If you need to write in multiple languages, use certain symbols or if a key breaks, you can customize your keyboard map with xmodmap.

To edit the keyboard map, open ~/.Xmodmap with your favorite editor (e.g. vim ~/.Xmodmap).

Example: Add accented letters

The accented letters (e.g. scircumflex Scircumflex) appear when you press alt gr. Therefore to write ŝ you press s + alt gr and to write Ŝ you press s + shift + alt gr.

This example uses Esperanto letters.

keysym s = s S scircumflex Scircumflex scircumflex Scircumflex
keysym g = g G gcircumflex Gcircumflex gcircumflex Gcircumflex
keysym h = h H hcircumflex Hcircumflex hcircumflex Hcircumflex
keysym j = j J jcircumflex Jcircumflex jcircumflex Jcircumflex
keysym c = c C ccircumflex Ccircumflex ccircumflex Ccircumflex
keysym u = u U ubreve Ubreve ubreve Ubreve

Find keysyms of accented letters

Here is a list of all keysyms: http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/List_of_Keysyms_Recognised_by_Xmodmap

For example to use ö, Ö you need to add odiaeresis and Odiaeresis to your keyboard map, or to use é, É add eacute and Eacute.

Example: Remap broken keys

If a key is broken you can still use it by mapping it to an unused key, such as forward, windows or options.

Remap left/right arrow keys to forward/back keys:

keysym XF86Back = Left
keysym XF86Forward = Right

.
Remap tab to windows key:

keysym Super_L = Tab

Find keycodes and keysyms

To find the keycode or key name, enter xev command and press the desired key. The output shows like this (for windows key):

KeyPress event, serial 48, synthetic NO, window 0x3800001,
    root 0x9c, subw 0x0, time 100000000, (000,000), root:(000,000),
    state 0x0, keycode 133 (keysym 0xffeb, Super_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

The relevant part is keycode 133 (keysym 0xffeb, Super_L) which means that you can use either keycode 133 or keysym Super_L to remap the key in xmodmap.

Use xmodmap

To use your new keyboard map enter the following command:
xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

To automatically apply your new keyboard map on login, add xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap to ~/.xinitrc e.g. with echo 'xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap' >> ~/.xinitrc

To remove the keyboard map use the command setxkbmap -option

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