Mapping capslock to esc has issues #854

billti · 2016-10-06T20:49:46Z

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What did you do?

Attempted to map the caps lock key to the escape key, via the below in keybindings.json

{"key": "capslock", "command": "extension.vim_escape"}

Note: I also tried via the below, using "capslock" and "", but this had no effect, as it appears from the codebase <CapsLock> isn't recognized notation.

{
    "vim.insertModeKeyBindings": [
        {
            "before": ["capslock"],
            "after": ["<Esc>"]
        }
    ]
}

What did you expect to happen?

This should allow me to exit insert mode via the close-by caplock key.

What happened instead?

It does kinda work via the first form above, however if also toggles caps lock on/off, which makes it impossible to use (as every key press is then a capital after exiting insert mode). Preferably the "vim.insertModeKeyBindings" would work, and recognize the capslock key and intercept it - preventing it from toggling caps-lock.

Technical details:

VSCode Version: 1.5.3
VsCodeVim Version: 0.3.0
OS: Windows 10

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

jpoon · 2016-10-07T19:26:48Z

Interestingly, I don't see the capslock key being bubbled up into our extension. We'll need to ask VS Code to add this to their extension API.

billti · 2016-10-08T01:45:42Z

Actually, I just noticed even in Windows this usually requires some system changes via the registry or a utility to work correctly - so maybe it wasn't as simple as I hoped :-/ See http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/VimTip75

johnfn · 2016-10-10T07:39:30Z

Yeah, Vim does not support caps lock mapping. People generally map it with some sort of broader keymapping program.

vyorkin · 2016-10-10T08:59:39Z

for Mac OS X I personally use Seil + Karabiner or Karabiner-Elements (if you are on Sierra).
you could take a look at this awesome post: http://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/10/a-modern-space-cadet/

ljbuza · 2016-11-26T02:29:30Z

On Linux Gnome desktops, Tweak Tool, under the "Typing" menu, will let you set your cap lock behavior. Setting it to "Make Caps Lock an additional ESC" works well for me.

clamydo · 2017-04-06T07:18:22Z

Doing

setxkbmap -option caps:swapescape

on Linux swaps the escape and caps lock Xorg wide. But since code 1.11 this extension does not recognise this. To get out of insert mode, I have to press the original esc key, which at the same time toggles CAPS. This is really annoying.

Might be a problem with code itself: microsoft/vscode/issues/23991

johnfn · 2017-04-06T07:39:42Z

Would probably be good to test with other parts of VSCode that use an ESC key to trigger something. We don't really have anything to do with capslock binding, unfortunately!

tallpants · 2017-04-06T11:03:30Z

It's definitely an issue with VS Code itself. Going back to 1.10 brings back the expected behavior, so it's something in the 1.11 update that's broken it.

johnfn · 2017-04-06T11:06:26Z

@areyoureddy In that case, definitely go open up an issue on their repository then. :)

tallpants · 2017-04-06T11:29:22Z

microsoft/vscode#23991 Already done 👍

Fr4nks · 2017-05-24T16:26:28Z

Issue resolved?
keybindings.json
// Place your key bindings in this file to overwrite the defaults
[ {"key": "capslock", "command": "extension.vim_escape",
"when": "editorTextFocus && vim.active && !inDebugRepl" }
]

Ubuntu 16.04, VS Code 12.2.2
Doesn't work correctly in window 10.

freddie-freeloader · 2017-06-04T14:13:37Z

@Fr4nks This works for me just well under Linux.

GummyDonut · 2017-06-25T15:25:30Z

@Fr4nks solution worked for me to, thank.

nayzawoo · 2017-06-30T15:14:57Z

@Fr4nks Thanks!

nazarimilad · 2017-07-20T09:17:07Z

@Fr4nks First it didn't work for me. But after adding "keyboard.dispatch": "keyCode" in the settings file which was suggested as a workaround here, it's now working correctly.

VS Code version: 1.14.1

hui00 · 2017-09-10T13:14:52Z

@Fr4nks thank you!

ghost · 2018-02-07T14:20:40Z

@Fr4nks Thanks!

Ding-Fan · 2018-04-07T13:14:00Z

I put this in keybinds.json

// Place your key bindings in this file to overwrite the defaults
[
  {
    "key": "capslock", 
    "command": "extension.vim_escape",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && vim.active && !inDebugRepl" 
  }
]

And toggle this in User Settings

"keyboard.dispatch": "keyCode"

Now I can use caps lock as esc in vim insert mode. But
I have to press caps lock again because it capitalize my letters. 😓

Chillee · 2018-04-09T14:24:52Z

@Ding-Fan I suggest using some kind of external caps lock to escape rebinding program. I use caps2esc on Arch Linux.

Ding-Fan · 2018-04-09T14:36:25Z

@Chillee I'm using Karabiner-Elements on macOS now, it's amazing. 😃

mmyoungman · 2018-06-11T19:17:04Z

In case it is of use to anyone, on macOS, I had set capslock to be escape, and it was previously working fine, but after using setting sync to import my settings, I stopped being able to get out of insert mode. It turned out that "vim.enableNeovim": true, was the culprit. I set it to false and everything was fine again.

janhesters · 2018-12-21T23:10:17Z

On mac you can also map caps lock natively: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/127591/using-caps-lock-as-esc-in-mac-os-x/40254864#40254864

rimseg · 2019-03-21T11:02:06Z

On Fedora 29 I just needed to change an option in the Settings (File > Preference > Settings).

Keyboard: Dispatch "keyCode"

bergmul · 2019-03-27T16:15:14Z

@Ding-Fan I suggest using some kind of external caps lock to escape rebinding program. I use caps2esc on Arch Linux.

I'm also using caps2esc and it works fine everywhere but in code. Sometimes it works for a couple of minutes, then pressing capslock does not trigger esc anymore.

EDIT: Adding "keyboard.dispatch": "keyCode" to user configs solves the problem. Thank you, @Fr4nks.

n0irx · 2019-08-08T05:57:29Z

Issue resolved?
keybindings.json
// Place your key bindings in this file to overwrite the defaults
[ {"key": "capslock", "command": "extension.vim_escape",
"when": "editorTextFocus && vim.active && !inDebugRepl" }
]

Ubuntu 16.04, VS Code 12.2.2
Doesn't work correctly in window 10.

works on ubuntu

seanwarman · 2019-09-27T08:58:09Z

If anyone's wondering, as I had a problem finding keybindings.json through the vscode UI, it's in ~/.config/Code/User/.

And you can find some docs about it in VSCode's Docs

mjarkk · 2019-10-06T08:50:49Z

@seanwarman In vscode you can get to the keyboard shortcuts using:
Ctrl + Shift + P and type Open Keyboard Shortcuts (json)

Christopher-Hayes · 2020-02-11T16:04:08Z

For Windows users, after realizing how difficult it would be to implement with VS code settings, I found just changing the registry to be much easier and less finnicky. This same guide shows how to do it with various tools like AHK too. https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Map_caps_lock_to_escape_in_Windows
For Windows 10, I created a file.reg with the following text:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,3a,00,46,00,01,00,3a,00,00,00,00,00

Double-clicked that file from explorer, then restarted my computer and it works like a charm. Of course, if you use the CAPS lock outside VS code, this solution isn't for you.

bradleysawler · 2020-04-26T02:29:40Z

Win10 I had a similar issue as others by having to 2nd press the cap lock to turn the cap lock back off. So I decided to just map CapLock + CapLock. So a double caps Esc and turns the caps back off.

Mhmdrza · 2021-11-16T20:02:14Z

ctrl + {

Activates the normal;

also ctrl + c
also command + c

SSmJaE · 2022-01-23T09:40:42Z

I found a perfect way to map caps lock to ESC on Windows 10 ("keyboard.dispatch": "keyCode" doesn't take effect), and only works in VS Code, has no effect on other programs like games

Using AutoHotkey
here is the code

#NoEnv  ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
; #Warn  ; Enable warnings to assist with detecting common errors.
SendMode Input  ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%  ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.
SetTitleMatchMode, 2

#IfWinActive, Visual Studio Code
CapsLock::Escape
ScrollLock::CapsLock

whale124 · 2022-02-04T12:48:46Z

@Ding-Fan I suggest using some kind of external caps lock to escape rebinding program. I use caps2esc on Arch Linux.

I'm also using caps2esc and it works fine everywhere but in code. Sometimes it works for a couple of minutes, then pressing capslock does not trigger esc anymore.

EDIT: Adding "keyboard.dispatch": "keyCode" to user configs solves the problem. Thank you, @Fr4nks.

It works in my Ubuntu!
Thank you

bnpysse · 2023-01-29T10:39:34Z

I put this in keybinds.json
// Place your key bindings in this file to overwrite the defaults
[
  {
    "key": "capslock", 
    "command": "extension.vim_escape",
    "when": "editorTextFocus && vim.active && !inDebugRepl" 
  }
]
And toggle this in User Settings
"keyboard.dispatch": "keyCode"
Now I can use caps lock as esc in vim insert mode. But I have to press caps lock again because it capitalize my letters. sweat

How to do changing twice to one?

billti mentioned this issue Oct 6, 2016

Using capslock in a keybinding still toggles capslock microsoft/vscode#13312

Closed

johnfn closed this as completed Oct 10, 2016

evaera mentioned this issue Jul 24, 2019

How can I make 'S' do a replace in normal mode like in vim? #3910

Closed

andrewharvey mentioned this issue Mar 5, 2020

Remap keys not working #4612

Closed

brianherman mentioned this issue Apr 18, 2020

Capslock + Ctrl rebind to starting Terminal instead of activating "Caps Lock" microsoft/terminal#5409

Closed

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Mapping capslock to esc has issues #854

Mapping capslock to esc has issues #854

billti commented Oct 6, 2016

jpoon commented Oct 7, 2016 •

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billti commented Oct 8, 2016

johnfn commented Oct 10, 2016

vyorkin commented Oct 10, 2016 •

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ljbuza commented Nov 26, 2016

clamydo commented Apr 6, 2017 •

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johnfn commented Apr 6, 2017

tallpants commented Apr 6, 2017

johnfn commented Apr 6, 2017

tallpants commented Apr 6, 2017

Fr4nks commented May 24, 2017 •

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freddie-freeloader commented Jun 4, 2017

GummyDonut commented Jun 25, 2017

nayzawoo commented Jun 30, 2017

nazarimilad commented Jul 20, 2017 •

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hui00 commented Sep 10, 2017

ghost commented Feb 7, 2018

Ding-Fan commented Apr 7, 2018

Chillee commented Apr 9, 2018

Ding-Fan commented Apr 9, 2018

mmyoungman commented Jun 11, 2018

janhesters commented Dec 21, 2018 •

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rimseg commented Mar 21, 2019

bergmul commented Mar 27, 2019 •

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n0irx commented Aug 8, 2019

seanwarman commented Sep 27, 2019

mjarkk commented Oct 6, 2019

Christopher-Hayes commented Feb 11, 2020 •

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bradleysawler commented Apr 26, 2020

Mhmdrza commented Nov 16, 2021 •

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SSmJaE commented Jan 23, 2022

whale124 commented Feb 4, 2022 •

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bnpysse commented Jan 29, 2023

Mapping capslock to esc has issues #854

Mapping capslock to esc has issues #854

Comments

billti commented Oct 6, 2016

What did you do?

What did you expect to happen?

What happened instead?

Technical details:

jpoon commented Oct 7, 2016 • edited Loading

billti commented Oct 8, 2016

johnfn commented Oct 10, 2016

vyorkin commented Oct 10, 2016 • edited Loading

ljbuza commented Nov 26, 2016

clamydo commented Apr 6, 2017 • edited Loading

johnfn commented Apr 6, 2017

tallpants commented Apr 6, 2017

johnfn commented Apr 6, 2017

tallpants commented Apr 6, 2017

Fr4nks commented May 24, 2017 • edited Loading

freddie-freeloader commented Jun 4, 2017

GummyDonut commented Jun 25, 2017

nayzawoo commented Jun 30, 2017

nazarimilad commented Jul 20, 2017 • edited Loading

hui00 commented Sep 10, 2017

ghost commented Feb 7, 2018

Ding-Fan commented Apr 7, 2018

Chillee commented Apr 9, 2018

Ding-Fan commented Apr 9, 2018

mmyoungman commented Jun 11, 2018

janhesters commented Dec 21, 2018 • edited Loading

rimseg commented Mar 21, 2019

bergmul commented Mar 27, 2019 • edited Loading

n0irx commented Aug 8, 2019

seanwarman commented Sep 27, 2019

mjarkk commented Oct 6, 2019

Christopher-Hayes commented Feb 11, 2020 • edited Loading

bradleysawler commented Apr 26, 2020

Mhmdrza commented Nov 16, 2021 • edited Loading

SSmJaE commented Jan 23, 2022

whale124 commented Feb 4, 2022 • edited Loading

bnpysse commented Jan 29, 2023

jpoon commented Oct 7, 2016 •

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vyorkin commented Oct 10, 2016 •

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clamydo commented Apr 6, 2017 •

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Fr4nks commented May 24, 2017 •

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nazarimilad commented Jul 20, 2017 •

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janhesters commented Dec 21, 2018 •

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bergmul commented Mar 27, 2019 •

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Christopher-Hayes commented Feb 11, 2020 •

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Mhmdrza commented Nov 16, 2021 •

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whale124 commented Feb 4, 2022 •

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