When i'm working in VIM i'll often times use ctrl+[ to exit insert mode. But if i need to press escape in other parts of the OS ctrl+[ does not act the same way as escape.
For example if search a page in safari you can't escape out of the search with ctrl+[
can anyone shed light why this is and possibly tell if it's possible to get ctrl+[ to always be escape with out custom plugins or weird 3rd party software?
Best Answer
It's because Safari is not operating in an ASCII/ANSI Terminal environment.
The Escape character is
\033
\x1B
or^[
It's just a series of characters the terminal looks for that interprets it as actions or special characters.
As for working in vim (or vi), you aren't limited to sending
^[
(^ Control[), you can simply press the Escape key. It will do the same thing.