SETXKBMAP(1)							 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 lay-
	       out.

       -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 compo-
	       nents 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 specified, one per -option flag. Note that setxkbmap summa-
	       rize 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 different comput-
       ers 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



								 SETXKBMAP(1)