Vimscript: how do you map backspace or delete keys?

Question

Does anyone know how to map the backspace and delete keys in Vimscript?

If you do :ctrl-k and then press a key, vim will tell you how it's known to vim; i.e. <BS> and <Del>. What are you trying to do? — Fredrik Pihl
– Fredrik Pihl, Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 14:09
@Frederik : You should turn your comment into an answer. In insert mode, you can also use ctrl-v to insert the key alias (in a vim script for example) — Xavier T.
– Xavier T., Commented Jun 30, 2011 at 14:04
Refer to :help key-mapping, particularly :help map-special-keys for a thorough explanation. — Max Cantor
– Max Cantor, Commented Aug 2, 2011 at 21:39

Freedom_Ben · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-28 23:39:44Z

28

From Normal mode, you can type : then Press Ctrl+k followed by any key, and vim will tell you how to reference it. For example, from normal mode typing : then pressing Ctrl+k and pressing Backspace results in:

:<BS>

Then you can remap like normal:

:map <BS> :echo 'You pressed backspace!'<CR>
:map <Del> :echo 'You pressed Delete!'<CR>

Obviously you'll want to do something more useful than that, so change the part from :echo onward. Here is a helpful tutorial to get started if you are new to remapping keys in vim.

edited Jun 28, 2018 at 23:39

answered Dec 9, 2017 at 4:51

Freedom_Ben

12.2k10 gold badges82 silver badges95 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Xavier Nicollet · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-29 22:15:59Z

5

imap <Bs> BACK
imap <Del> DELETE

answered Sep 29, 2016 at 22:15

Xavier Nicollet

3536 silver badges12 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Vimscript: how do you map backspace or delete keys?

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related