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I recently updated from Ubuntu 21.04 to 21.10 and the upgrade has changed the behaviour of my Ctrl+. key combo. It didn't used to do anything, which allowed application specific shortcuts, such as VSCode to open the 'Quick Fix' menu.

Now it is hijacked by the OS and inputs a weird underlined e character in all text inputs. It does not show in any shortcuts in accessibility or keyboard settings, I have tried to disable the compose key, disabled the Alternate characters key, changed keyboard input source and nothing works.

Weirdly, the e and following words follow to all windows and I can't type a space either. I need to know what this is so I can turn it off and use my VSCode hotkeys properly again. Hitting ctrl+. again or escape reverts it.

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Dav
  • 513

2 Answers2

50

This is shortcut for entering emoji. For example press ctrl+dot j o y space enter. To change it, run ibus-setup

pasman pasmański
  • 2,177
7

It's the Emoji annotation shortcut and you can change it using the IBus Preferences dialog (ibus-setup).

This is how it's supposed to work:

When you press the Emoji annotation shortcut key (e.g. Ctrl+.), the "e̲" character that's inserted into the text signals that you have switched from the regular mode to the emoji annotation mode. Press it again or Esc to switch back to the regular mode and the "e̲" character disappears.

To insert an emoji, you can use it in two ways:

1. Select an emoji from the list (Emoji selector dialog)

  1. Press the Emoji annotation shortcut (Ctrl+.) to switch to the emoji inserting mode - the character "e̲" is inserted
  2. Press Ctrl+Space to open the emoji group selector
  3. Using the keyboard, select a group and press Enter to switch to the emoji selector view
  4. Select an emoji and press Enter to insert it into the text and switch back to the regular mode (the "e̲" character will be replaced by the selected emoji character)

2. Type the name or shorthand of the emoji to be inserted

  1. Press the Emoji annotation shortcut (Ctrl+.) to switch to the emoji inserting mode - the character "e̲" is inserted
  2. Type the emoji name or its textual representation, e.g. :) or heart
  3. Press Ctrl+Space to replace the inserted text with the emoji corresponding to the inserted text (the "e̲" character stays there at this point)
  4. If you're OK with the inserted emoji, press Enter to switch back to the regular mode (the "e̲" character disappears and the inserted emoji stays in the text)
  5. If you don't like the inserted emoji, you can go back to the inserted text by pressing Escape (press it again to cancel the emoji mode completely - inserted text including the "e̲" character is removed and you switch back to the regular mode) or you can press Ctrl+Space again to show the emoji selector with emojis filtered by the inserted text, select the emoji you like and press Enter to insert it to the text and switch back to the regular mode

Disclaimer: I have just discovered how it works so it's possible that my description is incomplete or inaccurate.

David Ferenczy Rogožan
  • 183