Change the PrtSc Key to Menu

I got a new Thinkpad recently, and absolute love it. The only thing I miss is the menu key. I find it very convenient when using graphical applications like the file browser to open the context menu on the selected item. After a week of moving the mouse around, I decided to replace the PrtSc key (which I never use) with the menu key.

I knew from my previous keyboard experiments that xmodmap would do the job. First, I had to identify the id of the PrtSc key to override it's behaviour. I started xev in a Terminal and pressed the key:

KeyPress event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x3c00001,
    root 0xf6, subw 0x0, time 8501035, (32,217), root:(1223,844),
    state 0x0, keycode 107 (keysym 0xff61, Print Screen), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x3c00001,
    root 0xf6, subw 0x0, time 8501089, (32,217), root:(1223,844),
    state 0x0, keycode 107 (keysym 0xff61, Print Screen), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

I first tried to override the keycode (here 107)...

xmodmap -e "keysym 107 = Menu"

... which did not work (It mapped the menu key to the L key?!)

The other identifier is the keysym value - here 0xff61`

xmodmap -e "keysym 0xff61 = Menu"

This command did the job!

All that was left now was to persist it - which is achieved by adding the content of the -e switch from the command above into a file called ~/.Xmodmap.

keysym 0xff61= Menu

Logging out and in again - and it the mapping works!