Ctrl-W at :terminal (default terminal behavior expected)

Question

I am very fond of Vim's :terminal, though whenever I use Ctrl-w (expecting to erase the last typed word at prompt), Vim captures the key press and enters pane navigation mode. So I end up having to esc and then perform multiple backspaces. This wastes precious milliseconds of life.

I tried Ctrl-Backspace (default behavior in many GUIs) and also nothing. What could be a workaround?

Answer 1

To send the original keystroke, you can use <C-w>. (note the period).

That said, I too find it annoying to have to remember.

Useful reference: https://vimhelp.org/terminal.txt.html#terminal-typing

Answer 2

You can set 'termwinkey' to a sequence other than <C-W> to use a different keystroke to access the special sequences on the terminal.

For example:

set termwinkey=<C-X>

Or:

set termwinkey=<F1>

See also :help terminal-typing.