COMPOSE(5) (International Keyboards) COMPOSE(5)
NAME
compose - International compose key input
SYNOPSIS
<Shift> + <AltGr> <two key sequence>
or
<dead-key sequence>
DESCRIPTION
compose is a mechanism for inputting accented international
Latin characters through an international keyboard. A US
keyboard with ASCII or compose specification can also be
utilized for the international key input by using xmodmap(1)
to assign the Right-Alt key or dead-key.
To enter a composed character (consisting of a plain
character and combining accent character) or a special
symbol such as "copyright" through a keyboard, the following
two methods are supported:
<Shift> + <AltGr> <two key sequence>
For example,
<Shift> + <AltGr> a:
produces the adiaeresis (i.e., Latin small letter "a"
with diaeresis).
The <Shift> + <AltGr> expression denotes pressing
either of the <Shift> keys and the <AltGr> key
simultaneously. This key combination places the
keyboard into a mode which accepts the next <two key
sequence> to form a composed character. It is not
necessary to hold these keys while entering the <two
key sequence>. Normally, the Right-Alt key is already
assigned to <AltGr> on an international keyboard. If
<AltGr> is not available on the keyboard, such as a US
ASCII keyboard, any of the keys on the keyboard can be
assigned as <AltGr> by using xmodmap(1).
xmodmap -e "keysym Alt_R = Mode_switch Multi_key"
sets the Right-Alt key to be <AltGr>.
See composetable(5) for a detail list of valid <two key
sequence>.
<dead-key sequence>
Some of the diacritical (accent) keys on the
international keyboards do not generate a character
directly but combine with the following key to produce
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COMPOSE(5) (International Keyboards) COMPOSE(5)
an accented character; such non-spacing diacritical
keys are also called "dead" keys. For keyboards that
do not contain dead-keys, any of the keys on the
keyboard can be assigned as a dead-key by using
xmodmap(1). For example, to assign F1 key to be the
diaeresis key, enter
xmodmap -e "keysym F1 = dead_diaeresis"
Once the F1 key has been assign to be the
dead_diaeresis key, entering the two key sequence
<F1> a
will now produce adiaeresis.
In <dead-key sequence>, you must enter a dead-key
before a plain character key. See composetable(5) for
a detail list of valid <dead-key sequence>.
Theoretically, any composed character can be created by
combining a plain character with an accent key. However,
the new combined character must be a valid character and
supported by the font for the locale. For example, a
diacritical mark and a dollar sign ($) yields two characters
(a diaeresis followed by a dollar sign) instead of a dollar
sign with two dots, which is not a valid character. For an
example of font dependency, the composed character
consisting of a Latin letter "a" with a ring above is
supported in the US English locale using Latin 1 (ANSI) code
page but not in the Hungarian locale with Latin 2 (Central
Europe) code page.
FILES
/usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h - key name definitions
SEE ALSO
xmodmap(1), composetable(5), locale(1)
NOTE
Some pre-composed keys are directly available on many
international keyboard and do not require compose key input,
when individual keys are accessible in one of its Normal,
Shift, AltGr and Shift-AltGr states. For example, a French
keyboard contains a Latin small letter "e" with acute as
part of its keyboard layout.
In some keyboard configurations, <AltGr> instead of <Shift>
+ <AltGr> is sufficient for performing the first of the two
methods.
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