Use ISO_Level3_Shift as Escape when tapped

Question

I use an alternative keyboard layout that uses CapsLock and # as ISO_Level3_Shift modifiers.

setxkbmap de koy

I also like using CapsLock as additional Escape key when it's just tapped. This can be easily reached by:

xcape -e "ISO_Level3_Shift=Escape"

But this makes both Level3 modifiers act as Escape. How can I apply xcape only to the left modifier key (labeled CapsLock)?

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 23 '19 at 14:11

After some reading on the xcape page on github, I found the easy solution. Last year a pull request was merged that allows passing keycodes instead of keysyms to xcape.

The solution is:

xcape -e "#66=Escape"

How to get the right keycode?

xev -event keyboard

Press down the key you want to modify. Then you should see something like that:

KeyPress event, serial 29, synthetic NO, window 0x4c00001,
    root 0x190, subw 0x0, time 771139, (110,626), root:(204,711),
    state 0x0, keycode 66 (keysym 0xfe03, ISO_Level3_Shift), same_screen YES,
    XKeysymToKeycode returns keycode: 51
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

There you find your keycode (66 in this example).

Use ISO_Level3_Shift as Escape when tapped

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