[sf-lug] sf-lug Digest, Vol 27, Issue 4

[RBV]

> From: Alex Kleider <a_kleider at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [sf-lug] beginner's vim question
> 
> I'm puzzled by the behavior of the - and + movement commands within
> vim:
> They are defined as "to the first non blank character" of the line
> above/below the cursor.
> When used alone, that indeed seems to be what they do.
> BUT..
> if used as a motion parameter to the d(elete command:
> the deletion includes the line below or above AS WELL as the
> appropriate part of the line on which the cursor was sitting.
> 
> This seems counter intuitive to me. Can anyone shed some light as to
> why it's set up this way?
> 
> a_kleider at yahoo.com
> 
Alex:

Interesting question.  In trying to puzzle out the solution, I came upon a couple of paragraphs that seemed to be explaining the behavior on this page: http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/motion.html 

"The operator either affects whole lines, or the characters between the start
and end position.  Generally, motions that move between lines affect lines
(are linewise), and motions that move within a line affect characters (are
characterwise).  However, there are some exceptions.

...and...

"A character motion is either inclusive or exclusive. When inclusive, the start
and end position of the motion are included in the operation.  When exclusive,
the last character towards the end of the buffer is not included.  Linewise
motions always include the start and end position.

So, if I position the insertion point on a given line in the following text and in vim command mode
press dj (delete and move down), vim deletes two lines.

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
Line 5

A bit confusing, yes, but it fits nicely into "vim-logic"...

Cheers & hope this helps,
Riley