Allow arrow keys only in insert mode?

[agoodshort]

I am trying to allow the arrow keys only if in insert mode. But whatever I do, I keep being blocked, how would you achieve that? Here is my hardtime config for reference.

Also, could you please clarify what "" and "i" does in:

   disabled_keys = {
      ["<Up>"] = { "", "i" },
      ["<Down>"] = { "", "i" },
      ["<Left>"] = { "", "i" },
      ["<Right>"] = { "", "i" },
   },

Thank you very much for this great plugin, I'm using it since your first post on Reddit and it really removed a lot of bad habits.

[m4xshen]

First of all thanks for the feedback!

Here's the help files to help you understand "" and "i":

:h nvim_set_keymap()

      • {mode}  Mode short-name (map command prefix: "n", "i", "v", "x", …) or
                "!" for |:map!|, or empty string for |:map|.

:h map-table

         Mode  | Norm | Ins | Cmd | Vis | Sel | Opr | Term | Lang |  
Command        +------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+  
[nore]map      | yes  |  -  |  -  | yes | yes | yes |  -   |  -   |
n[nore]map     | yes  |  -  |  -  |  -  |  -  |  -  |  -   |  -   |
[nore]map!     |  -   | yes | yes |  -  |  -  |  -  |  -   |  -   |
i[nore]map     |  -   | yes |  -  |  -  |  -  |  -  |  -   |  -   |
c[nore]map     |  -   |  -  | yes |  -  |  -  |  -  |  -   |  -   |
v[nore]map     |  -   |  -  |  -  | yes | yes |  -  |  -   |  -   |
x[nore]map     |  -   |  -  |  -  | yes |  -  |  -  |  -   |  -   |
s[nore]map     |  -   |  -  |  -  |  -  | yes |  -  |  -   |  -   |
o[nore]map     |  -   |  -  |  -  |  -  |  -  | yes |  -   |  -   |
t[nore]map     |  -   |  -  |  -  |  -  |  -  |  -  | yes  |  -   |
l[nore]map     |  -   | yes | yes |  -  |  -  |  -  |  -   | yes  |

In the default config "" and i stands for the map and imap, which includes Norm, Vis, Sel, Opr and Ins. Therefore the arrow keys are disabled inside all modes except Cmd, Term and Lang mode. I allow the Cmd and Term modes because the arrow key is necessary, and for the Lang mode it is less used so I just ignore it.

That being said, If you only want to allow the key in insert mode, you can just set it to { "" } (or { "", "c", "t", "l" } if you really means insert mode ONLY).

[agoodshort]

Thanks a lot for you quick and really detailed answer! I kinda knew what the "i" was but wasn't really sure where "" was pointing to.

Back to my main question/issue, I actually found out where my issue was. I used <DOWN> instead of <Down>... Can't believe it took me so long to find out. Here is the related issue/comment to my struggle 😄

Thanks again!