Since we basically lost the escape key with the new MacBook Pro models that came out at the end of 2016, Vim users needed a solid backup plan if they were to get one of the new laptops. Harry Roberts has put together some really nice things to consider with regards to the escape key:
For almost as long as I’ve been using Vim–which is a long time now–I’ve been using
jjandjkto leave Insert mode. These mappings are on the Home Row, so always easy to reach, and the letter pairs very rarely (if ever) occur in the English language. If there were words that containedjjandjknext to each other then I would be flung straight into Normal mode any time I tried to write them. (The reason I haven’t mappedkkto Escape is because it does occur within words, e.g. bookkeeper.
What did I do? Well, as a macOS Sierra user, I just followed the advice of a former colleague and remapped my Caps Lock key.
Update: As of macOS Sierra 10.12.1, the Caps Lock -> Escape remapping can be done natively in the Keyboard System Preferences pane! To remap without any 3rd party software, do the following:
- Open System Preferences and click on ‘Keyboard’
- Click on ‘Modifier Keys…’
- For ‘Caps Lock (⇪) Key’, choose ‘⎋ Escape’
- Click ‘OK’
