Remapping left sft + bspc to trigger del

[Eloquencere]

I'm quite new here and am very confused about the many different layers, aliases, and vars. I tried implementing it on my own, and it looks like this

(defsrc
  caps
  lsft rsft
)

(defalias
  escctrl (tap-hold 100 100 esc lctrl)
  lshft (layer-while-held lshift)
  rshft (layer-while-held rshift)
)

(deflayer base
  @escctrl
  @lshft @rshft
)

(deflayermap (lshift)
  bspc del
)
(deflayermap (rshift)
  lsft caps
)

but the issue is that now, my left shift key doesn't work as a modifier for any other key like 1 -> @ and n -> N, etc.
how can I define a behavior that maintains the existing functionality of the left shift

[gerhard-h]

You can use multi to keep the original functionality lshft (multi lsft (layer-while-held lshift)) , but be aware perssing backspace now does
Shift+Del
bspc (unshift del) might help in case of caps (release-key rsft) seams right.
at least for testing set process-unmapped-keys yes or add del, bspc,... to defsrc to avoid unexpected behaviour.

[Eloquencere]

I tried everything you suggested; apart from locking my backspace key and setting the caps lock implicitly; the edits made no change to improve the behavior.

[Eloquencere]

Is there no more straightforward way to tell kanata - shift + bspc = del and lshift + rshift = caps?

[gerhard-h]

(switch 
(lsft) (unshift del) break
() bspc break)

[Eloquencere]

Thanks for the reply, it seems like it could work. How would I insert it into my config?

[gerhard-h]

• add del and bspc to defsrc
• define alias for bspc and put it in layer base (with the switch statement)
• remove @lshft from layer base

[Eloquencere]

This is what I got from your points

(defsrc
  caps bspc del
  lsft rsft
)

(defalias
  escctrl (tap-hold 100 100 esc lctrl)
  back (switch 
        (lsft) (unshift del) break
        () bspc break)
  rshft (layer-while-held rshift)
)

(deflayer base
  @escctrl @back -
  - @rshft
)

(deflayermap (rshift)
  lsft caps
)

But it doesn't seem to work

[Eloquencere]

I got it to work, I just removed lsft from defsrc and layer base

[Eloquencere]

I have one question, what is the use of adding - unshift del and why not just del

[Eloquencere]

Thank you so much for your help!

[gerhard-h]

Look it works simulate

in case you don't spot the difference :) - its "transparent key" is underscore not dash

the "simulate input" button also shows what unshift does (line 3 and 7)

1 out:   ↓(press) LShift
2 t:              71ms
3 out: ↑(release) LShift
4 out:   ↓(press) Delete
5 t:              69ms
6 out: ↑(release) Delete
7 out:   ↓(press) LShift
8 t:              70ms
9 out: ↑(release) LShift

[Eloquencere]

Oh wow, I had no idea this website existed, would've saved me some time and a few headaches. Thank you @gerhard-h for all the help.