How to use cursor keys in vi under screen?

Question

If you run vi/vim in screen, when you press a cursor in insert mode, you get a new line + a character, which is a pain.

How can I configure vim to move around instead?

on what platform(s)? I run connections to solaris via screen on my linux boxes, and have never seen this :) — warren, Mar 03 '10 at 19:33

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 03 '10 at 16:32

4

Put the following in you ~/.exrc file

map! ^[OA ^[ka
map! ^[OB ^[ja
map! ^[OD ^[i
map! ^[OC ^[la

Note: ^[ is the “ctrl-v Esc” key presses. Copy and paste will not work.

answered Mar 03 '10 at 16:32

Tim Abell

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score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 03 '10 at 16:37

2

Start vi with

vim

instead of

vi

as vim isn't affected by this issue!

answered Mar 03 '10 at 16:37

Tim Abell

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4

I assure you vim is definitely affected by this. – ScaryAardvark Apr 13 '12 at 12:40
It could be an ubuntu/debian thing I suppose, maybe the config is different. I'd forgotten about this problem! – Tim Abell Apr 16 '12 at 09:51
Vim isn't affected by this on Ubuntu 18.04, so the question now would be 'How do you turn off all the annoyingly garish colors in vim' or better 'How to avoid using vim by allowing cursor functionality in vi' – Hektor Aug 14 '20 at 23:45

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 04 '10 at 04:15

2

Arrow keys are nice, but you should try to get used to using "hjkl" to move around in vi. This always works, so you won't need to worry about changing the config file on every system where you have this problem.

answered Mar 04 '10 at 04:15

brianmathis

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 01 '18 at 14:47

0

"Get used to "hjkl"" : the best answer. Saving yet another customisation to keep track of.

answered Jun 01 '18 at 14:47

JPGConnolly

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How to use cursor keys in vi under screen?

4 Answers4