Centering the Cursor

zz, zt, zb — move the viewport, not the cursor.

Keys: zz, zt, zb

zz centers the cursor's line on screen. zt scrolls so the cursor's line is at the top. zb scrolls so the cursor's line is at the bottom.

After a search jump or function navigation, the cursor often ends up at the top or bottom edge of the visible window — too little context. Three commands fix that without moving the cursor: zz, zt, zb.

Center cursor's line on screen
KeyNote
z
z
Scroll cursor's line to top
KeyNote
z
t
Scroll cursor's line to bottom
KeyNote
z
b
zz — center the cursor
zz revisited
zt — cursor to top
zb — cursor to bottom

Reference

Key Action
zz Cursor's line → middle of screen
zt Cursor's line → top of screen
zb Cursor's line → bottom of screen

Worked example — zz

Bring the current line to the center.

Step 1 · Cursor near the bottom of the visible viewport.
Cursor near the bottom of the visible viewport.
Step 2 · zz · zz — line moved to center, screen scrolled.
zz — line moved to center, screen scrolled.

zt puts the line at the top; zb at the bottom. The cursor doesn't move in the buffer — only the viewport.

See also: Scroll and Land on First Non-Blank — z. / z+ / z-, Screen Position Jumps, Set Window Height — z{n}Enter