Vim's (MVIM) Local Leader, BackSlash Only Beeps

Question

I'm new to VIM, using MacVim, and I'm trying to use Backslash as local leader. It seems like that is the default. If I do:

:let maplocalleader = "\\"

I just get a beep when I try to use local leader key \\

If I do

:let maplocalleader = "-"

Then it works just fine. How do I get vim to stop beeping at me every time I try to use the backslash key?

Answer 1

\\\\\\ is definitely wrong way to escape backslash. Inside double quotes it should be written as "\\\\" , inside single as '\\' . "\\\\\\" is an unfinished string '\\"' (third backslash escapes double quote) thus it will show error after :let command.

The beep source is different: \\ key on its own is no-op unlike - . If you have mapping to -a and type just - then cursor will move to the previous line: it is a valid action. If you have mapping \\a (or no mappings at all) and type \\ you will see beep because \\ is not a valid action. Only mappings like \\a are valid thus they won't beep.

Answer 2

You need to put that command in your vimrc. Leader and local leader commands to not affect commands that have already been parsed by vim.