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Dave E
Asked: 2012-01-09 02:17:04 +0800 CST

Where do I find a list of all X keysyms these days?

  • 772

They used to be in /usr/lib/X11/XKeysymDB or /usr/share/X11/XKeysymDB, but those have been missing from Ubuntu for a while. I've tried google, but all I get are more references to XKeysymDB or the outputs of different people's xmodmap -pke. Where is the concise list?

xorg

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Probably the best up-to-date values for key symbol definitions is to look at the source-code.

    Basically its just a list of keysym names with their associated codes.

    sudo apt-get install x11proto-core-dev

    Two key keyfiles in /usr/include/X11:

    The main definition file: 

    /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h

    Vendor specific (i.e. Debian/Ubuntu): 

    /usr/include/X11/XF86keysym.h

    There are a number of other header files in the same folder you can also examine:

    $ grep -l '#define.*XK_' /usr/include/X11/*.h


    Example definition from /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h:

    #define XK_BackSpace                     0xff08  /* Back space, back char */
#define XK_Tab                           0xff09
#define XK_Linefeed                      0xff0a  /* Linefeed, LF */
#define XK_Clear                         0xff0b
#define XK_Return                        0xff0d  /* Return, enter */
#define XK_Pause                         0xff13  /* Pause, hold */
#define XK_Scroll_Lock                   0xff14
#define XK_Sys_Req                       0xff15
#define XK_Escape                        0xff1b
#define XK_Delete                        0xffff  /* Delete, rubout */
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  2. Note that if you want to learn the code for a specific key on your keyboard, you can use xev. After starting xev, you can press the key and see the X events printed to the terminal.

    You can use xev | grep keysym to filter the lines for the essential information, you need the second argument in parenthesis.

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