I need to change the layout of the keyboard while working in the console on Linux. I need to set up English layout as the default for the console. How can I do it?

5

7 Answers

To change the system-wide keyboard layout, run

sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

or edit the XKBLAYOUT line in /etc/default/keyboard.

2

To change your keyboard layout fast, just install setxkbmap with:

sudo apt-get install x11-xkb-utils

After this you can always change the keyboard layout with:

setxkbmap us

To do this automatically every time, extend your .bashrc with:

echo "setxkbmap us" >> ~/.bashrc

Now, open a new console and the US keyboard layout is activated. Don't worry if the small keyboard layout icon in the Ubuntu panel does not change.

2

Another way, but I understand it won't last for the next boot:

sudo loadkeys /usr/share/keymaps/i386/qwerty/us.kmap.gz

Check /usr/share/keymaps/i386/ for you keyboard layout and keymaps to what suits you better.

3

loadkeys us ----it loads US keys but for a single session.

2

The very funny could be to switch back... a possible solution is, to make a Bash script (named with symbols of the target language. For instance, англ).

The second trick is to type "setxkbmap us; setxkbmap ru", and then it's possible to use the Bash history to return the main layout to the console.

3

On current systemd based systems use localectl (as mentioned by @david-tonhofer):

sudo localectl set-keymap us
sudo localectl set-x11-keymap us,de pc104
localectl status

A better hack is to monitor udev and reset it automatically if the keyboard gets disconnected. Even users on laptops might need it, since it might get instantaneously disconnected. I just made a GitHub repository to do this.

1

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Sign up using Google Sign up using Facebook Sign up using Email and Password Submit

Post as a guest

Post Your Answer Discard

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy