DUMPKEYS(1)            Linux User's Manual            DUMPKEYS(1)

NAME
       dumpkeys - dump keyboard translation tables

SYNOPSIS
       dumpkeys  [  -hilfn1 -Sshape -ccharset --help --short-info
       --long-info   --numeric   --full-table    --separate-lines
       --shape=shape   --funcs-only   --keys-only  --compose-only
       --charset=charset ]

DESCRIPTION
       dumpkeys writes, to the standard output, the current  con-
       tents  of the keyboard driver's translation tables, in the
       format specified by keymaps(5).

       Using the various options, the format of the output can be
       controlled  and also other information from the kernel and
       the programs dumpkeys(1) and loadkeys(1) can be  obtained.

OPTIONS
       -h --help
              Prints  the  program's  version  number and a short
              usage message to the program's standard error  out-
              put and exits.

       -i --short-info
              Prints  some  characteristics  of the kernel's key-
              board driver. The items shown are:

              Keycode range supported by the kernel:

                     This tells what values can be used after the
                     keycode   keyword   in   keymap  files.  See
                     keymaps(5) for more information and the syn-
                     tax of these files.

              Number of actions bindable to a key:

                     This tells how many different actions a sin-
                     gle key can output  using  various  modifier
                     keys.  If  the  value is 16 for example, you
                     can define up to 16 different actions  to  a
                     key  combined with modifiers. When the value
                     is 16, the kernel probably knows about  four
                     modifier  keys,  which you can press in dif-
                     ferent combinations with the key  to  access
                     all the bound actions.

              Ranges of action codes supported by the kernel:

                     This  item  contains  a  list of action code
                     ranges in hexadecimal notation.   These  are
                     the  values  that  can  be used in the right
                     hand side of a key definition, ie. the  vv's
                     in a line

                             keycode xx = vv vv vv vv

                     (see  keymaps(5)  for more information about
                     the format of key definition lines).   dump-
                     keys(1)  and  loadkeys(1) support a symbolic
                     notation, which is preferable to the numeric
                     one,  as the action codes may vary from ker-
                     nel to kernel while the symbolic names  usu-
                     ally  remain  the same. However, the list of
                     action code ranges can be used to determine,
                     if the kernel actually supports all the sym-
                     bols loadkeys(1) knows, or are  there  maybe
                     some  actions  supported  by the kernel that
                     have no symbolic name  in  your  loadkeys(1)
                     program.  To see this, you compare the range
                     list with the action symbol list, see option
                     --long-info below.

              Number of function keys supported by kernel:

                     This  tells  the number of action codes that
                     can be used to output strings of characters.
                     These  action  codes are traditionally bound
                     to the various function and editing keys  of
                     the  keyboard  and are defined to send stan-
                     dard  escape  sequences.  However,  you  can
                     redefine these to send common command lines,
                     email addresses or whatever you like.  Espe-
                     cially if the number of this item is greater
                     than the number of function and editing keys
                     in  your keyboard, you may have some "spare"
                     action codes that you can bind to AltGr-let-
                     ter  combinations, for example, to send some
                     useful strings.  See  loadkeys(1)  for  more
                     details.

              Function strings:

                     You can see you current function key defini-
                     tions with the command

                             dumpkeys--funcs-only

       -l --long-info
              This option instructs  dumpkeys  to  print  a  long
              information listing. The output is the same as with
              the --short-info appended with the list  of  action
              symbols  supported  by loadkeys(1) and dumpkeys(1),
              along with the symbols' numeric values.

       -n --numeric
              This option causes dumpkeys to by-pass the  conver-
              sion of action code values to symbolic notation and
              to print the in hexadecimal format instead.

       -f --full-table
              This makes dumpkeys skip all the short-hand heuris-
              tics  (see  keymaps(5)) and output the key bindings
              in  the  canonical  form.  First  a  keymaps   line
              describing  the currently defined modifier combina-
              tions is printed. Then for each key a  row  with  a
              column  for  each  modifier combination is printed.
              For example, if the  current  keymap  in  use  uses
              seven  modifiers,  every row will have seven action
              code columns. This format can be useful for example
              to  programs  that post-process the output of dump-
              keys.

       -1 --separate-lines
              This forces dumpkeys to write one line  per  (modi-
              fier,keycode) pair.  It prefixes the word plain for
              plain keycodes.

       -S --shape=shape
              Tells dumpkeys to use the  specified  table  shape.
              Allowed  shapes  are  0:  default shape (same as no
              -S); 1: same as option  --full-table;  2:  same  as
              option  --separate-lines;  3:  display one line per
              keycode (as in shape 1),
               until first hole is met, then  use  one  line  per
              (modifier,keycode) pair (as in shape 2).

       --funcs-only
              When this option is given, dumpkeys prints only the
              function key string definitions. Normally  dumpkeys
              prints both the key bindings and the string defini-
              tions.

       --keys-only
              When this option is given, dumpkeys prints only the
              key bindings. Normally dumpkeys prints both the key
              bindings and the string definitions.

       --compose-only
              When this option is given, dumpkeys prints only the
              compose key combinations.  This option is available
              only if your kernel has compose key support.

       -ccharset --charset=charset
              This instructs dumpkeys to interpret character code
              values  according  to  the specified character set.
              This affects only the translation of character code
              values  to symbolic names. Valid values for charset
              are listed by the --help option. If no  charset  is
              specified,  iso-8859-1  is  used as a default. This
              option   produces   an   output    line    `charset
              "iso-8859-X"',  telling  loadkeys  how to interpret
              the keymap. (For example,  "division"  is  0xf7  in
              iso-8859-1 but 0xba in iso-8859-8).

FILES
       /usr/lib/kbd/keymaps/  recommended  directory  for  keymap
       files

SEE ALSO
       loadkeys(1), keymaps(5).

Console tools              09 Oct 1997                          1