Support for Keyboard Layout-Specific Keybindings

[issam-seghir]

Problem:

When switching to a non-Latin keyboard layout (e.g., Arabic) while coding in Vscode , certain keybindings conflict due to differences in key mappings. For example:

• In the Arabic keyboard layout, Ctrl + Z (Undo) maps to Ctrl + W, which is the shortcut for closing the current tab. This leads to accidental tab closures when attempting to undo changes, disrupting the workflow.

Currently, Visual Studio Code does not provide a way to define keyboard shortcuts that are specific to a particular keyboard layout. This limitation makes it difficult to resolve conflicts that arise when using multiple keyboard layouts.

---

Proposed Solution:

Introduce support for keyboard layout-specific keybindings in the keybindings.json configuration. For example:

[
    {
        "key": "ctrl+w",
        "command": "-workbench.action.closeActiveEditor",
        "when": "keyboardLayout == 'arabic'"
    }
]

This would allow developers to disable or remap shortcuts based on the active keyboard layout, ensuring a smoother experience when working with multiple languages.

Workaround:

Currently, the only workaround is to globally remap conflicting shortcuts (e.g., Ctrl + W), which affects all layouts and limits flexibility.

[shadow1004]

i support !! we need this

[MiilouDz]

I have the same issue; I hope it gets resolved

[mouadroukli]

great suggestion, Keyboard layout specific keybindings would be a game changer for multilingual developers;
I fully support this proposal and hope it gets implemented soon.