Ubuntu – Disabling caps lock by setxkbmap makes it Shift key in Emacs

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I'm using GNU Emacs 23.2.1. within Xfce 4.8.0 (both coming from the Ubuntu Natty repository). I disable the CapsLock by running /usr/bin/setxkbmap -option "ctrl:nocaps" at the beginning of the Xfce session.

When I hit the CapsLock key with some other keys, Emacs treats it as if the Ctrl key and the Shift key is pressed (Ctrl–S-whatever). This has some unpleasant effects such as moving cursors always setting marks, and translating Ctrl–h to Ctrl–? not working.

Pressing the real Ctrl key on the keyboard works fine, and pressing both the real Ctrl and Shift key works the same way as pressing the real CapsLock key only.

I'd like the CapsLock to be precisely same as the Ctrl key. What should I do? I tweaked the X server setting in vain, so I think I might want to make Emacs treat Ctrl–S-whatever as Ctrl-whatever.

Best Answer

I use xmodmap and it work fine. Install xmodmap and have xmodmap .xmod autostart. Content of .xmod.

remove Lock = Caps_Lock
keycode 66 = Control_L NoSymbol Control_L
add Control = Control_L

Maybe your keycode is different.

Related Solutions

The key codes for Caps Lock, Shift, Left Control and FN key

These keys are not sent to terminals. Only printable characters, function keys, and combinations of these keys with modifiers are sent to terminal applications (most function keys are sent in the form of escape sequences beginning with ESC [). Modifier keys (like CapsLock, Shift, etc.) are visible to GUI applications, but not to terminal applications. You won't be able to detect a press of these keys in vim or tmux. See What is bash's meta key? for more background.

With the Fn on many laptops, it's even worse: this key is handled by the BIOS and not even visible to the operating system.

Timeout for sticky keys

The solution to the question seems to be a script like the following using xprintidle to work out when to reset the lock state. Note that it has a polling loop, so it needs to keep running continually.

#!/bin/bash

# Sets sticky keys, but has them reset state (e.g. latchlock goes back to normal) after
# a few seconds

IDLE_RESET=3000 # 3 seconds

# Set up sticky keys and double tap to lock
xkbset sticky -twokey latchlock
# Disable XAccess managed sticky mode timeout
xkbset exp =sticky =latchlock

# Sentinel so we only run the reset once every idle period
sentinel=0
while true;do
    if [ $(xprintidle) -gt $IDLE_RESET ];then
        if [ $sentinel = 0 ];then
            # Reset the state
            xkbset -sticky -twokey -latchlock;xkbset sticky -twokey latchlock
            sentinel=1
        fi
    else
        sentinel=0
    fi
    sleep 1
done

Best Answer

Related Solutions

The key codes for Caps Lock, Shift, Left Control and FN key

Timeout for sticky keys

Related Question