What keys do you map <left>, <down>, <up>, <right> commands in VIM insert mode?

Question

In Vim it is nice to use hjkl in normal mode and would be great to continue to use them in insert mode. I tried to map them to Ctrl-h, Ctrl-j, Ctrl-k, Ctrl-l:

 imap <C-h> <left>
 imap <C-j> <down>
 imap <C-k> <up>
 imap <C-l> <right>

but it is not convenient especially because it masks Ctrl-H and backspace stops responding. Have you been able somehow to use HJKL keys for movements in insert mode?

Answer 1

I'm using double upper case mapping in insert mode for various mapping. That works pretty well, except when you are pasting text from somewhere. It's usually wiser to clear all insert mappings before inserting text.

So you can try

imap HH <left>
imap JJ <down>

etc...

Obviously , you will need twice key strokes as the normal move, so I guess if you need to navigate "far away" it's better to go back in navigation mode.

Answer 2

I have mapped my normal mode arrow keys to 'bubble' text around. It is very useful for moving blocks of code or text around with minimal effort.

" Useful bubble text normal mapping for arrow keys.                                                                                        
nnoremap <UP> ddkP 
nnoremap <DOWN> ddp
vnoremap <DOWN> xp`[V`]
vnoremap <UP> xkP`[V`]

Definitely inspired by Drew Neil's episode on Bubbling Text on VimCasts.org.