Delete “absolutely completely utterly ” — but see it first: move onto “absolutely” (3w), press v to start a selection, stretch it with 3w, pull back one with h, then d.
This plan is absolutely completely utterly doomed. Visual mode shows you the blast radius first.
Canonical solution: 3w v 3w h d · target: 5 keystrokes — the fewest that solve it (every keypress counts).
In visual mode every motion stretches the selection, and operators act on what you can see. o swaps which end of the selection you're moving. Target counts the golf path (3w d3w = 5); your visual route is great practice even if it's a few keys longer.
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
| v | character-wise visual mode |
| V | line-wise visual mode |
| Ctrl-v | block (column) visual mode |
| o | swap which end of the selection you're moving |
| gv | reselect the last selection |
Reading about keystrokes doesn't build keystrokes. Try this in a real vim buffer right now — the “See it, then cut it” mission takes about a minute.
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