File foo has text:
This| is a line.
If I place the cursor at the |, hop into insert mode, and press backspace, nothing happens. If I type something, I can delete the things I've typed, but only back to where the insertion began. For example, if I place the cursor at the end of the line, and type word, I can delete word but can't delete the . or anything to the left of it.
This is rather annoying. What vim setting does this?
The 'backspace' setting controls this behavior.
From the help page:
Influences the working of <BS>, <Del>, CTRL-W and CTRL-U in Insert
mode. This is a list of items, separated by commas. Each item allows
a way to backspace over something:
value effect
indent allow backspacing over autoindent
eol allow backspacing over line breaks (join lines)
start allow backspacing over the start of insert; CTRL-W and CTRL-U
stop once at the start of insert.
Try adding the following to your .vimrc:
set backspace=indent,eol,start " backspace over everything in insert mode
A short-hand version of the same command:
set backspace=2
If you're using vim:
vim ~/.vimrc
If you're using vi:
vi ~/.exrc
Then add this line to the top of the file:
set nocompatible
Save the file and that should fix it
vimrc is enough to trigger nocompatible, see :help 'compatible'. Furthermore, your answer implicitly relies on Vim's default cpoptions. Specifically the absence of the v flag, see :help cpo-v. Unless you have a very good reason for doing so, don't use ~/.exrc. This is generally bad advice.
Commented
Nov 24, 2023 at 10:11
x. But if you want to change the character, you can user<newchar>, or, to enter insert mode,cl, which can come in pretty handy. (in fact,c<any motion>works)