{"id":16163,"date":"2012-03-12T14:25:29","date_gmt":"2012-03-12T12:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/?p=16163"},"modified":"2012-03-12T14:25:29","modified_gmt":"2012-03-12T12:25:29","slug":"vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Vim navigation and Unix home explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- google_ad_section_start -->\n<p>I came across an interesting (and useful!) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.catonmat.net\/blog\/why-vim-uses-hjkl-as-arrow-keys\/\">bit of Unix history<\/a> &#8211; an explanation for the vi navigation. \u00a0Until now all I knew was that HJKL keys were on the home row for those who touch type. \u00a0Apparently, there is more to that. \u00a0ADM-3A terminal which was used to create the original vi had the actual navigation arrows printed on the keyboard. \u00a0Here is a photo of how it looked:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/adm-3a-hjkl-keyboard.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"16164\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/adm-3a-hjkl-keyboard\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/adm-3a-hjkl-keyboard.jpg?fit=328%2C136&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"328,136\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"adm-3a-hjkl-keyboard\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/adm-3a-hjkl-keyboard.jpg?fit=328%2C136&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-16164\" title=\"adm-3a-hjkl-keyboard\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/adm-3a-hjkl-keyboard.jpg?resize=328%2C136&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"328\" height=\"136\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Read the original post that also demonstrates why the Escape key was chosen for mode changing, and also why ~ is used for home directory in Unix operating systems.<\/p>\n<!-- google_ad_section_end -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!-- google_ad_section_start -->\n<p>I came across an interesting (and useful!) bit of Unix history &#8211; an explanation for the vi navigation. \u00a0Until now all I knew was that HJKL keys were on the home row for those who touch type. \u00a0Apparently, there is more to that. \u00a0ADM-3A terminal which was used to create the original vi had the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Vim navigation and Unix home explained<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<!-- google_ad_section_end -->\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,6,62],"tags":[286],"keyring_services":[],"class_list":["post-16163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-linux","category-technology","tag-history"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.8 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I came across an interesting (and useful!) bit of Unix history - an explanation for the vi navigation. Until now all I knew was that HJKL keys were on the home row for those who touch type. Apparently, there is more to that. ADM-3A terminal which was used to create the original vi had the\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leonid Mamchenkov\"\/>\n\t<meta name=\"google-site-verification\" content=\"VHvdD0_usx1_4DzKy_QCVcICVgX2EgA2ybELT-wl7kQ\" \/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.8\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leonid Mamchenkov - Life, universe, and everything else\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vim navigation and Unix home explained - Leonid Mamchenkov\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I came across an interesting (and useful!) bit of Unix history - an explanation for the vi navigation. Until now all I knew was that HJKL keys were on the home row for those who touch type. Apparently, there is more to that. ADM-3A terminal which was used to create the original vi had the\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/leonid-sailing-beer.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:secure_url\" content=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/leonid-sailing-beer.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-12T12:25:29+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-03-12T12:25:29+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MamchenkovBlog\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mamchenkov\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Vim navigation and Unix home explained - Leonid Mamchenkov\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"I came across an interesting (and useful!) bit of Unix history - an explanation for the vi navigation. Until now all I knew was that HJKL keys were on the home row for those who touch type. Apparently, there is more to that. ADM-3A terminal which was used to create the original vi had the\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mamchenkov\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/leonid-sailing-beer.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BlogPosting\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/12\\\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\\\/#blogposting\",\"name\":\"Vim navigation and Unix home explained - Leonid Mamchenkov\",\"headline\":\"Vim navigation and Unix home explained\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/author\\\/leonid\\\/#author\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/#person\"},\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/adm-3a-hjkl-keyboard.jpg?fit=328%2C136&ssl=1\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/12\\\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\\\/#articleImage\",\"width\":328,\"height\":136},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-12T14:25:29+02:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-12T14:25:29+02:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/12\\\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\\\/#webpage\"},\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/12\\\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\\\/#webpage\"},\"articleSection\":\"All, Linux, Technology, history\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/12\\\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\\\/#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/category\\\/technology\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Technology\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/category\\\/technology\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Technology\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/category\\\/technology\\\/\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/category\\\/technology\\\/linux\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Linux\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/category\\\/technology\\\/linux\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Linux\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/category\\\/technology\\\/linux\\\/\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/12\\\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Vim navigation and Unix home explained\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/category\\\/technology\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Technology\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/12\\\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Vim navigation and Unix home explained\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/category\\\/technology\\\/linux\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Linux\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/#person\",\"name\":\"Leonid Mamchenkov\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/12\\\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\\\/#personImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3cf6df002a284d78fb6e9d8222ca4d102e0832035ed6bc8447008bd234e131a4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Leonid Mamchenkov\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/author\\\/leonid\\\/#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/author\\\/leonid\\\/\",\"name\":\"Leonid Mamchenkov\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/12\\\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\\\/#authorImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3cf6df002a284d78fb6e9d8222ca4d102e0832035ed6bc8447008bd234e131a4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Leonid Mamchenkov\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/12\\\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\\\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/12\\\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\\\/\",\"name\":\"Vim navigation and Unix home explained - Leonid Mamchenkov\",\"description\":\"I came across an interesting (and useful!) bit of Unix history - an explanation for the vi navigation. Until now all I knew was that HJKL keys were on the home row for those who touch type. Apparently, there is more to that. ADM-3A terminal which was used to create the original vi had the\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/12\\\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\\\/#breadcrumblist\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/author\\\/leonid\\\/#author\"},\"creator\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/author\\\/leonid\\\/#author\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-12T14:25:29+02:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-12T14:25:29+02:00\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/\",\"name\":\"Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov\",\"description\":\"Life, universe, and everything else\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mamchenkov.net\\\/wordpress\\\/#person\"}}]}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO -->\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Vim navigation and Unix home explained - Leonid Mamchenkov","description":"I came across an interesting (and useful!) bit of Unix history - an explanation for the vi navigation. Until now all I knew was that HJKL keys were on the home row for those who touch type. Apparently, there is more to that. ADM-3A terminal which was used to create the original vi had the","canonical_url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/","robots":"max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"google-site-verification":"VHvdD0_usx1_4DzKy_QCVcICVgX2EgA2ybELT-wl7kQ","miscellaneous":""},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/#blogposting","name":"Vim navigation and Unix home explained - Leonid Mamchenkov","headline":"Vim navigation and Unix home explained","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/author\/leonid\/#author"},"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/#person"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/adm-3a-hjkl-keyboard.jpg?fit=328%2C136&ssl=1","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/#articleImage","width":328,"height":136},"datePublished":"2012-03-12T14:25:29+02:00","dateModified":"2012-03-12T14:25:29+02:00","inLanguage":"en-US","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/#webpage"},"articleSection":"All, Linux, Technology, history"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress#listItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/technology\/#listItem","name":"Technology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/technology\/#listItem","position":2,"name":"Technology","item":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/technology\/","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/technology\/linux\/#listItem","name":"Linux"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress#listItem","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/technology\/linux\/#listItem","position":3,"name":"Linux","item":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/technology\/linux\/","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/#listItem","name":"Vim navigation and Unix home explained"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/technology\/#listItem","name":"Technology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/#listItem","position":4,"name":"Vim navigation and Unix home explained","previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/technology\/linux\/#listItem","name":"Linux"}}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/#person","name":"Leonid Mamchenkov","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/#personImage","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cf6df002a284d78fb6e9d8222ca4d102e0832035ed6bc8447008bd234e131a4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Leonid Mamchenkov"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/author\/leonid\/#author","url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/author\/leonid\/","name":"Leonid Mamchenkov","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/#authorImage","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3cf6df002a284d78fb6e9d8222ca4d102e0832035ed6bc8447008bd234e131a4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Leonid Mamchenkov"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/","name":"Vim navigation and Unix home explained - Leonid Mamchenkov","description":"I came across an interesting (and useful!) bit of Unix history - an explanation for the vi navigation. Until now all I knew was that HJKL keys were on the home row for those who touch type. Apparently, there is more to that. ADM-3A terminal which was used to create the original vi had the","inLanguage":"en-US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/#breadcrumblist"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/author\/leonid\/#author"},"creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/author\/leonid\/#author"},"datePublished":"2012-03-12T14:25:29+02:00","dateModified":"2012-03-12T14:25:29+02:00"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/","name":"Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov","description":"Life, universe, and everything else","inLanguage":"en-US","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/#person"}}]},"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"Leonid Mamchenkov - Life, universe, and everything else","og:type":"article","og:title":"Vim navigation and Unix home explained - Leonid Mamchenkov","og:description":"I came across an interesting (and useful!) bit of Unix history - an explanation for the vi navigation. Until now all I knew was that HJKL keys were on the home row for those who touch type. Apparently, there is more to that. ADM-3A terminal which was used to create the original vi had the","og:url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/","og:image":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/leonid-sailing-beer.jpg","og:image:secure_url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/leonid-sailing-beer.jpg","og:image:width":1024,"og:image:height":1024,"article:published_time":"2012-03-12T12:25:29+00:00","article:modified_time":"2012-03-12T12:25:29+00:00","article:publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MamchenkovBlog","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@mamchenkov","twitter:title":"Vim navigation and Unix home explained - Leonid Mamchenkov","twitter:description":"I came across an interesting (and useful!) bit of Unix history - an explanation for the vi navigation. Until now all I knew was that HJKL keys were on the home row for those who touch type. Apparently, there is more to that. ADM-3A terminal which was used to create the original vi had the","twitter:creator":"@mamchenkov","twitter:image":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/leonid-sailing-beer.jpg"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"16163","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":null,"keyphrases":null,"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":null,"og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"BlogPosting","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":null,"robots_max_videopreview":null,"robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":null,"local_seo":null,"breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"ai":null,"created":"2023-07-19 17:57:45","updated":"2026-01-15 07:44:04","seo_analyzer_scan_date":null},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/technology\/\" title=\"Technology\">Technology<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/technology\/linux\/\" title=\"Linux\">Linux<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\tVim navigation and Unix home explained\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress"},{"label":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/technology\/"},{"label":"Linux","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/technology\/linux\/"},{"label":"Vim navigation and Unix home explained","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/12\/vim-navigation-and-unix-home-explained\/"}],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10901,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/12\/and-the-award-for-the-original-web-site-goes-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":16163,"position":0},"title":"&#8230; and the award for the original web site goes to &#8230;","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"November 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Chiefy for the www.f0bia.org !!! I'm browsing through hundreds of web sites every day, and it's been a while since I saw something that struck me as original. f0bia did it for me. With dark background, blinking cursor, and keyboard navigation it closely resembles UNIX command line. Yet it's not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21979,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2014\/06\/13\/unix-history-repo-a-git-repository-representing-the-unix-source-code-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":16163,"position":1},"title":"unix-history-repo &#8211; a git repository representing the Unix source code history","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"June 13, 2014","format":"link","excerpt":"unix-history-repo - a git repository representing the Unix source code history","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29024,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2018\/11\/24\/the-history-of-unix-rob-pike\/","url_meta":{"origin":16163,"position":2},"title":"The History of Unix, Rob Pike","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"November 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_2NI6t2r_Hs Rob Pike talks about the history of Unix and his quite remarkable career.\u00a0 And here's my favorite quote from the video, referring to \"The Unix Programming Environment\" book: It is amazing to me that the book that came out in the late 1983 is still technically relevant today.\u00a0 It's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/_2NI6t2r_Hs\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":29100,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2018\/12\/14\/unix-folklore\/","url_meta":{"origin":16163,"position":3},"title":"Unix Folklore","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"December 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Unix Folklore brings back a few bits of UNIX history from the Bell Labs: The UNIX operating system, which was created by\u00a0Ken Thompson,\u00a0Dennis Ritchie, and\u00a0others\u00a0at Bell Labs in the early 1970\u2019s, revolutionized the computer industry in ways that are still felt today. Researchers at Bell Labs continued to develop UNIX\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/gremlin.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/gremlin.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/gremlin.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/gremlin.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/gremlin.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/gremlin.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40871,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2019\/03\/29\/unix-history-repository\/","url_meta":{"origin":16163,"position":4},"title":"Unix History Repository","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"March 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=S7JB0mhrGCQ Evolution of unix-history-repo (Gource Visualization) video shows how the UNIX operating system was born and how it matured over time. The video is based on this GitHub repository, which combines the following: The project has achieved its major goal with the establishment of a continuous timeline from 1970 until\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/S7JB0mhrGCQ\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24378,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2015\/06\/18\/the-magic-details-about-the-shebanghash-bang-mechanism-on-various-unix-flavours\/","url_meta":{"origin":16163,"position":5},"title":"The #! magic, details about the shebang\/hash-bang mechanism on various Unix flavours","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"June 18, 2015","format":"link","excerpt":"The #! magic, details about the shebang\/hash-bang mechanism on various Unix flavours","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16163"},{"taxonomy":"keyring_services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyring_services?post=16163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}