How to bind mouse buttons to keys?

Question

I have a Logitech MX400 Laser Mouse which has 5 buttons + 4 for vertical/horizontal scrolling. I would like it set up so instead of horizontal scrolling pressing right on the scrollwheel will send Ctrl+Tab and left will send Ctrl+Shift+Tab, which will allow me to cycle through tabs in browsers.

Also, it would be nice if I could remap the middle button to one of the ones on the side as it is really hard to press down.

Another bonus would be if I could write a script that allows me to define what buttons do what dependent on which window is currently active.

I have tried using xmodmap but I could only see how to rearrange buttons, not have them send key signals.

Thanks in advance.

Button Map (using xev):

Left        1
Middle      2
Right       3
ScrollUp    4
ScrollDown  5
ScrollLeft  6
ScrollRight 7
Backward    8
Forward     9

score 22 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 28 '12 at 19:31

22

The xbindkeys and xte can help you.

For example my .xbindkeysrc file looks like this:

# close the window under the mouse cursor
"xte 'mouseclick 1' && xte 'keydown Alt_L' 'key F4' 'keyup Alt_L'"
  b:8+Release

# double click
"xte 'mouseclick 1' 'mouseclick 1'"
  b:9

edited Mar 28 '12 at 19:31

diedthreetimes

103

answered Oct 23 '10 at 13:44

lukasz

2,406

This is fantastic and extensible, many many thanks – Callum Rogers Oct 23 '10 at 14:11
1

To get xte on Ubuntu 16.x, you'll have to install xautomation from apt. – 1111161171159459134 Dec 26 '16 at 15:09
That doesn't work as well as I like, because it doesn't work the same if I hold the button down.
My old mouse had a button that enables the scroll wheel to spin freely, which is great if I just want to start it moving real fast and scroll a long way. But my new one doesn't have that, so I bound two buttons on the side (I think they're designed as back/forward buttons for Web browsing) to the PgUp/PgDn keys. But I have to press them repeatedly if I want to keep scrolling; I can't just hold them down. How do I make it hold the key as long as I hold the button?
– Sparkette Dec 28 '16 at 01:52

score 9 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 30 '18 at 07:08

Thanks to everyone for the solution. Here is a more foolproof/combined guide (done on Xubuntu 18.04).

Open a terminal (like xterm/terminal/terminator), become root (sudo su -) or use sudo in front of the command:
```
apt install xbindkeys xautomation
```
Check the button mapping with xev, for this you don't need root permission so exit the root session (with exit) or open another terminal as user.
```
xev | grep button
```
A small window will appear. You have to move the mouse into that window and press the button you want to remap. An example output in the terminal will be:
```
state 0x0, button 8, same_screen YES
```
This is the 2nd side button on my mouse which I want to use as PAGE_DOWN.
```
state 0x0, button 9, same_screen YES
```
This is the 1st (yes, the order is reversed) side button I want to use as PAGE_UP.
When you have all buttons you want to remap you can close the small xev window. Open your favorite editor (gedit/vi/nano for example) and edit the configuration file.
```
vi .xbindkeysrc
```
If you already have some content in the file, look if there is already a binding like it (unlikely, not by default) and add at the end.
```
#Pagedown press
"xte 'keydown Next'"
b:8

#Pagedown release
"xte 'keyup Next'"
b:8 + Release

#Pagedup press
"xte 'keydown Prior'"
b:9

#Pageup release
"xte 'keyup Prior'"
b:9 + Release
```
Note: you need two entries, one for the button press and one for the release.
The buttons 8+9 will be mapped to the keys "Next" (which is PAGE_DOWN) and "Prior" (PAGE_UP). If you want to map different keys you can find the keysymbol with xev.
```
xev | grep keysym
```
Like before, start it in a terminal, move the mouse to the small window and press the wanted key.
```
state 0x0, keycode 117 (keysym 0xff56, Next), same_screen YES,
```
Save and kill xbindings.
```
killall xbindkeys ; xbindkeys
```

You can now use the additional side buttons on the mouse. The setting will be loaded automatically on next reboot/login. You only need the killall [...] command from above if you change the settings.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 27 '23 at 13:19

0

For me, and my Logitech G402 mouse, the Piper mouse configuration tool worked perfectly!

https://github.com/libratbag/piper

installable via apt

sudo apt install piper

answered Jan 27 '23 at 13:19

kolis

101

How to bind mouse buttons to keys?

3 Answers3

Linked