Table of Contents

Ubuntu - Mouse - Determine the Mouse Button Numbers

Each button on the mouse should have a Unique number associated with it.

This Button Number can be used to configure a specific button.

Determine the Mouse to use

xinput | grep -m 1 "DeathAdder" | sed 's/^.*id=\([0-9]*\)[ \t].*$/\1/'

returns: 

8

NOTE: See Determine the Mouse.

  • This shows that the id of the mouse is 8 in this case.

Get Button Map

xinput get-button-map 8

returns: 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

NOTE: The id of 8 is used, as determined by the previous command.

  • The result shows that the mouse has 9 buttons.

Determine Which Mouse Button is Which

xinput test

returns: 

...
button press   1 
button release 1 
...

NOTE: A unique button number should be able to be determined for each button on the mouse.

  • In this case, the result shows button press 1 when the left mouse button on the mouse was pressed.
    • Determine the Button Number for every button.
  • Usually left mouse button is shown as button 1.
  • Usually middle mouse button is shown as button 2.
  • Usually right mouse button is shown as button 3.
  • Other buttons can be determined through trial and error.
    • The scroll wheel on the mouse (both forwards and backward scrolls) also have a unique button id.

Another Way to Determine the Mouse Buttons

xev | grep button
 
or
 
xev

displays:

NOTE: Move the mouse cursor within the boxes and the xev will display many lines of data relating to mouse movements and button presses.

Identify Each Button Number

With xev running, move the mouse pointer into the xev display and click each button on the mouse. 

ButtonPress event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x6200001,
    root 0x1e4, subw 0x0, time 2473474233, (151,31), root:(239,183),
    state 0x0, button 1, same_screen YES

NOTE: A unique button number should be able to be determined for each button on the mouse.

  • In this case, the bottom line of the result shows button 1 when the left mouse button on the mouse was pressed.
    • Determine the Button Number for every button.
  • Usually left mouse button is shown as button 1.
  • Usually middle mouse button is shown as button 2.
  • Usually right mouse button is shown as button 3.
  • Other buttons can be determined through trial and error.
    • The scroll wheel on the mouse (both forwards and backward scrolls) also have a unique button id.

References

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/focal/man1/xev.1.html