Helix

For easy file editing, I’m currently trying out Helix, so editing is as simple as calling hx on the file.

I tried out Helix some time ago but didn’t find the ecosystem that appealing at that point. As the project matured some more, I found myself drawn to it again. It aims to be a no-nonsense approach to LSP and Tree-sitter integration, coming with sane defaults and batteries included out of the box.

Install

Homebrew

brew install helix

Snap

Note

You can add the option --edge, to use the latest/edge channel instead of the default latest/stable one.

sudo snap install helix --classic

Flatpak

sudo flatpak install flathub com.helix_editor.Helix
sudo flatpak run com.helix_editor.Helix

Fedora

Caution

Unfortunately, the Fedora package seems to be out of date currently, or at least significantly lacking behind development. Also, the Rust install from source isn’t as straightforward as some other packages, where you can simply invoke binstall. For these reasons, I recommend the Homebrew installation method, at least for now.

sudo dnf install helix

Usage

Info

This section is heavily inspired and/or copied from the official helix documentation. Therefore, please always refer to the upstream documentation. The only reason I replicate it is for easier referencing for myself, as a previous heavy Neovim user. I also highlight the rows differing significantly from normal VIM behaviour.

Movement

Note

Unlike Vim, f, F, t and T are not confined to the current line.

Key	Description
h, Left	Move left
j, Down	Move down
k, Up	Move up
l, Right	Move right
w	Move next word start
b	Move previous word start
e	Move next word end
W	Move next WORD start
B	Move previous WORD start
E	Move next WORD end
t	Find till next char
f	Find next char
T	Find till previous char
F	Find previous char
G	Go to line number <n>
Alt-.	Repeat last motion (f, t, m, [ or ])
Home	Move to the start of the line
End	Move to the end of the line
Ctrl-b, PageUp	Move page up
Ctrl-f, PageDown	Move page down
Ctrl-u	Move cursor and page half page up
Ctrl-d	Move cursor and page half page down
Ctrl-i	Jump forward on the jumplist
Ctrl-o	Jump backward on the jumplist
Ctrl-s	Save the current selection to the jumplist

Changes

Key	Description
r	Replace with a character
R	Replace with yanked text
~	Switch case of the selected text
`	Set the selected text to lower case
Alt-`	Set the selected text to upper case
i	Insert before selection
a	Insert after selection (append)
I	Insert at the start of the line
A	Insert at the end of the line
o	Open new line below selection
O	Open new line above selection
.	Repeat last insert
u	Undo change
U	Redo change
Alt-u	Move backward in history
Alt-U	Move forward in history
y	Yank selection
p	Paste after selection
P	Paste before selection
" <reg>	Select a register to yank to or paste from
>	Indent selection
<	Unindent selection
=	Format selection (LSP)
d	Delete selection
Alt-d	Delete selection, without yanking
c	Change selection (delete and enter insert mode)
Alt-c	Change selection (delete and enter insert mode, without yanking)
Ctrl-a	Increment object (number) under cursor
Ctrl-x	Decrement object (number) under cursor
Q	Start/stop macro recording to the selected register (experimental)
q	Play back a recorded macro from the selected register (experimental)

Shell

Key	Description
|	Pipe each selection through shell command, replacing with output
Alt-|	Pipe each selection into shell command, ignoring output
!	Run shell command, inserting output before each selection
Alt-!	Run shell command, appending output after each selection
$	Pipe each selection into shell command, keep selections where command returned 0

Selection

Key	Description
s	Select all regex matches inside selections
S	Split selection into sub selections on regex matches
Alt-s	Split selection on newlines
Alt-minus	Merge selections
Alt-_	Merge consecutive selections
&	Align selection in columns
_	Trim whitespace from the selection
;	Collapse selection onto a single cursor
Alt-;	Flip selection cursor and anchor
Alt-:	Ensures the selection is in forward direction
,	Keep only the primary selection
Alt-,	Remove the primary selection
C	Copy selection onto the next line (Add cursor below)
Alt-C	Copy selection onto the previous line (Add cursor above)
(	Rotate main selection backward
)	Rotate main selection forward
Alt-(	Rotate selection contents backward
Alt-)	Rotate selection contents forward
%	Select entire file
x	Select current line, if already selected, extend to next line
X	Extend selection to line bounds (line-wise selection)
Alt-x	Shrink selection to line bounds (line-wise selection)
J	Join lines inside selection
Alt-J	Join lines inside selection and select the inserted space
K	Keep selections matching the regex
Alt-K	Remove selections matching the regex
Ctrl-c	Comment/uncomment the selections
Alt-o, Alt-up	Expand selection to parent syntax node (TS)
Alt-i, Alt-down	Shrink syntax tree object selection (TS)
Alt-p, Alt-left	Select previous sibling node in syntax tree (TS)
Alt-n, Alt-right	Select next sibling node in syntax tree (TS)
Alt-a	Select all sibling nodes in syntax tree (TS)
Alt-I, Alt-Shift-down	Select all children nodes in syntax tree (TS)
Alt-e	Move to end of parent node in syntax tree (TS)
Alt-b	Move to start of parent node in syntax tree (TS)

Search

Note

Search commands all operate on the / register by default. To use a different register, use "<char>.

Key	Description
/	Search for regex pattern
?	Search for previous pattern
n	Select next search match
N	Select previous search match
*	Use current selection as the search pattern, automatically wrapping with \b on word boundaries
Alt-*	Use current selection as the search pattern

Registers

Symbol	Usage
/	Last Search
:	Last Command
"	Last Yank
@	Last Macro
_	null / Trash
#[1-9]+	Selection at index [1-9]+
.	Current selections
%	Current filename
+	System clipboard
*	Primary clipboard

Surround

Key Sequence	Action
ms<char> (after selecting text)	Add surround characters to selection
mr<char_to_replace><new_char>	Replace the closest surround characters
md<char_to_delete>	Delete the closest surround characters

Text Objects

Prefix	Selection
ma	Around
mi	Inside

Suffix	Selection
w	Word
W	WORD
p	Paragraph
(, [, ', etc.	Specified surround pairs
m	The closest surround pair
f	Function
t	Type (or Class)
a	Argument/parameter
c	Comment
T	Test
g	Change