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/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 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.

       -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 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).

       -query  With this option setxkbmap just prints the current rules, model, layout, variant, and options, then exits.

       -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  key-
               board 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/share/X11/xkb



X Version 11                                             setxkbmap 1.2.0                                            SETXKBMAP(1)