How do I turn off or repurpose the CAPSLOCK key?

Question

Update: My main goal is to change the function (or even turn off) the CAPSLOCK key.

At work, we have a long domain name. I'm lazy. I'd like to map my CAPSLOCK key to type out a string such as "outlongdomain.com". This is only to save me from typing.

I've seen numerous questions about how to remap the key to a different function. While neat; I couldn't see how to tell the system to "print out these next set of letters where the cursor has focus."

Update: I would like to use Autokey but I don't see an option for CAPSLOCK

Answer 1

If you can be satisfied with it just being disabled, here's what you can do.

1. Run sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool.
2. Open Tweak Tool by searching for it in the Dash.
3. Select the Typing menu and change Caps lock key behavior to Disabled.

Source: https://mkaz.com/2014/02/08/disable-caps-lock-in-ubuntu/

Answer 2

To remap the Capslock to something like Control, Esc, I'd recommend using the gnome-tweak-tool.

Open the Tweak Tool application or press Alt-F2 and run gnome-tweak-tool.

Select the "Typing" tab, and change the dropdown for Caps Lock key Behaviour.

Here's how it looks on my system:

Now for making a key combination to type "outlongdomain.com":

I have scoured the internet for an answer to this question, but I haven't found anything straightforward, so here's my workaround idea using the xclip package:

Open Settings > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Custom Shortcuts and add a shortcut. Name it whatever you want, and use this command:

echo "hello" | xclip -selection clipboard

But replacing "hello" with your long domain name that you want to type. Now just click the Disabled text on the shortcut and set it to whatever you set your Capslock key to.

Now when you use the new keyboard shortcut, that long domain name will instantly be copied to your clipboard, ready to use with Ctrl-V

Answer 3

Solution #1:

Create a new shortcut in System Settings -> keyboard -> shortcuts tab -> custom shortcuts, click + in the lower left, and name it whatever you like. For command type `firefox yoururl.com.

Next , assign the buttons by clicking on the right side once, and pressing the buttons you want

Solution #2

Make sure you enable "Run executable files" in file manager preferences, create a text file on your Desktop with the following contents

#!/bin/sh
firefox yourlongurl.com

Now, in terminal (CtrlAltT), make that file executable by running sudo chmod +x Desktop/yourfilename.

Now you can double click on that file as if it were a shortcut.

Solution #3

With AltHOME buttons you can access homepage in firefox so you can also set your long URL as bookmark or home-page in firefox or whatever browser you use.

Answer 4

• Check keycode of Caps key:

  1. Run:

     xev -event keyboard
     

  2. Press/Release Caps key.

• To disable Caps_Lock

  1. Create ~/.xmodmap file contains

     remove Lock = Caps_Lock
     keycode 66 =
     

  2. Add this line to ~/.xinitrc to be run on startup

     xmodmap .xmodmap
     

  If you want test run xmodmap .xmodmap in the terminal.

• Assign long string to its key

  1. Install xbindkeys & xautomation

  2. Create ~/.xbindkeysrc file contains

     "xte 'str outlongdomain.com'"
       Release + c:66
     

  3. Add this line to ~/.xinitrc to be run on startup

     xbindkeys
     

  As above, to test run it in terminal.

References:

• Disabling caps lock by setxkbmap makes it Shift key in Emacs
• How can I change what keys on my keyboard do? (How can I create custom keyboard commands/shortcuts?)

Answer 5

Why so complicated?

Just use an ALIAS for this. And for everything else that get's on your nerves, too.

It's easy to do, auto-loaded with the bash and you can even choose your own name for it. It so much fun and so easy to make.

You just need a file, and your command

Go into your home folder and create the file put an ALIAS into it. As an example

echo "ALIAS hp='wget http://thisisareallongnameforanurl.com'" > /home/${USER}/.bash_aliases

then to directly use it, do

source .bash_aliases

I called the ALIAS hp. So you just type hp into a terminal and your command will be executed.

This works with any command or script.

To autoload the aliases when you open a terminal, make sure that the following section in your .bashrc file is not commented out.

# Alias definitions.
# You may want to put all your additions into a separate file like
# ~/.bash_aliases, instead of adding them here directly.
# See /usr/share/doc/bash-doc/examples in the bash-doc package.

if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
    . ~/.bash_aliases
fi

but AFAIR correctly it's on by default.

To add more just

echo "ALIAS hp2='wget http://thisurlisevenmuchlongerthenthefirsone.com'" >> /home/${USER}/.bash_aliases