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Accepted
John Baber-Lucero
Asked: 2012-04-09 05:27:23 +0800 CST

How do I turn on sticky keys from the CLI?

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I'd like turning sticky keys on and off to be done from a script. This is especially helpful to those not using kde/gnome/xfce.

keyboard command-line accessibility

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    This script works:

    $ cat $HOME/bin/sticky_keys 
xkbset exp -bell -sticky -twokey -latchlock -accessx -feedback -stickybeep -led 9999
xkbset bell sticky -twokey -latchlock feedback led stickybeep

    (If you would prefer pressing Shift twice to mean "hold down shift" then change '-latchlock' above to 'latchlock')

    For more and related information, you probably will like this wiki page:

    https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Accessibility/doc/Guide/Mobility

    Because of the missing tool 'xorgcfg' or 'xf86cfg' https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/506 in the ubuntu repository, you have to use the commandline tool 'xkbset'. Which isn't very user-friendly. You have to call 'xkbset' twice. By the first call, you set the expiry of the accessx settings. This is necessary, because there is a default timeout. By the second call, you can adjust the accessx settings themself. I don't know why, but in my settings, this was the required order!

    With xkbset -h you will get a help message.

    An example for setting the expiry of the accessx settings: xkbset exp -bell -sticky -twokey -latchlock -accessx -feedback -stickybeep -led

    You have to disable the expiry of all accessx settings you need. Because, if you set an explicit timeout with '0', you will cause a xorg runtime error.

    An example for adjust the accessx settings: xkbset bell sticky -twokey latchlock feedback led stickybeep

    For further information refer to: http://www.xfree86.org/current/xset.1.html

    In the Configuration example below you see a setup for daily usage.

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