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SETXKBMAP(1)		    General Commands Manual		  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 com-
       piled  only  as	needed.	  The  source for all of the components	can be
       found in	/usr/local/share/X11/xkb.

OPTIONS
       -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 up-
	       dated 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 lay-
	       out.

       -geometry name
	       Specifies the name of the geometry component used to  construct
	       a keyboard layout.

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

       -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	compo-
	       nents  which  make up the keyboard description. The -layout op-
	       tion may	only be	used once. Multiple layouts can	 be  specified
	       as a comma-separated list.

       -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 ex-
	       its. The	option can be used for tests instead of	a verbose  op-
	       tion  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 re-
	       quested 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 descrip-
	       tion. The -variant option may only be used once.	Multiple vari-
	       ants can	be specified as	a comma-separated  list	 and  will  be
	       matched with the	layouts	specified with -layout.

       -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.

       -version
	       Prints the program's version number.

USING WITH xkbcomp
       If  you have an Xserver and a client shell running on different comput-
       ers and some XKB	configuration files on those machines  are  different,
       you  can	 get  problems specifying a keyboard map by model, layout, and
       options names.  This is because setxkbmap  converts  its	 arguments  to
       names  of  XKB  configuration  files according to files that are	on the
       client-side computer, then sends	these file names to the	 server	 where
       xkbcomp	has  to	 compose a complete keyboard map using files which the
       server has.  Thus if the	sets of	files differ in	some  way,  the	 names
       that  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 ap-
       propriate 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), xkeyboard-config(7)

FILES
       /usr/local/share/X11/xkb

X Version 11			setxkbmap 1.3.2			  SETXKBMAP(1)

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