How do I remap the caps lock key to the backspace key?

Question

I have grown very comfortable to my Colemak keyboard layout (my typing speed has doubled since I started using it). My only problem with it is that there is no caps lock key because under this layout because the caps lock key is a second backspace key. I really miss caps lock so I would like to change the backspace key on the top right corner of my keyboard (not the one right next to the "a") into a caps lock key. Is there a way to do this using xmodmap or some other tool? I am using Xfce.

+1 for the general interest of the question, but I really can't imagine why someone can miss caps lock... ;-) It's the first thing I ditch on any keyboard (disable it and remap to Compose). — Rmano, Jul 28 '15 at 14:35

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 12 '15 at 10:06

6

I figured it out. This link was very helpful: https://butterflyofdream.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/how-to-assign-capslock-on-backspace-key-in-colemak/

Changing the backspace key to a caps lock key is as simple as typing this on the console:

xmodmap -e "keycode 22 = Caps_Lock"

edited Oct 12 '15 at 10:06

rubo77

32,486

answered Jul 28 '15 at 08:48

Blender

133

2

This seems to work, but I think the most important command now would be how to reset this back to Backspace: xmodmap -e "keycode 22 = BackSpace" – rubo77 Oct 12 '15 at 10:25

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 04 '20 at 19:09

2

The answer should be

xmodmap -e "keycode 66 = BackSpace"

And to revert the action

xmodmap -e "keycode 66 = Caps_Lock"

answered Jun 04 '20 at 19:09

Tan Duong

141
4

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 28 '22 at 08:50

1

In Gnome, KDE, Mate etc keyboard advanced settings there should be an option for that. For example, in Plasma:

answered Apr 28 '22 at 08:50

cipricus

3,444
2
34
85

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

Edit /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/de (where /de is your language) and add this section in the first block, that you use in your language:

        # replace Caps with Backspace
        key <CAPS> { [ BackSpace            ] };

But I would recommend better to replace it with AltGr and them map AltGr+f to backspace:

        # replace Caps with AltGr
        key <CAPS> { [ ISO_Level3_Shift            ] };
        # Add Backspace to AltGr+f
        key <AC04> { [ f, F, BackSpace, BackSpace  ] };

So you can add more useful shortcuts like here: Configure Caps Lock as AltGr and Arrows like in vim

How do I remap the caps lock key to the backspace key?

4 Answers4

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