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Recently I started to use & favor urxvt due to its vast amount of options and because of the transparency feature.
Unfortunately, some key mapping in Vim do not work in urxvt.
For example, I have mapped Ctrl + Up/Down and Shift + Up/Down to 5 respectively 10 lines up/down movement or Ctrl + Left/Right to 1 word left/right movement.
These movement commands do work without any problems in xterm, but they refuse to work in urxvt: they switch to insert mode and paste a, b, c or d as input into my vim.
Why does this happen?
I also use zsh as my shell and mapped Ctrl + Left/Right to move 1 word left/right in zsh: this also stopped working in urxvt (while still working in xterm).
How can I get urxvt to correctly map the keys?
From the description of the problem you probably overlooked the fact that key definitions in urxvt differ from xterm. Unless you specially configure urxvt, its special keys (cursor- and keypad-keys) send different escape sequences than xterm when you modify those with shift, control, alt.
You can either use the escape sequences which urxvt sends, or you could use the keysym feature to configure urxvt to send comparable escape sequences. This feature was introduced by rxvt, and extended with urxvt to allow you to specify the modifiers (shift, control, etc), which you might want to limit the keysym to apply on:
keysym.sym: string
Compile frills: Associate string with keysym sym. The intervening resource name keysym. cannot be omitted.
The format of sym is "(modifiers-)key", where modifiers can be any combination of ISOLevel3, AppKeypad, Control, NumLock, Shift, Meta, Lock, Mod1, Mod2, Mod3, Mod4, Mod5, and the abbreviated I, K, C, N, S, M, A, L, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
That "compile frills" is a hint that it's an optional feature. However most packagers appear to turn on all of its options (except where they conflict). So it's probably available to you.
There's an overview of the topic (of the escape sequences) in the ncurses FAQ How can I use shift- or control-modifiers? (vim incidentally doesn't use ncurses or the modifier information in the terminal database—it's a termcap application—but that's a different problem).
In vim, you can have:
set t_ku=^[OA
set t_kd=^[OB
set t_kr=^[OC
set t_kl=^[OD
(To get ^[OA you press ctrl-v then up )
I use urxvt too, because it is fast, I don't use the transparency feature. In urxvt you may want to set option keysym.sym: action read man page for more details.
suggestion
If you use vim, use vim motions, ctrl-U/D/F/B or wWeEbB... You don't need the arrow keys at all. E.g. On my keyboard, pressing arrow keys I have to press an extra Fn key.. too expensive, and my fingers have to leave the homerow.
In terminal, I suggest you getting used to emacs-binding to edit command line, your word jumping would be: alt-b (back) and alt-f(forward) There are a lot more, very common to use: ctrl-f, c-h, c-w, a-w,c-b,c-u,c-k,a-. etc ..... also man should not forget the c-xc-e
I want to use the following code to quickly go from insert mode -> command mode. The problem is it just doesnt seem to be registering my keys. I've tried with control (nothing happens) and i've also tried with command (D) and it just says spellcheck not activated.
" Quick command mode from insert
imap <C-;> <esc>:
How do i go about doing this? is there an easier vim way that I'm not aware of?
Certain Ctrl chords can't be mapped, including Ctrl-;.
This is mentioned in this FAQ, see also the Vim FAQ:
20.4. I am not able to create a mapping for the <xxx> key. What is wrong?
First make sure that the key is passed to Vim. In insert mode, press Ctrl-V
followed by the desired key. You should see the keycode corresponding to
the key. If you do see the keycode, then you can create a mapping for the
key using the following command:
:map <C-V><xxx> <your_command_to_be_mapped>
For more information, read
:help map-keys-fails
:help :map-special-keys
:help key-codes
The tip about trying to print the character using Ctrl-V is good to remember if you run into this problem with another key combo.
I tried it, however it doesn't seem to work, also as pb2q said, it just can't be mapped. But there are other ways to escape using a Ctrl key combination.
For example, you can also escape insert mode with the following key presses:
Ctrl-[
Ctrl-c
On OS X (I think Lion and above), you are able to map alt - ; using this method, alt - ; on OS X outputs ç, which you can map.
But at a MacBook, I prefer to use PCKeyboardHack to map caps lock to esc. Or at Windows, use a tool I've created myself for that or even Ctrl2Cap.
EDIT
oh sorry, I thought you wanted to switch to normal mode, that's why I talked about caps lock mappings.
I've been trying out vim, and the emphasis on speed and accessibility makes sense for the veteran programmer. I've previously used emacs, and currently use a combination of nano, and stuff like gedit or geany.
I'm confused by the need to constantly switch modes, and that returning from insert mode to normal mode requires leaving the home row to press Esc. I've read that previously, this key was Tab on some systems where vim was first used, which makes a lot more sense, but not on current systems where tab is expected to participate in smart indenting when coding.
Returning to normal mode is an operation that you need to perform all the time. Is there some alternative key mapping that makes this quicker, or mappings that I simply don't know about that do this?
Ctrl+C also return you to normal mode
You can also use ^[. If you've mapped your caps lock key to control (highly recommended), this becomes a rather easy keystroke.
I personally use the Capslock key as the second Esc key, so it is very comfortable. You can do it by adding the following lines to your .xmodmap file:
remove Lock = Caps_Lock
keysym Caps_Lock = Escape
You can map whatever you like to escape:
imap kj <Esc>
I haven't yet run across a situation where I need to type kj next to each other, besides when I talk about this mapping. I've seen other people use jk or jj, but kj works best for me.
I personally use ii to get out of insert mode while staying on the home row, but it is only a matter of personal preference:
inoremap ii <Esc>
i to go in insert and ii to go out. This is easy for your finger to remember. (I tend to still use <Esc> though)
I personally use Left Control as escape and Caps Lock as Left Control. It is not vim mapping, but some xmodmap+setxkbmap magic:
! ~/.Xmodmap
! Control_R
keycode 37 = Escape
and ctrl:nocaps in X keyboard options. You may have different keycode though.
Use Alt/Meta In a Terminal
If you use Vim in a terminal, simply press alt/meta+normal_mode_key. Most terminals send an escape character followed by the normal_mode_key that you pressed, removing the need to press escape yourself.
The terminals konsole and gnome terminal send the escape by default when you press alt/meta+normal_mode_key. For Xterm you can ctrl+click and select the option "Meta sends escape" or "Alt sends escape".
Thus in insert mode pressing alt+h alt+j alt+k alt+l all take you to normal mode and move in the expected direction. You can hold down alt when moving even while in normal mode since the additional ESC that is sent does no harm.
The advantage of using this scheme is that you can use the alt/meta+key combination with any normal mode key, e.g.
Alt+o opens a new line below the one you are currently editing,
Alt+A appends to the end of the current line,
Alt+p pastes at the current insert location.
Alt+k moves up
Thus using vim via a terminal gives you these short cut powers on any stock standard system without the need to edit each systems vim mappings.
I think that using Menu key to quit vim's insert mode would be a great thing. It would be also nice to use Super key for that, but I'm not sure if it possible since Super key is a modifier.
Anyway, I couldn't find anything related to this. Looking for your help and thanks in advance!
I don't think there's any way you can configure Vim to pay attention to the Menu key as such,
but depending on your system there are various ways to turn the Menu key into an Escape key.
If you're using X11 on Linux:
The command xmodmap -e 'keycode 135 = Escape' will turn your Menu key into an Escape key for the current session, but is not permanent. To make it permanent under Gnome, you might try adding it under System → Preferences → Startup Applications.
The xkeycaps program will give you a GUI for similar remappings.
For more information:
http://46dogs.blogspot.com/2008/05/remap-keys-in-ubuntu-804-hardy-heron.html
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-106209.html
I haven't found a way to map it in gVim yet, but I was able to successfully map the Menu key in a urxvt+screen+vim stack by the following method:
In a terminal, type Ctrl+v and press Menu. This is mapped to the quoted-insert function in Zsh and in Readline-based tools like Bash.
It will generate an escape sequence like ^[[29~ at the prompt. (The initial ^[ must be translated to <Esc> for use in .vimrc.)
Open up .vimrc and add a line like this:
imap <Esc>[29~ <Esc>
(or imap <Esc>[29~ <Esc><Esc> if you don't want it to wait for further input like the Escape key does.)
Note that not all keys return something usable from Ctrl+v. This is a limitation of terminal emulators and can be remedied by remapping the key. You may be able to do that at the level of the terminal emulator rather than for all X apps.
For example, for urxvt, I had to add the following lines to ~/.Xresources and run xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources to apply them:
! Unbreak zsh keys in URxvt
URxvt*keysym.Home: \033[1~
URxvt*keysym.End: \033[4~
(\033 is <Esc> in ~/.Xresources syntax.)
Just try using ctrl+[ instead of binding another key. This combination is a standard one in vim, btw.
This is even easier when having rebound capslock into an additional ctrl.
In a terminal, one cannot distinguish Ctrl+A and Ctrl+Shift+A as they both emit the same key code, so I can see why Vim can't do it. But gVim, being an X application, can differentiate Ctrl+A and Ctrl+Shift+A. Is there any way to map those two things differently?
For starters, I'd like to do something like the following: Make "paste from clipboard" work like Gnome terminal, while keeping Ctrl+V to the visual mode.
:nmap <C-S-V> "+gP
Gvim doesn't do it because vim cannot do it (under normal circumstances). Sorry, but that's just how it is.
However...
Some terminals (e.g., xterm and iterm2) can be configured to send an arbitrary escape sequence for any combination of keys.
For example, add the following to .Xresources for xterm to send <Esc>[65;5u for CtrlShiftA. You can then map that in Vim to <C-S-a>. (65 is the decimal Unicode value for shift-a and 5 is the bit for the ctrl modifier. The u in this case stands for "unicode".)
! .Xresources
XTerm*vt100.translations: #override Ctrl ~Meta Shift <Key>a: string(0x1b) string("[65;5u")
iTerm and [u]rxvt can also be configured to do this (examples not provided).
More info: http://www.leonerd.org.uk/hacks/fixterms/
As already pointed out, there are no ways to map <C-S-A> differently from <C-A>.
However, using tools like autokey (for linux & windows) or autohotkey (for windows), you can remap <C-S-A> to send a different key-stroke(s) for specific applications.
e.g. On my system, I have this setting in autokey:
$ cat ~/.config/autokey/data/gnome-terminal/ctrlshifta-gnome-terminal.py
#ctrl+shift+a sends '<S-F1>a'
keyboard.send_keys("<shift>+<f1>a") # Note that `f` in `f1` needs to be in lower case.
Assign it these properties:
keyboard-shortcut as ctrl+shift+a
window class: gnome-terminal-server.Gnome-terminal
Then your ~/.vimrc can create mapping for <S-F1>a to do whatever you want.
Notes:
I have used <S-F1> as kind of leader key for detecting <C-S>. This was because my terminal did not accept <F13>-<F37> etc keys. If your application supports it, (gvim does I think) using those keys is recommended.
I mainly vim in gnome-terminal. So I used window class = gnome-terminal-server.Gnome-terminal as filter. Modify it to use gvim if you want. autokey supports a button for capturing any other window's properties like class/title.
Due to the way that the keyboard input is handled internally, this unfortunately isn't generally possible today, even in GVIM. Some key combinations, like Ctrl + non-alphabetic cannot be mapped, and Ctrl + letter vs. Ctrl + Shift + letter cannot be distinguished. (Unless your terminal sends a distinct termcap code for it, which most don't.) In insert or command-line mode, try typing the key combination. If nothing happens / is inserted, you cannot use that key combination. This also applies to <Tab> / <C-I>, <CR> / <C-M> / <Esc> / <C-[> etc. (Only exception is <BS> / <C-H>.) This is a known pain point, and the subject of various discussions on vim_dev and the #vim IRC channel.
Some people (foremost Paul LeoNerd Evans) want to fix that (even for console Vim in terminals that support this), and have floated various proposals, cp. http://groups.google.com/group/vim_dev/browse_thread/thread/626e83fa4588b32a/bfbcb22f37a8a1f8
But as of today, no patches or volunteers have yet come forward, though many have expressed a desire to have this in a future Vim release.
If what bothers you is loosing existing C-V functionality, you can use C-Q instead. See, :help CTRL-V-alternative.
NeoVim now offers this functionality for both its terminal and gui clients. See :h nvim-features-new
As you've noted, you get the same keycode. So the only way to distinguish them is to check the state of the Shift key in your event handling function. Of course, if you have more than 0.5 second delay between keypress and processing, you'll miss some hits.
Most terminal emulators treat control plus shift simply as control by default. Instead, you usually map those key combinations to an escape sequence and listen to that inside the terminal application.
Step 1: Configure your terminal emulator to bind Ctrl+Shift+A to the sequence Esc,A.
Your terminal emulator is the program that shows the actual window of the terminal. When accessing a server via SSH, the terminal emulator is a program on your local machine. Binding keys works differently in different terminal emulators. For example:
For urxvt, add URxvt.keysym.Control-Shift-A: \033A to the ~/.Xresources configuration file and reload it with xrdb ~/.Xresources.
For iTerm2, open Preferences -> Keys, add an entry, and bind Ctrl+Shift+A to the action "Send Escape Sequence" and type A into the field below.
Step 2: Bind Esc,A to a command in Vim.
Add the key mapping to your ~/.vimrc configuration and reload it with :source ~/.vimrc:
nnoremap <esc>a your command here