Colabtools: Exit cell from vim

[marskar]

Bug report for Colab: http://colab.research.google.com/.

For questions about colab usage, please use stackoverflow.

• Describe the current behavior:
  Cannot exit cell after choosing vim editor mode (described here #59).

• Describe the expected behavior:
  There should be a shortcut (e.g. Shift+Esc) to leave the current cell.

• The web browser you are using (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.):
  Chrome

[katlyn-edwards]

Hey! Thanks for filling feedback and using Vim mode!

Just to be super clear about the bug, is the desired end state that a shortcut (like Shift+Esc) leaves the editor, and puts focus on the cell as a whole?

You can see the different focus levels by doing the following:
Loading up the welcome notebook (or any notebook), you're dropped into "cell" level focus. The editor is not shown, and up/down keys hop between cells.

Pressing "enter" will drop you into "editor" mode, where the code / markdown editor is shown.

With default keyboard shortcuts, I believe Esc will leave editor mode, and return to cell mode. With Vim, what I observe is that no such equivalent exists, thus the need for Shift+Esc.

Let me know if I'm reading into it correctly.

[marskar]

Yes, you are 100% correct.
You described the issue much better than I ever could 😄

[ZacMonroe]

Currently the only way I see to exit Insert mode (and go to Normal (Vim) mode) is by running an :imap <Something> <Esc> command before going into insert for the first time (but this seems to be needed after each page reload).

Something else that would be nice is to have something like a .vimrc file, or at least a memory of the commands that have been run (e.g. remappings), and mappings such as :nnoremap <A> <B> (non-recursive, in the case of wanting to switch the functionality of two keymappings).

[ddalex]

@ZacMonroe I can exit Insert and move to Normal by hitting Esc. I think this issue talks about an extra mode, "cell level", which allows manipulation at cell level using the keybindings (select, move, merge, etc...). A similar 3-mode is present in Jupyter-Vim-Binding https://github.com/lambdalisue/jupyter-vim-binding

For people looking to exit to cell level in colab using the vim mode, what I do is use Ctrl-N (key binding for Next Cell, you can customize in the Ctrl-M, H panel) that takes the mode to cell level.

[marskar]

@ddalex, like @katlyn-edwards, you described the issue much better than I ever could 😄
In addition to Jupyter-Vim-Binding, the 3 modes (outside Vim mode, normal inside, insert inside) are also present in jupyterlab-vim. Both use Shift+Esc to exit Vim mode.
Ctrl-N indeed moves me to the next cell, but it only works consistently in insert mode and I have to be in the last line in the cell and it only sometimes takes me out of Vim mode. I found out that I can also move to previous cell with Ctrl-p, but similarly it only works consistently in insert mode and I have to be in the first line in the cell and it only sometimes takes me out of Vim mode.

[tcapelle]

do we have a fix for this?
I am loving VIM mode, bu I am unable to move out of VIM to cell mode.

[maisonhai3]

Totally agree to add a way to exit focus a cell with vim mode.

While using vim, only ESC can not exit to not-in-a-cell status.

[mindyourbots]

Another vote to ask for a fix> I also cannot figure out how to exit "Normal" mode into "cell mode to navigate to different cells. If anyone knows of hack lemme know. Even using CTRL-M-A to try to add another cell automatically drops me in "Normal" mode -cheers.

[RichardLee0211]

the same issue with me. Is there a short cut to move focus between cells, create new cells, and delete cells.

[lun-moon]

Here is a console/javascript hack to change keyboard F2 into a way to remove focus (blur) from a VIM cell in colab (if you find yourself stuck in a cell and want out, hit F2)

    function release2(e){
      if(e.keyCode == 113){
        document.activeElement.blur()
      }
    }
    document.addEventListener('keydown', release2);

reference: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document/keydown_event
https://docs.cypress.io/api/commands/blur.html#Syntax

[JanKaifer]

@lun-moon blur() didn't work for me.
But this double combo works for me: ctrl+click and then arrow up. That always takes me to the cell mode.

But so far I was not able to create a JS snippet that would simulate this behavior.

@katlyn-edwards any updates?

[nikisix]

Shift+Esc please!

Trying to set Unfocus Current Cell to Shift+Esc manually, gives: Ignoring protected or invalid key sequence Shift+Esc.

[nikisix]

This is a separate issue, but in vim-mode one expects O/o for new cell above/below. Forcing Ctrl+m a/b in cell-level normal mode is monstrous.

Please see https://github.com/lambdalisue/jupyter-vim-binding for inspiration 🙏

[mskar]

Please see https://github.com/lambdalisue/jupyter-vim-binding for inspiration 🙏
The JupyterLab equivalent of the jupyter-vim-binding extension is https://github.com/jwkvam/jupyterlab-vim
Both Jupyter extensions use Shift-Esc to go from Jupyter edit mode to Jupyter command mode.