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I wish to produce the underscore ("_") character without any significant slowness from an unused function key. I'm intrigued by this answer provided by username Danny last year. If a modification of the code they wrote is possible for my needs, I'd be grateful for anything you can offer (I don't know code myself). I am not interested in fee-based software i.e. Keyboard Maestro if there's a way to do this natively or through shareware. Thanks in advance!

Edit: I should add, I'm using an external 104-key keyboard, and F16 is the key I'd like to configure to trigger the underscore. Thanks!

Allan
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Ryan
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  • Shift Hyphen causes "undue slowness"? I can't see how pressing shift with one hand while pressing hyphen with the other is somehow slower than taking your hand off the keyboard altogether to reach to F16 – Allan Nov 05 '20 at 19:23
  • Hi Allan. I found the article you linked as well today. Unfortunately, I did not find it helpful. Goal: produce the underscore character through a single keyboard key (F16). What I should have said instead of "undue slowness" is that presume a Service, i.e. through Automator, would induce too much lag time. When F16 is pressed, I just want the character to appear with the same speed it otherwise would through Shift+hyphen. – Ryan Nov 05 '20 at 19:54
  • How did it not help? What did you do and what we're the results? That article tells you how and the linked tech note gives you the codes. – Allan Nov 05 '20 at 21:39
  • It did not help because as I detailed in my post, I do not know code ;). There was another reason though, too: I'd like to TRY to get this to work through Karabiner, if possible, because I can re-apply the workflow for the two other keys and if need be, reverse everything back to the way it previously was (for some unforeseen reason). – Ryan Nov 06 '20 at 00:17
  • It's not code, it's the native comnand as you requested. All you have to do is change the hex values. In fact you only change the last 2 digits of those values. The first is what the key is, the second is the new value. Hyphen is 2D and F16 is 6B. If you don't know how to issue commands, then a paid or 3rd party solution is your only option. – Allan Nov 06 '20 at 14:50
  • The open source option is Karabiner Elements. You have to understand, this question has been asked and answered many times before - it's not unique. You just have to enter the command to make the config on your computer. There's no graphical utility or preference pane built into macOS for this. – Allan Nov 06 '20 at 14:59
  • Allan, some of the terminology is new to me and/or was not searched properly preliminarily. I'm not a super user. I very much appreciate your helping me through this and tolerating my limited ability to articulate the end goal. Takeaways: indeed TN2450 is probably NOT the ideal option because this path simply remaps keys. What I need, is what Karabiner calls a Complex Modifier. What I can't seem to figure out, is how to write my own Complex Modifier to make use of F16, 17 and 18 above my number pad. Once I figure out where to enter the code in Karabiner, I should be all set. Cheers! – Ryan Nov 06 '20 at 15:50
  • I should add, I do know the keycodes for my desired function keys, and for the shift key and the hyphen (to make an underscore) by way of Karabiner's EventViewer mode. – Ryan Nov 06 '20 at 15:52
  • The trick is to try. If you royally hose this up, all you do is reboot to fix it. You can't break anything and if you do, we're here to get it fixed. The only things we really can't help with is physical damage for obvious reasons. – Allan Nov 06 '20 at 19:12

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Well, I have just used the text in keyboard preferences to put the "_" when I type "usc" but you can choose different characters, chose that as I don't need to use function, control, alt or command...

Solar Mike
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