On Mon 06 Jul 2020 at 05:34:59 (+0000), Ajith R wrote:
> My .XCompose file in my home directory is---------------------include "%L"
> <XK_Shift_L> <U0D19> : "ങ്ങ"
> <U0D19> : "ങ്ങ"
> ങ : "ങ്ങ"---------------------
> I found the name XK_Shift_L in keysymdef.h file. I tried the unicode
> character and its code as well to identify the keypress. I tried with only
> one of the lines as well. XCompose(3) — libx11-doc — Debian buster — Debian
> Manpages was consulted. I have tried restarting after making changes which
> didn't help.
> Am I referring to the keypress correctly? What am I missing?
I presume XCompose(3) is a typo for 5, the file format section.
There you will find that you don't use the XK_ prefix here.
As I understand .XCompose, it is designed for "compositing", so each
key on the left side should be a "normal" keystroke. Typically the
LeftShift modifies the letter keys: in English, it makes "a" into "A".
So you wouldn't want to use it in a compositing sequence because you
would lose its normal shift function.
Usually you select a "Compose" key, and that is used here under the name
<Multi_key> in .XCompose, and in the system's Compose file,
/usr/share/X11/locale/…/Compose where … is a locale's name.
Mine, for example, is CapsLock, because I don't make a habit of typing
in All Caps. That is set in /etc/default/keyboard:
XKBOPTIONS="lv3:ralt_switch,compose:caps,terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑
If you peruse your own system's /usr/share/X11/locale/…/Compose file,
which is the one being included by your "%L" above, you'll get an idea
of the best keys to use. I believe many European languages use the
"dead" keys a lot, but because British doesn't, I don't know how those
work. A European might like to comment on this.
In case it's any help, I posted some keyboard configuration files
last year at:
https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2019/07/msg00926.html
The first section is an incomplete set of function keys for my window
manager; the next section defines keys for VCs (where I include the
system defaults to preserve them); following that is my .XCompose.
The system defaults already include most of what I want, so I add
only 14 more. The final section is a few definitions from my emacs
configuration.
Cheers,
David.
