Xfce Forum

Nevus

Member

Registered: 2026-04-01

Posts: 1

Unwanted symbols created on en_GB keyboard layout with ' & AltGr keys

Hello, I would like some help with a problem tied to the English (UK) keyboard layout.

=== SYSTEM ===
MX Linux 25.1, Xfce 4.20, 6.12.74+deb13+1-amd64 kernel

=== ISSUE ===
When typing quickly, my finger sometimes still has the ' key pressed down as I'm typing the next letter, which outputs special characters. "I'm" becomes "I'µ", "isn't" becomes "isn'ŧ", "there's" becomes "there'ß". All of the UK keyboard layouts in Keyboard Settings have the same problem.

AltGr (Right Alt) is set as my compose key, and also creates these symbols, which is fine since I don't need to use that key to type. I assume that ' is assigned as a second compose key. I cannot find a way to disable it and only use AltGr as the compose key for the UK keyboard layout.

asd with AltGr pressed: æßð
asd with ' pressed: 'æßð

For now, I'm using the en_US layout, which doesn't have this issue/second compose key assignment. It's not an ideal solution - this layout doesn't match my physical keyboard layout and muscle memory when I want to type symbols like @, #, ".

=== FIX ATTEMPTS ===
It seems like the /usr/share/X11/xkb/ directory is where I should be looking if I want to fix the issue, but I honestly have no clue as to what I should modify there without causing some other issue somewhere else.

Modifying key repeat settings did not fix the issue. Holding down ' does not output '''''''''''. The keyboard is waiting for me to input another character while I'm holding the ' key down.

Setting the Compose Key to anything else, or not assigning the compose key to any key, doesn't fix the issue. Held AltGr, and held ' still produce the same unwanted symbols. However, the new compose key produces different characters.

asd with Caps Lock as compose key: d
aassdd with Caps Lock as compose key: åß

I've just discovered this while typing this post. This makes me think that AltGr and ' aren't actually compose keys, but something else tied to the keyboard layout. The English (US) keyboard layout does not produce anything unwanted, after all.

I've spent hours googling and looking through different forums since I thought it would be a common issue for UK layout users, but I've mostly just found people trying to enable special characters.

=== MYSTERY ===
The 1st time I re-installed MX Linux, the issue disappeared, but somehow it's appeared again on the 2nd re-install. I set the same keyboard layouts every time during the install, so I'm just confused as to what happened since there was nothing that I did differently in terms of keyboard layout.

=== POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS ===

• Installing another English (UK) keyboard layout that doesn't come with this peculiarity. If anyone familiar with such an issue knows where to find the keyboard layout that I need, I would be very grateful.

• Modifying something in the xkb directory for the English (UK) layout, so that AltGr and ' are treated as regular keys with no weirdness attached to them.

I appreciate any help that can be provided.

bggf

Member

Registered: 2026-04-13

Posts: 5

Re: Unwanted symbols created on en_GB keyboard layout with ' & AltGr keys

Hi there,

I can't reproduce the issue on my system with examples you provided:
æßð is indeed the result of alt-gr and asd, with ' or ` they just provide the character on my terminal.

If ' is waiting for another key, that means it may be a  "dead key" waiting for onother key to be pressed (slightly different than a composed key, although not much for your purpose. Just mentioning it for further internet research into the problem)

a) Does this happen in every program you use? (terminal/mousepad...)
b) What is the output of "setxkbmap -query" , is there any "variant" value?
c) Are your keyboard settings in your settings-manager set to use system defaults (otherwise possible clash with setxbmap)
d) Does this happen from the start on all programs, or only after you use a certain program that could modify the keyboard settings?

Thanks

==========================================================

Hello, I would like some help with a problem tied to the English (UK) keyboard layout.

=== SYSTEM ===
MX Linux 25.1, Xfce 4.20, 6.12.74+deb13+1-amd64 kernel

=== ISSUE ===
When typing quickly, my finger sometimes still has the ' key pressed down as I'm typing the next letter, which outputs special characters. "I'm" becomes "I'µ", "isn't" becomes "isn'ŧ", "there's" becomes "there'ß". All of the UK keyboard layouts in Keyboard Settings have the same problem.

AltGr (Right Alt) is set as my compose key, and also creates these symbols, which is fine since I don't need to use that key to type. I assume that ' is assigned as a second compose key. I cannot find a way to disable it and only use AltGr as the compose key for the UK keyboard layout.

asd with AltGr pressed: æßð
asd with ' pressed: 'æßð

For now, I'm using the en_US layout, which doesn't have this issue/second compose key assignment. It's not an ideal solution - this layout doesn't match my physical keyboard layout and muscle memory when I want to type symbols like @, #, ".

=== FIX ATTEMPTS ===
It seems like the /usr/share/X11/xkb/ directory is where I should be looking if I want to fix the issue, but I honestly have no clue as to what I should modify there without causing some other issue somewhere else.

Modifying key repeat settings did not fix the issue. Holding down ' does not output '''''''''''. The keyboard is waiting for me to input another character while I'm holding the ' key down.

Setting the Compose Key to anything else, or not assigning the compose key to any key, doesn't fix the issue. Held AltGr, and held ' still produce the same unwanted symbols. However, the new compose key produces different characters.

asd with Caps Lock as compose key: d
aassdd with Caps Lock as compose key: åß

I've just discovered this while typing this post. This makes me think that AltGr and ' aren't actually compose keys, but something else tied to the keyboard layout. The English (US) keyboard layout does not produce anything unwanted, after all.

I've spent hours googling and looking through different forums since I thought it would be a common issue for UK layout users, but I've mostly just found people trying to enable special characters.

=== MYSTERY ===
The 1st time I re-installed MX Linux, the issue disappeared, but somehow it's appeared again on the 2nd re-install. I set the same keyboard layouts every time during the install, so I'm just confused as to what happened since there was nothing that I did differently in terms of keyboard layout.

=== POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS ===

• Installing another English (UK) keyboard layout that doesn't come with this peculiarity. If anyone familiar with such an issue knows where to find the keyboard layout that I need, I would be very grateful.

• Modifying something in the xkb directory for the English (UK) layout, so that AltGr and ' are treated as regular keys with no weirdness attached to them.

I appreciate any help that can be provided.