If you have failed to grok vim, ditch the arrow keys

http://h6o6.com/2013/03/start-groking-vim-ditch-the-arrow-keys/

by bw2 • 13 years ago

20 38 13 years ago

h6o6.com

whatshisface• 13 years ago

Google's cache: (the site is down as I am typing this.)

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:h6o6.co...

bw22• 13 years ago

Hey guys, I got an unexpected amount of traffic from this one and I am trying to fix it, thanks for the cache link!

bw22• 13 years ago

It looks like the site is stable now, thank you kind sir :)

cdash• 13 years ago

Why not just use jikl instead if you don't want to lift your hand to move to the arrow keys. I am kind of tired of seeing this obsession with trying to get everyone to use hjkl which just doesn't make any actual sense. I totally get the point about the arrow keys requiring you to lift your hand but you can accomplish the same arrow key logic while keeping your hand in the same place.

enoch_r• 13 years ago

Generally when people advocate using hjkl, they're doing so:

A: for use within vim (where "i" has another meaning already), or

B: for people who have a long history using vim and are already used to the hjkl paradigm, or

C: (most often) both.

I'm really not sure why you would get tired of this "obsession." No one is telling you to use hjkl unless you're using vim.

smosher• 13 years ago

> I'm really not sure why you would get tired of this "obsession."

It's annoying when you spot this kind of thing about 6 times a year. FWIW today I also spotted a story about how you shouldn't be using hjkl.

vacri3• 13 years ago

'i' already has a function in vim - one of the most frequently used ones.

arthulia2• 13 years ago

He makes a good point though. You could switch insert to the h key and do it this way.

Upsides: - ijkl is easier for users learning vim. - don't have to shift your fingers over to h key

Downsides - rebind insert to h (not really a big deal) - middle finger is now responsible for up and down (I honestly don't see this having much effect on efficiency)

I'm tempted to try this, but I hate the feeling of not being familiar with a vanilla config. What if I have to use somebody else's machine?

Kluny4• 13 years ago

I would argue that a is just as good, or better, than i.

raylu3• 13 years ago

There are a lot of other tools that use hjkl. Most commonly `less`, but also pentadactyl (http://5digits.org/) and a lot of tiling window managers.

a_p• 13 years ago

As someone who uses a custom variant of the Dvorak layout, one thing about Vim that I find annoying is the that the navigation keys only make sense for a Qwerty keyboard. I know that it is easy to do a custom remap but nevertheless I find that it is harder to learn the commands when the keyboard shortcuts are no longer intuitive (e.g not using d for delete, etc.)

beatgammit• 13 years ago

I'm in the same boat. I don't use hjkl for this very reason. I haven't remapped my keyboard because I'm constantly having to use a coworker's keyboard (most of which use Qwerty), and it's just easier to remember keys instead of positions on the keyboard. Everything works except HJKL...

CoffeeDregs3• 13 years ago

I have probably tried 3 times to ditch the arrows and use hjkl and I've failed each time. What is the trick to overcoming this? Perhaps it's that I've done it while at work that has caused the issue (ie. I need to be productive now!). Pick a weekend and force the switch?

papaver• 13 years ago

i think work is the best place to do it. just stick with it knowing that it may take a few days to get back to your original pace. don't allow your self to use the arrow keys and you will pick them up much faster. just remind yourself that you will be able to make up all the lost time because you will easily be twice as fast once you stop picking your hands up from the home row.

i went through the same pains. the worst was copy and paste. what a pain! but in a week or two it will become mostly natural.

jfabre• 13 years ago

www.vim-adventures.com :)

nnnnni2• 13 years ago

Or play nethack!

CoffeeDregs3• 13 years ago

Wow. That's a great suggestion, too. I've played for about 42 seconds and already feel more comfortable...

z92• 13 years ago

First ditch up/down arrow keys and use jk instead.

After a few days when you are confortable with it. Start using hl for side arrows.

I did it like that.

nate00• 13 years ago

I was also unable to switch until I forced myself to go cold turkey. Putting this into your vimrc will disable the arrow keys

  noremap <up> <nop>
  noremap <down> <nop>
  noremap <left> <nop>
  noremap <right> <nop>
  inoremap <up> <nop>
  inoremap <down> <nop>
  inoremap <left> <nop>
  inoremap <right> <nop>

It's extremely painful for the first day or two, but it's worth it. (Starting on a weekend might be a good idea.)

Kluny4• 13 years ago

what z92 said, and don't forget you can use w to jump forward by words, which makes side to side movement a little easier.

snarfy• 13 years ago

My #1 trick/recommendation? Use Control-[ instead of the Esc key. It's less hand travel and keeps your fingers on the home keys. It's all about minimizing your arm movements.

The same goes for hkjl. The arrow keys are too far away, that's why you use hkjl. Embrace the lazy and you'll grok vim.

nnnnni2• 13 years ago

False!

The #1 trick is to swap control and caps lock. The #2 trick is to use control-[

raylu3• 13 years ago

Have you considered swapping Esc and Caps Lock instead? Caps Lock is not very useful so tossing it into the corner makes sense to me.

gnosis2• 13 years ago

Some other approaches:

- use the caps lock as escape

- use the space bar as escape

- map jk or jj as escape

I've personally been using the escape key itself for so long it doesn't bother me. I no longer even notice that it's any further for me to reach than other keys, so I have no reason to switch. And that leaves all those other keys I mentioned above for other purposes. For instance, I've mapped the space bar to : Now if only I could remember to use it.

Tmmrn• 13 years ago

Maybe for you lucky US people.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/KB_German...

armored_mammal• 13 years ago

I can't use vim effectively because I constantly try to navigate using WASD.

I know I can bind it, but the thought of rebinding every command and then being dependent on towing the configuration to every computer I'd ever use scares me.

So I use it on occasion with the same artfulness as someone on crutches trying to dance.

Maybe someday someone will default an 'FPS' control layout.

raylu3• 13 years ago

Managing configuration on multiple computers is a pretty easy problem to solve. http://git.raylu.net/dotfiles/tree/

gnosis2• 13 years ago

The best way to learn to use vim's hjkl movement keys it to play nethack.

ominous_prime• 13 years ago

I always liked the way this answer was presented as vim via vi.

> Your problem with Vim is that you don't grok vi.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1218390/what-is-your-most...

kps• 13 years ago

If you have failed to grok vi[m], you need two things. First, to understand just a little of two other editors, ed and TECO. Second, to know that vi's real modes are not what the naïve user, and sadly most documentation, call ‘modes’; they are line mode (ed mode) and visual mode (TECO mode).

ed is a line editor based on search-and-replace using regular expressions. To edit existing text, you typically locate it with a search and change it with a replace. Sometimes you refer to nearby lines with .±n addressing, and sometimes by absolute line number (having printed a few lines with the ‘n’ command); and sometimes you change entire lines (with ‘c') rather than doing a replacement; but really, search-and-replace is where it's at. vi's line mode, which you enter with ‘Q’ or more commonly one-off with ‘:', is just ed on steroids.

TECO is a character stream oriented editor, or, if you prefer, a programming language for manipulating streams of text. http://scientopia.org/blogs/goodmath/2010/11/30/the-glorious... is a decent short introduction. TECO text manipulation functions have an optional count, a function name (one or two characters), and an optional argument terminated by ESC. That should already look familiar; vi's visual mode is watered-down TECO. Sure, many of the functions have different names — vim's ‘h’ and ‘l’ are TECO's ‘r’ and ‘c’ — but some are the same: ‘i’ followed by an argument (i.e. some text) terminated by ESC is the function that inserts its argument before the current editing point. It's counterproductive to think of vi as having an ‘insert mode’ and ‘append mode’ and ‘replace mode’ and ‘substitute mode’ and whatnot, just as it would be conterproductive to think of the x in sin(x)² + cos(x)² as being in ‘sine mode’ or ‘cosine mode’.

Spend an hour with ed and an hour with TECO, and you'll begin to grok vi.

mortehu• 13 years ago

If you're spending a significant amount of time navigating with with arrows keys or hjkl, maybe you should switch on incremental search and start using /[FOO], ?[FOO], t[FOO], b, w, %, ^ and $ more. It's highly unlikely that character-by-character movement will be the fastest way to navigate.

Alt+character is the same as Esc followed by character if you want to speed up your escaping without using a non-standard keyboard layout.

http://i.stack.imgur.com/uq2M1.jpg

bcl• 13 years ago

Go one step further. Try to stop using hjkl

I am not even close to being able to do this yet, but I keep reminding myself to use other movement commands and search instead. Eventually it will be faster.

If you have failed to grok vim, ditch the arrow keys

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