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Stefano Palazzo
Asked: 2010-12-14 23:04:35 +0800 CST

Map caps-lock key to middle mouse click

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Since I rarely use caps-lock, I'd like to map the key to a middle mouse click instead. I would also like to map Alt+Caps Lock to the original function of the caps lock key, should I ever need it.

I can map any keyboard shortcut to xdotool click 2, but the Gnome Keyboard Shortcuts dialog won't let me assign a command to the caps-lock key, even with modifiers.

I know this is a bit of a strange undertaking; How would I go about doing it?

keyboard xorg shortcut-keys input-devices xmodmap

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    If you first remove the lock modifier from the Caps Lock key you should then be able to assign the key in Keyboard Shortcuts, use the command below to do that:

    echo  'remove lock = Caps_Lock' | xmodmap -
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  2. Another easy solution if you prefer to use a GUI is to install easystroke:

    sudo apt-get install easystroke

    You can easily map keyboard keys and shortcuts to mouse buttons as well as mouse gestures.

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  3. Old question, new answer, copying myself from here: https://superuser.com/questions/947807/emulate-left-mouse-button-with-capslock-key/1409757#1409757

    I was looking for CapsLock = left click, which should be similar. After much experimentation I realized I got better results with xdotool instead of xte.

    In my ~/.bashrc (or whatever startup script is appropriate to your system) I added this line:

    /usr/bin/xmodmap -e "keycode 66 ="

    This removes the 'locking' behavior of Caps Lock and assigns that key (key 66) to nothingness. I was tinkering with putting this in other places like .xinitrc, but they never worked. It is fairly safe in .bashrc even though it does get re-run with every terminal session opened (depending on how your .bashrc is set up overall).

    For xbindkeys I created the file ~/.xbindkeysrc with these lines:

    "xdotool mousedown 1"
  c:66

"xdotool mouseup 1"
  release + c:66

    A reboot or running source ~/.bashrc should make the xmodmap part work. To reload xbindkeys, try this:

    killall xbindkeys
xbindkeys -f ~/.xbindkeysrc
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