How to map the Caps Lock key to Escape key in Arch Linux

Question

My OS is Arch Linux amd64, Gnome ENV.

I want to map the Caps Lock key to Esc (escape) in Arch Linux. I run the command:

xmodmap -e 'clear Lock' -e 'keycode 0x42 = Escape'

It works well, but a moment later, the Caps Lock key works again. And I must run the command again.

I'm pretty sure that this solution worked well maybe a year ago. What's my problem? Can anyone help me to map the Caps Lock key to Escape key forever in my Arch Linux OS?

Answer 1

Any of the following (in increasing order of complexity):

1. Use setxkbmap to remap the key (does not require a daemon and is independent of your desktop environment or window manager). Don't forget to add the command before the exec gnome-session (or similar) line in your ~/.xinitrc or ~/.xsession:

   setxkbmap -option caps:escape
   

setxkbmap can be found in package extra/xorg-setxkbmap.

2. dconf-editor → org.gnome.desktop.input-sources.xkb-options → Add caps:escape to the aforementioned field.
3. gnome-session-settings → Startup Programs → Add → Name=Remap caps lock to escape, command=setxkbmap -option caps:escape
4. Create a custom keyboard layout

FYI, I obtained the XKB rule by grepping /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules for caps and esc.

Answer 2

For use in X, the Arch Wiki Gnome page has instructions for modifying the keyboard with XkbOptions:

Using the dconf-editor, navigate to the key named org.gnome.desktop.input-sources.xkb-options and add desired XkbOptions (e.g. 'caps:swapescape') to the list.

In the console, you can create a custom keymap for the same effect. Create your personal keymap with the requisite changes for CapsLock and Escape at /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/i386/qwerty/yourmap then tar it and include a line in /etc/vconsole.conf to call it:

KEYMAP=yourmap

Answer 3

Xorg.conf

You can achieve this by editing the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/00-keyboard.conf.

Example file:

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier      "system-keyboard"
        MatchIsKeyboard     "on"
        Option          "XkbLayout" "us"
        Option          "XkbModel"  "pc104"
        Option          "XkbOptions" "caps:swapescape"
EndSection  

You can specify multiple XkbOptions, for example caps:swapcaps,terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp for having esc and caps swapped but also allowing the X to be killed with CtrlAlt Backspace. You can find more info about this in man xkeyboard-config.

GUI

You can also use GNOME Tweak Tool (gnome-tweak-tool package). Just click on Typing and then choose whatever you like from the Ctrl position menu (see image below).

Answer 4

You can use xmodmap. Put your ~/.Xmodmap:

remove Lock = Caps_Lock
keysym Escape = Caps_Lock
keysym Caps_Lock = Escape
add Lock = Caps_Lock

(be sure at starting X will use your ~/.Xmodmap)

Answer 5

The file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/00-keyboard.conf can also be auto-generated using systemd-localed. Use the following command:

localectl set-x11-keymap us "" "" caps:escape

Or, including some other useful options:

localectl set-x11-keymap us,de "" "" caps:escape,grp:alt_caps_toggle,grp_led:caps,lv3:ralt_switch_multikey,terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp,eurosign:e,rupeesign:4

Quick explanations:

• CapsLk functions as Esc
• Toggles between two keyboard layouts us/de with Alt+CapsLk
• CapsLk LED indicates which layout is active
• Right Alt (RAlt) is the "multikey" (see Compose Key)
  • RAlt+e generates €
  • RAlt+4 generates ₹ (similar to how Shift+4 generates $)
• Ctrl+Alt+Backspace kills X

Answer 6

! I don't know why the answers above don't work. Here is a working one for me. In your ~/.Xmodmap

! 66 is the keycode of Caps_Lock
clear    Lock
keycode  66 = Escape 

and then

$ xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

I'm using Fedora and non-Gnome window manager. HTH