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My Mac has a British keyboard layout and the # symbol is entered with option-3, instead of shift-3 as with the US layout. This arrangement, though odd, works fine most of the time. However, when trying to edit a file with vim in a terminal, typing option-3 just takes vim out of edit mode.

I use # often for comments in scripting languages and for pre-processor directives in C.

How do I type #?

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3 Answers

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Another option: Ctrl-K, Shift-N, b

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Yes. That works. – Will Harris Aug 21 '09 at 18:30
I have a mac with UK keyboard too, but ctrl and K gives me ? Shift-N and N and not sure what 'b; means – rtacconi Dec 15 '11 at 9:48
@rtacconi "?" means that Vim is waiting for you to type the next two characters of the digraph, "Nb" in this case. :help digraph . – Juliano Dec 15 '11 at 18:26
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up vote 1 down vote

In Terminal's settings, un-check 'Use option as meta key'. It's under the 'Settings' tab's 'Keyboard' pane.

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Does Ctrl-V, Option-3 work?

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No. I just get ^[3 ("\x1b3"). – Will Harris Aug 21 '09 at 18:14
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