How can I map a character to a key combination?

Question

I'm a bit of a fan of the interrobang (‽), but it obviously is not on my keyboard. How can I map that character to a key combination?

Answer 1

Another option is to make use of the 'compose' key. Choose one in the Keyboard → Layouts → Option configuration (I choose Right Alt), then type Compose + ? + !.

There are lots of useful looking characters you can generate in this way: http://www.hermit.org/Linux/ComposeKeys.html

Answer 2

In GNOME you can enter unicode characters by type Ctrl+Shift+u+unicode point, followed Space or Enter.

So, type an interrobang, you'd enter Ctrl+Shift+u+2032d+Space.

How cool is that‽ Actually, I think it's a bit clumsy, but it does the job.

Answer 3

Another, low-level option to try, especially if you can't get xkb to work is to use xmodmap directly.

The first thing to do would be to get a sense of your current keyboard layout. Open a terminal and type:

xmodmap -pke

This will give you a list of numbered positions on your keyboard and what they are mapped to. E.g., you might see an entry like:

keycode 14 = 5 percent 5 percent

This means that a certain key is mapped to 5 when pressed normally, the percent sign % when pressed with a shift. (And the next two values are for when Mode_shift is active; but let's not get into that right now.

If I wanted to change this key I could type in:

xmodmap -e "keycode 14 = 5 U203D 5 UD203D"

Now, instead of getting a percent sign % when I type shift-5, I get ‽.

That's just an example; probably you don't want to remap % to ‽. But maybe there's some other key you don't use a lot. For example, one nice option might be to remap the shift-Menu instead. So I see from xmodmap -pke that I have:

xmodmap -e "keycode 135 = Menu Menu Menu Menu"

I might make it instead:

xmodmap -e "keycode 135 = Menu U203D Menu U203D"

If I want to make that permanent, just through it inside some bash script that runs automatically, like .bashrc or .xinitrc, or create your own that Lubuntu loads automatically.

However, it's very important to run xmodmap -pke first to see what your initial set up. Your keycode numbers may well be different from mine. And it's also the best way to see what else is available.

Anyway, that's a very low-level option. If you want a high-level option, look at something like autokey or xdotool instead.

Answer 4

Here's something that works okay:

1. Install xdotool (brilliant piece of software by the way)
2. go to System → Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts
3. Add a new shortcut, as the command choose xdotool key ctrl+shift+u type "203d "

This is based on Matt's answer,but it will type the keys for you every time you hit the keyboard shortcut (albeit a bit slowly, about 150ms).

To add any other character, go to the gnome character map and search for it; In the status bar you should see the hexadecimal index of the glyph - i.e. "U+203d".

I now have the interrobang mapped to Ctrl+?, see‽ :-)

Answer 5

You will have to define a custom xkb keyboard layout. I found this guide but I haven't tried it my self.