A
file describes how the keys on a keyboard should behave.
These files can be loaded
using
kbdcontrol(1),
or
kbdmap(1)
can be used to select one of the default
files interactively.
A
file can be specified in
rc.conf5,
to be loaded
at boot time.
The current keymap may also be printed using
kbdcontrol(1).
Each line in the file
can describe a key or an accent.
A
`#'
character begins a comment,
which extends to the end of the line.
The description of a key
begins with the scancode for that key.
Then the effect of the key
under combinations of
shift,
control
and alt
are listed in the following order:
no modifier,
shift,
control,
control and shift,
alt,
alt and shift,
alt and control,
alt and control and shift.
The action of the key
under each modifier can be:
' symbol
The symbol the key should produce,
in single quotes.
decnum
The
ASCII
value to produce
as a decimal number
(see
ascii(7)).
For example, 32 for space.
0x hexnum
The
ASCII
value to produce
as a hexadecimal number.
For example, 0x20 for space.
ctrlname
One of the standard names
for the
ASCII
control characters:
nul,
soh,
stx,
etx,
eot,
enq,
ack,
bel,
bs,
ht,
nl,
vt,
np,
cr,
so,
si,
dle,
dc1,
dc2,
dc3,
dc4,
nak,
syn,
etb,
can,
em,
sub,
esc,
fs,
gs,
rs,
ns,
us,
sp,
del.
accentname
By giving one of the accent names,
the next key pressed will produce
an accented character
in accordance with that accent.
See the description of accents below.
The accent names are:
dgra,
dacu,
dcir,
dtil,
dmac,
dbre,
ddot,
duml,
ddia,
dsla,
drin,
dced,
dapo,
ddac,
dogo,
dcar.
fkey N
Act as the
N th
function key,
where
N
is a decimal number.
lshift
Act as left shift key.
rshift
Act as right shift key.
clock
Act as caps lock key.
nlock
Act as num lock key.
slock
Act as scroll lock key.
lalt|alt
Act as left alt key.
btab
Act as backwards tab.
lctrl|ctrl
Act as left control key.
rctrl
Act as right control key.
ralt
Act as right alt (altgr) key.
alock
Act as alt lock key.
ashift
Act as alt shift key.
meta
Act as meta key.
lshifta|shifta
Act as left shift key / alt lock.
rshifta
Act as right shift key / alt lock.
lctrla|ctrla
Act as left ctrl key / alt lock.
rctrla
Act as right ctrl key / alt lock.
lalta|alta
Act as left alt key / alt lock.
ralta
Act as right alt key / alt lock.
nscr
Act as switch to next screen.
pscr
Act as switch to previous screen.
scr N
Switch to screen
N
where
N
is a decimal number.
boot
Reboot the machine.
halt
Halt the machine.
pdwn
Halt the machine
and attempt to power it down.
debug
Call the debugger.
susp
Use APM to suspend power.
saver
Activate screen saver
by toggling between splash/text screen.
panic
Panic the system.
The
sysctl(8)
variable
machdep.enable_panic_key
must be set to 1 to enable this feature.
paste
Act as mouse buffer paste.
Finally,
to complete the description of a key,
a flag which describes
the effect of caps lock and num lock
on that key is given.
The flag can be
`C'
to indicate that caps lock affects the key,
`N'
to indicate that num lock affects the key,
`B'
to indicate that both
caps lock and num lock affects the key,
or
`O'
to indicate that neither affects the key.
An accent key works
by modifying the behavior
of the next key pressed.
The description of an accent begins
with one of the accent names
given above.
This is followed
by the symbol for the accent,
given in single quotes or
as a decimal or hexadecimal
ASCII
value.
This symbol will be produced
if the accent key is pressed and
then the space key is pressed.
The description of the accent key
continues with a list showing
how it modifies various symbols,
by giving pairs made up of the normal symbol and
the modified symbol
enclosed in parentheses.
Both symbols in a pair can be given
in either single quotes or
as decimal or
hexadecimal
ASCII
values.
For example,
consider the following extract from a
:
This extract
configures the backtick key on a UK keyboard
to act as a grave accent key.
Pressing backtick followed by space
produces a backtick, and
pressing a backtick followed by a vowel
produces the ISO-8859-1 symbol
for that vowel with a grave accent.
