In ncmpcpp's "keys" config file, it says "keys can be defined with a character or a decimal value", and the defaults of some of these decimal values seem to be listed(and available to be altered) in the same file, like so:

#key_page_up = 339
#key_page_down = 338
#key_home = 262
#key_end = 360
#key_space = 32
#key_enter = 10
#key_delete = 330

At least one key though (backspace), doesn't seem to be expressly defined, but it is still bound using a decimal value (it's either 263 or 127, going by ncmpcpp's Help page and the "key_go_to_parent_dir" bind) in the keys file.

Where do these values come from? They don't correspond to anything reported in xev. Is there a list of these values somewhere I can consult to find out the decimal value for the Pause/Break key? Or is there a way I can define a value for the Pause/Break key myself?

I know I should just resign myself to using the "p" key, but I use my LIRC remote more often than not and when I use the keyboard I keep forgetting I've added the lowercase p as a secondary bind so I don't have to press Shift+P, and then I go and open up the keys file and go "oh yeah I did that already 3 months ago" and then I go off on a configuration tangent trying to figure out where these decimal values come from so I can just set the damn Pause key to the pause function but I never get any closer to a solution so here I am hoping someone else knows the answer.

Hi lurko,

as far as I know the xmodmap utility is used to modify keybindings. You should read the manpage for xmodmap and find out, if there's the information you're looking for.

Another point is: ncurses (where ncmpcpp belongs to) isn't a librarie for the X-window-system but runs in the terminal. So I think that tools like xmodmap or xev don't have anything to do with this library. You should check the settings for your terminal, these maybe different if your running X-window or not.

Markus

Thanks for the reply markush. At first I just dismissed using xbindkeys out of hand because I figured it would mean binding the pause key to another key on my keyboard, and because what I thought I really wanted was to have the pause key only do something when I was on the virtual desktop I have reserved for ncmpcpp.

Your point about xev sent me on a new tangent of trying to discover key values though, and quite quickly I thought I'd come across the answer, which was that the pause key had a value of "119" (which can been seen with the "dumpkeys" command). Unfortunately sticking that in ncmpcpp's keys config file still didn't make the Pause/Break do anything in ncmpcpp. Then I spent some time trying to get what "showkey -s" showed for the pause key into the "setkeycodes" command, but to no avail probably due to the fact that Pause/Break is a special key and throws up a different type of scancode than every other key. I supose that's why it's apparently not bindable in ncmpcpp in the first place.

However! In trying to figure out how to use setkeycodes for the pause key, I came across a page describing how xbindkeys will show you the codes it uses for special keys, using the "xbindkeys -k" command, and that particular example was using the "mpc toggle" command which also happens to be the exact command I bind to my LIRC remote for doing pause/unpause in ncmpcpp/mpd. And then it finally dawned on me that I should just use xbindkeys to bind the Pause/Break key to that mpc command instead of trying to bother with ncmpcpp's binds at all. And I suppose this way is even a little bit better because I can now toggle ncmpcpp's pause state without even having ncmpcpp's window/terminal/desktop focused, which when I think about is probably what I should have been trying to achieve in the first place anyway. D'oh!

Thanks again markush, now I just wait and see if I don't soon come across some obscure function I can no longer make use of when my Pause is bound this way....