How to remap keys in Linux

Zettel#3

zettelkasten
Published

2022-07-13

  1. use xev to find out which key you want to remap;
  2. create a file in your home directory called.Xmodmap;
  3. here’s an example of to remap a key:
keycode xx = new_key
  1. add the following line to your .bashrc to make it permanent:
xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap
  1. finally, to apply the changes to your current session, reload your .bashrc file by running the following command:
source ~/.bashrc

Remap <Caps_Lock> to <Escape>

The method described above cannot be used to remap the <Caps_Lock> key. I am unsure why, but it retains its original behavior despite the new one assigned by xmodmap. Fortunately, it is still possible to remap it as intended by other means.

When using GNOME

If you’re using GNOME, you can remap the <Caps_Lock> key by following these steps:

  1. install gnome-tweaks;
  2. go to Keyboard and Mouse;
  3. go to Additional Layout Options;
  4. click on Caps Lock behavior;
  5. click on Make Caps Lock an additional Esc.

Note that this method may not work in Hyper-V, but it should work in VMware.

When using i3

If you’re using i3, add this to the end of your i3 configuration file ~/.config/i3/config:

exec --no-startup-id setxkbmap -option caps:escape

To take effect, you have to restart i3. You can do this by logging out and logging back.