In vim, why is 'j' used for down and 'k' for up?

Question

I\'ve been using vim for many years and have never really thought about it. A friend of mine asked why that is, noting that in our culture, left would usually map to up while ri

Answer 1

vimtutor provides the mnemonic that 'J' looks vaguely like a downward-pointing arrow, though that may or may not be the original reason why it was chosen.