Linux – Remapping caps-lock to escape, and menu to compose, on the linux console

consolekeyboardlinuxterminalxmodmap

When running X I use a .xmodmaprc to remap certain keys thusly:

! Make it so that both Caps Lock and Escape do Escape
clear Lock
keysym Caps_Lock = Escape
! Remap the menu key as Compose
keysym Menu = Multi_key

How can I accomplish the same things on the console?

update

In addition to the partial solution given in my answer, I've learned that the console maps CTRL-. to Compose. So I may be able to get used to that. Setting up the Menu key as Compose is not so easily done, as there are a ton of nul-assigned keycodes and no obvious contender for an alternate name for Menu.

I've also realized that the compose bindings themselves are much more limited than what I'm used to under X, and that most of the special characters I use frequently are not there. Perhaps there is a utility that will translate X-syntax compose bindings into something that loadkeys can read?

Best Answer

You'll have to edit your console keymap. On my console, I have mapped Escape to Caps Lock and Caps Lock to Escape. Here's how it works.

First you need to find your keymap. I use the standard US layout. On my system, it is located under /usr/share/keymaps/i386/qwerty/us.map.gz.
Make a copy of the file under a new name, for example us-nocaps.map.gz.
Unpack the file and open it in a text editor: gunzip us-nocaps.map.gz && vim us-nocaps.map
Change the mappings in the file to your liking, for example I had keycode 58 = Caps_Lock which I changed to keycode 58 = Escape.
Gzip the file and load it: gzip us-nocaps.map && loadkeys us-nocaps.

One more thing: You'll probably have to configure your distribution somehow to make sure the new keymaps always gets loaded on boot, otherwise you'll have to load your keymap manually with loadkeys all time. How you do that depends on what distribution you're using.

Related Solutions

keyboard x11 xmodmap xkb – Assign Another Modifier to Alt Key for X11

(This answer is about xmodmap only. I'm sure it's possible to do this with XKB, I just don't know how.)

Modifiers and keysyms are assigned independently. But you get strange effects if you don't set them consistently. I think all you're missing is the add command to assign a modifier to Meta_L, though you may also need to clear and reassign the modifier keys. You may replace Mod1 and Mod2 by Mod3, Mod4 and Mod5: they are interchangeable, just make sure you don't use one for two different purposes.

clear Mod1
clear Mod2
remove Lock = Caps_Lock
keysym Caps_Lock = Alt_L
keysym Alt_L = Meta_L
add Mod1 = Alt_L Alt_R
add Mod2 = Meta_L Meta_R

How to prevent the caps-lock toggle effect, without remapping or disabling it

I think I have a technique for disabling the toggling of the Capslock key but not completely disabling the key all together, or remapping it to another key on the keyboard.

If you use the command:

setxkbmap -option caps:none

The keyboard will no longer toggle. I've confirmed this on my laptop running Fedora 14, the LED no longer lights up, and normal Capslock functionality is gone.

However using xev still shows that the key is being pressed:

$ xev
...
...
KeyPress event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0x6800001,
    root 0xb1, subw 0x0, time 261504852, (167,-15), root:(353,268),
    state 0x10, keycode 66 (keysym 0xffffff, VoidSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0x6800001,
    root 0xb1, subw 0x0, time 261504971, (167,-15), root:(353,268),
    state 0x10, keycode 66 (keysym 0xffffff, VoidSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False
    ...

So the key being pressed events are still left intact for other applications to pick them up.

setxkbmap

The file /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/xorg.lst contains the complete list of what options you can give to setxkbmap.

Grepping through this file for "cap" I noticed this line:

caps:none            CapsLock is disabled

There are other values in this file so if this isn't what you're after perhaps one of those alternate values would suite instead.

$ grep cap /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/xorg.lst
  grp:caps_switch      CapsLock (while pressed), Alt+CapsLock does the original capslock action
  grp:caps_toggle      CapsLock
  grp:shift_caps_toggle Shift+CapsLock
  grp:shift_caps_switch CapsLock (to first layout), Shift+CapsLock (to last layout)
  grp:alt_caps_toggle  Alt+CapsLock
  lv3:caps_switch      CapsLock
  lv3:caps_switch_latch CapsLock (chooses 3rd level, latches when pressed together with another 3rd-level-chooser)
  ctrl:nocaps          Make CapsLock an additional Ctrl
  ctrl:swapcaps        Swap Ctrl and CapsLock
  grp_led:caps         CapsLock
  caps                 CapsLock key behavior
  caps:internal        CapsLock uses internal capitalization. Shift "pauses" CapsLock
  caps:internal_nocancel CapsLock uses internal capitalization. Shift doesn't affect CapsLock
  caps:shift           CapsLock acts as Shift with locking. Shift "pauses" CapsLock
  caps:shift_nocancel  CapsLock acts as Shift with locking. Shift doesn't affect CapsLock
  caps:capslock        CapsLock toggles normal capitalization of alphabetic characters
  caps:numlock         Make CapsLock an additional NumLock
  caps:swapescape      Swap ESC and CapsLock
  caps:escape          Make CapsLock an additional ESC
  caps:backspace       Make CapsLock an additional Backspace
  caps:super           Make CapsLock an additional Super
  caps:hyper           Make CapsLock an additional Hyper
  caps:shiftlock       CapsLock toggles Shift so all keys are affected
  caps:none            CapsLock is disabled
  compose:caps         CapsLock
  shift:breaks_caps    Shift cancels CapsLock
  shift:both_capslock  Both Shift-Keys together toggle CapsLock
  shift:both_capslock_cancel Both Shift-Keys together activate CapsLock, one Shift-Key deactivates