NAME

       setxkbmap - set the keyboard using the X Keyboard Extension

SYNOPSIS

       setxkbmap [ args ] [ layout [ variant [ option ...  ] ] ]

DESCRIPTION

       The  setxkbmap  command  maps  the  keyboard to use the layout determined by the options specified on the
       command line.

       An XKB keymap is constructed from a number of components which are compiled only as needed.   The  source
       for all of the components can be found in /usr/share/X11/xkb.

OPTIONS

       -compat name
               Specifies the name of the compatibility map component used to construct a keyboard layout.

       -config file
               Specifies the name of an XKB configuration file which describes the keyboard to be used.

       -device device
               Specifies  the  numeric device id of the input device to be updated with the new keyboard layout.
               If not specified, the core keyboard device of the X server is updated.

       -display display
               Specifies the display to be updated with the new keyboard layout.

       -geometry name
               Specifies the name of the geometry component used to construct a keyboard layout.

       -help   Prints a message describing the valid input to setxkbmap.

       -I directory
               Adds a directory to the list of directories to be used to search for specified  layout  or  rules
               files.

       -keycodes name
               Specifies the name of the keycodes component used to construct a keyboard layout.

       -keymap name
               Specifies the name of the keymap description used to construct a keyboard layout.

       -layout name
               Specifies  the  name  of  the  layout used to determine the components which make up the keyboard
               description. The -layout option may only be used once. Multiple layouts can  be  specified  as  a
               comma-separated list.

       -model name
               Specifies  the  name  of  the  keyboard  model used to determine the components which make up the
               keyboard description.  Only one model may be specified on the command line.

       -option name
               Specifies the name of  an  option  to  determine  the  components  which  make  up  the  keyboard
               description;   multiple  options may be specified, one per -option flag. Note that setxkbmap adds
               options specified in the command line to the options that were  set  before  (as  saved  in  root
               window properties). If you want to replace all previously specified options, use the -option flag
               with an empty argument first.

       -print  With this option setxkbmap just prints component names in a format acceptable by xkbcomp (an  XKB
               keymap  compiler)  and exits. The option can be used for tests instead of a verbose option and in
               cases when one needs to run both the setxkbmap and the xkbcomp in chain (see below).

       -query  With this option setxkbmap just prints the current rules, model, layout,  variant,  and  options,
               then exits.

       -rules file
               Specifies  the  name of the rules file used to resolve the requested layout and model to a set of
               component names.

       -symbols name
               Specifies the name of the symbols component used to construct a keyboard layout.

       -synch  Force synchronization for X requests.

       -types name
               Specifies the name of the types component used to construct a keyboard layout.

       -variant name
               Specifies which variant of the keyboard layout should be used to determine the  components  which
               make  up  the  keyboard description. The -variant option may only be used once. Multiple variants
               can be specified as a comma-separated list and will be matched with the  layouts  specified  with
               -layout.

       -verbose|-v [level]
               Specifies level of verbosity in output messages.  Valid levels range from 0 (least verbose) to 10
               (most verbose).  The default verbosity level is 5.  If no level is specified, each -v or -verbose
               flag raises the level by 1.

       -version
               Prints the program's version number.

USING WITH xkbcomp

       If you have an Xserver and a client shell running on different computers and some XKB configuration files
       on those machines are different, you can get problems specifying a keyboard map  by  model,  layout,  and
       options  names.   This  is  because  setxkbmap converts its arguments to names of XKB configuration files
       according to files that are on the client-side computer, then sends these file names to the server  where
       xkbcomp  has  to  compose  a complete keyboard map using files which the server has.  Thus if the sets of
       files differ in some way, the names that setxkbmap generates can be unacceptable on the server side.  You
       can  solve  this problem by running the xkbcomp on the client side too.  With the -print option setxkbmap
       just prints the file names in an appropriate format to its stdout and this output can be  piped  directly
       to the xkbcomp input.  For example, the command

       setxkbmap us -print | xkbcomp - $DISPLAY

       makes both steps run on the same (client) machine and loads a keyboard map into the server.

SEE ALSO

       xkbcomp(1), xkeyboard-config(7)

FILES

       /usr/share/X11/xkb