The Linux kernel generates a code each time a key is pressed on a keyboard. That code is compared to a table of keycodes
defining a figure that is then displayed.
This process is complicated by Xorg
, which starts its own table of keycodes
. Each keycode
can belong to a keysym
. A keysym
is like a function, started by typing a key. Xmodmap
allows you to edit these keycode-keysym
relations.
To get the current keymap table using Xmodmap
use:
xmodmap -pke
This will print out the full table in the following format:
keycode <keycode#> = <boundkey> <boundkey>
Before moving anything around be sure to backup the original keycode
layout using xmodmap -pke >> $HOME/Xmodmap.orig
This will place the file Xmodmap.orig
in your users home directory.
Tip: There are also some predefined keycodes (e.g. XF86AudioMute
, XF86Mail
). Those keycodes can be found in: /usr/include/X11/XF86keysym.h
You can also also edit the keys: Shift
, Ctrl
, Alt
and Super
(there always exists a left and a right one (Alt_R=AltGr
)).
Here's a quick example of how your configuration would look if you wanted to swap CTRL
and Super
(Windows Key):
keycode 255 =
!add Shift = Shift_L Shift_R
!add Lock = Caps_Lock
add Control = Super_L Super_R
!add Mod1 = Alt_L Alt_R
!add Mod2 = Mode_switch
!add Mod3 =
add Mod4 = Control_L Control_R
!add Mod5 =
(the !
is used to comment / ignore the line. in this example only Super
and Control
keys get adjusted)
This configuration would be saved in $HOME/.Xmodmap
and loaded with
xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap
You could also start this with xwindows by adding it to your ~/.xinitrc
And if things get hairy you can always revert back to Xmodmap.org
.
Any bindings for applications that rely on these keys would also be moved. So make sure that everything remains bound so you don't lose any functionality. It's a tug-of-war match.
Konsole ignores that, because it relies upon a hard-coded list of keys which cannot be mapped:
// Override any of the following shortcuts because
// they are needed by the terminal
int keyCode = keyEvent->key() | modifiers;
switch (keyCode) {
// list is taken from the QLineEdit::event() code
case Qt::Key_Tab:
case Qt::Key_Delete:
case Qt::Key_Home:
case Qt::Key_End:
case Qt::Key_Backspace:
case Qt::Key_Left:
case Qt::Key_Right:
case Qt::Key_Slash:
case Qt::Key_Period:
case Qt::Key_Space:
keyEvent->accept();
return true;
}
return false;
Best Answer
Does Ctrl+Alt work?
Found it mentioned in a bug tracker, but I can't test it myself as I don't use KDE.