# Vim Vixen
[](https://greenkeeper.io/)
[](https://gitter.im/vim-vixen/vim-vixen)
[](https://circleci.com/gh/ueokande/vim-vixen)
[](https://david-dm.org/ueokande/vim-vixen?type=dev)
Vim Vixen is a Firefox add-on which allows you to easily navigate the web by
keyboard. Since version 57, Firefox has migrated to the WebExtensions API and
has dropped support for legacy add-ons. Vim Vixen is a new choice for Vim users
since it uses the WebExtensions API.
## Basic usage
### Keymaps
Keymaps are configurable in the add-on's preferences by navigating to `about:addons` and selecting "Extensions".
The default mappings are as follows:
#### Console
- :: open the console
- o, t, w: open a page in the current tab, a new tab, or new window
- O, T, W: similar to o, t, w, but using the current URL
- b: select tabs by URL or title
- a: add the current page to your bookmarks
See the [console commands](#console-commands) section for a more detailed description.
#### Tabs
- d: delete the current tab and select the tab to its right
- D: delete the current tab and select the tab to its left
- !d: delete a pinned tab
- u: reopen a close tab
- r: reload the current tab
- R: reload the current tab, bypassing the cache
- K or gT: select the previous tab
- J or gt: select the next tab
- g0: select the first tab
- g$: select the last tab
- Ctrl+6: open the previously-selected tab
- zp: pin the curent tab tab
- zd: duplicate the current tab
#### Scrolling
- k: scroll up
- j: scroll down
- h: scroll left
- l: scroll right
- Ctrl+U: scroll up half a page
- Ctrl+D: scroll down half a page
- Ctrl+B: scroll up a page
- Ctrl+F: scroll down a page
- gg: scroll to the top of a page
- G: scroll to the bottom of a page
- 0: scroll to the leftmost part of a page
- $: scroll to the rightmost part of a page
- m: set a mark for the current position
- ': jump to a marked position
Lowercase marks (`[a-z]`) store the position of the current tab. Uppercase and
numeric marks (`[A-Z0-9]`) store the position and the tab.
#### Zoom
- zi: zoom in
- zo: zoom out
- zz: zoom neutral (reset)
#### Navigation
- f: follow links in the page in the current tab
- F: follow links in the page in a new tab
- H: go back in history
- L: go forward in history
- [[, ]]: find a link to the previous/next page and open it
- gu: go to the parent directory
- gU: go to the root directory
- gi: focus the first input field
Vim Vixen can be configured to follow links opened in tabs in the background
instead of switching to a new tab immediately. To do this, you'll need to update
the config file: change the `"background"` property of the `"follow.start"`
action to `true`, e.g.:
```json
{
"keymaps": {
"F": { "type": "follow.start", "newTab": true, "background": true }
}
}
```
#### Misc
- y: copy the URL of the current tab to the clipboard
- p: open the clipboard's URL in the current tab
- P: open the clipboard's URL in new tab
- Shift+Esc: enable or disable the add-on in the current tab
- /: start searching for text in the page
- n: find the next search result in the page
- N: find the previous search result in the page
- gf: view the source of the current tab
### Console commands
Vim Vixen provides a console for `ex`-style commands, similar to Vimperator.
Open the console with :. Or populate it with initial values using
o/O, t/T, or
w/W.
#### `:open`
The `:open` command operates two different ways, depending on the parameter.
When the parameter is a URL, it's opened in the current tab.
```
:open http://github.com/ueokande
```
Otherwise, the current tab opens a search page with the supplied string (defaults to Google).
```
:open How to contribute to Vim-Vixen
```
To use a search engine other than the default, specify the search engine to use as the first parameter.
```
:open yahoo How to contribute to Vim-Vixen
```
To adjust the default search-engine and add/remove search engines, see the [search engines](#search-engines) section.
#### `:tabopen`
Open a URL or search-engine query in a new tab.
#### `:quit` or `:q`
Close the current tab.
#### `:quitall` or `:qa`
Close all tabs.
#### `:bdelete`
Close a certain tab.
You can add `!` to the end of the command to close a tab even if it is pinned:
```
:bdelete!
```
#### `:bdeletes`
Close tabs matching the specified keywords.
You can add `!` to the end of the command to close pinned tabs:
```
:bdeletes!
```
#### `:winopen`
Open a URL or search-engine query in a new window.
#### `:buffer`
Select tabs by URL or title keywords.
#### `:addbookmark`
Create a bookmark from the current URL.
```
:addbookmark My bookmark title
```
The keymap a is a convenient way to create a bookmark for the
current page. It populates the console with `:addbookmark` and the title of
the current page.
#### `:set`
The `:set` command can be used to temporarily override properties in the
console. See the [properties](#properties) section for more details on
the available properties.
### Properties
Vim Vixen can be configured by defining settings in a JSON document, e.g.:
```json
{
"properties": {
"complete": "sbh"
}
}
```
Properties can be temporarily overridden by using the `:set` command in the
console.
The following properties are available:
#### `smoothscroll`
Enable/disable smooth scrolling.
```
:set smoothscroll " enable smooth scrolling
:set nosmoothscroll " disable smooth scrolling
```
#### `hintchars`
Set hint characters.
```
:set hintchars=0123456789
```
#### `complete`
Set completion items on `open`, `tabopen`, and `winopen` commands.
The allowed value is character sequence of `s`, `b`, or `h`.
Hit Tab or Shift+Tab to select an item from the completion list.
Each character represents the following:
- `s`: search engines
- `b`: bookmark items
- `h`: history items.
```
:set complete=sbh
```
### Search engines
Vim Vixen supports searching with search engines such as Google and Yahoo.
You can configure search engines, including the default search engine, in the add-on's preferences.
The URLs specified in `"engines"` must contain a `{}`-placeholder, which will be
replaced with the search keyword parameters of the command.
```json
{
"search": {
"default": "google",
"engines": {
"google": "https://google.com/search?q={}",
"yahoo": "https://search.yahoo.com/search?p={}",
"bing": "https://www.bing.com/search?q={}",
"duckduckgo": "https://duckduckgo.com/?q={}",
"twitter": "https://twitter.com/search?q={}",
"wikipedia": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search={}"
}
}
}
```
### Blacklist
The blacklist allows you to disable the plugin for certain pages by URL patterns.
For instance, you could use `"*.slack.com"` to disable the plugin on all Slack channels.
In addition, you can also specify path patterns, such as `"example.com/mail/*"`.
```json
{
"blacklist": [
"*.slack.com",
"example.com/mail/*"
]
}
```
You can toggle Vim Vixen between disabled and enabled with
shift+Esc.
## Compatibility
- Firefox 60 ESR
## Copyright
Copyright © 2017-2019 by Shin'ya Ueoka
## Licence
MIT