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QMK Combos

Managing dictionaries

Now for the fun part! Managing (and most likely creating) dictionaries. There are two main types of dictionaries: Combo dictionaries (combos.def) and Chording dictionaries (dicts.def)

If you’re here off the begining, there’s going to be more creating dictionries than just importing them. Be sure to PR your dictionaries against qmk-combos/combos any PRs are appreciated!

combos.def

Let’s start with an example

#include "combos/germ-vim-helpers.def"// Important for work!
#include "combos/germ-mouse-keys.def"
//#include "mycombos.def"

Seems pretty straight forward eh? This is just C code that gets embedded. So you can do // or /* */ style comments. The dictionaries will be templated in. To add new ones just add a #include statement, to remove them either delete the line or prefix it with //

dicts.def

Example:

#include "dicts/aset/en-keymap.def"
#include "dicts/aset/cmd-keymap.def"
#include "dicts/aset/num-keymap.def"
#include "dicts/aset/layer-keymap.def"
#include "user.def"

The format is exactly the same as combos.def, but should only be loaded with chorded dictionaries In this example if we wanted to change the ASETNIOP language we would just change the first include to something like de-keymap.def einfach!

Prefixes

Some dictionaries support a special variable PREFIX, this can be optionally defined before including a .def. The prefix will be added to any included definitions. Here’s an example for how to use these:

NOTE: You must include the trailing ‘|’ or ‘,’ and remember to #undef it after

combos.def:

#define PREFIX KC_Z, 
#include "combos/germ-mouse-keys.def"
#undefPREFIX

dicts.def:

#define PREFIX GZ |
#include "combos/germ-mouse-keys.def"
#undefPREFIX

Best Practices

  • Keep defs small and constrained to a context (Mouse keys, Text shorthands, Firefox-Shortcuts, etc…)
  • Remember .defs can include other .defs, break it up!
  • Use PREFIX where it makes sense! If all of your movements are using KC_S, change it to prefix!
  • A blank prefix can be done with “#define PREFIX “ and omitting the last argument
  • Submit them back (we don’t bite!)

Using PREFIX in a .def

Because a user may override this, provide a blank or sensible default. You can do this as such. In addition the | or , is ommitted from the definition. Combos:

#ifndef PREFIX
#define PREFIX 
#endif 

COMB(str10, KC_ESC, PREFIX KC_W, KC_E)
...

Chords:

#ifndef PREFIX
#define PREFIX GS | 
#endif 

SUBS(PREFIX GA,str10, "How to use a prefix!")
...