i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

Different keyboard layot for every window

Sat, 18 Apr 2015 13:07:26 +0000

Hello!
I'm new in i3 and I really love it more than other WMs. But I have an issue, which can be easy solved in other "gui" WMs: I want my change keyboard layout(from ru to us) keys switch layout only in active window, but not all X.
For example: I have terminal and chat. I type english in terminal, than switch to chat and have russian layout there(saved from previous typing) I've tried to google this issue, but failed. To be honest, i don't know which keywords should I use?

Comment by i3convert for
Hello!
I'm new in i3 and I really love it more than other WMs. But I have an issue, which can be easy solved in other "gui" WMs: I want my change keyboard layout(from ru to us) keys switch layout only in active window, but not all X.
For example: I have terminal and chat. I type english in terminal, than switch to chat and have russian layout there(saved from previous typing) I've tried to google this issue, but failed. To be honest, i don't know which keywords should I use?

Mon, 20 Apr 2015 06:02:34 +0000

This is probably doable, but might require quite a bit of work. You could write a script that keeps an assignment of layouts to windows, listens to [i3events](https://i3wm.org/docs/ipc.html#_events), and whenever a different windows receives focus, it changes the layout the the appropriate one.

Answer by gurkensalat for
Hello!
I'm new in i3 and I really love it more than other WMs. But I have an issue, which can be easy solved in other "gui" WMs: I want my change keyboard layout(from ru to us) keys switch layout only in active window, but not all X.
For example: I have terminal and chat. I type english in terminal, than switch to chat and have russian layout there(saved from previous typing) I've tried to google this issue, but failed. To be honest, i don't know which keywords should I use?

Fri, 24 Apr 2015 00:05:30 +0000

As i3convert commented already, you could try this approach; depending on your chat program you need to adjust the class name. This uses the [i3subscribe script](https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5721/how-do-i-subscribe-to-i3-events-using-bash-easily/?answer=5722#post-id-5722) which I made available some weeks ago: #!/bin/bash i3subscribe window | grep window:focus | \ while read -r line; do id="$(xprop -root _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW | awk '{print $5}')" case "$(xprop -id "$id" WM_CLASS | cut -d\" -f4)" in Firefox) kb=de ;; ChatProgram) kb=ru ;; *) kb=us ;; esac setxkbmap "$kb" done Save, make the script executable and put it into the startup-applications.

Comment by KirillTim for

As i3convert commented already, you could try this approach; depending on your chat program you need to adjust the class name. This uses the i3subscribe script which I made available some weeks ago:

#!/bin/bash
i3subscribe window | grep window:focus | \
while read -r line; do
    id="$(xprop -root _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW | awk '{print $5}')"
    case "$(xprop -id "$id" WM_CLASS | cut -d\" -f4)" in
        Firefox)        kb=de ;;
        ChatProgram)    kb=ru ;;
        *)              kb=us ;;
    esac
    setxkbmap "$kb"
done

Save, make the script executable and put it into the startup-applications.

Sun, 26 Apr 2015 08:03:34 +0000

Link is valid, but "Not Found" is only what i can see on that page

Comment by gurkensalat for

As i3convert commented already, you could try this approach; depending on your chat program you need to adjust the class name. This uses the i3subscribe script which I made available some weeks ago:

#!/bin/bash
i3subscribe window | grep window:focus | \
while read -r line; do
    id="$(xprop -root _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW | awk '{print $5}')"
    case "$(xprop -id "$id" WM_CLASS | cut -d\" -f4)" in
        Firefox)        kb=de ;;
        ChatProgram)    kb=ru ;;
        *)              kb=us ;;
    esac
    setxkbmap "$kb"
done

Save, make the script executable and put it into the startup-applications.

Fri, 24 Apr 2015 23:01:32 +0000

My post seems to have been edited incorrectly by someone, the link is now valid...

Comment by KirillTim for

As i3convert commented already, you could try this approach; depending on your chat program you need to adjust the class name. This uses the i3subscribe script which I made available some weeks ago:

#!/bin/bash
i3subscribe window | grep window:focus | \
while read -r line; do
    id="$(xprop -root _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW | awk '{print $5}')"
    case "$(xprop -id "$id" WM_CLASS | cut -d\" -f4)" in
        Firefox)        kb=de ;;
        ChatProgram)    kb=ru ;;
        *)              kb=us ;;
    esac
    setxkbmap "$kb"
done

Save, make the script executable and put it into the startup-applications.

Fri, 24 Apr 2015 09:23:06 +0000

Invalid link to i3subscribe script. I even can't google it. Could you, please post that script here for me.

Comment by gurkensalat for

As i3convert commented already, you could try this approach; depending on your chat program you need to adjust the class name. This uses the i3subscribe script which I made available some weeks ago:

#!/bin/bash
i3subscribe window | grep window:focus | \
while read -r line; do
    id="$(xprop -root _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW | awk '{print $5}')"
    case "$(xprop -id "$id" WM_CLASS | cut -d\" -f4)" in
        Firefox)        kb=de ;;
        ChatProgram)    kb=ru ;;
        *)              kb=us ;;
    esac
    setxkbmap "$kb"
done

Save, make the script executable and put it into the startup-applications.

Sun, 26 Apr 2015 16:55:40 +0000

didnt notice that one, updated:)