Visual-Mode Tricks

Block O for diagonal corners. gv to re-select.

Keys: O, gv

Two tricks that make visual mode much more useful: O in block mode swaps to the opposite diagonal corner, and gv re-selects the previous selection.

Visual mode Tricks

Two small tricks save lots of pain in visual mode: O (capital O) for moving across the diagonal of a block, and gv for getting back the selection you just lost.

O — diagonal corners

In character-wise or linewise visual mode, o swaps which end of the selection your motions move. In visual-block mode, o swaps along one diagonal — but O swaps to the opposite corner of the rectangle. So you can extend the block from any of the four corners without restarting.

(in visual-block mode) Move cursor to opposite corner of rectangle
KeyNote
{key:O}
O — visual-block mode diagonal

gv — re-select last visual

Pressed Esc by accident? Did one operation and want to do another on the same range? gv restores the last visual selection — same anchor, same cursor, same mode.

Re-select previous visual range
KeyNote
{key:g}
{key:v}
gv — re-select previous visual

Reference

Key Action
o Swap cursor / anchor (any visual)
O Move to opposite corner (visual-block mode only)
gv Re-enter previous visual selection

See also: Line and Block Visual, Character Visual Mode, Re-Select — gv