XMODMAP(1) General Commands Manual XMODMAP(1)
NAME
xmodmap - utility for modifying keymaps and pointer button mappings in X
SYNOPSIS
xmodmap [-options ...] [filename]
DESCRIPTION
The xmodmap program is used to edit and display the keyboard modifier
map and keymap table that are used by client applications to convert
event keycodes into keysyms. It is usually run from the user's session
startup script to configure the keyboard according to personal tastes.
OPTIONS
The following options may be used with xmodmap:
-display display
This option specifies the host and display to use.
-help This option indicates that a brief description of the command
line arguments should be printed on the standard error channel.
This will be done whenever an unhandled argument is given to
xmodmap.
-grammar
This option indicates that a help message describing the expres-
sion grammar used in files and with -e expressions should be
printed on the standard error.
-version
This option indicates that xmodmap should print its version in-
formation and exit.
-verbose
This option indicates that xmodmap should print logging informa-
tion as it parses its input.
-quiet This option turns off the verbose logging. This is the default.
-n This option indicates that xmodmap should not change the map-
pings, but should display what it would do, like make(1) does
when given this option.
-e expression
This option specifies an expression to be executed. Any number
of expressions may be specified from the command line.
-pm This option indicates that the current modifier map should be
printed on the standard output. This is the default mode of
operation if no other mode options are specified.
-pk This option indicates that the current keymap table should be
printed on the standard output.
-pke This option indicates that the current keymap table should be
printed on the standard output in the form of expressions that
can be fed back to xmodmap.
-pp This option indicates that the current pointer map should be
printed on the standard output.
- A lone dash means that the standard input should be used as the
input file.
The filename specifies a file containing xmodmap expressions to be exe-
cuted. This file is usually kept in the user's home directory with a
name like .xmodmaprc.
EXPRESSION GRAMMAR
The xmodmap program reads a list of expressions and parses them all be-
fore attempting to execute any of them. This makes it possible to refer
to keysyms that are being redefined in a natural way without having to
worry as much about name conflicts.
The list of keysym names may be found in the header file
<X11/keysymdef.h> (without the XK_ prefix). Keysyms matching Unicode
characters may be specified as "U0020" to "U007E" and "U00A0" to
"U10FFFF" for all possible Unicode characters.
keycode NUMBER = KEYSYMNAME ...
The list of keysyms is assigned to the indicated keycode (which
may be specified in decimal, hex or octal and can be determined
by running the xev program). Up to eight keysyms may be at-
tached to a key, however the last four are not used in any major
X server implementation. The first keysym is used when no modi-
fier key is pressed in conjunction with this key, the second
with Shift, the third when the Mode_switch key is used with this
key and the fourth when both the Mode_switch and Shift keys are
used.
keycode any = KEYSYMNAME ...
If no existing key has the specified list of keysyms assigned to
it, a spare key on the keyboard is selected and the keysyms are
assigned to it. The list of keysyms may be specified in deci-
mal, hex or octal.
keysym KEYSYMNAME = KEYSYMNAME ...
The KEYSYMNAME on the left hand side is translated into matching
keycodes used to perform the corresponding set of keycode ex-
pressions. Note that if the same keysym is bound to multiple
keys, the expression is executed for each matching keycode.
clear MODIFIERNAME
This removes all entries in the modifier map for the given modi-
fier, where valid name are: Shift, Lock, Control, Mod1, Mod2,
Mod3, Mod4, and Mod5 (case does not matter in modifier names,
although it does matter for all other names). For example,
``clear Lock'' will remove all any keys that were bound to the
shift lock modifier.
add MODIFIERNAME = KEYSYMNAME ...
This adds all keys containing the given keysyms to the indicated
modifier map. The keysym names are evaluated after all input
expressions are read to make it easy to write expressions to
swap keys (see the EXAMPLES section).
remove MODIFIERNAME = KEYSYMNAME ...
This removes all keys containing the given keysyms from the in-
dicated modifier map. Unlike add, the keysym names are evalu-
ated as the line is read in. This allows you to remove keys
from a modifier without having to worry about whether or not
they have been reassigned.
pointer = default
This sets the pointer map back to its default settings (button 1
generates a code of 1, button 2 generates a 2, etc.).
pointer = NUMBER ...
This sets the pointer map to contain the indicated button codes.
The list always starts with the first physical button. Setting
a button code to 0 disables events from that button.
Lines that begin with an exclamation point (!) are taken as comments.
If you want to change the binding of a modifier key, you must also re-
move it from the appropriate modifier map.
EXAMPLES
Many pointers are designed such that the first button is pressed using
the index finger of the right hand. People who are left-handed fre-
quently find that it is more comfortable to reverse the button codes
that get generated so that the primary button is pressed using the index
finger of the left hand. This could be done on a 3 button pointer as
follows:
% xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 2 1"
Many applications support the notion of Meta keys (similar to Control
keys except that Meta is held down instead of Control). However, some
servers do not have a Meta keysym in the default keymap table, so one
needs to be added by hand. The following command will attach Meta to
the Multi-language key (sometimes labeled Compose Character). It also
takes advantage of the fact that applications that need a Meta key sim-
ply need to get the keycode and don't require the keysym to be in the
first column of the keymap table. This means that applications that are
looking for a Multi_key (including the default modifier map) won't no-
tice any change.
% xmodmap -e "keysym Multi_key = Multi_key Meta_L"
Similarly, some keyboards have an Alt key but no Meta key. In that case
the following may be useful:
% xmodmap -e "keysym Alt_L = Meta_L Alt_L"
One of the more simple, yet convenient, uses of xmodmap is to set the
keyboard's "rubout" key to generate an alternate keysym. This fre-
quently involves exchanging Backspace with Delete to be more comfortable
to the user. If the ttyModes resource in xterm is set as well, all ter-
minal emulator windows will use the same key for erasing characters:
% xmodmap -e "keysym BackSpace = Delete"
% echo "XTerm*ttyModes: erase ^?" | xrdb -merge
Some keyboards do not automatically generate less than and greater than
characters when the comma and period keys are shifted. This can be
remedied with xmodmap by resetting the bindings for the comma and period
with the following scripts:
!
! make shift-, be < and shift-. be >
!
keysym comma = comma less
keysym period = period greater
One of the more irritating differences between keyboards is the location
of the Control and CapsLock keys. A common use of xmodmap is to swap
these two keys as follows:
!
! Swap Caps_Lock and Control_L
!
remove Lock = Caps_Lock
remove Control = Control_L
keysym Control_L = Caps_Lock
keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L
add Lock = Caps_Lock
add Control = Control_L
This example can be run again to swap the keys back to their previous
assignments.
The keycode command is useful for assigning the same keysym to multiple
keycodes. Although unportable, it also makes it possible to write
scripts that can reset the keyboard to a known state. The following
script sets the backspace key to generate Delete (as shown above),
flushes all existing caps lock bindings, makes the CapsLock key be a
control key, make F5 generate Escape, and makes Break/Reset be a shift
lock.
!
! On the HP, the following keycodes have key caps as listed:
!
! 101 Backspace
! 55 Caps
! 14 Ctrl
! 15 Break/Reset
! 86 Stop
! 89 F5
!
keycode 101 = Delete
keycode 55 = Control_R
clear Lock
add Control = Control_R
keycode 89 = Escape
keycode 15 = Caps_Lock
add Lock = Caps_Lock
ENVIRONMENT
DISPLAY to get default host and display number.
SEE ALSO
X(7), xev(1), setxkbmap(1), XStringToKeysym(3), Xlib documentation on
key and pointer events
BUGS
Every time a keycode expression is evaluated, the server generates a
MappingNotify event on every client. This can cause some thrashing.
All of the changes should be batched together and done at once. Clients
that receive keyboard input and ignore MappingNotify events will not no-
tice any changes made to keyboard mappings.
Xmodmap should generate "add" and "remove" expressions automatically
whenever a keycode that is already bound to a modifier is changed.
There should be a way to have the remove expression accept keycodes as
well as keysyms for those times when you really mess up your mappings.
AUTHOR
Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium, rewritten from an earlier version by David
Rosenthal of Sun Microsystems.
X Version 11 xmodmap 1.0.11 XMODMAP(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 04:27:19 CET 2025.