Vim style cursor movement for Notepad++

Question

I was just wondering if there was a way to get "vim" style cursor movement (i.e. 'hkjl' movement). After spending much time with vim, I have gotten used to not having to lift my hands off the keyboard to move around a text document (going to the arrow keys is also too disruptive :p).

Moving back to vim is always an option, but it'd be nice if there was a way to get this feature on notepad++. I have already spent some time in setting up macros and plugins to get my notepad++ environment working the way I want it to.

Any help on this matter would be much appreciated.

Solution 1

A new plugin ViSimulator for Notepad++ has just released, which maybe meet your requests.

Solution 2

Notepad++ is not a modal editor, how would you expect it to work? How could NP++ make the difference between a j for moving down one line and the j in Beetlejuice?

That's the core difference between modeless editors and modal editors: in the normal mode of a modal editor, you have the whole keyboard at your disposal for lightning quick operation while modeless editors only allow you to use all those alpha keys with modifiers.

I don't think hjkl is either practical or even doable in NP++. Maybe a Ctrl+Shift+J combo… but that would defeat your purpose almost completely.

I might add that hjkl is definetely not the alpha and omega of productivity: jjjjjjj is just as silly as DownDownDownDownDownDownDown, even if you keep the key down for as long as it takes. OK your hands are still on the home row but that's still a very inefficient way to move. Using counts (7j) is better, using search (/foo) is even better and text objects/motions are unvaluable. How would it be possible to "port" the concept of count to a modeless editor? Search is possible, of course, because it's modal in every editor and there's no way around it. What about text objects and motions?

Comments

[funseiki]

It is indeed not a modal editor by default, so I maybe should have clarified and asked how one might simulate vim style modal editing in npp. I am also not concerned with knowing the productivity of hjkl vs up down left right, though you are probably right in saying there are more productive ways to traverse a text document.

[romainl]

If you are serious about it, you should get in touch with the people behind NP++: it's open source and they are probably eager to have more commiters.

[Ooker]

+1 for bringing the difference between two types. Speaking of productivity, what should I do if I just need to read a text file?

[Ooker]

I know you'll never hear this comment, but maybe you should disclose your affiliation to this service...