In Vim 101: Registers, we looked at registers, and how to yank and put text. In Normal and Visual mode, motions can be combined with operator commands, which offers a convenient way to apply operators to text selections.

For example, y2as will yank two sentences into a register. This can be broken down as follows:

• y - The yank operator
• 2 - The count argument for the motion
• as - A sentence

Similarly, yw will yank the current word under the cursor into a register, and y5l will yank five characters to the right (including the one under the cursor).

This combination of motions and operators is applicable to other situations as well. The > operator indents text, so indenting 5 lines can be performed by typing >5$:

• > - The indent operator
• 5 - The count argument for the motion
• $ - To the end of the line, and [count] lines downward

The way to remember this is to realise that operators generally delete or change text, and motions move the cursor over text. Therefore, operators can be applied to the text that was moved over by the motion.

Motions accept a [count] argument, but it appears before the motion. Since most of us are used to reading left-to-right, then >5$ looks a bit like 5 is an argument to >, but this is incorrect. That example is easier to understand if it's broken up like this:

• > - Indent
• 5$ - Five lines

Try reading :help operator and testing out various operators with different motions to get a feel for how it works.