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Revision 1.38 by root, Tue Jan 31 01:42:21 2006 UTC vs.
Revision 1.68 by root, Sun Oct 27 16:20:55 2013 UTC

1	FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS	1	RXVT-UNICODE/URXVT FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
2	The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?	2	Meta, Features & Commandline Issues
3	If you want to select e.g. alphanumeric words, you can use the following	3	My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?
4	setting:	4	Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: "irc.freenode.net", channel
		5	"#rxvt-unicode" has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be
		6	interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :).
5		7
6	URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+)	8	I use Gentoo, and I have a problem...
		9	There are three big problems with Gentoo Linux: first of all, most if
		10	not all Gentoo systems are completely broken (missing or mismatched
		11	header files, broken compiler etc. are just the tip of the iceberg);
		12	secondly, the Gentoo maintainer thinks it is a good idea to add broken
		13	patches to the code; and lastly, it should be called Gentoo GNU/Linux.
7		14
8	If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended more and	15	For these reasons, it is impossible to support rxvt-unicode on Gentoo.
9	more.	16	Problems appearing on Gentoo systems will usually simply be ignored
		17	unless they can be reproduced on non-Gentoo systems.
10		18
11	To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this	19	Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
12	pattern:	20	Beginning with version 7.3, there is a perl extension that implements a
		21	simple tabbed terminal. It is installed by default, so any of these
		22	should give you tabs:
13		23
14	URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\\\\]^`{|})]+)	24	urxvt -pe tabbed
15		25
16	Please also note that the *LeftClick Shift-LeftClik* combination also
17	selects words like the old code.
18
19	I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?
20	You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the
21	perl-ext-common resource to the empty string, which also keeps
22	rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
23
24	If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to
25	identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section
26	PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS in the rxvtperl(3) manpage. For example, to
27	disable the selection-popup and option-popup, specify this
28	perl-ext-common resource:
29
30	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup
31
32	This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup
33	extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example,
34	scrollback search mode is triggered by M-s. You can move it to any other
35	combination either by setting the searchable-scrollback resource:
36
37	URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s
38
39	The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off?
40	See next entry.
41
42	During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?
43	These are caused by the "readline" perl extension. Under normal
44	circumstances, it will move your cursor around when you click into the
45	line that contains it. It tries hard not to do this at the wrong moment,
46	but when running a program that doesn't parse cursor movements or in
47	some cases during rlogin sessions, it fails to detect this properly.
48
49	You can permamently switch this feature off by disabling the "readline"
50	extension:
51
52	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline	26	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,tabbed
53		27
54	Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?	28	It will also work fine with tabbing functionality of many window
55	Well, why, indeed? It does, in a way very similar to other X	29	managers or similar tabbing programs, and its embedding-features allow
56	applications. Most importantly, this means that if you or your OS loads	30	it to be embedded into other programs, as witnessed by doc/rxvt-tabbed
57	resources into the X display (the right way to do it), rxvt-unicode will	31	or the upcoming "Gtk2::URxvt" perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt
58	ignore any resource files in your home directory. It will only read	32	(murxvt) terminal as an example embedding application.
59	$HOME/.Xdefaults when no resources are attached to the display.
60		33
61	If you have or use an $HOME/.Xresources file, chances are that resources	34	How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
62	are loaded into your X-server. In this case, you have to re-login after	35	The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape
63	every change (or run xrdb -merge $HOME/.Xresources).	36	sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number. When
		37	using the urxvtc client, the version displayed is that of the daemon.
64		38
65	Also consider the form resources have to use:	39	Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
		40	Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for something
		41	you don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings
		42	that you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by
		43	design, when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be
		44	loaded accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your
		45	characters.
66		46
67	URxvt.resource: value	47	Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
		48	scrollback buffers: Without "--enable-unicode3", rxvt-unicode will use 6
		49	bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to almost a
		50	kilobyte per line. A scrollback buffer of 10000 lines will then (if
		51	full) use 10 Megabytes of memory. With "--enable-unicode3" it gets
		52	worse, as rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
68		53
69	If you want to use another form (there are lots of different ways of	54	How can I start urxvtd in a race-free way?
70	specifying resources), make sure you understand wether and why it works.	55	Try "urxvtd -f -o", which tells urxvtd to open the display, create the
71	If unsure, use the form above.	56	listening socket and then fork.
72		57
73	I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?	58	How can I start urxvtd automatically when I run urxvtc?
74	First of all, transparency isn't officially supported in rxvt-unicode,	59	If you want to start urxvtd automatically whenever you run urxvtc and
75	so you are mostly on your own. Do not bug the author about it (but you	60	the daemon isn't running yet, use this script:
76	may bug everybody else). Also, if you can't get it working consider it a
77	rite of passage: ... and you failed.
78		61
79	Here are four ways to get transparency. Do read the manpage and option	62	#!/bin/sh
80	descriptions for the programs mentioned and rxvt-unicode. Really, do it!	63	urxvtc "$@"
		64	if [ $? -eq 2 ]; then
		65	urxvtd -q -o -f
		66	urxvtc "$@"
		67	fi
81		68
82	1. Use inheritPixmap:	69	This tries to create a new terminal, and if fails with exit status 2,
		70	meaning it couldn't connect to the daemon, it will start the daemon and
		71	re-run the command. Subsequent invocations of the script will re-use the
		72	existing daemon.
83		73
84	Esetroot wallpaper.jpg	74	How do I distinguish whether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular
85	rxvt -ip -tint red -sh 40	75	xterm? I need this to decide about setting colours etc.
		76	The original rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable
		77	"COLORTERM", so you can check and see if that is set. Note that several
		78	programs, JED, slrn, Midnight Commander automatically check this
		79	variable to decide whether or not to use colour.
86		80
87	That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack transparency and tinting	81	How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?
88	support, or you are unable to read.	82	If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled
		83	insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script
		84	snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode
		85	wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in these snippets)
		86	then the COLORTERM variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from
		87	a regular xterm.
89		88
90	2. Use a simple pixmap and emulate pseudo-transparency. This enables you	89	Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script
91	to use effects other than tinting and shading: Just shade/tint/whatever	90	snippets:
92	your picture with gimp:
93		91
94	convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.xpm	92	# Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:
95	rxvt -pixmap background.xpm -pe automove-background	93	[ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know
		94	if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
		95	stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
		96	printf "\eZ"
		97	read term_id
		98	stty icanon echo
		99	if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
		100	printf '\e[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
		101	read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
		102	fi
		103	fi
96		104
97	That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack XPM and Perl support, or	105	How do I compile the manual pages on my own?
98	you are unable to read.	106	You need to have a recent version of perl installed as /usr/bin/perl,
		107	one that comes with pod2man, pod2text and pod2xhtml (from Pod::Xhtml).
		108	Then go to the doc subdirectory and enter "make alldoc".
99		109
100	3. Use an ARGB visual:
101
102	rxvt -depth 32 -fg grey90 -bg rgba:0000/0000/4444/cccc
103
104	This requires XFT support, and the support of your X-server. If that
105	doesn't work for you, blame Xorg and Keith Packard. ARGB visuals aren't
106	there yet, no matter what they claim. Rxvt-Unicode contains the
107	neccessary bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work,
108	but that doesn't mean that your WM has the required kludges in place.
109
110	4. Use xcompmgr and let it do the job:
111
112	xprop -frame -f _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 32c \
113	-set _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 0xc0000000
114
115	Then click on a window you want to make transparent. Replace 0xc0000000
116	by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and
117	your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces.
118
119	Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?	110	Isn't rxvt-unicode supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?
120	I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra	111	I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra
121	bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see	112	bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see
122	that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always	113	that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always
123	being compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) after	114	being compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) after
124	startup. Even with "--disable-everything", this comparison is a bit	115	startup. Even with "--disable-everything", this comparison is a bit
…		…
127		118
128	text data bss drs rss filename	119	text data bss drs rss filename
129	98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything	120	98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything
130	188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything	121	188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything
131		122
132	When you "--enable-everything" (which _is_ unfair, as this involves xft	123	When you "--enable-everything" (which *is* unfair, as this involves xft
133	and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my	124	and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my
134	libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so.	125	libc), the two diverge, but not unreasonably so.
135		126
136	text data bss drs rss filename	127	text data bss drs rss filename
137	163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything	128	163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything
138	1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything	129	1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything
139		130
…		…
155	gnome-terminal (21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole	146	gnome-terminal (21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole
156	(22200k + extra 43180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half	147	(22200k + extra 43180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half
157	a minute of startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits	148	a minute of startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits
158	out), it fares extremely well *g*.	149	out), it fares extremely well *g*.
159		150
160	Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?	151	Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?
161	Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I	152	Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I
162	had to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a	153	had to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a
163	fraction of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put	154	fraction of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put
164	even shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++.	155	even shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++.
165		156
…		…
167	the case of rxvt-unicode this hardly matters, as its portability limits	158	the case of rxvt-unicode this hardly matters, as its portability limits
168	are defined by things like X11, pseudo terminals, locale support and	159	are defined by things like X11, pseudo terminals, locale support and
169	unix domain sockets, which are all less portable than C++ itself.	160	unix domain sockets, which are all less portable than C++ itself.
170		161
171	Regarding the bloat, see the above question: It's easy to write programs	162	Regarding the bloat, see the above question: It's easy to write programs
172	in C that use gobs of memory, an certainly possible to write programs in	163	in C that use gobs of memory, and certainly possible to write programs
173	C++ that don't. C++ also often comes with large libraries, but this is	164	in C++ that don't. C++ also often comes with large libraries, but this
174	not necessarily the case with GCC. Here is what rxvt links against on my	165	is not necessarily the case with GCC. Here is what rxvt links against on
175	system with a minimal config:	166	my system with a minimal config:
176		167
177	libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)	168	libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
178	libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaadde000)	169	libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaadde000)
179	libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab01d000)	170	libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab01d000)
180	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)	171	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
181		172
182	And here is rxvt-unicode:	173	And here is rxvt-unicode:
183		174
184	libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)	175	libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
185	libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000)	176	libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000)
186	libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000)	177	libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000)
187	libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000)	178	libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000)
188	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)	179	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
189		180
190	No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically),	181	No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically),
191	except maybe libX11 :)	182	except maybe libX11 :)
192		183
193	Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?	184	Rendering, Font & Look and Feel Issues
194	Beginning with version 7.3, there is a perl extension that implements a	185	I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?
195	simple tabbed terminal. It is installed by default, so any of these	186	First of all, transparency isn't officially supported in rxvt-unicode,
196	should give you tabs:	187	so you are mostly on your own. Do not bug the author about it (but you
		188	may bug everybody else). Also, if you can't get it working consider it a
		189	rite of passage: ... and you failed.
197		190
198	rxvt -pe tabbed	191	Here are four ways to get transparency. Do read the manpage and option
		192	descriptions for the programs mentioned and rxvt-unicode. Really, do it!
199		193
200	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,tabbed	194	1. Use transparent mode:
201		195
202	It will also work fine with tabbing functionality of many window	196	Esetroot wallpaper.jpg
203	managers or similar tabbing programs, and its embedding-features allow	197	urxvt -tr -tint red -sh 40
204	it to be embedded into other programs, as witnessed by doc/rxvt-tabbed
205	or the upcoming "Gtk2::URxvt" perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt
206	(murxvt) terminal as an example embedding application.
207		198
208	How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?	199	That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack transparency and tinting
209	The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape	200	support, or you are unable to read. This method requires that the
210	sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number. When	201	background-setting program sets the _XROOTPMAP_ID or ESETROOT_PMAP_ID
211	using the rxvtc client, the version displayed is that of the daemon.	202	property. Compatible programs are Esetroot, hsetroot and feh.
212		203
213	I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...	204	2. Use a simple pixmap and emulate pseudo-transparency. This enables you
214	The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large	205	to use effects other than tinting and shading: Just shade/tint/whatever
215	patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode (but	206	your picture with gimp or any other tool:
216	unfortunately this notice has been removed). Before reporting a bug to
217	the original rxvt-unicode author please download and install the genuine
218	version (<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>) and try to reproduce
219	the problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific
220	to Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the Debian
221	Bug Tracking System (use "reportbug" to report the bug).
222		207
223	For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and	208	convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.jpg
224	probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's also a	209	urxvt -pixmap "background.jpg;:root"
225	bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for other users
226	that might encounter the same issue.
227		210
228	I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation?	211	That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack GDK-PixBuf support, or you
229	You should build one binary with the default options. configure now	212	are unable to read.
230	enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
231	runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling
232	them, except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter
233	should be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely
234	more in the future) depends on it.
235		213
236	You should not overwrite the "perl-ext-common" snd "perl-ext" resources	214	3. Use an ARGB visual:
237	system-wide (except maybe with "defaults"). This will result in useful
238	behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty
239	"perl-ext-common" resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the
240	perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it.
241		215
242	If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal one	216	urxvt -depth 32 -fg grey90 -bg rgba:0000/0000/4444/cccc
243	with "--disable-everything" (very useful) and a maximal one with
244	"--enable-everything" (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of
245	encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used).
246		217
247	I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe?	218	This requires XFT support, and the support of your X-server. If that
248	It should be, starting with release 7.1. You are encouraged to properly	219	doesn't work for you, blame Xorg and Keith Packard. ARGB visuals aren't
249	install urxvt with privileges necessary for your OS now.	220	there yet, no matter what they claim. Rxvt-Unicode contains the
		221	necessary bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work, but
		222	that doesn't mean that your WM has the required kludges in place.
250		223
251	When rxvt-unicode detects that it runs setuid or setgid, it will fork	224	4. Use xcompmgr and let it do the job:
252	into a helper process for privileged operations (pty handling on some
253	systems, utmp/wtmp/lastlog handling on others) and drop privileges
254	immediately. This is much safer than most other terminals that keep
255	privileges while running (but is more relevant to urxvt, as it contains
256	things as perl interpreters, which might be "helpful" to attackers).
257		225
258	This forking is done as the very first within main(), which is very	226	xprop -frame -f _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 32c \
259	early and reduces possible bugs to initialisation code run before	227	-set _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 0xc0000000
260	main(), or things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should
261	result in very little risk.
262		228
263	When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?	229	Then click on a window you want to make transparent. Replace 0xc0000000
264	The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available	230	by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and
265	as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often	231	your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces.
266	arises).
267		232
268	The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this
269	can be done like this (with ncurses' infocmp):
270
271	REMOTE=remotesystem.domain
272	infocmp rxvt-unicode | ssh $REMOTE "cat >/tmp/ti && tic /tmp/ti"
273
274	... or by installing rxvt-unicode normally on the remote system,
275
276	If you cannot or do not want to do this, then you can simply set
277	"TERM=rxvt" or even "TERM=xterm", and live with the small number of
278	problems arising, which includes wrong keymapping, less and different
279	colours and some refresh errors in fullscreen applications. It's a nice
280	quick-and-dirty workaround for rare cases, though.
281
282	If you always want to do this (and are fine with the consequences) you
283	can either recompile rxvt-unicode with the desired TERM value or use a
284	resource to set it:
285
286	URxvt.termName: rxvt
287
288	If you don't plan to use rxvt (quite common...) you could also replace
289	the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one.
290
291	"tic" outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
292	Most likely it's the empty definition for "enacs=". Just replace it by
293	"enacs=\E[0@" and try again.
294
295	"bash"'s readline does not work correctly under rxvt.
296	See next entry.
297
298	I need a termcap file entry.
299	One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating
300	systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap
301	library (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry
302	for "rxvt-unicode".
303
304	You could use rxvt's termcap entry with resonable results in many cases.
305	You can also create a termcap entry by using terminfo's infocmp program
306	like this:
307
308	infocmp -C rxvt-unicode
309
310	Or you could use this termcap entry, generated by the command above:
311
312	rxvt-unicode|rxvt-unicode terminal (X Window System):\
313	:am:bw:eo:km:mi:ms:xn:xo:\
314	:co#80:it#8:li#24:lm#0:\
315	:AL=\E[%dL:DC=\E[%dP:DL=\E[%dM:DO=\E[%dB:IC=\E[%d@:\
316	:K1=\EOw:K2=\EOu:K3=\EOy:K4=\EOq:K5=\EOs:LE=\E[%dD:\
317	:RI=\E[%dC:SF=\E[%dS:SR=\E[%dT:UP=\E[%dA:ae=\E(B:al=\E[L:\
318	:as=\E(0:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[2J:\
319	:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:ct=\E[3g:dc=\E[P:\
320	:dl=\E[M:do=^J:ec=\E[%dX:ei=\E[4l:ho=\E[H:\
321	:i1=\E[?47l\E=\E[?1l:ic=\E[@:im=\E[4h:\
322	:is=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l:\
323	:k1=\E[11~:k2=\E[12~:k3=\E[13~:k4=\E[14~:k5=\E[15~:\
324	:k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:kD=\E[3~:\
325	:kI=\E[2~:kN=\E[6~:kP=\E[5~:kb=\177:kd=\EOB:ke=\E[?1l\E>:\
326	:kh=\E[7~:kl=\EOD:kr=\EOC:ks=\E[?1h\E=:ku=\EOA:le=^H:\
327	:mb=\E[5m:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m\017:mr=\E[7m:nd=\E[C:rc=\E8:\
328	:sc=\E7:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:\
329	:te=\E[r\E[?1049l:ti=\E[?1049h:ue=\E[24m:up=\E[A:\
330	:us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
331	:vs=\E[?25h:
332
333	Why does "ls" no longer have coloured output?
334	The "ls" in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to
335	decide wether a terminal has colour, but uses it's own configuration
336	file. Needless to say, "rxvt-unicode" is not in it's default file (among
337	with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add:
338
339	TERM rxvt-unicode
340
341	to "/etc/DIR_COLORS" or simply add:
342
343	alias ls='ls --color=auto'
344
345	to your ".profile" or ".bashrc".
346
347	Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?
348	See next entry.
349
350	Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?
351	See next entry.
352
353	Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?
354	Make sure you are using "TERM=rxvt-unicode". Some pre-packaged
355	distributions (most notably Debian GNU/Linux) break rxvt-unicode by
356	setting "TERM" to "rxvt", which doesn't have these extra features.
357	Unfortunately, some of these (most notably, again, Debian GNU/Linux)
358	furthermore fail to even install the "rxvt-unicode" terminfo file, so
359	you will need to install it on your own (See the question When I log-in
360	to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? on how to do
361	this).
362
363	My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?
364	Some Debian GNUL/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no
365	specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is
366	caused by the wrong "TERM" setting, although the details of wether and
367	how this can happen are unknown, as "TERM=rxvt" should offer a
368	compatible keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please
369	report if that helped.
370
371	Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?
372	See next entry.
373
374	Unicode does not seem to work?
375	If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but
376	getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output
377	is subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings.
378
379	Rxvt-unicode must be started with the same "LC_CTYPE" setting as the
380	programs. Often rxvt-unicode is started in the "C" locale, while the
381	login script running within the rxvt-unicode window changes the locale
382	to something else, e.g. "en_GB.UTF-8". Needless to say, this is not
383	going to work.
384
385	The best thing is to fix your startup environment, as you will likely
386	run into other problems. If nothing works you can try this in your
387	.profile.
388
389	printf '\e]701;%s\007' "$LC_CTYPE"
390
391	If this doesn't work, then maybe you use a "LC_CTYPE" specification not
392	supported on your systems. Some systems have a "locale" command which
393	displays this (also, "perl -e0" can be used to check locale settings, as
394	it will complain loudly if it cannot set the locale). If it displays
395	something like:
396
397	locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: ...
398
399	Then the locale you specified is not supported on your system.
400
401	If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then
402	you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't
403	support locales :(
404
405	Why do some characters look so much different than others?
406	See next entry.
407
408	How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?
409	Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is fine.
410	Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of your
411	system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want to
412	display.
413
414	rxvt-unicode makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement font.
415	Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks
416	bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't
417	resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial
418	intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe
419	the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct.
420
421	In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list,
422	e.g.:
423
424	rxvt -fn basefont,font2,font3...
425
426	When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base font.
427	If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the next
428	font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
429	search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X-server.
430
431	The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the
432	base font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size,
433	which must be the same due to the way terminals work.
434
435	Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
436	This is because there is a difference between script and language --
437	rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is, as
438	it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first sees a
439	japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for display.
440	Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many chinese
441	characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first
442	non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese
443	font -- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font
444	for chinese characters that are also in the japanese font.
445
446	The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font
447	list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as a
448	preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
449	first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
450
451	In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
452	runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different
453	fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this
454	has been designed yet).
455
456	Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see "Can
457	I switch the fonts at runtime?" later in this document).
458
459	Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?	233	Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?
460	Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that	234	Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that
461	character size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal	235	character size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal
462	use might contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode	236	use might contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode
463	will avoid these characters. For characters that are just "a bit" too	237	will avoid these characters. For characters that are just "a bit" too
464	wide a special "careful" rendering mode is used that redraws adjacent	238	wide a special "careful" rendering mode is used that redraws adjacent
…		…
468	however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed	242	however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed
469	bounding box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct	243	bounding box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct
470	way is to ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is	244	way is to ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is
471	wrong in these cases).	245	wrong in these cases).
472		246
473	It's not clear (to me at least), wether this is a bug in Xft, freetype,	247	It's not clear (to me at least), whether this is a bug in Xft, freetype,
474	or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try	248	or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try
475	using the "-lsp" option to give the font more height. If that doesn't	249	using the "-lsp" option to give the font more height. If that doesn't
476	work, you might be forced to use a different font.	250	work, you might be forced to use a different font.
477		251
478	All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their	252	All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their
479	bounding box data is correct.	253	bounding box data is correct.
480		254
481	On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide.
482	Seems to be a known bug, read
483	<http://nixdoc.net/files/forum/about34198.html>. Some people use the
484	following ugly workaround to get non-double-wide-characters working:
485
486	#define wcwidth(x) wcwidth(x) > 1 ? 1 : wcwidth(x)
487
488	My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
489	The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
490	correctly, or you specified a preeditStyle that is not supported by your
491	input method. For example, if you specified OverTheSpot and your input
492	method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys) does not
493	support this (for instance because it is not visual), then rxvt-unicode
494	will continue without an input method.
495
496	In this case either do not specify a preeditStyle or specify more than
497	one pre-edit style, such as OverTheSpot,Root,None.
498
499	I cannot type "Ctrl-Shift-2" to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
500	Either try "Ctrl-2" alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
501	international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
502	advantage, typing <Ctrl-Shift-0> to get a ASCII NUL. This works for
503	other codes, too, such as "Ctrl-Shift-1-d" to type the default telnet
504	escape character and so on.
505
506	How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?	255	How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?
507	First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings	256	First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings
508	("TERM=rxvt-unicode"), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then	257	("TERM=rxvt-unicode"), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then
509	make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise	258	make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise
510	rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect:	259	rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect:
511		260
512	URxvt.colorBD: white	261	URxvt.colorBD: white
513	URxvt.colorIT: green	262	URxvt.colorIT: green
514		263
515	Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?	264	Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?
516	For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird	265	For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird
517	colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the	266	colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the
518	standard 8 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of	267	standard 8 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of
519	course, to fix these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very	268	course, to fix these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very
520	good reasons.	269	good reasons.
521		270
522	In the meantime, you can either edit your "rxvt-unicode" terminfo	271	In the meantime, you can either edit your "rxvt-unicode" terminfo
523	definition to only claim 8 colour support or use "TERM=rxvt", which will	272	definition to only claim 8 colour support or use "TERM=rxvt", which will
524	fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features.	273	fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features.
525		274
526	I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.
527	Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol "__STDC_ISO_10646__" to be defined in
528	your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it,
529	wether it defines the symbol or not. "__STDC_ISO_10646__" requires that
530	wchar_t is represented as unicode.
531
532	As you might have guessed, FreeBSD does neither define this symobl nor
533	does it support it. Instead, it uses it's own internal representation of
534	wchar_t. This is, of course, completely fine with respect to standards.
535
536	However, that means rxvt-unicode only works in "POSIX", "ISO-8859-1" and
537	"UTF-8" locales under FreeBSD (which all use Unicode as wchar_t.
538
539	"__STDC_ISO_10646__" is the only sane way to support multi-language apps
540	in an OS, as using a locale-dependent (and non-standardized)
541	representation of wchar_t makes it impossible to convert between wchar_t
542	(as used by X11 and your applications) and any other encoding without
543	implementing OS-specific-wrappers for each and every locale. There
544	simply are no APIs to convert wchar_t into anything except the current
545	locale encoding.
546
547	Some applications (such as the formidable mlterm) work around this by
548	carrying their own replacement functions for character set handling with
549	them, and either implementing OS-dependent hacks or doing multiple
550	conversions (which is slow and unreliable in case the OS implements
551	encodings slightly different than the terminal emulator).
552
553	The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the
554	system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry
555	complete replacements for them :)
556
557	I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc.
558	Try the diff in doc/solaris9.patch as a base. It fixes the worst
559	problems with "wcwidth" and a compile problem.
560
561	How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
562	rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using the
563	X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no longer
564	supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a single
565	font). I recommend starting the X-server in "-multiwindow" or
566	"-rootless" mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as the
567	old libW11 emulation.
568
569	At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any
570	multi-byte encodings (you might try "LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8"), so you are
571	likely limited to 8-bit encodings.
572
573	How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
574	See next entry.
575
576	Is there an option to switch encodings?
577	Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
578	specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know
579	about UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O.
580
581	The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for
582	selecting the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating
583	this to all applications so everybody agrees on character properties
584	such as width and code number. This mechanism is the *locale*.
585	Applications not using that info will have problems (for example,
586	"xterm" gets the width of characters wrong as it uses it's own,
587	locale-independent table under all locales).
588
589	Rxvt-unicode uses the "LC_CTYPE" locale category to select encoding. All
590	programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the
591	interpretation of characters.
592
593	Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor
594	is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like.
595
596	On most systems, the content of the "LC_CTYPE" environment variable
597	contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed
598	locale. Common names for locales are "en_US.UTF-8", "de_DE.ISO-8859-15",
599	"ja_JP.EUC-JP", i.e. "language_country.encoding", but other forms (i.e.
600	"de" or "german") are also common.
601
602	Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for the
603	encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings, i.e.
604	"de_DE.UTF-8" and "ja_JP.UTF-8" are the normally same to rxvt-unicode.
605
606	If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
607	rxvt-unicode with the correct "LC_CTYPE" category.
608
609	Can I switch locales at runtime?
610	Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
611	rxvt-unicode's idea of "LC_CTYPE".
612
613	printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
614
615	See also the previous answer.
616
617	Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in one
618	locale (e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8") but some programs don't support it (e.g.
619	UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start "xjdic", which first
620	switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
621
622	printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
623	xjdic -js
624	printf '\e]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8
625
626	You can also use xterm's "luit" program, which usually works fine,
627	except for some locales where character width differs between program-
628	and rxvt-unicode-locales.
629
630	Can I switch the fonts at runtime?	275	Can I switch the fonts at runtime?
631	Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the	276	Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the
632	same effect as using the "-fn" switch, and takes effect immediately:	277	same effect as using the "-fn" switch, and takes effect immediately:
633		278
634	printf '\e]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"	279	printf '\33]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
635		280
636	This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a	281	This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a
637	japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where	282	japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where
638	japanese fonts would only be in your way.	283	japanese fonts would only be in your way.
639		284
640	You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching.	285	You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching.
641		286
642	Why do italic characters look as if clipped?	287	Why do italic characters look as if clipped?
643	Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For	288	Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For
644	example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font "xft:Bitstream Vera Sans	289	example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font "xft:Bitstream Vera Sans
645	Mono" completely fails in it's italic face. A workaround might be to	290	Mono" completely fails in its italic face. A workaround might be to
646	enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:	291	enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:
647		292
648	URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true	293	URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
649	URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true	294	URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
650		295
651	My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?
652	You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of
653	the terminal, using the resource "imlocale":
654
655	URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
656
657	Now you can start your terminal with "LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8" and still
658	use your input method. Please note, however, that you will not be able
659	to input characters outside "EUC-JP" in a normal way then, as your input
660	method limits you.
661
662	Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
663	Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
664	design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
665	leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at
666	exit time. kinput2 (and derived input methods) generally succeeds, while
667	SCIM (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however, crashes
668	cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate.
669
670	So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
671
672	Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
673	Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for something
674	you don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings
675	that you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by
676	design, when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be
677	loaded accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your
678	characters.
679
680	Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
681	scrollback buffers: Without "--enable-unicode3", rxvt-unicode will use 6
682	bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to almost a
683	kilobyte per line. A scrollback buffer of 10000 lines will then (if
684	full) use 10 Megabytes of memory. With "--enable-unicode3" it gets
685	worse, as rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
686
687	Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?	296	Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?
688	Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as it	297	Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as it
689	is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable	298	is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable
690	antialiasing (by appending ":antialias=false"), which saves lots of	299	antialiasing (by appending ":antialias=false"), which saves lots of
691	memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.	300	memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
692		301
693	Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?	302	Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?
694	Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to	303	Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to
695	fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core	304	fall back to its default font search list it will prefer X11 core fonts,
696	fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has	305	because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has
697	antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they	306	antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they
698	look best that way.	307	look best that way.
699		308
700	If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually.	309	If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually.
701		310
702	Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
703	Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing some
704	editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode. I've heard
705	that tcsh may use mouse reporting unless it otherwise specified. A quick
706	check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are
707	depressed.
708
709	What's with this bold/blink stuff?	311	What's with this bold/blink stuff?
710	If no bold colour is set via "colorBD:", bold will invert text using the	312	If no bold colour is set via "colorBD:", bold will invert text using the
711	standard foreground colour.	313	standard foreground colour.
712		314
713	For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the text	315	For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the text
714	blink when compiled with "--enable-blinking". with standard colours.	316	blink when compiled with "--enable-text-blink". Without
715	Without "--enable-blinking", the blink attribute will be ignored.	317	"--enable-text-blink", the blink attribute will be ignored.
716		318
717	On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity	319	On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity
718	foreground/background colors.	320	foreground/background colours.
719		321
720	color0-7 are the low-intensity colors.	322	color0-7 are the low-intensity colours.
721		323
722	color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colors.	324	color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colours.
723		325
724	I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them?	326	I don't like the screen colours. How do I change them?
725	You can change the screen colors at run-time using ~/.Xdefaults	327	You can change the screen colours at run-time using ~/.Xdefaults
726	resources (or as long-options).	328	resources (or as long-options).
727		329
728	Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen, including	330	Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen, including
729	the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow:	331	the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow:
730		332
…		…
744	URxvt.color12: #0000FF	346	URxvt.color12: #0000FF
745	URxvt.color13: #FF00FF	347	URxvt.color13: #FF00FF
746	URxvt.color14: #00FFFF	348	URxvt.color14: #00FFFF
747	URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF	349	URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF
748		350
749	And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors described (not by	351	And here is a more complete set of non-standard colours.
750	me) as "pretty girly".
751		352
752	URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1	353	URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1
753	URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1	354	URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1
754	URxvt.background: #0e0e0e	355	URxvt.background: #0e0e0e
755	URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1	356	URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1
…		…
766	URxvt.color6: #73f7ff	367	URxvt.color6: #73f7ff
767	URxvt.color14: #73f7ff	368	URxvt.color14: #73f7ff
768	URxvt.color7: #e1dddd	369	URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
769	URxvt.color15: #e1dddd	370	URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
770		371
771	How can I start rxvtd in a race-free way?	372	They have been described (not by me) as "pretty girly".
772	Try "rxvtd -f -o", which tells rxvtd to open the display, create the
773	listening socket and then fork.
774		373
		374	Why do some characters look so much different than others?
		375	See next entry.
		376
		377	How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?
		378	Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is fine.
		379	Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of your
		380	system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want to
		381	display.
		382
		383	rxvt-unicode makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement font.
		384	Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks
		385	bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't
		386	resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial
		387	intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe
		388	the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct.
		389
		390	In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list,
		391	e.g.:
		392
		393	urxvt -fn basefont,font2,font3...
		394
		395	When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base font.
		396	If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the next
		397	font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
		398	search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X-server.
		399
		400	The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the
		401	base font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size,
		402	which must be the same due to the way terminals work.
		403
		404	Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
		405	This is because there is a difference between script and language --
		406	rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is, as
		407	it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first sees a
		408	japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for display.
		409	Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many chinese
		410	characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first
		411	non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese
		412	font -- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font
		413	for chinese characters that are also in the japanese font.
		414
		415	The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font
		416	list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as a
		417	preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
		418	first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
		419
		420	In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
		421	runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different
		422	fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this
		423	has been designed yet).
		424
		425	Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see "Can
		426	I switch the fonts at runtime?" later in this document).
		427
		428	How can I make mplayer display video correctly?
		429	We are working on it, in the meantime, as a workaround, use something
		430	like:
		431
		432	urxvt -b 600 -geometry 20x1 -e sh -c 'mplayer -wid $WINDOWID file...'
		433
		434	Keyboard, Mouse & User Interaction
		435	The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?
		436	If you want to select e.g. alphanumeric words, you can use the following
		437	setting:
		438
		439	URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+)
		440
		441	If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended more and
		442	more.
		443
		444	To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this
		445	pattern:
		446
		447	URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\\\\]^`{|})]+)
		448
		449	Please also note that the *LeftClick Shift-LeftClick* combination also
		450	selects words like the old code.
		451
		452	I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?
		453	You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the
		454	perl-ext-common resource to the empty string, which also keeps
		455	rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
		456
		457	If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to
		458	identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section
		459	PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS in the urxvtperl(3) manpage. For example, to
		460	disable the selection-popup and option-popup, specify this
		461	perl-ext-common resource:
		462
		463	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup
		464
		465	This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup
		466	extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example,
		467	scrollback search mode is triggered by M-s. You can move it to any other
		468	combination either by setting the searchable-scrollback resource:
		469
		470	URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s
		471
		472	The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off?
		473	See next entry.
		474
		475	During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?
		476	These are caused by the "readline" perl extension. Under normal
		477	circumstances, it will move your cursor around when you click into the
		478	line that contains it. It tries hard not to do this at the wrong moment,
		479	but when running a program that doesn't parse cursor movements or in
		480	some cases during rlogin sessions, it fails to detect this properly.
		481
		482	You can permanently switch this feature off by disabling the "readline"
		483	extension:
		484
		485	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline
		486
		487	My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?
		488	Some Debian GNUL/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no
		489	specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is
		490	caused by the wrong "TERM" setting, although the details of whether and
		491	how this can happen are unknown, as "TERM=rxvt" should offer a
		492	compatible keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please
		493	report if that helped.
		494
		495	My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
		496	The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
		497	correctly, or you specified a preeditStyle that is not supported by your
		498	input method. For example, if you specified OverTheSpot and your input
		499	method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys) does not
		500	support this (for instance because it is not visual), then rxvt-unicode
		501	will continue without an input method.
		502
		503	In this case either do not specify a preeditStyle or specify more than
		504	one pre-edit style, such as OverTheSpot,Root,None.
		505
		506	If it still doesn't work, then maybe your input method doesn't support
		507	compose sequences - to fall back to the built-in one, make sure you
		508	don't specify an input method via "-im" or "XMODIFIERS".
		509
		510	I cannot type "Ctrl-Shift-2" to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
		511	Either try "Ctrl-2" alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
		512	international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
		513	advantage, typing <Ctrl-Shift-0> to get a ASCII NUL. This works for
		514	other codes, too, such as "Ctrl-Shift-1-d" to type the default telnet
		515	escape character and so on.
		516
		517	Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
		518	Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing some
		519	editors prematurely may leave it active. I've heard that tcsh may use
		520	mouse reporting unless it is otherwise specified. A quick check is to
		521	see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are pressed.
		522
775	What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?	523	What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
776	Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the BackSpace	524	Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the Backspace
777	keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following question) there are	525	keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following question) there are
778	two standard values that can be used for Backspace: "^H" and "^?".	526	two standard values that can be used for Backspace: "^H" and "^?".
779		527
780	Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the	528	Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the
781	debian policy of using "^?" when unsure, because it's the one only only	529	debian policy of using "^?" when unsure, because it's the one and only
782	correct choice :).	530	correct choice :).
783		531
784	Rxvt-unicode tries to inherit the current stty settings and uses the	532	It is possible to toggle between "^H" and "^?" with the DECBKM private
785	value of `erase' to guess the value for backspace. If rxvt-unicode	533	mode:
786	wasn't started from a terminal (say, from a menu or by remote shell),
787	then the system value of `erase', which corresponds to CERASE in
788	<termios.h>, will be used (which may not be the same as your stty
789	setting).
790
791	For starting a new rxvt-unicode:
792		534
793	# use Backspace = ^H	535	# use Backspace = ^H
794	$ stty erase ^H	536	$ stty erase ^H
795	$ rxvt	537	$ printf "\e[?67h"
796		538
797	# use Backspace = ^?	539	# use Backspace = ^?
798	$ stty erase ^?	540	$ stty erase ^?
799	$ rxvt	541	$ printf "\e[?67l"
800
801	Toggle with "ESC [ 36 h" / "ESC [ 36 l".
802
803	For an existing rxvt-unicode:
804
805	# use Backspace = ^H
806	$ stty erase ^H
807	$ echo -n "^[[36h"
808
809	# use Backspace = ^?
810	$ stty erase ^?
811	$ echo -n "^[[36l"
812		542
813	This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur, but	543	This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur, but
814	if you use Backspace = "^H", make sure that the termcap/terminfo value	544	if you use Backspace = "^H", make sure that the termcap/terminfo value
815	properly reflects that.	545	properly reflects that.
816		546
…		…
824	some editors use termcap/terminfo, some editors (vim I'm told) expect	554	some editors use termcap/terminfo, some editors (vim I'm told) expect
825	Backspace = ^H, GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help.	555	Backspace = ^H, GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help.
826		556
827	Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.	557	Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.
828		558
829	I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?	559	I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?
830	There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless	560	There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless
831	you have run "configure" with the "--disable-resources" option you can	561	you have run "configure" with the "--disable-resources" option you can
832	use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with	562	use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with
833	keysyms.	563	keysyms.
834		564
835	Here's an example for a URxvt session started using "rxvt -name URxvt"	565	Here's an example for a URxvt session started using "urxvt -name URxvt"
836		566
		567	URxvt.keysym.Prior: \033[5~
		568	URxvt.keysym.Next: \033[6~
837	URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[1~	569	URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[7~
838	URxvt.keysym.End: \033[4~	570	URxvt.keysym.End: \033[8~
839	URxvt.keysym.C-apostrophe: \033<C-'>
840	URxvt.keysym.C-slash: \033<C-/>
841	URxvt.keysym.C-semicolon: \033<C-;>
842	URxvt.keysym.C-grave: \033<C-`>
843	URxvt.keysym.C-comma: \033<C-,>
844	URxvt.keysym.C-period: \033<C-.>
845	URxvt.keysym.C-0x60: \033<C-`>
846	URxvt.keysym.C-Tab: \033<C-Tab>
847	URxvt.keysym.C-Return: \033<C-Return>
848	URxvt.keysym.S-Return: \033<S-Return>
849	URxvt.keysym.S-space: \033<S-Space>
850	URxvt.keysym.M-Up: \033<M-Up>	571	URxvt.keysym.Up: \033[A
851	URxvt.keysym.M-Down: \033<M-Down>	572	URxvt.keysym.Down: \033[B
		573	URxvt.keysym.Right: \033[C
852	URxvt.keysym.M-Left: \033<M-Left>	574	URxvt.keysym.Left: \033[D
853	URxvt.keysym.M-Right: \033<M-Right>
854	URxvt.keysym.M-C-0: list \033<M-C- 0123456789 >
855	URxvt.keysym.M-C-a: list \033<M-C- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz >
856	URxvt.keysym.F12: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007
857		575
858	See some more examples in the documentation for the keysym resource.	576	See some more examples in the documentation for the keysym resource.
859		577
860	I'm using keyboard model XXX that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys. How do I make use of them? For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4 has the following mappings that rxvt-unicode doesn't recognize.	578	I'm using keyboard model XXX that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys. How do I make use of them? For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4 has the following map
861	KP_Insert == Insert	579	KP_Insert == Insert
862	F22 == Print	580	F22 == Print
863	F27 == Home	581	F27 == Home
864	F29 == Prior	582	F29 == Prior
865	F33 == End	583	F33 == End
…		…
867		585
868	Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various	586	Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various
869	possible keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the	587	possible keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the
870	keys as required for your particular machine.	588	keys as required for your particular machine.
871		589
872	How do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm? I need this to decide about setting colors etc.	590	Terminal Configuration
873	rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable "COLORTERM", so you can	591	Can I see a typical configuration?
874	check and see if that is set. Note that several programs, JED, slrn,	592	The default configuration tries to be xterm-like, which I don't like
875	Midnight Commander automatically check this variable to decide whether	593	that much, but it's least surprise to regular users.
876	or not to use color.
877		594
878	How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?	595	As a rxvt or rxvt-unicode user, you are practically supposed to invest
879	If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled	596	time into customising your terminal. To get you started, here is the
880	insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script	597	author's .Xdefaults entries, with comments on what they do. It's
881	snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode	598	certainly not *typical*, but what's typical...
882	wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in these snippets)
883	then the COLORTERM variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from
884	a regular xterm.
885		599
886	Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script	600	URxvt.cutchars: "()*,<>[]{}|'
887	snippets:	601	URxvt.print-pipe: cat >/tmp/xxx
888		602
889	# Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:	603	These are just for testing stuff.
890	[ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know
891	if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
892	stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
893	echo -n '^[Z'
894	read term_id
895	stty icanon echo
896	if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
897	echo -n '^[[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
898	read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
899	fi
900	fi
901		604
902	How do I compile the manual pages for myself?	605	URxvt.imLocale: ja_JP.UTF-8
903	You need to have a recent version of perl installed as /usr/bin/perl,	606	URxvt.preeditType: OnTheSpot,None
904	one that comes with pod2man, pod2text and pod2html. Then go to the doc
905	subdirectory and enter "make alldoc".
906		607
907	My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?	608	This tells rxvt-unicode to use a special locale when communicating with
908	Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: "irc.freenode.net", channel	609	the X Input Method, and also tells it to only use the OnTheSpot pre-edit
909	"#rxvt-unicode" has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be	610	type, which requires the "xim-onthespot" perl extension but rewards me
910	interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :).	611	with correct-looking fonts.
911		612
		613	URxvt.perl-lib: /root/lib/urxvt
		614	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,selection-autotransform,selection-pastebin,xim-onthespot,remote-clipboard
		615	URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ( at .*? line \\d+)
		616	URxvt.selection.pattern-1: ^(/[^:]+):\
		617	URxvt.selection-autotransform.0: s/^([^:[:space:]]+):(\\d+):?$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/
		618	URxvt.selection-autotransform.1: s/^ at (.*?) line (\\d+)$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/
		619
		620	This is my perl configuration. The first two set the perl library
		621	directory and also tells urxvt to use a large number of extensions. I
		622	develop for myself mostly, so I actually use most of the extensions I
		623	write.
		624
		625	The selection stuff mainly makes the selection perl-error-message aware
		626	and tells it to convert perl error messages into vi-commands to load the
		627	relevant file and go to the error line number.
		628
		629	URxvt.scrollstyle: plain
		630	URxvt.secondaryScroll: true
		631
		632	As the documentation says: plain is the preferred scrollbar for the
		633	author. The "secondaryScroll" configures urxvt to scroll in full-screen
		634	apps, like screen, so lines scrolled out of screen end up in urxvt's
		635	scrollback buffer.
		636
		637	URxvt.background: #000000
		638	URxvt.foreground: gray90
		639	URxvt.color7: gray90
		640	URxvt.colorBD: #ffffff
		641	URxvt.cursorColor: #e0e080
		642	URxvt.throughColor: #8080f0
		643	URxvt.highlightColor: #f0f0f0
		644
		645	Some colours. Not sure which ones are being used or even non-defaults,
		646	but these are in my .Xdefaults. Most notably, they set
		647	foreground/background to light gray/black, and also make sure that the
		648	colour 7 matches the default foreground colour.
		649
		650	URxvt.underlineColor: yellow
		651
		652	Another colour, makes underline lines look different. Sometimes hurts,
		653	but is mostly a nice effect.
		654
		655	URxvt.geometry: 154x36
		656	URxvt.loginShell: false
		657	URxvt.meta: ignore
		658	URxvt.utmpInhibit: true
		659
		660	Uh, well, should be mostly self-explanatory. By specifying some defaults
		661	manually, I can quickly switch them for testing.
		662
		663	URxvt.saveLines: 8192
		664
		665	A large scrollback buffer is essential. Really.
		666
		667	URxvt.mapAlert: true
		668
		669	The only case I use it is for my IRC window, which I like to keep
		670	iconified till people msg me (which beeps).
		671
		672	URxvt.visualBell: true
		673
		674	The audible bell is often annoying, especially when in a crowd.
		675
		676	URxvt.insecure: true
		677
		678	Please don't hack my mutt! Ooops...
		679
		680	URxvt.pastableTabs: false
		681
		682	I once thought this is a great idea.
		683
		684	urxvt.font: 9x15bold,\
		685	-misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1,\
		686	-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1, \
		687	[codeset=JISX0208]xft:Kochi Gothic, \
		688	xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:autohint=true, \
		689	xft:Code2000:antialias=false
		690	urxvt.boldFont: -xos4-terminus-bold-r-normal--14-140-72-72-c-80-iso8859-15
		691	urxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
		692	urxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
		693
		694	I wrote rxvt-unicode to be able to specify fonts exactly. So don't be
		695	overwhelmed. A special note: the "9x15bold" mentioned above is actually
		696	the version from XFree-3.3, as XFree-4 replaced it by a totally
		697	different font (different glyphs for ";" and many other harmless
		698	characters), while the second font is actually the "9x15bold" from
		699	XFree4/XOrg. The bold version has less chars than the medium version, so
		700	I use it for rare characters, too. When editing sources with vim, I use
		701	italic for comments and other stuff, which looks quite good with
		702	Bitstream Vera anti-aliased.
		703
		704	Terminus is a quite bad font (many very wrong glyphs), but for most of
		705	my purposes, it works, and gives a different look, as my normal
		706	(Non-bold) font is already bold, and I want to see a difference between
		707	bold and normal fonts.
		708
		709	Please note that I used the "urxvt" instance name and not the "URxvt"
		710	class name. That is because I use different configs for different
		711	purposes, for example, my IRC window is started with "-name IRC", and
		712	uses these defaults:
		713
		714	IRC*title: IRC
		715	IRC*geometry: 87x12+535+542
		716	IRC*saveLines: 0
		717	IRC*mapAlert: true
		718	IRC*font: suxuseuro
		719	IRC*boldFont: suxuseuro
		720	IRC*colorBD: white
		721	IRC*keysym.M-C-1: command:\033]710;suxuseuro\007\033]711;suxuseuro\007
		722	IRC*keysym.M-C-2: command:\033]710;9x15bold\007\033]711;9x15bold\007
		723
		724	"Alt-Ctrl-1" and "Alt-Ctrl-2" switch between two different font sizes.
		725	"suxuseuro" allows me to keep an eye (and actually read) stuff while
		726	keeping a very small window. If somebody pastes something complicated
		727	(e.g. japanese), I temporarily switch to a larger font.
		728
		729	The above is all in my ".Xdefaults" (I don't use ".Xresources" nor
		730	"xrdb"). I also have some resources in a separate ".Xdefaults-hostname"
		731	file for different hosts, for example, on my main desktop, I use:
		732
		733	URxvt.keysym.C-M-q: command:\033[3;5;5t
		734	URxvt.keysym.C-M-y: command:\033[3;5;606t
		735	URxvt.keysym.C-M-e: command:\033[3;1605;5t
		736	URxvt.keysym.C-M-c: command:\033[3;1605;606t
		737	URxvt.keysym.C-M-p: perl:test
		738
		739	The first for keysym definitions allow me to quickly bring some windows
		740	in the layout I like most. Ion users might start laughing but will stop
		741	immediately when I tell them that I use my own Fvwm2 module for much the
		742	same effect as Ion provides, and I only very rarely use the above key
		743	combinations :->
		744
		745	Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?
		746	Well, why, indeed? It does, in a way very similar to other X
		747	applications. Most importantly, this means that if you or your OS loads
		748	resources into the X display (the right way to do it), rxvt-unicode will
		749	ignore any resource files in your home directory. It will only read
		750	$HOME/.Xdefaults when no resources are attached to the display.
		751
		752	If you have or use an $HOME/.Xresources file, chances are that resources
		753	are loaded into your X-server. In this case, you have to re-login after
		754	every change (or run xrdb -merge $HOME/.Xresources).
		755
		756	Also consider the form resources have to use:
		757
		758	URxvt.resource: value
		759
		760	If you want to use another form (there are lots of different ways of
		761	specifying resources), make sure you understand whether and why it
		762	works. If unsure, use the form above.
		763
		764	When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?
		765	The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available
		766	as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often
		767	arises).
		768
		769	The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this
		770	can be done by simply installing rxvt-unicode on the remote system as
		771	well (in case you have a nice package manager ready), or you can install
		772	the terminfo database manually like this (with ncurses infocmp. works as
		773	user and root):
		774
		775	REMOTE=remotesystem.domain
		776	infocmp rxvt-unicode | ssh $REMOTE "mkdir -p .terminfo && cat >/tmp/ti && tic /tmp/ti"
		777
		778	One some systems you might need to set $TERMINFO to the full path of
		779	$HOME/.terminfo for this to work. Debian systems have a broken tic which
		780	will not be able to overwrite the existing rxvt-unicode terminfo entry -
		781	you might have to manually delete all traces of rxvt-unicode* from
		782	/etc/terminfo.
		783
		784	If you cannot or do not want to do this, then you can simply set
		785	"TERM=rxvt" or even "TERM=xterm", and live with the small number of
		786	problems arising, which includes wrong keymapping, less and different
		787	colours and some refresh errors in fullscreen applications. It's a nice
		788	quick-and-dirty workaround for rare cases, though.
		789
		790	If you always want to do this (and are fine with the consequences) you
		791	can either recompile rxvt-unicode with the desired TERM value or use a
		792	resource to set it:
		793
		794	URxvt.termName: rxvt
		795
		796	If you don't plan to use rxvt (quite common...) you could also replace
		797	the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one and use "TERM=rxvt".
		798
		799	nano fails with "Error opening terminal: rxvt-unicode"
		800	This exceptionally confusing and useless error message is printed by
		801	nano when it can't find the terminfo database. Nothing is wrong with
		802	your terminal, read the previous answer for a solution.
		803
		804	"tic" outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
		805	Most likely it's the empty definition for "enacs=". Just replace it by
		806	"enacs=\E[0@" and try again.
		807
		808	"bash"'s readline does not work correctly under urxvt.
		809	See next entry.
		810
		811	I need a termcap file entry.
		812	One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating
		813	systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap
		814	library (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry
		815	for "rxvt-unicode".
		816
		817	You could use rxvt's termcap entry with reasonable results in many
		818	cases. You can also create a termcap entry by using terminfo's infocmp
		819	program like this:
		820
		821	infocmp -C rxvt-unicode
		822
		823	Or you could use the termcap entry in doc/etc/rxvt-unicode.termcap,
		824	generated by the command above.
		825
		826	Why does "ls" no longer have coloured output?
		827	The "ls" in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to
		828	decide whether a terminal has colour, but uses its own configuration
		829	file. Needless to say, "rxvt-unicode" is not in its default file (among
		830	with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add:
		831
		832	TERM rxvt-unicode
		833
		834	to "/etc/DIR_COLORS" or simply add:
		835
		836	alias ls='ls --color=auto'
		837
		838	to your ".profile" or ".bashrc".
		839
		840	Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?
		841	See next entry.
		842
		843	Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?
		844	See next entry.
		845
		846	Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?
		847	Make sure you are using "TERM=rxvt-unicode". Some pre-packaged
		848	distributions (most notably Debian GNU/Linux) break rxvt-unicode by
		849	setting "TERM" to "rxvt", which doesn't have these extra features.
		850	Unfortunately, some of these (most notably, again, Debian GNU/Linux)
		851	furthermore fail to even install the "rxvt-unicode" terminfo file, so
		852	you will need to install it on your own (See the question When I log-in
		853	to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? on how to do
		854	this).
		855
		856	Encoding / Locale / Input Method Issues
		857	Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?
		858	See next entry.
		859
		860	Unicode does not seem to work?
		861	If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but
		862	getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output
		863	is subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings.
		864
		865	Rxvt-unicode must be started with the same "LC_CTYPE" setting as the
		866	programs running in it. Often rxvt-unicode is started in the "C" locale,
		867	while the login script running within the rxvt-unicode window changes
		868	the locale to something else, e.g. "en_GB.UTF-8". Needless to say, this
		869	is not going to work, and is the most common cause for problems.
		870
		871	The best thing is to fix your startup environment, as you will likely
		872	run into other problems. If nothing works you can try this in your
		873	.profile.
		874
		875	printf '\33]701;%s\007' "$LC_CTYPE" # $LANG or $LC_ALL are worth a try, too
		876
		877	If this doesn't work, then maybe you use a "LC_CTYPE" specification not
		878	supported on your systems. Some systems have a "locale" command which
		879	displays this (also, "perl -e0" can be used to check locale settings, as
		880	it will complain loudly if it cannot set the locale). If it displays
		881	something like:
		882
		883	locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: ...
		884
		885	Then the locale you specified is not supported on your system.
		886
		887	If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then
		888	you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't
		889	support locales :(
		890
		891	How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
		892	See next entry.
		893
		894	Is there an option to switch encodings?
		895	Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
		896	specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know
		897	about UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O.
		898
		899	The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for
		900	selecting the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating
		901	this to all applications so everybody agrees on character properties
		902	such as width and code number. This mechanism is the *locale*.
		903	Applications not using that info will have problems (for example,
		904	"xterm" gets the width of characters wrong as it uses its own,
		905	locale-independent table under all locales).
		906
		907	Rxvt-unicode uses the "LC_CTYPE" locale category to select encoding. All
		908	programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the
		909	interpretation of characters.
		910
		911	Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor
		912	is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like.
		913
		914	On most systems, the content of the "LC_CTYPE" environment variable
		915	contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed
		916	locale. Common names for locales are "en_US.UTF-8", "de_DE.ISO-8859-15",
		917	"ja_JP.EUC-JP", i.e. "language_country.encoding", but other forms (i.e.
		918	"de" or "german") are also common.
		919
		920	Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for the
		921	encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings, i.e.
		922	"de_DE.UTF-8" and "ja_JP.UTF-8" are the normally same to rxvt-unicode.
		923
		924	If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
		925	rxvt-unicode with the correct "LC_CTYPE" category.
		926
		927	Can I switch locales at runtime?
		928	Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
		929	rxvt-unicode's idea of "LC_CTYPE".
		930
		931	printf '\33]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
		932
		933	See also the previous answer.
		934
		935	Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in one
		936	locale (e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8") but some programs don't support it (e.g.
		937	UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start "xjdic", which first
		938	switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
		939
		940	printf '\33]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
		941	xjdic -js
		942	printf '\33]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8
		943
		944	You can also use xterm's "luit" program, which usually works fine,
		945	except for some locales where character width differs between program-
		946	and rxvt-unicode-locales.
		947
		948	I have problems getting my input method working.
		949	Try a search engine, as this is slightly different for every input
		950	method server.
		951
		952	Here is a checklist:
		953
		954	- Make sure your locale *and* the imLocale are supported on your OS.
		955	Try "locale -a" or check the documentation for your OS.
		956
		957	- Make sure your locale or imLocale matches a locale supported by your
		958	XIM.
		959	For example, kinput2 does not support UTF-8 locales, you should use
		960	"ja_JP.EUC-JP" or equivalent.
		961
		962	- Make sure your XIM server is actually running.
		963	- Make sure the "XMODIFIERS" environment variable is set correctly when
		964	*starting* rxvt-unicode.
		965	When you want to use e.g. kinput2, it must be set to "@im=kinput2".
		966	For scim, use "@im=SCIM". You can see what input method servers are
		967	running with this command:
		968
		969	xprop -root XIM_SERVERS
		970
		971	My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?
		972	You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of
		973	the terminal, using the resource "imlocale":
		974
		975	URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
		976
		977	Now you can start your terminal with "LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8" and still
		978	use your input method. Please note, however, that, depending on your
		979	Xlib version, you may not be able to input characters outside "EUC-JP"
		980	in a normal way then, as your input method limits you.
		981
		982	Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
		983	Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
		984	design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
		985	leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at
		986	exit time. kinput2 (and derived input methods) generally succeeds, while
		987	SCIM (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however, crashes
		988	cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate.
		989
		990	So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
		991
		992	Operating Systems / Package Maintaining
		993	I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...
		994	The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large
		995	patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode (but
		996	unfortunately this notice has been removed). Before reporting a bug to
		997	the original rxvt-unicode author please download and install the genuine
		998	version (<http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/rxvt-unicode.html>) and try to
		999	reproduce the problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are
		1000	specific to Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via
		1001	the Debian Bug Tracking System (use "reportbug" to report the bug).
		1002
		1003	For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and
		1004	probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's also a
		1005	bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for other users
		1006	that might encounter the same issue.
		1007
		1008	I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation?
		1009	You should build one binary with the default options. configure now
		1010	enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
		1011	runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enabling
		1012	them, except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter
		1013	should be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely
		1014	more in the future) depends on it.
		1015
		1016	You should not overwrite the "perl-ext-common" and "perl-ext" resources
		1017	system-wide (except maybe with "defaults"). This will result in useful
		1018	behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty
		1019	"perl-ext-common" resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the
		1020	perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it.
		1021
		1022	If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal one
		1023	with "--disable-everything" (very useful) and a maximal one with
		1024	"--enable-everything" (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of
		1025	encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used).
		1026
		1027	I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe?
		1028	It should be, starting with release 7.1. You are encouraged to properly
		1029	install urxvt with privileges necessary for your OS now.
		1030
		1031	When rxvt-unicode detects that it runs setuid or setgid, it will fork
		1032	into a helper process for privileged operations (pty handling on some
		1033	systems, utmp/wtmp/lastlog handling on others) and drop privileges
		1034	immediately. This is much safer than most other terminals that keep
		1035	privileges while running (but is more relevant to urxvt, as it contains
		1036	things as perl interpreters, which might be "helpful" to attackers).
		1037
		1038	This forking is done as the very first within main(), which is very
		1039	early and reduces possible bugs to initialisation code run before
		1040	main(), or things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should
		1041	result in very little risk.
		1042
		1043	I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.
		1044	Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol "__STDC_ISO_10646__" to be defined in
		1045	your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it,
		1046	whether it defines the symbol or not. "__STDC_ISO_10646__" requires that
		1047	wchar_t is represented as unicode.
		1048
		1049	As you might have guessed, FreeBSD does neither define this symbol nor
		1050	does it support it. Instead, it uses its own internal representation of
		1051	wchar_t. This is, of course, completely fine with respect to standards.
		1052
		1053	However, that means rxvt-unicode only works in "POSIX", "ISO-8859-1" and
		1054	"UTF-8" locales under FreeBSD (which all use Unicode as wchar_t).
		1055
		1056	"__STDC_ISO_10646__" is the only sane way to support multi-language apps
		1057	in an OS, as using a locale-dependent (and non-standardized)
		1058	representation of wchar_t makes it impossible to convert between wchar_t
		1059	(as used by X11 and your applications) and any other encoding without
		1060	implementing OS-specific-wrappers for each and every locale. There
		1061	simply are no APIs to convert wchar_t into anything except the current
		1062	locale encoding.
		1063
		1064	Some applications (such as the formidable mlterm) work around this by
		1065	carrying their own replacement functions for character set handling with
		1066	them, and either implementing OS-dependent hacks or doing multiple
		1067	conversions (which is slow and unreliable in case the OS implements
		1068	encodings slightly different than the terminal emulator).
		1069
		1070	The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the
		1071	system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry
		1072	complete replacements for them :)
		1073
		1074	How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
		1075	rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using the
		1076	X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no longer
		1077	supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a single
		1078	font). I recommend starting the X-server in "-multiwindow" or
		1079	"-rootless" mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as the
		1080	old libW11 emulation.
		1081
		1082	At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any
		1083	multi-byte encodings (you might try "LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8"), so you are
		1084	likely limited to 8-bit encodings.
		1085
		1086	Character widths are not correct.
		1087	urxvt uses the system wcwidth function to know the information about the
		1088	width of characters, so on systems with incorrect locale data you will
		1089	likely get bad results. Two notorious examples are Solaris 9, where
		1090	single-width characters like U+2514 are reported as double-width, and
		1091	Darwin 8, where combining chars are reported having width 1.
		1092
		1093	The solution is to upgrade your system or switch to a better one. A
		1094	possibly working workaround is to use a wcwidth implementation like
		1095
		1096	http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/wcwidth.c
		1097

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