Ask HN: Have you remapped the Caps Lock key? [Poll] | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Have you remapped the Caps Lock key? [Poll]

28 pointsrobinh64 comments

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.

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Remapped 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.

I'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.

I 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 ⌨.)

Like a lot of folks here, I've remapped to CTRL.

I'm a vim and tmux guy, so that's my motivation.

If 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)

I 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>)

imap jj <Esc> is a brilliant idea, thanks!

I've been tempted to experiment with this workflow after reading another[0] post here.

I'm actually quite happy with my current setup but handling meta keys on my MPB is frustrating. Having ESC be closer is a nice thing to have.

Thanks for the reminder.

I'm a vim guy and I did both (Capslock is Esc when pressed and let go, ctrl when held down). Best of both worlds.

How did you do that? I use a Macbook Pro with OS X 10.9 (Mavericks).

KeyRemap4MacBook. https://coderwall.com/p/63nzva

I just wanted to say thanks! This works like a charm.

I use Ctrl+C to get out of insert mode. Also a diehard Programmer Dvorak user.

; is pretty useful in vim though, it repeats your last motion.

Just 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.

I'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

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

I think the responses to this poll will be quite self selecting, with 'yes' vastly overrepresented.

At the moment, I am surprised by how even the votes are. (~10% more remappers.)

I 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"

I'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/

Using 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

Have 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/#happ...

Combined with ShiftIt, I can approximate a primitive keyboard-controlled tiling window manager on the Mac: https://github.com/fikovnik/ShiftIt

I 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.

On 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?

As 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.

Preach 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.

> Anyone know how I can remap the Caps Lock key this way on a Mac?

Try keyremap4macbook: https://pqrs.org/macosx/keyremap4macbook/

I 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.

Yes, 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.

I 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.

I 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.

My 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. :)

NO BECAUSE IT'S USEFUL.

(also doesn't that little green light with no meaning bug you?)

I 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.

More than once this week that key has nearly killed me in minecraft.

Yes, 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! :)

Remapped Caps Lock to backspace. Using "jj" in vim for escape.

I would, but caps lock is not an issue on the Kinesis Advantage.

I 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.

Emacs works out of the box. I'd probably do the same for vim.

I have the dvorak version.

I've got both qwerty and dvorak printed on the caps. I use dvorak though.

Yes, they don't have Dvorak only.

I map Caps Lock to Escape. Makes using Vim much nicer for me.

Me 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.

I remapped CapsLock to Control, but I kept the Control key unchanged because hitting Control+Alt+Command is so convenient this way on a Mac.

I use happy hacking pro 2. There is no caps lock :)

Yes there is. It's Fn-TAB.

Yes, I use it to switch keyboard language layout

Remapped to Ctrl. I use ctrl+a/e/n/p/b/f constantly instead of arrow keys.

i think almost all 'emacs' guys has remapped CP to ctrl

Cntrl when pressed with another key, Esc when pressed and released on its own. Perfect.

Cool! 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

Remapped it to Control because Control is hard to reach on a MacBook keyboard.

My Leopold 660M has a DIP switch that swaps Caps Lock and Ctrl. So necessary.

ESC

It 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?

mapped 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

On my Macbook Air I have remapped the eject key to forward delete.

control 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.

No. I use a remapped layout but caps lock is just caps lock.

Use of caps lock as control.

Colemak did that for me

Remapped to backspace

What a bloody good idea.

I just did.

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