>Anyway, how can I map shift-arrow keys as is used in SELECT-MODE? >Or any other suggestion for a smarter way is also very welcome.
I just use visual mode. Almost the same exact motions as arrowing around, ie, hit the start where you want to begin highlighting, then move 'til the end. v characterwise highlighting V linewise highlighting Then once highlighted, you could yank to a clipboard, use as the affected text of a 's', 'x', 'r' command, etc. Eg, if I wanted to change "yank" to "put" in the above sentence, I could do /ya<cr>vesput and be done with it. Try it. Instead of 'e' to get to the end of the word, I could do "10e", '$', use the arrows, whatever I wanted to encompass the text I wanted to affect, then use whatever operators to effect those changes. 'x' or <del> to delete, 's' to substitute, etc.