Normal mode commands

A list of key and commands for normal mode. Meant to supplement the keymap and keys doc - especially for people using alternate keyboard layouts.

The following keys are free for you to customize: 0, D, X, Y, ', #, ^, -, =, and <ret>. See suggestions

Beware of ambiguous keys like <tab> vs <c-i> and <ret> vs <c-j> and <c-m>.

For a bigger table, see Kakoune explain keys

Key	Description	ALT + key	CTRL + key	g key (goto)
a	insert after selected text	select whole object		last buffer
A	insert at line end
b	select to previous word start	select to previous WORD start	scroll one page up	window bottom
B	extend to previous word start	extend to previous WORD start
c	change selected text	change selected text without yanking		window center
C	copy selection on next lines	copy selection on previous lines
d	erase selected text	erase selected text without yanking	scroll one half page down
D
e	select to next word end	select to next WORD end		buffer end
E	extend to next word end	extend to next WORD end
f	select to next character included	select to previous character included	scroll one page down	file
F	extend to next character included	extend to previous character included
g	go to location
G	extend to location
h	move left	select to line begin	undo last selection change	line begin
H	extend left	extend to line begin
i	insert before selected text	select inner object	jump forward in jump list	line begin (non blank)
I	insert at line begin
j	move down	join lines	(ambiguous)	buffer bottom
J	extend down	join lines and select spaces
k	move up	keep selections matching given regex	redo last selection change	buffer top
K	extend up	keep selections not matching given regex
l	move right	select to line end	force screen redraw	line end
L	extend right	extend to line end
m	select to next matching character	select to previous matching character	(ambiguous)
M	extend to next matching character	extend to previous matching character
n	select next current search pattern match	select previous current search pattern match
N	extend with next current search pattern match	extend with previous current search pattern match
o	insert on new line below	add a new empty line below	jump backward in jump list
O	insert on new line above	add a new empty line above
p	paste after selected text	paste every yanked selection after selected text
P	paste before selected text	paste every yanked selection before selected text
q	replay recorded macro
Q	start or end macro recording
r	replace with character
R	replace selected text with paired yanked text	replace selected text with all yanked texts
s	select regex matches in selected text	split selected text on line ends	push current selections in jump list
S	split selected text on regex matches	select first and last characters of each selections
t	select to next character	select to previous character		window top
T	extend to next character	extend to previous character
u	undo	move backward in history	scroll one half page up
U	redo	move forward in history
v	manipulate view
V	lock view mode
w	select to next word start	select to next WORD start
W	extend to next word start	extend to next WORD start
x	expand selections to contain full lines (including end-of-lines)	trim selections to only contain full lines (not including last end-of-line)
X
y	yank (copy) selected text
Y
z	restore selections	combine selections from register
Z	save selections	combine selections to register
external shell commands
!	insert command output	append command output
$	pipe each selection through shell command and keep the ones whose command succeed
|	pipe each selection through filter and replace with output	pipe each selection through command and ignore output
align / indent
&	align cursors	copy indentation
@	convert tabs to spaces	convert spaces to tabs
<	deindent	deindent, not including incomplete indent
>	indent	indent, including empty lines
selections
%	select whole buffer
(	rotate main selection backward	rotate selections content backward
)	rotate main selection forward	rotate selections content forward
; semicolon	reduce selections to their cursor	swap cursors and anchors
_	trim selections	merge contiguous selections together
search
*	set search pattern to main selection content	set search pattern to main selection content, do not detect words
/	select next given regex match	select previous given regex match
?	extend with next given regex match	extend with previous given regex match
text-objects
[	select to object start	select to inner object start
]	select to object end	select to inner object end
{	extend to object start	extend to inner object start
}	extend to object end	extend to inner object end
text case
`	convert to lower case	swap case
~	convert to upper case
,	clear selections to only keep the main one	clear the main selection
.	repeat last insert command	repeat last object or t/f selection command		last buffer change
\	disable hooks
:	enter command prompt	ensure cursor is after anchor
"	choose register
'
#
^
-
=
+	duplicate each selection (generating overlapping selections)	merge overlapping selections
Up	move up
Down	move down
Left	move left
Right	move right
Home	select to line begin
End	select to line end
PageDown	scroll one page down
PageUp	scroll one page up
Space	enter default user mode to access custom commands
Backspace	remove count
Escape
Return
Tab	often interpreted as ctrl+i

Suggestions

alt + number offer 10 keys to customize. Example:

map global normal <a-3> ':echo free<ret>'

# vim old habits
map global normal D '<a-l>d' -docstring 'delete to end of line'
map global normal Y '<a-l>y' -docstring 'yank to end of line'
map global normal = :format<ret> -docstring 'format buffer'

map global normal '#' :comment-line<ret> -docstring 'comment line'
map global normal '<a-#>' :comment-block<ret> -docstring 'comment block'

map global goto m '<esc>m;' -docstring 'matching char'

# if you press 0 alone, it will echo "foo".
# if you press 0 after a number to express a count, like 10, it will work as usual.
map global normal 0 ':zero "echo foo"<ret>'
define-command zero -params 1 %{ evaluate-commands %sh{
  if [ $kak_count = 0 ]; then
    echo "$1"
  else
    echo "exec ${kak_count}0"
  fi
}}