Make it possible to change mapping for <Esc>

[ghost]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I was wondering if it would be possible to allow a setting to "remap" to "kj", "kk" and similar. They are very popular remapping of the key that are used regularly in Vim to avoid hitting the out-of-the-way Esc key.

Describe the solution you'd like
It would be great to have something like:

• name: default
  pattern: "**"
  config:
  remapEsc: "kk"

Describe alternatives you've considered
I could modify the source code to change the mapping for my own use, but I thought other people might be interested.

Additional context
Just to say, I love your editor :)

[wedaly]

I was wondering if it would be possible to allow a setting to "remap" to "kj", "kk" and similar. They are very popular remapping of the key that are used regularly in Vim to avoid hitting the out-of-the-way Esc key.

Interesting! I knew it was possible to remap keys in vim, but never realized you could remap the escape key like that. Do you use that for other modes besides insert/visual as well? (for example, would typing "/kk" would enter and then immediately exit search mode? or search for the string "kk")

It would be great to have something like:

• name: default
  pattern: "**"
  config:
  remapEsc: "kk"

Need to think a bit about how to approach this. Aretext currently defines the key mappings statically (for example, this is where the Escape key gets mapped to the "return to normal mode" command). This is basically a giant regular expression that gets compiled to bytecode and embedded in the aretext binary. The bytecode contains instructions for interpreting an "escape" key event as the "return to normal mode command". To remap the escape key (single key event) to a sequence like "kk" (two key events) in the current implementation, the bytecode would need to change.

A few possibilities: if remapEsc is configured, recompile the bytecode at runtime? That would take maybe a few hundred ms, but could work. Or maybe do something clever like run another "remapping" VM (compiled at runtime) to translate "kk" to the escape key event, then pass the translated events to the original input VM.

I'd also be curious to hear if there are other use-cases that involve remapping keys. Might be worth building something for remapping in general rather than just for remapping the escape key.

Describe alternatives you've considered I could modify the source code to change the mapping for my own use, but I thought other people might be interested.

That's probably your best bet for now. Should be as simple as editing the BuildExpr fields in input/commands.go and running make (which runs go generate to compile the bytecode, then go build to build the aretext binary).

Additional context Just to say, I love your editor :)

Thanks for the kind words! Glad you're enjoying it!

[ghost]

Interesting! I knew it was possible to remap keys in vim, but never realized you could remap the escape key like that. Do you use that for other modes besides insert/visual as well? (for example, would typing "/kk" would enter and then immediately exit search mode? or search for the string "kk")

Thank you for replying so quickly!

Although I have used vim for a bit, I only recently have started to try to "learn" it a bit better. I haven't found any other use of the feature besides leaving insert or visual mode or disabling the arrow keys (to force yourself to learn the hjkl navigation keys).

In my .vimrc, they look like this:

" esc in insert & visual mode
inoremap kk <esc>
vnoremap kk <esc>

" esc in command mode
cnoremap kk <C-C>

One side-effect of remapping "kk" to <esc> is that it seems that potentially pasting a bit of text with the sequence "kk" in it could force it to leave insert mode unexpectedly. The mapping works because such sequence is extremely rare in English (and probaly even rarer in Spanish) but could be a problem with other languages (Danish?).

There is another group of vimmers who map the "Caps Lock" key to <esc>, those could probably use aretext without any modifications as the change happens at a lower level, it's an "xkb setting". In my case I have mapped it to <ctrl>.

I'd also be curious to hear if there are other use-cases that involve remapping keys. Might be worth building something for remapping in general rather than just for remapping the escape key.

Well, I have seen a few different ones in dotfiles here and there. A few people remap <;> to <:> to avoid having to hit when typing commands.

Mapping specific actions to <ctrl> + <key> combinations seems to be also a thing, but I haven't found the need to do that:
https://learnvimscriptthehardway.stevelosh.com/chapters/03.html

That's probably your best bet for now. Should be as simple as editing the BuildExpr fields in input/commands.go and running make (which runs go generate to compile the bytecode, then go build to build the aretext binary).

Sounds like a plan!

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my feature request!

[wedaly]

converting this issue into a discussion. I'm open to implementing a more general key-remapping mechanism in the future, but need to think more about the technical design and use cases.

[ghost]

Thank you for opening this discussion!

[ghost]

In the end I stopped using "kk" and remapped Caps Lock as Esc. Because this is a system-level setting, it requires no configuration anywhere.

Other people may be interested in this but I think this option works best for me in the long run :)

[wedaly]

nice, happy to hear you found a solution!