1XMODMAP(1) General Commands Manual XMODMAP(1)
2
6 xmodmap - utility for modifying keymaps and pointer button mappings in
7 X
8
10 xmodmap [-options ...] [filename]
11
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
19 The following options may be used with xmodmap:
20 -display display
22 This option specifies the host and display to use.
23 -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.
28 -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 -verbose
35 This option indicates that xmodmap should print logging infor‐
36 mation as it parses its input.
37 -quiet This option turns off the verbose logging. This is the
39 default.
40 -n This option indicates that xmodmap should not change the map‐
42 pings, but should display what it would do, like make(1) does
43 when given this option.
44 -e expression
46 This option specifies an expression to be executed. Any number
47 of expressions may be specified from the command line.
48 -pm This option indicates that the current modifier map should be
50 printed on the standard output.
51 -pk This option indicates that the current keymap table should be
53 printed on the standard output.
54 -pke This option indicates that the current keymap table should be
56 printed on the standard output in the form of expressions that
57 can be fed back to xmodmap.
58 -pp This option indicates that the current pointer map should be
60 printed on the standard output.
61 - A lone dash means that the standard input should be used as the
63 input file.
64 The filename specifies a file containing xmodmap expressions to be exe‐
66 cuted. This file is usually kept in the user's home directory with a
67 name like .xmodmaprc.
68
70 The xmodmap program reads a list of expressions and parses them all
71 before attempting to execute any of them. This makes it possible to
72 refer to keysyms that are being redefined in a natural way without hav‐
73 ing to worry as much about name conflicts.
74 keycode NUMBER = KEYSYMNAME ...
76 The list of keysyms is assigned to the indicated keycode (which
77 may be specified in decimal, hex or octal and can be determined
78 by running the xev program). Up to eight keysyms may be
79 attached to a key, however the last four are not used in any
80 major X server implementation. The first keysym is used when
81 no modifier key is pressed in conjunction with this key, the
82 second with Shift, the third when the Mode_switch key is used
83 with this key and the fourth when both the Mode_switch and
84 Shift keys are used.
85 keycode any = KEYSYMNAME ...
87 If no existing key has the specified list of keysyms assigned
88 to it, a spare key on the keyboard is selected and the keysyms
89 are assigned to it. The list of keysyms may be specified in
90 decimal, hex or octal.
91 keysym KEYSYMNAME = KEYSYMNAME ...
93 The KEYSYMNAME on the left hand side is translated into match‐
94 ing keycodes used to perform the corresponding set of keycode
95 expressions. The list of keysym names may be found in the
96 header file <X11/keysymdef.h> (without the XK_ prefix) or the
97 keysym database /usr/lib/X11/XKeysymDB. Note that if the same
98 keysym is bound to multiple keys, the expression is executed
99 for each matching keycode.
100 clear MODIFIERNAME
102 This removes all entries in the modifier map for the given mod‐
103 ifier, where valid name are: Shift, Lock, Control, Mod1, Mod2,
104 Mod3, Mod4, and Mod5 (case does not matter in modifier names,
105 although it does matter for all other names). For example,
106 ``clear Lock'' will remove all any keys that were bound to the
107 shift lock modifier.
108 add MODIFIERNAME = KEYSYMNAME ...
110 This adds all keys containing the given keysyms to the indi‐
111 cated modifier map. The keysym names are evaluated after all
112 input expressions are read to make it easy to write expressions
113 to swap keys (see the EXAMPLES section).
114 remove MODIFIERNAME = KEYSYMNAME ...
116 This removes all keys containing the given keysyms from the
117 indicated modifier map. Unlike add, the keysym names are eval‐
118 uated as the line is read in. This allows you to remove keys
119 from a modifier without having to worry about whether or not
120 they have been reassigned.
121 pointer = default
123 This sets the pointer map back to its default settings (button
124 1 generates a code of 1, button 2 generates a 2, etc.).
125 pointer = NUMBER ...
127 This sets the pointer map to contain the indicated button
128 codes. The list always starts with the first physical button.
129 Lines that begin with an exclamation point (!) are taken as comments.
131 If you want to change the binding of a modifier key, you must also
133 remove it from the appropriate modifier map.
134
136 Many pointers are designed such that the first button is pressed using
137 the index finger of the right hand. People who are left-handed fre‐
138 quently find that it is more comfortable to reverse the button codes
139 that get generated so that the primary button is pressed using the
140 index finger of the left hand. This could be done on a 3 button
141 pointer as follows:
142 % xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 2 1"
143 Many applications support the notion of Meta keys (similar to Control
145 keys except that Meta is held down instead of Control). However, some
146 servers do not have a Meta keysym in the default keymap table, so one
147 needs to be added by hand. The following command will attach Meta to
148 the Multi-language key (sometimes labeled Compose Character). It also
149 takes advantage of the fact that applications that need a Meta key sim‐
150 ply need to get the keycode and don't require the keysym to be in the
151 first column of the keymap table. This means that applications that
152 are looking for a Multi_key (including the default modifier map) won't
153 notice any change.
154 % xmodmap -e "keysym Multi_key = Multi_key Meta_L"
155 Similarly, some keyboards have an Alt key but no Meta key. In that
157 case the following may be useful:
158 % xmodmap -e "keysym Alt_L = Meta_L Alt_L"
159 One of the more simple, yet convenient, uses of xmodmap is to set the
161 keyboard's "rubout" key to generate an alternate keysym. This fre‐
162 quently involves exchanging Backspace with Delete to be more comfort‐
163 able to the user. If the ttyModes resource in xterm is set as well,
164 all terminal emulator windows will use the same key for erasing charac‐
165 ters:
166 % xmodmap -e "keysym BackSpace = Delete"
167 % echo "XTerm*ttyModes: erase ^?" | xrdb -merge
168 Some keyboards do not automatically generate less than and greater than
170 characters when the comma and period keys are shifted. This can be
171 remedied with xmodmap by resetting the bindings for the comma and
172 period with the following scripts:
173 !
174 ! make shift-, be < and shift-. be >
175 !
176 keysym comma = comma less
177 keysym period = period greater
178 One of the more irritating differences between keyboards is the loca‐
180 tion of the Control and Shift Lock keys. A common use of xmodmap is to
181 swap these two keys as follows:
182 !
183 ! Swap Caps_Lock and Control_L
184 !
185 remove Lock = Caps_Lock
186 remove Control = Control_L
187 keysym Control_L = Caps_Lock
188 keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L
189 add Lock = Caps_Lock
190 add Control = Control_L
191 The keycode command is useful for assigning the same keysym to multiple
193 keycodes. Although unportable, it also makes it possible to write
194 scripts that can reset the keyboard to a known state. The following
195 script sets the backspace key to generate Delete (as shown above),
196 flushes all existing caps lock bindings, makes the CapsLock key be a
197 control key, make F5 generate Escape, and makes Break/Reset be a shift
198 lock.
199 !
200 ! On the HP, the following keycodes have key caps as listed:
201 !
202 ! 101 Backspace
203 ! 55 Caps
204 ! 14 Ctrl
205 ! 15 Break/Reset
206 ! 86 Stop
207 ! 89 F5
208 !
209 keycode 101 = Delete
210 keycode 55 = Control_R
211 clear Lock
212 add Control = Control_R
213 keycode 89 = Escape
214 keycode 15 = Caps_Lock
215 add Lock = Caps_Lock
216
218 DISPLAY to get default host and display number.
219
221 X(7), xev(1), Xlib documentation on key and pointer events
222
224 Every time a keycode expression is evaluated, the server generates a
225 MappingNotify event on every client. This can cause some thrashing.
226 All of the changes should be batched together and done at once.
227 Clients that receive keyboard input and ignore MappingNotify events
228 will not notice any changes made to keyboard mappings.
229 Xmodmap should generate "add" and "remove" expressions automatically
231 whenever a keycode that is already bound to a modifier is changed.
232 There should be a way to have the remove expression accept keycodes as
234 well as keysyms for those times when you really mess up your mappings.
235
237 Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium, rewritten from an earlier version by
238 David Rosenthal of Sun Microsystems.
239X Version 11 xmodmap 1.0.1 XMODMAP(1)