VSCodeVim / VSCodeVim/Vim

Don't move back 1 character when exiting Insert mode

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#7,548 7 comments 2 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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area/not-vim-core area/vimrc kind/enhancement
Dominant language
TypeScript
Stars
15.2k
Forks
1.5k
Avg merge
3d 18h
Merged PRs (30d)
6

Description

To replicate, write a sentence like

hello world

then move the cursor to the end of a line and repeatedly type i, Esc, i, Esc (i.e. enter and exit insert mode). The cursor will eventually end up at the beginning of the line instead of staying where it started.

Describe the solution you'd like
I would like a config option like

"vim.moveCursorBack": false,

that would keep the cursor where it is when exiting insert mode (default to true).

Describe alternatives you've considered
I think I could use NeoVim integration because there's definitely ways of configuring it to behave this way, I think I do it with autocmd InsertLeave * :normal `^. See https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Prevent_escape_from_moving_the_cursor_one_character_to_the_left#Programmatic_Alternative

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Research direction

Reproduce the issue in VS Code by moving to the end of a line and repeatedly entering and exiting Insert mode. Locate the Insert-mode exit handling and configuration declarations, then verify that a new option preserves the cursor position when disabled while the default behavior remains unchanged.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript, vscode
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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