support for motion to last occurrence of character on line (e.g. d + last f<char>)

[ohmsl]

Context

In classic Vim, motions like f<char>, F<char>, t<char>, and T<char> let you jump to the first occurrence of a character in either direction. However, there's no built-in motion for jumping to the last occurrence of a character on the current line.

This comes up often in practice, especially when working with code or structured text, where jumping to the last ), ;, ,,&, etc. on a line is more useful than the first.

Zed's Vim mode currently mirrors standard Vim behaviour for these motions, but does not offer a way to move to or operate on the last occurrence of a character.

Proposal

Add a motion that jumps to the last instance of a character on the current line. Ideally, this would work with operator-pending commands like d, c, y, etc.

Example use cases:

• d + motion to delete up to the last ), ;,&, etc.
• Visually selecting from cursor to the last , on a line
• c + motion to change everything up to the final quote, etc.

Suggested additions

New motions that could be implemented:

• PushFindLastForward – jump forward to the last match of a character on the current line
• PushFindLastBackward – jump backward to the last match in reverse
• Possibly allow these motions to repeat with ; and ,

These should be composable and behave like other Vim motions in Zed (e.g. f, t, etc.).

My idea of the requirements:

• Add a new motion command to the vim:: subsystem
• Accepts a single character like f/F
• Searches only the current line (for now)
• Works in operator-pending and visual modes
• Returns a motion range compatible with d, c, y, etc.

Let me know if this is something worth upstreaming, or if there's an existing mechanism I’ve missed.

Would appreciate thoughts from other vim mode users too.

[0x2CA]

I find it is best to not get too wrapped up in optimizing for minimal keystrokes, but instead learning & using motions effectively. Sometimes this means multiple motions, multiple operations, and even using ex-commands. The best way is typically what keeps you doing your work and not thinking about golfing your key strokes

[0x2CA]

I usually use v$F

[ohmsl]

That's fair, and a good post, that is what I do now. Appreciate your contribution to the discussion 👍