SETXKBMAP(1)						      General Commands Manual						      SETXKBMAP(1)

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/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb.

OPTIONS

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

       -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.

       -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.

       -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.  Only one layout  may	be
	       specified on the command line.

       -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 speci-
	       fied,  one per -option flag. Note that setxkbmap summarize options specified in the command line with options was set before (saved
	       in root window properties). If you want only specified options will be set use the -option flag with an empty argument first.

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

       -rules file
	       Specifies the name of the rules file used to resolve the request 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.
	       Only one variant may be specified on the command line.

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

       setxkbmap us -print | xkbcomp - $DISPLAY

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

FILES

       /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb

X Version 11							    Release 6.6 						      SETXKBMAP(1)