Key remapping for special characters (Umlauts) in Wayland

keyboard-layoutwaylandxkb

Under Xorg, I used ~/.Xmodmap in order to be able to type amongst others a German Umlaut (i.e., äüö) using the right Ctrl key and a, u, o, respectively (as well as Shift for capitals):

remove Control = Control_R
keycode 105 = Mode_switch
keysym e = e E EuroSign
keysym c = c C cent
keysym a = a A adiaeresis Adiaeresis
keysym o = o O odiaeresis Odiaeresis
keysym u = u U udiaeresis Udiaeresis
keysym s = s S ssharp

I haven't found a way to achieve the same under Wayland using xkb. So far, I've only managed to set my keyboard variant to altgr-intl, which then lets me use right Alt + q, for example, to get an ä.

Since I'm also using Sway, I can't use Alt + Shift + q though for the capital version, because in Sway this is the shortcut to closing a window – and I don't want to remap this.

So, how do I go about putting Umlauts to right-Ctrl + a, u, o, respectively, as I've had it before under Xorg?

Best Answer

I don't know hot to achieve your exact request, but you can assign a "compose" key to R-Ctrl, instead, with a similar result.

In Gnome, you can do that with the gnome-tweaks tool. I don't remember about Cinnamon but I'm sure there's a way because I used that as well. (I'm not sure about other DEs, and - as you - I'm not fluent with Wayland).

You can then type R-Ctrl " A to obtain Ä, etc. Note that it's a sequence, not a chord: you type R-Ctrl, then ", then A.

It's not as convenient and quick as your previous solution, but it's more flexible, and gives you access to lots of other fancy characters such as ø æ ⋄ → € ° · … ´ ≠

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