Provided by: keynav_0.20180421~git6505bd0d-3build2_amd64 
NAME
keynav - keyboard navigation tool
SYNOPSIS
keynav [optional-startup-commands]
DESCRIPTION
keynav is a utility for generally operating your mouse with your keyboard. The main usage
is to divide the screen into sections, selecting them until you end up at the point where
you want to move the mouse, or click, etc.
You can pass any valid keynav commands to keynav from the command-line. Make sure you
quote things properly.
For example, to load another config file or two:
keynav "loadconfig ~/myconfigs/keynavrc,loadconfig ~/myconfig/anotherkeynavrc"
Another example: daemonize on startup:
keynav daemonize
CONFIGURATION
keynav is configured by default from a config file in your home directory "~/.keynavrc"
The default configuration can be found in the "DEFAULT CONFIGURATION" section.
'#' will delimit comments. The configuration consists mostly of binding keys to keynav
commands. The following to commands must appear on lines by themselves, not as key
bindings.
daemonize
This will make keynav background itself after parsing the config file and setting up
keybindings. If there are errors during keybinding, then keynav will not background
and will exit with failure.
clear
This wil clear all existing keybindings. This is useful if, for example, you do not
want any of the default keybindings that come with keynav.
The rest of the configuration has this format
keybinding keynav-command[,keynav-command,...]
You can have multiple commands for a single keybinding.
The way to start keynav's navigation is to use the 'start' command. Additionally, any
keys with 'start' as a command will be grabbed as global hotkeys. For example, this
configuration:
ctrl+semicolon start
space click 1
This will make keynav grab the ctrl + semicolon keybinding globally, but it will not grab
space. The space keybinding will only be active while keynav is active (after you press a
key sequence that invokes start.
In case of a keyboard layout where semicolon is just reachable by pressing Shift, the
activation key combination actually might not be ctrl+shift+[other character], but just
ctrl+[other character], e.g. ctrl+comma instead of ctrl+shift+comma on Swiss-German or
German-German layouts.
If you aren't sure what the name of your key is, you can run xev(1) and press each key you
want to learn about while the xev window has focus. The output will include the keysym
name (like Shift_L, or Return, etc)
Moving on, here are all the keynav commands you can use:
CUTS AND MOVES
Movements are bounded by screen edges. See "SCREEN EDGES" for edge and multiple screen
handling.
cut-up [value]
This will cut the keynav window upwards. We will shrink from the bottom upwards. The
default cut value, if not specified, is 0.5
See "CUT AND MOVE VALUES" for what this value means.
cut-down [value]
This will cut the keynav window downwards. We will shrink from the top down. The
default cut value, if not specified, is 0.5
See "CUT AND MOVE VALUES" for what this value means.
cut-left [value]
This will cut the keynav window leftwards. We will shrink from the right to the left.
The default cut value, if not specified, is 0.5
See "CUT AND MOVE VALUES" for what this value means.
cut-right [value]
This will cut the keynav window rightwards. We will shrink from the left to the right.
The default cut value, if not specified, is 0.5
See "CUT AND MOVE VALUES" for what this value means.
move-up [value]
This will move the window up. The default value, if not specified, is 1.
See "CUT AND MOVE VALUES" for what this value means.
move-down [value]
This will move the window down. The default value, if not specified, is 1.
See "CUT AND MOVE VALUES" for what this value means.
move-left [value]
This will move the window left. The default value, if not specified, is 1.
See "CUT AND MOVE VALUES" for what this value means.
move-right [value]
This will move the window right. The default value, if not specified, is 1.
See "CUT AND MOVE VALUES" for what this value means.
cursorzoom width height
This command centers the keynav window on the mouse position and sets the window size
to the given width and height (in pixels).
windowzoom
This command makes the keynav window fit the current application window. This is
useful if you have your windows in a tiled arrangement.
GRID COMMANDS
grid [COLUMNSxROWS]
The default 'grid' is 2x2. If you want more grid cells you can choose any number of
columns and rows.
grid-nav [on OR off OR toggle]
Grid navigation is off by default. When turned on, every grid cell will have a two-
letter label. To select a single cell, you simply type the two letters. The 'toggle'
value will toggle grid-nav.
cell-select [value]
Cell selection is similar to grid-nav, but less visual. You would bind keys to select
specific cells. With cell-select, there are no labels.
The value can be one of two formats. First, the COLUMNxROW syntax. 'cell-select 3x1'
will select column 3, row 1. The second format is simply a number. The number
represents the counting of the cell, starting at the top left and working right.
A visual might help. With 'grid 3x3' the following is used with cell-select:
+----------------------------------------------+
| | | |
| 1x1 | 2x1 | 3x1 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| | | |
|--------------+---------------+---------------|
| | | |
| 1x2 | 2x2 | 3x2 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | | |
|--------------+---------------+---------------|
| | | |
| 1x3 | 2x3 | 3x3 |
| 7 | 8 | 9 |
| | | |
|----------------------------------------------|
MOUSE COMMANDS
warp
This command moves the mouse pointer to the center of the keynav window.
click [button]
This command will send a mouse click. It does not move the mouse, so the click will go
wherever the mouse is positioned. The button values are this: 1 = left, 2 = middle, 3
= right, 4 = wheel up, 5 = wheel down.
doubleclick [button]
Double clicks, but otherwise is the same as click.
drag button [modifier-keys]
Starts or ends dragging, depending on state (dragging or not). The button values are
the same as for click. The modifier-keys value allows you to specify any keys to
'hold' while dragging, such as alt or shift.
Dragging sometimes doesn't work. I'm trying to make it more reliable. File a bug if
you are interested in this feature working :)
MISC COMMANDS
record [file]
Record actions for replay later. Very similar to vim's 'q' command. The first key you
press after starting a new recording becomes the active key for that recording. You
cannot record to keys that are already bound to other commands, but you can overwrite
existing recordings. If you want to persist recordings across keynav processes (like
system or keynav restarts, etc) you will want to specify a file, I use
"~/.keynav_macros" but any path will do.
For example, this config: 'q record'. Pressing 'q' then 'l' will start recording to
the 'l' key assuming it's not already bound. Then, to stop recording, press 'q' again
(the record key as configured). After that, to replay that recording, simply press
playback and then 'l' while the keynav window is active.
playback
Replay a previously recorded sequence of keys. After invoking the command, keynav will
wait for the key of a previously recorded session.
sh command
Run a command with /bin/sh -c <command>. This is slightly outside the scope of keynav,
but executing arbitrary commands is very useful when combined with xdotool. For
example, I use this to activate Google Chrome and focus the URL bar:
g sh "xdotool search --name -- '- Google Chrome' windowactivate key --window 0 --clearmodifiers ctrl+l",end
loadconfig path
Load an additional config file. Paths like '~/foo/bar' are valid and the '~' will be
replaced with your home directory (Value of $HOME in environment).
start
Start keynav. Any keys with this binding will operate as global bindings to activate
keynav.
end End keynav. This hides the keynav window and otherwise makes keynav inactive until the
next 'start' command.
history-back
Go backwards in command history. All activity is tracked in history, so if you want to
undo a movement, etc, simply use this command.
quit
Exit keynav. The process will shutdown.
restart
Restart keynav. Useful for reloading the configuration. SIGHUP and SIGUSR1 also invoke
this command.
CUT AND MOVE VALUES
The values for cuts and moves have two kinds values.
Values in the range [0,1] are taken to mean a percentage of the window's width or height.
Values > 1 are taken literally as pixel units.
Some examples:
cut-up 0.75
This will cut and keep 75% of the window's height. That is, if the window is 1000
pixels tall, then after this cut it will be 750 pixels tall.
move-left 1
The '1' here maeans 100% of the width. This will move the window to the left by the
full width of the window.
move-down 100
The '100' here means 100 pixels. This will move the window down by 100 pixels.
SCREEN EDGES
When moving the keynav window around, the window will not go outside of the screen
boundaries. One exception is for multiple displays: a movement outside of the current
screen can move the keynav window to the next screen if keynav things it's the right thing
to do.
If a move would take you beyond the screen borders, then the window will stop moving at
the edge.
DEFAULT CONFIGURATION
clear
ctrl+semicolon start
Escape end
ctrl+bracketleft end
q record ~/.keynav_macros
shift+at playback
a history-back
h cut-left
j cut-down
k cut-up
l cut-right
shift+h move-left
shift+j move-down
shift+k move-up
shift+l move-right
space warp,click 1,end
Return warp,click 1,end
semicolon warp,end
w warp
t windowzoom
c cursorzoom 300 300
e end
1 click 1
2 click 2
3 click 3
ctrl+h cut-left
ctrl+j cut-down
ctrl+k cut-up
ctrl+l cut-right
y cut-left,cut-up
u cut-right,cut-up
b cut-left,cut-down
n cut-right,cut-down
shift+y move-left,move-up
shift+u move-right,move-up
shift+b move-left,move-down
shift+n move-right,move-down
ctrl+y cut-left,cut-up
ctrl+u cut-right,cut-up
ctrl+b cut-left,cut-down
ctrl+n cut-right,cut-down
EXAMPLES
# Make 'v' paste things:
v sh "xdotool key shift+Insert",end
See the author's keynavrc as an example, here:
http://semicomplete.googlecode.com/svn/keynav/examples/keynavrc.jordan
SEE ALSO
Related: xdotool(1)
Project site: <http://www.semicomplete.com/projects/keynav>
Google Code: <http://semicomplete.googlecode.com/>
CONTACT
Please send questions and comments to keynav-users@googlegroups.com. File bugs and feature
requests at the following URL:
<http://code.google.com/p/semicomplete/issues/list>
Alternately, if you really prefer email, feel free to file bugs by emailing the list. What
works for you :)
AUTHOR
keynav was written by Jordan Sissel.
2024-04-01 KEYNAV(1)