Where should the control key be?

Almost all modern computer keyboards place the Caps Lock key immediately to the left of A, with the Shift key below it (next to Z) and the Control key below that, in the lower left corner.

It wasn't always this way.

For example, many of Sun's keyboards (images here) put the Control key immediately to the left of A, and the Caps Lock key in the lower left corner.

If you happen to like the "modern" layout, that's great; I'm not going to try to change your mind, and you can feel free to stop reading now.

But personally, I find it much easier to type when the Control key is immediately to the left of the A key, and the Caps Lock (which I hardly ever use) is either safely out of easy reach or disabled altogether. I use control sequences extensively. I'm a heavy user of vim, I occasionally use Emacs, and I use Emacs-style key bindings in the bash shell. Reaching my left pinky finger down below the shift key every few seconds is quite awkward, but if the control key is on the home row I don't even have to think about it. Yes, I've tried using keyboards with Control below Shift; no, I've never been able to get used to it.

Fortunately, there are ways to remap your keyboard in software so that the key labeled "Caps Lock" acts as a Control key. Unfortunately, those ways vary considerably from one operating system to another.

• Microsoft Windows:

  Microsoft Windows does let you do some limited keyboard remapping through the Control Panel (in Windows 7 at least, it's under "Region and Language", not under "Keyboard") -- but for some unfathomable reason there's no option to remap the Caps Lock and Control keys.

  You can swap the Control and Caps Lock keys, or make Caps Lock an additional Control key, by modifying the system registry. I provide instructions for doing so here. Unfortunately, this is a system-wide setting; it doesn't let you change the layout for an individual user. I advise not applying this registry patch to a shared Windows system unless you're sure that all users of the system are ok with a "non-standard" keyboard layout.

• Linux (or GNU/Linux if you prefer):

  Fortunately, Linux-based systems generally do let you modify keyboard layouts on a per-user basis. The specific method can vary depending on which distribution and desktop environment you use. One of the following methods is likely to work.

  See also this question and this answer on unix.stackexchange.com.

  **UNIX-like command-line solutions:

  Either of the following commands should work to map Caps Lock to Control (making both keys act like a Control key) for the duration of the current X session:

  xmodmap -e 'clear Lock' \ -e 'keycode 0x42 = ControlL' \ -e 'add Control = ControlL'

  or:

  setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps

  I think the setxkbmap command is newer; you might have to resort to xmodmap for some older systems.

  I think that

  setxkbmap -option ctrl:swapcaps

  will swap the Control and Caps Lock keys, but I haven't tried it..

  Both of these have the drawback that the behavior will revert to the default when the current X session terminates (typically when you log out or reboot). You can either re-execute the command on startup, or arrange for the system to do it for you.

  I find it more convenient, where possible, to do this through the desktop GUI, so the setting is persistent across reboots.

  Debian 6, Gnome desktop:

  • "System" > "Preferences" > "Keyboard"
  • Select the "Layouts" tab
  • Highlight the layout you use (mine is "USA")
  • Click the "Options" button
  • Under "Ctrl key position", select "Make CapsLock an additional Ctrl", or whichever option you prefer.

  Linux Mint 14, Cinnamon desktop:

  • From the "System Tools" menu, select "System Settings", then open "Keyboard Layout"
  • Select the "Layouts" tab
  • Click the "Options..." button.
  • Open "Caps Lock key behavior" and select the option you prefer. I use "Make Caps Lock an additional Control but keep the Caps_Lock keysym", which makes both Caps Lock and Control act as a Control key.

  Linux Mint 15, Cinnamon destkop:

  • From the "System Tools" menu, select "System Settings", then open "Regional Settings"
  • Select the "Layouts" tab
  • Click the "Options..." button.
  • Open "Caps Lock key behavior" and select the option you prefer. I use "Make Caps Lock an additional Control but keep the Caps_Lock keysym", which makes both Caps Lock and Control act as a Control key.

  Linux Mint 16, KDE desktop:

  • From the main menu, select "Applications", then "Settings", then "System Settings".
  • Under "Hardware", open "Input Devices"
  • Keyboard settings are shown by default; open the "Advanced" tab.
  • Click the "Control keyboard options" checkbox.
  • Open "Ctrl Key Position"
  • Enable and select "Caps lock as Ctrl" or "Swap Ctrl and Caps Lock"

  Linux Mint 17, Xfce desktop: Oddly, the Xfce settings GUI doesn't seem to have an option to change the behavior of the Caps Lock key. See "UNIX-like command-line solutions" above.

  Modifying /etc/default/keyboard will affect all users on the system.

  Linux virtual console: This web page discusses various ways to remap the control key in the Linux virtual console. (This is the text-only console reachable by typing Ctrl-Alt-F1, Ctrl-Alt-F2, etc.). The most straightforward method seems to be:

  • Add the line XKBOPTIONS="ctrl:nocaps" to /etc/default/keyboard
  • $ sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh console-setup

  Replace nocaps by swapcaps if you prefer to swap Control and Caps-Lock rather than making both keys act like Control keys.

  I've tried this on Debian 6, and it works after a reboot.

• Mac OS X 10.5.8:

  • System Preferences
  • Keyboard & Mouse
  • Keyboard tab > Modifier Keys ...
  • Change Caps Lock to act as Control
  • Optional: Change Control to act as Caps Lock

Last updated 2014-07-30 17:46:23 -0700