Normal mode is where you spend most of your time in Neovim. Mastering these navigation commands is the single biggest productivity unlock.
Table of contents
Open Table of contents
Cursor Movement
| Key | Action |
|---|
h | Move left |
j | Move down |
k | Move up |
l | Move right |
w | Jump to next word start |
e | Jump to end of current/next word |
b | Jump to beginning of word |
$ | Jump to end of line |
0 | Jump to start of line |
Word-Level Navigation
| Key | Action |
|---|
2w | Move 2 words forward |
3e | Jump to end of the 3rd word |
Any motion can be prefixed with a count — [n][motion] repeats the motion n times.
File-Level Navigation
| Key | Action |
|---|
G | Jump to end of file |
gg | Jump to top of file |
Ctrl+G | Show current line info and file position |
[number]G | Jump to a specific line number |
Tips
- Prefer
w, e, b over holding h/l — it’s much faster.
- Use
[count] prefixes liberally: 5j moves down 5 lines, 3w skips 3 words.
Ctrl+G is handy for a quick sanity-check of where you are in a large file.