Compose(5)                                              File Formats Manual                                              Compose(5)

NAME
       Compose - X client mappings for multi-key input sequences

DESCRIPTION
       The X library, libX11, provides a simple input method for characters beyond those represented on typical keyboards using se‐
       quences of key strokes that are combined to enter a single character.

       The compose file is searched for in  the following order:

       -      If the environment variable $XCOMPOSEFILE is set, its value is used as the name of the Compose file.

       -      If the user's home directory has a file named .XCompose, it is used as the Compose file.

       -      The system provided compose file is used by mapping the locale to a compose file from the list in  /usr/share/X11/lo‐
              cale/compose.dir.

       Compose  files can use an "include" instruction.  This allows local modifications to be made to existing compose files with‐
       out including all of the content directly.  For example, the system's iso8859-1 compose file can be  included  with  a  line
       like this:
           include "%S/iso8859-1/Compose"

       There are several substitutions that can be made in the file name of the include instruction:

       %H  expands to the user's home directory (the $HOME environment variable)

       %L  expands to the name of the locale specific Compose file (i.e., "/usr/share/X11/locale/<localename>/Compose")

       %S  expands to the name of the system directory for Compose files (i.e., "/usr/share/X11/locale")

       For example, you can include in your compose file the default Compose file by using:
              include "%L"
       and then rewrite only the few rules that you need to change.  New compose rules can be added, and previous ones replaced.

FILE FORMAT
       Compose files are plain text files, with a separate line for each compose sequence.  Comments begin with # characters.  Each
       compose sequence specifies one or more events and a resulting input sequence, with an optional comment at  the  end  of  the
       line:
              EVENT [EVENT...] : RESULT [# COMMENT]

       Each event consists of a specified input keysym, and optional modifier states:
              [([!] ([~] MODIFIER)...) | None] <keysym>

       If the modifier list is preceded by "!" it must match exactly.  MODIFIER may be one of Ctrl, Lock, Caps, Shift, Alt or Meta.
       Each modifier may be preceded by a "~" character to indicate that the modifier must not be present.  If "None" is specified,
       no modifier may be present.

       The result specifies a string, keysym, or both, that the X client receives as input when the sequence of events is input:
              "STRING" | keysym | "STRING" keysym

       Keysyms are specified without the XK_ prefix.

       Strings  may be direct text encoded in the locale for which the compose file is to be used, or an escaped octal or hexadeci‐
       mal character code.  Octal codes are specified as "\123" and hexadecimal codes as "\x3a".  It is not necessary to specify in
       the  right part of a rule a locale encoded string in addition to the keysym name.  If the string is omitted, Xlib figures it
       out from the keysym according to the current locale.  I.e., if a rule looks like:
              <dead_grave> <A> : "\300" Agrave
       the result of the composition is always the letter with the "\300" code.  But if the rule is:
              <dead_grave> <A> : Agrave
       the result depends on how Agrave is mapped in the current locale.

ENVIRONMENT
       XCOMPOSEFILE
              File to use for compose sequences.

       XCOMPOSECACHE
              Directory to use for caching compiled compose files.

FILES
       $HOME/.XCompose
              User default compose file if XCOMPOSEFILE is not set.

       /usr/share/X11/locale/compose.dir
              File listing the compose file path to use for each locale.

       /usr/share/X11/locale/<localemapping>/Compose
              System default compose file for the locale, mapped via compose.dir.

       /var/cache/libx11/compose/
              System-wide cache directory for compiled compose files.

       $HOME/.compose-cache/
              Per-user cache directory for compiled compose files.

SEE ALSO
       XLookupString(3), XmbLookupString(3), XwcLookupString(3), Xutf8LookupString(3), mkcomposecache(1), locale(7).
       Xlib - C Language X Interface

X Version 11                                                libX11 1.8.4                                                 Compose(5)