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I have Vim EasyMotion running by pressing:

Backslash Backslash <key>

I want to map this as Ctrl+, so I can do Ctrl+, <key>:

map <C-,> <Bslash><Bslash>
map <C-,> \\

But none of them worked. Has the backslash be escaped somehow?

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up vote 4 down vote accepted

TL;DR: <C-,> won't work; choose another key combination.

Due to the way that the keyboard input is handled internally, this unfortunately isn't generally possible today, even in GVIM. Some key combinations, like Ctrl + non-alphabetic cannot be mapped, and Ctrl + letter vs. Ctrl + Shift + letter cannot be distinguished. (Unless your terminal sends a distinct termcap code for it, which most don't.) In insert or command-line mode, try typing the key combination. If nothing happens / is inserted, you cannot use that key combination. This also applies to <Tab> / <C-I>, <CR> / <C-M> / <Esc> / <C-[> etc. (Only exception is <BS> / <C-H>.) This is a known pain point, and the subject of various discussions on vim_dev and the #vim IRC channel.

Some people (foremost Paul LeoNerd Evans) want to fix that (even for console Vim in terminals that support this), and have floated various proposals, cp. http://groups.google.com/group/vim_dev/browse_thread/thread/626e83fa4588b32a/bfbcb22f37a8a1f8

But as of today, no patches or volunteers have yet come forward, though many have expressed a desire to have this in a future Vim 8 major release.

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up vote 2 down vote

According to :help map_backslash, you are right to use <Bslash>. The problem is that vim does not seem to recognize <C-,> in the :map command. For example,

:map <C-,> :echo 'foo'<CR>

does not have the expectred effect. Either dig into this further or choose a different key.

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