5 ms·

On a modern PC, Esc key is Esc key... whatever the application wants to use it for (99% time, cancel some UI operation). To me it's insane that one of the most

On a modern PC, Esc key is Esc key... whatever the application wants to use it for (99% time, cancel some UI operation). To me it's insane that one of the most used key command has a 1 second delay in the terminal. Or that typically Esc + some function/arrow key results in some junk.

blueflow 3y ago
If you type in junk into the keyboard, junk is what you get on the screen. I see the fault with the developers that overload the keys for existing control characters with a different meaning. > whatever the application wants to use it for With the application being a terminal emulator, that is emitting an ESC character.
bityard 3y ago
> one of the most used key command Found the vim user! The vast, _vast_ majority of Unix command-line or text-based programs do not use the Esc key because they were not written with a particular terminal or keyboard layout in mind. (Unlike vim.) But for whatever it's worth, I use vim every day and I notice no 1 second delay when switching modes with the Esc key, so perhaps this is something you can configure in your terminal.
- mfontani 3y ago
  Ctrl + [ instead of Esc gets one back into normal mode, with no delay Takes a while getting used to it (I still haven't)
  - matvore 3y ago
    What does `Ctrl + [` send to the terminal for you if not esc? In my experience these are always the same, so Vim shouldn't be able to tell the difference unless it's a GUI-integrated version like gVim. Try to run `xxd` and then press Ctrl-V and either Ctrl+[ or Esc, then Enter and Ctrl+D. Typical terminal setups will show the same codes both times (1b0a for esc and \n). Alt+Space (or Alt+J Alt+K Alt+B to go up, down, left one word from current position after returning to normal mode) is what I often do which should work universally.
- matvore 3y ago
  > I notice no 1 second delay when switching modes with the Esc key, so perhaps > this is something you can configure in your terminal. This is configurable in Vim. ttimeoutlen, timeoutlen, and noesckeys are pertinent. tmux et al may also need tweaking.
MatthiasPortzel 3y ago
Is your terminal emulator waiting for a second input before sending Esc? That’s not a common behavior AFAIK.
- blueflow 3y ago
  No, its waiting for input after sending escape. Escape + character is how you reach the C1 control codes, with CSI and OSC (ESC + '[' and ESC + ']') being popular ones (both referred to in the posted article). This is relevant for keyboard input (as contrasted to output-only) since some codes for special keys (like arrow keys) start with CSI. Edit: You asked about the terminal emulator, but its the console application that has to do the wait.
  - hnlmorg 3y ago
    Are you using something like tmux: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/608142/whats-the-effect-of-escape-time-in-tmux https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/608142/whats-the-ef...

blueflow 3y ago

If you type in junk into the keyboard, junk is what you get on the screen. I see the fault with the developers that overload the keys for existing control characters with a different meaning. > whatever the application wants to use it for With the application being a terminal emulator, that is emitting an ESC character.

bityard 3y ago

> one of the most used key command Found the vim user! The vast, _vast_ majority of Unix command-line or text-based programs do not use the Esc key because they were not written with a particular terminal or keyboard layout in mind. (Unlike vim.) But for whatever it's worth, I use vim every day and I notice no 1 second delay when switching modes with the Esc key, so perhaps this is something you can configure in your terminal.

mfontani 3y ago
Ctrl + [ instead of Esc gets one back into normal mode, with no delay Takes a while getting used to it (I still haven't)
- matvore 3y ago
  What does `Ctrl + [` send to the terminal for you if not esc? In my experience these are always the same, so Vim shouldn't be able to tell the difference unless it's a GUI-integrated version like gVim. Try to run `xxd` and then press Ctrl-V and either Ctrl+[ or Esc, then Enter and Ctrl+D. Typical terminal setups will show the same codes both times (1b0a for esc and \n). Alt+Space (or Alt+J Alt+K Alt+B to go up, down, left one word from current position after returning to normal mode) is what I often do which should work universally.
matvore 3y ago
> I notice no 1 second delay when switching modes with the Esc key, so perhaps > this is something you can configure in your terminal. This is configurable in Vim. ttimeoutlen, timeoutlen, and noesckeys are pertinent. tmux et al may also need tweaking.

MatthiasPortzel 3y ago

Is your terminal emulator waiting for a second input before sending Esc? That’s not a common behavior AFAIK.

blueflow 3y ago
No, its waiting for input after sending escape. Escape + character is how you reach the C1 control codes, with CSI and OSC (ESC + '[' and ESC + ']') being popular ones (both referred to in the posted article). This is relevant for keyboard input (as contrasted to output-only) since some codes for special keys (like arrow keys) start with CSI. Edit: You asked about the terminal emulator, but its the console application that has to do the wait.
- hnlmorg 3y ago
  Are you using something like tmux: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/608142/whats-the-effect-of-escape-time-in-tmux https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/608142/whats-the-ef...