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Muhammad Ali Siddiqui
Asked: 2024-10-14 08:49:31 +0800 CST

Disable a key in Ubuntu 24.04

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So, my laptop delete key is stuck internally. I tried disabling it using xmod -e 'keycode 119 = 0x0000'. But I am still detecting it in xev. Sometime when text editor is open everything gets deleted. I have added the above command in start-up application to no avail.

keyboard

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Find the keycode for your Delete key by running xev | grep --line-buffered keycode . For many keyboards, the Delete key is mapped to keycode 119. The xev | grep --line-buffered keycode command opens a small Event Tester window with a big black square in it. Click inside the black square and press the Delete key. On my Ubuntu the result of pressing the Delete key was state 0x0, keycode 119 (keysym 0xffff, Delete), same_screen YES, which showed that keycode 119 is mapped to the Delete key on my keyboard.

    Use xmodmap -e 'keycode 119 = NoSymbol' to disable the Delete key. Press the Delete key to check if the command worked.

    To make this change permanent open the .Xmodmap file for editing in nano text editor.

    touch ~/.Xmodmap
nano ~/.Xmodmap

    Add the following line, and then save the changes to .Xmodmap using the keyboard shortcuts at the bottom of this answer.

    keycode 119 = NoSymbol

    Create an .xprofile file if it does not already exist.

    touch ~/.xprofile

    Open the .xprofile file for editing in nano text editor.

    nano ~/.xprofile

    Load the change made by disabling the Delete key automatically on login by adding this line to your .xprofile file:

    xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

    The instructions for using nano are always displayed at the bottom of the page. Use the keyboard combination Ctrl + O and after that press Enter to save the file to its current location. Use the keyboard combination Ctrl + X to exit nano.

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