1XMODMAP(1)                  General Commands Manual                 XMODMAP(1)
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NAME

6       xmodmap  - utility for modifying keymaps and pointer button mappings in
7       X
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SYNOPSIS

10       xmodmap [-options ...] [filename]
11

DESCRIPTION

13       The xmodmap program is used to edit and display the  keyboard  modifier
14       map  and  keymap  table that are used by client applications to convert
15       event keycodes into keysyms.  It is usually run from the user's session
16       startup script to configure the keyboard according to personal tastes.
17

OPTIONS

19       The following options may be used with xmodmap:
20
21       -display display
22               This option specifies the host and display to use.
23
24       -help   This  option  indicates that a brief description of the command
25               line arguments should be printed on the standard error channel.
26               This  will  be  done whenever an unhandled argument is given to
27               xmodmap.
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29       -grammar
30               This option  indicates  that  a  help  message  describing  the
31               expression grammar used in files and with -e expressions should
32               be printed on the standard error.
33
34       -version
35               This option indicates that xmodmap  should  print  its  version
36               information and exit.
37
38       -verbose
39               This  option indicates that xmodmap should print logging infor‐
40               mation as it parses its input.
41
42       -quiet  This option  turns  off  the  verbose  logging.   This  is  the
43               default.
44
45       -n      This  option  indicates that xmodmap should not change the map‐
46               pings, but should display what it would do, like  make(1)  does
47               when given this option.
48
49       -e expression
50               This option specifies an expression to be executed.  Any number
51               of expressions may be specified from the command line.
52
53       -pm     This option indicates that the current modifier map  should  be
54               printed  on  the standard output.   This is the default mode of
55               operation if no other mode options are specified.
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57       -pk     This option indicates that the current keymap table  should  be
58               printed on the standard output.
59
60       -pke    This  option  indicates that the current keymap table should be
61               printed on the standard output in the form of expressions  that
62               can be fed back to xmodmap.
63
64       -pp     This  option  indicates  that the current pointer map should be
65               printed on the standard output.
66
67       -       A lone dash means that the standard input should be used as the
68               input file.
69
70       The filename specifies a file containing xmodmap expressions to be exe‐
71       cuted.  This file is usually kept in the user's home directory  with  a
72       name like .xmodmaprc.
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EXPRESSION GRAMMAR

75       The  xmodmap  program  reads  a list of expressions and parses them all
76       before attempting to execute any of them.  This makes  it  possible  to
77       refer to keysyms that are being redefined in a natural way without hav‐
78       ing to worry as much about name conflicts.
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80       The  list  of  keysym  names  may  be  found   in   the   header   file
81       <X11/keysymdef.h>  (without the XK_ prefix), supplemented by the keysym
82       database  /usr/share/X11/XKeysymDB.  Keysyms matching  Unicode  charac‐
83       ters  may  be  specified as "U0020" to "U007E" and "U00A0" to "U10FFFF"
84       for all possible Unicode characters.
85
86       keycode NUMBER = KEYSYMNAME ...
87               The list of keysyms is assigned to the indicated keycode (which
88               may be specified in decimal, hex or octal and can be determined
89               by running the xev  program).   Up  to  eight  keysyms  may  be
90               attached  to  a  key, however the last four are not used in any
91               major X server implementation.  The first keysym is  used  when
92               no  modifier  key  is pressed in conjunction with this key, the
93               second with Shift, the third when the Mode_switch key  is  used
94               with  this  key  and  the  fourth when both the Mode_switch and
95               Shift keys are used.
96
97       keycode any = KEYSYMNAME ...
98               If no existing key has the specified list of  keysyms  assigned
99               to  it, a spare key on the keyboard is selected and the keysyms
100               are assigned to it.  The list of keysyms may  be  specified  in
101               decimal, hex or octal.
102
103       keysym KEYSYMNAME = KEYSYMNAME ...
104               The  KEYSYMNAME on the left hand side is translated into match‐
105               ing keycodes used to perform the corresponding set  of  keycode
106               expressions.  Note that if the same keysym is bound to multiple
107               keys, the expression is executed for each matching keycode.
108
109       clear MODIFIERNAME
110               This removes all entries in the modifier map for the given mod‐
111               ifier,  where valid name are: Shift, Lock, Control, Mod1, Mod2,
112               Mod3, Mod4, and Mod5 (case does not matter in  modifier  names,
113               although  it  does  matter  for all other names).  For example,
114               ``clear Lock'' will remove all any keys that were bound to  the
115               shift lock modifier.
116
117       add MODIFIERNAME = KEYSYMNAME ...
118               This  adds  all  keys containing the given keysyms to the indi‐
119               cated modifier map.  The keysym names are evaluated  after  all
120               input expressions are read to make it easy to write expressions
121               to swap keys (see the EXAMPLES section).
122
123       remove MODIFIERNAME = KEYSYMNAME ...
124               This removes all keys containing the  given  keysyms  from  the
125               indicated modifier map.  Unlike add, the keysym names are eval‐
126               uated as the line is read in.  This allows you to  remove  keys
127               from  a  modifier  without having to worry about whether or not
128               they have been reassigned.
129
130       pointer = default
131               This sets the pointer map back to its default settings  (button
132               1 generates a code of 1, button 2 generates a 2, etc.).
133
134       pointer = NUMBER ...
135               This  sets  the  pointer  map  to  contain the indicated button
136               codes.  The list always starts with the first physical  button.
137               Setting a button code to 0 disables events from that button.
138
139       Lines that begin with an exclamation point (!) are taken as comments.
140
141       If  you  want  to  change  the binding of a modifier key, you must also
142       remove it from the appropriate modifier map.
143

EXAMPLES

145       Many pointers are designed such that the first button is pressed  using
146       the  index  finger  of the right hand.  People who are left-handed fre‐
147       quently find that it is more comfortable to reverse  the  button  codes
148       that  get  generated  so  that  the primary button is pressed using the
149       index finger of the left hand.  This  could  be  done  on  a  3  button
150       pointer as follows:
151       %  xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 2 1"
152
153       Many  applications  support the notion of Meta keys (similar to Control
154       keys except that Meta is held down instead of Control).  However,  some
155       servers  do  not have a Meta keysym in the default keymap table, so one
156       needs to be added by hand.  The following command will attach  Meta  to
157       the  Multi-language key (sometimes labeled Compose Character).  It also
158       takes advantage of the fact that applications that need a Meta key sim‐
159       ply  need  to get the keycode and don't require the keysym to be in the
160       first column of the keymap table.  This means  that  applications  that
161       are  looking for a Multi_key (including the default modifier map) won't
162       notice any change.
163       %  xmodmap -e "keysym Multi_key = Multi_key Meta_L"
164
165       Similarly, some keyboards have an Alt key but no  Meta  key.   In  that
166       case the following may be useful:
167       %  xmodmap -e "keysym Alt_L = Meta_L Alt_L"
168
169       One  of  the more simple, yet convenient, uses of xmodmap is to set the
170       keyboard's "rubout" key to generate an  alternate  keysym.   This  fre‐
171       quently  involves  exchanging Backspace with Delete to be more comfort‐
172       able to the user.  If the ttyModes resource in xterm is  set  as  well,
173       all terminal emulator windows will use the same key for erasing charac‐
174       ters:
175       %  xmodmap -e "keysym BackSpace = Delete"
176       %  echo "XTerm*ttyModes:  erase ^?" | xrdb -merge
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178       Some keyboards do not automatically generate less than and greater than
179       characters  when  the  comma  and period keys are shifted.  This can be
180       remedied with xmodmap by resetting  the  bindings  for  the  comma  and
181       period with the following scripts:
182       !
183       ! make shift-, be < and shift-. be >
184       !
185       keysym comma = comma less
186       keysym period = period greater
187
188       One  of  the more irritating differences between keyboards is the loca‐
189       tion of the Control and CapsLock keys.  A common use of xmodmap  is  to
190       swap these two keys as follows:
191       !
192       ! Swap Caps_Lock and Control_L
193       !
194       remove Lock = Caps_Lock
195       remove Control = Control_L
196       keysym Control_L = Caps_Lock
197       keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L
198       add Lock = Caps_Lock
199       add Control = Control_L
200
201       This  example  can be run again to swap the keys back to their previous
202       assignments.
203
204       The keycode command is useful for assigning the same keysym to multiple
205       keycodes.   Although  unportable,  it  also  makes it possible to write
206       scripts that can reset the keyboard to a known  state.   The  following
207       script  sets  the  backspace  key  to generate Delete (as shown above),
208       flushes all existing caps lock bindings, makes the CapsLock  key  be  a
209       control  key, make F5 generate Escape, and makes Break/Reset be a shift
210       lock.
211       !
212       ! On the HP, the following keycodes have key caps as listed:
213       !
214       !     101  Backspace
215       !      55  Caps
216       !      14  Ctrl
217       !      15  Break/Reset
218       !      86  Stop
219       !      89  F5
220       !
221       keycode 101 = Delete
222       keycode 55 = Control_R
223       clear Lock
224       add Control = Control_R
225       keycode 89 = Escape
226       keycode 15 = Caps_Lock
227       add Lock = Caps_Lock
228

ENVIRONMENT

230       DISPLAY to get default host and display number.
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SEE ALSO

233       X(7), xev(1), setxkbmap(1), XStringToKeysym(3), Xlib  documentation  on
234       key and pointer events
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BUGS

237       Every  time  a  keycode expression is evaluated, the server generates a
238       MappingNotify event on every client.  This can  cause  some  thrashing.
239       All  of  the  changes  should  be  batched  together  and done at once.
240       Clients that receive keyboard input  and  ignore  MappingNotify  events
241       will not notice any changes made to keyboard mappings.
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243       Xmodmap  should  generate  "add" and "remove" expressions automatically
244       whenever a keycode that is already bound to a modifier is changed.
245
246       There should be a way to have the remove expression accept keycodes  as
247       well as keysyms for those times when you really mess up your mappings.
248

AUTHOR

250       Jim  Fulton,  MIT  X  Consortium,  rewritten from an earlier version by
251       David Rosenthal of Sun Microsystems.
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256X Version 11                     xmodmap 1.0.9                      XMODMAP(1)
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