Helix

Properties2

Type	Concept
Note created	Apr 15, 2025

Helix is a TUI-based text editor written in Rust, that features their own design of modal editing based on Kakoune.

Notes on :tutor

Chapter 1 & 2: basic movement and editing

• Type d to delete the current character or a selection.
• Type i to Insert before selection and a to Insert after.
• Type I to Insert at the beginning of the line and A to Insert at the end of it.
• Type o to open a line (add a newline and insert) below the cursor, O to open a line above.

Chapter 3: motions and selections

• Type w to select forward until the beginning of the next word.
• Type e to select forward until the end of the current word.
• Type b to move backward to the beginning of the current word.
• Type W, E or B to act on capital-words (separated only by whitespaces).
• Type c to change the current selection (delete and get into Insert mode).
• Type a number before a motion to perform it N times.
• Type v to enter Select mode, where the selection is expanded with new motions instead of replaced.
• Type x to select a whole line. Type x again (or with a number) to select more lines.
• Type ; to deselect without moving the cursor(s).
• Type Alt-; to flip the selection (move from end to beginning and vice-versa).

Chapter 4: Undo, copying, pasting, and searching

• Type u to undo, type U to redo.
• Type y to yank (copy) the selection.
• Type p to paste after the cursor.
• Type P to paste before the cursor.
• Type Alt-d and Alt-c to delete or change without yanking.
• Type Space y to yank to system clipboard.
• Type Space p to paste from system clipboard.
• Type / to search the file and ? to search backwards.
• Type n to go to the next match and N to go to the previous match.
• In Helix, you can use regular expressions in the search.