On german QWERTZ keyboards, you need to use shift to make : and !.
this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2025
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On US ones as well, I think they just put the relevant key-symbols and excluded the combination press as they can be assumed.
I have a custom keyboard with a QMK firmware. I enabled something called auto shift. It's the best. Just hold down the key you want shifted, and it auto shifts. I settled for enabling this for capital letters and symbols. So comfortable not to have to press the shift key.
So you hold down the first letter of each sentence longer so that it capitalizes rather than hold shift? That feels like it would completely mess with my flow when typing. Shift just happens naturally for me and I don't register I'm pushing it.
Exactly like that, yes. Or 1 for exclamation point, or 2 for @. Just like on a phone keyboard, with tap and hold for symbols and numbers and such.
I've had this keyboard for a few months now and I didn't enable it exactly for the reasons you mention.
I enabled it a few weeks ago now just to try it, and wow, I though I didn't notice myself pressing the shift key, that it "came naturally". Boy was I wrong. Now whenever I have to use the shift key it feels so cumbersome lol. Typing has become so comfortable now.
I use a ZSA Voyager for reference.
What if you wanna repeat a character?
I spam the key. But that is such an extremely rare case that it's worth the trade-off. The firmware also does allow you to add a key to toggle auto shifting on and off, so I could just add that if I want, but I don't see the need.
If I need to repeat a character many times in a text editor, I'd just use the features of the editor to do so. Helix or Neovim has you covered for repeating characters thousands of times and copying it to the clipboard with a handful of keystrokes if you wish. But what an edge case though.
For double letters, I just double tap like you would normally when typing. 👍
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Yea, this would be super slow.
Here in Tarzania we hold the superior and elusive ! key
Same on Dvorak.
Though the custom coder's Dvorak I use while programming has a dedicated ! key. Shift still needed for : though.
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vim something.log
esc
quit
exit
ctrl+x
ctrl+q
shushejehojwhatiwibaln):gufht;vfgs+_&f
reboot
nano something.log
shushejehojwhatiwibaln
fond memories of this distro
git güd
Why would a text editor use a key like q to quit, obviously quit is + ZZ
We’re just quitting without writing? Living very dangerously aren’t we?
It is an emergency exit not a normal exit.
When I accidentally edit a very important file very incorrectly and don't know what it looked like before
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It's advice for how most people end up in vim in the first place. git commit (without -m)
Thank you very much. I sent this to my coworker who expressed interest in switching to vim :)
Exit Sign
Vimer, get out!
how to quit vim
- pull computer cord out of wall
Now it's just running on battery
5 key presses to save and exit. Frickin vim.
I’m pretty sure that’s close without saving changes. :wq would be needed to save.
To be precise, : means bring up commands, w means save, q means exit, and ! means force
I think it's w = write and q = quit so the letters make more sense
Also :x is the same as :wq
No, it isn't, x writes only when changes have been made, while w writes unconditionally.
TIL. Ty!
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To be more precise, q means quit the current window. If you've split the window, e.g. with :split or :vsplit, use :qa to quit all windows.
Or 3. Hold shift, press ZZ to save and quit ZQ to quit without saving.
ZZZZ Write current file, if modified, and close the current window (same as ":x"). If there are several windows for the current file, only the current window is closed.
ZQZQ Quit without checking for changes (same as ":q!").
Since people don't seem to realize that vim has a help system: You can get to this information with :help quit or :help exit
four. the ! is unnecessary. how many actions are there to save and quit in other editors? ctrl, s, ctrl, w is four. move to file, click, move to save, click, move to ×, click is six.
and that's before we replace the wq with x.
If we count the modifier keys:
Vim: esc, shift+:, w, q, Enter
Emacs: ctrl-s, crtl+x ctrl+c, or use the menu options
I use both, but find Emacs much quicker, though vim is easier to learn, though Emacs is easier while you're learning
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Depends how you count. Both : and ! require shift as well.
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Works as long as you didn't put something silly in your nvim config like
vim.keymap.set("ca", "q!", "echo 'not so fast!'")
I believe that’s Vim for “Beam us out, Mr. Scott”
[Esc] [Z] [Z]
Or just ZZ for me since I’m rarely in insert mode (I just press esc quickly after making an edit out of habit).
ZZTop could not be reached for comment
ZZ for the win.
Would it be q a ! ?
yet here in trq i need to press shift in %80 of the keys (that's why i use micro)
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You all exit your editor? How you do the rest of your computing?
/s with ♡ from an Emacs fan.
Emacs really is an excellent desktop environment
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