Ctrl+\ triggers Ctrl+equal on Norwegian keyboard layout

[Torsteinws]

Issue Description

On Norwegian keyboard layout, typing Ctrl+\ will trigger the action for Ctrl+equal.

Interestingly, explicitly setting a keybinding for Ctrl+\ will still work and take precedence over Ctrl+equal. However, setting keybind = ctrl+\=unbind will not prevent the Ctrl+equal action from being triggered when typing Ctrl+\.

This issue started happening after updating from v1.1 to v1.2.

I suspect the issue is related to the fact that the \ key on the Norwegian layout is the same physical key as the = key on the English US layout. See comparison between the layouts here.

I would guess this bug affects other keyboard layouts as well.

Expected Behavior

Typing Ctrl+\ should only trigger the action for Ctrl+\

Actual Behavior

Typing Ctrl+\ triggers the action for Ctrl+equal

Reproduction Steps

1. Switch to Norwegian keyboard layout in the OS settings.
2. Go to ghostty and type Ctrl+\. You should then see the action for Ctrl+equal be triggered (which by default is increase font size).

Ghostty Logs

/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gvfs/libgvfscommon.so: undefined symbol: g_variant_builder_init_static
Failed to load module: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gio/modules/libgvfsdbus.so
info: ghostty version=1.2.0
info: ghostty build optimize=ReleaseFast
info: runtime=apprt.Runtime.gtk
info: font_backend=font.main.Backend.fontconfig_freetype
info: dependency harfbuzz=11.0.0
info: dependency fontconfig=21402
info: renderer=renderer.generic.Renderer(renderer.OpenGL)
info: libxev default backend=io_uring
info(os_locale): setlocale from env result=C.UTF-8
info(gtk): GTK version build=4.14.5 runtime=4.14.5
info(gtk): libadwaita version build=1.5.0 runtime=1.5.0
info: reading configuration file path=/home/myuser/.config/ghostty/config
info(config): default shell src=passwd value=/usr/bin/zsh
info(config): default working directory src=passwd value=/home/myuser
warning(gtk_ghostty_application): setting GDK_DEBUG=gl-disable-gles,gl-no-fractional,vulkan-disable
warning(gtk_ghostty_application): setting GDK_DISABLE=color-mgmt

(process:21491): Gtk-WARNING **: 16:33:26.935: Unknown key gtk-modules in /home/myuser/.config/gtk-4.0/settings.ini
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gvfs/libgvfscommon.so: undefined symbol: g_variant_builder_init_static
Failed to load module: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gio/modules/libgvfsdbus.so

(process:21491): Adwaita-WARNING **: 16:33:27.235: Using GtkSettings:gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme with libadwaita is unsupported. Please use AdwStyleManager:color-scheme instead.

Ghostty Version

/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gvfs/libgvfscommon.so: undefined symbol: g_variant_builder_init_static
Failed to load module: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gio/modules/libgvfsdbus.so
Ghostty 1.2.0

Version
  - version: 1.2.0
  - channel: stable
Build Config
  - Zig version   : 0.14.0
  - build mode    : builtin.OptimizeMode.ReleaseFast
  - app runtime   : apprt.Runtime.gtk
  - font engine   : font.main.Backend.fontconfig_freetype
  - renderer      : renderer.generic.Renderer(renderer.OpenGL)
  - libxev        : io_uring
  - kernel version: 6.14.0-32-generic
  - desktop env   : other
  - GTK version   :
    build         : 4.14.5
    runtime       : 4.14.5
  - libadwaita    : enabled
    build         : 1.5.0
    runtime       : 1.5.0
  - libX11        : enabled
  - libwayland    : enabled

OS Version Information

Kubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin)

(Linux only) Display Server

Wayland

(Linux only) Desktop Environment/Window Manager

KDE Plasma 6.4.5

Minimal Ghostty Configuration

# No config required to reproduce

Additional Relevant Configuration

No response

I acknowledge that:

• I have reviewed the FAQ and confirm that my issue is NOT among them.
• I have searched the Ghostty repository (both open and closed Discussions and Issues) and confirm this is not a duplicate of an existing issue or discussion.
• I have checked the "Preview" tab on all text fields to ensure that everything looks right, and have wrapped all configuration and code in code blocks with a group of three backticks (```) on separate lines.

[rhodes-b]

#8910

take a look at this, depending on how the OS is doing the remapping its not going to work

[Torsteinws]

As far as I can tell, none of the other issues apply to my case. I don't have any fancy keyboard configurations or remappings on my system. All I have done is set my keyboard layout to be Norwegian in the KDE Plasma system settings.

I did find a ~/.XCompose file though, but removing it and rebooting didn't do anything.

I'll add that this is not a critical issue for me personally, just wanted to document it. 😊

[Torsteinws]

I just realized I could check the ghostty keyboard inspector.

When I type \, the terminal will as expected output \, but the keyboard inspector outputs:

Press: equal
Release: equal

Consequently, typing Ctrl+\ gives the following output in the keyboard inspector:

Press: Ctrl+control_left
Press: Ctrl+equal
Release: Ctrl+equal
Release: control_left

[pluiedev]

This is intentional. equal means the physical Equal key, while the logical = key is denoted by =. Some people have asked for the keybinds to work with physical keys as well, since they frequently switch between keyboard layouts. If you want to stop Ctrl+\ from triggering this, then do:

keybind = ctrl+equal = unbind
# Optionally also bind Ctrl+(logical =)
keybind = ctrl+= = increase_font_size:1

[Torsteinws]

I see, that makes sense to me now. Thank you for clarifying!

As a side note, I feel that this is not intuitive for a new user with a non-English keyboard layout to understand. I'll explain why I think so, and how I think it can be improved:

It is very natural for a new user to run ghostty +list-keybindings to familiarize themselves with the default keybindings. Reading that list, it is not obvious that equal means the physical key and not the logical key. Frankly I'd expect all the keybindings to map to the logical key unless otherwise is specified. That is after all the default behavior in most software. Furthermore, when you use a keyboard layout that matches your native language, you normally don't even think about how the logical keys differ from the physical keys.

It also doesn't help that = is used as a delimiter in the config file. It is very intuitive to think that ctrl+equal is used instead of ctrl+= to avoid conflict with the delimiter.

I think this friction can be fixed by somehow annotating physical keybindings when running ghostty +list-keybindings. Physical keybindings could for example be marked with a color coding, an asterisk, or an extra column that translates the physical binding to logical. Optionally, this annotation could be removed when standard English layout is detected (to avoid clutter for those users).

This is not by any means a critical issue. I am just throwing this out there to represent the users with non-English keyboard layouts 😊