how to remap broken keys with Xmodmap

jaeyson

Jaeyson Anthony Y.

Posted on October 25, 2020

how to remap broken keys with Xmodmap

We can use Xmodmap instead of installing yet-another-tool for remapping keys, ie your r or v died and you want to use a spare CapsLock + <key> to trigger that dead key.

Create a file ~/.Xmodmap

touch ~/.Xmodmap && vim &_
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Here's my example how to remap keys:

! keycode 66 is caps lock
keycode 66 = Mode_switch
keysym h = h H Left
keysym l = l L Right
keysym k = k K Up
keysym j = j J Down
keysym q = q Q z
keysym w = w W x
keysym e = e E c
keysym r = r R v
keysym i = i I Insert
keysym g = g G Home
keysym b = b B End

! ^: asciicircum, |: bar
keysym f = f F asciicircum bar

! u: Page Up, d: Page Down
keysym u = u U Prior
keysym d = d D Next

keysym BackSpace = BackSpace BackSpace Delete
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if you want to find a specific key like caps lock:

# press any key to get the key code
# after running this command:
xev
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xmodmap

Then add these to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc file:

#you may logout to see changes
xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap
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💖 💪 🙅 🚩
jaeyson
Jaeyson Anthony Y.

Posted on October 25, 2020

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how to remap broken keys with Xmodmap
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October 25, 2020