Any mapping in vimrc with Alt isn't working

Question

I have some mappings in my .vimrc with ALT. They are:

nnoremap <A-J> :m .+1<CR>==
nnoremap <A-K> :m .-2<CR>==

Expected behavior: These two mappings are supposed to move a line up and down. But they are not working. I am not even getting any error or warning. But when I use shift, they are working fine. Below are given the working mappings.

nnoremap <A-J> :m .+1<CR>==
nnoremap <A-K> :m .-2<CR>==

Why isn't ALT working?

Possible duplicate of https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7501092/can-i-map-alt-key-in-vim — AlG, Mar 01 '18 at 15:09
If it is not too much to ask can anyone explain the answer. I don't get it. — odbhut.shei.chhele, Mar 01 '18 at 15:11
@AlG When I press ALT+j in insert mode, vim goes back to normal mode and the cursor moves down one line — odbhut.shei.chhele, Mar 01 '18 at 15:20
Eddard: as previously advised, your audience on Stack Overflow generally prefers it if you can keep your questions free of please-help-mes, thanks, advance thanks and other chatty material. Just stick to the detail as much as possible. References [here](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/288160) and [here](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/260776). — halfer, Mar 04 '18 at 23:13

Raza · Answer 1 · 2021-03-03T20:12:50.733

Firstly, add this to your zsh file

alias vim="stty stop '' -ixoff ; vim"

This is not necessary but it does get rid of vim mapping issues. Secondly, start by viewing the key code your terminal is sending to vim:

$ sed -n l

I am on Ubuntu, and Alt+j leads to

^[j

This basically prints out the combination of keycodes that is being sent to vim from your terminal. Note that the first part ^[ is the Escape key and not part of the key pressed.

Add this to your .vimrc

map <Esc>j <A-j>

Afterwards, you can use this to map to other functions:

nnoremap <A-j> :m .+1<CR>==

Source: https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Mapping_fast_keycodes_in_terminal_Vim

Would be nice if someone could explain why – CervEd Mar 30 '23 at 13:33 — CervEd, Mar 30 '23 at 13:33

alpha_989 · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-02T16:48:19.010

4

Start by viewing the key code your terminal is sending to vim:

$ sed -n l

I am on Ubuntu, and Alt+j leads to

^[j

This basically prints out the combination of keycodes that is being sent to vim from your terminal.

If you are having difficulties with the <A+j> key combination, you can get what is sending to vim and then use that in the .vimrc.

as follows:

nnoremap ^[j :m .+1<CR>==

This will map <Alt + J> to moving a line up.

Note: Don't copy and paste nnoremap ^[j :m .+1<CR>== into your .vimrc. You will have to find what keycodes are being sent this in your terminal, and it could be very different from ^[j as each terminal might send different keycodes to vim. I am using Putty + Ubuntu running on a VM.

edited Mar 02 '18 at 16:48

answered Mar 01 '18 at 15:27

alpha_989

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Trying this on Ubuntu under windows using WSL. The keycodes being sent are ^[j and ^[k just like you. however adding the line mentioned in my vimrc does nothing – Nicolas May 17 '19 at 15:31
yep same experience/problem - also on Ubuntu (WSL2) does not help a bit. still just throws me out eg out of INSERT mode to NORMAL mode but nothing more (eg in NORMAL or VISUAL mode since I also added inoremap and vnoremap)) – GWD Jun 20 '20 at 20:03

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 01 '18 at 17:12

0

To map Alt you must use M instead of A.

nnoremap <M-J> :m .+1<CR>==
nnoremap <J-K> :m .-2<CR>==

answered Mar 01 '18 at 17:12

SergioAraujo

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In order to trigger this map you need to press Alt+Shift+J or Alt-Shift-K because we are using capital J and K. – SergioAraujo Mar 02 '18 at 09:18

Any mapping in vimrc with Alt isn't working

3 Answers3