path: root/man/xmodmap.man

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.TH XMODMAP 1 __xorgversion__
.SH NAME
xmodmap - utility for modifying keymaps and pointer button mappings in X
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B xmodmap
[-options ...] [filename]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
The \fIxmodmap\fP program is used to edit and display the 
keyboard \fImodifier map\fP and \fIkeymap table\fP that are used by client 
applications to convert event keycodes into keysyms.  It is usually run from 
the user's session startup script to configure the keyboard according to 
personal tastes.
.SH OPTIONS
.PP
The following options may be used with \fIxmodmap\fP:
.TP 8
.B \-display \fIdisplay\fP
This option specifies the host and display to use.
.TP 8
.B \-help
This option indicates that a brief description of the command line arguments
should be printed on the standard error channel.  This will be done whenever an
unhandled argument is given to
.I xmodmap.
.TP 8
.B \-grammar
This option indicates that a help message describing the expression grammar 
used in files and with \-e expressions should be printed on the standard error.
.TP 8
.B \-verbose
This option indicates that 
.I xmodmap
should print logging information as it parses its input.
.TP 8
.B \-quiet
This option turns off the verbose logging.  This is the default.
.TP 8
.B \-n
This option indicates that 
.I xmodmap
should not change the mappings, but should display what it would do, like
\fImake(1)\fP does when given this option.
.TP 8
.B \-e \fIexpression\fB
This option specifies an expression to be executed.  Any number of expressions
may be specified from the command line.
.TP 8
.B \-pm
This option indicates that the current modifier map should be printed on the
standard output.   This is the default mode of operation if no other mode
options are specified.
.TP 8
.B \-pk
This option indicates that the current keymap table should be printed on the
standard output.
.TP 8
.B \-pke
This option indicates that the current keymap table should be printed on the
standard output in the form of expressions that can be fed back to
\fIxmodmap\fP.
.TP 8
.B \-pp
This option indicates that the current pointer map should be printed on the
standard output.
.TP 8
.B \-
A lone dash means that the standard input should be used as the input file.
.PP
The \fIfilename\fP specifies a file containing \fIxmodmap\fP expressions
to be executed.  This file is usually kept in the user's home directory with
a name like \fI.xmodmaprc\fP.
.SH EXPRESSION GRAMMAR
.PP
The
.I xmodmap
program reads a list of expressions and parses them all before attempting
to execute any of them.  This makes it possible to refer to keysyms that are
being redefined in a natural way without having to worry as much about name
conflicts.
.PP
The list of keysym names may be found in the header file
\fI<X11/keysymdef.h>\fP (without the \fIXK_\fP prefix),
supplemented by the keysym database \fI __X11datadir__/XKeysymDB\fP.
Keysyms matching Unicode characters may be specified as "U0020" to "U007E"
and "U00A0" to "U10FFFF" for all possible Unicode characters.
.TP 8
.B keycode \fINUMBER\fP = \fIKEYSYMNAME ...\fP
The list of keysyms is assigned to the indicated keycode 
(which may be specified in decimal, hex or octal and can be determined by 
running the
.I xev
program).  Up to eight keysyms may be attached to a key, however the last four
are not used in any major X server implementation.  The first keysym is used
when no modifier key is pressed in conjunction with this key, the second with
Shift, the third when the Mode_switch key is used with this key and the fourth
when both the Mode_switch and Shift keys are used.
.TP 8
.B keycode any = \fIKEYSYMNAME ...\fP
If no existing key has the specified list of keysyms assigned to it,
a spare key on the keyboard is selected and the keysyms are assigned to it.
The list of keysyms may be specified in decimal, hex or octal.
.TP 8
.B keysym \fIKEYSYMNAME\fP = \fIKEYSYMNAME ...\fP
The \fIKEYSYMNAME\fP on the left hand side is translated into matching keycodes
used to perform the corresponding set of \fBkeycode\fP expressions.  Note that
if the same keysym is bound to multiple keys, the expression is executed
for each matching keycode.
.TP 8
.B clear \fIMODIFIERNAME\fP
This removes all entries in the modifier map for the given modifier, where 
valid name are:
.BR Shift ,
.BR Lock ,
.BR Control ,
.BR Mod1 ,
.BR Mod2 ,
.BR Mod3 ,
.BR Mod4 ,
and \fBMod5\fP (case 
does not matter in modifier names, although it does matter for all other
names).  For example, ``clear Lock'' will remove
all any keys that were bound to the shift lock modifier.
.TP 8
.B add \fIMODIFIERNAME\fP = \fIKEYSYMNAME ...\fP
This adds all keys containing the given keysyms to the indicated modifier map.
The keysym names
are evaluated after all input expressions are read to make it easy to write
expressions to swap keys (see the EXAMPLES section).
.TP 8
.B remove \fIMODIFIERNAME\fP = \fIKEYSYMNAME ...\fP
This removes all keys containing the given keysyms from the indicated
modifier map.  Unlike
.B add,
the keysym names are evaluated as the line is read in.  This allows you to
remove keys from a modifier without having to worry about whether or not they
have been reassigned.
.TP 8
.B "pointer = default"
This sets the pointer map back to its default settings (button 1 generates a 
code of 1, button 2 generates a 2, etc.).
.TP 8
.B pointer = \fINUMBER ...\fP
This sets the pointer map to contain the indicated button codes.  The list
always starts with the first physical button.  Setting a button code to 0
disables events from that button.
.PP
Lines that begin with an exclamation point (!) are taken as comments.
.PP
If you want to change the binding of a modifier key, you must also remove it
from the appropriate modifier map.
.SH EXAMPLES
.PP
Many pointers are designed such that the first button is pressed using the
index finger of the right hand.  People who are left-handed frequently find
that it is more comfortable to reverse the button codes that get generated
so that the primary button is pressed using the index finger of the left hand.
This could be done on a 3 button pointer as follows:
.EX
%  xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 2 1"
.EE
.PP
Many applications support the notion of Meta keys (similar to Control 
keys except that Meta is held down instead of Control).  However,
some servers do not have a Meta keysym in the default keymap table, so one
needs to be added by hand.
The following command will attach Meta to the Multi-language key (sometimes
labeled Compose Character).  It also takes advantage of the fact that 
applications that need a Meta key simply need to get the keycode and don't
require the keysym to be in the first column of the keymap table.  This
means that applications that are looking for a Multi_key (including the
default modifier map) won't notice any change.
.EX
%  xmodmap -e "keysym Multi_key = Multi_key Meta_L"
.EE
.PP
Similarly, some keyboards have an Alt key but no Meta key.
In that case the following may be useful:
.EX
%  xmodmap -e "keysym Alt_L = Meta_L Alt_L"
.EE
.PP
One of the more simple, yet convenient, uses of \fIxmodmap\fP is to set the
keyboard's "rubout" key to generate an alternate keysym.  This frequently
involves exchanging Backspace with Delete to be more comfortable to the user.
If the \fIttyModes\fP resource in \fIxterm\fP is set as well, all terminal 
emulator windows will use the same key for erasing characters:
.EX
%  xmodmap -e "keysym BackSpace = Delete"
%  echo "XTerm*ttyModes:  erase ^?" | xrdb -merge
.EE
.PP
Some keyboards do not automatically generate less than and greater than
characters when the comma and period keys are shifted.  This can be remedied
with \fIxmodmap\fP by resetting the bindings for the comma and period with
the following scripts:
.EX
!
! make shift-, be < and shift-. be >
!
keysym comma = comma less
keysym period = period greater
.EE
.PP
One of the more irritating differences between keyboards is the location of the
Control and Shift Lock keys.  A common use of \fIxmodmap\fP is to swap these
two keys as follows:
.EX
!
! Swap Caps_Lock and Control_L
!
remove Lock = Caps_Lock
remove Control = Control_L
keysym Control_L = Caps_Lock
keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L
add Lock = Caps_Lock
add Control = Control_L
.EE
.PP
This example can be run again to swap the keys back to their previous 
assignments.
.PP
The \fIkeycode\fP command is useful for assigning the same keysym to
multiple keycodes.  Although unportable, it also makes it possible to write
scripts that can reset the keyboard to a known state.  The following script
sets the backspace key to generate Delete (as shown above), flushes all 
existing caps lock bindings, makes the CapsLock
key be a control key, make F5 generate Escape, and makes Break/Reset be a
shift lock.
.EX
!
! On the HP, the following keycodes have key caps as listed:
!
!     101  Backspace
!      55  Caps
!      14  Ctrl
!      15  Break/Reset
!      86  Stop
!      89  F5
!
keycode 101 = Delete
keycode 55 = Control_R
clear Lock
add Control = Control_R
keycode 89 = Escape
keycode 15 = Caps_Lock
add Lock = Caps_Lock
.EE
.SH ENVIRONMENT
.PP
.TP 8
.B DISPLAY
to get default host and display number.
.SH SEE ALSO
X(__miscmansuffix__), xev(__appmansuffix__), setxkbmap(__appmansuffix__),
XStringToKeysym(__libmansuffix__),
\fIXlib\fP documentation on key and pointer events
.SH BUGS
.PP
Every time a \fBkeycode\fP expression is evaluated, the server generates
a \fIMappingNotify\fP event on every client.  This can cause some thrashing.
All of the changes should be batched together and done at once.
Clients that receive keyboard input and ignore \fIMappingNotify\fP events
will not notice any changes made to keyboard mappings.
.PP
.I Xmodmap
should generate "add" and "remove" expressions automatically
whenever a keycode that is already bound to a modifier is changed.
.PP
There should be a way to have the
.I remove
expression accept keycodes as well as keysyms for those times when you really
mess up your mappings.
.SH AUTHOR
Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium, rewritten from an earlier version by
David Rosenthal of Sun Microsystems.