[vim/vim] Native display line move in insert mode (Issue #19870)

Toby She

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Mar 30, 2026, 2:20:12 PM (2 days ago) Mar 30

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otomn created an issue (vim/vim#19870)

So far there is no native way of moving the cursor up or down a display line in insert mode.

Request

Allow cursor to be moved one display line up or down natively in insert mode. Using either a new command or a new keybind like i_ctrl-g g j, i_ctrl-g g k that can be mapped to.

Alternatives considered

<c-o>gk, it works properly, but it triggers ModeChange and invokes other auto commands.
<cmd>normal gk<cr>, it works most of the time but not when the cursor is on the last char of the line.

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Christian Brabandt

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Mar 30, 2026, 3:07:28 PM (2 days ago) Mar 30

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chrisbra left a comment (vim/vim#19870)

Vim is a modal editor, you can use a mapping.

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Toby She

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Mar 30, 2026, 5:11:36 PM (2 days ago) Mar 30

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otomn left a comment (vim/vim#19870)

Vim is a modal editor, you can use a mapping.

Map to what?
Maybe I wasn't being clear. The goal is to be able to move the cursor without triggering any auto commands. I am not aware of any solution without the usage of either :normal or <c-o> but those do trigger other events.

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mattn

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Mar 30, 2026, 11:54:38 PM (2 days ago) Mar 30

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mattn left a comment (vim/vim#19870)

pleaes use cursor keys or map to them.

imap <c-b><c-j> <down>
imap <c-b><c-k> <up>

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mattn

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Mar 31, 2026, 12:00:59 AM (yesterday) Mar 31

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mattn left a comment (vim/vim#19870)

Christian Brabandt

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Mar 31, 2026, 2:44:30 AM (yesterday) Mar 31

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chrisbra left a comment (vim/vim#19870)

If you have an autocommand triggering, you should ask, why do you have such an autocommand in the first place?

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Toby She

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Mar 31, 2026, 10:39:58 AM (yesterday) Mar 31

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otomn left a comment (vim/vim#19870)

You might like sub-mode mapping
imap <C-b>j <down><SID>im
imap <C-b>k <up><SID>im
inoremap <script> <SID>imj <down><SID>im
inoremap <script> <SID>imk <up><SID>im
imap <SID>im <Nop>
This enable moving with prefix <c-b> key. Try typing like <c-b>jjjjjkkkkkkjjjkjkkkkjj

I don't think this solves the problem.
To clarify. I have the following config to remap arrow keys to display line moves:

inoremap <up> <c-o>gk
inoremap <down> <c-o>gj

The issue I'm facing with this approach is it will trigger InsertLeave and InsertEnter in addition to just CursorMovedI.
I have lsp plugins that perform expensive operations on those two triggers as the plugin assumes no one should rapidly leave and reenter insert mode.

After setting set verbose=9 verbosefile=/dev/pts/1, I can see that InsertLeave and InsertEnter would be triggered for the above script as well.

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mattn

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Mar 31, 2026, 11:33:03 AM (yesterday) Mar 31

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mattn left a comment (vim/vim#19870)

You can try this script as a workaround. It moves the cursor by display line in insert mode without triggering InsertLeave/InsertEnter:

let s:curswant = 0
let s:prev = [0, 0]

function! s:textwidth() abort
  return winwidth(0) - getwininfo(win_getid())[0].textoff
endfunction

function! s:move(dir) abort
  let tw = s:textwidth()
  let vcol = virtcol('.')
  if s:prev[0] == 0
    let s:curswant = (vcol - 1) % tw
  endif
  let screen_line = (vcol - 1) / tw
  let target_screen = screen_line + a:dir

  if target_screen >= 0 && (target_screen + 1) * tw < virtcol([line('.'), '$'])
    " Move within the same logical line
    let lnum = line('.')
    let target = target_screen * tw + 1 + s:curswant
  else
    " Move to adjacent logical line
    let lnum = line('.') + a:dir
    if lnum < 1 || lnum > line('$')
      return
    endif
    if a:dir > 0
      let target_screen = 0
    else
      let last = max([virtcol([lnum, '$']) - 1, 1])
      let target_screen = (last - 1) / tw
    endif
    let target = target_screen * tw + 1 + s:curswant
  endif

  let last = max([virtcol([lnum, '$']) - 1, 1])
  call cursor(lnum, virtcol2col(0, lnum, min([target, last])))
endfunction

function! s:on_move() abort
  let cur = [line('.'), virtcol('.')]
  if cur[0] == s:prev[0] || s:prev[0] == 0
    " Horizontal move, text input, or first move: update curswant
    let s:curswant = (cur[1] - 1) % s:textwidth()
  endif
  let s:prev = cur
endfunction

augroup insmode_gjgk
  autocmd!
  autocmd CursorMovedI * call <SID>on_move()
augroup END

inoremap <Down> <Cmd>call <SID>move(1)<CR>
inoremap <Up> <Cmd>call <SID>move(-1)<CR>

Save this as a file and :source it, or paste into your vimrc.

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Toby She

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Mar 31, 2026, 8:11:00 PM (yesterday) Mar 31

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otomn left a comment (vim/vim#19870)

Thank you for your hard work. It is indeed not triggering any auto command other than cursor move.

It works 95% of time. But sometimes it would jump from the second last display line right to the next line, or jumping to a different column.

I will keep this as a workaround and improve upon it for now. Though I really believe something fundamental like moving cursor around should be a built in feature instead of having to write a such complicated workaround script. We have gk for normal mode, so it would make sense to have an equivalent of that for insert mode.