Pressing z and then return will move the current line to the top of the screen. Page up and page down may also work depending on your configuration. The equivalent full screen commands are ctrl f and ctrl b. In command mode, I often find myself scrolling the screen by half increments using ctrl u and ctrl d. Quickly moving around can feel awkward at first, but there are many ways to move the cursor and screen that become second nature before long. However, cursor movement in Vim is typically controlled with the keyboard. Using GUI editors with mouse wheels or trackpad gestures can feel fast, and GUI versions of Vim support this. When I’m trying to teach people Vim, I find they’re often confused about how to efficiently move around within files. If you’re a beginner or would like to brush up on fundamental skills, then this is the series for you. Mac Web Browsers: Page Up with Shift + SpacebarĪgain, assuming the cursor is not selected into an active text box or the URL bar, hitting Shift+Spacebar will perform a Page Up in Safari, Chrome, and Firefox.This is the first Vim 101 post, in which we take a look at fundamental Vim techniques.

Not all apps support this method, but nearly all web browsers do: Mac Web Browsers: Page Down with SpacebarĪssuming the cursor is not in an active text box, hitting the Spacebar will Page Down in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. Of course another approach would be to modify the scrolling speed for the trackpad or mouse the Mac is using, but that’s obviously not using the keyboard.īack to the keyboard, most web browsers on the Mac support alternate Page Up and Page Down methods as well by using the spacebar. Knowing the appropriate Page Up and Page Down shortcuts can be particularly helpful with other text navigation keystrokes like these.

Speaking of Function key tricks, those arriving from the PC world may also find it useful to know that Function+Delete does the Mac equivalent of the DEL key on PC keyboards, and there are many other function key modifiers to perform similar actions on the otherwise more minimalist keyboards commonly seen on Mac hardware. The Apple Extended Keyboard has dedicated Page Up and Page Down keys, but this Function+Arrow trick will still work on that keyboard as well. Yes, this is the same on all Mac keyboards, including the Apple Wireless Keyboard, the MacBook Pro keyboard, MacBook Air, and MacBook keyboards.

Paging down is done the same way as paging up, using the same “fn” key and the Down arrow to perform the equivalent of a page down on a Mac keyboard. The “fn” key is at the lower left of all modern Mac keyboards, and when you combine that with the Up arrow, which is found on the lower right of the keyboard, you will perform the equivalent of a page up.

Vim page down shortcut