How to use CapsLock instead of Escape in Vim?

Question

I would like to map my CapsLock to Escape. How do I represent CapsLock in .vimrc?

I know to map space to a command I would do something like this:

:map <space> viw

How would I map CapsLock to Escape without doing a registry hack - I'm looking for a Vim command?

If that is not possible without a hack or additional software I would like to assign the shortcut jj to ESC in .vimrc . I'm currently doing this:

inoremap jj <esc>

However if I'm in visual mode this does not work. How could I make jj emulate the escape key?

Are you wanting this in X, the console or both? Also, please look at my edits and format your last edit as per the site styles. — jasonwryan, Nov 02 '14 at 00:30
Related question on SuperUser: keyboard layout - Map capslock to control in Windows 10 - Super User — user202729, Dec 02 '23 at 09:10

score 20 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

20

I don't think you can map CapsLock from within Vim. You remap it within X using setxkbmap:

setxkbmap -option caps:swapescape

For remapping in the console, if your distro uses systemd, you can use a custom keyboard layout in /etc/vconsole.conf as described on the Arch Wiki, and for other init systems see this U&L answer.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

Community

1

answered Nov 02 '14 at 00:22

jasonwryan

73,126

I updated my question – Rajeshwar Nov 02 '14 at 00:27
6

How do you set it so both are escape? – Justin Thomas Sep 02 '16 at 22:50

score 11 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 16 '20 at 08:12

11

If you want to map both Caps Lock and Escape to Escape, instead of swapping them, use

setxkbmap -option caps:escape

instead of ...:swapescape.

Use

setxkbmap -option

to clear any existing options, then the above should work.

edited Apr 16 '20 at 08:12

Stephen Kitt

434,908

answered Apr 15 '20 at 18:51

Dosisod

211

what if I want to undo that ? – Mohammad Alshareef Jan 22 '21 at 12:44

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 08 '19 at 00:53

You can use a call to xmodmap on Vim startup to map Capslock to Escape. The modification can be reverted once you leave Vim. Add the following lines to your .vimrc:

au VimEnter * silent! !xmodmap -e 'clear Lock' -e 'keycode 0x42 = Escape'
au VimLeave * silent! !xmodmap -e 'clear Lock' -e 'keycode 0x42 = Caps_Lock'

However, this will lead to problems if you have multiple Vim sessions. Once you close one of them, the modification is reverted for all of them, since xmodmap operates globally.

nice answer ;) https://stackoverflow.com/a/21127352/2065674 – rsoren Mar 07 '20 at 03:15 — rsoren, Mar 07 '20 at 03:15

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 14 '16 at 21:57

1

inoremap means insert mode non-recursive map. vnoremap is visual mode non-recursive map. So vnoremap jj <esc> is what you want.

answered Jan 14 '16 at 21:57

Jason Basanese

153

Himanshu Tanwar · Answer 5 · 2021-01-05T14:08:26.360

Try this in your ~/.vimrc or ~/.vim/vimrc file :

:autocmd BufWinEnter * !setxkbmap -option caps:swapescape
:autocmd BufWinLeave * !setxkbmap -option

Instead of the first line, you can use an alias in ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile :

alias vim="setxkbmap -option caps:swapescape && vim"

The drawback in these approaches being that as long as you haven't closed the vim, your CapsLock will be your Escape and vice-versa, machine-wide.

Solution to that:

For this, I am using timeout with the key-binding swap only during the required mode (that is, InsertMode):

au CursorHoldI * stopinsert
au InsertEnter * silent! let updaterestore=&updatetime | set updatetime=15000 | execute "!setxkbmap -option caps:swapescape" | redraw!
au InsertLeave * silent! let &updatetime=updaterestore | execute "!setxkbmap -option" | redraw!

Now, during the InsertMode, the CapsLock and Escape will interchange machine-wide, but since I have set a time-out for the InsertMode to be 15000, I need not worry about it as it will automatically be reversed in 15 seconds of inactivity. ;-)

-Himanshu

Doesn't this method also mean that if you close one of two windows, then you loose the remap? — Krish, Feb 08 '21 at 13:52
Well I (personally) only want the remap during insert mode (during typing). Otherwise I'm happy to use the Esc key as escape key. Hence the solution.. — Himanshu Tanwar, Feb 22 '21 at 20:14

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 08 '22 at 16:22

0

For anyone coming from Ubuntu 22.04 and having issues with

setxkbmap -option caps:swapescape

An Ask Ubuntu answer provides an alternative method:

dconf write "/org/gnome/desktop/input-sources/xkb-options" "[ 'caps:swapescape']"

answered Aug 08 '22 at 16:22

tangoyankee

1

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 16 '22 at 05:25

However if I'm in visual mode this does not work. How could I make jj emulate the escape key?

That's because you are only mapping jj in insert mode (defined by the i in inoremap)

For visual and normal mode, respectively, add this to your .vimrc file (or init.vim for Neovim):

vnoremap jj <ESC>
nnoremap jj <ESC>

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 06 '23 at 09:25

0

For anyone requiring both esc and control as caps this guide is useful https://www.dannyguo.com/blog/remap-caps-lock-to-escape-and-control/ (not possible via vim config alone AFAIK)

answered Jan 06 '23 at 09:25

nullandvoid

1

While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - From Review – dr_ Jan 09 '23 at 13:43

How to use CapsLock instead of Escape in Vim?

8 Answers8

Solution to that:

Linked