Enable key repeat in Apple Lion for Sublime Text in Vim mode

keyrepeat.shell

# Mac OS X Lion introduced a new, iOS-like context menu when you press and hold a key
# that enables you to choose a character from a menu of options. If you are on Lion
# try it by pressing and holding down 'e' in any app that uses the default NSTextField
# for input.
#
# It's a nice feature and continues the blending of Mac OS X and iOS features. However,
# it's a nightmare to deal with in Sublime Text if you're running Vintage (Vim) mode,
# as it means you cannot press and hold h/j/k/l to move through your file. You have
# to repeatedly press the keys to navigate.

# You can disable this feature for just Sublime Text by issuing the following command
# in your terminal (*not* the Sublime Text console):

defaults write com.sublimetext.4 ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

# Note: replace com.sublimetext.4 with whichever version of Sublime Text you are running
# eg. 'com.sublimetext.2' or 'com.sublimetext.3'

# Alternately, if you want this feature disabled globally, you can enter this:

defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

# In either case you'll need to restart Sublime Text for the change to take place.

# Happy coding!

thanks!

that's really help. thanks a lot!

👍

Seems to have worked (10.11.5)

Side note, does this have to be run each time the computer is restarted? If so, is it safe to add the line to my .bashrc ? Thanks if anyone answers!

In macOS Sierra 10.12.4 works perfectly !!!

Thank you very much !

thanks (y)

Thank you for this! 👍

Yosemite here at work. This is very helpful! Thank you!

Thank you so much, it works. Greatly improved my efficiency (=ﾟωﾟ)ﾉ.

god like

Still works in Sierra. Thanks!

yup !! it still works & thank you....

Thank you!!!!!

thanks

thank you

still works! thanks so much 😁

Thank you! Still works

Worked, thanks!

Worked perfectly, cheers.

!!great

+1 Thank you!It works!

Wow Thanks! Still works :)

Thanks, it worked for me. Btw, I wonder, will .vimrc apply for Vintage in Sublime Text 3?

For anyone on the Sublime Text 4 dev version just change the version to 4:

defaults write com.sublimetext.4 ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

Only works for me if I turn off press and hold globally. Tried multiple things but couldn't get it to deactivate only for Sublime Text (macOS Big Sur 11.4).

I confirm that to make this work in Sublime Text released on May 21, 2021, aka Sublime Text 4 aka Build 4107 aka ST4, the solution provided above by @eproxus works.

defaults write com.sublimetext.4 ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

2022 , Sublime 4 . Technique Still works !
Great tip. Thanks !

Still works with Sublime 4, so happy this is a thing 💯

Still working in 2026 with macOS Tahoe and Sublime 4. Thanks.