	Action
e	toggle-extend		Toggle Extend mode
;	collapse-and-exit-extend		Collapse to head, exit Extend
Ctrl-;	collapse-to-anchor-and-exit-extend	✓	Collapse to anchor, exit Extend
Ctrl-e	flip-selections		Swap anchor and head
%	select-all		Select entire buffer
x	select-line		Select current line (forward)
X	select-line-backward		Select current line (backward)
Ctrl-x	select-line (extend)		Same as x but always extends
Ctrl-Shift-x	select-line-backward (extend)	✓	Same as X but always extends
S	split-selection-on-newlines		Split multi-line selections on newlines
C	copy-selection-on-next-line		Copy each selection one selection-height down (a count prefix adds that many copies, e.g. 3C)
_	trim-selection-whitespace		Shrink each selection to exclude leading/trailing whitespace (text unchanged)
,	keep-primary-selection		Keep only the primary selection
Ctrl-,	remove-primary-selection	✓	Remove primary, promote next
( / )	cycle-primary-backward / cycle-primary-forward		Cycle primary backward / forward
*	search-word-under-cursor		Search the whole word under the cursor

Text objects (use the m prefix):

Sequence	Command	Kitty	Action
m i w / m a w	inner-word / around-word		Inner / around word
m i W / m a W	inner-uppercase-word / around-uppercase-word		Inner / around WORD
m i ( / m a (	inner-paren / around-paren		Inner / around () (also ), [/], {/}, </>)
m i " / m a "	inner-double-quote / around-double-quote		Inner / around "…"
m i ' / m a '	inner-single-quote / around-single-quote		Inner / around '…'
m i ` / m a `	inner-backtick / around-backtick		Inner / around `…`
m i a / m a a	inner-argument / around-argument		Inner / around argument (structure-aware)
m i l / m a l	inner-line / around-line		Inner / around line
m i p / m a p	inner-paragraph / around-paragraph		Inner / around paragraph
m i f / m a f	inner-function / around-function		Inner / around function
m i t / m a t	inner-class / around-class		Inner / around class or type
m i c / m a c	inner-comment / around-comment		Inner / around comment
m i u / m a u	inner-test / around-test		Inner / around unit test
m i v / m a v	inner-value / around-value		Inner / around array/tuple/struct value
m i i	select-last-insertion		Select the text typed during the last insert
m m	select-word		Select the word under the cursor (plus one adjacent whitespace run by default, same rule as w/b; see word-selects-whitespace)
M M	select-uppercase-word		WORD variant of m m
m s + char	surround-paren (and other surround-* delimiters)		Select surrounding delimiter pair
m w + char	surround-add		Wrap each selection with a delimiter pair
m /	select-all-matches		Turn all search matches in the buffer into selections

Editing

Key	Command	Kitty	Action
d	delete		Delete selection (to kill ring)
c	change		Change (delete + Insert mode)
y	yank		Yank (clipboard + kill ring)
p	smart-paste-after		Smart-paste after. See Copy & Paste
P	smart-paste-before		Smart-paste before
[ / ]	paste-ring-older / paste-ring-newer		Cycle kill ring older / newer and re-paste (only after a p/P)
r + char	replace		Replace every selected character (line endings are left alone). Enter/Tab count as the character, replacing with a newline/tab
J	join-lines-select-spaces		Join the selected lines into one
&	align-selections		Align selections into a column
>	indent		Indent lines touched by a selection
<	unindent		Unindent lines touched by a selection
u	undo		Undo
U / Ctrl-r	redo		Redo
.	repeat-last-action		Repeat last editing action

Entering other modes

Key	Command	Kitty	Action
i	insert-at-selection-start		Insert before selection
a	insert-at-selection-end		Insert after selection
I	insert-at-line-start		Insert at first non-blank on line
A	insert-at-line-end		Insert at end of line
o	open-line-below		Open new line below, insert (indented like Enter)
O	open-line-above		Open new line above, insert (indented like Enter)
:	command-mode		Open command mode prompt
/	search-forward		Search forward
?	search-backward		Search backward. Ctrl-? (kitty) extends the selection to the match
s	sift-within		Sift within (narrow each selection to its regex matches)

Search

Key	Command	Kitty	Action
n	search-next		Next match
N	search-prev		Previous match
Ctrl-/	search-selection	✓	Use the selected text literally as the search pattern

Macros

Key	Command	Kitty	Action
Q Q or Q q	—		Start recording into default register q
Q <0-9>	—		Start recording into a numbered register
Q (while recording)	—		Stop recording
q q	—		Replay register q
q <0-9>	—		Replay a numbered register
<count> q q	—		Replay q <count> times

Numbered registers are shared between macros and yanked text: last write wins. Recording is ignored in read-only buffers and during replay.

See Register prefix for the full register list.

Other

Key	Action
Esc	Cancel a half-typed key sequence, count, or register/macro prompt; clear search highlights; leave Extend mode
" + reg	Register prefix (0–9, k, c, b)
1–9 then [0-9]*	Numeric count prefix (0 is a digit only inside a count; otherwise unbound)

Goto prefix (g)

Press g then a second key. Every one names a destination: a place in the buffer, or (for the structural pairs) the next/previous instance of a kind, selected as a whole:

Key	Command	Kitty	Action
g g	goto-first-line		Go to first line of buffer
g e	goto-last-line		Go to last line of buffer
g h	goto-line-start		Go to line start
g l	goto-line-end		Go to line end
g s	goto-first-nonblank		Go to first non-blank on line
g f / g F	goto-next-function / goto-prev-function		Next/previous function
g t / g T	goto-next-class / goto-prev-class		Next/previous class or type
g a / g A	goto-next-argument / goto-prev-argument		Next/previous argument
g c / g C	goto-next-comment / goto-prev-comment		Next/previous comment
g u / g U	goto-next-test / goto-prev-test		Next/previous unit test
g v / g V	goto-next-value / goto-prev-value		Next/previous array/tuple/struct value

The structural pairs need a grammar with a textobjects.scm. See Moving Around.

core:lsp adds g d, g D, g y, and g i (definition, declaration, type definition, implementation), g n/g p (next/previous diagnostic), and K (hover) outside the prefix. See Language Servers.

Edit prefix (G)

Press G then a second key. G holds edits of the selected text, where g holds gotos:

Key	Command	Kitty	Action
G L	make-text-lowercase		Lowercase the selection
G U	make-text-uppercase		Uppercase the selection
G C	make-text-capitalized		Capitalize each word in the selection
G G	toggle-comment		Comment or uncomment the lines of each selection

G U/G C differ from g U/g C (previous unit test / previous comment) only in the prefix's case. core:lsp adds G R here for lsp/rename (see Language Servers).

View prefix (z)

Press z then a second key:

Key	Command	Kitty	Action
z k	top-view-on-cursor		Scroll cursor to top of screen
z z	center-view-on-cursor		Center view on cursor
z j	bottom-view-on-cursor		Scroll cursor to bottom of screen

k is up and j is down, the same axis the motion keys use. core:pickers and core:lsp add more keys under z. See Fuzzy Finder and Language Servers.

Pane prefix (Ctrl-p)

Press Ctrl-p then a second key:

Key	Command	Kitty	Action
Ctrl-p p	pane-focus-next		Focus next pane
Ctrl-p h	pane-focus-left		Focus pane to the left
Ctrl-p j	pane-focus-down		Focus pane below
Ctrl-p k	pane-focus-up		Focus pane above
Ctrl-p l	pane-focus-right		Focus pane to the right
Ctrl-p s	pane-split		Split the focused pane, stacking the new pane below it
Ctrl-p v	pane-vsplit		Split the focused pane side by side
Ctrl-p c	pane-close		Close the focused pane (does nothing if it's the only pane)
Ctrl-p r	pane-rotate-forward		Move each pane in the focused pane's row or column one place right or down (that many places with a count); the last one wraps to the first
Ctrl-p R	pane-rotate-backward		Move each pane in the focused pane's row or column one place left or up (that many places with a count); the first one wraps to the last
Ctrl-p t	goto-next-tab		Switch to the next tab in display order
Ctrl-p T	goto-prev-tab		Switch to the previous tab in display order
Tab	pane-focus-next	✓	Focus next pane

Insert mode

Key	Command	Kitty	Action
Esc / Ctrl-c	exit-insert		Return to Normal mode
← / → / ↑ / ↓	move-left / move-right / move-up / move-down		Move cursor
Home / End	goto-line-start / goto-line-end		Go to line start / end
Tab	—		Insert tab (literal \t, or spaces to the next tab stop when tab-style = soft)
Backspace	—		Delete character before cursor; snaps to previous tab stop when in leading whitespace (auto-pairs aware)
Delete	—		Delete character under cursor
Enter	—		Insert newline, indented as described in Indentation
Ctrl-w	delete-word-backward		Delete word before cursor
Ctrl-Space	completion-trigger		Show completions at the cursor, from every registered completion source (a language server's, say; see Language servers)
Any other character	—		Insert character (auto-pairs aware)

Insert mode handles auto-pair insertion: typing (, [, {, ", ', or ` inserts the matching close character. Backspace inside an empty pair deletes both characters. A quote typed right after the same quote is inserted on its own, so ``` and """ come out as typed.

While a completion menu is open, typing narrows it and these keys drive it; any other key closes it:

Key	Action
Tab / ↓	Highlight the next entry
Shift-Tab / ↑	Highlight the previous entry
Enter	Accept the highlighted entry
Esc	Close the menu, stay in Insert mode
Ctrl-d / Ctrl-u	Scroll the documentation box down / up

A box beside the menu shows the highlighted entry's details and documentation, when it has any and there is room to the right or left of the menu; with no room, the details show in the menu. Turn it off with :set global completion-docs=false, and the details show in the menu instead.

Rebinding one of these keys replaces its behaviour outright. A plugin command can fall back to it with insert-key! (see Editing & navigation), letting a binding decide per keypress whether to override the key or leave it as-is.

Extend mode

Key	Action
e / Esc	Return to Normal mode
All other keys	Same as Normal mode, but motions extend or shrink the selection

The status bar shows EXT in Extend mode.

Command line

Key	Action
Enter (empty input)	Close the command mode prompt
Enter (non-empty)	Execute command
Esc / Ctrl-c	Cancel
Tab	Complete; once the candidate list is open, pick the next candidate
Shift-Tab	Once the candidate list is open, pick the previous candidate (no-op otherwise)
Up / Down	Recall previous / next command starting with the typed prefix
Left / Right	Move the cursor
Backspace	Delete character before cursor; on empty input, dismiss the command mode prompt
Ctrl-w	Delete word before cursor

Search mode

Entered with / (forward) or ? (backward). Every keystroke live-previews the next match from the position where search was opened.

Key	Action
Enter (empty input)	Cancel and return to Normal
Enter (non-empty)	Commit pattern to the search register, jump to first match, return to Normal
Esc / Ctrl-c	Cancel, restore pre-search selection
Backspace (input non-empty)	Delete char and re-preview
Backspace (empties input)	Restore pre-search selection, stay in Search mode
Backspace (on empty input)	Exit Search mode
Ctrl-w	Delete word before cursor
Up / Down	Recall previous / next pattern starting with the typed prefix (separate / and ? rings)
Left / Right	Move the cursor
Any other character	Insert and re-preview
Tab / Shift-Tab	No-op

Sift mode

Entered with s from Normal mode (requires at least one selection wider than a single character). Live-previews sub-match selections within the original selections. Does not overwrite the search register, so n/N continue the prior search after Enter.

Key	Action
Enter (empty input)	Cancel, restore original selections
Enter (non-empty)	Keep the live-preview selections, return to Normal
Esc / Ctrl-c	Cancel, restore original selections
Backspace (input non-empty)	Delete char and re-preview
Backspace (empties input or on empty)	Restore original selections, stay in Sift mode
Ctrl-w	Delete word before cursor
Left / Right	Move the cursor
Any other character	Insert and re-preview
Tab / Shift-Tab / Up / Down	No-op (Sift mode has no pattern history)