xcompose 0.2.0

Utility for managing X11 compose key sequences

xcompose

A simple utility to help configure X11 compose key sequences.

The repo also hosts an extensive .XCompose file with over 10 000 new sequences; more details here.

Installation

$ pip install xcompose

Requirements

Currently assumes that the system compose key configurations are in /usr/share/X11/locale/, while the keysym definitions are in /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h.

Only tested on Ubuntu 24, but should work more widely (though still very much beta quality).

Usage

$ xcompose -h
usage: xcompose [-h] [-f FILE | -S] [-i] [-k KEY] [-s SORT] {add,find,get,validate} ...

Xcompose sequence helper utility.

positional arguments:
  {add,find,get,validate}
    add                 print a new compose sequence
    find                find sequences matching given output
    get                 get sequences matching given key inputs
    validate            validate compose config file

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -f FILE, --file FILE  config file to analyze (instead of user config)
  -S, --system          analyze system config (instead of user config)
  -i, --ignore-include  don't follow any include declarations in the config
  -k KEY, --key KEY     modifier key keysym (default is Multi_key; use ANY for all)
  -s SORT, --sort SORT  sort resulting sequences (options: 'keys', 'value')

Examples

$ xcompose find é
<Multi_key> <acute> <e>			: "é"	eacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE
<Multi_key> <e> <acute>			: "é"	eacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE
<Multi_key> <apostrophe> <e>		: "é"	eacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE
<Multi_key> <e> <apostrophe>		: "é"	eacute # LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE

$ xcompose find pound
<Multi_key> <L> <minus>			: "£"	sterling # POUND SIGN
<Multi_key> <minus> <L>			: "£"	sterling # POUND SIGN
<Multi_key> <l> <minus>			: "£"	sterling # POUND SIGN
<Multi_key> <minus> <l>			: "£"	sterling # POUND SIGN

$ xcompose find U+00B5
<Multi_key> <m> <u>			: "µ"	mu # MICRO SIGN
<Multi_key> <slash> <u>			: "µ"	mu # MICRO SIGN
<Multi_key> <u> <slash>			: "µ"	mu # MICRO SIGN

$ xcompose get / =
<Multi_key> <slash> <equal>		: "≠"	U2260 # NOT EQUAL TO

$ xcompose --sort keys get /
<Multi_key> <slash> <minus>		: "⌿"	U233f # / - APL FUNCTIONAL SYMBOL SLASH BAR
<Multi_key> <slash> <slash>		: "\\"	backslash # REVERSE SOLIDUS
<Multi_key> <slash> <less>		: "\\"	backslash # REVERSE SOLIDUS
<Multi_key> <slash> <equal>		: "≠"	U2260 # NOT EQUAL TO
<Multi_key> <slash> <B>			: "Ƀ"	U0243 # LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B WITH STROKE
<Multi_key> <slash> <C>			: "₡"	U20a1 # COLON SIGN
<Multi_key> <slash> <D>			: "Đ"	Dstroke # LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D WITH STROKE
[...]
<Multi_key> <slash> <U2194>		: "↮"	U21AE # LEFT RIGHT ARROW WITH STROKE
<Multi_key> <slash> <U2395>		: "⍁"	U2341 # / ⎕ APL FUNCTIONAL SYMBOL QUAD SLASH

$ xcompose add ć / c | tee -a ~/.XCompose   # NB tee -a appends to .XCompose
<Multi_key> <c> <slash> : "ć" U0107    # LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH ACUTE

$ xcompose validate  # (assuming .XCompose contains an 'include "%L"' line)
[/home/Udzu/.XCompose#35] Compose sequence Multi_key + c + slash for 'ć' conflicts with
Multi_key + c + slash for '¢'
    to ignore this, include the string 'conflict' or 'override' in the comment

$ xcompose --ignore-include validate  # (no conflicts if we ignore the system file)