My programming key bindings

I like the idea of editing of VIM, but I still think this is not the best. Some keys of vscode, emacs and particularly Kakoune ans helix are modern.

General idea

Action follows selection.

Major modes

• Normal
• Insert
• Picker
• Prompt
• Popup

Minor modes

• View
• Select
• Goto
• Match
• Window
• Space
• Unimpaired

Keys

Normal mode

Movement

Key	Desc.
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
f	Find next char
t	Find 'till next char
F	Find previous char
T	Find 'till previous char
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
0	Jump to the start of the line
^	Move to the first non-blank character of the line
$	Move cursor line end
G	Go to the last line of the document
Ctrl-o, Ctrl--	Go previous cursor location
Ctrl-i	Go next cursor location

Changes

Key	Desc.
r	Replace with a character
R	Replace with yanked text
~	Switch case of the selected text
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
u	Undo change
U	Redo change
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
c	Change selection (delete and enter insert mode)
Q	Start/stop macro recording to the selected register
q	Play back a recorded macro from the selected register
Alt-Up	Move line upward
Alt-Down	Move line downward

Selection

Key	Desc.
s	Select all regex matches inside selections
C	Copy selection onto the next line (Add cursor below)
,	Keep only the primary selection
%, Cmd-a	Select entire file
x	Select current line, if already selected, extend to next line

Searching

Key	Desc.
/	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

File

Key	Desc.
Cmd-s	Save current file
Cmd-n	Open new buffer

Insert mode

Press i in normal mode

Key	Desc.
Escape	Switch to normal mode
Ctrl-a	Goto line begin
Ctrl-e	Goto line end
Ctrl-d, Delete	Delete next char
Ctrl-j, Enter	Insert new line
Ctrl-x	Autocomplete
Alt-Delete	Delete word backward
Ctrl-u	Delete to start of line
Ctrl-k	Delete to end of line

Picker mode

Key	Desc.
Shift-Tab, Up, Ctrl-p	Previous entry
Tab, Down, Ctrl-n	Next entry
PageUp, Ctrl-u	Page up
PageDown, Ctrl-d	Page down
Home	Go to first entry
End	Go to last entry
Enter	Open selected
Escape, Ctrl-c	Close picker

Prompt mode

Key	Desc.
Escape, Ctrl-c	Close prompt
Alt-b, Ctrl-Left	Backward a word
Ctrl-f, Right	Forward a char
Ctrl-b, Left	Backward a char
Alt-f, Ctrl-Right	Forward a word
Ctrl-e, End	Move prompt end
Ctrl-a, Home	Move prompt start
Ctrl-w, Alt-Backspace, Ctrl-Backspace	Delete previous word
Alt-d, Alt-Delete, Ctrl-Delete	Delete next word
Ctrl-u	Delete to start of line
Ctrl-k	Delete to end of line
Backspace, Ctrl-h, Shift-Backspace	Delete previous char
Delete, Ctrl-d	Delete next char
Ctrl-p, Up	Select previous history
Ctrl-n, Down	Select next history
Tab	Select next completion item
Enter	Open selected

Popup mode

Key	Desc.
Ctrl-u	Scroll up
Ctrl-d	Scroll down

View mode

Press z in normal mode

Key	Desc.
z, c	Vertically center the line
t	Align the line to the top of the screen
b	Align the line to the bottom of the screen
m, z	Align the line to the middle of the screen
j, down	Scroll the view downwards
k, up	Scroll the view upwards
Ctrl-f, PageDown	Move page down
Ctrl-b, PageUp	Move page up
Ctrl-u	Move cursor and page half page up
Ctrl-d	Move cursor and page half page down

Select mode

Press v in normal mode

Key	Desc.
;	Cancel selected region

Goto mode

Press g in normal mode

Match mode

Press m in normal mode

Key	Desc.
g	Go to line number else start of file
e	Go to the end of the file
f	Go to files in the selections
h	Go to the start of the line
l	Go to the end of the line
s	Go to first non-whitespace character of the line
t	Go to the top of the screen
c	Go to the middle of the screen
b	Go to the bottom of the screen
d	Go to definition (LSP)
y	Go to type definition (LSP)
r	Go to references (LSP)
i	Go to implementation (LSP)
a	Go to the last accessed/alternate file
m	Go to the last modified/alternate file
n	Go to next buffer
p	Go to previous buffer
w	Show labels at each word and select the word that belongs to the entered labels

Window mode

Press Ctrl-w in normal mode

Key	Desc.
m	Goto matching bracket
s <char>	Surround current selection with
r <from><to>	Replace surround character with
d <char>	Delete surround character
a <object>	Select around textobject
i <object>	Select inside textobject

Key	Desc.
w, Ctrl-w	Switch to next window
v, Ctrl-v	Vertical right split
s, Ctrl-s	Horizontal bottom split
f	Go to files in the selections in horizontal splits
F	Go to files in the selections in vertical splits
h, Ctrl-h, Left	Move to left split
j, Ctrl-j, Down	Move to split below
k, Ctrl-k, Up	Move to split above
l, Ctrl-l, Right	Move to right split
q, Ctrl-q	Close current window
o, Ctrl-o	Only keep the current window, closing all the others
H	Swap window to the left
J	Swap window downwards
K	Swap window upwards
L	Swap window to the right

Space mode

Press Space in normal mode

Key	Desc.
f	Open file picker
F	Open file picker at current working directory
b	Open buffer picker
j	Open jumplist picker
k	Show documentation for item under cursor in a popup (LSP)
s	Open document symbol picker (LSP)
S	Open workspace symbol picker (LSP)
d	Open document diagnostics picker (LSP)
D	Open workspace diagnostics picker (LSP)
r	Rename symbol (LSP)
a	Apply code action (LSP)
h	Select symbol references (LSP)
c	Comment/uncomment selections
/	Global search in workspace folder
?	Open command palette

Unimpaired

Key	Desc.
]d	Go to next diagnostic (LSP)
[d	Go to previous diagnostic (LSP)
]D	Go to last diagnostic in document (LSP)
[D	Go to first diagnostic in document (LSP)
]f	Go to next function (TS)
[f	Go to previous function (TS)
]t	Go to next type definition (TS)
[t	Go to previous type definition (TS)
]a	Go to next argument/parameter (TS)
[a	Go to previous argument/parameter (TS)
]c	Go to next comment (TS)
[c	Go to previous comment (TS)
]T	Go to next test (TS)
[T	Go to previous test (TS)
]p	Go to next paragraph
[p	Go to previous paragraph

Editors

I current use vscode for its light-weight and extensions. I use the extension Dance - Helix Alpha and EasyMotion to simulate Helix's key bindings.

Also, I add some key bindings:

// Place your key bindings in this file to override the defaultsauto[]
[
    {
        "key": "Escape",
        "command": "dance.modes.set.normal",
        "when": "editorTextFocus"
    },
    {
        "key": "ctrl+w",
        "command": "vscode-easymotion.jumpToWord",
        "when": "editorTextFocus && dance.mode == 'insert'"
    },
    {
        "key": "=",
        "command": "editor.action.formatDocument",
        "when": "editorTextFocus && dance.mode == 'normal'"    
    },
    {
        "key": "Ctrl+[",
        "command": "workbench.action.navigateBack",
        "when": "editorTextFocus && dance.mode == 'normal'"
    },
    {
        "key": "Ctrl+]",
        "command": "workbench.action.navigateForward",
        "when": "editorTextFocus && dance.mode == 'normal'"
    }
]

When using Vscode Vim plugin, I include the following settings:

{
    "vim.easymotion": true,
    "vim.incsearch": true,
    "vim.useSystemClipboard": true,
    "vim.useCtrlKeys": true,
    "vim.hlsearch": true,
    "vim.insertModeKeyBindings": [
        {
            "before": ["j", "j"],
            "after": ["<Esc>"]
        },
        {
            "before": ["<C-j>"],
            "commands": [
                "cursorDown"
            ]
        },
        {
            "before": ["C-k"],
            "commands": ["cursorUp"]
        },
        {
            "before": ["C-h"],
            "commands": ["cursorLeft"]
        },
        {
            "before": ["<C-l>"],
            "commands": ["cursorRight"]
        }
    ],
    "vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
        {
            "before": ["<leader>", "d"],
            "after": ["d", "d"]
        },
        {
            "before": ["<C-n>"],
            "commands": [":nohl"]
        },
        {
            "before": ["K"],
            "commands": ["lineBreakInsert"],
            "silent": true
        }
    ],
    "vim.leader": "<space>",
    "vim.handleKeys": {
        "<C-a>": false,
        "<C-e>": false,
        "<C-f>": false
    },
    
    "vim.smartRelativeLine": true,
    "vim.cursorStylePerMode.insert": "line-thin",
    "vim.cursorStylePerMode.normal": "block",
    "vim.normalModeKeyBindings": [
        {
            "before" : ["<leader>","w"],
            "commands" : [
                "workbench.action.switchWindow",
            ]
        },
        {
            "before" : ["<leader>","s"],
            "commands" : [
                "workbench.action.showAllSymbols",
            ]
        },
        {
            "before" : ["<leader>","f"],
            "commands" : [
                "workbench.action.quickOpen",
            ]
        },
        {
            "before" : ["<leader>","r"],
            "commands" : [
                "workbench.action.openRecent",
            ]
        },
        {
            "before" : ["<leader>","a"],
            "commands" : [
                "editor.action.quickFix",
            ]
        },
        {
            "before": ["<leader>", "p"],
            "commands": [
                "workbench.action.showCommands"
            ]
        },
        {
            "before": ["g", "r"],
            "commands": [
                "editor.action.goToReferences"
            ]
        },
        {
            "before": ["g", "i"],
            "commands": [
                "editor.action.goToImplementation"
            ]
        }
    ],
}