Map a caps lock key that is mapped to ctrl system wide to Escape just in vim

Question

i have mapped my caps lock key to ctrl with the following command under linux:
setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps I really like this mapping and want to keep it, but I also would like to map the caps lock key to Escape when I am inside vim. But when I try to map it with :map <C> <Esc> or similar it does not seem to work, presumably because the ctrl key is special and needs a second key to to trigger an key event.

Is there any way I can achieve the above?

Possible duplicate: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2176532/how-to-map-caps-lock-key-in-vim — Øyvind Skaar, Feb 10 '12 at 09:53

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 29 '10 at 09:48

3

Dave is right, you can't. However, there are lots of alternatives to remap the escape key. I personaly use ` which is close (on my keyboard) to the capslock key :-) (as ' is pretty useless , you can remap ' to `)

noremap ' `
noremap ` <Esc>

answered Jul 29 '10 at 09:48

mb14

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It is true that there are lots of alternatives. Myself I have the Tab key mapped to Escape, which means I can do instead of hitting Escape because in Vim Control + i is equivalent to the Tab key. This is quite an ok solution for me personally.. – user400332 Jul 31 '10 at 17:31

Dave Kirby · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-29T07:21:16.357

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No. The control, shift and alt keys are handled differently at the hardware and OS levels - they do not generate keycodes but add modifiers to the keycodes generated by other keys. This means that they cannot be mapped within Vim.

edited Jul 29 '10 at 07:21

answered Jul 29 '10 at 07:13

Dave Kirby

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But you can remap it in Linux, see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2176532/how-to-map-caps-lock-key-in-vim – Øyvind Skaar Feb 10 '12 at 09:52

Map a caps lock key that is mapped to ctrl system wide to Escape just in vim

2 Answers2