Is there a way to remap Caps_Lock to be the escape key on vscode's vim?

Question

Problem

I want to use Caps_Lock as the key to exit insert mode in Visual Studio code's vim extension. I have already remapped the keys in Xorg with Xmodmap, but Visual studio doesn't seem to really matter.

My VScode settings

As you can see, I already tried with "vim.insertModeKeyBindings", but it only disables the Escape key, leaving me thinking that Caps_lock has another key name/keysym, but I can't seem to find it.

{
    "editor.fontFamily": "'Inconsolata-g for Powerline'",
    "editor.fontSize": 16,
    "liveshare.authenticationProvider": "GitHub",
    "vim.enableNeovim": true,
    "code-runner.enableAppInsights": false,
    "code-runner.runInTerminal": true,
    "workbench.startupEditor": "newUntitledFile",
    "workbench.editorAssociations": [
        {
            "viewType": "jupyter.notebook.ipynb",
            "filenamePattern": "*.ipynb"
        }
    ],
    "workbench.colorTheme": "BeardedTheme Anthracite",
    "extensions.autoUpdate": "onlyEnabledExtensions",
    "vim.vimrc.enable": true,
    "vim.vimrc.path": "$HOME/.config/nvim/init.vim",
    "editor.fontWeight":"bold", 
    "vim.insertModeKeyBindings": [
        {
            "before": ["<Esc>"],
            "after": ["<Caps_Lock>"]
        }
   ]
}

Another thing i'd like to address is that i already have j,k and their combinations to exit insert mode. Is that a default?

Huge thanks in advance to anybody offering to help!!

This question has nothing to do with Vim so there is no need for a "vim" tag. — romainl, May 30 '21 at 20:18
Maybe just `Capslock`, see https://stackoverflow.com/a/61451308/836330 for some variations on capslock that I tried for a different question. — Mark, May 31 '21 at 01:15
I guess the tag `neovim` isn't applicable either. It's about VSCode and its Vim extension. So neither vim nor neovim. — rudolfson, Jun 15 '22 at 09:52

score 16 · Accepted Answer · answered May 31 '21 at 08:20

Solution

As this problem arose in Linux and, I already changed my settings in Xmodmap, it seems that VScode not respecting remappings with xkbmap is a known issue and should be fixed by adding "keyboard.dispatch": "keyCode" in VScode's settings.json and reopening VS.

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 22 '21 at 17:56

Press CTRL + SHIFT + P to open the command pallete.

Then, click on the settings button on any of the commands.

This opens the keybindings.

Search extension.vim_escape

Change this to CAPS_LOCK.

The only issue with this is that it still capitalises things when you re-enter insert mode, so you have to press it twice.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 31 '21 at 09:36

0

I see you already found a possible workaround, but I wonder if the 'xcape' tool (apt install xcape) can help with the following in your bashrc?

# set capslock to escape key  
setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps
xcape -e '#66=Escape'

answered May 31 '21 at 09:36

mattb

2,787
2
6
20

It seems it also worked, but as the problem was isolated to VScode and I hadn't really encountered any problems in other applications, I didn't want to change my system config. I already used Xmodmap and looked good for me. However, it does seem to be a good alternative. Thanks for your answer!! – Yoquec Nov 05 '21 at 08:34

Is there a way to remap Caps_Lock to be the escape key on vscode's vim?

Problem

My VScode settings

3 Answers3

Solution