Arbitrary Key Remapping on a Mac

Question

I bought a cheap Chinese replacement keyboard for my late 2007 MBP. The close square/curly bracket key actually sends a left control signal to the Mac. So I'm trying to remap my backslash/pipe key to be close square/curly bracket but I can't find the key remapping software to do it. Double Command and KeyRemap4Macbook can't do arbitrary key remaps and uControl/fkeys don't work on Snow Leopard. Anyone have ideas? I have no problem editing text config files if necessary.

Answer 1

Use Ukelele to create your own keyboard layout.

Answer 2

KeyRemap4MacBook also supports adding custom settings in private.xml. See the source for the key code values and predefined settings.

If ] appears as a right control, this might work:

<autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::CONTROL_R, KeyCode::BRACKET_RIGHT</autogen>

Other examples:

<autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::TAB, VK_COMMAND | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::VK_NONE</autogen>
<autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F19, KeyCode::COMMAND_L, ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L | ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L | ModifierFlag::COMMAND_L</autogen> <!-- you can change caps lock to F19 with PCKeyboardHack -->
<autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F1, VK_CONTROL, KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_BRIGHTNESS_DOWN</autogen> <!-- for keyboards without the special F-keys -->
<autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_VOLUME_UP, ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_VOLUME_UP, ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L</autogen>
<autogen>__KeyOverlaidModifier__ KeyCode::SHIFT_L, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::SHIFT_L, KeyCode::F18</autogen> <!-- pressing left shift to F18 -->
<autogen>__PointingButtonToKey__ PointingButton::BUTTON4, KeyCode::A</autogen>
<autogen>__DoublePressModifier__ KeyCode::SHIFT_L, KeyCode::SHIFT_L, KeyCode::A</autogen>
<autogen>__SimultaneousKeyPresses__ KeyCode::KEY_1, KeyCode::KEY_2, KeyCode::A</autogen>
<autogen>__HoldingKeyToKey__ KeyCode::A, KeyCode::A, KeyCode::VK_NONE, KeyCode::B, Option::NOREPEAT</autogen> <!-- makes a get registered on key down -->
<autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::KEY_3, KeyCode::VK_CHANGE_INPUTMODE_ENGLISH</autogen>

If you use custom keylayouts:

• Keyboard layouts in ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts/ can't be selected in password dialogs or the login window but ones in /Library/Keyboard Layouts/ can.
• The popovers shown when holding keys only work with Ukelele's bundle format and not with normal keylayout files.
• You can remove the default input methods by editing the HIToolbox plist.

I have posted more notes about using KeyRemap4MacBook and custom keylayouts here.

Answer 3

You can try this method of using applescript to map keys differently.

Answer 4

KeyRemap4MacBook might be useful as well.