Linux: Keyboard Software Guide

By Xah Lee. Date: 2012-05-18. Last updated: 2015-09-27.

This page is tutorial on creating keyboard shortcuts, keymapping, keyboard layout.

In Linux, there are 2 steps to set keyboard shortcuts:

Bind Key: Make a key press execute a command/script.
Action: A shell command that does something, for example, switch/close window, simulate key press, mouse click, launch app, ….

First, let's look at the most easy way.

Basic of Keybinding Using Control Panel

The most easy way to add a new keyboard shortcut or keyboard layout, is the system control panel in a graphical user interface (available in any of the Gnome, KDE, Ubuntu, Xfce, LXDE). Under the system control panel (aka Setting Manager or System Preference), usually there are apps named Window Manager, or Keyboard, or Keyboard Layout.

xfce window manager keys setup 2013-06-07 — xfce window manager keys setup

The window manager typically lets you set keys related to manipulating windows, system-wide, such as switching windows, close window, max/min window, move window, show/hide/iconify window, switch workspace (aka virtual screen), etc.

xfce keyboard setting panel 2013-06-01 — xfce keyboard setting panel

The keyboard setting tool typically lets you set a key to launch app, or run a shell script. But it does not lets you swap keys, or set a key to send key combo such as 【Ctrl+s】

Swapping Keys, Remap Keys

xmodmap

xmodmap is a simple tool that lets you remap/swap keys for apps running under X11.

See: Linux: xmodmap Tutorial

scancode, keycode, keysym

To work with keys in Linux X11, you must understand {scancode, keycode, keysym} because many key tools use their concept and syntax.

Scancode → a number your keyboard send to computer. For USB keyboards, it's defined by the USB standard.
Keycode → a number used by Linux kernel to represent key (or mouse button/wheel). The Linux kernel translate scancode to keycode.
Keysym → a short string (usually descriptive) that are received by X11 applications.

How find the scancode of a key?

See: Linux: Find Keyboard Key Scancode

How to find the keycode / keysym of a key?

Type xev, then press a key. See: Linux: X11 Keyboard Key Names

How to set system keyboard layout?

See: Linux: Set System Keyboard Layout

Tool to Bind Key

xbindkeys

if your desktop doesn't provide a way to bind a key to launch a script, then you can use xbindkeys.

Linux: Xbindkeys Tutorial

Tool for Key Actions

「wmctrl」 for Switch Windows

wmctrl is a command line tool to {switch, close, move, resize, set title, list, …} windows.

See: Linux: Add Keyboard Shortcut to Switch App

「xvkbd」 for Sending Keychords

xvkbd is a virtual keyboard for X window system. It is useful as a shell command to send keys.

see Linux: Set F2 F3 F4 to Cut Copy Paste

Linux: Control Sound Level by Command Line

Linux: Change Volume by Command

xdotool

xdotool. «programatically simulate keyboard input and mouse activity. It does this using X11's XTEST extension and other Xlib functions.»

(note: i tried xdotool under Ubuntu/xfce. Doesn't work in my first 30 min of looking into it.)

#Install xdotool
 sudo apt-get install xdotool

Example. Send 【Ctrl+w】 to close tab.

xdotool key --delay 40 Control_L+w

Example. Click on upper left corner, (90, 10) pixels.

xdotool mousemove 90 10 click 1

「autokey」 for Expanding Abbreviations

AutoKey. For expanding abbrev to full words/text.

Install: sudo apt-get install autokey-gtk (for Gnome) or sudo apt-get install autokey-qt (for KDE)

(note: i haven't used AutoKey, and the project seems dead as of 2017-06-06.)

Other Keyboard Tools

Mouse Extra Button Tools

roccat mouse Linux drivers. http://sourceforge.net/projects/roccat/
by Michael Speth http://sourceforge.net/projects/kbmaster/

How to set 5 buttons mouse?

apt-get install imwheel for config mouse buttons.

Bind Keys in Emacs

See: Emacs Keybinding, Keyboard, Articles Index.

Misc

Linux utility to configure modifier keys to act as other keys when pressed and released on their own. https://github.com/alols/xcape

dumpkeys -l

〈udev rule to auto load keyboard layout when usb keyboard plugged in〉@ http://superuser.com/questions/249064/udev-rule-to-auto-load-keyboard-layout-when-usb-keyboard-plugged-in