Provided by: sway_1.7-6_amd64 
NAME
sway-input - input configuration file and commands
DESCRIPTION
Sway allows for configuration of devices within the sway configuration file. To obtain a
list of available device identifiers, run swaymsg -t get_inputs. Settings can also be
applied to all input devices by using the wildcard, *, in place of <identifier> in the
commands below. In addition, the settings can be applied to a type of device, by using
type:<input_type> in place of <identifier>.
In the configuration file, settings with a more specific selector take precedence over
more general ones: <identifier> > type:<input_type> > *. When executing input commands,
however, the settings are applied to all matching input devices! This means that
type:<input_type> can override previously set <identifier> settings, even though in a
configuration file they would take precedence. Similarly * can override both <identifier>
and type:<input_type> settings, if applied later.
Tip: If the configuration settings do not appear to be taking effect, you could try using
* instead of <identifier>. If it works with the wildcard, try using a different identifier
from swaymsg -t get_inputs until you find the correct input device.
Current available input types are:
• touchpad
• pointer
• keyboard
• touch
• tablet_tool
• tablet_pad
• switch
Note: The type configurations are applied as the devices appear and get applied on top of
the existing device configurations.
INPUT COMMANDS
KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION
input <identifier> repeat_delay <milliseconds>
Sets the amount of time a key must be held before it starts repeating.
input <identifier> repeat_rate <characters per second>
Sets the frequency of key repeats once the repeat_delay has passed.
For more information on these xkb configuration options, see xkeyboard-config(7).
input <identifier> xkb_file <file_name>
Sets all xkb configurations from a complete .xkb file. This file can be dumped from
xkbcomp $DISPLAY keymap.xkb. This setting overrides xkb_layout, xkb_model,
xkb_options, xkb_rules, and xkb_variant settings.
input <identifier> xkb_layout <layout_name>
Sets the layout of the keyboard like us or de.
Multiple layouts can be specified by separating them with commas.
input <identifier> xkb_model <model_name>
Sets the model of the keyboard. This has an influence for some extra keys your
keyboard might have.
input <identifier> xkb_options <options>
Sets extra xkb configuration options for the keyboard.
Multiple options can be specified by separating them with commas.
input <identifier> xkb_rules <rules>
Sets files of rules to be used for keyboard mapping composition.
input <identifier> xkb_switch_layout <index>|next|prev
Changes the active keyboard layout to <index> counting from zero or to next or
previous layout on the list. If there is no next or previous layout, this command hops
to the other end of the list.
This can be used when multiple layouts are configured with xkb_layout. A list of
layouts you can switch between can be obtained with swaymsg -t get_inputs.
input <identifier> xkb_variant <variant>
Sets the variant of the keyboard like dvorak or colemak.
The following commands may only be used in the configuration file.
input <identifier> xkb_capslock enabled|disabled
Initially enables or disables CapsLock on startup, the default is disabled.
input <identifier> xkb_numlock enabled|disabled
Initially enables or disables NumLock on startup, the default is disabled.
TABLET CONFIGURATION
input <identifier> tool_mode <tool> <absolute|relative>
Sets whether movement of a tablet tool should be treated as absolute or relative; the
default is absolute.
Valid values for <tool> are currently "pen", "eraser", "brush", "pencil", "airbrush",
and the wildcard *, which matches all tools.
Mouse and lens tools ignore this setting and are always treated as relative.
MAPPING CONFIGURATION
input <identifier> map_to_output <identifier>
Maps inputs from this device to the specified output. Only meaningful if the device is
a pointer, touch, or drawing tablet device.
The wildcard * can be used to map the input device to the whole desktop layout.
input <identifier> map_to_region <X> <Y> <width> <height>
Maps inputs from this device to the specified region of the global output layout. Only
meaningful if the device is a pointer, touch, or drawing tablet device.
input <identifier> map_from_region <X1xY1> <X2xY2>
Ignores inputs from this device that do not occur within the specified region. Can be
in millimeters (e.g. 10x20mm 20x40mm) or in terms of 0..1 (e.g. 0.5x0.5 0.7x0.7). Not
all devices support millimeters. Only meaningful if the device is not a keyboard and
provides events in absolute terms (such as a drawing tablet or touch screen - most
pointers provide events relative to the previous frame).
LIBINPUT CONFIGURATION
input <identifier> accel_profile adaptive|flat
Sets the pointer acceleration profile for the specified input device.
input <identifier> calibration_matrix <6 space-separated floating point values>
Sets the calibration matrix.
input <identifier> click_method none|button_areas|clickfinger
Changes the click method for the specified device.
input <identifier> drag enabled|disabled
Enables or disables tap-and-drag for specified input device.
input <identifier> drag_lock enabled|disabled
Enables or disables drag lock for specified input device.
input <identifier> dwt enabled|disabled
Enables or disables disable-while-typing for the specified input device.
input <identifier> events enabled|disabled|disabled_on_external_mouse|toggle [<toggle-
modes>]
Enables or disables send_events for specified input device. Disabling send_events
disables the input device.
The toggle option cannot be used in the config. If no toggle modes are listed, all
supported modes for the device will be toggled through in the order:
enabled, disabled_on_external_mouse, disabled, (loop back). If toggle modes are
listed, they will be cycled through, defaulting to the first mode listed if the
current mode is not in the list. They will also not be checked to see if they are
supported for the device and may fail.
input <identifier> left_handed enabled|disabled
Enables or disables left handed mode for specified input device.
input <identifier> middle_emulation enabled|disabled
Enables or disables middle click emulation.
input <identifier> natural_scroll enabled|disabled
Enables or disables natural (inverted) scrolling for the specified input device.
input <identifier> pointer_accel [<-1|1>]
Changes the pointer acceleration for the specified input device.
input <identifier> scroll_button disable|button[1-3,8,9]|<event-code-or-name>
Sets the button used for scroll_method on_button_down. The button can be given as an
event name or code, which can be obtained from libinput debug-events, or as a x11
mouse button (button[1-3,8,9]). If set to disable, it disables the scroll_method
on_button_down.
input <identifier> scroll_factor <floating point value>
Changes the scroll factor for the specified input device. Scroll speed will be scaled
by the given value, which must be non-negative.
input <identifier> scroll_method none|two_finger|edge|on_button_down
Changes the scroll method for the specified input device.
input <identifier> tap enabled|disabled
Enables or disables tap for specified input device.
input <identifier> tap_button_map lrm|lmr
Specifies which button mapping to use for tapping. lrm treats 1 finger as left click,
2 fingers as right click, and 3 fingers as middle click. lmr treats 1 finger as left
click, 2 fingers as middle click, and 3 fingers as right click.
SEAT CONFIGURATION
Configure options for multiseat mode.
A seat is a collection of input devices that act independently of each other. Seats are
identified by name and the default seat is seat0 if no seats are configured. While sway is
running, - (hyphen) can be used as an alias for the current seat. Each seat has an
independent keyboard focus and a separate cursor that is controlled by the pointer devices
of the seat. This is useful for multiple people using the desktop at the same time with
their own devices (each sitting in their own "seat"). The wildcard character, *, can also
be used in place of <identifier> to change settings for all seats.
Tip: If the configuration settings do not appear to be taking effect, you could try using
* instead of <identifier>. If it works with the wildcard, try using a different identifier
from swaymsg -t get_seats until you find the correct seat.
seat <name> attach <input_identifier>
Attach an input device to this seat by its input identifier. A special value of "*"
will attach all devices to the seat.
seat <seat> cursor move|set <x> <y>
Move specified seat's cursor relative to current position or wrap to absolute
coordinates (with respect to the global coordinate space). Specifying either value as
0 will not update that coordinate.
seat <seat> cursor press|release button[1-9]|<event-name-or-code>
Simulate pressing (or releasing) the specified mouse button on the specified seat. The
button can either be provided as a button event name or event code, which can be
obtained from libinput debug-events, or as an x11 mouse button (button[1-9]). If using
button[4-7], which map to axes, an axis event will be simulated, however press and
release will be ignored and both will occur.
seat <name> fallback true|false
Set this seat as the fallback seat. A fallback seat will attach any device not
explicitly attached to another seat (similar to a "default" seat).
seat <name> hide_cursor <timeout>|when-typing [enable|disable]
Hides the cursor image after the specified event occurred.
If timeout is specified, then the cursor will be hidden after timeout (in
milliseconds) has elapsed with no activity on the cursor. A timeout of 0 (default)
disables hiding the cursor. The minimal timeout is 100 and any value less than that
(aside from 0), will be increased to 100.
If when-typing is enabled, then the cursor will be hidden whenever a key is pressed.
seat <name> idle_inhibit <sources...>
Sets the set of input event sources which can prevent the seat from becoming idle, as
a space separated list of source names. Valid names are "keyboard", "pointer",
"touchpad", "touch", "tablet_pad", "tablet_tool", and "switch". The default behavior
is to prevent idle on any event.
seat <name> idle_wake <sources...>
Sets the set of input event sources which can wake the seat from its idle state, as a
space separated list of source names. Valid names are "keyboard", "pointer",
"touchpad", "touch", "tablet_pad", "tablet_tool", and "switch". The default behavior
is to wake from idle on any event.
seat <name> keyboard_grouping none|smart
Set how the keyboards in the seat are grouped together. Currently, there are two
options. none will disable all keyboard grouping. This will make it so each keyboard
device has its own isolated state. smart will group the keyboards in the seat by their
keymap and repeat info. This is useful for when the keyboard appears as multiple
separate input devices. In this mode, the effective layout is synced between the
keyboards in the group. The default is smart. To restore the behavior of older
versions of sway, use none.
seat <name> pointer_constraint enable|disable|escape
Enables or disables the ability for clients to capture the cursor (enabled by default)
for the seat. This is primarily useful for video games. The "escape" command can be
used at runtime to escape from a captured client.
seat <name> shortcuts_inhibitor enable|disable|activate|deactivate|toggle
Enables or disables the ability of clients to inhibit keyboard shortcuts for the seat.
This is primarily useful for virtualization and remote desktop software. Subcommands
enable and disable affect whether future inhibitors are honoured by default, i.e.
activated automatically, the default being enable. When used at runtime, disable also
disables any currently active inhibitors. activate, deactivate and toggle are only
usable at runtime and change the state of a potentially existing inhibitor on the
currently focused window. This can be used with the current seat alias (-) to affect
only the currently focused window of the current seat. Subcommand deactivate is
particularly useful in an --inhibited bindsym to escape a state where shortcuts are
inhibited and the client becomes uncooperative. It is worth noting that whether
disabled or deactivated inhibitors are removed is entirely up to the client. Depending
on the client it may therefore be possible to (re-)activate them later. Any visual
indication that an inhibitor is present is currently left to the client as well.
seat <name> xcursor_theme <theme> [<size>]
Override the system default XCursor theme. The default seat's (seat0) theme is also
used as the default cursor theme in XWayland, and exported through the XCURSOR_THEME
and XCURSOR_SIZE environment variables.
SEE ALSO
sway(5) sway-output(5) xkeyboard-config(7)
2022-10-14 sway-input(5)