How can I persistently remap keys in Ubuntu 16.04?

Question

This is working for the current session:

costales@dev:~/Desktop$ xmodmap -e "keycode 166 = less"
costales@dev:~/Desktop$ xmodmap -e "keycode 167 = greater"

Then I created this config file:

costales@dev:~/Desktop$ cat ~/.Xmodmap 
keycode 166 = less
keycode 167 = greater
costales@dev:~/Desktop$

But it's not working after a reboot. How could I force the remap to survive reboot?

score 30 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 25 '23 at 19:46

In my long experience with remapping keys in Ubuntu, the permanent solution is to modify a file called evdev in /usr/share/X11/xkb/keycodes.

Run this command in the command prompt.

sudo gedit /usr/share/X11/xkb/keycodes/evdev

Remember gedit is a Ubuntu text editor so you can use nano or vim instead of gedit.

The file is in the format: ALIAS: CODE. You can swap buttons by interchanging codes of different keys. For example, to swap RCONTROL with RETURN, edit two lines in evdev into this:

<RTRN> = 105;

<RCTL> = 36;

To know the number code for a button run xev on the terminal.

Log out and back in to apply changes.

score 19 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

I've been using 16.04 for a little bit and it seems to use sddm as its desktop manager. It used to be LightDM and GDM before that. Both its predacessors are documented to load ~/.Xmodmap automatically but I can't find anything explicitly saying sddm does.

Therefore it may be advisable to just force it to load with a new script. You just need to run xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap and you can do that a number of ways:

Adding it via the graphical start up tools
Editing ~/.xinitrc to run it.
Adding a new .desktop config in ~/.config/autostart/

There are probably a few dozen other ways to manage this, essentially doing the same thing.

score 9 · Answer 3 · edited Sep 17 '18 at 14:20

I added a file /etc/X11/Xsession.d/80_xmodmap with these contents:

#!/bin/sh
# Set custom keycodes
#
# This file is sourced by Xsession(5), not executed.
# The "|| true" is to ensure that the Xsession script does not terminate on error

USRMODMAP="$HOME/.Xmodmap"

if [ -x /usr/bin/xmodmap ]; then
        if [ -f "$USRMODMAP" ]; then
                /usr/bin/xmodmap "$USRMODMAP" || true
        fi
fi

This works every time.

score 5 · Answer 4 · edited Dec 04 '20 at 07:58

5

Go to Startup Applications and make a new entry with the content shown in the following screenshot:

It works every time.

edited Dec 04 '20 at 07:58

BeastOfCaerbannog

16,703

answered Dec 04 '20 at 06:13

Ghulam Hassan

51

score 4 · Answer 5 · edited Feb 07 '20 at 04:16

After searching on Google, I was able to resolve my laptop faulty keys remapping. All faulty keys on my Thinkpad T400 are working fine after remapping. Also, it's permanent without an extra load on the CPU core.

First find your keyboard layout or keycode using below command.
```
xev -event keyboard 
```

For example, on my Thinkpad T400 keycode found as follows:

Keycode of "z" key is 52
Keycode of "x" key is 53
Keycode of "c" key is 54
Keycode of "v" key is 55
Keycode of "F6" key is 72
Keycode of "F10" key is 76
Keycode of "F11" key is 95
Keycode of "F12" key is 96

Remapping character keys "z" "x" "c" "v" by assigning function keys "F6" "F10" "F11" "F12".
Modify lines as below (Backup file before making any changes to rollback easily if things go wrong).
```
sudo vi /usr/share/X11/xkb/keycodes/evdev
```

Find the lines and change value as below:

<AB01> = 72;
<AB02> = 76;
<AB03> = 95;
<AB04> = 96;

Comment these lines or remove the lines:

//  <FK06> = 72;
//  <FK10> = 76;
//  <FK11> = 95;
//  <FK12> = 96;

Save and exit.

To remap special keys:

Backup file before making changes to rollback if things go wrong.
```
cd /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/

sudo vi pc
```

Add or modify below lines in function "xkb_symbols "editing" {"

key [SCLK] {    [  Prior        ]   };
key [PAUS] {    [  Next         ]   };

Save and exit.
Clear cache.
```
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/xkb/*
```
Reboot.

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 08 '16 at 14:43

4

open gnome-session-properties. add command and name. desktop file will be created in ~/.config/autostart.

remenber: use absolute path, eg /home/xxx/.Xmodmap. never use '~' as your home dir.

answered Nov 08 '16 at 14:43

eexpress

269

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 26 '17 at 13:12

Navigate to

/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols

With sudo privileges, in an editor, open the layout you desire to edit. Replace the values.

After reboot, the changes will be applied.

Here is an example I use to remap my keypad because of keyboard hardware issues.

keypad remap example

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 29 '19 at 16:18

1

Graphical Editor

gnome-tweaks > Keyboard & Mouse > Additional Layout Options

answered Aug 29 '19 at 16:18

Jonathan

3,984

score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

0

Because .Xmodmap files are much easier to edit than xkb, I use .Xmodmap as a 'source' file, then convert it to xkb (the current standard) and auto-load at boot using the .bashrc method.

It's a few simple steps posted here.

Works perfectly, and using xkb future-proofs against when support for .Xmodmap is dropped.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

Community

1

answered Dec 09 '16 at 16:48

u2n

923
2
10
22

How can I persistently remap keys in Ubuntu 16.04?

9 Answers9

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