Swapping characters, words and lines

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created 2001 · complexity basic · version 5.7

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Normal-mode commands

Swap the current character (the character under the cursor) with the next:

xp

Swap the current line with the next:

ddp

Swap the current line with the previous:

ddkP

Swap the current word with the next (see note):

dawwP
dawelp
"xdiwdwep"xp         (works with most punctuations too)

Swap the current word with the previous (see note):

dawbP

Note: These swap-word techniques don't work with punctuation. Use the mappings below to more intelligently move words.

Normal-mode mappings

To use gc to swap the current character with the next, without changing the cursor position:

:nnoremap <silent> gc xph

To use gw to swap the current word with the next, without changing cursor position: (See note.)

:nnoremap <silent> gw "_yiw:s/\(\%#\w\+\)\(\W\+\)\(\w\+\)/\3\2\1/<CR><c-o><c-l>
" This version will work across newlines:
:nnoremap <silent> gw "_yiw:s/\(\%#\w\+\)\(\_W\+\)\(\w\+\)/\3\2\1/<CR><c-o><c-l>

To use gl to swap the current word with the previous, keeping cursor on current word: (This feels like "pushing" the word to the left.) (See note.)

:nnoremap <silent> gl "_yiw?\w\+\_W\+\%#<CR>:s/\(\%#\w\+\)\(\_W\+\)\(\w\+\)/\3\2\1/<CR><c-o><c-l>

To use gr to swap the current word with the next, keeping cursor on current word: (This feels like "pushing" the word to the right.) (See note.)

:nnoremap <silent> gr "_yiw:s/\(\%#\w\+\)\(\_W\+\)\(\w\+\)/\3\2\1/<CR><c-o>/\w\+\_W\+<CR><c-l>

To use g{ to swap the current paragraph with the next:

:nnoremap g{ {dap}p{

Note: Mappings above which perform a search-and-replace (ones containing :s/) will operate incorrectly on words with accented characters. To adjust the mappings above to work with your locale, replace all \w with [alphabet] and \W with [^alphabet], where alphabet is the set of characters in your alphabet. :help /\w

Visual-mode swapping

To use this mapping: first, delete some text (using any normal Vim command, such as daw, dt, in normal mode, x in visual mode). Then, use visual mode to select some other text, and press Ctrl-X. The two pieces of text should then be swapped.

:vnoremap <C-X> <Esc>`.``gvP``P

See also

• Transposing script to move current or selected lines up/down
• Visual Mode Based Swapping script by Chip Campbell to swap visually-selected text