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1FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 1RXVT-UNICODE/URXVT FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
2 Meta, Features & Commandline Issues
3 My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?
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 :).
7
8 I use Gentoo, and I have a problem...
9 There are two big problems with Gentoo Linux: first, most if not all
10 Gentoo systems are completely broken (missing or mismatched header
11 files, broken compiler etc. are just the tip of the iceberg); secondly,
12 it should be called Gentoo GNU/Linux.
13
14 For these reasons, it is impossible to support rxvt-unicode on Gentoo.
15 Problems appearing on Gentoo systems will usually simply be ignored
16 unless they can be reproduced on non-Gentoo systems.
17
18 Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
19 Beginning with version 7.3, there is a perl extension that implements a
20 simple tabbed terminal. It is installed by default, so any of these
21 should give you tabs:
22
23 urxvt -pe tabbed
24
25 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,tabbed
26
27 It will also work fine with tabbing functionality of many window
28 managers or similar tabbing programs, and its embedding-features allow
29 it to be embedded into other programs, as witnessed by doc/rxvt-tabbed
30 or the upcoming "Gtk2::URxvt" perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt
31 (murxvt) terminal as an example embedding application.
32
2 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using? 33 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
3 The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape 34 The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape
4 sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number. 35 sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number. When
36 using the urxvtc client, the version displayed is that of the daemon.
5 37
6 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem... 38 Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
7 The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large 39 Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for something
8 patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode. 40 you don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings
9 Before reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please 41 that you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by
10 download and install the genuine version 42 design, when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be
11 (<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>) and try to reproduce the 43 loaded accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your
12 problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific 44 characters.
13 to Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the
14 Debian Bug Tracking System (use "reportbug" to report the bug).
15 45
16 For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and 46 Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
17 probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's 47 scrollback buffers: Without "--enable-unicode3", rxvt-unicode will use 6
18 also a bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for 48 bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to almost a
19 other users that might encounter the same issue. 49 kilobyte per line. A scrollback buffer of 10000 lines will then (if
50 full) use 10 Megabytes of memory. With "--enable-unicode3" it gets
51 worse, as rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
20 52
53 How can I start urxvtd in a race-free way?
54 Try "urxvtd -f -o", which tells urxvtd to open the display, create the
55 listening socket and then fork.
56
57 How can I start urxvtd automatically when I run urxvtc?
58 If you want to start urxvtd automatically whenever you run urxvtc and
59 the daemon isn't running yet, use this script:
60
61 #!/bin/sh
62 urxvtc "$@"
63 if [ $? -eq 2 ]; then
64 urxvtd -q -o -f
65 urxvtc "$@"
66 fi
67
68 This tries to create a new terminal, and if fails with exit status 2,
69 meaning it couldn't connect to the daemon, it will start the daemon and
70 re-run the command. Subsequent invocations of the script will re-use the
71 existing daemon.
72
73 How do I distinguish whether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular
74xterm? I need this to decide about setting colours etc.
75 The original rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable
76 "COLORTERM", so you can check and see if that is set. Note that several
77 programs, JED, slrn, Midnight Commander automatically check this
78 variable to decide whether or not to use colour.
79
80 How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?
81 If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled
82 insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script
83 snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode
84 wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in these snippets)
85 then the COLORTERM variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from
86 a regular xterm.
87
88 Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script
89 snippets:
90
91 # Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:
92 [ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know
93 if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
94 stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
95 printf "\eZ"
96 read term_id
97 stty icanon echo
98 if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
99 printf '\e[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
100 read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
101 fi
102 fi
103
104 How do I compile the manual pages on my own?
105 You need to have a recent version of perl installed as /usr/bin/perl,
106 one that comes with pod2man, pod2text and pod2xhtml (from Pod::Xhtml).
107 Then go to the doc subdirectory and enter "make alldoc".
108
109 Isn't rxvt-unicode supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?
110 I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra
111 bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see
112 that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always
113 being compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) after
114 startup. Even with "--disable-everything", this comparison is a bit
115 unfair, as many features unique to urxvt (locale, encoding conversion,
116 iso14755 etc.) are already in use in this mode.
117
118 text data bss drs rss filename
119 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything
120 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything
121
122 When you "--enable-everything" (which *is* unfair, as this involves xft
123 and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my
124 libc), the two diverge, but not unreasonably so.
125
126 text data bss drs rss filename
127 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything
128 1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything
129
130 The very large size of the text section is explained by the east-asian
131 encoding tables, which, if unused, take up disk space but nothing else
132 and can be compiled out unless you rely on X11 core fonts that use those
133 encodings. The BSS size comes from the 64k emergency buffer that my c++
134 compiler allocates (but of course doesn't use unless you are out of
135 memory). Also, using an xft font instead of a core font immediately adds
136 a few megabytes of RSS. Xft indeed is responsible for a lot of RSS even
137 when not used.
138
139 Of course, due to every character using two or four bytes instead of
140 one, a large scrollback buffer will ultimately make rxvt-unicode use
141 more memory.
142
143 Compared to e.g. Eterm (5112k), aterm (3132k) and xterm (4680k), this
144 still fares rather well. And compared to some monsters like
145 gnome-terminal (21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole
146 (22200k + extra 43180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half
147 a minute of startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits
148 out), it fares extremely well *g*.
149
150 Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?
151 Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I
152 had to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a
153 fraction of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put
154 even shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++.
155
156 My personal stance on this is that C++ is less portable than C, but in
157 the case of rxvt-unicode this hardly matters, as its portability limits
158 are defined by things like X11, pseudo terminals, locale support and
159 unix domain sockets, which are all less portable than C++ itself.
160
161 Regarding the bloat, see the above question: It's easy to write programs
162 in C that use gobs of memory, and certainly possible to write programs
163 in C++ that don't. C++ also often comes with large libraries, but this
164 is not necessarily the case with GCC. Here is what rxvt links against on
165 my system with a minimal config:
166
167 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
168 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaadde000)
169 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab01d000)
170 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
171
172 And here is rxvt-unicode:
173
174 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
175 libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000)
176 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000)
177 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000)
178 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
179
180 No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically),
181 except maybe libX11 :)
182
183 Rendering, Font & Look and Feel Issues
184 I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?
185 First of all, transparency isn't officially supported in rxvt-unicode,
186 so you are mostly on your own. Do not bug the author about it (but you
187 may bug everybody else). Also, if you can't get it working consider it a
188 rite of passage: ... and you failed.
189
190 Here are four ways to get transparency. Do read the manpage and option
191 descriptions for the programs mentioned and rxvt-unicode. Really, do it!
192
193 1. Use transparent mode:
194
195 Esetroot wallpaper.jpg
196 urxvt -tr -tint red -sh 40
197
198 That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack transparency and tinting
199 support, or you are unable to read. This method requires that the
200 background-setting program sets the _XROOTPMAP_ID or ESETROOT_PMAP_ID
201 property. Compatible programs are Esetroot, hsetroot and feh.
202
203 2. Use a simple pixmap and emulate pseudo-transparency. This enables you
204 to use effects other than tinting and shading: Just shade/tint/whatever
205 your picture with gimp or any other tool:
206
207 convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.jpg
208 urxvt -pixmap "background.jpg;:root"
209
210 That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack GDK-PixBuf support, or you
211 are unable to read.
212
213 3. Use an ARGB visual:
214
215 urxvt -depth 32 -fg grey90 -bg rgba:0000/0000/4444/cccc
216
217 This requires XFT support, and the support of your X-server. If that
218 doesn't work for you, blame Xorg and Keith Packard. ARGB visuals aren't
219 there yet, no matter what they claim. Rxvt-Unicode contains the
220 necessary bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work, but
221 that doesn't mean that your WM has the required kludges in place.
222
223 4. Use xcompmgr and let it do the job:
224
225 xprop -frame -f _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 32c \
226 -set _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 0xc0000000
227
228 Then click on a window you want to make transparent. Replace 0xc0000000
229 by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and
230 your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces.
231
232 Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?
233 Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that
234 character size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal
235 use might contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode
236 will avoid these characters. For characters that are just "a bit" too
237 wide a special "careful" rendering mode is used that redraws adjacent
238 characters.
239
240 All of this requires that fonts do not lie about character sizes,
241 however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed
242 bounding box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct
243 way is to ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is
244 wrong in these cases).
245
246 It's not clear (to me at least), whether this is a bug in Xft, freetype,
247 or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try
248 using the "-lsp" option to give the font more height. If that doesn't
249 work, you might be forced to use a different font.
250
251 All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their
252 bounding box data is correct.
253
254 How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?
255 First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings
256 ("TERM=rxvt-unicode"), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then
257 make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise
258 rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect:
259
260 URxvt.colorBD: white
261 URxvt.colorIT: green
262
263 Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?
264 For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird
265 colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the
266 standard 8 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of
267 course, to fix these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very
268 good reasons.
269
270 In the meantime, you can either edit your "rxvt-unicode" terminfo
271 definition to only claim 8 colour support or use "TERM=rxvt", which will
272 fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features.
273
274 Can I switch the fonts at runtime?
275 Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the
276 same effect as using the "-fn" switch, and takes effect immediately:
277
278 printf '\33]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
279
280 This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a
281 japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where
282 japanese fonts would only be in your way.
283
284 You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching.
285
286 Why do italic characters look as if clipped?
287 Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For
288 example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font "xft:Bitstream Vera Sans
289 Mono" completely fails in its italic face. A workaround might be to
290 enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:
291
292 URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
293 URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
294
295 Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?
296 Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as it
297 is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable
298 antialiasing (by appending ":antialias=false"), which saves lots of
299 memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
300
301 Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?
302 Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to
303 fall back to its default font search list it will prefer X11 core fonts,
304 because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has
305 antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they
306 look best that way.
307
308 If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually.
309
310 What's with this bold/blink stuff?
311 If no bold colour is set via "colorBD:", bold will invert text using the
312 standard foreground colour.
313
314 For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the text
315 blink when compiled with "--enable-text-blink". Without
316 "--enable-text-blink", the blink attribute will be ignored.
317
318 On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity
319 foreground/background colours.
320
321 color0-7 are the low-intensity colours.
322
323 color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colours.
324
325 I don't like the screen colours. How do I change them?
326 You can change the screen colours at run-time using ~/.Xdefaults
327 resources (or as long-options).
328
329 Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen, including
330 the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow:
331
332 URxvt.color0: #000000
333 URxvt.color1: #A80000
334 URxvt.color2: #00A800
335 URxvt.color3: #A8A800
336 URxvt.color4: #0000A8
337 URxvt.color5: #A800A8
338 URxvt.color6: #00A8A8
339 URxvt.color7: #A8A8A8
340
341 URxvt.color8: #000054
342 URxvt.color9: #FF0054
343 URxvt.color10: #00FF54
344 URxvt.color11: #FFFF54
345 URxvt.color12: #0000FF
346 URxvt.color13: #FF00FF
347 URxvt.color14: #00FFFF
348 URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF
349
350 And here is a more complete set of non-standard colours.
351
352 URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1
353 URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1
354 URxvt.background: #0e0e0e
355 URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1
356 URxvt.color0: #000000
357 URxvt.color8: #8b8f93
358 URxvt.color1: #dc74d1
359 URxvt.color9: #dc74d1
360 URxvt.color2: #0eb8c7
361 URxvt.color10: #0eb8c7
362 URxvt.color3: #dfe37e
363 URxvt.color11: #dfe37e
364 URxvt.color5: #9e88f0
365 URxvt.color13: #9e88f0
366 URxvt.color6: #73f7ff
367 URxvt.color14: #73f7ff
368 URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
369 URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
370
371 They have been described (not by me) as "pretty girly".
372
373 Why do some characters look so much different than others?
374 See next entry.
375
376 How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?
377 Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is fine.
378 Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of your
379 system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want to
380 display.
381
382 rxvt-unicode makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement font.
383 Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks
384 bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't
385 resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial
386 intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe
387 the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct.
388
389 In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list,
390 e.g.:
391
392 urxvt -fn basefont,font2,font3...
393
394 When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base font.
395 If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the next
396 font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
397 search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X-server.
398
399 The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the
400 base font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size,
401 which must be the same due to the way terminals work.
402
403 Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
404 This is because there is a difference between script and language --
405 rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is, as
406 it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first sees a
407 japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for display.
408 Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many chinese
409 characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first
410 non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese
411 font -- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font
412 for chinese characters that are also in the japanese font.
413
414 The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font
415 list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as a
416 preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
417 first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
418
419 In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
420 runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different
421 fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this
422 has been designed yet).
423
424 Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see "Can
425 I switch the fonts at runtime?" later in this document).
426
427 How can I make mplayer display video correctly?
428 We are working on it, in the meantime, as a workaround, use something
429 like:
430
431 urxvt -b 600 -geometry 20x1 -e sh -c 'mplayer -wid $WINDOWID file...'
432
433 Why is the cursor now blinking in emacs/vi/...?
434 This is likely caused by your editor/program's use of the "cvvis"
435 terminfo capability. Emacs uses it by default, as well as some versions
436 of vi and possibly other programs.
437
438 In emacs, you can switch that off by adding this to your ".emacs" file:
439
440 (setq visible-cursor nil)
441
442 For other programs, if they do not have an option, your have to remove
443 the "cvvis" capability from the terminfo description.
444
445 When urxvt first added the blinking cursor option, it didn't add a
446 "cvvis" capability, which served no purpose before. Version 9.21
447 introduced "cvvis" (and the ability to control blinking independent of
448 cursor shape) for compatibility with other terminals, which
449 traditionally use a blinking cursor for "cvvis". This also reflects the
450 intent of programs such as emacs, who expect "cvvis" to enable a
451 blinking cursor.
452
453 Keyboard, Mouse & User Interaction
454 The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?
455 If you want to select e.g. alphanumeric words, you can use the following
456 setting:
457
458 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+)
459
460 If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended more and
461 more.
462
463 To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this
464 pattern:
465
466 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\\\\]^`{|})]+)
467
468 Please also note that the *LeftClick Shift-LeftClick* combination also
469 selects words like the old code.
470
471 I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?
472 You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the
473 perl-ext-common resource to the empty string, which also keeps
474 rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
475
476 If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to
477 identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section
478 PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS in the urxvtperl(3) manpage. For example, to
479 disable the selection-popup and option-popup, specify this
480 perl-ext-common resource:
481
482 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup
483
484 This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup
485 extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example,
486 scrollback search mode is triggered by M-s. You can move it to any other
487 combination by adding a keysym resource that binds the desired
488 combination to the "start" action of "searchable-scrollback" and another
489 one that binds M-s to the "builtin:" action:
490
491 URxvt.keysym.CM-s: searchable-scrollback:start
492 URxvt.keysym.M-s: builtin:
493
494 The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off?
495 See next entry.
496
497 During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?
498 These are caused by the "readline" perl extension. Under normal
499 circumstances, it will move your cursor around when you click into the
500 line that contains it. It tries hard not to do this at the wrong moment,
501 but when running a program that doesn't parse cursor movements or in
502 some cases during rlogin sessions, it fails to detect this properly.
503
504 You can permanently switch this feature off by disabling the "readline"
505 extension:
506
507 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline
508
509 My numeric keypad acts weird and generates differing output?
510 Some Debian GNU/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no
511 specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is
512 caused by the wrong "TERM" setting, although the details of whether and
513 how this can happen are unknown, as "TERM=rxvt" should offer a
514 compatible keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please
515 report if that helped.
516
517 My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
518 The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
519 correctly, or you specified a preeditType that is not supported by your
520 input method. For example, if you specified OverTheSpot and your input
521 method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys) does not
522 support this (for instance because it is not visual), then rxvt-unicode
523 will continue without an input method.
524
525 In this case either do not specify a preeditType or specify more than
526 one pre-edit style, such as OverTheSpot,Root,None.
527
528 If it still doesn't work, then maybe your input method doesn't support
529 compose sequences - to fall back to the built-in one, make sure you
530 don't specify an input method via "-im" or "XMODIFIERS".
531
532 I cannot type "Ctrl-Shift-2" to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
533 Either try "Ctrl-2" alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
534 international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
535 advantage, typing <Ctrl-Shift-0> to get a ASCII NUL. This works for
536 other codes, too, such as "Ctrl-Shift-1-d" to type the default telnet
537 escape character and so on.
538
539 Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
540 Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing some
541 editors prematurely may leave it active. I've heard that tcsh may use
542 mouse reporting unless it is otherwise specified. A quick check is to
543 see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are pressed.
544
545 What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
546 Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the Backspace
547 keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following question) there are
548 two standard values that can be used for Backspace: "^H" and "^?".
549
550 Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the
551 debian policy of using "^?" when unsure, because it's the one and only
552 correct choice :).
553
554 It is possible to toggle between "^H" and "^?" with the DECBKM private
555 mode:
556
557 # use Backspace = ^H
558 $ stty erase ^H
559 $ printf "\e[?67h"
560
561 # use Backspace = ^?
562 $ stty erase ^?
563 $ printf "\e[?67l"
564
565 This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur, but
566 if you use Backspace = "^H", make sure that the termcap/terminfo value
567 properly reflects that.
568
569 The Delete key is a another casualty of the ill-defined Backspace
570 problem. To avoid confusion between the Backspace and Delete keys, the
571 Delete key has been assigned an escape sequence to match the vt100 for
572 Execute ("ESC [ 3 ~") and is in the supplied termcap/terminfo.
573
574 Some other Backspace problems:
575
576 some editors use termcap/terminfo, some editors (vim I'm told) expect
577 Backspace = ^H, GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help.
578
579 Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.
580
581 I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?
582 There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless
583 you have run "configure" with the "--disable-resources" option you can
584 use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with
585 keysyms.
586
587 Here's an example for a URxvt session started using "urxvt -name URxvt"
588
589 URxvt.keysym.Prior: \033[5~
590 URxvt.keysym.Next: \033[6~
591 URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[7~
592 URxvt.keysym.End: \033[8~
593 URxvt.keysym.Up: \033[A
594 URxvt.keysym.Down: \033[B
595 URxvt.keysym.Right: \033[C
596 URxvt.keysym.Left: \033[D
597
598 See some more examples in the documentation for the keysym resource.
599
600 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
601 KP_Insert == Insert
602 F22 == Print
603 F27 == Home
604 F29 == Prior
605 F33 == End
606 F35 == Next
607
608 Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various
609 possible keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the
610 keys as required for your particular machine.
611
612 Terminal Configuration
613 Can I see a typical configuration?
614 The default configuration tries to be xterm-like, which I don't like
615 that much, but it's least surprise to regular users.
616
617 As a rxvt or rxvt-unicode user, you are practically supposed to invest
618 time into customising your terminal. To get you started, here is the
619 author's .Xdefaults entries, with comments on what they do. It's
620 certainly not *typical*, but what's typical...
621
622 URxvt.cutchars: "()*,<>[]{}|'
623 URxvt.print-pipe: cat >/tmp/xxx
624
625 These are just for testing stuff.
626
627 URxvt.imLocale: ja_JP.UTF-8
628 URxvt.preeditType: OnTheSpot,None
629
630 This tells rxvt-unicode to use a special locale when communicating with
631 the X Input Method, and also tells it to only use the OnTheSpot pre-edit
632 type, which requires the "xim-onthespot" perl extension but rewards me
633 with correct-looking fonts.
634
635 URxvt.perl-lib: /root/lib/urxvt
636 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,selection-autotransform,selection-pastebin,xim-onthespot,remote-clipboard
637 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ( at .*? line \\d+)
638 URxvt.selection.pattern-1: ^(/[^:]+):\
639 URxvt.selection-autotransform.0: s/^([^:[:space:]]+):(\\d+):?$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/
640 URxvt.selection-autotransform.1: s/^ at (.*?) line (\\d+)$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/
641
642 This is my perl configuration. The first two set the perl library
643 directory and also tells urxvt to use a large number of extensions. I
644 develop for myself mostly, so I actually use most of the extensions I
645 write.
646
647 The selection stuff mainly makes the selection perl-error-message aware
648 and tells it to convert perl error messages into vi-commands to load the
649 relevant file and go to the error line number.
650
651 URxvt.scrollstyle: plain
652 URxvt.secondaryScroll: true
653
654 As the documentation says: plain is the preferred scrollbar for the
655 author. The "secondaryScroll" configures urxvt to scroll in full-screen
656 apps, like screen, so lines scrolled out of screen end up in urxvt's
657 scrollback buffer.
658
659 URxvt.background: #000000
660 URxvt.foreground: gray90
661 URxvt.color7: gray90
662 URxvt.colorBD: #ffffff
663 URxvt.cursorColor: #e0e080
664 URxvt.throughColor: #8080f0
665 URxvt.highlightColor: #f0f0f0
666
667 Some colours. Not sure which ones are being used or even non-defaults,
668 but these are in my .Xdefaults. Most notably, they set
669 foreground/background to light gray/black, and also make sure that the
670 colour 7 matches the default foreground colour.
671
672 URxvt.underlineColor: yellow
673
674 Another colour, makes underline lines look different. Sometimes hurts,
675 but is mostly a nice effect.
676
677 URxvt.geometry: 154x36
678 URxvt.loginShell: false
679 URxvt.meta: ignore
680 URxvt.utmpInhibit: true
681
682 Uh, well, should be mostly self-explanatory. By specifying some defaults
683 manually, I can quickly switch them for testing.
684
685 URxvt.saveLines: 8192
686
687 A large scrollback buffer is essential. Really.
688
689 URxvt.mapAlert: true
690
691 The only case I use it is for my IRC window, which I like to keep
692 iconified till people msg me (which beeps).
693
694 URxvt.visualBell: true
695
696 The audible bell is often annoying, especially when in a crowd.
697
698 URxvt.insecure: true
699
700 Please don't hack my mutt! Ooops...
701
702 URxvt.pastableTabs: false
703
704 I once thought this is a great idea.
705
706 urxvt.font: 9x15bold,\
707 -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1,\
708 -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1, \
709 [codeset=JISX0208]xft:Kochi Gothic, \
710 xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:autohint=true, \
711 xft:Code2000:antialias=false
712 urxvt.boldFont: -xos4-terminus-bold-r-normal--14-140-72-72-c-80-iso8859-15
713 urxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
714 urxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
715
716 I wrote rxvt-unicode to be able to specify fonts exactly. So don't be
717 overwhelmed. A special note: the "9x15bold" mentioned above is actually
718 the version from XFree-3.3, as XFree-4 replaced it by a totally
719 different font (different glyphs for ";" and many other harmless
720 characters), while the second font is actually the "9x15bold" from
721 XFree4/XOrg. The bold version has less chars than the medium version, so
722 I use it for rare characters, too. When editing sources with vim, I use
723 italic for comments and other stuff, which looks quite good with
724 Bitstream Vera anti-aliased.
725
726 Terminus is a quite bad font (many very wrong glyphs), but for most of
727 my purposes, it works, and gives a different look, as my normal
728 (Non-bold) font is already bold, and I want to see a difference between
729 bold and normal fonts.
730
731 Please note that I used the "urxvt" instance name and not the "URxvt"
732 class name. That is because I use different configs for different
733 purposes, for example, my IRC window is started with "-name IRC", and
734 uses these defaults:
735
736 IRC*title: IRC
737 IRC*geometry: 87x12+535+542
738 IRC*saveLines: 0
739 IRC*mapAlert: true
740 IRC*font: suxuseuro
741 IRC*boldFont: suxuseuro
742 IRC*colorBD: white
743 IRC*keysym.M-C-1: command:\033]710;suxuseuro\007\033]711;suxuseuro\007
744 IRC*keysym.M-C-2: command:\033]710;9x15bold\007\033]711;9x15bold\007
745
746 "Alt-Ctrl-1" and "Alt-Ctrl-2" switch between two different font sizes.
747 "suxuseuro" allows me to keep an eye (and actually read) stuff while
748 keeping a very small window. If somebody pastes something complicated
749 (e.g. japanese), I temporarily switch to a larger font.
750
751 The above is all in my ".Xdefaults" (I don't use ".Xresources" nor
752 "xrdb"). I also have some resources in a separate ".Xdefaults-hostname"
753 file for different hosts, for example, on my main desktop, I use:
754
755 URxvt.keysym.C-M-q: command:\033[3;5;5t
756 URxvt.keysym.C-M-y: command:\033[3;5;606t
757 URxvt.keysym.C-M-e: command:\033[3;1605;5t
758 URxvt.keysym.C-M-c: command:\033[3;1605;606t
759 URxvt.keysym.C-M-p: perl:test
760
761 The first for keysym definitions allow me to quickly bring some windows
762 in the layout I like most. Ion users might start laughing but will stop
763 immediately when I tell them that I use my own Fvwm2 module for much the
764 same effect as Ion provides, and I only very rarely use the above key
765 combinations :->
766
767 Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?
768 Well, why, indeed? It does, in a way very similar to other X
769 applications. Most importantly, this means that if you or your OS loads
770 resources into the X display (the right way to do it), rxvt-unicode will
771 ignore any resource files in your home directory. It will only read
772 $HOME/.Xdefaults when no resources are attached to the display.
773
774 If you have or use an $HOME/.Xresources file, chances are that resources
775 are loaded into your X-server. In this case, you have to re-login after
776 every change (or run xrdb -merge $HOME/.Xresources).
777
778 Also consider the form resources have to use:
779
780 URxvt.resource: value
781
782 If you want to use another form (there are lots of different ways of
783 specifying resources), make sure you understand whether and why it
784 works. If unsure, use the form above.
785
21 When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? 786 When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?
22 The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely 787 The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available
23 available as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same 788 as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often
24 problem often arises). 789 arises).
25 790
26 The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, 791 The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this
27 this can be done like this (with ncurses' infocmp): 792 can be done by simply installing rxvt-unicode on the remote system as
793 well (in case you have a nice package manager ready), or you can install
794 the terminfo database manually like this (with ncurses infocmp. works as
795 user and root):
28 796
29 REMOTE=remotesystem.domain 797 REMOTE=remotesystem.domain
30 infocmp rxvt-unicode | ssh $REMOTE "cat >/tmp/ti && tic /tmp/ti" 798 infocmp rxvt-unicode | ssh $REMOTE "mkdir -p .terminfo && cat >/tmp/ti && tic /tmp/ti"
31 799
32 ... or by installing rxvt-unicode normally on the remote system, 800 One some systems you might need to set $TERMINFO to the full path of
801 $HOME/.terminfo for this to work.
33 802
34 If you cannot or do not want to do this, then you can simply set 803 If you cannot or do not want to do this, then you can simply set
35 "TERM=rxvt" or even "TERM=xterm", and live with the small number of 804 "TERM=rxvt" or even "TERM=xterm", and live with the small number of
36 problems arising, which includes wrong keymapping, less and 805 problems arising, which includes wrong keymapping, less and different
37 different colours and some refresh errors in fullscreen 806 colours and some refresh errors in fullscreen applications. It's a nice
38 applications. It's a nice quick-and-dirty workaround for rare cases, 807 quick-and-dirty workaround for rare cases, though.
39 though.
40 808
41 If you always want to do this (and are fine with the consequences) 809 If you always want to do this (and are fine with the consequences) you
42 you can either recompile rxvt-unicode with the desired TERM value or 810 can either recompile rxvt-unicode with the desired TERM value or use a
43 use a resource to set it: 811 resource to set it:
44 812
45 URxvt.termName: rxvt 813 URxvt.termName: rxvt
46 814
47 If you don't plan to use rxvt (quite common...) you could also 815 If you don't plan to use rxvt (quite common...) you could also replace
48 replace the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one. 816 the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one and use "TERM=rxvt".
49 817
818 nano fails with "Error opening terminal: rxvt-unicode"
819 This exceptionally confusing and useless error message is printed by
820 nano when it can't find the terminfo database. Nothing is wrong with
821 your terminal, read the previous answer for a solution.
822
50 "tic" outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry. 823 "tic" outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
51 Most likely it's the empty definition for "enacs=". Just replace it 824 Most likely it's the empty definition for "enacs=". Just replace it by
52 by "enacs=\E[0@" and try again. 825 "enacs=\E[0@" and try again.
53 826
54 "bash"'s readline does not work correctly under rxvt. 827 "bash"'s readline does not work correctly under urxvt.
828 See next entry.
829
55 I need a termcap file entry. 830 I need a termcap file entry.
56 One reason you might want this is that some distributions or 831 One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating
57 operating systems still compile some programs using the 832 systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap
58 long-obsoleted termcap library (Fedora Core's bash is one example) 833 library (Fedora's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry for
59 and rely on a termcap entry for "rxvt-unicode". 834 "rxvt-unicode".
60 835
61 You could use rxvt's termcap entry with resonable results in many 836 You could use rxvt's termcap entry with reasonable results in many
62 cases. You can also create a termcap entry by using terminfo's 837 cases. You can also create a termcap entry by using terminfo's infocmp
63 infocmp program like this: 838 program like this:
64 839
65 infocmp -C rxvt-unicode 840 infocmp -C rxvt-unicode
66 841
67 Or you could use this termcap entry, generated by the command above: 842 Or you could use the termcap entry in doc/etc/rxvt-unicode.termcap,
843 generated by the command above.
68 844
69 rxvt-unicode|rxvt-unicode terminal (X Window System):\
70 :am:bw:eo:km:mi:ms:xn:xo:\
71 :co#80:it#8:li#24:lm#0:\
72 :AL=\E[%dL:DC=\E[%dP:DL=\E[%dM:DO=\E[%dB:IC=\E[%d@:\
73 :K1=\EOw:K2=\EOu:K3=\EOy:K4=\EOq:K5=\EOs:LE=\E[%dD:\
74 :RI=\E[%dC:SF=\E[%dS:SR=\E[%dT:UP=\E[%dA:ae=\E(B:al=\E[L:\
75 :as=\E(0:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[2J:\
76 :cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:ct=\E[3g:dc=\E[P:\
77 :dl=\E[M:do=^J:ec=\E[%dX:ei=\E[4l:ho=\E[H:\
78 :i1=\E[?47l\E=\E[?1l:ic=\E[@:im=\E[4h:\
79 :is=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l:\
80 :k1=\E[11~:k2=\E[12~:k3=\E[13~:k4=\E[14~:k5=\E[15~:\
81 :k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:kD=\E[3~:\
82 :kI=\E[2~:kN=\E[6~:kP=\E[5~:kb=\177:kd=\EOB:ke=\E[?1l\E>:\
83 :kh=\E[7~:kl=\EOD:kr=\EOC:ks=\E[?1h\E=:ku=\EOA:le=^H:\
84 :mb=\E[5m:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m\017:mr=\E[7m:nd=\E[C:rc=\E8:\
85 :sc=\E7:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:\
86 :te=\E[r\E[?1049l:ti=\E[?1049h:ue=\E[24m:up=\E[A:\
87 :us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
88 :vs=\E[?25h:
89
90 Why does "ls" no longer have coloured output? 845 Why does "ls" no longer have coloured output?
91 The "ls" in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to 846 The "ls" in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to
92 decide wether a terminal has colour, but uses it's own configuration 847 decide whether a terminal has colour, but uses its own configuration
93 file. Needless to say, "rxvt-unicode" is not in it's default file 848 file. Needless to say, "rxvt-unicode" is not in its default file (among
94 (among with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add: 849 with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add:
95 850
96 TERM rxvt-unicode 851 TERM rxvt-unicode
97 852
98 to "/etc/DIR_COLORS" or simply add: 853 to "/etc/DIR_COLORS" or simply add:
99 854
100 alias ls='ls --color=auto' 855 alias ls='ls --color=auto'
101 856
102 to your ".profile" or ".bashrc". 857 to your ".profile" or ".bashrc".
103 858
104 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode? 859 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?
860 See next entry.
861
105 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic? 862 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?
863 See next entry.
864
106 Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly? 865 Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?
107 Make sure you are using "TERM=rxvt-unicode". Some pre-packaged 866 Make sure you are using "TERM=rxvt-unicode". Some pre-packaged
108 distributions (most notably Debian GNU/Linux) break rxvt-unicode by 867 distributions break rxvt-unicode by setting "TERM" to "rxvt", which
109 setting "TERM" to "rxvt", which doesn't have these extra features. 868 doesn't have these extra features. Unfortunately, some of these
110 Unfortunately, some of these (most notably, again, Debian GNU/Linux)
111 furthermore fail to even install the "rxvt-unicode" terminfo file, 869 furthermore fail to even install the "rxvt-unicode" terminfo file, so
112 so you will need to install it on your own (See the question When I 870 you will need to install it on your own (See the question When I log-in
113 log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? on 871 to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? on how to do
114 how to do this). 872 this).
115 873
116 My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output? 874 Encoding / Locale / Input Method Issues
117 Some Debian GNUL/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no
118 specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is
119 caused by the wrong "TERM" setting, although the details of wether
120 and how this can happen are unknown, as "TERM=rxvt" should offer a
121 compatible keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and
122 please report if that helped.
123
124 Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding? 875 Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?
876 See next entry.
877
125 Unicode does not seem to work? 878 Unicode does not seem to work?
126 If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character 879 If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but
127 but getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program 880 getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output
128 output is subtly garbled, then you should check your locale 881 is subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings.
129 settings.
130 882
131 Rxvt-unicode must be started with the same "LC_CTYPE" setting as the 883 Rxvt-unicode must be started with the same "LC_CTYPE" setting as the
132 programs. Often rxvt-unicode is started in the "C" locale, while the 884 programs running in it. Often rxvt-unicode is started in the "C" locale,
133 login script running within the rxvt-unicode window changes the 885 while the login script running within the rxvt-unicode window changes
134 locale to something else, e.g. "en_GB.UTF-8". Needless to say, this 886 the locale to something else, e.g. "en_GB.UTF-8". Needless to say, this
135 is not going to work. 887 is not going to work, and is the most common cause for problems.
136 888
137 The best thing is to fix your startup environment, as you will 889 The best thing is to fix your startup environment, as you will likely
138 likely run into other problems. If nothing works you can try this in 890 run into other problems. If nothing works you can try this in your
139 your .profile. 891 .profile.
140 892
141 printf '\e]701;%s\007' "$LC_CTYPE" 893 printf '\33]701;%s\007' "$LC_CTYPE" # $LANG or $LC_ALL are worth a try, too
142 894
143 If this doesn't work, then maybe you use a "LC_CTYPE" specification 895 If this doesn't work, then maybe you use a "LC_CTYPE" specification not
144 not supported on your systems. Some systems have a "locale" command 896 supported on your systems. Some systems have a "locale" command which
145 which displays this (also, "perl -e0" can be used to check locale 897 displays this (also, "perl -e0" can be used to check locale settings, as
146 settings, as it will complain loudly if it cannot set the locale). 898 it will complain loudly if it cannot set the locale). If it displays
147 If it displays something like: 899 something like:
148 900
149 locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: ... 901 locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: ...
150 902
151 Then the locale you specified is not supported on your system. 903 Then the locale you specified is not supported on your system.
152 904
153 If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly 905 If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then
154 then you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs 906 you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't
155 just don't support locales :( 907 support locales :(
156 908
157 Why do some characters look so much different than others?
158 How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?
159 Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is fine.
160 Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of
161 your system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you
162 want to display.
163
164 rxvt-unicode makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement font.
165 Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks
166 bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that
167 don't resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the
168 artificial intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it
169 has to believe the font that the characters it claims to contain
170 indeed look correct.
171
172 In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font
173 list, e.g.:
174
175 rxvt -fn basefont,font2,font3...
176
177 When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base
178 font. If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to
179 the next font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed
180 up this search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the
181 X-server.
182
183 The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the
184 base font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell
185 size, which must be the same due to the way terminals work.
186
187 Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
188 This is because there is a difference between script and language --
189 rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output
190 is, as it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode
191 first sees a japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese
192 font for display. Subsequent japanese characters will use that font.
193 Now, many chinese characters aren't represented in japanese fonts,
194 so when the first non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will
195 look for a chinese font -- unfortunately at this point, it will
196 still use the japanese font for chinese characters that are also in
197 the japanese font.
198
199 The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your
200 font list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font
201 list as a preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a
202 japanese font first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font
203 first.
204
205 In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
206 runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using
207 different fonts for the same character at the same time, but no
208 interface for this has been designed yet).
209
210 Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see
211 "Can I switch the fonts at runtime?" later in this document).
212
213 Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?
214 Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that
215 character size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for
216 terminal use might contain some characters that are simply too wide.
217 Rxvt-unicode will avoid these characters. For characters that are
218 just "a bit" too wide a special "careful" rendering mode is used
219 that redraws adjacent characters.
220
221 All of this requires that fonts do not lie about character sizes,
222 however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed
223 bounding box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the
224 correct way is to ask for the character bounding box, which
225 unfortunately is wrong in these cases).
226
227 It's not clear (to me at least), wether this is a bug in Xft,
228 freetype, or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you
229 might try using the "-lsp" option to give the font more height. If
230 that doesn't work, you might be forced to use a different font.
231
232 All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their
233 bounding box data is correct.
234
235 On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide.
236 Seems to be a known bug, read
237 <http://nixdoc.net/files/forum/about34198.html>. Some people use the
238 following ugly workaround to get non-double-wide-characters working:
239
240 #define wcwidth(x) wcwidth(x) > 1 ? 1 : wcwidth(x)
241
242 My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
243 The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not
244 set correctly, or you specified a preeditStyle that is not supported
245 by your input method. For example, if you specified OverTheSpot and
246 your input method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose
247 keys) does not support this (for instance because it is not visual),
248 then rxvt-unicode will continue without an input method.
249
250 In this case either do not specify a preeditStyle or specify more
251 than one pre-edit style, such as OverTheSpot,Root,None.
252
253 I cannot type "Ctrl-Shift-2" to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO
254 14755
255 Either try "Ctrl-2" alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
256 international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
257 advantage, typing <Ctrl-Shift-0> to get a ASCII NUL. This works for
258 other codes, too, such as "Ctrl-Shift-1-d" to type the default
259 telnet escape character and so on.
260
261 How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?
262 First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal
263 settings ("TERM=rxvt-unicode"), which will get rid of most of these
264 effects. Then make sure you have specified colours for italic and
265 bold, as otherwise rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate
266 the effect:
267
268 URxvt.colorBD: white
269 URxvt.colorIT: green
270
271 Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how
272 can I fix that?
273 For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very
274 weird colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than
275 the standard 8 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is,
276 of course, to fix these programs not to assume non-ISO colours
277 without very good reasons.
278
279 In the meantime, you can either edit your "rxvt-unicode" terminfo
280 definition to only claim 8 colour support or use "TERM=rxvt", which
281 will fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode
282 features.
283
284 I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.
285 Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol "__STDC_ISO_10646__" to be defined
286 in your compile environment, or an implementation that implements
287 it, wether it defines the symbol or not. "__STDC_ISO_10646__"
288 requires that wchar_t is represented as unicode.
289
290 As you might have guessed, FreeBSD does neither define this symobl
291 nor does it support it. Instead, it uses it's own internal
292 representation of wchar_t. This is, of course, completely fine with
293 respect to standards.
294
295 However, that means rxvt-unicode only works in "POSIX", "ISO-8859-1"
296 and "UTF-8" locales under FreeBSD (which all use Unicode as wchar_t.
297
298 "__STDC_ISO_10646__" is the only sane way to support multi-language
299 apps in an OS, as using a locale-dependent (and non-standardized)
300 representation of wchar_t makes it impossible to convert between
301 wchar_t (as used by X11 and your applications) and any other
302 encoding without implementing OS-specific-wrappers for each and
303 every locale. There simply are no APIs to convert wchar_t into
304 anything except the current locale encoding.
305
306 Some applications (such as the formidable mlterm) work around this
307 by carrying their own replacement functions for character set
308 handling with them, and either implementing OS-dependent hacks or
309 doing multiple conversions (which is slow and unreliable in case the
310 OS implements encodings slightly different than the terminal
311 emulator).
312
313 The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in
314 the system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app
315 to carry complete replacements for them :)
316
317 I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc.
318 Try the diff in doc/solaris9.patch as a base. It fixes the worst
319 problems with "wcwidth" and a compile problem.
320
321 How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
322 rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using
323 the X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no
324 longer supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a
325 single font). I recommend starting the X-server in "-multiwindow" or
326 "-rootless" mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as
327 the old libW11 emulation.
328
329 At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any
330 multi-byte encodings (you might try "LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8"), so you are
331 likely limited to 8-bit encodings.
332
333 How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use? 909 How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
910 See next entry.
911
334 Is there an option to switch encodings? 912 Is there an option to switch encodings?
335 Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, 913 Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
336 and no specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't 914 specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know
337 even know about UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to 915 about UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O.
338 terminal I/O.
339 916
340 The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for 917 The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for
341 selecting the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating 918 selecting the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating
342 this to all applications so everybody agrees on character properties 919 this to all applications so everybody agrees on character properties
343 such as width and code number. This mechanism is the *locale*. 920 such as width and code number. This mechanism is the *locale*.
344 Applications not using that info will have problems (for example, 921 Applications not using that info will have problems (for example,
345 "xterm" gets the width of characters wrong as it uses it's own, 922 "xterm" gets the width of characters wrong as it uses its own,
346 locale-independent table under all locales). 923 locale-independent table under all locales).
347 924
348 Rxvt-unicode uses the "LC_CTYPE" locale category to select encoding. 925 Rxvt-unicode uses the "LC_CTYPE" locale category to select encoding. All
349 All programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree 926 programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the
350 in the interpretation of characters. 927 interpretation of characters.
351 928
352 Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, 929 Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor
353 nor is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like. 930 is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like.
354 931
355 On most systems, the content of the "LC_CTYPE" environment variable 932 On most systems, the content of the "LC_CTYPE" environment variable
356 contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an 933 contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed
357 already-installed locale. Common names for locales are 934 locale. Common names for locales are "en_US.UTF-8", "de_DE.ISO-8859-15",
358 "en_US.UTF-8", "de_DE.ISO-8859-15", "ja_JP.EUC-JP", i.e. 935 "ja_JP.EUC-JP", i.e. "language_country.encoding", but other forms (i.e.
359 "language_country.encoding", but other forms (i.e. "de" or "german") 936 "de" or "german") are also common.
360 are also common.
361 937
362 Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for the 938 Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for the
363 encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings, i.e. 939 encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings, i.e.
364 "de_DE.UTF-8" and "ja_JP.UTF-8" are the normally same to 940 "de_DE.UTF-8" and "ja_JP.UTF-8" are the normally same to rxvt-unicode.
365 rxvt-unicode.
366 941
367 If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you 942 If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
368 start rxvt-unicode with the correct "LC_CTYPE" category. 943 rxvt-unicode with the correct "LC_CTYPE" category.
369 944
370 Can I switch locales at runtime? 945 Can I switch locales at runtime?
371 Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets 946 Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
372 rxvt-unicode's idea of "LC_CTYPE". 947 rxvt-unicode's idea of "LC_CTYPE".
373 948
374 printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS 949 printf '\33]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
375 950
376 See also the previous answer. 951 See also the previous answer.
377 952
378 Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in 953 Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in one
379 one locale (e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8") but some programs don't support it 954 locale (e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8") but some programs don't support it (e.g.
380 (e.g. UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start "xjdic", which 955 UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start "xjdic", which first
381 first switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later: 956 switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
382 957
383 printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS 958 printf '\33]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
384 xjdic -js 959 xjdic -js
385 printf '\e]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8 960 printf '\33]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8
386 961
387 You can also use xterm's "luit" program, which usually works fine, 962 You can also use xterm's "luit" program, which usually works fine,
388 except for some locales where character width differs between 963 except for some locales where character width differs between program-
389 program- and rxvt-unicode-locales. 964 and rxvt-unicode-locales.
390 965
391 Can I switch the fonts at runtime? 966 I have problems getting my input method working.
392 Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has 967 Try a search engine, as this is slightly different for every input
393 the same effect as using the "-fn" switch, and takes effect 968 method server.
394 immediately:
395 969
396 printf '\e]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic" 970 Here is a checklist:
397 971
398 This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer 972 - Make sure your locale *and* the imLocale are supported on your OS.
399 a japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, 973 Try "locale -a" or check the documentation for your OS.
400 where japanese fonts would only be in your way.
401 974
402 You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching. 975 - Make sure your locale or imLocale matches a locale supported by your
976 XIM.
977 For example, kinput2 does not support UTF-8 locales, you should use
978 "ja_JP.EUC-JP" or equivalent.
403 979
404 Why do italic characters look as if clipped? 980 - Make sure your XIM server is actually running.
405 Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For 981 - Make sure the "XMODIFIERS" environment variable is set correctly when
406 example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font "xft:Bitstream Vera 982 *starting* rxvt-unicode.
407 Sans Mono" completely fails in it's italic face. A workaround might 983 When you want to use e.g. kinput2, it must be set to "@im=kinput2".
408 be to enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this: 984 For scim, use "@im=SCIM". You can see what input method servers are
985 running with this command:
409 986
410 URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true 987 xprop -root XIM_SERVERS
411 URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
412 988
413 My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do? 989 My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?
414 You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest 990 You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of
415 of the terminal, using the resource "imlocale": 991 the terminal, using the resource "imlocale":
416 992
417 URxvt*imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP 993 URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
418 994
419 Now you can start your terminal with "LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8" and 995 Now you can start your terminal with "LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8" and still
420 still use your input method. Please note, however, that you will not 996 use your input method. Please note, however, that, depending on your
421 be able to input characters outside "EUC-JP" in a normal way then, 997 Xlib version, you may not be able to input characters outside "EUC-JP"
422 as your input method limits you. 998 in a normal way then, as your input method limits you.
423 999
424 Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits. 1000 Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
425 Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by 1001 Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
426 design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory 1002 design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
427 leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering 1003 leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at
428 at exit time. kinput2 (and derived input methods) generally 1004 exit time. kinput2 (and derived input methods) generally succeeds, while
429 succeeds, while SCIM (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, 1005 SCIM (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however, crashes
430 however, crashes cannot be completely avoided even if both sides 1006 cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate.
431 cooperate.
432 1007
433 So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers. 1008 So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
434 1009
435 Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that? 1010 Operating Systems / Package Maintaining
436 Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for 1011 I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation?
437 something you don't use. One thing you should try is to configure 1012 You should build one binary with the default options. configure now
438 out all settings that you don't need, for example, Xft support is a 1013 enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
439 resource hog by design, when used. Compiling it out ensures that no 1014 runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enabling
440 Xft font will be loaded accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find 1015 them, except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter
441 a font for your characters. 1016 should be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely
1017 more in the future) depends on it.
442 1018
443 Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger 1019 You should not overwrite the "perl-ext-common" and "perl-ext" resources
444 scrollback buffers: Without "--enable-unicode3", rxvt-unicode will 1020 system-wide (except maybe with "defaults"). This will result in useful
445 use 6 bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to 1021 behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty
446 almost a kilobyte per line. A scrollback buffer of 10000 lines will 1022 "perl-ext-common" resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the
447 then (if full) use 10 Megabytes of memory. With "--enable-unicode3" 1023 perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it.
448 it gets worse, as rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
449 1024
450 Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow? 1025 If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal one
451 Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, 1026 with "--disable-everything" (very useful) and a maximal one with
452 as it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to 1027 "--enable-everything" (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of
453 disable antialiasing (by appending ":antialias=false"), which saves 1028 encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used).
454 lots of memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
455 1029
456 Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong? 1030 I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe?
457 Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to 1031 It should be, starting with release 7.1. You are encouraged to properly
458 fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core 1032 install urxvt with privileges necessary for your OS now.
459 fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It
460 has antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author
461 thinks they look best that way.
462 1033
463 If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually. 1034 When rxvt-unicode detects that it runs setuid or setgid, it will fork
1035 into a helper process for privileged operations (pty handling on some
1036 systems, utmp/wtmp/lastlog handling on others) and drop privileges
1037 immediately. This is much safer than most other terminals that keep
1038 privileges while running (but is more relevant to urxvt, as it contains
1039 things as perl interpreters, which might be "helpful" to attackers).
464 1040
465 Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works. 1041 This forking is done as the very first within main(), which is very
466 Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing 1042 early and reduces possible bugs to initialisation code run before
467 some editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode. 1043 main(), or things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should
468 I've heard that tcsh may use mouse reporting unless it otherwise 1044 result in very little risk.
469 specified. A quick check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt
470 or Shift keys are depressed. See rxvt(7)
471 1045
472 What's with this bold/blink stuff? 1046 I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.
473 If no bold colour is set via "colorBD:", bold will invert text using 1047 Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol "__STDC_ISO_10646__" to be defined in
474 the standard foreground colour. 1048 your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it,
1049 whether it defines the symbol or not. "__STDC_ISO_10646__" requires that
1050 wchar_t is represented as unicode.
475 1051
476 For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the 1052 As you might have guessed, FreeBSD does neither define this symbol nor
477 text blink when compiled with "--enable-blinking". with standard 1053 does it support it. Instead, it uses its own internal representation of
478 colours. Without "--enable-blinking", the blink attribute will be 1054 wchar_t. This is, of course, completely fine with respect to standards.
479 ignored.
480 1055
481 On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set 1056 However, that means rxvt-unicode only works in "POSIX", "ISO-8859-1" and
482 high-intensity foreground/background colors. 1057 "UTF-8" locales under FreeBSD (which all use Unicode as wchar_t).
483 1058
484 color0-7 are the low-intensity colors. 1059 "__STDC_ISO_10646__" is the only sane way to support multi-language apps
1060 in an OS, as using a locale-dependent (and non-standardized)
1061 representation of wchar_t makes it impossible to convert between wchar_t
1062 (as used by X11 and your applications) and any other encoding without
1063 implementing OS-specific-wrappers for each and every locale. There
1064 simply are no APIs to convert wchar_t into anything except the current
1065 locale encoding.
485 1066
486 color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colors. 1067 Some applications (such as the formidable mlterm) work around this by
1068 carrying their own replacement functions for character set handling with
1069 them, and either implementing OS-dependent hacks or doing multiple
1070 conversions (which is slow and unreliable in case the OS implements
1071 encodings slightly different than the terminal emulator).
487 1072
488 I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them? 1073 The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the
489 You can change the screen colors at run-time using ~/.Xdefaults 1074 system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry
490 resources (or as long-options). 1075 complete replacements for them :)
491 1076
492 Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen, 1077 How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
493 including the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow: 1078 rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using the
1079 X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no longer
1080 supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a single
1081 font). I recommend starting the X-server in "-multiwindow" or
1082 "-rootless" mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as the
1083 old libW11 emulation.
494 1084
495 URxvt.color0: #000000 1085 At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any
496 URxvt.color1: #A80000 1086 multi-byte encodings (you might try "LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8"), so you are
497 URxvt.color2: #00A800 1087 likely limited to 8-bit encodings.
498 URxvt.color3: #A8A800
499 URxvt.color4: #0000A8
500 URxvt.color5: #A800A8
501 URxvt.color6: #00A8A8
502 URxvt.color7: #A8A8A8
503 1088
504 URxvt.color8: #000054 1089 Character widths are not correct.
505 URxvt.color9: #FF0054 1090 urxvt uses the system wcwidth function to know the information about the
506 URxvt.color10: #00FF54 1091 width of characters, so on systems with incorrect locale data you will
507 URxvt.color11: #FFFF54 1092 likely get bad results. Two notorious examples are Solaris 9, where
508 URxvt.color12: #0000FF 1093 single-width characters like U+2514 are reported as double-width, and
509 URxvt.color13: #FF00FF 1094 Darwin 8, where combining chars are reported having width 1.
510 URxvt.color14: #00FFFF
511 URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF
512 1095
513 And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors described 1096 The solution is to upgrade your system or switch to a better one. A
514 (not by me) as "pretty girly". 1097 possibly working workaround is to use a wcwidth implementation like
515 1098
516 URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1 1099 http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/wcwidth.c
517 URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1
518 URxvt.background: #0e0e0e
519 URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1
520 URxvt.color0: #000000
521 URxvt.color8: #8b8f93
522 URxvt.color1: #dc74d1
523 URxvt.color9: #dc74d1
524 URxvt.color2: #0eb8c7
525 URxvt.color10: #0eb8c7
526 URxvt.color3: #dfe37e
527 URxvt.color11: #dfe37e
528 URxvt.color5: #9e88f0
529 URxvt.color13: #9e88f0
530 URxvt.color6: #73f7ff
531 URxvt.color14: #73f7ff
532 URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
533 URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
534 1100
535 How can I start rxvtd in a race-free way?
536 Try "rxvtd -f -o", which tells rxvtd to open the display, create the
537 listening socket and then fork.
538
539 What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
540 Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the
541 BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following
542 question) there are two standard values that can be used for
543 Backspace: "^H" and "^?".
544
545 Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the
546 debian policy of using "^?" when unsure, because it's the one only
547 only correct choice :).
548
549 Rxvt-unicode tries to inherit the current stty settings and uses the
550 value of `erase' to guess the value for backspace. If rxvt-unicode
551 wasn't started from a terminal (say, from a menu or by remote
552 shell), then the system value of `erase', which corresponds to
553 CERASE in <termios.h>, will be used (which may not be the same as
554 your stty setting).
555
556 For starting a new rxvt-unicode:
557
558 # use Backspace = ^H
559 $ stty erase ^H
560 $ rxvt
561
562 # use Backspace = ^?
563 $ stty erase ^?
564 $ rxvt
565
566 Toggle with "ESC [ 36 h" / "ESC [ 36 l" as documented in rxvt(7).
567
568 For an existing rxvt-unicode:
569
570 # use Backspace = ^H
571 $ stty erase ^H
572 $ echo -n "^[[36h"
573
574 # use Backspace = ^?
575 $ stty erase ^?
576 $ echo -n "^[[36l"
577
578 This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur,
579 but if you use Backspace = "^H", make sure that the termcap/terminfo
580 value properly reflects that.
581
582 The Delete key is a another casualty of the ill-defined Backspace
583 problem. To avoid confusion between the Backspace and Delete keys,
584 the Delete key has been assigned an escape sequence to match the
585 vt100 for Execute ("ESC [ 3 ~") and is in the supplied
586 termcap/terminfo.
587
588 Some other Backspace problems:
589
590 some editors use termcap/terminfo, some editors (vim I'm told)
591 expect Backspace = ^H, GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for
592 help.
593
594 Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.
595
596 I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?
597 There are some compile-time selections available via configure.
598 Unless you have run "configure" with the "--disable-resources"
599 option you can use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings
600 associated with keysyms.
601
602 Here's an example for a URxvt session started using "rxvt -name
603 URxvt"
604
605 URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[1~
606 URxvt.keysym.End: \033[4~
607 URxvt.keysym.C-apostrophe: \033<C-'>
608 URxvt.keysym.C-slash: \033<C-/>
609 URxvt.keysym.C-semicolon: \033<C-;>
610 URxvt.keysym.C-grave: \033<C-`>
611 URxvt.keysym.C-comma: \033<C-,>
612 URxvt.keysym.C-period: \033<C-.>
613 URxvt.keysym.C-0x60: \033<C-`>
614 URxvt.keysym.C-Tab: \033<C-Tab>
615 URxvt.keysym.C-Return: \033<C-Return>
616 URxvt.keysym.S-Return: \033<S-Return>
617 URxvt.keysym.S-space: \033<S-Space>
618 URxvt.keysym.M-Up: \033<M-Up>
619 URxvt.keysym.M-Down: \033<M-Down>
620 URxvt.keysym.M-Left: \033<M-Left>
621 URxvt.keysym.M-Right: \033<M-Right>
622 URxvt.keysym.M-C-0: list \033<M-C- 0123456789 >
623 URxvt.keysym.M-C-a: list \033<M-C- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz >
624 URxvt.keysym.F12: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007
625
626 See some more examples in the documentation for the keysym resource.
627
628 I'm using keyboard model XXX that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys. How
629 do I make use of them? For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4 has the
630 following mappings that rxvt-unicode doesn't recognize.
631 KP_Insert == Insert
632 F22 == Print
633 F27 == Home
634 F29 == Prior
635 F33 == End
636 F35 == Next
637
638 Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various
639 possible keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap
640 the keys as required for your particular machine.
641
642 How do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm?
643 I need this to decide about setting colors etc.
644 rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable "COLORTERM", so you
645 can check and see if that is set. Note that several programs, JED,
646 slrn, Midnight Commander automatically check this variable to decide
647 whether or not to use color.
648
649 How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?
650 If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled
651 insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script
652 snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of
653 rxvt-unicode wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in
654 these snippets) then the COLORTERM variable can be used to
655 distinguish rxvt-unicode from a regular xterm.
656
657 Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell
658 script snippets:
659
660 # Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:
661 [ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know
662 if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
663 stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
664 echo -n '^[Z'
665 read term_id
666 stty icanon echo
667 if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
668 echo -n '^[[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
669 read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
670 fi
671 fi
672
673 How do I compile the manual pages for myself?
674 You need to have a recent version of perl installed as
675 /usr/bin/perl, one that comes with pod2man, pod2text and pod2html.
676 Then go to the doc subdirectory and enter "make alldoc".
677
678 My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?
679 Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: "irc.freenode.net",
680 channel "#rxvt-unicode" has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might
681 be interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not
682 FAQs :).
683

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