VIM - get back to edit mode after Ctrl + S freezes the screen.

VIM - get back to edit mode after Ctrl + S freezes the screen.


I'm used to press ctrl + s all the time that even when I'm using VIM to edit some codes, I press it and you know, it freezes everything and you can't do a thing afterwards.

It has always been a problem and the first time I actually had to google how to get back to vim, today it happened again, and I had my blog open in my browser. So I thought I should add it in my blog, so that I would never forget it ;)

Anyway, its so easy, to get back to VIM, just press Ctrl + q. Then everything will work normally.

If you are curious why it happens, then here's the reason for that. When you press Ctrl + s, your terminal sends a signal (XOFF) to pause the process which sends data to it. To continue the process, you need to send an XON signal back, and it can be done by pressing Ctrl + q.

I hope its clear and it will help someone. Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know if you think I need to correct anything :)