TIL: Relative Line Number in Vim
Last updated: Thu Jun 15 2023
Most vim actions allow a count. However, if you use absolute line numbers, you’re left to calculate offsets by yourself; if you want to jump to the end of the current function, how many lines do you need to jump?
Luckily, vim provides a better way. You can use relative line numbers to display a count of how far each line is from the current line.
In particular, if you enable the “hybrid” mode, by setting both number and relativenumber at the same time,
the current line will still show the absolute line number, which can be useful.
This makes it trivial to jump wherever you want on screen.
:set number relativenumber
However, this assumes the cursor is close to the center of the screen.
If the cursor is at the bottom, it’s not as useful.
Luckily, vim also provides the zz command the recenter the screen on the current line.
You can also use zt and zb to put the current line at the top or bottom of the screen, respectively.
VS Code also provides a “hybrid” line number, which is useful if using VSCodeVim or VSCode Neovim.