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When editing a post, pressing Esc does the same thing as clicking the "cancel" link: it cancels the edit. However, when editing a comment, pressing Esc does nothing.

Could pressing Esc when editing a comment cancel that edit as well?

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  • 23
    I can't take you seriously with a finger for a face.
    – JNK
    Oct 25, 2011 at 20:58
  • 2
    This is my similar feature request for the SE keyboard shortcuts. Make sure it gets some attention if you like it to be implemented.
    – slhck
    Oct 25, 2011 at 21:01
  • @slhck Upvoted.
    – user156620
    Oct 25, 2011 at 21:03
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    Love the finger face. It looks really cool.
    – Pekka
    Oct 25, 2011 at 21:04
  • @JNK It could be worse. ;-)
    – user156620
    Oct 25, 2011 at 21:05
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    @Pekka, is everything okay? (See my edit summary.)
    – Pops
    Oct 25, 2011 at 21:28
  • Gah! A fellow Mac user asking for more of the emacs-style keybindings to be invalidated on SO! Why?!
    – jscs
    Oct 25, 2011 at 22:40
  • @Ἰησοῦς Escaping from Emacs-based keybindings is a noble goal.
    – user156620
    Oct 25, 2011 at 23:01
  • LOL. typing :/ no way, -1.
    – c69
    Oct 25, 2011 at 23:48
  • @c69 I hope you realise that I am not advocating the removal of the ‘cancel’ link, and that recognising Esc would make editing comments similar to editing posts.
    – user156620
    Oct 25, 2011 at 23:51
  • @Bavarious, yes - but that would still mean that, if a non-emacs user will need to type Esc - he will cancel himself out of his comment.
    – c69
    Oct 25, 2011 at 23:55
  • @c69 Which would be consistent with the behaviour when editing a post. Are you saying that Esc shouldn’t be allowed in both cases?
    – user156620
    Oct 25, 2011 at 23:57
  • @Bavarious: I don't think I could get by editing on SO without my trusty Meta-c, Meta-l, and Meta-u. There's Option-key equivalents for most other Meta key functions, but I've unlearnt them all over the past decade.
    – jscs
    Oct 26, 2011 at 2:17
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    Actually, it looks like a double-Esc is required to cancel editing of a post. (I was wondering why I hadn't noticed this behavior before.) That would be perfectly fine for comments too.
    – jscs
    Oct 26, 2011 at 2:18
  • @Ἰησοῦς Odd. Single Esc works for me when editing posts on Stack Overflow.
    – user156620
    Oct 26, 2011 at 2:20

1 Answer 1

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A keyboard shortcut to cancel a comment does not make sense.

When you edit a post, canceling will ask for confirmation before you lose any changes. If you didn't make any changes, this convenient shortcut will quickly bring you back to the original screen.

But comments are created inline. If you didn't enter any text, there's nothing to jump back to. But if you did enter a comment, one slip of the finger will send your text to the great *poof* in the sky. So we would have to add an "are you sure" confirmation. That doesn't make it much of a shortcut. Where's the upside?

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  • Two situations: if I post a comment, then click edit, then decide not to edit it (which was the actual situation that led me to this request); and even if SO shows a confirmation dialog in case the comment has actually been edited, it’d still allow for keyboard-only cancelling of a comment edit. And I’m not sure what you mean by ‘there’s nothing to jump back to.’ There is an original screen to go back regardless of the editing operation being on a post or a comment… or maybe I’ve misunderstood something.
    – user156620
    Oct 27, 2011 at 9:31
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    Not sure if it was added after this post, but there is now "cancel" link when editing comments. It send the changes you made to the great poof in the sky without any dialog to confirm. More than that: ENTER key is submitting the comment, even if pressed by mistake. Can you please reconsider?
    – Shadow The Spring Wizard
    May 29, 2013 at 15:07
  • @ShaWizDowArd That happens when you are editing a comment, not adding a comment. When writing a comment, you could accidentally hit the esc button (it happens to me when I try to add ` in a post), but it is rather difficult you click a link while writing a comment.
    – apaderno
    Aug 5, 2013 at 9:41
  • Thanks @kiamlaluno it's true and makes some sense, however personally I still want to have ESCape cancel the comment, just used to that key canceling things. :)
    – Shadow The Spring Wizard
    Aug 5, 2013 at 10:29

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