hammerspoon remap control key: sends esc when pressed alone, send control when pressed with other keys

Question

This is a extremely useful remap in my opinion, since you almost never type control alone, why not remap it to esc?

Since karabiner is gone I've been trying to restore my favourite feature using hammerspoon, I think this can be achieved but I just can't get it to work, does anyone know how to do this properly?

Answer 1

-- Sends "escape" if "caps lock" is held for less than .2 seconds, and no other keys are pressed.

local send_escape = false
local last_mods = {}
local control_key_timer = hs.timer.delayed.new(0.2, function()
    send_escape = false
end)

hs.eventtap.new({hs.eventtap.event.types.flagsChanged}, function(evt)
    local new_mods = evt:getFlags()
    if last_mods["ctrl"] == new_mods["ctrl"] then
        return false
    end
    if not last_mods["ctrl"] then
        last_mods = new_mods
        send_escape = true
        control_key_timer:start()
    else
        if send_escape then
            hs.eventtap.keyStroke({}, "escape")
        end
        last_mods = new_mods
        control_key_timer:stop()
    end
    return false
end):start()


hs.eventtap.new({hs.eventtap.event.types.keyDown}, function(evt)
    send_escape = false
    return false
end):start()