Using normal-mode motions in command-line mode in Vim

Question

Is modal editing possible in command-line mode?

Some examples:

• After writing !ls ~/foo/bar I want to db to delete bar

Answer 1

Plugins for "Normal mode"-like Command-line editing

emacscommandline makes the command-line mode behave more like the Unix command line, by adding Emacs-style mappings (like in the Bash shell). Some of the mappings just map existing vim commands, but the rest implement functionality that is not available natively.

conomode.vim implements a kind of Normal mode ( "Cmdline-Normal mode" ) on top of the Command line. Purpose is similar to the cmdline-window (q:), but navigation and editing can be done in-place. Of course the cmdline-window is much more powerful.

Conomode does not replace Vim's native emacs-style command line editing, it just adds one key: CTRL-O (see below).

• enter with c_ (press CTRL-O while in Command-line mode)
• mode indicator is a colon ":", moved along with the cursor, hiding the char under it
• quit to Cmdline-mode with I, i, a, A, : or any unmapped key (which then executes or inserts itself), or wait 60 seconds.
• quit to Normal mode with Esc

(Admittedly, I don't understand the point of this plugin, since instead of hitting Ctrl+O to enter its Cono-mode, you could just as quickly pop up the command-line window with Ctrl+F.)

There might be other plugins out there. → https://www.google.com/webhp?q=command-line+editing+plugin+vim

Instead of employing a full-blown plugin, or as a complement to it, you can define your own mappings. → See my other answer.