MAN page from OpenSuSE kbd-2.9.0-lp160.236.2.x86_64.rpm

LOADKEYS

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 6 Feb 1994
Index

NAME

loadkeys - load keyboard translation tables

SYNOPSIS

loadkeys[,OPTION/]... ,FILENAME/...
loadkeys--default
loadkeys--mktable
loadkeys--bkeymap
loadkeys--tkeymap[=shape]
loadkeys--parse

DESCRIPTION

The programloadkeysreads the file or files specified byFILENAME....Its main purpose is to load the kernel keymap for the console.You can specify console device by the-C(or--console) option.

RESET TO DEFAULT

If the-d(or--default) option is given,loadkeysloads a default keymap, probably the filedefkeymap.mapeither in/usr/share/kbd/keymapsor in/usr/src/linux/drivers/tty/vt.(Probably the former was user-defined, while the latteris a qwerty keyboard map for PCs - maybe not what was desired.)Sometimes, with a strange keymap loaded (with the minus onsome obscure unknown modifier combination) it is easier totype `loadkeys defkeymap.map'.

LOAD KERNEL KEYMAP

The main function ofloadkeysis to load or modify the keyboard driver's translation tables.When specifying the file names, standard input can be denotedby dash (-). If no file is specified, the data is read fromthe standard input.

For many countries and keyboard types appropriate keymapsare available already, and a command like `loadkeys uk' mightdo what you want. On the other hand, it is easy to constructone's own keymap. The user has to tell what symbols belongto each key. She can find the keycode for a key by use ofshowkey(1),while the keymap format is given inkeymaps(5)and can also be seen from the output ofdumpkeys(1).

LOAD KERNEL ACCENT TABLE

If the input file does not contain any compose key definitions,the kernel accent table is left unchanged, unless the-c(or--clearcompose) option is given, in which case the kernel accent table is emptied.If the input file does contain compose key definitions, then allold definitions are removed, and replaced by the specified new entries.The kernel accent table is a sequence of (by default 68) entriesdescribing how dead diacritical signs and compose keys behave.For example, a line

: compose ',' 'c' to ccedilla

means that <ComposeKey><,><c> must be combined to <ccedilla>.The current content of this table can be seeusing `dumpkeys --compose-only'.

LOAD KERNEL STRING TABLE

The option-s(or--clearstrings) clears the kernel string table. If this option is not given,loadkeyswill only add or replace strings, not remove them.(Thus, the option -s is required to reach a well-defined state.)The kernel string table is a sequence of stringswith names like F31. One can make function key F5 (onan ordinary PC keyboard) produce the text `Hello!',and Shift+F5 `Goodbye!' using lines

: keycode 63 = F70 F71
string F70 = "Hello!"
string F71 = "Goodbye!"

in the keymap.The default bindings for the function keys are certainescape sequences mostly inspired by the VT100 terminal.

CREATE KERNEL SOURCE TABLE

If the-m(or--mktable) option is givenloadkeysprints to the standard output a file that may be used as/usr/src/linux/drivers/tty/vt/defkeymap.c,specifying the default key bindings for a kernel(and does not modify the current keymap).

CREATE BINARY KEYMAP

If the-b(or--bkeymap) option is givenloadkeysprints to the standard output a file that may be used as a binarykeymap as expected by Busyboxloadkmapcommand (and does not modify the current keymap).

CREATE TEXT KEYMAP

If the-t(or--tkeymap) option is givenloadkeysprints to the standard output a file that may be used as a textkeymap as expected byloadkeyscommand (and does not modify the current keymap).An optional argument can be used to select the shape of the outputformat:-tshape(or--tkeymap=shape).

Available shapes:

: 2default output.

: 4one line for each keycode.

: 8one line for each (modifier,keycode) pair.

: 16one line for each keycode until 1st hole.

UNICODE MODE

loadkeysautomatically detects whether the console is in Unicode orASCII (XLATE) mode. When a keymap is loaded, literalkeysyms (such assection)are resolved accordingly; numerical keysyms are converted tofit the current console mode, regardless of the way they arespecified (decimal, octal, hexadecimal or Unicode).

The-u(or--unicode)switch forcesloadkeysto convert all keymaps to Unicode. If the keyboard is in anon-Unicode mode, such as XLATE,loadkeyswill change it to Unicode for the time of its execution. Awarning message will be printed in this case.

It is recommended to runkbd_mode(1)beforeloadkeysinstead of using the-uoption.

OTHER OPTIONS

-a --ascii: Force conversion to ASCII.
-h --help: loadkeysprints its version number and a short usage message to the programsstandard error output and exits.
-p --parse: loadkeyssearches and parses keymap without action.
-q --quiet: loadkeyssuppresses all normal output.
-V --version: loadkeysprints version number and exits.

WARNING

Note that anyone having read access to/dev/consolecan runloadkeysand thus change the keyboard layout, possibly making it unusable. Notethat the keyboard translation table is common for all the virtualconsoles, so any changes to the keyboard bindings affect all the virtualconsoles simultaneously.

Note that because the changes affect all the virtual consoles, they alsooutlive your session. This means that even at the login prompt the keybindings may not be what the user expects.

FILES

/usr/share/kbd/keymaps: default directory for keymaps.

/usr/src/linux/drivers/tty/vt/defkeymap.map: default kernel keymap.

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