setxkbmap - set the keyboard using the X Keyboard Extension

       The  setxkbmap  command  maps  the  keyboard to use the layout determined by the options specified on the
       command line.

       An XKB keymap is constructed from a number of components which are compiled only as needed.   The  source
       for all of the components can be found in /usr/share/X11/xkb.

/usr/share/X11/xkb

X Version 11                                     setxkbmap 1.3.4                                    SETXKBMAP(1)

       setxkbmap - set the keyboard using the X Keyboard Extension

-compatname
               Specifies the name of the compatibility map component used to construct a keyboard layout.

       -configfile
               Specifies the name of an XKB configuration file which describes the keyboard to be used.

       -devicedevice
               Specifies  the  numeric device id of the input device to be updated with the new keyboard layout.
               If not specified, the core keyboard device of the X server is updated.

       -displaydisplay
               Specifies the display to be updated with the new keyboard layout.

       -geometryname
               Specifies the name of the geometry component used to construct a keyboard layout.

       -help   Prints a message describing the valid input to setxkbmap.

       -Idirectory
               Adds a directory to the list of directories to be used to search for specified  layout  or  rules
               files.

       -keycodesname
               Specifies the name of the keycodes component used to construct a keyboard layout.

       -keymapname
               Specifies the name of the keymap description used to construct a keyboard layout.

       -layoutname
               Specifies  the  name  of  the  layout used to determine the components which make up the keyboard
               description. The -layout option may only be used once. Multiple layouts can  be  specified  as  a
               comma-separated list.

       -modelname
               Specifies  the  name  of  the  keyboard  model used to determine the components which make up the
               keyboard description.  Only one model may be specified on the command line.

       -optionname
               Specifies the name of  an  option  to  determine  the  components  which  make  up  the  keyboard
               description;   multiple  options may be specified, one per -option flag. Note that setxkbmap adds
               options specified in the command line to the options that were  set  before  (as  saved  in  root
               window properties). If you want to replace all previously specified options, use the -option flag
               with an empty argument first.

       -print  With  this option setxkbmap just prints component names in a format acceptable by xkbcomp (an XKB
               keymap compiler) and exits. The option can be used for tests instead of a verbose option  and  in
               cases when one needs to run both the setxkbmap and the xkbcomp in chain (see below).

       -query  With  this  option  setxkbmap just prints the current rules, model, layout, variant, and options,
               then exits.

       -rulesfile
               Specifies the name of the rules file used to resolve the requested layout and model to a  set  of
               component names.

       -symbolsname
               Specifies the name of the symbols component used to construct a keyboard layout.

       -synch  Force synchronization for X requests.

       -typesname
               Specifies the name of the types component used to construct a keyboard layout.

       -variantname
               Specifies  which  variant of the keyboard layout should be used to determine the components which
               make up the keyboard description. The -variant option may only be used  once.  Multiple  variants
               can  be  specified  as a comma-separated list and will be matched with the layouts specified with
               -layout.

       -verbose|-v[level]
               Specifies level of verbosity in output messages.  Valid levels range from 0 (least verbose) to 10
               (most verbose).  The default verbosity level is 5.  If no level is specified, each -v or -verbose
               flag raises the level by 1.

       -version
               Prints the program's version number.

xkbcomp(1), xkeyboard-config(7)

setxkbmap[args][layout[variant[option...]]]

       If you have an Xserver and a client shell running on different computers and some XKB configuration files
       on those machines are different, you can get problems specifying a keyboard map  by  model,  layout,  and
       options  names.   This  is  because  setxkbmap converts its arguments to names of XKB configuration files
       according to files that are on the client-side computer, then sends these file names to the server  where
       xkbcomp  has  to  compose  a complete keyboard map using files which the server has.  Thus if the sets of
       files differ in some way, the names that setxkbmap generates can be unacceptable on the server side.  You
       can solve this problem by running the xkbcomp on the client side too.  With the -print  option  setxkbmap
       just  prints  the file names in an appropriate format to its stdout and this output can be piped directly
       to the xkbcomp input.  For example, the command

       setxkbmapus-print|xkbcomp-$DISPLAY

       makes both steps run on the same (client) machine and loads a keyboard map into the server.

       Xwayland is an X server that uses a Wayland Compositor as backend.  Xwayland acts  as  translation  layer
       between  the  X  protocol and the Wayland protocol but does not manage the keymaps - these are handled by
       the Wayland Compositor.

       Changing the keymap with setxkbmap is not supported by Xwayland.  In most instances, using  setxkbmap  on
       Xwayland  is  indicative  of  a bug in a shell script and setxkbmap will print a warning. Use the Wayland
       Compositor's native XKB configuration methods instead.