Right! Real vi users have a foot pedal for escape.

:__)

*yes, fingers pointing at me

I think most people actually remap to the ~ key, or if they're extreme they'll use tab. On my keyboard Escape already came as the ~ key and you have to use fn to access ~ or `.

The ergonomics of moving it closer far outweigh any benefits from it being physical vs touchscreen.

Remap caps-lock to escape and you're good to go! Or remap capslock to control and use Ctrl-[. Or use karabiner and remap capslock to control-when-held and escape-when-pressed-quickly.

AutoHotkey can do this "caps lock as both escape and control" thing too. I use this, from http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Map_caps_lock_to_escape_in_Windows :

  ; Author: fwompner gmail com
  #InstallKeybdHook
  SetCapsLockState, alwaysoff
  Capslock::
  Send {LControl Down}
  KeyWait, CapsLock
  Send {LControl Up}
  if ( A_PriorKey = "CapsLock" )
  {
      Send {Esc}
  }
  return

When I first started using Emacs, I used to joke that with all the various modifiers and prefix keys for escapes that it was just a generation away from needing foot pedals.

Or they use ctrl+c

Right. I've been a long time vim user and I don't really use the escape key while vim-ing. I use ctrl+c.

don't you mean toe pedal?

Mapping the sequence 'jk' to Esc supercharged vim for me. Faster, but also helps me stay in the flow longer.

Run `:inoremap jk <Esc>` to try it out.

add in kj too and you can just press both keys at the same time and it will work like it was just one key press. the added benefit is that it's basically a no-op from the standpoint of vim too just in case you were already in normal mode.

I wonder if any people remap hjkl to jkl;. Having to shift my hands one key over always annoyed me.

'jk' are on the strongest two fingers on the right hand home row, since that's what you'll be doing the most. 'h' can be hit once or twice with no real effort, but there are better ways to move left and right within a line, such as `bBeEfFwWIA`. I also remap `H` and 'L' to move all the way to either end of the line, but I might be doing it wrong

I just use my index finger for both j and h. Are you used to the arrow keys? I noticed with jkl;, my fingers line up with the arrow-key directions.

On the keyboards vi was designed for, Escape was positioned where the Caps Lock key is now on modern US-101 keyboards. May as well just map it there.

I'm puzzled by this claim.

The keyboard for the ADM-3A shows a Ctrl key to the left of A. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADM-3A#Hardware

The VT100 shows CAPS LOCK to the left of A. https://vt100.net/docs/vt100-ug/chapter1.html#S1.1

So on which visual terminal was ESC to the left of A? Or are you perhaps referring to ex, an antecedent of vi, which was designed for hardcopy terminals? If so, which hardcopy terminal had ESC to the left of A? I've looked at the images for some and can't find that.

You’re right. Next to Q is correct, still more reachable than it is now. Now Tab is in that position and we’re used to that.

Some of us just have big hands. :3

i am a real vi user its not too far I use esc

I think the parent was a bit tongue-in-cheek. It's in reference to the keyboard layout vi was developed with and the fact many vi users are obsessed with keeping their fingers on/near the home row (much like, "a /real/ vi user doesn't use the mouse"). Ctrl-[ is an equivalent to ESC on American English keyboards.

https://dave.cheney.net/2017/08/21/the-here-is-key

https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Avoid_the_escape_key#Avoiding_th...