What does “vaw” mean in vim in normal mode (and also “caw” and “daw”)?

Question

I has in vim:

foo barba[r]bar
foo

[] indicates cursor position

and when I use vaw or viw the barbarbar is higlithted. And it is ok.

But I would like understand - why? v is for visual mode, a - i dont know why, and w normaly approach to the begin of new word.

I also checked caw and ciw. First one deletes barbarbar and leave cursor after foo without space, second will leave space after foo, both enters insert mode...

So why it works? Is any referance for this in vim help? Could anyone translate it for vim language?

Answer 1

See :help text-object. This explains it all better than any guy here could.

Here is the whole section:

6. Text object selection            *object-select* *text-objects*
                        *v_a* *v_i*

This is a series of commands that can only be used while in Visual mode or
after an operator.  The commands that start with "a" select "a"n object
including white space, the commands starting with "i" select an "inner" object
without white space, or just the white space.  Thus the "inner" commands
always select less text than the "a" commands.

These commands are {not in Vi}.
These commands are not available when the |+textobjects| feature has been
disabled at compile time.
                            *v_aw* *aw*
aw          "a word", select [count] words (see |word|).
            Leading or trailing white space is included, but not
            counted.
            When used in Visual linewise mode "aw" switches to
            Visual characterwise mode.

                            *v_iw* *iw*
iw          "inner word", select [count] words (see |word|).
            White space between words is counted too.
            When used in Visual linewise mode "iw" switches to
            Visual characterwise mode.

                            *v_aW* *aW*
aW          "a WORD", select [count] WORDs (see |WORD|).
            Leading or trailing white space is included, but not
            counted.
            When used in Visual linewise mode "aW" switches to
            Visual characterwise mode.

                            *v_iW* *iW*
iW          "inner WORD", select [count] WORDs (see |WORD|).
            White space between words is counted too.
            When used in Visual linewise mode "iW" switches to
            Visual characterwise mode.

                            *v_as* *as*
as          "a sentence", select [count] sentences (see
            |sentence|).
            When used in Visual mode it is made characterwise.

                            *v_is* *is*
is          "inner sentence", select [count] sentences (see
            |sentence|).
            When used in Visual mode it is made characterwise.

                            *v_ap* *ap*
ap          "a paragraph", select [count] paragraphs (see
            |paragraph|).
            Exception: a blank line (only containing white space)
            is also a paragraph boundary.
            When used in Visual mode it is made linewise.

                            *v_ip* *ip*
ip          "inner paragraph", select [count] paragraphs (see
            |paragraph|).
            Exception: a blank line (only containing white space)
            is also a paragraph boundary.
            When used in Visual mode it is made linewise.

a]                      *v_a]* *v_a[* *a]* *a[*
a[          "a [] block", select [count] '[' ']' blocks.  This
            goes backwards to the [count] unclosed '[', and finds
            the matching ']'.  The enclosed text is selected,
            including the '[' and ']'.
            When used in Visual mode it is made characterwise.

i]                      *v_i]* *v_i[* *i]* *i[*
i[          "inner [] block", select [count] '[' ']' blocks.  This
            goes backwards to the [count] unclosed '[', and finds
            the matching ']'.  The enclosed text is selected,
            excluding the '[' and ']'.
            When used in Visual mode it is made characterwise.

a)                          *v_a)* *a)* *a(*
a(                          *v_ab* *v_a(* *ab*
ab          "a block", select [count] blocks, from "[count] [(" to
            the matching ')', including the '(' and ')' (see
            |[(|).  Does not include white space outside of the
            parenthesis.
            When used in Visual mode it is made characterwise.

i)                          *v_i)* *i)* *i(*
i(                          *v_ib* *v_i(* *ib*
ib          "inner block", select [count] blocks, from "[count] [("
            to the matching ')', excluding the '(' and ')' (see
            |[(|).
            When used in Visual mode it is made characterwise.

a>                      *v_a>* *v_a<* *a>* *a<*
a<          "a <> block", select [count] <> blocks, from the
            [count]'th unmatched '<' backwards to the matching
            '>', including the '<' and '>'.
            When used in Visual mode it is made characterwise.

i>                      *v_i>* *v_i<* *i>* *i<*
i<          "inner <> block", select [count] <> blocks, from
            the [count]'th unmatched '<' backwards to the matching
            '>', excluding the '<' and '>'.
            When used in Visual mode it is made characterwise.

                        *v_at* *at*
at          "a tag block", select [count] tag blocks, from the
            [count]'th unmatched "<aaa>" backwards to the matching
            "</aaa>", including the "<aaa>" and "</aaa>".
            See |tag-blocks| about the details.
            When used in Visual mode it is made characterwise.

                        *v_it* *it*
it          "inner tag block", select [count] tag blocks, from the
            [count]'th unmatched "<aaa>" backwards to the matching
            "</aaa>", excluding the "<aaa>" and "</aaa>".
            See |tag-blocks| about the details.
            When used in Visual mode it is made characterwise.

a}                          *v_a}* *a}* *a{*
a{                          *v_aB* *v_a{* *aB*
aB          "a Block", select [count] Blocks, from "[count] [{" to
            the matching '}', including the '{' and '}' (see
            |[{|).
            When used in Visual mode it is made characterwise.

i}                          *v_i}* *i}* *i{*
i{                          *v_iB* *v_i{* *iB*
iB          "inner Block", select [count] Blocks, from "[count] [{"
            to the matching '}', excluding the '{' and '}' (see
            |[{|).
            When used in Visual mode it is made characterwise.

a"                          *v_aquote* *aquote*
a'                          *v_a'* *a'*
a`                          *v_a`* *a`*
            "a quoted string".  Selects the text from the previous
            quote until the next quote.  The 'quoteescape' option
            is used to skip escaped quotes.
            Only works within one line.
            When the cursor starts on a quote, Vim will figure out
            which quote pairs form a string by searching from the
            start of the line.
            Any trailing white space is included, unless there is
            none, then leading white space is included.
            When used in Visual mode it is made characterwise.
            Repeating this object in Visual mode another string is
            included.  A count is currently not used.

i"                          *v_iquote* *iquote*
i'                          *v_i'* *i'*
i`                          *v_i`* *i`*
            Like a", a' and a`, but exclude the quotes and
            repeating won't extend the Visual selection.
            Special case: With a count of 2 the quotes are
            included, but no extra white space as with a"/a'/a`.

When used after an operator:
For non-block objects:
    For the "a" commands: The operator applies to the object and the white
    space after the object.  If there is no white space after the object
    or when the cursor was in the white space before the object, the white
    space before the object is included.
    For the "inner" commands: If the cursor was on the object, the
    operator applies to the object.  If the cursor was on white space, the
    operator applies to the white space.
For a block object:
    The operator applies to the block where the cursor is in, or the block
    on which the cursor is on one of the braces.  For the "inner" commands
    the surrounding braces are excluded.  For the "a" commands, the braces
    are included.

When used in Visual mode:
When start and end of the Visual area are the same (just after typing "v"):
    One object is selected, the same as for using an operator.
When start and end of the Visual area are not the same:
    For non-block objects the area is extended by one object or the white
    space up to the next object, or both for the "a" objects.  The
    direction in which this happens depends on which side of the Visual
    area the cursor is.  For the block objects the block is extended one
    level outwards.

For illustration, here is a list of delete commands, grouped from small to big
objects.  Note that for a single character and a whole line the existing vi
movement commands are used.
    "dl"    delete character (alias: "x")       |dl|
    "diw"   delete inner word           *diw*
    "daw"   delete a word               *daw*
    "diW"   delete inner WORD (see |WORD|)      *diW*
    "daW"   delete a WORD (see |WORD|)      *daW*
    "dd"    delete one line             |dd|
    "dis"   delete inner sentence           *dis*
    "das"   delete a sentence           *das*
    "dib"   delete inner '(' ')' block      *dib*
    "dab"   delete a '(' ')' block          *dab*
    "dip"   delete inner paragraph          *dip*
    "dap"   delete a paragraph          *dap*
    "diB"   delete inner '{' '}' block      *diB*
    "daB"   delete a '{' '}' block          *daB*

Note the difference between using a movement command and an object.  The
movement command operates from here (cursor position) to where the movement
takes us.  When using an object the whole object is operated upon, no matter
where on the object the cursor is.  For example, compare "dw" and "daw": "dw"
deletes from the cursor position to the start of the next word, "daw" deletes
the word under the cursor and the space after or before it.

Note that you can create your own text objects with two commands (for example you would like “K” to be a new text object : when in operator mode you want to select three characters with cursor at the centre, and in visual mode you would like to extend the selection by 1 character to both ends (provided that your cursor is at the end of the selection):

"operator-pending mapping
onoremap K :normal! hv2l<return>
"visual mapping (xmap preferred over vmap because vmap also works in select mode)
"note that in visual mode o goes to the other end. Therefore this will expand selection if you were at the end and restrict it otherwise.
xnoremap K ohol

Answer 2

It is related to text-objects.

• vaw means "select (Visual mode) A Word (including following whitespace)"
• caw means "Change A Word (including following whitespace)"
• daw means "Delete A Word (including following whitespace)"

If you are using "i" it is the same things except it is an "inner" selection so it does not select surrounding whitespaces.

There are other text objects like :

• p for Paragraph
• s for Sentence
• b for Block
• ( for parenthesis
• ] for brackets
• etc

So you do dip to delete the current paragraph.

See :help text-objects for more details.

It is a pretty powerful Vim feature. Once you master text-objects, you are going to use them for most operations. For example if you want to reformat a (C like) function, you can use =i} and it is done ! (= is the command to refomat, and i} is the scope of the current { block)