.\" @(#)loadkeys.1

.TH LOADKEYS 1 "6 Feb 1994"

.SH NAME

loadkeys \- load keyboard translation tables

.SH SYNOPSIS

.B loadkeys

[

.I -a --ascii

] [

[

.I -b --bkeymap

] [

.I -c --clearcompose

] [

.I -C '<FILE>'

|

.I --console=<FILE>

] [

.I -d --default

] [

.I -h --help

] [

.I -m --mktable

] [

.I -p --parse

] [

.I -q --quiet

] [

.I -s --clearstrings

] [

.I -u --unicode

] [

.I -v --verbose

] [

.I -V --version

] [

.I filename...

]

.LP

.SH DESCRIPTION

.IX "loadkeys command" "" "\fLloadkeys\fR command"  

.LP

The program

.B loadkeys

reads the file or files specified by

.IR filename... .

Its main purpose is to load the kernel keymap for the console.

You can specify console device by the

.I -C 

(or

.I --console

) option.

.SH "RESET TO DEFAULT"

If the

.I -d

(or

.I --default

) option is given,

.B loadkeys

loads a default keymap, probably the file

.I defkeymap.map

either in

.I @DATADIR@/keymaps

or in

.IR /usr/src/linux/drivers/char .

(Probably the former was user-defined, while the latter

is a qwerty keyboard map for PCs - maybe not what was desired.)

Sometimes, with a strange keymap loaded (with the minus on

some obscure unknown modifier combination) it is easier to

type `loadkeys defkeymap'.

.SH "LOAD KERNEL KEYMAP"

The main function of

.B loadkeys

is to load or modify the keyboard driver's translation tables.

When specifying the file names, standard input can be denoted

by dash (-). If no file is specified, the data is read from

the standard input.

.LP

For many countries and keyboard types appropriate keymaps

are available already, and a command like `loadkeys uk' might

do what you want. On the other hand, it is easy to construct

one's own keymap. The user has to tell what symbols belong

to each key. She can find the keycode for a key by use of

.BR showkey (1),

while the keymap format is given in

.BR keymaps (5)

and can also be seen from the output of

.BR dumpkeys (1).

.SH "LOAD KERNEL ACCENT TABLE"

If the input file does not contain any compose key definitions,

the kernel accent table is left unchanged, unless the

.I -c

(or

.I --clearcompose

) option is given, in which case the kernel accent table is emptied.

If the input file does contain compose key definitions, then all

old definitions are removed, and replaced by the specified new entries.

The kernel accent table is a sequence of (by default 68) entries

describing how dead diacritical signs and compose keys behave.

For example, a line

.LP

.RS

compose ',' 'c' to ccedilla

.RE

.LP

means that <ComposeKey><,><c> must be combined to <ccedilla>.

The current content of this table can be see

using `dumpkeys \-\-compose\-only'.

.SH "LOAD KERNEL STRING TABLE"

The option

.I -s

(or

.I --clearstrings

) clears the kernel string table. If this option is not given,

.B loadkeys

will only add or replace strings, not remove them.

(Thus, the option \-s is required to reach a well-defined state.)

The kernel string table is a sequence of strings

with names like F31. One can make function key F5 (on

an ordinary PC keyboard) produce the text `Hello!',

and Shift+F5 `Goodbye!' using lines

.LP

.RS

keycode 63 = F70 F71

.br

string F70 = "Hello!"

.br

string F71 = "Goodbye!"

.RE

.LP

in the keymap.

The default bindings for the function keys are certain

escape sequences mostly inspired by the VT100 terminal.

.SH "CREATE KERNEL SOURCE TABLE"

If the 

.I -m

(or

.I --mktable

) option is given

.B loadkeys

prints to the standard output a file that may be used as

.I /usr/src/linux\%/drivers\%/char\%/defkeymap.c,

specifying the default key bindings for a kernel

(and does not modify the current keymap).

.SH "CREATE BINARY KEYMAP"

If the

.I -b

(or

.I --bkeymap

) option is given

.B loadkeys

prints to the standard output a file that may be used as a binary

keymap as expected by Busybox

.B loadkmap

command (and does not modify the current keymap).

.SH "UNICODE MODE"

.B loadkeys

automatically detects whether the console is in Unicode or

ASCII (XLATE) mode.  When a keymap is loaded, literal

keysyms (such as

.BR section )

are resolved accordingly; numerical keysyms are converted to

fit the current console mode, regardless of the way they are

specified (decimal, octal, hexadecimal or Unicode).

.LP

The

.I -u

(or

.IR --unicode )

switch forces

.B loadkeys

to convert all keymaps to Unicode.  If the keyboard is in a

non-Unicode mode, such as XLATE,

.B loadkeys

will change it to Unicode for the time of its execution.  A

warning message will be printed in this case.

.LP

It is recommended to run

.BR kbd_mode (1)

before

.B loadkeys

instead of using the

.I -u

option.

.SH "OTHER OPTIONS"

.TP

.B \-a \-\-ascii

Force conversion to ASCII.

.TP

.B \-h \-\-help

.B loadkeys

prints its version number and a short usage message to the programs

standard error output and exits.

.TP

.B \-p \-\-parse

.B loadkeys

searchs and parses keymap without action.

.TP

.B \-q \-\-quiet

.B loadkeys

suppresses all normal output.

.TP

.B \-V \-\-version

.B loadkeys

prints version number and exits.

.SH WARNING

Note that anyone having read access to

.B /dev/console

can run

.B loadkeys

and thus change the keyboard layout, possibly making it unusable. Note

that the keyboard translation table is common for all the virtual

consoles, so any changes to the keyboard bindings affect all the virtual

consoles simultaneously.

.LP

Note that because the changes affect all the virtual consoles, they also

outlive your session. This means that even at the login prompt the key

bindings may not be what the user expects.

.SH FILES

.TP

.BI @DATADIR@/keymaps

default directory for keymaps

.LP

.TP

.BI /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/defkeymap.map

default kernel keymap

.SH "SEE ALSO"

.BR dumpkeys (1),

.BR keymaps (5)