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Table of Contents
Ubuntu - Mouse - Map Mouse Buttons to Arbitrary Functions
There are various options that can be used to allow a mouse button click to action an arbitrary function.
These include:
- xbindkeys allows you to map any mouse (or keyboard) event to some program.
- xautomation provides the xte program; which can generate fake input, including keystrokes and mouse-clicks.
- xvkbd can send a keyboard key signal or mouse click to other programs.
- xdotool can simulate keyboard input and mouse activity, move and resize windows, etc.
Map Mouse Buttons to Arbitrary Functions
Install xbindkeys
sudo apt install xbindkeys
NOTE: Xbindkeys is a program that allows to bind commands to certain keys or key combinations on the keyboard.
- Xbindkeys works with multimedia keys and is window manager independent.
Install xautomation
sudo apt install xautomation
NOTE: This provides the xte program; which can generate fake input, including keystrokes and mouse-clicks.
Create the xbindkeys Configuration File
xbindkeys --defaults > $HOME/.xbindkeysrc
NOTE: The $HOME/.xbindkeysrc file could also be created manually.
NOTE: The format of this file is a series of paired lines.
- The first line is a command to be executed for an event;
- The quotation marks (“”) around the command is required.
- The second line is the associated mouse button.
- The first mouse button (left) is called b:1, the second b:2 and so forth.
Assign a function to a Mouse Button
Edit the xbindkeys Configuration file, ~/.xbindkeysrc:
Add commands similar to this:
- ~/.xbindkeysrc
"xte 'keydown Home' 'keyup Home'" b:6
NOTE: This binds button 6 to the home key
Other examples
- ~/.xbindkeysrc
# Back "xte 'keydown Alt_L' 'key Left' 'keyup Alt_L'" b:8 # Forward "xte 'keydown Alt_L' 'key Right' 'keyup Alt_L'" b:9
NOTE: This maps:
- Button 8 is mapped to ALT+LEFT.
- Button 9 is mapped to ALT+RIGHT.
More complex examples
“/usr/bin/xte 'mouseclick 1' 'mouseclick 1' &” b:8 + Release </file>
NOTE: This maps a double-left-click to button 8,
- The Release option catches release events instead of press events.
Run at startup
One approach is to create a shell script that performs the Mouse Button mapping:
echo "xinput --set-button-map 21 3 2 1" > leftmouseremap.sh
Give it executable permission:
chmod +x leftmouseremap.sh
NOTE: Either run the script manually, or configure it to automatically run on system reboot.
- Follow any process to have this script run at boot if needed.
- Remember to configure 'xbindkeys' to run automatically on system startup too if needed:
- '/usr/bin/xbindkeys'