1LOADKEYS(1) General Commands Manual LOADKEYS(1)
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6 loadkeys - load keyboard translation tables
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9 loadkeys [OPTION]... FILENAME...
10 loadkeys --default
11 loadkeys --mktable
12 loadkeys --bkeymap
13 loadkeys --parse
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16 The program loadkeys reads the file or files specified by FILENAME....
17 Its main purpose is to load the kernel keymap for the console. You can
18 specify console device by the -C (or --console ) option.
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21 If the -d (or --default ) option is given, loadkeys loads a default
22 keymap, probably the file defkeymap.map either in /usr/lib/kbd/keymaps
23 or in /usr/src/linux/drivers/char. (Probably the former was user-de‐
24 fined, while the latter is a qwerty keyboard map for PCs - maybe not
25 what was desired.) Sometimes, with a strange keymap loaded (with the
26 minus on some obscure unknown modifier combination) it is easier to
27 type `loadkeys defkeymap'.
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30 The main function of loadkeys is to load or modify the keyboard
31 driver's translation tables. When specifying the file names, standard
32 input can be denoted by dash (-). If no file is specified, the data is
33 read from the standard input.
34 For many countries and keyboard types appropriate keymaps are available
36 already, and a command like `loadkeys uk' might do what you want. On
37 the other hand, it is easy to construct one's own keymap. The user has
38 to tell what symbols belong to each key. She can find the keycode for a
39 key by use of showkey(1), while the keymap format is given in
40 keymaps(5) and can also be seen from the output of dumpkeys(1).
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43 If the input file does not contain any compose key definitions, the
44 kernel accent table is left unchanged, unless the -c (or --clearcompose
45 ) option is given, in which case the kernel accent table is emptied.
46 If the input file does contain compose key definitions, then all old
47 definitions are removed, and replaced by the specified new entries.
48 The kernel accent table is a sequence of (by default 68) entries de‐
49 scribing how dead diacritical signs and compose keys behave. For exam‐
50 ple, a line
51 compose ',' 'c' to ccedilla
53 means that <ComposeKey><,><c> must be combined to <ccedilla>. The cur‐
55 rent content of this table can be see using `dumpkeys --compose-only'.
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58 The option -s (or --clearstrings ) clears the kernel string table. If
59 this option is not given, loadkeys will only add or replace strings,
60 not remove them. (Thus, the option -s is required to reach a well-de‐
61 fined state.) The kernel string table is a sequence of strings with
62 names like F31. One can make function key F5 (on an ordinary PC key‐
63 board) produce the text `Hello!', and Shift+F5 `Goodbye!' using lines
64 keycode 63 = F70 F71
66 string F70 = "Hello!"
67 string F71 = "Goodbye!"
68 in the keymap. The default bindings for the function keys are certain
70 escape sequences mostly inspired by the VT100 terminal.
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73 If the -m (or --mktable ) option is given loadkeys prints to the stan‐
74 dard output a file that may be used as /usr/src/linux/drivers/char‐
75 /defkeymap.c, specifying the default key bindings for a kernel (and
76 does not modify the current keymap).
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79 If the -b (or --bkeymap ) option is given loadkeys prints to the stan‐
80 dard output a file that may be used as a binary keymap as expected by
81 Busybox loadkmap command (and does not modify the current keymap).
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84 loadkeys automatically detects whether the console is in Unicode or
85 ASCII (XLATE) mode. When a keymap is loaded, literal keysyms (such as
86 section) are resolved accordingly; numerical keysyms are converted to
87 fit the current console mode, regardless of the way they are specified
88 (decimal, octal, hexadecimal or Unicode).
89 The -u (or --unicode) switch forces loadkeys to convert all keymaps to
91 Unicode. If the keyboard is in a non-Unicode mode, such as XLATE,
92 loadkeys will change it to Unicode for the time of its execution. A
93 warning message will be printed in this case.
94 It is recommended to run kbd_mode(1) before loadkeys instead of using
96 the -u option.
97
99 -a --ascii
100 Force conversion to ASCII.
101 -h --help
103 loadkeys prints its version number and a short usage message to
104 the programs standard error output and exits.
105 -p --parse
107 loadkeys searches and parses keymap without action.
108 -q --quiet
110 loadkeys suppresses all normal output.
111 -V --version
113 loadkeys prints version number and exits.
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116 Note that anyone having read access to /dev/console can run loadkeys
117 and thus change the keyboard layout, possibly making it unusable. Note
118 that the keyboard translation table is common for all the virtual con‐
119 soles, so any changes to the keyboard bindings affect all the virtual
120 consoles simultaneously.
121 Note that because the changes affect all the virtual consoles, they
123 also outlive your session. This means that even at the login prompt the
124 key bindings may not be what the user expects.
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127 /usr/lib/kbd/keymaps
128 default directory for keymaps.
129 /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/defkeymap.map
131 default kernel keymap.
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134 dumpkeys(1), keymaps(5)
135kbd 6 Feb 1994 LOADKEYS(1)