Latched and Locked Modifiers
XKB allows a modifier to be locked or latched, other than being in its regular state. Normally, a modifier is active exactly when it is pressed, like the Shift. However, a modifier may also be locked, like the Caps Lock modifier. In particular, when a modifier is locked, it remains active until it is explicitly deactivated. An intermediate condition between regular and locked is the latched state: When a modifier is latched, it remains active, but only until the next non-modifier key is pressed.
XKB allows a client application to explicitly latch or lock a modifier. Moreover, an application can bind a key press or release to a modifier state change. This way, a modifier may automatically become latched or locked whenever a key is pressed or released.
Read more about this topic: X Keyboard Extension
Famous quotes containing the words latched and/or locked:
“The paper boy curses the dog through the latched screen door.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Nothing is more contagious than example, and no man does any exceeding good or exceeding ill but it spawns new deeds of the same kind. The good we imitate through emulation, the ill through the malignity of our nature, which shame keeps locked up, but example sets free.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)