 The key bindings I use for my window managers are all over the place. So I've tried very hard over the last year or so to finally get them into some sort of order. And I've succeeded in a few window managers. So for example, in i3, I've taken all the key bindings out of the i3 config and put them in SXHKD. I've done the same thing for BSPWM, which uses SXHKD by default. And I've done the same thing for DWM to the point where I'm actually able to do so. DWM is a little bit weird. It has to have a few key bindings in the config file that have to stay there, otherwise it just won't compile. The one that I've not done a lot of work with is Qtile. And that's because I don't spend as much time in Qtile as I used to. So my history with Qtile is a little weird because they do updates and sometimes things break. That just was one of the things that kind of drove me away from it. A lot of times these things just have to do with the widgets in the bar or whatever. And when those things break, it just annoys me. Recently, though, I've been using Qtile again. And I don't know when they added this feature, but they've added a feature for key bindings that is just amazing. And it's going to be one of those things where I miss this feature when I go back to a different window manager. So today we're going to be talking about key cords. So if you don't know what a key cord is, chances are you've never used Emacs. And I am not an Emacs user. I've barely scratched the surface of actually using Emacs and I don't really understand it. I'm one of those people just don't get why I need to use it. I'm just, I'm a Vim user, like I'm perfectly fine with them. But in Emacs, basically the way their key bindings work is that you do one key binding and then you do follow that immediately with another key. So that's what a key cord is. So it's kind of like a cord on a piano, I guess. I've never actually played the piano, but you know, that's a thing. And basically what this allows you to do is have a whole bunch of different key bindings more so than what you'd be able to do if you just focused on the keys that you could modify with control, super and alt. Qtiles has brought this functionality to the window manager. And I'm not sure if there's another, I think Xmonad does this as well. But for, you know, I'm not, I haven't used Xmonad. So I don't know that for sure, but I know Qtile now does. And it, like I said, it is amazing. So let's go ahead and show you what key cords actually do. So this is my Qtile config. And this section right here is actually the part that we're going to be focusing on. And basically what this says is that when you press mod M and then follow with one of these keys, do this action. Very simple. And the reason why this is really cool is because it allows you to use these keys that might be modded to something else. So like, for example, I have mod E set to change the focus of the monitors. So technically, that key is taken up by a fairly major modifier key, but I'm able to repurpose it again with mod P and then E. And that allows me to open up a D manuscript. So basically what key cords enable is for you to have a whole bunch more key bindings than what you'd normally be able to do. Because also allows you to kind of group them. So like, for example, I have all these key bindings here. These are all for certain applications. So normally what you do is when you want to set a key binding for an application, you'd have to have one key binding after another. So you'd have like mod S or alt S for a certain application. You'd have, you know, mod D or mod F for another one. And over and over again, you have just a ton of lines and each of them would have its own modifier key. And each of those applications would take up that whole modifier key key set, right? So you couldn't use, say if you had mod T set to telegram or whatever, you couldn't use mod T for anything else. And oftentimes when you have something like mod T set up, you can set other modifier keys to the letter T, but it gets really messy, right? So you might accidentally hit alt T when, you know, maybe alt T is set for shutting out your shutting down your key to your window manager. I mean, I don't know why you do that, but I mean, it's possible. And that means if you have both mod T and alt T set to something similar and you accidentally press one, you know, you might accidentally shut down your system or whatever. With key cords, you can set one modifier key to mod M in this case. And then you can follow that up with another letter. And you don't have to worry about taking up a whole bunch of different mod set keys. But also it allows you to go through and just have that one key available to you for a whole bunch of separate, you know, applications or commands or whatever without having to go through and muddy your other key bindings that might be used for more important things like shutting down your window manager or, you know, whatever. So key bindings really is or key cords are really fantastic. So let me show you how this in action. So let's just say I wanted to run the DM comp script, which is a script that you can get from DT I've gone through and modified it a little bit. If I wanted to start that script, I do mod P and then press the letter E and I would get Rofi coming up and that would allow me to go through and edit a configuration file. So let me just check my DWM script and that's, you know, that brings up my DWM configuration file and that's how you do it. So if I wanted to do the DM search one, I do mod P again and then S and then Google and then the Linux right. And then I would just open up my browser and, you know, it's a separate workspace, but that's the way key cords work. And it's really, really awesome. And it's one of those features, like I said, it's one of those features, like I said, that is really going to be something that I miss when I go to a different window manager. So the question I have for myself is, is this enough to keep me on Qtile for a while? And I think it is. I do need to figure out how to go through and make it so Qtile can have more than nine workspaces because right now I have nine workspaces and I have something on every single one of them. I'm freaking out because I have no place for anything else. You know, so, you know, I should just close some windows, but that would be against the way I do things, whatever. So the short video, but key cords are really amazing and it kind of makes me want to go through and use Xmonet even more because like I said, I'm pretty sure Xmonet has this functionality as well. And along with the other things that Xmonet kind of does, it makes it even more attractive. Now, if only it wasn't in Haskell, which I can't seem to get my crazy brain around. So that's a project for another day. So let me know in the comments below if you use key cords for Qtile or any other window manager that has them. And let me know if this is something that interests you, maybe I'll do some more videos on it. So thank you for watching. Make sure you follow us on Twitter at the Linuxcast. You can follow us on Facebook at facebook.com slash Linuxcast. You can also support us on Patreon at patreon.com slash Linuxcast. I'd like to take a moment to thank our current patrons, Devon, Marcus, Maglind, Donnie's, Venn, Merrick, Camp and Mitchell. Thanks everybody for your support. Thank you for watching. I'll see you next time.