Using letters as arrow keys on Linux and Mac

This summer I found myself sitting at a computer writing code for 40 hours a week for the first time, and I started looking for ways to make my computer work more comfortable and efficient. One day it dawned on me that my right hand was constantly jumping between the home row and the arrow keys, so I set out to find a better way to move around my text. After a bit of research, I figured out how to remap a modifier key (e.g., Ctrl, Alt, etc.) plus i/j/k/l to the arrow keys, and what an improvement it was!

I run Linux with the Plasma desktop environment at home and use a Mac at work, so I’ve included instructions for both.

Linux with Plasma

The Plasma desktop environment is insanely configurable (that’s why I love it!), so I figured I could remap some keys without much trouble. Sure enough, it’s possible to do right from the System Settings GUI.

1. Go to System Settings > Input Devices > Keyboard > Advanced
2. Go to System Settings > Shortcuts > Custom Shortcuts
3. Choose Edit > New > Global Shortcut > Send Keyboard Input
4. Give the new shortcut a name
5. In the Trigger tab, click the button to set the shortcut and then press your desired key combination. (I used Alt + i/j/k/l.)
6. In the Action tab enter Up as the action (top box)
7. Click Apply
8. Repeat steps 3-7 for the remaining shortcuts, substituting Down, Left, and Right for Up in step 6.

(If you want to use Shift + modifier + i/j/k/l – or some other key combo – as Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down, the action names for those are Home, End, PgUp, and PgDown, respectively.)

MacOS

Unfortunately MacOS isn’t all that configurable without some help from third-party applications. To remap keys, I used Karabiner Elements.

1. Open Karabiner Elements
2. Under the Complex Modifications tab, click Add rule and import a rule from the Internet
3. On the website, find the rule called “Change Modifier key + i/j/k/l to arrow keys” and import it¹
4. Enable the rule called “Change Alt + i/j/k/l to Arrows” (or whichever modifier you prefer).

MacOS automatically sets ctrl + arrows to Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down, so ctrl + modifier + i/j/k/l should work for those now.