Best way to use Linux Biolinum Keyboard with fontspec?

Question

I am trying to typeset keyboard shortcuts in my document, e.g. CTRL+SHIFT+S. The Linux Libertine font family includes a nice keyboard font that I would like to use. What's the best way to use it with fontspec? I tried the following and while it works, my latex-foo isn't that great and I was wondering if there is a better way. I also tried to use \char"XXXX instead of using the unicode character directly, but that didn't work.

\newfontface{\keyboardfont}{Linux Biolinum Keyboard O}
\newcommand{\key}[1]{{\keyboardfont #1}}
\newcommand{\ctrl}{\key{}}
\newcommand{\shift}{\key{}}
\newcommand{\alt}{\key{}}
% etc.

This allows you to typeset "normal" keys by using the \key macro, but special keys all have to be set up individually. For example, you can type:

\ctrl+\shift+\key{S} 

which results in:

Is there a way to define a "smart" \key command that understands special keys? So that the above can be typed like this?

\key{ctrl}+\key{shift}+\key{S} 

A similar question that unfortunately doesn't provide an answer for fontspec: Keyboard Font for LaTeX

Answer 1

The following proposal is probably not the best solution. The package libertineotf offers a lot of keys accessible via commands \LKey<name> like \LKeyEnter and a command \LKey{<glyph name>}. This can be used to define a command that nearly does what you want (using etoolbox' \ifcsdef and \csuse):

\newcommand{\key}[1]{%
  \ifcsdef{LKey#1}
    {\csuse{LKey#1}}
    {\LKey{#1}}%
  }

The biggest drawback is that for some keys only the German commands exist (e.g. there is \LKeyStrg but no \LKeyCtrl) so we need to do some extra work:

\newcommand*\LKeyCtrl{\LKey{C_t_r_l}}
\newcommand*\LKeySpace{\LKey{uniE18C}}

% let German names to English ones:
\let\LKeyStrg\LKeyCtrl
\let\LKeyEntf\LKeyDel

% add Gnglish equivalents of combinations
\let\LKeyCtrlX\LKeyStrgX
\let\LKeyShiftCtrlX\LKeyShiftStrgX
\let\LKeyCtrlAltX\LKeyStrgAltX
\let\LKeyCtrlAltDel\LKeyReset

With these definitions you can use \key like this:

\key{Ctrl}+\key{Shift}+\key{S}
\key{Enter} \key{Alt} \key{F}{12}

A complete example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{libertineotf}
\usepackage{etoolbox}% for \ifcsdef, \csuse
% add not directly accessible macros:
\newcommand*\LKeyCtrl{\LKey{C_t_r_l}}
\newcommand*\LKeySpace{\LKey{uniE18C}}

% let German names to English ones:
\let\LKeyStrg\LKeyCtrl
\let\LKeyEntf\LKeyDel

% add Gnglish equivalents of combinations
\let\LKeyCtrlX\LKeyStrgX
\let\LKeyShiftCtrlX\LKeyShiftStrgX
\let\LKeyCtrlAltX\LKeyStrgAltX
\let\LKeyCtrlAltDel\LKeyReset

\newcommand{\key}[1]{%
  \ifcsdef{LKey#1}
    {\csuse{LKey#1}}
    {\LKey{#1}}%
  }

% for this example only:
\parindent=0pt

\begin{document}
\key{Ctrl}+\key{Shift}+\key{S} \\
\key{ShiftCtrlX}{S} \\
\key{CtrlAltX}{S}

\key{Enter} \key{Alt} \key{F}{12} \key{Esc} \key{Del} \key{Ins} \key{Back} \key{Tab} \\
\key{arrowleft} \key{comma} \key{Win} \key{Menu} \key{AltF}{8} \key{Reset}

\key{L}\key{i}\key{n}\key{u}\key{x}\key{Space}%
\key{B}\key{i}\key{o}\key{l}\key{i}\key{n}\key{u}\key{m}\key{Space}%
\key{K}\key{e}\key{y}\key{b}\key{o}\key{a}\key{r}\key{d}\key{Space}\key{O}
\end{document}