Visual mode

Three flavours, identical operators on top.

Entering

Keys	Mode	Selection shape
`v`	Visual	Character-wise (anchor → cursor)
`V`	Visual-line	Whole lines from anchor to cursor
`<C-v>`	Visual-block	Rectangle (anchor.row..cursor.row, anchor.col..cursor.col)

Press <Esc> to leave any visual mode without acting.

Operators on selection

Keys	Action
`d` / `x`	Delete the selection. Goes into the unnamed register.
`y`	Yank to unnamed register.
`c`	Delete, then drop into Insert.
`r{c}`	Replace every selected char with `{c}`. Newlines kept.

After d / y / r you return to Normal automatically.

Motions inside visual modes

Every cursor motion (hjkl, wbe, 0$, gg/G, ]]/[[, %, counts) extends the selection. <C-v>5j selects 5 rows down.

Visual-block specifics

<C-v> is where the real power lives. Beyond the operators above:

Keys	Action
`I{text}<Esc>`	Insert `{text}` at the left edge of every selected row
`A{text}<Esc>`	Append `{text}` at the right edge of every row

The flow:

<C-v> — anchor at the cursor.
Extend with motions: jj for 3 rows, 5l for 6 cols wide, etc.
Press I (or A).
Cursor jumps to the top-left (or right edge + 1) of the rectangle.
Insert mode opens; type whatever you want.
<Esc> — typed text is replayed across every other selected row.

Padding rules

I (insert at left): if a row is shorter than the left column of the rectangle, the row is skipped (no spaces added).
A (append at right): if a row is shorter than the right edge, it's padded with spaces to reach the target column before the typed text is inserted.

This matches vim's classic block-insert behaviour.

Block undo is one step

The entire block operation — top-row typing PLUS the cross-row replay — is wrapped in a single undo transaction. One u reverts the whole rectangle. <C-r> re-applies it.

Same for visual-block d / x: the per-row deletes are coalesced.

Block change

c from visual-block opens a transaction that spans:

The block delete (each row's slice).
The follow-up Insert session.

Press <Esc> to commit, u to revert everything in one step.

Paste

p in Normal mode pastes whatever's in the unnamed register:

Linewise register (filled by yy/dd/Y/etc.): paste inserts a new line BELOW the current one.
Charwise register: paste inserts after the cursor on the current line.
A block-yank/delete fills the register with newline-joined rows; pasting drops it back in as charwise text (no rectangular paste in v1).

Selection rendering

The active selection paints with a reverse-video / blue background. Selection wins over syntax highlighting on overlapping cells — useful when picking out a selected token visually.

Counts in visual modes

Counts are accumulated in visual modes the same as in normal mode. So <C-v>3j5l selects a 4×6 rectangle (3+1 rows, 5+1 cols).

There's no operator-pending count concept in visual modes (the operators fire immediately), so only the "before motion" count applies.