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Ask HN: Have you remapped the Caps Lock key? [Poll]
A submission to Hacker News on remapping the Caps Lock key (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6969401) got me curious. From the thread, it looked as if most people remap their Caps Lock key to something else. Since these answers may be heavily biased (it was a thread about remapping that key, after all), here's a poll.
If you want to, please provide any alternate mapping you're using in the comments.
- alisnic 13y agoColemak did that for me
- alefteris 13y agoRemapped Caps Lock to backspace. Using "jj" in vim for escape.
- dionyziz 13y agoESC
- cge 13y agoIt seems everyone else here has it mapped to Ctrl, and here we are with it mapped to Esc... is there something I don't know? Esc works wonderfully with Vim, even better than Ctrl-[, but perhaps there's some other reason?
- keikun17 13y agomapped it to ESC because im using a mech keyboard who's ctrl is reachable by my pinky. I tried remapping it to ctrl, and mapped 'jk' for esc in vim but it didn't work that well for me
- Nic0 13y agoI'm using a TypeMatrix[1] keyboard, the Caps Lock key is not at the same place that usual keyboards. therefore I didn't remapped that key. [1]: http://www.typematrix.com/ http://www.typematrix.com/
- olalonde 13y agoRemapped it to Control because Control is hard to reach on a MacBook keyboard.
- cypherpunks01 13y agoI've found Ctrl to be far and away the best remapping, especially for Mac keyboards where the Ctrl key is extremely small and awkward to type. Protip: In all recent versions of OSX you can natively remap Caps Lock and other keys via System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Modifier Keys.
- josteink 13y agocontrol key. Not so because reaching it is hard on a normal keyboard (as opposed to Mac wtfness), but because I never intentionally use caps lock and accidentally enabling it is annoying.
- crtstartup 13y agoI use happy hacking pro 2. There is no caps lock :)
- jrockway 13y agoYes there is. It's Fn-TAB.
- javert 13y agoI use it as the main part of all the chords I use to control window manager functionality under dwm. e.g. Caps+<J/K/H/L> to move between windows or workspaces, Caps+Enter to open a terminal, etc. Technically, I think I have it remapped to Ctrl, but that's just an implementation detail.
- richardw 13y agoNo. I use a remapped layout but caps lock is just caps lock.
- hibbelig 13y agoI remapped CapsLock to Control, but I kept the Control key unchanged because hitting Control+Alt+Command is so convenient this way on a Mac.
- eru 13y agoI would, but caps lock is not an issue on the Kinesis Advantage.
- clarry 13y agoI use the Advantage Pro. I map it to ESC (vi!), the default thumb keys are ok for Control. The rubbery little ESC on the Kinesis is crap.
- mintplant 13y agoI map Caps Lock to Escape. Makes using Vim much nicer for me.
- calvins 13y agoMe too. I also map Escape to Caps Lock, for the very rare occasion that Caps Lock is actually needed (one a year, maybe). Escape is actually really useful for things other than switching modes in Vim, as it's often the default 'cancel that' binding that closes windows and cancels something you've started.
- mpweiher 13y agoRemapped to have the control key positioned where God and Digital Equipment Corporation intended it to be (and the Apple II, Amiga, Atari ST, ...). The position below the shift key is the product of a malevolent conspiracy by the suits (IBM!) to keep programmer productivity in check and cause RSI.
- jcampbell1 13y agoRemapped to Ctrl. I use ctrl+a/e/n/p/b/f constantly instead of arrow keys.
- gethinzhang 13y agoi think almost all 'emacs' guys has remapped CP to ctrl
- jrmg 13y agoI think the responses to this poll will be quite self selecting, with 'yes' vastly overrepresented.
- DDR0 13y agoAt the moment, I am surprised by how even the votes are. (~10% more remappers.)
- mikegirouard 13y agoLike a lot of folks here, I've remapped to CTRL. I'm a vim and tmux guy, so that's my motivation.
- peedy 13y agoIf you are a vim guy, you are missing a lot by not remapping Capslock to Esc (system wide). I've even nnoremapped ; to : (from vimrc)
- jwpeddle 13y agoI used to think that, but I've found there's way more to gain with Ctrl and using ctrl+[ instead of escape (or imap jj <Esc>)
- peedy 13y agoimap jj <Esc> is a brilliant idea, thanks!
- ah- 13y ago; is pretty useful in vim though, it repeats your last motion.
- ryanthejuggler 13y agoI use Ctrl+C to get out of insert mode. Also a diehard Programmer Dvorak user.
- __--__ 13y agoI'm a vim guy and I did both (Capslock is Esc when pressed and let go, ctrl when held down). Best of both worlds.
- sixstringninja 13y agoHow did you do that? I use a Macbook Pro with OS X 10.9 (Mavericks).
- lake99 13y agoUsing the Win key often on my Linux laptop gave me an achy left thumb. This fixed my thumb: localectl set-x11-keymap us pc104 altgr-intl lv3:ralt_alt,caps:super,lv3:lwin_switch So, US-International, LAlt=Ralt, Caps->Win, Win->AltGr
- DDR0 13y agoI find caps lock useful for both typing CAPITAL_CONSTANTS and YELLING AT PEOPLE. I have remapped other keys, such as the the menu key to compose, and I usually use the super key to trigger custom key shortcuts. (Filed under ⌨.)
- almost 13y agoCntrl when pressed with another key, Esc when pressed and released on its own. Perfect.
- reneherse 13y agoCool! I decided to try this configuration. Easy directions on how to do it on OS X using both native settings and KeyRemap4MacBook: https://coderwall.com/p/63nzva https://coderwall.com/p/63nzva
- ricree 13y agoI have mine mapped to the compose key. Don't need it a ton, but it's nice to have it close by and convenient when I do. Would probably have been better as esc or ctrl, but I didn't feel like having to relearn the muscle memory for those keys.
- vijucat 13y agoI disabled Caps Lock so that by itself, it does nothing. I mapped CapsLock + hjkl to the arrow keys a la vim, and several other similar CapsLock + <something else> combos that make sense to me.
- sliverstorm 13y agoI loved remapping Capslock to Ctrl, but eventually gave up the ghost because the statefulness of Capslock was getting confused and I was having a hell of a time keeping my virtual sessions and master client session "in sync"
- comzeradd 13y agoYes, I use it to switch keyboard language layout
- Goosey 13y agoRemapped to backspace
- bitsofpancake 13y agoOn my laptop, I remapped it to be the left click button, and it changed my life. I used to find dragging windows and files around and selecting text such a pain with a touchpad, but with this remapping, I can do it really, really easily. I just use my left hand to click and my right hand to move the cursor. Try it! Anyone know how I can remap the Caps Lock key this way on a Mac?
- kbendyk 13y agoAs a Total Commander addict, I cannot believe some is still copying files using drag and drop, manually selecting files etc. There are some alternatives for a Mac as well. As far as remapping goes, I've remapped my right ctrl to delete. I delete a lot, and reaching to the far right corner of the keyboard was a pain.
- beernutz 13y agoPreach it brother! 8) I have been using Total Commander for YEARS and it is the first thing I load on a computer that does not already have it.
- msbarnett 13y ago> Anyone know how I can remap the Caps Lock key this way on a Mac? Try keyremap4macbook: https://pqrs.org/macosx/keyremap4macbook/ https://pqrs.org/macosx/keyremap4macbook/
- peterarmstrong 13y agoJust make it the Control key. Yeah, Emacs user. I assume if you use vi you'll remap it to Esc. Either way, you'll be happy.
- oddshocks 13y agoUse of caps lock as control.
- blissofbeing 13y agoYes, to backspace, and I recommend everyone do the same. Think about how many times a day you hit backspace, it makes no sense for it to be way up there on a pinky, move it to your home row and be happy! :)
- fyrabanks 13y agoMy Leopold 660M has a DIP switch that swaps Caps Lock and Ctrl. So necessary.
- bulltale 13y agoOn my Macbook Air I have remapped the eject key to forward delete.
- Daviey 13y agoMy Esc key broke, so it seemed logical to make use of the otherwise unused Caps lock key. It works perfectly, and I've got quite used to it... .. The problem is when I use a normal keyboard layout, and hit Caps lock in Vim and it doesn't DRT. :)
- andrewcooke 13y agoNO BECAUSE IT'S USEFUL. (also doesn't that little green light with no meaning bug you?)
- DArcMattr 13y agoI shy away from keyboards that have an indicator light built into the CAPS LOCK key, so no, I don't have the problem of the indicator bugging me.
- lurkinggrue 13y agoMore than once this week that key has nearly killed me in minecraft.
- thanatropism 13y agoYes, but not due to the traditional Control key positioning. Rather, I switch Tab for Caps Lock. Since I use bowl-design Kinesis keyboards both at home and at work, the usual position for Caps Lock (where I put Tab) is just a tad bit more comfortable for repeated pinky use.
- phaedrix 13y agoHave caps lock mapped to quick escape and control (i.e. tap for escape and hold down for control). Somewhat related, left-control is mapped to Hyper. This post was an inspiration: http://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/10/a-modern-space-cadet/#happy-hacking-keyboard-professional-2 http://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/10/a-modern-space-cadet/#happ... Combined with ShiftIt, I can approximate a primitive keyboard-controlled tiling window manager on the Mac: https://github.com/fikovnik/ShiftIt https://github.com/fikovnik/ShiftIt
- JohnTHaller 13y agoI've gone back and forth in the past. I put together a series of .REG files for Windows users so you can either disable caps lock, map it to a shift key, map it to CTRL or swap it with CTRL. Since they're .REG keys, you don't need to have a utility running in the background. The .REG to set things back to normal is included, too: http://johnhaller.com/useful-stuff/disable-caps-lock http://johnhaller.com/useful-stuff/disable-caps-lock If you're more adventurous, you can turn it into a Billy Mays Key so your PC says a fun Billy Mays phrase every time you press CAPS LOCK. It's also open source if you want to play with it: http://johnhaller.com/useful-stuff/billy-mays-caps-lock http://johnhaller.com/useful-stuff/billy-mays-caps-lock
- sls 13y agoI wouldn't reply just to say that I map caps lock to control, like so many others. Perhaps a poll that gave the most common remappings, and let people specify more unusual ones in the comments, would gather more respondents for the common ones.
- lurkinggrue 13y agoWhat a bloody good idea. I just did.