It is also possible to specify a keyboard with "dead keys". This reduces the number of keystrokes to 2 from 3 (e.g. comma,C instead of Compose,comma,C for Ç) but means you must type (comma,comma) to get a comma.
This works on my RedHat 6.2 system with XFree86 version 3 and a 105-key Fujitsu keyboard, and is I believe fairly general.
The table shows the keys to generate ISO-8859-1 characters using Multi_Key, here shown as "m". In ~/.Xmodmap, I have the line
keycode 117 = Multi_keyto assign a suitable key (keycode of one of those useless "Windows" keys found with "xev") to the compose character "Multi_key". If you have a DEC keyboard with a real "compose" key then you would naturally use that.
The modifiers are mostly fairly intuitive, using punctuation characters that look vaguely like the accents - forward quote ' for acute accent, backquote ` for grave, caret ^ for circumflex, comma for cedilla, double quote " for diaeresis.
Oct Dec Hex Char Description -------------------------------------------------------------------- 240 160 A0 NO-BREAK SPACE m ! ! ¡ 241 161 A1 ¡ INVERTED EXCLAMATION MARK m | c ¢ 242 162 A2 ¢ CENT SIGN m - L £ 243 163 A3 £ POUND SIGN m o x ¤ 244 164 A4 ¤ CURRENCY SIGN m Y - ¥ 245 165 A5 ¥ YEN SIGN m | | ¦ 246 166 A6 ¦ BROKEN BAR m s o § 247 167 A7 § SECTION SIGN m " " ¨ 250 168 A8 ¨ DIAERESIS m O c © 251 169 A9 © COPYRIGHT SIGN m _ a ª 252 170 AA ª FEMININE ORDINAL INDICATOR m < < « 253 171 AB « LEFT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK m , - ¬ 254 172 AC ¬ NOT SIGN m - - 255 173 AD SOFT HYPHEN m O R ® 256 174 AE ® REGISTERED SIGN m - ^ ¯ 257 175 AF ¯ MACRON m ^ 0 ° 260 176 B0 ° DEGREE SIGN m + - ± 261 177 B1 ± PLUS-MINUS SIGN m ^ 2 ² 262 178 B2 ² SUPERSCRIPT TWO m ^ 3 ³ 263 179 B3 ³ SUPERSCRIPT THREE m ' ' ´ 264 180 B4 ´ ACUTE ACCENT m / u µ 265 181 B5 µ MICRO SIGN m p ! ¶ 266 182 B6 ¶ PILCROW SIGN m . . · 267 183 B7 · MIDDLE DOT m , , ¸ 270 184 B8 ¸ CEDILLA m ^ 1 ¹ 271 185 B9 ¹ SUPERSCRIPT ONE m _ o º 272 186 BA º MASCULINE ORDINAL INDICATOR m > > » 273 187 BB » RIGHT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK m 1 4 ¼ 274 188 BC ¼ VULGAR FRACTION ONE QUARTER m 1 2 ½ 275 189 BD ½ VULGAR FRACTION ONE HALF m 3 4 ¾ 276 190 BE ¾ VULGAR FRACTION THREE QUARTERS m ? ? ¿ 277 191 BF ¿ INVERTED QUESTION MARK m ` A À 300 192 C0 À LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH GRAVE m ' A Á 301 193 C1 Á LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH ACUTE m ^ A Â 302 194 C2 Â LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH CIRCUMFLEX m ~ A Ã 303 195 C3 Ã LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH TILDE m " A Ä 304 196 C4 Ä LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS m * A Å 305 197 C5 Å LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE m A E Æ 306 198 C6 Æ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER AE m , C Ç 307 199 C7 Ç LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA m ` E È 310 200 C8 È LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH GRAVE m ' E É 311 201 C9 É LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH ACUTE m ^ E Ê 312 202 CA Ê LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH CIRCUMFLEX m " E Ë 313 203 CB Ë LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH DIAERESIS m ` I Ì 314 204 CC Ì LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH GRAVE m ' I Í 315 205 CD Í LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH ACUTE m ^ I Î 316 206 CE Î LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH CIRCUMFLEX m " I Ï 317 207 CF Ï LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH DIAERESIS m - D Ð 320 208 D0 Ð LATIN CAPITAL LETTER ETH m ~ N Ñ 321 209 D1 Ñ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH TILDE m ` O Ò 322 210 D2 Ò LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH GRAVE m ' O Ó 323 211 D3 Ó LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH ACUTE m ^ O Ô 324 212 D4 Ô LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH CIRCUMFLEX m ~ O Õ 325 213 D5 Õ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH TILDE m " O Ö 326 214 D6 Ö LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS m x x × 327 215 D7 × MULTIPLICATION SIGN m / O Ø 330 216 D8 Ø LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH STROKE m ` U Ù 331 217 D9 Ù LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH GRAVE m ' U Ú 332 218 DA Ú LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH ACUTE m ^ U Û 333 219 DB Û LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH CIRCUMFLEX m " U Ü 334 220 DC Ü LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS m ' Y Ý 335 221 DD Ý LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y WITH ACUTE m T H þ 336 222 DE Þ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER THORN m s s ß 337 223 DF ß LATIN SMALL LETTER SHARP S m ` a à 340 224 E0 à LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE m ' a á 341 225 E1 á LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH ACUTE m ^ a â 342 226 E2 â LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH CIRCUMFLEX m ~ a ã 343 227 E3 ã LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH TILDE m " a ä 344 228 E4 ä LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS m * a å 345 229 E5 å LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE m a e æ 346 230 E6 æ LATIN SMALL LETTER AE m , c ç 347 231 E7 ç LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA m ` e è 350 232 E8 è LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH GRAVE m ' e é 351 233 E9 é LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE m ^ e ê 352 234 EA ê LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH CIRCUMFLEX m " e ë 353 235 EB ë LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH DIAERESIS m ` i ì 354 236 EC ì LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH GRAVE m ' i í 355 237 ED í LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH ACUTE m ^ i î 356 238 EE î LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH CIRCUMFLEX m " i ï 357 239 EF ï LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH DIAERESIS m - d ð 360 240 F0 ð LATIN SMALL LETTER ETH m ~ n ñ 361 241 F1 ñ LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH TILDE m ` o ò 362 242 F2 ò LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH GRAVE m ' o ó 363 243 F3 ó LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH ACUTE m ^ o ô 364 244 F4 ô LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH CIRCUMFLEX m ~ o õ 365 245 F5 õ LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH TILDE m " o ö 366 246 F6 ö LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS m - : ÷ 367 247 F7 ÷ DIVISION SIGN m / o ø 370 248 F8 ø LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH STROKE m ` u ù 371 249 F9 ù LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH GRAVE m ' u ú 372 250 FA ú LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH ACUTE m ^ u û 373 251 FB û LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH CIRCUMFLEX m " u ü 374 252 FC ü LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS m ' y ý 375 253 FD ý LATIN SMALL LETTER Y WITH ACUTE m t h þ 376 254 FE þ LATIN SMALL LETTER THORN m " y ÿ 377 255 FF ÿ LATIN SMALL LETTER Y WITH DIAERESISSee also: