Ctrl+U in emacs when using evil key bindings

Question

I'm using the wonderful evil package for vim bindings in emacs.

The one key that is not right is Ctrl+U. It is still the emacs prefix, rather than "up".

Does anybody have a solution for that in some lisp code for my .emacs?

Thanks.

Answer 1

there is a variable that you can add to your .emacs

(setq evil-want-C-u-scroll t)

it needs to appear before the call to (require 'evil).

Answer 2

Alternatively, it's easy enough to define your own keybindings, and the evil API is rich enough to make it super easy:

(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up)
(define-key evil-visual-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up)
(define-key evil-insert-state-map (kbd "C-u")
  (lambda ()
    (interactive)
    (evil-delete (point-at-bol) (point))))

I had to go this route as evil-want-C-u-scroll wasn't functioning correctly for me.

Answer 3

In order to get bling's answer to work for anyone useing John Wiegley's use-package, make sure you define it in the :init section, like so:

(use-package evil
 :ensure t
 :init
 (setq evil-want-C-u-scroll t)
 :config
 (evil-mode 1)
 ;; snip...
)

HTH

Answer 4

Vim's C-u is half-screen page up. I replicated it using the following,

(define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up)

From C-h f evil-scroll-up,

(evil-scroll-up COUNT)

Scrolls the window and the cursor COUNT lines upwards. The default is half the screen.

Answer 5

The vim's C-u is not 'previous-line, it's more like page up. I don't know how to replicate the exact behavior, but you could just try C-b (evil-scroll-page-up) or map C-k, C-j to go up/down 10 lines.

(global-set-key (kbd "C-k") (lambda () (interactive) (previous-line 10)))
(global-set-key (kbd "C-j") (lambda () (interactive) (next-line 10)))

The C-u key is also quite important to Emacs so you probably shouldn't overwrite it anyway.

Answer 6

To add to melleb's answer, I also defined the key combination when evil-want-C-u-scroll:

(use-package evil
:ensure t
:init
(setq evil-want-C-u-scroll t)

(when evil-want-C-u-scroll
   (define-key evil-insert-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up)
   (define-key evil-normal-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up)
   (define-key evil-visual-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up)
   (define-key evil-motion-state-map (kbd "C-u") 'evil-scroll-up))

:config
(evil-mode 1)
...
)

This works for GNU Emacs 24.4.1

Answer 7

First, to answer your question:

(define-key evil-insert-state-map  "\C-u" 'previous-line)
(define-key evil-normal-state-map  "\C-u" 'previous-line)
(define-key evil-replace-state-map "\C-u" 'previous-line)
(define-key evil-visual-state-map  "\C-u" 'previous-line)
(define-key evil-motion-state-map "\C-u" 'previous-line)

Since I can't really test myself (no evil), try maybe the following if those do not work:

Replace

(define-key evil-motion-state-map "\C-u" 'previous-line)

With

(define-key evil-motion-state-map "cu" 'previous-line)

Do this for whichever mode of evil you want it/it is neccessary.

Furthermore, maybe there is an "evil" version of up, you might want to bind that instead.

Also, correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure evil 'ships' with a functional/useful "up" somewhere in those keybindings, maybe read up on it somewhere.