Ubuntu – Advanced keyboard layout options

keyboard-layoutlayout

I'm using English, Russian and Armenian keyboard layouts. When I'm trying to change layout it's changing "en" -> "am" -> "ru" -> "en"… I want to use Left Alt + Shift to toggle "en" and "am", and Right Alt + Shift to toggle "en" and"ru". Can you help me?

Best Answer

There are many shortcuts to choose to switch between keyboard layouts, but none fits with what you want.

Anyway, it can be done using a bash scripts and two custom shortcuts.

First, create the script, let's call it change_layouts:

#!/bin/bash
#script to switch between two keyboard layouts

if [ $# -ne 2 ];then
    echo "Usage: `basename $0` first_layout second_layout"
    echo "   ex: change_layouts us ru"
    exit
fi

first_layout=$1
second_layout=$2

if [ -z "$(ls -l /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols | grep ^- | awk '{print $9}' | grep $first_layout)" ]; then
    echo "Error: Doesn't exists ant keyboard layout called '$first_layout'."
    exit
fi

if [ -z "$(ls -l /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols | grep ^- | awk '{print $9}' | grep $second_layout)" ]; then
    echo "Error: Doesn't exists ant keyboard layout called '$second_layout'."
    exit
fi

if [ "$first_layout" = "$second_layout" ]; then
    echo "Error: The arguments (keyboard layouts) must to be different."
    exit
fi

current_layout=$(gsettings get org.gnome.libgnomekbd.keyboard layouts)

if [ "$current_layout" = "['$first_layout', '$second_layout']" ]; then
    gsettings set org.gnome.libgnomekbd.keyboard layouts "['$second_layout', '$first_layout']"
else 
    gsettings set org.gnome.libgnomekbd.keyboard layouts "['$first_layout', '$second_layout']"
fi

Save the script in your ~/bin directory and don't forget to make it executable:

chmod +x ~/bin/change_layouts

Now you can test the script in terminal. Run it more times to see how it works.

Second, add your custom shortcuts. Go to System Setting → Keyboard → Shortcuts → Custom Shortcuts and follow the instructions from the below image:

add custom shortcut

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Ubuntu – Change Keyboard Layout with both left and right Alt + Shift combos

Ok, yet another try, this one will do the trick I hope... ;)

Credits are due to reverendj1, who described a way of assigning a Custom key to toggle keyboard layout, using setxkbmap, which featured in the workaround alluded to in Edit 2 of my previous answer...

Here is the slightly more involved way, but will give you more flexibility for the key combination. First, copy and paste this script I wrote and name it something like kb_toggle.sh. Make sure to edit LANG1 and LANG2 to be the keyboard layout codes you need.
#!/bin/bash

LANG1="us"
LANG2="de"
CURRENT_LANG=$(setxkbmap -query | tail -n 1 | cut -f6 -d ' ')
if [ "$CURRENT_LANG" = $LANG1 ]; then
    setxkbmap $LANG2
else
    setxkbmap $LANG1
fi
make the file by right-clicking on it -> "Properties" -> "Permissions" tab, then select "Allow executing file as program.

Now, open "System Settings" -> "Keyboard" -> "Shortcuts" tab and select "Custom Shortcuts". Click the + button on the bottom and name the shortcut "Keyboard Toggle" or whatever you want, really. Then give the full path to the script you made earlier in the command box. Hit Apply. Click where it says "Disabled" then you can set the shortcut to whatever you want by clicking your key combination!

I think you'd need to change "de" to "ir".

Again, good luck!

Edit

You may even get away with a one-liner, if you prefer:

setxkbmap us,ir -option "grp:alt_shift_toggle"
Now you can switch by pressing alt+shift

Edit 2

Depending on how you decide to achieve your goal, you may want to include lv3:ralt_alt in your command, resulting in

setxkbmap us,ir -option "lv3:ralt_alt,grp:alt_shift_toggle"

See man xkeyboard-config | grep lv3 for details:

lv3:ralt_alt

Right Alt key never chooses 3rd level

   xkeyboard-config  provides  the  description files for the X Keyboard Extension (XKB). The configuration options below are
   usually applied with setxkbmap(1).

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Change Keyboard Layout with both left and right Alt + Shift combos

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