File Formats Compose(4)
NAME
Compose - X client mappings for multi-key input sequences
DESCRIPTION
The X library, libX11, provides a simple input method for characters beyond those represented on typical keyboards using sequences of key strokes that are combined to enter a single character. The compose file is searched for in the following order:- If the environment variable $XCOMPOSEFILE is set, its
value is used as the name of the Compose file.
- If the user's home directory has a file named .XCom-
pose, it is used as the Compose file.
- The system provided compose file is used by mapping the
locale to a compose file from the list in/usr/share/X11/locale/compose.dir.
Compose files can use an "include" instruction. This allows
local modifications to be made to existing compose files without including all of the content directly. For example,the system's iso8859-1 compose file can be included with a
line like this:include "%S/iso8859-1/Compose"
There are several substitutions that can be made in the file name of the include instruction:%H expands to the user's home directory (the $HOME environ-
ment variable)%L expands to the name of the locale specific Compose file
(i.e., "/usr/share/X11/locale/
/Compose") %S expands to the name of the system directory for Compose
files (i.e., "/usr/share/X11/locale") For example, you can include in your compose file the
default Compose file by using:
include "%L"
and then rewrite only the few rules that you need to change. New compose rules can be added, and previous ones replaced. FILE FORMATCompose files are plain text files, with a separate line for
each compose sequence. Comments begin with # characters.
Each compose sequence specifies one or more events and a resulting input sequence, with an optional comment at the end of the line:SunOS 5.10 Last change: __vendorversion__ 1
File Formats Compose(4)
EVENT [EVENT...] : RESULT [# COMMENT]
Each event consists of a specified input keysym, and optional modifier states:[MODIFIER_LIST]
Each modifier consists of a specified modifier and a state: (! MODIFIER ) | None Modifiers may be preceded by a "~" character to indicate that the modifier must not be present. The result specifies a string, keysym, or both, that the X client receives as input when the sequence of events is input: "STRING" | keysym | "STRING" keysymKeysyms are specified without the XK_ prefix.
Strings may be direct text encoded in the locale for whichthe compose file is to be used, or an escaped octal or hexa-
decimal character code. Octal codes are specified as "\123" and hexadecimal codes as "\0x123a". It is not necessary to specify in the right part of a rule a locale encoded string in addition to the keysym name. If the string is omitted, Xlib figures it out from the keysym according to the current locale. I.e., if a rule looks like: the result of the composition is always the letter with the "\300" code. But if the rule is: the result depends on how Agrave is mapped in the current locale. ENVIRONMENT XCOMPOSEFILE File to use for compose sequences. XCOMPOSECACHE Directory to use for caching compiled compose files. FILES$HOME/.XCompose
User default compose file if XCOMPOSEFILE is not set./usr/share/X11/locale/compose.dir File listing the compose file path to use for each locale.
/usr/share/X11/locale/
System default compose file for the locale, mapped via compose.dir./Compose SunOS 5.10 Last change: __vendorversion__ 2
File Formats Compose(4)
/var/cache/libx11/compose/System-wide cache directory for compiled compose files.
$HOME/.compose-cache/
Per-user cache directory for compiled compose files.
SEE ALSO
XLookupString(3x11), XmbLookupString(3x11),XwcLookupString(3x11), Xutf8LookupString(3x11), mkcom-
posecache(1), locale(5).Xlib - C Language X Interface
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | x11/library/libx11 ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Committed ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
| MT-Level | See XInitThreads(3X11) |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SunOS 5.10 Last change: __vendorversion__ 3