_____                  _____                          
 | ____|__ _ ___ _   _  | ____|___  ___ __ _ _ __   ___ 
 |  _| / _` / __| | | | |  _| / __|/ __/ _` | '_ \ / _ \
 | |__| (_| \__ \ |_| | | |___\__ \ (_| (_| | |_) |  __/
 |_____\__,_|___/\__, | |_____|___/\___\__,_| .__/ \___|
                 |___/                      |_|

Pull out your Escape key!

<ESC>/<C-[>/<C-C> is hard to press? Try vim-easyescape! vim-easyescape makes exiting insert mode easy and distraction free.

Traditionally, we need to use

inoremap jk <Esc>
inoremap kj <Esc>

or

inoremap jj <Esc>

so that we can press jk simultaneously (in arbitrary order since we have two maps) or press j twice to exit the insert mode. However, a problem with such map sequence is that Vim will pause whenever you type j or k in insert mode (it is waiting for the next key to determine whether to apply the mapping). The pause causes visual distraction which you may or may not notice.

vim-easyescape does not have such problem and supports custom timeout.

Use your favourite plugin manager, e.g., vim-plug:

Plug "zhou13/vim-easyescape"

The unit of timeout is in ms. A very small timeout makes an input of real jk or kj possible (Python3 is required for this feature)!

let g:easyescape_chars = { "j": 1, "k": 1 }
let g:easyescape_timeout = 100
cnoremap jk <ESC>
cnoremap kj <ESC>

let g:easyescape_chars = { "j": 2 }
let g:easyescape_timeout = 100
cnoremap jj <ESC>

autocmd FileType text,markdown call setbufvar(bufnr("%"), 'easyescape_disable', 1)

Python3 is required if timeout (g:easyescape_timeout) is less than 2000 ms because vim does not provide a way to fetch sub-second time.

1. Maps of keys in g:easyescape_chars need to be created.
2. Does not work in command/visual mode due to lack of InsertCharPre in vim/nvim.