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How can I add a custom compose key sequence?

For example, I would like Compose, |, > to type the ▸ symbol.

I have tried adding the following to ~/.XCompose:

# Import default rules from the system Compose file
include "%L"

# Custom definitions
<Multi_key> <bar> <greater> : "▸" U25B8 # Black right-pointing small triangle

but the new sequence is not usable anywhere except for xterm.

Installing ibus-table-compose and then enabling the Compose input method in IBus did not solve the problem; IBus imitated many compose key sequences, but not the one I had created.

Community
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ændrük
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3 Answers3

26

  1. Create a file named .XCompose in your home directory (~/.XCompose), which contains:

    # import the default Compose file for your locale
include "%L"

<Multi_key> <bar> <greater>  : "▸"

    See man 5 Compose for more info about the format of this file.

  2. Add the following to ~/.profile:

    export GTK_IM_MODULE="xim"

    On Ubuntu 18.04 (maybe others), you may need to use the following instead:

    export GTK_IM_MODULE="gtk-im-context-simple"

  3. Log off and back on. Or restart X. Or reboot.

xiota
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dan_waterworth
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13

Create a file ~/.XCompose (that is a file named .XCompose in your "home" folder) which contains the following:

include "%L"   # import the default Compose file for your locale
<Multi_key> <bar> <greater>     : "▸"

See man 5 Compose for more info about the format of this file.

JanC
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10

On Ubuntu 14.04 I did the following:

1) Installed uim using the Software Manager, other packages like uim-xim, uim-gtk2, uim-gtk3 and uim-qt are auto installed. See https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/uim.

2) Defined environmental variables by adding the next lines to ~/.profile, this way the custom compose key sequences only apply to the current user:

# Restart the X-server after making alterations using:
# $ sudo restart lightdm
# It seems only GTK_IM_MODULE or QT_IM_MODULE needs to be defined.
export GTK_IM_MODULE="uim"
export QT_IM_MODULE="uim"

The ~/.XCompose-file from the OP should work after restarting 1) Ubuntu or 2) just the X-server by runnung the following command in a terminal:

$ sudo restart lightdm

NB: Restarting only seems necessary after altering the ~/.profile file, alterations to ~/.XCompose will take effect the next time an application (Terminal, Gedit, etc.) starts.

To check whether the environmental variables are set right, enter the following command in your terminal:

$ printenv | grep IM_MODULE

Many thanks to:

About custom compose key sequences:

About custom keyboard mapping:

Example .Xcompose files to mimic Window US International keyboards:

lmeurs
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