Instructions for fCC RDB learners to use US keyboard layout before starting.

keyboard.md

✅ Keyboard & Language Setup Guide for International Users

Before starting the freeCodeCamp Learn Bash course in GitHub Codespaces

To complete the RDB curriculum successfully, you must be able to type certain characters exactly as Bash and PostgreSQL expect them.
Because these characters vary across international keyboards, all learners should temporarily switch to the US keyboard layout for the duration of the course.

This ensures:

• Commands behave consistently
• Symbols appear where the curriculum expects
• You avoid errors caused by “dead keys” or remapped characters
• You can follow video and written instructions without confusion

---

🔧 1. Set your keyboard layout to English (US) on your local machine

GitHub Codespaces uses your local keyboard layout, not a separate one inside the browser.
So you must change the layout on your computer itself.

---

Windows

1. Open Settings → Time & Language → Language & Region
2. Under Preferred languages, click Add a language if “English (United States)” is not listed
3. Select English (United States)
4. Under Keyboards, choose US
5. Remove other layouts or move US to the top to avoid accidental switching

---

macOS

1. Open System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources
2. Click + and add English → U.S.
3. Remove other layouts or uncheck “Automatically switch to a document’s input source”
4. Make sure U.S. is the active layout

---

Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, etc.)

GUI method

1. Open Settings → Keyboard
2. Add English (US)
3. Move it to the top of the list
4. Remove other layouts if possible

Command‑line method (X11)

Check your current layout:

setxkbmap -query

Switch to US:

setxkbmap us

---

🔍 2. Verify that the US layout is active

Open any text box and type the following characters:

- _ / \ | ' " : ; $ ( ) [ ] { }

If all of them appear exactly as shown, your layout is correct.

If any character:

• doesn’t appear
• appears as an accented letter
• requires unusual key combinations

…your layout is not set to US.

---

🧪 3. Test inside GitHub Codespaces

Open your Codespace terminal and type:

- _ / \ | ' " : ;

If the characters match exactly, you’re ready to start the course.

If not, your local machine is still using a non‑US layout.

---

⚠️ Why US layout is required

Many international layouts (AZERTY, QWERTZ, Latin American, etc.) change:

• the location of /, \, |, ', "
• how to type $, {}, [], ()
• whether ' and " are “dead keys”
• how Bash interprets commands
• how PostgreSQL interprets backslash commands like \dt or \c

Using English (US) avoids all of these problems and ensures your commands match the course instructions exactly.

---

🎯 Final checklist (must be true before starting)

✔ My computer is set to English (US) keyboard layout

✔ I can type all Bash symbols correctly

✔ No dead keys interfere with quotes

✔ Codespaces terminal shows the correct characters

✔ I removed or disabled other layouts to avoid accidental switching