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Comment by oelmekki | Hacker News Reader

On linux, I don't use ESC at all anymore, I just press alt + [a normal mode key], while in insert mode. Like `alt + j`, which will leave insert mode and move one line down.

Some alt based sequences are really useful:

* alt + e, a : leave current parenthesis and continue inserting (eg, while typing parameters for a function)

* alt + shift + a : insert mode at the end of current line

* alt + shift + i : insert mode at the beginning of current line, with indentation

* alt + p, a : paste before current position, and continue inserting

Maybe there's a modifier key with a similar behavior on macosx?

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>On linux, I don't use ESC at all anymore, I just press alt + [a normal mode key], while in insert mode. Like `alt + j`, which will leave insert mode and move one line down.

Why does that work? Is it because Alt + some_key combos generate an escape sequence starting with the actual ESC character? I know that happens with many function key combos, don't remember or not sure about Alt combos.

This sounds plausible, but I have really no idea of why it works :) I found it by doing a mistype (like it often happens in vim), and didn't see it mentioned in any article that would try to get to the bottom of it yet.

>I found it by doing a mistype (like it often happens in vim)

Ha, I probably found it by some similar way, maybe in vim or maybe in DOS / Windows / Linux at the command prompt or in some curses or terminal application.

>* alt + shift + a : insert mode at the end of current line

Is that different from just Shift-a or capital A, which puts you into append mode at the end of the current line (no matter where you are on the line when you press it)?

yep, it does a 'A' in normal mode, after leaving the insert mode (thanks to alt). The different thing is that you do it (alt+shift+a) in insert mode. So the equivalent would be `ESC, A`.

Then I guess that the Alt key generates an ESC char (ASCII code 27 [1]). Seems to tie in with the fact that Emacs docs say that you can use either Alt or ESC for the Meta key - which is used a lot in Emacs commands (IIRC - I am not an Emacs user, just had tried it out earlier and think I remember reading read that).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esc_key

I see. thanks for sharing!

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