FAQ: How to disable/remap a keyboard key in Linux?

Q: How can I disable one or several keys on my laptop keyboard in Linux? When I press the DELETE key, it gets stuck and deletes everything 🙂

A: No problem! You can use the following command to remap or disable any key of your keyboard:

xmodmap -e 'keycode <value>=<action>'

For example, you could run the following command to disable your DELETE key:

xmodmap -e 'keycode 107='

How to get the correct keycode

You can get the keycode that corresponds to a specific keyboard button in one of two ways.

The first method is by using the simple command xev. xev opens a window and then monitors “events” such as keystrokes. It is suitable when you are running a GUI.

The second method, which can be run with only the console, is showkey. This command will monitor for keystrokes for 10 seconds, or until a SIGTERM signal is received.

List of all keycodes

The full list of available keycodes and actions assigned to them on UK keyboard is below…

keycode 8 =
keycode 9 = Escape
keycode 10 = 1 exclam
keycode 11 = 2 quotedbl
keycode 12 = 3 sterling
keycode 13 = 4 dollar
keycode 14 = 5 percent
keycode 15 = 6 asciicircum
keycode 16 = 7 ampersand
keycode 17 = 8 asterisk
keycode 18 = 9 parenleft
keycode 19 = 0 parenright
keycode 20 = minus underscore
keycode 21 = equal plus
keycode 22 = Delete
keycode 23 = Tab
keycode 24 = Q
keycode 25 = W
keycode 26 = E
keycode 27 = R
keycode 28 = T
keycode 29 = Y
keycode 30 = U
keycode 31 = I
keycode 32 = O
keycode 33 = P
keycode 34 = bracketleft braceleft
keycode 35 = bracketright braceright
keycode 36 = Return
keycode 37 = Control_L
keycode 38 = A
keycode 39 = S
keycode 40 = D
keycode 41 = F
keycode 42 = G
keycode 43 = H
keycode 44 = J
keycode 45 = K
keycode 46 = L
keycode 47 = semicolon colon
keycode 48 = apostrophe at
keycode 49 = grave asciitilde
keycode 50 = Shift_L
keycode 51 = numbersign asciitilde
keycode 52 = Z
keycode 53 = X
keycode 54 = C
keycode 55 = V
keycode 56 = B
keycode 57 = N
keycode 58 = M
keycode 59 = comma less
keycode 60 = period greater
keycode 61 = slash question
keycode 62 = Shift_R
keycode 63 = KP_Multiply
keycode 64 = Alt_L
keycode 65 = space
keycode 66 = Caps_Lock
keycode 67 = F1
keycode 68 = F2
keycode 69 = F3
keycode 70 = F4
keycode 71 = F5
keycode 72 = F6
keycode 73 = F7
keycode 74 = F8
keycode 75 = F9
keycode 76 = F10
keycode 77 = Num_Lock
keycode 78 = Scroll_Lock
keycode 79 = Home KP_7 KP_7 Home
keycode 80 = Up KP_8 KP_8 Up
keycode 81 = Prior KP_9 KP_9 Prior
keycode 82 = KP_Subtract
keycode 83 = Left KP_4 KP_4 Left
keycode 84 = Begin KP_5 KP_5 Begin
keycode 85 = Right KP_6 KP_6 Right
keycode 86 = KP_Add
keycode 87 = End KP_1 KP_1 End
keycode 88 = Down KP_2 KP_2 Down
keycode 89 = Next KP_3 KP_3 Next
keycode 90 = Insert KP_0 KP_0 Insert
keycode 91 = Delete KP_Decimal KP_Decimal Delete
keycode 92 = 0x1007ff00
keycode 93 =
keycode 94 = backslash bar
keycode 95 = F11
keycode 96 = F12
keycode 97 = Home
keycode 98 = Up
keycode 99 = Prior
keycode 100 = Left
keycode 101 = Begin
keycode 102 = Right
keycode 103 = End
keycode 104 = Down
keycode 105 = Next
keycode 106 = Insert
keycode 107 = Delete
keycode 108 = KP_Enter
keycode 109 = Control_R
keycode 110 = Pause
keycode 111 = Print
keycode 112 = KP_Divide
keycode 113 = Mode_switch
keycode 114 = Break