Manual Pages for UNIX Operating System command usage for man setxkbmap

User Commands                                        SETXKBMAP(1)



NAME
     setxkbmap - set the keyboard using the X Keyboard Extension

SYNOPSIS
     /usr/bin/setxkbmap [ args ] [ layout [ variant [ option  ...
     ] ] ]

DESCRIPTION
     The setxkbmap command maps the keyboard to  use  the  layout
     determined by the options specified on the command line.

     An XKB keymap is constructed from  a  number  of  components
     which  are  compiled  only as needed.  The source for all of
     the components can be found in /usr/share/X11/xkb.

OPTIONS
     -help   Prints a  message  describing  the  valid  input  to
             setxkbmap.

     -compat name
             Specifies the name of  the  compatibility  map  com-
             ponent used to construct a keyboard layout.

     -config file
             Specifies the name  of  an  XKB  configuration  file
             which describes the keyboard to be used.

     -device device
             Specifies the numeric device id of the input  device
             to  be  updated with the new keyboard layout. If not
             specified, the core keyboard device of the X  server
             is updated.

     -display display
             Specifies the display to be  updated  with  the  new
             keyboard layout.

     -geometry name
             Specifies the name of the geometry component used to
             construct a keyboard layout.

     -I directory
             Adds a directory to the list of  directories  to  be
             used to search for specified layout or rules files.

     -keycodes name
             Specifies the name of the keycodes component used to
             construct a keyboard layout.

     -keymap name
             Specifies the name of the keymap description used to
             construct a keyboard layout.



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User Commands                                        SETXKBMAP(1)



     -layout name
             Specifies the name of the layout used  to  determine
             the  components  which make up the keyboard descrip-
             tion.  Only one layout may be specified on the  com-
             mand line.

     -model name
             Specifies the name of the  keyboard  model  used  to
             determine  the components which make up the keyboard
             description.  Only one model may be specified on the
             command line.

     -option name
             Specifies the name of an  option  to  determine  the
             components  which  make up the keyboard description;
             multiple options may be specified, one  per  -option
             flag.  Note that setxkbmap adds options specified in
             the command line to the options that were set before
             (as saved in root window properties). If you want to
             replace all previously specified  options,  use  the
             -option flag with an empty argument first.

     -print  With this option the setxkbmap just prints component
             names in a format acceptable by xkbcomp (an XKB key-
             map compiler) and exits. The option can be used  for
             tests  instead of a verbose option and in cases when
             one needs to run both the setxkbmap and the  xkbcomp
             in chain (see below).

     -rules file
             Specifies the name of the rules file used to resolve
             the requested layout and model to a set of component
             names.

     -symbols name
             Specifies the name of the symbols component used  to
             construct a keyboard layout.

     -synch  Force synchronization for X requests.

     -types name
             Specifies the name of the types  component  used  to
             construct a keyboard layout.

     -variant name
             Specifies  which  variant  of  the  keyboard  layout
             should  be  used  to  determine the components which
             make up the keyboard description.  Only one  variant
             may be specified on the command line.

     -verbose|-v [level]
             Specifies level of  verbosity  in  output  messages.



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User Commands                                        SETXKBMAP(1)



             Valid  levels  range  from  0  (least verbose) to 10
             (most verbose).  The default verbosity level  is  5.
             If  no  level is specified, each -v or -verbose flag
             raises the level by 1.

USING WITH xkbcomp
     If you have an Xserver and a client shell  running  on  dif-
     ferent  computers  and  XKB  configuration  files  on  those
     machines are different you can  get  problems  specifying  a
     keyboard  map  by  model,  layout,  options  names.  This is
     because setxkbcomp converts these names to names of XKB con-
     figuration  files  according to files that are on the client
     side computer, then it sends the file names  to  the  server
     where  the  xkbcomp  has  to compose a complete keyboard map
     using files which the server has.  Thus if the sets of files
     differ  significantly the names that the setxkbmap generates
     can be unacceptable on the server side.  You can solve  this
     problem by running the xkbcomp on the client side too.  With
     the -print option setxkbmap just prints the file names in an
     appropriate  format  to  its  stdout  and this output can be
     piped directly to the xkbcomp input. For example,  the  com-
     mand

     setxkbmap us -print | xkbcomp - $DISPLAY

     makes both steps run on the same (client) machine and  loads
     a keyboard map into the server.

SEE ALSO
     xkbcomp(1)

FILES
     /usr/share/X11/xkb


ATTRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | x11/keyboard/xkb-utilities  |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Interface Stability         | Committed                   |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|









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