vim-surround is a deceptively small plugin that makes editing “surroundings” (quotes, brackets, tags, and more) feel natural and instantaneous. It turns the repetitive chores of adding, changing, or deleting delimiters into short, mnemonic commands that work with normal Vim text objects. The key insight is that surroundings are structural: once Vim understands the bounds, operations become predictable and composable with your existing motions. The plugin handles common cases like quotes and parentheses as well as HTML/XML tags, making it equally useful in prose and code. Because the commands are orthogonal to movements, you can target words, sentences, or visual selections without learning new modes. Over time, vim-surround becomes muscle memory, reducing cognitive load and helping you keep your hands on the keyboard during structural edits.
Features
- Add, change, and delete surroundings with concise commands
- Works with Vim text objects and motions you already know
- Supports quotes, brackets, parentheses, and HTML/XML tags
- Operates on words, sentences, or visual selections consistently
- Intuitive, mnemonic mappings that become muscle memory
- Lightweight, fast, and compatible with most editing workflows