Problem getting vertical bar with British keyboard layout on US (physical) keyboard


 
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# 1  
Old 02-27-2013
Problem getting vertical bar with British keyboard layout on US (physical) keyboard

Hi, I've got a bit of a ridiculous problem and wasn't sure where to post it.

I need to use the vertical bar for piping in Bash but, as per the title, am using a UK layout on a US (physical) keyboard which doesn't have a key for it in the place I'd expect. I've tried using xbindkeys and Unicode (and have changed the encoding in Konsole, as well as setting 'lang' and 'LC_CTYPE', to en_GB.UTF-8) but ctrl+shift+u still doesn't work.

Would really appreciate any help. I don't want to revert to the US layout because it really disrupts my typing as I'm not used to it. The vertical bar is pretty much the only key I need that I don't have, as well.

Thanks
# 2  
Old 02-27-2013
Well, it's octal 0174, so:
Code:
echo x|tr 'x' '\174'
 
echo '\0174'
|

This User Gave Thanks to DGPickett For This Post:
# 3  
Old 02-27-2013
Would there be a way to use that in xbindkeys so that I could remap to a particular key? Aliasing won't work and I tried using a function.
# 4  
Old 02-28-2013
You can make an x keyboard to anything, but I have been spared that education. I have some bits that make my pc numeric keypad work, but every time I sneeze, it flips back! Maybe a function key, or post process in a script to make the function key bytes into a pipe.

Put a 2x2 xterm with a big -fn 12x24 '|' on it in the corner of your desktop, and paste.

Someone should write an X keyboard wizard. Maybe it is out there. Google around! In this age, imagine and google is all you need!
This User Gave Thanks to DGPickett For This Post:
# 5  
Old 02-28-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by DGPickett
Put a 2x2 xterm with a big -fn 12x24 '|' on it in the corner of your desktop, and paste.
Haha thanks yeah that's pretty much what I've been doing.
# 6  
Old 02-28-2013
You could write, or hunt up, a "Character Map" like in start->programs->accessories->systemtools->. Mine has U-007C: Vertical Line. An x web browser on a wikipedia page for unicode would give you a bazillion glyphs. I get vi/vim has some octal/hex input feature somewhere. http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Entering_special_characters

I am a big fan of the "set -o vi" mode of ksh/bash command line editing, not the bash thing so like DOS. In fact, I never leave $HOME except insice () so my commands when recalled all work. With X and command recall and vi command editing, you do not need the path shortening keystoke savings of cd. I usually make $HISTSIZE big, something like 32767 seems to all it can handle, move the $HISTORYFILE somewhere permanent, save it periodically in an archive, and write scripts to search it and display it so I can recall keystrokes for years. For long lines, you have to go exc-v-enter into vi every time, as they recall truncated, but they recall. Now, if you have or install vim, you export EDITOR=vim and poof! vi is not hard wired. I use vix, a script that, before running vi, echos out linefeeds to save the screen in the scrool buffer, and after running vi, returns 0 always, as when command line editing, return not zero from vi (any beep for trivial error) and the vi file is discarded.
Code:
$ cat mysrc/vix
#!/usr/bin/ksh
(
 stty -a | sed '
        s/^/ /
        t a
        :a
        s/.* rows = \([1-9][0-9]*\).*/\1/
        t
        d
        ' | read zr
# echo $zr >&2
 if [ "$zr" = "" ]
 then
  zr=25
 fi
 while [ "$zr" != -1 ]
 do
  zr=$(( $zr - 1 ))
  echo >/dev/tty
  done
 vi "$@"
 exit 0
)

I think the parens are for one aix or hpux system where the ksh, upon detecting the call of a ksh script, ran scripts in the login ksh, as if sourced. My environment kept getting trashed. My vix did not seem to work well on later x and vim, but it helps. I keep my xterms with huge scroll buffers running for weeks under vnc, where you can disconnect and reconnect to your remote per-host X desktops. Keystrokes are so valuable.

They really did not map 0174 onto the keyboard anywhere? How anti-ascii ! Rule Britannia! Smilie

Last edited by DGPickett; 02-28-2013 at 05:55 PM..
# 7  
Old 02-28-2013
It's all just a bit too finicky. I'm managing; it's only temporary anyway as I'm not in the US for more than another month or so.
 
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