helix/book/src/keymap.md

Keymap

• Mappings marked (LSP) require an active language server for the file.
• Mappings marked (TS) require a tree-sitter grammar for the filetype.

Normal mode

Movement

NOTE: Unlike vim, f, F, t and T are not confined to the current line.

Key	Description	Command
h/Left	Move left	move_char_left
j/Down	Move down	move_line_down
k/Up	Move up	move_line_up
l/Right	Move right	move_char_right
w	Move next word start	move_next_word_start
b	Move previous word start	move_prev_word_start
e	Move next word end	move_next_word_end
W	Move next WORD start	move_next_long_word_start
B	Move previous WORD start	move_prev_long_word_start
E	Move next WORD end	move_next_long_word_end
t	Find 'till next char	find_till_char
f	Find next char	find_next_char
T	Find 'till previous char	till_prev_char
F	Find previous char	find_prev_char
Alt-.	Repeat last motion (f, t or m)	repeat_last_motion
Home	Move to the start of the line	goto_line_start
End	Move to the end of the line	goto_line_end
PageUp	Move page up	page_up
PageDown	Move page down	page_down
Ctrl-u	Move half page up	half_page_up
Ctrl-d	Move half page down	half_page_down
Ctrl-i	Jump forward on the jumplist	jump_forward
Ctrl-o	Jump backward on the jumplist	jump_backward
v	Enter select (extend) mode	select_mode
g	Enter goto mode	N/A
m	Enter match mode	N/A
:	Enter command mode	command_mode
z	Enter view mode	N/A
Z	Enter sticky view mode	N/A
Ctrl-w	Enter window mode	N/A
Space	Enter space mode	N/A

Changes

Key	Description	Command
r	Replace with a character	replace
R	Replace with yanked text	replace_with_yanked
~	Switch case of the selected text	switch_case
`	Set the selected text to lower case	switch_to_lowercase
Alt-`	Set the selected text to upper case	switch_to_uppercase
i	Insert before selection	insert_mode
a	Insert after selection (append)	append_mode
I	Insert at the start of the line	prepend_to_line
A	Insert at the end of the line	append_to_line
o	Open new line below selection	open_below
O	Open new line above selection	open_above
.	Repeat last change	N/A
u	Undo change	undo
U	Redo change	redo
Alt-u	Move backward in history	earlier
Alt-U	Move forward in history	later
y	Yank selection	yank
p	Paste after selection	paste_after
P	Paste before selection	paste_before
" <reg>	Select a register to yank to or paste from	select_register
>	Indent selection	indent
<	Unindent selection	unindent
=	Format selection (LSP)	format_selections
d	Delete selection	delete_selection
c	Change selection (delete and enter insert mode)	change_selection
Ctrl-a	Increment object (number) under cursor	increment
Ctrl-x	Decrement object (number) under cursor	decrement

Shell

Key	Description	Command
|	Pipe each selection through shell command, replacing with output	shell_pipe
A-|	Pipe each selection into shell command, ignoring output	shell_pipe_to
!	Run shell command, inserting output before each selection	shell_insert_output
A-!	Run shell command, appending output after each selection	shell_append_output

Selection manipulation

Key	Description	Command
s	Select all regex matches inside selections	select_regex
S	Split selection into subselections on regex matches	split_selection
Alt-s	Split selection on newlines	split_selection_on_newline
_	Trim whitespace from the selection	trim_selections
;	Collapse selection onto a single cursor	collapse_selection
Alt-;	Flip selection cursor and anchor	flip_selections
,	Keep only the primary selection	keep_primary_selection
Alt-,	Remove the primary selection	remove_primary_selection
C	Copy selection onto the next line (Add cursor below)	copy_selection_on_next_line
Alt-C	Copy selection onto the previous line (Add cursor above)	copy_selection_on_prev_line
(	Rotate main selection backward	rotate_selections_backward
)	Rotate main selection forward	rotate_selections_forward
Alt-(	Rotate selection contents backward	rotate_selection_contents_backward
Alt-)	Rotate selection contents forward	rotate_selection_contents_forward
%	Select entire file	select_all
x	Select current line, if already selected, extend to next line	extend_line
X	Extend selection to line bounds (line-wise selection)	extend_to_line_bounds
	Expand selection to parent syntax node TODO: pick a key (TS)	expand_selection
J	Join lines inside selection	join_selections
K	Keep selections matching the regex	keep_selections
Alt-K	Remove selections matching the regex	remove_selections
$	Pipe each selection into shell command, keep selections where command returned 0	shell_keep_pipe
Ctrl-c	Comment/uncomment the selections	toggle_comments

Search

Key	Description	Command
/	Search for regex pattern	search
?	Search for previous pattern	rsearch
n	Select next search match	search_next
N	Select previous search match	search_prev
*	Use current selection as the search pattern	search_selection

Minor modes

These sub-modes are accessible from normal mode and typically switch back to normal mode after a command.

View mode

View mode is intended for scrolling and manipulating the view without changing the selection. The "sticky" variant of this mode is persistent; use the Escape key to return to normal mode after usage (useful when you're simply looking over text and not actively editing it).

Key	Description	Command
z , c	Vertically center the line	align_view_center
t	Align the line to the top of the screen	align_view_top
b	Align the line to the bottom of the screen	align_view_bottom
m	Align the line to the middle of the screen (horizontally)	align_view_middle
j , down	Scroll the view downwards	scroll_down
k , up	Scroll the view upwards	scroll_up
f	Move page down	page_down
b	Move page up	page_up
d	Move half page down	half_page_down
u	Move half page up	half_page_up

Goto mode

Jumps to various locations.

Key	Description	Command
g	Go to the start of the file	goto_file_start
e	Go to the end of the file	goto_last_line
h	Go to the start of the line	goto_line_start
l	Go to the end of the line	goto_line_end
s	Go to first non-whitespace character of the line	goto_first_nonwhitespace
t	Go to the top of the screen	goto_window_top
m	Go to the middle of the screen	goto_window_middle
b	Go to the bottom of the screen	goto_window_bottom
d	Go to definition (LSP)	goto_definition
y	Go to type definition (LSP)	goto_type_definition
r	Go to references (LSP)	goto_reference
i	Go to implementation (LSP)	goto_implementation
a	Go to the last accessed/alternate file	goto_last_accessed_file
n	Go to next buffer	goto_next_buffer
p	Go to previous buffer	goto_previous_buffer
.	Go to last modification in current file	goto_last_modification

Match mode

Enter this mode using m from normal mode. See the relavant section in Usage for an explanation about surround and textobject usage.

Key	Description	Command
m	Goto matching bracket (TS)	match_brackets
s <char>	Surround current selection with <char>	surround_add
r <from><to>	Replace surround character <from> with <to>	surround_replace
d <char>	Delete surround character <char>	surround_delete
a <object>	Select around textobject	select_textobject_around
i <object>	Select inside textobject	select_textobject_inner

TODO: Mappings for selecting syntax nodes (a superset of [).

Window mode

This layer is similar to vim keybindings as kakoune does not support window.

Key	Description	Command
w, Ctrl-w	Switch to next window	rotate_view
v, Ctrl-v	Vertical right split	vsplit
s, Ctrl-s	Horizontal bottom split	hsplit
h, Ctrl-h, left	Move to left split	jump_view_left
j, Ctrl-j, down	Move to split below	jump_view_down
k, Ctrl-k, up	Move to split above	jump_view_up
l, Ctrl-l, right	Move to right split	jump_view_right
q, Ctrl-q	Close current window	wclose
o, Ctrl-o	Only keep the current window, closing all the others	wonly

Space mode

This layer is a kludge of mappings, mostly pickers.

Key	Description	Command
f	Open file picker	file_picker
b	Open buffer picker	buffer_picker
k	Show documentation for item under cursor in a popup (LSP)	hover
s	Open document symbol picker (LSP)	symbol_picker
S	Open workspace symbol picker (LSP)	workspace_symbol_picker
r	Rename symbol (LSP)	rename_symbol
a	Apply code action (LSP)	code_action
'	Open last fuzzy picker	last_picker
w	Enter window mode	N/A
p	Paste system clipboard after selections	paste_clipboard_after
P	Paste system clipboard before selections	paste_clipboard_before
y	Join and yank selections to clipboard	yank_joined_to_clipboard
Y	Yank main selection to clipboard	yank_main_selection_to_clipboard
R	Replace selections by clipboard contents	replace_selections_with_clipboard
/	Global search in workspace folder	global_search

TIP: Global search displays results in a fuzzy picker, use space + ' to bring it back up after opening a file.

Popup

Displays documentation for item under cursor.

Key	Description
Ctrl-u	Scroll up
Ctrl-d	Scroll down

Unimpaired

Mappings in the style of vim-unimpaired.

Key	Description	Command
[d	Go to previous diagnostic (LSP)	goto_prev_diag
]d	Go to next diagnostic (LSP)	goto_next_diag
[D	Go to first diagnostic in document (LSP)	goto_first_diag
]D	Go to last diagnostic in document (LSP)	goto_last_diag
[space	Add newline above	add_newline_above
]space	Add newline below	add_newline_below

Insert Mode

Key	Description	Command
Escape	Switch to normal mode	normal_mode
Ctrl-x	Autocomplete	completion
Ctrl-r	Insert a register content	insert_register
Ctrl-w	Delete previous word	delete_word_backward
Alt-d	Delete next word	delete_word_forward
Alt-b, Alt-Left	Backward a word	move_prev_word_end
Ctrl-b, Left	Backward a char	move_char_left
Alt-f, Alt-Right	Forward a word	move_next_word_start
Ctrl-f, Right	Forward a char	move_char_right
Ctrl-e, End	move to line end	goto_line_end_newline
Ctrl-a, Home	move to line start	goto_line_start
Ctrl-u	delete to start of line	kill_to_line_start
Ctrl-k	delete to end of line	kill_to_line_end
backspace, Ctrl-h	delete previous char	delete_char_backward
delete, Ctrl-d	delete previous char	delete_char_forward
Ctrl-p, Up	move to previous line	move_line_up
Ctrl-n, Down	move to next line	move_line_down

Select / extend mode

I'm still pondering whether to keep this mode or not. It changes movement commands (including goto) to extend the existing selection instead of replacing it.

NOTE: It's a bit confusing at the moment because extend hasn't been implemented for all movement commands yet.

Picker

Keys to use within picker. Remapping currently not supported.

Key	Description
Up, Ctrl-k, Ctrl-p	Previous entry
Down, Ctrl-j, Ctrl-n	Next entry
Ctrl-space	Filter options
Enter	Open selected
Ctrl-s	Open horizontally
Ctrl-v	Open vertically
Escape, Ctrl-c	Close picker

Prompt

Keys to use within prompt, Remapping currently not supported.

Key	Description
Escape, Ctrl-c	Close prompt
Alt-b, Alt-Left	Backward a word
Ctrl-b, Left	Backward a char
Alt-f, Alt-Right	Forward a word
Ctrl-f, Right	Forward a char
Ctrl-e, End	Move prompt end
Ctrl-a, Home	Move prompt start
Ctrl-w	Delete previous word
Alt-d	Delete next word
Ctrl-u	Delete to start of line
Ctrl-k	Delete to end of line
backspace, Ctrl-h	Delete previous char
delete, Ctrl-d	Delete previous char
Ctrl-s	Insert a word under doc cursor, may be changed to Ctrl-r Ctrl-w later
Ctrl-p, Up	Select previous history
Ctrl-n, Down	Select next history
Tab	Select next completion item
BackTab	Select previous completion item
Enter	Open selected