How to move screen without moving cursor in Vim?

user_279259 0
Viewed 187859

I recently discovered Ctrl+E and Ctrl+Y shortcuts for Vim that respectively move the screen up and down with a one line step, without moving the cursor.

Do you know any command that leaves the cursor where it is but moves the screen so that the line which has the cursor becomes the first line? (having a command for the last line would be a nice bonus).

I can achieve this by manually pressing Ctrl+E (or Ctrl+Y) the proper number of times, but having a command that somehow does this directly would be nice.

Any ideas?

cursor-position scroll vim
14 Answers

I'm surprised no one is using the Scrolloff option which keeps the cursor in the middle of the page. Try it with:

:set so=999

It's the first recommended method on the Vim wiki and works well.

user_22178010

I've used these shortcuts in the past (note: separate key strokes i.e. tap z, let go, tap the subsequent key):

z t ...or... z enter --> moves current line to top of screen

z z ...or... z . --> moves current line to center of screen

z b ...or... z - --> moves current line to bottom

If it's not obvious:

enter means the Return or Enter key.

. means the DOT or "full stop" key (.).

- means the HYPHEN key (-)

For what it's worth, z. avoids the danger of saving and closing Vi by accidentally typing ZZ if the caps-lock is on.

More info: :help scroll-cursor

user_74090290

my mnemonic for scrolling...

Adding to other answers also pay attention to ze and zs, meaning: move screen to the left/right of the cursor (without moving the cursor)

+-------------------------------+
^                               |
|c-e (keep cursor)              |
|H(igh)             zt (top)    |
|                   ^           |
|           ze      |      zs   |
|M(iddle)  zh/zH <--zz--> zl/zL |
|                   |           |
|                   v           |
|L(ow)              zb (bottom) |
|c-y (keep cursor)              |
v                               |
+-------------------------------+

also look at the position of h and l and t and b and (with qwertz keyboard) c-e and c-y (also the "y" somehow points to the bottom) on the keyboard to remember where the screen is moving.

user_49402400

Enter vim and type:

:help z

z is the vim command for redraw, so it will redraw the file relative to where you position the cursor. The options you have are as follows:

z+ - Redraws the file with the cursor at top of the window and at first non-blank character of your line.

z- - Redraws the file with the cursor at bottom of the window and at first non-blank character of your line.

z. - Redraws the file with the cursor at centre of the window and at first non-blank character of your line.

zt - Redraws file with the cursor at top of the window.

zb - Redraws file with the cursor at bottom of the window.

zz - Redraws file with the cursor at centre of the window.

user_56258610
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