I was expectig the normal mode command d_ (without count) to delete from the
cursor position to the beginning of the line, but it seems to delete the
entire line, i.e. even words /after/ the cursor.
Is this really the correct behavior?
Yes, as
:help _
details, the "_" motion is linewise which will produce the
behavior you describe...the equiv. of "dd".
You can either force it to be character-wise:
dv_
or you can use
d^
which will, without a count, delete to the position where "_"
(without a count) moves the cursor.
You can learn more at
:help linewise
and at
:help exclusive-linewise
and then scrolling down to the section titled
"FORCING A MOTION TO BE LINEWISE, CHARACTERWISE OR BLOCKWISE"
-tim
