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Gear Keyboards macOS

Mapping Ctrl-hjkl to arrow keys on macOS

After mapping my Caps Lock key to work double duties as both Esc and Control I soon wondered how it would be like if I could have Control-hjkl act as arrow keys, full Vim style. Turns out it’s not that hard:

  1. Install Hammerspoon
  2. Open it’s config file and add the following setup:
local function pressFn(mods, key)
	if key == nil then
		key = mods
		mods = {}
	end

	return function() hs.eventtap.keyStroke(mods, key, 1000) end
end

local function remap(mods, key, pressFn)
	hs.hotkey.bind(mods, key, pressFn, nil, pressFn)	
end


remap({'ctrl'}, 'h', pressFn('left'))
remap({'ctrl'}, 'j', pressFn('down'))
remap({'ctrl'}, 'k', pressFn('up'))
remap({'ctrl'}, 'l', pressFn('right'))

remap({'ctrl', 'shift'}, 'h', pressFn({'shift'}, 'left'))
remap({'ctrl', 'shift'}, 'j', pressFn({'shift'}, 'down'))
remap({'ctrl', 'shift'}, 'k', pressFn({'shift'}, 'up'))
remap({'ctrl', 'shift'}, 'l', pressFn({'shift'}, 'right'))

remap({'ctrl', 'cmd'}, 'h', pressFn({'cmd'}, 'left'))
remap({'ctrl', 'cmd'}, 'j', pressFn({'cmd'}, 'down'))
remap({'ctrl', 'cmd'}, 'k', pressFn({'cmd'}, 'up'))
remap({'ctrl', 'cmd'}, 'l', pressFn({'cmd'}, 'right'))

remap({'ctrl', 'alt'}, 'h', pressFn({'alt'}, 'left'))
remap({'ctrl', 'alt'}, 'j', pressFn({'alt'}, 'down'))
remap({'ctrl', 'alt'}, 'k', pressFn({'alt'}, 'up'))
remap({'ctrl', 'alt'}, 'l', pressFn({'alt'}, 'right'))

remap({'ctrl', 'shift', 'cmd'}, 'h', pressFn({'shift', 'cmd'}, 'left'))
remap({'ctrl', 'shift', 'cmd'}, 'j', pressFn({'shift', 'cmd'}, 'down'))
remap({'ctrl', 'shift', 'cmd'}, 'k', pressFn({'shift', 'cmd'}, 'up'))
remap({'ctrl', 'shift', 'cmd'}, 'l', pressFn({'shift', 'cmd'}, 'right'))

remap({'ctrl', 'shift', 'alt'}, 'h', pressFn({'shift', 'alt'}, 'left'))
remap({'ctrl', 'shift', 'alt'}, 'j', pressFn({'shift', 'alt'}, 'down'))
remap({'ctrl', 'shift', 'alt'}, 'k', pressFn({'shift', 'alt'}, 'up'))
remap({'ctrl', 'shift', 'alt'}, 'l', pressFn({'shift', 'alt'}, 'right'))

remap({'ctrl', 'cmd', 'alt'}, 'h', pressFn({'cmd', 'alt'}, 'left'))
remap({'ctrl', 'cmd', 'alt'}, 'j', pressFn({'cmd', 'alt'}, 'down'))
remap({'ctrl', 'cmd', 'alt'}, 'k', pressFn({'cmd', 'alt'}, 'up'))
remap({'ctrl', 'cmd', 'alt'}, 'l', pressFn({'cmd', 'alt'}, 'right'))

remap({'ctrl', 'cmd', 'alt', 'shift'}, 'h', pressFn({'cmd', 'alt', 'shift'}, 'left'))
remap({'ctrl', 'cmd', 'alt', 'shift'}, 'j', pressFn({'cmd', 'alt', 'shift'}, 'down'))
remap({'ctrl', 'cmd', 'alt', 'shift'}, 'k', pressFn({'cmd', 'alt', 'shift'}, 'up'))
remap({'ctrl', 'cmd', 'alt', 'shift'}, 'l', pressFn({'cmd', 'alt', 'shift'}, 'right'))

Source: kkamdooong/hammerspoon-control-hjkl-to-arrow

(I copied and pasted it here mainly for myself so I have it available the next time I need it.)