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Annotated edit history of loadkeys(1) version 4, including all changes. View license author blame.
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1 perry 1 LOADKEYS
2 !!!LOADKEYS
3 NAME
4 SYNOPSIS
5 DESCRIPTION
6 RESET TO DEFAULT
7 LOAD KERNEL KEYMAP
8 LOAD KERNEL ACCENT TABLE
9 LOAD KERNEL STRING TABLE
10 CREATE KERNEL SOURCE TABLE
11 OPTIONS
12 FILES
13 BUGS
14 SEE ALSO
15 ----
16 !!NAME
17
18
19 loadkeys - load keyboard translation tables
20 !!SYNOPSIS
21
22
23 __loadkeys [[__ ''-d --default'' __] [[__ ''-h
24 --help'' __] [[__ ''-q --quiet'' __] [[__ ''-v
25 --verbose'' __[[__ ''-v --verbose'' __]...] [[__
26 ''-m --mktable'' __] [[__ ''-c --clearcompose'' __]
27 [[__ ''-s --clearstrings'' __] [[ filename...
28 ]__
29 !!DESCRIPTION
30
31
32 The __loadkeys__ program reads the file or files
33 specified by ''filename...''
34
35
36 Its main purpose is to load the kernel keymap for the
37 console.
38 !!RESET TO DEFAULT
39
40
41 If the ''-d'' (or ''--default'' ) option is given,
42 __loadkeys__ loads a default keymap, probably the file
43 ''defkeymap.map'' either in ''/usr/share/keymaps'' or
44 in ''/usr/src/linux/drivers/char''. (Probably the former
45 was user-defined, while the latter is a qwerty keyboard map
46 for PCs - maybe not what was desired.) Sometimes, with a
47 strange keymap loaded (with the minus on some obscure
48 unknown modifier combination) it is easier to type `loadkeys
49 defkeymap'.
50 !!LOAD KERNEL KEYMAP
51
52
53 The main function of __loadkeys__ is to load or modify
54 the keyboard driver's translation tables. When specifying
55 the file names, standard input can be denoted by dash (-).
56 If no file is specified, the data is read from the standard
57 input.
58
59
60 For many countries and keyboard types appropriate keymaps
61 are available already, and a command like `loadkeys uk'
62 might do what you want. On the other hand, it is easy to
63 construct one's own keymap. The user has to tell what
64 symbols belong to each key. She can find the keycode for a
65 key by use of showkey(1), while the keymap format is
66 given in keymaps(5) and can also be seen from the
67 output of dumpkeys(1).
68 !!LOAD KERNEL ACCENT TABLE
69
70
71 If the input file does not contain any compose key
72 definitions, the kernel accent table is left unchanged,
73 unless the ''-c'' (or ''--clearcompose'' ) option is
74 given, in which case the kernel accent table is emptied. If
75 the input file does contain compose key definitions, then
76 all old definitions are removed, and replaced by the
77 specified new entries. The kernel accent table is a sequence
78 of (by default 68) entries describing how dead diacritical
79 signs and compose keys behave. For example, a
80 line
81
82
83 compose ',' 'c' to ccedilla
84
85
86 means that
87 !!LOAD KERNEL STRING TABLE
88
89
90 The option ''-s'' (or ''--clearstrings'' ) clears the
91 kernel string table. If this option is not given,
92 __loadkeys__ will only add or replace strings, not remove
93 them. (Thus, the option -s is required to reach a
94 well-defined state.) The kernel string table is a sequence
95 of strings with names like F31. One can make function key F5
96 (on an ordinary PC keyboard) produce the text `Hello!', and
97 Shift+F5 `Goodbye!' using lines
98
99
100 keycode 63 = F70 F71
101 string F70 =
102 string F71 =
103
104
105 in the keymap. The default bindings for the function keys
106 are certain escape sequences mostly inspired by the VT100
107 terminal.
108 !!CREATE KERNEL SOURCE TABLE
109
110
111 If the ''-m'' (or ''--mktable'' ) option is given
112 __loadkeys__ prints to the standard output a file that
113 may be used as
114 ''/usr/src/linux/drivers/char/defkeymap.c,'' specifying
115 the default key bindings for a kernel (and does not modify
116 the current keymap).
117 !!OPTIONS
118
119
120 ''-h --help''
121
122
123 print the version number and a short usage message to the
124 programs standard error output and exit.
125
126
127 ''-v --verbose''
128
129
130 Print details about changes. If used several times, be even
131 more verbose.
132
133
134 ''-q --quiet''
135
136
137 Do not print standard messages.
138
139
140 ''-c --clearcompose''
141
142
143 Clear the kernel's compose table (also called accent table).
144 If this option is not given, and if this file does not
145 contain any compose key definitions, the kernel compose
146 table is left unchanged.
147
148
149 ''-s --clearstrings''
150
151
152 Clear the kernel string table. If this option is not given,
153 __loadkeys__ will only add or replace strings, not remove
154 them.
155 !!FILES
156
157
158 ''/usr/share/keymaps/'' default directory for keymap
159 files.
160
161
162 ''/usr/share/keymaps/defkeymap.kmap'' default keymap
163 loaded by ''-d'' option.
164 !!BUGS
165
166
167 Note that anyone having read access to ''/dev/console''
168 can run __loadkeys__ and thus change the keyboard layout,
169 possibly making it unusable. Note that the keyboard
170 translation table is common for all the virtual consoles, so
171 any changes to the keyboard bindings affect all the virtual
172 consoles simultaneously.
173
174
175 Note that because the changes affect all the virtual
176 consoles, they also outlive your session. This means that
177 even at the login prompt the key bindings may not be what
178 the user expects.
179
180
181 The default keymap should be the default keymap compiled in
182 the kernel (ie. the one in
183 ''/usr/src/linux/drivers/char/defkeymap.c'').
184 !!SEE ALSO
185
186
4 perry 187 dumpkeys(1), kbd_mode(1),
1 perry 188 keymaps(5).
189 ----
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