HJKL

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#233

From: utzoodecvaxucbvaxC70editor-peopl...
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1982 02:27

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>From LAWS@SRI-AI Tue Jun 15 02:24:32 1982
A note on the VI use of hjkl for cursor control:

Evidently this got started because ASCII uses control-J for
linefeed.  Various software and hardware designers have thus
built their cursor arrows around ^J for downward movement.
(Or possibly ASCII picked it up from a cursor system?)  The
VI system uses hjkl for left/down/up/right, but I generally
use the space bar for right motion.  I have also seen cursor
arrows in a left/right/up/down or up/down/left/right pattern,
but no linear arrangement can be as satisfactory as a 2-D one.
The best ^J pattern would seem to be hujk for left/up/down/right,
although that does mean moving off the home keys.  Even better
is to forget ^J altogether.  I once built an 8-direction pad
using the 8 keys around j, but it wasn't very satisfactory.

					-- Ken Laws
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From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!C70:editor-people
Newsgroups: fa.editor-p
Title: HJKL
Article-I.D.: ucb.1357
Posted: Tue Jun 15 02:27:30 1982
Received: Wed Jun 16 03:54:04 1982
Subject: HJKL
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1982 02:27:30 +0000
Message-ID: <bnews.ucb.1357>