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SETXKBMAP(1)                                                                                    SETXKBMAP(1)



NAME
       setxkbmap - set the keyboard using the X Keyboard Extension

SYNOPSIS
       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/X11/share/X11/xkb.

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

       -compat name
               Specifies the name of the compatibility map component 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 lay-out. layout.
               out. 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.

       -layout name
               Specifies  the name of the layout used to determine the components which make up the keyboard
               description.  Only one layout may be specified on the command 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 keymap 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.  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 different 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 configuration 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 command

       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/X11/share/X11/xkb



X Version 11                                   setxkbmap 1.0.4                                  SETXKBMAP(1)