Vim Mode

Vim mode is scoped to the SQL editor. The data grid, the find field and every other control in the window keep their own keys, and a Cmd chord passes through in any mode, so Cmd+Enter still runs the query. Turn it on in Settings > Editor > Vim mode, which is also the only way to turn it off: there is no :set. A badge next to the editor shows the current mode.

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Modes

gi puts you back where you last left insert.

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Move the cursor

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Characters

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Words

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Lines

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Find a character

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Sentences and paragraphs

Counts work: 3w moves three words, 5j moves five lines down.

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Edit

2d3w deletes six words. 3yy yanks three lines. 5>> indents five lines. Yank, delete, and change all write to the system clipboard.

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Text objects

Use after d, c, y, or in visual mode. ciw rewrites the current word. da" removes a quoted string and its trailing space. yip copies the current paragraph.

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Paste

In visual mode, p and P replace the selection with the register.

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Registers

Prefix with "{a-z} to pick a register. "ayy stores a line in a. "ap pastes it back later.

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Marks

Marks shift when you insert or delete text before them.

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Search

The pattern is a literal, case-sensitive substring, not a regex. Searches wrap around.

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Repeat and undo

5. repeats the last change five times.

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Macros

A macro that calls itself stops after 50 rounds.

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Control keys

Outside insert mode, a Ctrl letter goes to vim, never to the editor’s own binding: Any other Ctrl letter does nothing. That includes Ctrl+E and Ctrl+Y, which like zt, zz and zb are read and discarded: the view scrolls only to follow the cursor. Ctrl+Space still opens completions, and Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab still move focus to the next and previous control. A shortcut of Ctrl and a letter assigned in Settings > Keyboard does not fire from the SQL editor outside insert mode. In insert and replace mode, vim takes these and leaves every other Ctrl combination to the editor: Ctrl+H is the editor’s own backspace in insert mode, so it deletes a selection the way Delete does. In replace mode vim takes it, and like Delete it restores the character you overwrote.

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Option keys

An Option chord outside insert mode is read as the character it types. On a keyboard layout where Option types [ or @, such as German, those work as vim commands, and a character vim has no use for, such as the non-breaking space from Option+Space, does nothing. A dead key such as Option+E on the US layout does nothing outside insert mode. In insert mode, Option types as usual. In replace mode, the character it types overwrites the one under the cursor.

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Visual mode

Motions extend the selection. Then: Indent and outdent work in normal mode only (>>, <<, >{m}, <{m}).

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Insert mode

Esc or Ctrl+[ goes back to normal mode. Apart from the insert-mode control keys, what you type goes to the editor as usual.

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Command line

/ and ? are search. Every other : command is parsed and ignored, :wq, :x and :set among them. :10 does not jump to line 10 either; use 10G or 10gg. Delete and Ctrl+H erase the last character of the command. The arrow keys and the other Ctrl letters do nothing while you type one.