Provided by: triggerhappy_0.5.0-1_amd64 
NAME
thd -- triggerhappy global hotkey daemon
SYNOPSIS
thd [--help] [--user name] [--listevents] [--dump] [--socket socket] [--triggers config] [--daemon]
[--pidfile file] [--uinput device][--ignore event] [--deviceglob pattern] [devices...]
DESCRIPTION
Triggerhappy is a hotkey daemon that operates on a system wide scale. It watches all configured input
devices for key, switch or button events and can launch arbitrary commands specified by the
administrator. In contrast to hotkey services provided by desktop environments, Triggerhappy is
especially suited to hardware related switches like volume or wifi control; it works independently from a
specific user being logged in and is also suitable for embedded systems that do not a graphical user
interface.
OPTIONS
--help
Shows usage instructions
--listevents
Prints a list of all known event names.
--triggers conf
Read trigger definitions from conf, which can either be a file or a directory. If a directory is
specified, all its files matching the pattern *.conf are loaded.
--dump
Dump all recognized events to STDOUT. This can also be utilized to create a skeleton trigger
configuration by redirecting the printed configuration lines to a configuration file, adding the
desired command and activating the generated line by removing the comment mark "#" at its beginning:
thd --dump /dev/input/event* | grep ^# > /etc/triggerhappy/triggers.d/skeleton.conf
--socket file
Open a unix domain socket at file; this socket can be used to send commands to the running daemon (by
using the program th-cmd), e.g. for adding or removing devices.
--daemon
Run as a background daemon and detach from the terminal.
--pidfile file
Write PID to file.
--uinput device
Open uinput file (probably /dev/input/uinput) to generate synthetic events.
--ignore eventname
Ignore key and switch event labeled eventname. This can be used to suppress the FN key on some
notebooks which only generates events sometimes and might screw up key combinations.
--normalize
Normalize REL and ABS events. If this option is enabled, the values of axis movement events are
mapped to the three values -1, 0 and 1, depending on the sign of the value reported by the kernel.
--user name
Change to user id name after opening files. This usually prevents thd from opening additional input
devices, unless they are opened by the th-cmd program and their file descriptor are passed to the
daemon.
--deviceglob pattern
Open device files matching the glob pattern.
Additional command line arguments are considered filenames of input devices.
CONFIGURATION
Configuring event handlers
The hotkey bindings used by Triggerhappy are set in the configuration file specified by --triggers. Each
line consists of three segments: The symbolic name of the key or event name to react on, the value
carried by the expected event, and of course the command to be launched.
The event names can be identified by operating the desired key or switch while running the triggerhappy
daemon with the option --dump.
Key events carry the value 1 for a key being pressed and transmit the payload 0 when it is released;
holding the key down constantly yields events with a value of 2.
The command can include any number of arguments. Please include the full path to avoid trouble through
different $PATH settings for the daemon and your interactive session.
The three fields are separated by an arbitrary number of whitespaces, while anything behind a # character
is ignored and considered a comment.
EXAMPLE
Starting the daemon
thd --dump /dev/input/event*
Dump all events processable by thd to the console; this is useful to find out the correct event name for
a specific key.
thd --triggers /etc/triggerhappy/triggers.d/ /dev/input/event*
Read from all currently connected input devices and process events according to the files in
/etc/triggerhappy/triggers.d/.
thd --triggers /etc/triggerhappy/triggers.conf --socket /var/run/thd.socket
Do not open any input devices yet, but bind the socket /var/run/thd.socket for th-cmd to connect to.
Configuration files
Any number of event handlers can be placed in the configuration file:
# /etc/triggerhappy/triggers.d/suspend.conf
#
# Suspend the system
KEY_SLEEP 1 /usr/sbin/hibernate-ram
KEY_SLEEP+KEY_LEFTSHIFT 1 /usr/sbin/hibernate-disk
# /etc/triggerhappy/triggers.d/audio.conf
# Change mixer volume when pressing the appropriate keys (or holding them)
KEY_VOLUMEUP 1 /usr/bin/amixer set Master 5%+
KEY_VOLUMEUP 2 /usr/bin/amixer set Master 5%+
KEY_VOLUMEDOWN 1 /usr/bin/amixer set Master 5%-
KEY_VOLUMEDOWN 2 /usr/bin/amixer set Master 5%-
In more complex situations, triggerhappy can provide multiple modes that map a single event to different
keys; triggers are bound to a specific mode by appending its name to the event name:
KEY_KPPLUS@media 1 /usr/bin/mpc next
KEY_KPMINUS@media 1 /usr/bin/mpc prev
These two lines will only cause mpc to be called if the triggerhappy daemon is in "media" mode. Changing
the mode can be achieved by placing a special trigger inside the configuration:
KEY_F12@ 1 @media
KEY_F12@media 1 @
These two lines make the F12 key toggle between the (nameless) default mode and the newly defined media
mode.
Triggers with "@" appended are only executed if the specified mode is active; all other triggers are
enabled in every mode.
When launched with the option --uinput, triggerhappy can be used to generate synthetic events. A virtual
input device is created which emits specified key presses once a special trigger is reached:
KEY_KPASTERISK 1 <KEY_VOLUMEDOWN
By prepending a keycode with the special character '<', other applications will receive a press and
release of the corresponding key. This is especially useful to remap or mirror events generated by
devices exclusively serviced by the triggerhappy daemon.
It is possible to create handlers that only react to specific devices: to achieve such behaviour, add the
input device using th-cmd and supply it with a tag; this tag can then be used to limit the scope of a
trigger to this device:
<remote>KEY_ENTER 1 /usr/bin/mpc stop
Defining the hotkey in this way will only trigger the handler if the event is received from a device
tagged "remote".
AUTHOR
Stefan Tomanek <stefan.tomanek+th@wertarbyte.de>
0.5.0 2016-08-30 THD(1)