DragonFly On-Line Manual Pages

Search: Section:  

Compose(5)               DragonFly File Formats Manual              Compose(5)


NAME

       Compose - X client mappings for multi-key input sequences


DESCRIPTION

       The X library, libX11, provides a simple input method for characters
       beyond those represented on typical keyboards using sequences of key
       strokes that are combined to enter a single character.

       The compose file is searched for in  the following order:

       -      If the environment variable $XCOMPOSEFILE is set, its value is
              used as the name of the Compose file.

       -      If the user's home directory has a file named .XCompose, it is
              used as the Compose file.

       -      The system provided compose file is used by mapping the locale
              to a compose file from the list in
              /usr/local/lib/X11/locale/compose.dir.

       Compose files can use an "include" instruction.  This allows local
       modifications to be made to existing compose files without including
       all of the content directly.  For example, the system's iso8859-1
       compose file can be included with a line like this:
           include "%S/iso8859-1/Compose"

       There are several substitutions that can be made in the file name of
       the include instruction:

       %H  expands to the user's home directory (the $HOME environment
           variable)

       %L  expands to the name of the locale specific Compose file (i.e.,
           "/usr/local/lib/X11/locale/<localename>/Compose")

       %S  expands to the name of the system directory for Compose files
           (i.e., "/usr/local/lib/X11/locale")

       For example, you can include in your compose file the default Compose
       file by using:
              include "%L"
       and then rewrite only the few rules that you need to change.  New
       compose rules can be added, and previous ones replaced.


FILE FORMAT

       Compose files are plain text files, with a separate line for each
       compose sequence.  Comments begin with # characters.  Each compose
       sequence specifies one or more events and a resulting input sequence,
       with an optional comment at the end of the line:
              EVENT [EVENT...] : RESULT [# COMMENT]

       Each event consists of a specified input keysym, and optional modifier
       states:
              [([!] ([~] MODIFIER)...) | None] <keysym>

       If the modifier list is preceded by "!" it must match exactly.
       MODIFIER may be one of Ctrl, Lock, Caps, Shift, Alt or Meta.  Each
       modifier may be preceded by a "~" character to indicate that the
       modifier must not be present.  If "None" is specified, no modifier may
       be present.

       The result specifies a string, keysym, or both, that the X client
       receives as input when the sequence of events is input:
              "STRING" | keysym | "STRING" keysym

       Keysyms are specified without the XK_ prefix.

       Strings may be direct text encoded in the locale for which the compose
       file is to be used, or an escaped octal or hexadecimal character code.
       Octal codes are specified as "\123" and hexadecimal codes as "\x3a".
       It is not necessary to specify in the right part of a rule a locale
       encoded string in addition to the keysym name.  If the string is
       omitted, Xlib figures it out from the keysym according to the current
       locale.  I.e., if a rule looks like:
              <dead_grave> <A> : "\300" Agrave
       the result of the composition is always the letter with the "\300"
       code.  But if the rule is:
              <dead_grave> <A> : Agrave
       the result depends on how Agrave is mapped in the current locale.


ENVIRONMENT

       XCOMPOSEFILE
              File to use for compose sequences.

       XCOMPOSECACHE
              Directory to use for caching compiled compose files.


FILES

       $HOME/.XCompose
              User default compose file if XCOMPOSEFILE is not set.

       /usr/local/lib/X11/locale/compose.dir
              File listing the compose file path to use for each locale.

       /usr/local/lib/X11/locale/<localemapping>/Compose
              System default compose file for the locale, mapped via
              compose.dir.

       /var/cache/libx11/compose/
              System-wide cache directory for compiled compose files.

       $HOME/.compose-cache/
              Per-user cache directory for compiled compose files.


SEE ALSO

       XLookupString(3), XmbLookupString(3), XwcLookupString(3),
       Xutf8LookupString(3), mkcomposecache(1), locale(7).
       Xlib - C Language X Interface

X Version 11                     libX11 1.8.6                       Compose(5)

Search: Section: