Looking for better way to map some F key in Vim

Question

I currently map my F2 and F3 as following:

map <F2> :tabn <CR>
map <F3> :tabp <CR>
imap <Esc> :tabn <CR>
imap <Esc> :tabp <CR>

I try to figure out how to map the normal/insert mode at the same time. I spent some times on googling around without any luck.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

possible duplicate of [Create a command in vim for all modes](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30177411/create-a-command-in-vim-for-all-modes) — glts, Sep 27 '15 at 10:17

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 27 '15 at 02:06

The best I've found so far is:

nnoremap <F2> :tabn<CR>
imap     <F2> <C-O><F2>
nnoremap <F3> :tabp<CR>
imap     <F3> <C-O><F3>

Still an extra line for each key, but at least the actual command (:tabn, :tabp) is only mentioned once (and only needs to be changed in one place if you want to change it).

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:23

Honestly in my opinion, these mappings are probably not worth it.

gt/gT already exist to move between tabs. See :h gt
Normal mode is crucial to Vim and it makes sense to use this mode and not insert mode for movement between tabs. It is called normal mode for a reason as it is the mode you should normally be in.

Aside about tabs and buffers

Your mappings suggest a heavy tab centric workflow. I know it might sound weird but maybe try and use less tab panes together with a more buffers centric workflow. Here are some nice posts about it:

Looking for better way to map some F key in Vim

2 Answers2

Aside about tabs and buffers