Changing the keyboard language in CentOS 7

During the installation of your CentOS VPS, you are given the option to set a keyboard language. You may however want to change it later, for example for a specific user. In this article, we show you how this works.

Step 1

Connect to your VPS using SSH or the VPS console.

Step 2

In CentOS 7, you need to know which layouts / keymaps can be selected for changing the keyboard language. A complete overview can be found in the collapsible element below.

available keyboard layouts

ANSI-dvorak
al
al-plisi
amiga-de
amiga-us
applkey
at
at-mac
at-nodeadkeys
at-sundeadkeys
atari-de
atari-se
atari-uk-falcon
atari-us
az
azerty
ba
ba-alternatequotes
ba-unicode
ba-unicodeus
ba-us
backspace
bashkir
be
be-iso-alternate
be-latin1
be-nodeadkeys
be-oss
be-oss_latin9
be-oss_sundeadkeys
be-sundeadkeys
be-wang
bg-cp1251
bg-cp855
bg_bds-cp1251
bg_bds-utf8
bg_pho-cp1251
bg_pho-utf8
br
br-abnt
br-abnt2
br-dvorak
br-latin1-abnt2
br-latin1-us
br-nativo
br-nativo-epo
br-nativo-us
br-nodeadkeys
br-thinkpad
by
by-cp1251
by-latin
bywin-cp1251
ca
ca-eng
ca-fr-dvorak
ca-fr-legacy
ca-multi
ca-multix
cf
ch
ch-de_mac
ch-de_nodeadkeys
ch-de_sundeadkeys
ch-fr
ch-fr_mac
ch-fr_nodeadkeys
ch-fr_sundeadkeys
ch-legacy
cm
cm-azerty
cm-dvorak
cm-french
cm-mmuock
cm-qwerty
cn
cn-altgr-pinyin
croat
ctrl
cz
cz-bksl
cz-cp1250
cz-dvorak-ucw
cz-lat2
cz-lat2-prog
cz-qwerty
cz-qwerty_bksl
cz-rus
cz-us-qwertz
de
de-T3
de-deadacute
de-deadgraveacute
de-deadtilde
de-dsb
de-dsb_qwertz
de-dvorak
de-latin1
de-latin1-nodeadkeys
de-mac
de-mac_nodeadkeys
de-mobii
de-neo
de-nodeadkeys
de-qwerty
de-ro
de-ro_nodeadkeys
de-sundeadkeys
de-tr
de_CH-latin1
de_alt_UTF-8
defkeymap
defkeymap_V1.0
dk
dk-dvorak
dk-latin1
dk-mac
dk-mac_nodeadkeys
dk-nodeadkeys
dk-winkeys
dvorak
dvorak-ca-fr
dvorak-es
dvorak-fr
dvorak-l
dvorak-r
dvorak-ru
dvorak-sv-a1
dvorak-sv-a5
dvorak-uk
dz
ee
ee-dvorak
ee-nodeadkeys
ee-us
emacs
emacs2
en-latin9
epo
epo-legacy
es
es-ast
es-cat
es-cp850
es-deadtilde
es-dvorak
es-mac
es-nodeadkeys
es-olpc
es-sundeadkeys
es-winkeys
et
et-nodeadkeys
euro
euro1
euro2
fi
fi-classic
fi-das
fi-latin1
fi-latin9
fi-mac
fi-nodeadkeys
fi-old
fi-smi
fi-winkeys
fo
fo-nodeadkeys
fr
fr-azerty
fr-bepo
fr-bepo_latin9
fr-bre
fr-dvorak
fr-latin0
fr-latin1
fr-latin9
fr-latin9_nodeadkeys
fr-latin9_sundeadkeys
fr-mac
fr-nodeadkeys
fr-oci
fr-old
fr-oss
fr-oss_latin9
fr-oss_nodeadkeys
fr-oss_sundeadkeys
fr-pc
fr-sundeadkeys
fr_CH
fr_CH-latin1
gb
gb-colemak
gb-dvorak
gb-dvorakukp
gb-extd
gb-intl
gb-mac
gb-mac_intl
ge
ge-ergonomic
ge-mess
ge-ru
gh
gh-akan
gh-avn
gh-ewe
gh-fula
gh-ga
gh-generic
gh-gillbt
gh-hausa
gr
gr-pc
hr
hr-alternatequotes
hr-unicode
hr-unicodeus
hr-us
hu
hu-101_qwerty_comma_dead
hu-101_qwerty_comma_nodead
hu-101_qwerty_dot_dead
hu-101_qwerty_dot_nodead
hu-101_qwertz_comma_dead
hu-101_qwertz_comma_nodead
hu-101_qwertz_dot_dead
hu-101_qwertz_dot_nodead
hu-102_qwerty_comma_dead
hu-102_qwerty_comma_nodead
hu-102_qwerty_dot_dead
hu-102_qwerty_dot_nodead
hu-102_qwertz_comma_dead
hu-102_qwertz_comma_nodead
hu-102_qwertz_dot_dead
hu-102_qwertz_dot_nodead
hu-nodeadkeys
hu-qwerty
hu-standard
hu101
ie
ie-CloGaelach
ie-UnicodeExpert
ie-ogam_is434
il
il-heb
il-phonetic
in-eng
iq-ku
iq-ku_alt
iq-ku_ara
iq-ku_f
ir-ku
ir-ku_alt
ir-ku_ara
ir-ku_f
is
is-Sundeadkeys
is-dvorak
is-latin1
is-latin1-us
is-mac
is-mac_legacy
is-nodeadkeys
it
it-geo
it-ibm
it-intl
it-mac
it-nodeadkeys
it-scn
it-us
it-winkeys
it2
jp
jp-OADG109A
jp-dvorak
jp-kana86
jp106
kazakh
ke
ke-kik
keypad
kr
kr-kr104
ky_alt_sh-UTF-8
kyrgyz
la-latin1
latam
latam-deadtilde
latam-dvorak
latam-nodeadkeys
latam-sundeadkeys
lk-us
lt
lt-ibm
lt-lekp
lt-lekpa
lt-std
lt-us
lt.baltic
lt.l4
lv
lv-adapted
lv-apostrophe
lv-ergonomic
lv-fkey
lv-modern
lv-tilde
ma-french
mac-be
mac-de-latin1
mac-de-latin1-nodeadkeys
mac-de_CH
mac-dk-latin1
mac-dvorak
mac-es
mac-euro
mac-euro2
mac-fi-latin1
mac-fr
mac-fr_CH-latin1
mac-it
mac-pl
mac-pt-latin1
mac-se
mac-template
mac-uk
mac-us
md
md-gag
me
me-latinalternatequotes
me-latinunicode
me-latinunicodeyz
me-latinyz
mk
mk-cp1251
mk-utf
mk0
ml
ml-fr-oss
ml-us-intl
ml-us-mac
mm
mt
mt-us
ng
ng-hausa
ng-igbo
ng-yoruba
nl
nl-mac
nl-std
nl-sundeadkeys
nl2
no
no-colemak
no-dvorak
no-latin1
no-mac
no-mac_nodeadkeys
no-nodeadkeys
no-smi
no-smi_nodeadkeys
no-winkeys
pc110
ph
ph-capewell-dvorak
ph-capewell-qwerf2k6
ph-colemak
ph-dvorak
pl
pl-csb
pl-dvorak
pl-dvorak_altquotes
pl-dvorak_quotes
pl-dvp
pl-legacy
pl-qwertz
pl-szl
pl1
pl2
pl3
pl4
pt
pt-latin1
pt-latin9
pt-mac
pt-mac_nodeadkeys
pt-mac_sundeadkeys
pt-nativo
pt-nativo-epo
pt-nativo-us
pt-nodeadkeys
pt-olpc
pt-sundeadkeys
ro
ro-cedilla
ro-std
ro-std_cedilla
ro-winkeys
ro_std
rs-latin
rs-latinalternatequotes
rs-latinunicode
rs-latinunicodeyz
rs-latinyz
ru
ru-cp1251
ru-cv_latin
ru-ms
ru-yawerty
ru1
ru2
ru3
ru4
ru_win
ruwin_alt-CP1251
ruwin_alt-KOI8-R
ruwin_alt-UTF-8
ruwin_alt_sh-UTF-8
ruwin_cplk-CP1251
ruwin_cplk-KOI8-R
ruwin_cplk-UTF-8
ruwin_ct_sh-CP1251
ruwin_ct_sh-KOI8-R
ruwin_ct_sh-UTF-8
ruwin_ctrl-CP1251
ruwin_ctrl-KOI8-R
ruwin_ctrl-UTF-8
se
se-dvorak
se-fi-ir209
se-fi-lat6
se-ir209
se-lat6
se-latin1
se-mac
se-nodeadkeys
se-smi
se-svdvorak
se-us
se-us_dvorak
sg
sg-latin1
sg-latin1-lk450
si
si-alternatequotes
si-us
sk
sk-bksl
sk-prog-qwerty
sk-prog-qwertz
sk-qwerty
sk-qwerty_bksl
sk-qwertz
slovene
sr-cy
sun-pl
sun-pl-altgraph
sundvorak
sunkeymap
sunt4-es
sunt4-fi-latin1
sunt4-no-latin1
sunt5-cz-us
sunt5-de-latin1
sunt5-es
sunt5-fi-latin1
sunt5-fr-latin1
sunt5-ru
sunt5-uk
sunt5-us-cz
sunt6-uk
sv-latin1
sy-ku
sy-ku_alt
sy-ku_f
tj_alt-UTF8
tm
tm-alt
tr
tr-alt
tr-crh
tr-crh_alt
tr-crh_f
tr-f
tr-intl
tr-ku
tr-ku_alt
tr-ku_f
tr-sundeadkeys
tr_f-latin5
tr_q-latin5
tralt
trf
trf-fgGIod
trq
ttwin_alt-UTF-8
ttwin_cplk-UTF-8
ttwin_ct_sh-UTF-8
ttwin_ctrl-UTF-8
tw
tw-indigenous
tw-saisiyat
ua
ua-cp1251
ua-utf
ua-utf-ws
ua-ws
uk
unicode
us
us-acentos
us-alt-intl
us-altgr-intl
us-colemak
us-dvorak
us-dvorak-alt-intl
us-dvorak-classic
us-dvorak-intl
us-dvorak-l
us-dvorak-r
us-dvp
us-euro
us-hbs
us-intl
us-mac
us-olpc2
us-workman
us-workman-intl
uz-latin
wangbe
wangbe2
windowkeys

From command-line, you get a complete overview of available locales with the command:

localectl list-keymaps

Or, if you know the abbreviation of the language, you can search more specifically with the command:

localectl list-keymaps | grep us

Here, replace us with the abbreviation of the relevant language, e.g. nl, fr, de

Step 3

Then adjust the keyboard language with the command:

localectl set-keymap keymapname

Replace 'keymapname' with the abbreviation you chose in step 2. The change is automatically retained after a reboot.

This concludes this tutorial on how to change your keyboard language in CentOS 7.

Should you have any questions left regarding this article, do not hesitate to contact our support department. You can reach them via the ‘Contact Us’ button at the bottom of this page.