Table of Contents

CSI u

CSI u is a mechanism for reporting keystrokes that is more powerful than the standard used in Unix.

The specification may be found at Fix Keyboard Input on Terminals - Please.

The protocol is sometimes referred to as libtermkey or libtickit.

When you enable CSI u mode you may be prompted to remove incompatible key mappings. iTerm2 has various built-in default key mappings for function keys and arrow keys that are not needed in CSI u mode. You can restore them by selecting the appropriate configuration from Load Preset.

A few items of note:

  • On macOS, the Insert key is not supported. The Help key, which usually takes its place, acts like Insert.
  • The numeric keypad Enter key is treated the same as the regular Enter key.
  • F16 through F24 do nothing in CSI u mode. Regular keyboards don't have them, but the Touch Bar does.

In version 3.4 of iTerm2, CSI u mode adheres to the standard and does away with some backward compatibility control sequences that 3.3 supported in a deviation from the standard. These were for the following characters when combined with Control: -, _, / ,?, 2, 6, [, and ]. If you prefer to use the non-CSI-u sequences for these codes, import this keymap file in to your profile by choosing Prefs > Profiles > Keys > Presets… > Import….

CSIu-Backward-Compat.itermkeymap

Applications

  • neovim supports CSI u out of the box with no additional configuration needed.