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Revision 1.37 by root, Tue Jan 31 00:58:20 2006 UTC vs.
Revision 1.73 by root, Fri May 14 13:47:43 2021 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	2	Meta, Features & Commandline Issues
3	single words?	3	My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?
4	If you want to select e.g. alphanumeric words, you can use the following	4	Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: "irc.freenode.net", channel
5	setting:	5	"#rxvt-unicode" has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be
		6	interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :).
6		7
7	URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+)	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.
8		13
9	If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended more and	14	For these reasons, it is impossible to support rxvt-unicode on Gentoo.
10	more.	15	Problems appearing on Gentoo systems will usually simply be ignored
		16	unless they can be reproduced on non-Gentoo systems.
11		17
12	To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this	18	Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
13	pattern:	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:
14		22
15	URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\\\\]^`{|})]+)	23	urxvt -pe tabbed
16		24
17	Please also note that the *LeftClick Shift-LeftClik* combination also
18	selects words like the old code.
19
20	I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I
21	change/disable it?
22	You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the
23	perl-ext-common resource to the empty string, which also keeps
24	rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
25
26	If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to
27	identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section
28	PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS in the rxvtperl(3) manpage. For example, to
29	disable the selection-popup and option-popup, specify this
30	perl-ext-common resource:
31
32	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup
33
34	This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup
35	extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example,
36	scrollback search mode is triggered by M-s. You can move it to any other
37	combination either by setting the searchable-scrollback resource:
38
39	URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s
40
41	The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how
42	do I switch this off?
43	During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor
44	outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?
45	These are caused by the "readline" perl extension. Under normal
46	circumstances, it will move your cursor around when you click into the
47	line that contains it. It tries hard not to do this at the wrong moment,
48	but when running a program that doesn't parse cursor movements or in
49	some cases during rlogin sessions, it fails to detect this properly.
50
51	You can permamently switch this feature off by disabling the "readline"
52	extension:
53
54	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline	25	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,tabbed
55		26
56	Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?	27	It will also work fine with tabbing functionality of many window
57	Well, why, indeed? It does, in a way very similar to other X	28	managers or similar tabbing programs, and its embedding-features allow
58	applications. Most importantly, this means that if you or your OS loads	29	it to be embedded into other programs, as witnessed by doc/rxvt-tabbed
59	resources into the X display (the right way to do it), rxvt-unicode will	30	or the upcoming "Gtk2::URxvt" perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt
60	ignore any resource files in your home directory. It will only read	31	(murxvt) terminal as an example embedding application.
61	$HOME/.Xdefaults when no resources are attached to the display.
62		32
63	If you have or use an $HOME/.Xresources file, chances are that resources	33	How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
64	are loaded into your X-server. In this case, you have to re-login after	34	The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape
65	every change (or run xrdb -merge $HOME/.Xresources).	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.
66		37
67	Also consider the form resources have to use:	38	Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
		39	Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for something
		40	you don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings
		41	that you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by
		42	design, when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be
		43	loaded accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your
		44	characters.
68		45
69	URxvt.resource: value	46	Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
		47	scrollback buffers: Without "--enable-unicode3", rxvt-unicode will use 6
		48	bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to almost a
		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.
70		52
71	If you want to use another form (there are lots of different ways of	53	How can I start urxvtd in a race-free way?
72	specifying resources), make sure you understand wether and why it works.	54	Try "urxvtd -f -o", which tells urxvtd to open the display, create the
73	If unsure, use the form above.	55	listening socket and then fork.
74		56
75	I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?	57	How can I start urxvtd automatically when I run urxvtc?
76	First of all, transparency isn't officially supported in rxvt-unicode,	58	If you want to start urxvtd automatically whenever you run urxvtc and
77	so you are mostly on your own. Do not bug the author about it (but you	59	the daemon isn't running yet, use this script:
78	may bug everybody else). Also, if you can't get it working consider it a
79	rite of passage: ... and you failed.
80		60
81	Here are four ways to get transparency. Do read the manpage and option	61	#!/bin/sh
82	descriptions for the programs mentioned and rxvt-unicode. Really, do it!	62	urxvtc "$@"
		63	if [ $? -eq 2 ]; then
		64	urxvtd -q -o -f
		65	urxvtc "$@"
		66	fi
83		67
84	1. Use inheritPixmap:	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.
85		72
86	Esetroot wallpaper.jpg	73	Another option is to use systemd socket-based activation (see
87	rxvt -ip -tint red -sh 40	74	systemd.socket(5)). Here is an example of a service unit file and of a
		75	socket unit file for the default socket path:
88		76
89	That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack transparency and tinting	77	urxvtd.service
90	support, or you are unable to read.	78	[Unit]
		79	Description=urxvt terminal daemon
		80	Requires=urxvtd.socket
91		81
92	2. Use a simple pixmap and emulate pseudo-transparency. This enables you	82	[Service]
93	to use effects other than tinting and shading: Just shade/tint/whatever	83	ExecStart=/usr/bin/urxvtd -o
94	your picture with gimp:
95		84
96	convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.xpm	85	urxvtd.socket
97	rxvt -pixmap background.xpm -pe automove-background	86	[Unit]
		87	Description=urxvt terminal daemon socket
98		88
99	That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack XPM and Perl support, or	89	[Socket]
100	you are unable to read.	90	ListenStream=%h/.urxvt/urxvtd-%H
101		91
102	3. Use an ARGB visual:	92	[Install]
		93	WantedBy=sockets.target
103		94
104	rxvt -depth 32 -fg grey90 -bg rgba:0000/0000/4444/cccc	95	How do I distinguish whether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular
		96	xterm? I need this to decide about setting colours etc.
		97	The original rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable
		98	"COLORTERM", so you can check and see if that is set. Note that several
		99	programs, JED, slrn, Midnight Commander automatically check this
		100	variable to decide whether or not to use colour.
105		101
106	This requires XFT support, and the support of your X-server. If that	102	How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?
107	doesn't work for you, blame Xorg and Keith Packard. ARGB visuals aren't	103	If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled
108	there yet, no matter what they claim. Rxvt-Unicode contains the	104	insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script
109	neccessary bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work,	105	snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode
110	but that doesn't mean that your WM has the required kludges in place.	106	wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in these snippets)
		107	then the COLORTERM variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from
		108	a regular xterm.
111		109
112	4. Use xcompmgr and let it do the job:	110	Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script
		111	snippets:
113		112
114	xprop -frame -f _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 32c \	113	# Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:
115	-set _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 0xc0000000	114	[ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know
		115	if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
		116	stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
		117	printf "\eZ"
		118	read term_id
		119	stty icanon echo
		120	if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
		121	printf '\e[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
		122	read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
		123	fi
		124	fi
116		125
117	Then click on a window you want to make transparent. Replace 0xc0000000	126	How do I compile the manual pages on my own?
118	by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and	127	You need to have a recent version of perl installed as /usr/bin/perl,
119	your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces.	128	one that comes with pod2man, pod2text and pod2xhtml (from Pod::Xhtml).
		129	Then go to the doc subdirectory and enter "make alldoc".
120		130
121	Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?	131	Isn't rxvt-unicode supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?
122	I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra	132	I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra
123	bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see	133	bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see
124	that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always	134	that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always
125	being compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) after	135	being compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) after
126	startup. Even with "--disable-everything", this comparison is a bit	136	startup. Even with "--disable-everything", this comparison is a bit
…		…
129		139
130	text data bss drs rss filename	140	text data bss drs rss filename
131	98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything	141	98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything
132	188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything	142	188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything
133		143
134	When you "--enable-everything" (which _is_ unfair, as this involves xft	144	When you "--enable-everything" (which *is* unfair, as this involves xft
135	and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my	145	and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my
136	libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so.	146	libc), the two diverge, but not unreasonably so.
137		147
138	text data bss drs rss filename	148	text data bss drs rss filename
139	163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything	149	163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything
140	1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything	150	1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything
141		151
…		…
157	gnome-terminal (21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole	167	gnome-terminal (21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole
158	(22200k + extra 43180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half	168	(22200k + extra 43180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half
159	a minute of startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits	169	a minute of startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits
160	out), it fares extremely well *g*.	170	out), it fares extremely well *g*.
161		171
162	Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?	172	Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?
163	Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I	173	Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I
164	had to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a	174	had to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a
165	fraction of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put	175	fraction of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put
166	even shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++.	176	even shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++.
167		177
…		…
169	the case of rxvt-unicode this hardly matters, as its portability limits	179	the case of rxvt-unicode this hardly matters, as its portability limits
170	are defined by things like X11, pseudo terminals, locale support and	180	are defined by things like X11, pseudo terminals, locale support and
171	unix domain sockets, which are all less portable than C++ itself.	181	unix domain sockets, which are all less portable than C++ itself.
172		182
173	Regarding the bloat, see the above question: It's easy to write programs	183	Regarding the bloat, see the above question: It's easy to write programs
174	in C that use gobs of memory, an certainly possible to write programs in	184	in C that use gobs of memory, and certainly possible to write programs
175	C++ that don't. C++ also often comes with large libraries, but this is	185	in C++ that don't. C++ also often comes with large libraries, but this
176	not necessarily the case with GCC. Here is what rxvt links against on my	186	is not necessarily the case with GCC. Here is what rxvt links against on
177	system with a minimal config:	187	my system with a minimal config:
178		188
179	libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)	189	libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
180	libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaadde000)	190	libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaadde000)
181	libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab01d000)	191	libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab01d000)
182	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)	192	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
183		193
184	And here is rxvt-unicode:	194	And here is rxvt-unicode:
185		195
186	libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)	196	libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
187	libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000)	197	libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000)
188	libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000)	198	libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000)
189	libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000)	199	libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000)
190	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)	200	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
191		201
192	No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically),	202	No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically),
193	except maybe libX11 :)	203	except maybe libX11 :)
194		204
195	Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?	205	Rendering, Font & Look and Feel Issues
196	Beginning with version 7.3, there is a perl extension that implements a	206	I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?
197	simple tabbed terminal. It is installed by default, so any of these	207	First of all, transparency isn't officially supported in rxvt-unicode,
198	should give you tabs:	208	so you are mostly on your own. Do not bug the author about it (but you
		209	may bug everybody else). Also, if you can't get it working consider it a
		210	rite of passage: ... and you failed.
199		211
200	rxvt -pe tabbed	212	Here are four ways to get transparency. Do read the manpage and option
		213	descriptions for the programs mentioned and rxvt-unicode. Really, do it!
201		214
202	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,tabbed	215	1. Use transparent mode:
203		216
204	It will also work fine with tabbing functionality of many window	217	Esetroot wallpaper.jpg
205	managers or similar tabbing programs, and its embedding-features allow	218	urxvt -tr -tint red -sh 40
206	it to be embedded into other programs, as witnessed by doc/rxvt-tabbed
207	or the upcoming "Gtk2::URxvt" perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt
208	(murxvt) terminal as an example embedding application.
209		219
210	How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?	220	That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack transparency and tinting
211	The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape	221	support, or you are unable to read. This method requires that the
212	sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number. When	222	background-setting program sets the _XROOTPMAP_ID or ESETROOT_PMAP_ID
213	using the rxvtc client, the version displayed is that of the daemon.	223	property. Compatible programs are Esetroot, hsetroot and feh.
214		224
215	I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...	225	2. Use a simple pixmap and emulate pseudo-transparency. This enables you
216	The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large	226	to use effects other than tinting and shading: Just shade/tint/whatever
217	patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode (but	227	your picture with gimp or any other tool:
218	unfortunately this notice has been removed). Before reporting a bug to
219	the original rxvt-unicode author please download and install the genuine
220	version (<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>) and try to reproduce
221	the problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific
222	to Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the Debian
223	Bug Tracking System (use "reportbug" to report the bug).
224		228
225	For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and	229	convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.jpg
226	probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's also a	230	urxvt -pixmap "background.jpg;:root"
227	bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for other users
228	that might encounter the same issue.
229		231
230	I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any	232	That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack GDK-PixBuf support, or you
231	recommendation?	233	are unable to read.
232	You should build one binary with the default options. configure now
233	enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
234	runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling
235	them, except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter
236	should be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely
237	more in the future) depends on it.
238		234
239	You should not overwrite the "perl-ext-common" snd "perl-ext" resources	235	3. Use an ARGB visual:
240	system-wide (except maybe with "defaults"). This will result in useful
241	behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty
242	"perl-ext-common" resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the
243	perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it.
244		236
245	If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal one	237	urxvt -depth 32 -fg grey90 -bg rgba:0000/0000/4444/cccc
246	with "--disable-everything" (very useful) and a maximal one with
247	"--enable-everything" (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of
248	encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used).
249		238
250	I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe?	239	This requires XFT support, and the support of your X-server. If that
251	It should be, starting with release 7.1. You are encouraged to properly	240	doesn't work for you, blame Xorg and Keith Packard. ARGB visuals aren't
252	install urxvt with privileges necessary for your OS now.	241	there yet, no matter what they claim. Rxvt-Unicode contains the
		242	necessary bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work, but
		243	that doesn't mean that your WM has the required kludges in place.
253		244
254	When rxvt-unicode detects that it runs setuid or setgid, it will fork	245	4. Use xcompmgr and let it do the job:
255	into a helper process for privileged operations (pty handling on some
256	systems, utmp/wtmp/lastlog handling on others) and drop privileges
257	immediately. This is much safer than most other terminals that keep
258	privileges while running (but is more relevant to urxvt, as it contains
259	things as perl interpreters, which might be "helpful" to attackers).
260		246
261	This forking is done as the very first within main(), which is very	247	xprop -frame -f _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 32c \
262	early and reduces possible bugs to initialisation code run before	248	-set _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 0xc0000000
263	main(), or things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should
264	result in very little risk.
265		249
266	When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?	250	Then click on a window you want to make transparent. Replace 0xc0000000
267	The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available	251	by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and
268	as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often	252	your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces.
269	arises).
270		253
271	The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this
272	can be done like this (with ncurses' infocmp):
273
274	REMOTE=remotesystem.domain
275	infocmp rxvt-unicode | ssh $REMOTE "cat >/tmp/ti && tic /tmp/ti"
276
277	... or by installing rxvt-unicode normally on the remote system,
278
279	If you cannot or do not want to do this, then you can simply set
280	"TERM=rxvt" or even "TERM=xterm", and live with the small number of
281	problems arising, which includes wrong keymapping, less and different
282	colours and some refresh errors in fullscreen applications. It's a nice
283	quick-and-dirty workaround for rare cases, though.
284
285	If you always want to do this (and are fine with the consequences) you
286	can either recompile rxvt-unicode with the desired TERM value or use a
287	resource to set it:
288
289	URxvt.termName: rxvt
290
291	If you don't plan to use rxvt (quite common...) you could also replace
292	the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one.
293
294	"tic" outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
295	Most likely it's the empty definition for "enacs=". Just replace it by
296	"enacs=\E[0@" and try again.
297
298	"bash"'s readline does not work correctly under rxvt.
299	I need a termcap file entry.
300	One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating
301	systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap
302	library (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry
303	for "rxvt-unicode".
304
305	You could use rxvt's termcap entry with resonable results in many cases.
306	You can also create a termcap entry by using terminfo's infocmp program
307	like this:
308
309	infocmp -C rxvt-unicode
310
311	Or you could use this termcap entry, generated by the command above:
312
313	rxvt-unicode|rxvt-unicode terminal (X Window System):\
314	:am:bw:eo:km:mi:ms:xn:xo:\
315	:co#80:it#8:li#24:lm#0:\
316	:AL=\E[%dL:DC=\E[%dP:DL=\E[%dM:DO=\E[%dB:IC=\E[%d@:\
317	:K1=\EOw:K2=\EOu:K3=\EOy:K4=\EOq:K5=\EOs:LE=\E[%dD:\
318	:RI=\E[%dC:SF=\E[%dS:SR=\E[%dT:UP=\E[%dA:ae=\E(B:al=\E[L:\
319	:as=\E(0:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[2J:\
320	:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:ct=\E[3g:dc=\E[P:\
321	:dl=\E[M:do=^J:ec=\E[%dX:ei=\E[4l:ho=\E[H:\
322	:i1=\E[?47l\E=\E[?1l:ic=\E[@:im=\E[4h:\
323	:is=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l:\
324	:k1=\E[11~:k2=\E[12~:k3=\E[13~:k4=\E[14~:k5=\E[15~:\
325	:k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:kD=\E[3~:\
326	:kI=\E[2~:kN=\E[6~:kP=\E[5~:kb=\177:kd=\EOB:ke=\E[?1l\E>:\
327	:kh=\E[7~:kl=\EOD:kr=\EOC:ks=\E[?1h\E=:ku=\EOA:le=^H:\
328	:mb=\E[5m:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m\017:mr=\E[7m:nd=\E[C:rc=\E8:\
329	:sc=\E7:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:\
330	:te=\E[r\E[?1049l:ti=\E[?1049h:ue=\E[24m:up=\E[A:\
331	:us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
332	:vs=\E[?25h:
333
334	Why does "ls" no longer have coloured output?
335	The "ls" in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to
336	decide wether a terminal has colour, but uses it's own configuration
337	file. Needless to say, "rxvt-unicode" is not in it's default file (among
338	with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add:
339
340	TERM rxvt-unicode
341
342	to "/etc/DIR_COLORS" or simply add:
343
344	alias ls='ls --color=auto'
345
346	to your ".profile" or ".bashrc".
347
348	Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?
349	Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?
350	Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?
351	Make sure you are using "TERM=rxvt-unicode". Some pre-packaged
352	distributions (most notably Debian GNU/Linux) break rxvt-unicode by
353	setting "TERM" to "rxvt", which doesn't have these extra features.
354	Unfortunately, some of these (most notably, again, Debian GNU/Linux)
355	furthermore fail to even install the "rxvt-unicode" terminfo file, so
356	you will need to install it on your own (See the question When I log-in
357	to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? on how to do
358	this).
359
360	My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?
361	Some Debian GNUL/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no
362	specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is
363	caused by the wrong "TERM" setting, although the details of wether and
364	how this can happen are unknown, as "TERM=rxvt" should offer a
365	compatible keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please
366	report if that helped.
367
368	Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?
369	Unicode does not seem to work?
370	If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but
371	getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output
372	is subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings.
373
374	Rxvt-unicode must be started with the same "LC_CTYPE" setting as the
375	programs. Often rxvt-unicode is started in the "C" locale, while the
376	login script running within the rxvt-unicode window changes the locale
377	to something else, e.g. "en_GB.UTF-8". Needless to say, this is not
378	going to work.
379
380	The best thing is to fix your startup environment, as you will likely
381	run into other problems. If nothing works you can try this in your
382	.profile.
383
384	printf '\e]701;%s\007' "$LC_CTYPE"
385
386	If this doesn't work, then maybe you use a "LC_CTYPE" specification not
387	supported on your systems. Some systems have a "locale" command which
388	displays this (also, "perl -e0" can be used to check locale settings, as
389	it will complain loudly if it cannot set the locale). If it displays
390	something like:
391
392	locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: ...
393
394	Then the locale you specified is not supported on your system.
395
396	If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then
397	you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't
398	support locales :(
399
400	Why do some characters look so much different than others?
401	How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?
402	Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is fine.
403	Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of your
404	system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want to
405	display.
406
407	rxvt-unicode makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement font.
408	Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks
409	bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't
410	resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial
411	intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe
412	the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct.
413
414	In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list,
415	e.g.:
416
417	rxvt -fn basefont,font2,font3...
418
419	When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base font.
420	If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the next
421	font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
422	search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X-server.
423
424	The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the
425	base font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size,
426	which must be the same due to the way terminals work.
427
428	Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
429	This is because there is a difference between script and language --
430	rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is, as
431	it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first sees a
432	japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for display.
433	Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many chinese
434	characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first
435	non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese
436	font -- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font
437	for chinese characters that are also in the japanese font.
438
439	The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font
440	list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as a
441	preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
442	first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
443
444	In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
445	runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different
446	fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this
447	has been designed yet).
448
449	Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see "Can
450	I switch the fonts at runtime?" later in this document).
451
452	Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?	254	Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?
453	Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that	255	Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that
454	character size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal	256	character size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal
455	use might contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode	257	use might contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode
456	will avoid these characters. For characters that are just "a bit" too	258	will avoid these characters. For characters that are just "a bit" too
457	wide a special "careful" rendering mode is used that redraws adjacent	259	wide a special "careful" rendering mode is used that redraws adjacent
…		…
461	however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed	263	however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed
462	bounding box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct	264	bounding box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct
463	way is to ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is	265	way is to ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is
464	wrong in these cases).	266	wrong in these cases).
465		267
466	It's not clear (to me at least), wether this is a bug in Xft, freetype,	268	It's not clear (to me at least), whether this is a bug in Xft, freetype,
467	or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try	269	or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try
468	using the "-lsp" option to give the font more height. If that doesn't	270	using the "-lsp" option to give the font more height. If that doesn't
469	work, you might be forced to use a different font.	271	work, you might be forced to use a different font.
470		272
471	All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their	273	All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their
472	bounding box data is correct.	274	bounding box data is correct.
473		275
474	On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide.
475	Seems to be a known bug, read
476	<http://nixdoc.net/files/forum/about34198.html>. Some people use the
477	following ugly workaround to get non-double-wide-characters working:
478
479	#define wcwidth(x) wcwidth(x) > 1 ? 1 : wcwidth(x)
480
481	My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
482	The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
483	correctly, or you specified a preeditStyle that is not supported by your
484	input method. For example, if you specified OverTheSpot and your input
485	method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys) does not
486	support this (for instance because it is not visual), then rxvt-unicode
487	will continue without an input method.
488
489	In this case either do not specify a preeditStyle or specify more than
490	one pre-edit style, such as OverTheSpot,Root,None.
491
492	I cannot type "Ctrl-Shift-2" to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
493	Either try "Ctrl-2" alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
494	international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
495	advantage, typing <Ctrl-Shift-0> to get a ASCII NUL. This works for
496	other codes, too, such as "Ctrl-Shift-1-d" to type the default telnet
497	escape character and so on.
498
499	How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?	276	How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?
500	First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings	277	First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings
501	("TERM=rxvt-unicode"), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then	278	("TERM=rxvt-unicode"), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then
502	make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise	279	make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise
503	rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect:	280	rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect:
504		281
505	URxvt.colorBD: white	282	URxvt.colorBD: white
506	URxvt.colorIT: green	283	URxvt.colorIT: green
507		284
508	Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?	285	Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?
509	For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird	286	For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird
510	colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the	287	colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the
511	standard 8 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of	288	standard 8 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of
512	course, to fix these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very	289	course, to fix these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very
513	good reasons.	290	good reasons.
514		291
515	In the meantime, you can either edit your "rxvt-unicode" terminfo	292	In the meantime, you can either edit your "rxvt-unicode" terminfo
516	definition to only claim 8 colour support or use "TERM=rxvt", which will	293	definition to only claim 8 colour support or use "TERM=rxvt", which will
517	fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features.	294	fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features.
518		295
519	I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.
520	Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol "__STDC_ISO_10646__" to be defined in
521	your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it,
522	wether it defines the symbol or not. "__STDC_ISO_10646__" requires that
523	wchar_t is represented as unicode.
524
525	As you might have guessed, FreeBSD does neither define this symobl nor
526	does it support it. Instead, it uses it's own internal representation of
527	wchar_t. This is, of course, completely fine with respect to standards.
528
529	However, that means rxvt-unicode only works in "POSIX", "ISO-8859-1" and
530	"UTF-8" locales under FreeBSD (which all use Unicode as wchar_t.
531
532	"__STDC_ISO_10646__" is the only sane way to support multi-language apps
533	in an OS, as using a locale-dependent (and non-standardized)
534	representation of wchar_t makes it impossible to convert between wchar_t
535	(as used by X11 and your applications) and any other encoding without
536	implementing OS-specific-wrappers for each and every locale. There
537	simply are no APIs to convert wchar_t into anything except the current
538	locale encoding.
539
540	Some applications (such as the formidable mlterm) work around this by
541	carrying their own replacement functions for character set handling with
542	them, and either implementing OS-dependent hacks or doing multiple
543	conversions (which is slow and unreliable in case the OS implements
544	encodings slightly different than the terminal emulator).
545
546	The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the
547	system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry
548	complete replacements for them :)
549
550	I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc.
551	Try the diff in doc/solaris9.patch as a base. It fixes the worst
552	problems with "wcwidth" and a compile problem.
553
554	How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
555	rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using the
556	X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no longer
557	supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a single
558	font). I recommend starting the X-server in "-multiwindow" or
559	"-rootless" mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as the
560	old libW11 emulation.
561
562	At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any
563	multi-byte encodings (you might try "LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8"), so you are
564	likely limited to 8-bit encodings.
565
566	How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
567	Is there an option to switch encodings?
568	Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
569	specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know
570	about UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O.
571
572	The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for
573	selecting the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating
574	this to all applications so everybody agrees on character properties
575	such as width and code number. This mechanism is the *locale*.
576	Applications not using that info will have problems (for example,
577	"xterm" gets the width of characters wrong as it uses it's own,
578	locale-independent table under all locales).
579
580	Rxvt-unicode uses the "LC_CTYPE" locale category to select encoding. All
581	programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the
582	interpretation of characters.
583
584	Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor
585	is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like.
586
587	On most systems, the content of the "LC_CTYPE" environment variable
588	contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed
589	locale. Common names for locales are "en_US.UTF-8", "de_DE.ISO-8859-15",
590	"ja_JP.EUC-JP", i.e. "language_country.encoding", but other forms (i.e.
591	"de" or "german") are also common.
592
593	Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for the
594	encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings, i.e.
595	"de_DE.UTF-8" and "ja_JP.UTF-8" are the normally same to rxvt-unicode.
596
597	If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
598	rxvt-unicode with the correct "LC_CTYPE" category.
599
600	Can I switch locales at runtime?
601	Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
602	rxvt-unicode's idea of "LC_CTYPE".
603
604	printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
605
606	See also the previous answer.
607
608	Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in one
609	locale (e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8") but some programs don't support it (e.g.
610	UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start "xjdic", which first
611	switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
612
613	printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
614	xjdic -js
615	printf '\e]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8
616
617	You can also use xterm's "luit" program, which usually works fine,
618	except for some locales where character width differs between program-
619	and rxvt-unicode-locales.
620
621	Can I switch the fonts at runtime?	296	Can I switch the fonts at runtime?
622	Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the	297	Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the
623	same effect as using the "-fn" switch, and takes effect immediately:	298	same effect as using the "-fn" switch, and takes effect immediately:
624		299
625	printf '\e]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"	300	printf '\33]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
626		301
627	This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a	302	This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a
628	japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where	303	japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where
629	japanese fonts would only be in your way.	304	japanese fonts would only be in your way.
630		305
631	You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching.	306	You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching.
632		307
633	Why do italic characters look as if clipped?	308	Why do italic characters look as if clipped?
634	Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For	309	Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For
635	example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font "xft:Bitstream Vera Sans	310	example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font "xft:Bitstream Vera Sans
636	Mono" completely fails in it's italic face. A workaround might be to	311	Mono" completely fails in its italic face. A workaround might be to
637	enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:	312	enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:
638		313
639	URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true	314	URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
640	URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true	315	URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
641		316
642	My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?
643	You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of
644	the terminal, using the resource "imlocale":
645
646	URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
647
648	Now you can start your terminal with "LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8" and still
649	use your input method. Please note, however, that you will not be able
650	to input characters outside "EUC-JP" in a normal way then, as your input
651	method limits you.
652
653	Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
654	Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
655	design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
656	leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at
657	exit time. kinput2 (and derived input methods) generally succeeds, while
658	SCIM (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however, crashes
659	cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate.
660
661	So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
662
663	Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
664	Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for something
665	you don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings
666	that you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by
667	design, when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be
668	loaded accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your
669	characters.
670
671	Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
672	scrollback buffers: Without "--enable-unicode3", rxvt-unicode will use 6
673	bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to almost a
674	kilobyte per line. A scrollback buffer of 10000 lines will then (if
675	full) use 10 Megabytes of memory. With "--enable-unicode3" it gets
676	worse, as rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
677
678	Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?	317	Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?
679	Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as it	318	Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as it
680	is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable	319	is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable
681	antialiasing (by appending ":antialias=false"), which saves lots of	320	antialiasing (by appending ":antialias=false"), which saves lots of
682	memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.	321	memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
683		322
684	Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?	323	Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?
685	Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to	324	Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to
686	fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core	325	fall back to its default font search list it will prefer X11 core fonts,
687	fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has	326	because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has
688	antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they	327	antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they
689	look best that way.	328	look best that way.
690		329
691	If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually.	330	If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually.
692		331
693	Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
694	Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing some
695	editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode. I've heard
696	that tcsh may use mouse reporting unless it otherwise specified. A quick
697	check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are
698	depressed.
699
700	What's with this bold/blink stuff?	332	What's with this bold/blink stuff?
701	If no bold colour is set via "colorBD:", bold will invert text using the	333	If no bold colour is set via "colorBD:", bold will invert text using the
702	standard foreground colour.	334	standard foreground colour.
703		335
704	For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the text	336	For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the text
705	blink when compiled with "--enable-blinking". with standard colours.	337	blink when compiled with "--enable-text-blink". Without
706	Without "--enable-blinking", the blink attribute will be ignored.	338	"--enable-text-blink", the blink attribute will be ignored.
707		339
708	On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity	340	On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity
709	foreground/background colors.	341	foreground/background colours.
710		342
711	color0-7 are the low-intensity colors.	343	color0-7 are the low-intensity colours.
712		344
713	color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colors.	345	color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colours.
714		346
715	I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them?	347	I don't like the screen colours. How do I change them?
716	You can change the screen colors at run-time using ~/.Xdefaults	348	You can change the screen colours at run-time using ~/.Xdefaults
717	resources (or as long-options).	349	resources (or as long-options).
718		350
719	Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen, including	351	Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen, including
720	the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow:	352	the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow:
721		353
…		…
735	URxvt.color12: #0000FF	367	URxvt.color12: #0000FF
736	URxvt.color13: #FF00FF	368	URxvt.color13: #FF00FF
737	URxvt.color14: #00FFFF	369	URxvt.color14: #00FFFF
738	URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF	370	URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF
739		371
740	And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors described (not by	372	And here is a more complete set of non-standard colours.
741	me) as "pretty girly".
742		373
743	URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1	374	URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1
744	URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1	375	URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1
745	URxvt.background: #0e0e0e	376	URxvt.background: #0e0e0e
746	URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1	377	URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1
…		…
757	URxvt.color6: #73f7ff	388	URxvt.color6: #73f7ff
758	URxvt.color14: #73f7ff	389	URxvt.color14: #73f7ff
759	URxvt.color7: #e1dddd	390	URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
760	URxvt.color15: #e1dddd	391	URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
761		392
762	How can I start rxvtd in a race-free way?	393	They have been described (not by me) as "pretty girly".
763	Try "rxvtd -f -o", which tells rxvtd to open the display, create the
764	listening socket and then fork.
765		394
		395	Why do some characters look so much different than others?
		396	See next entry.
		397
		398	How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?
		399	Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is fine.
		400	Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of your
		401	system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want to
		402	display.
		403
		404	rxvt-unicode makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement font.
		405	Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks
		406	bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't
		407	resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial
		408	intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe
		409	the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct.
		410
		411	In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list,
		412	e.g.:
		413
		414	urxvt -fn basefont,font2,font3...
		415
		416	When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base font.
		417	If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the next
		418	font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
		419	search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X-server.
		420
		421	The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the
		422	base font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size,
		423	which must be the same due to the way terminals work.
		424
		425	Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
		426	This is because there is a difference between script and language --
		427	rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is, as
		428	it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first sees a
		429	japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for display.
		430	Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many chinese
		431	characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first
		432	non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese
		433	font -- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font
		434	for chinese characters that are also in the japanese font.
		435
		436	The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font
		437	list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as a
		438	preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
		439	first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
		440
		441	In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
		442	runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different
		443	fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this
		444	has been designed yet).
		445
		446	Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see "Can
		447	I switch the fonts at runtime?" later in this document).
		448
		449	How can I make mplayer display video correctly?
		450	We are working on it, in the meantime, as a workaround, use something
		451	like:
		452
		453	urxvt -b 600 -geometry 20x1 -e sh -c 'mplayer -wid $WINDOWID file...'
		454
		455	Why is the cursor now blinking in emacs/vi/...?
		456	This is likely caused by your editor/program's use of the "cvvis"
		457	terminfo capability. Emacs uses it by default, as well as some versions
		458	of vi and possibly other programs.
		459
		460	In emacs, you can switch that off by adding this to your ".emacs" file:
		461
		462	(setq visible-cursor nil)
		463
		464	For other programs, if they do not have an option, your have to remove
		465	the "cvvis" capability from the terminfo description.
		466
		467	When urxvt first added the blinking cursor option, it didn't add a
		468	"cvvis" capability, which served no purpose before. Version 9.21
		469	introduced "cvvis" (and the ability to control blinking independent of
		470	cursor shape) for compatibility with other terminals, which
		471	traditionally use a blinking cursor for "cvvis". This also reflects the
		472	intent of programs such as emacs, who expect "cvvis" to enable a
		473	blinking cursor.
		474
		475	Keyboard, Mouse & User Interaction
		476	The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?
		477	If you want to select e.g. alphanumeric words, you can use the following
		478	setting:
		479
		480	URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+)
		481
		482	If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended more and
		483	more.
		484
		485	To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this
		486	pattern:
		487
		488	URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\\\\]^`{|})]+)
		489
		490	Please also note that the *LeftClick Shift-LeftClick* combination also
		491	selects words like the old code.
		492
		493	I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?
		494	You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the
		495	perl-ext-common resource to the empty string, which also keeps
		496	rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
		497
		498	If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to
		499	identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section
		500	PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS in the urxvtperl(3) manpage. For example, to
		501	disable the selection-popup and option-popup, specify this
		502	perl-ext-common resource:
		503
		504	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup
		505
		506	This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup
		507	extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example,
		508	scrollback search mode is triggered by M-s. You can move it to any other
		509	combination by adding a keysym resource that binds the desired
		510	combination to the "start" action of "searchable-scrollback" and another
		511	one that binds M-s to the "builtin:" action:
		512
		513	URxvt.keysym.CM-s: searchable-scrollback:start
		514	URxvt.keysym.M-s: builtin:
		515
		516	The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off?
		517	See next entry.
		518
		519	During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?
		520	These are caused by the "readline" perl extension. Under normal
		521	circumstances, it will move your cursor around when you click into the
		522	line that contains it. It tries hard not to do this at the wrong moment,
		523	but when running a program that doesn't parse cursor movements or in
		524	some cases during rlogin sessions, it fails to detect this properly.
		525
		526	You can permanently switch this feature off by disabling the "readline"
		527	extension:
		528
		529	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline
		530
		531	My numeric keypad acts weird and generates differing output?
		532	Some Debian GNU/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no
		533	specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is
		534	caused by the wrong "TERM" setting, although the details of whether and
		535	how this can happen are unknown, as "TERM=rxvt" should offer a
		536	compatible keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please
		537	report if that helped.
		538
		539	My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
		540	The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
		541	correctly, or you specified a preeditType that is not supported by your
		542	input method. For example, if you specified OverTheSpot and your input
		543	method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys) does not
		544	support this (for instance because it is not visual), then rxvt-unicode
		545	will continue without an input method.
		546
		547	In this case either do not specify a preeditType or specify more than
		548	one pre-edit style, such as OverTheSpot,Root,None.
		549
		550	If it still doesn't work, then maybe your input method doesn't support
		551	compose sequences - to fall back to the built-in one, make sure you
		552	don't specify an input method via "-im" or "XMODIFIERS".
		553
		554	I cannot type "Ctrl-Shift-2" to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
		555	Either try "Ctrl-2" alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
		556	international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
		557	advantage, typing <Ctrl-Shift-0> to get a ASCII NUL. This works for
		558	other codes, too, such as "Ctrl-Shift-1-d" to type the default telnet
		559	escape character and so on.
		560
		561	Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
		562	Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing some
		563	editors prematurely may leave it active. I've heard that tcsh may use
		564	mouse reporting unless it is otherwise specified. A quick check is to
		565	see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are pressed.
		566
766	What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?	567	What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
767	Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the BackSpace	568	Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the Backspace
768	keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following question) there are	569	keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following question) there are
769	two standard values that can be used for Backspace: "^H" and "^?".	570	two standard values that can be used for Backspace: "^H" and "^?".
770		571
771	Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the	572	Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the
772	debian policy of using "^?" when unsure, because it's the one only only	573	debian policy of using "^?" when unsure, because it's the one and only
773	correct choice :).	574	correct choice :).
774		575
775	Rxvt-unicode tries to inherit the current stty settings and uses the	576	It is possible to toggle between "^H" and "^?" with the DECBKM private
776	value of `erase' to guess the value for backspace. If rxvt-unicode	577	mode:
777	wasn't started from a terminal (say, from a menu or by remote shell),
778	then the system value of `erase', which corresponds to CERASE in
779	<termios.h>, will be used (which may not be the same as your stty
780	setting).
781
782	For starting a new rxvt-unicode:
783		578
784	# use Backspace = ^H	579	# use Backspace = ^H
785	$ stty erase ^H	580	$ stty erase ^H
786	$ rxvt	581	$ printf "\e[?67h"
787		582
788	# use Backspace = ^?	583	# use Backspace = ^?
789	$ stty erase ^?	584	$ stty erase ^?
790	$ rxvt	585	$ printf "\e[?67l"
791
792	Toggle with "ESC [ 36 h" / "ESC [ 36 l".
793
794	For an existing rxvt-unicode:
795
796	# use Backspace = ^H
797	$ stty erase ^H
798	$ echo -n "^[[36h"
799
800	# use Backspace = ^?
801	$ stty erase ^?
802	$ echo -n "^[[36l"
803		586
804	This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur, but	587	This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur, but
805	if you use Backspace = "^H", make sure that the termcap/terminfo value	588	if you use Backspace = "^H", make sure that the termcap/terminfo value
806	properly reflects that.	589	properly reflects that.
807		590
…		…
815	some editors use termcap/terminfo, some editors (vim I'm told) expect	598	some editors use termcap/terminfo, some editors (vim I'm told) expect
816	Backspace = ^H, GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help.	599	Backspace = ^H, GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help.
817		600
818	Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.	601	Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.
819		602
820	I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?	603	I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?
821	There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless	604	There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless
822	you have run "configure" with the "--disable-resources" option you can	605	you have run "configure" with the "--disable-resources" option you can
823	use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with	606	use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with
824	keysyms.	607	keysyms.
825		608
826	Here's an example for a URxvt session started using "rxvt -name URxvt"	609	Here's an example for a URxvt session started using "urxvt -name URxvt"
827		610
		611	URxvt.keysym.Prior: \033[5~
		612	URxvt.keysym.Next: \033[6~
828	URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[1~	613	URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[7~
829	URxvt.keysym.End: \033[4~	614	URxvt.keysym.End: \033[8~
830	URxvt.keysym.C-apostrophe: \033<C-'>
831	URxvt.keysym.C-slash: \033<C-/>
832	URxvt.keysym.C-semicolon: \033<C-;>
833	URxvt.keysym.C-grave: \033<C-`>
834	URxvt.keysym.C-comma: \033<C-,>
835	URxvt.keysym.C-period: \033<C-.>
836	URxvt.keysym.C-0x60: \033<C-`>
837	URxvt.keysym.C-Tab: \033<C-Tab>
838	URxvt.keysym.C-Return: \033<C-Return>
839	URxvt.keysym.S-Return: \033<S-Return>
840	URxvt.keysym.S-space: \033<S-Space>
841	URxvt.keysym.M-Up: \033<M-Up>	615	URxvt.keysym.Up: \033[A
842	URxvt.keysym.M-Down: \033<M-Down>	616	URxvt.keysym.Down: \033[B
		617	URxvt.keysym.Right: \033[C
843	URxvt.keysym.M-Left: \033<M-Left>	618	URxvt.keysym.Left: \033[D
844	URxvt.keysym.M-Right: \033<M-Right>
845	URxvt.keysym.M-C-0: list \033<M-C- 0123456789 >
846	URxvt.keysym.M-C-a: list \033<M-C- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz >
847	URxvt.keysym.F12: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007
848		619
849	See some more examples in the documentation for the keysym resource.	620	See some more examples in the documentation for the keysym resource.
850		621
851	I'm using keyboard model XXX that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys.	622	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
852	How do I make use of them? For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4
853	has the following mappings that rxvt-unicode doesn't recognize.
854	KP_Insert == Insert	623	KP_Insert == Insert
855	F22 == Print	624	F22 == Print
856	F27 == Home	625	F27 == Home
857	F29 == Prior	626	F29 == Prior
858	F33 == End	627	F33 == End
…		…
860		629
861	Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various	630	Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various
862	possible keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the	631	possible keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the
863	keys as required for your particular machine.	632	keys as required for your particular machine.
864		633
865	How do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm?	634	Terminal Configuration
866	I need this to decide about setting colors etc.	635	Can I see a typical configuration?
867	rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable "COLORTERM", so you can	636	The default configuration tries to be xterm-like, which I don't like
868	check and see if that is set. Note that several programs, JED, slrn,	637	that much, but it's least surprise to regular users.
869	Midnight Commander automatically check this variable to decide whether
870	or not to use color.
871		638
872	How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?	639	As a rxvt or rxvt-unicode user, you are practically supposed to invest
873	If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled	640	time into customising your terminal. To get you started, here is the
874	insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script	641	author's .Xdefaults entries, with comments on what they do. It's
875	snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode	642	certainly not *typical*, but what's typical...
876	wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in these snippets)
877	then the COLORTERM variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from
878	a regular xterm.
879		643
880	Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script	644	URxvt.cutchars: "()*,<>[]{}|'
881	snippets:	645	URxvt.print-pipe: cat >/some/path
882		646
883	# Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:	647	These are just for testing stuff.
884	[ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know
885	if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
886	stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
887	echo -n '^[Z'
888	read term_id
889	stty icanon echo
890	if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
891	echo -n '^[[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
892	read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
893	fi
894	fi
895		648
896	How do I compile the manual pages for myself?	649	URxvt.imLocale: ja_JP.UTF-8
897	You need to have a recent version of perl installed as /usr/bin/perl,	650	URxvt.preeditType: OnTheSpot,None
898	one that comes with pod2man, pod2text and pod2html. Then go to the doc
899	subdirectory and enter "make alldoc".
900		651
901	My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?	652	This tells rxvt-unicode to use a special locale when communicating with
902	Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: "irc.freenode.net", channel	653	the X Input Method, and also tells it to only use the OnTheSpot pre-edit
903	"#rxvt-unicode" has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be	654	type, which requires the "xim-onthespot" perl extension but rewards me
904	interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :).	655	with correct-looking fonts.
905		656
		657	URxvt.perl-lib: /root/lib/urxvt
		658	URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,selection-autotransform,selection-pastebin,xim-onthespot,remote-clipboard
		659	URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ( at .*? line \\d+)
		660	URxvt.selection.pattern-1: ^(/[^:]+):\
		661	URxvt.selection-autotransform.0: s/^([^:[:space:]]+):(\\d+):?$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/
		662	URxvt.selection-autotransform.1: s/^ at (.*?) line (\\d+)$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/
		663
		664	This is my perl configuration. The first two set the perl library
		665	directory and also tells urxvt to use a large number of extensions. I
		666	develop for myself mostly, so I actually use most of the extensions I
		667	write.
		668
		669	The selection stuff mainly makes the selection perl-error-message aware
		670	and tells it to convert perl error messages into vi-commands to load the
		671	relevant file and go to the error line number.
		672
		673	URxvt.scrollstyle: plain
		674	URxvt.secondaryScroll: true
		675
		676	As the documentation says: plain is the preferred scrollbar for the
		677	author. The "secondaryScroll" configures urxvt to scroll in full-screen
		678	apps, like screen, so lines scrolled out of screen end up in urxvt's
		679	scrollback buffer.
		680
		681	URxvt.background: #000000
		682	URxvt.foreground: gray90
		683	URxvt.color7: gray90
		684	URxvt.colorBD: #ffffff
		685	URxvt.cursorColor: #e0e080
		686	URxvt.throughColor: #8080f0
		687	URxvt.highlightColor: #f0f0f0
		688
		689	Some colours. Not sure which ones are being used or even non-defaults,
		690	but these are in my .Xdefaults. Most notably, they set
		691	foreground/background to light gray/black, and also make sure that the
		692	colour 7 matches the default foreground colour.
		693
		694	URxvt.underlineColor: yellow
		695
		696	Another colour, makes underline lines look different. Sometimes hurts,
		697	but is mostly a nice effect.
		698
		699	URxvt.geometry: 154x36
		700	URxvt.loginShell: false
		701	URxvt.meta: ignore
		702	URxvt.utmpInhibit: true
		703
		704	Uh, well, should be mostly self-explanatory. By specifying some defaults
		705	manually, I can quickly switch them for testing.
		706
		707	URxvt.saveLines: 8192
		708
		709	A large scrollback buffer is essential. Really.
		710
		711	URxvt.mapAlert: true
		712
		713	The only case I use it is for my IRC window, which I like to keep
		714	iconified till people msg me (which beeps).
		715
		716	URxvt.visualBell: true
		717
		718	The audible bell is often annoying, especially when in a crowd.
		719
		720	URxvt.insecure: true
		721
		722	Please don't hack my mutt! Ooops...
		723
		724	URxvt.pastableTabs: false
		725
		726	I once thought this is a great idea.
		727
		728	urxvt.font: 9x15bold,\
		729	-misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1,\
		730	-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1, \
		731	[codeset=JISX0208]xft:Kochi Gothic, \
		732	xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:autohint=true, \
		733	xft:Code2000:antialias=false
		734	urxvt.boldFont: -xos4-terminus-bold-r-normal--14-140-72-72-c-80-iso8859-15
		735	urxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
		736	urxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
		737
		738	I wrote rxvt-unicode to be able to specify fonts exactly. So don't be
		739	overwhelmed. A special note: the "9x15bold" mentioned above is actually
		740	the version from XFree-3.3, as XFree-4 replaced it by a totally
		741	different font (different glyphs for ";" and many other harmless
		742	characters), while the second font is actually the "9x15bold" from
		743	XFree4/XOrg. The bold version has less chars than the medium version, so
		744	I use it for rare characters, too. When editing sources with vim, I use
		745	italic for comments and other stuff, which looks quite good with
		746	Bitstream Vera anti-aliased.
		747
		748	Terminus is a quite bad font (many very wrong glyphs), but for most of
		749	my purposes, it works, and gives a different look, as my normal
		750	(Non-bold) font is already bold, and I want to see a difference between
		751	bold and normal fonts.
		752
		753	Please note that I used the "urxvt" instance name and not the "URxvt"
		754	class name. That is because I use different configs for different
		755	purposes, for example, my IRC window is started with "-name IRC", and
		756	uses these defaults:
		757
		758	IRC*title: IRC
		759	IRC*geometry: 87x12+535+542
		760	IRC*saveLines: 0
		761	IRC*mapAlert: true
		762	IRC*font: suxuseuro
		763	IRC*boldFont: suxuseuro
		764	IRC*colorBD: white
		765	IRC*keysym.M-C-1: command:\033]710;suxuseuro\007\033]711;suxuseuro\007
		766	IRC*keysym.M-C-2: command:\033]710;9x15bold\007\033]711;9x15bold\007
		767
		768	"Alt-Ctrl-1" and "Alt-Ctrl-2" switch between two different font sizes.
		769	"suxuseuro" allows me to keep an eye (and actually read) stuff while
		770	keeping a very small window. If somebody pastes something complicated
		771	(e.g. japanese), I temporarily switch to a larger font.
		772
		773	The above is all in my ".Xdefaults" (I don't use ".Xresources" nor
		774	"xrdb"). I also have some resources in a separate ".Xdefaults-hostname"
		775	file for different hosts, for example, on my main desktop, I use:
		776
		777	URxvt.keysym.C-M-q: command:\033[3;5;5t
		778	URxvt.keysym.C-M-y: command:\033[3;5;606t
		779	URxvt.keysym.C-M-e: command:\033[3;1605;5t
		780	URxvt.keysym.C-M-c: command:\033[3;1605;606t
		781	URxvt.keysym.C-M-p: perl:test
		782
		783	The first for keysym definitions allow me to quickly bring some windows
		784	in the layout I like most. Ion users might start laughing but will stop
		785	immediately when I tell them that I use my own Fvwm2 module for much the
		786	same effect as Ion provides, and I only very rarely use the above key
		787	combinations :->
		788
		789	Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?
		790	Well, why, indeed? It does, in a way very similar to other X
		791	applications. Most importantly, this means that if you or your OS loads
		792	resources into the X display (the right way to do it), rxvt-unicode will
		793	ignore any resource files in your home directory. It will only read
		794	$HOME/.Xdefaults when no resources are attached to the display.
		795
		796	If you have or use an $HOME/.Xresources file, chances are that resources
		797	are loaded into your X-server. In this case, you have to re-login after
		798	every change (or run xrdb -merge $HOME/.Xresources).
		799
		800	Also consider the form resources have to use:
		801
		802	URxvt.resource: value
		803
		804	If you want to use another form (there are lots of different ways of
		805	specifying resources), make sure you understand whether and why it
		806	works. If unsure, use the form above.
		807
		808	When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?
		809	The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available
		810	as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often
		811	arises).
		812
		813	The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this
		814	can be done by simply installing rxvt-unicode on the remote system as
		815	well (in case you have a nice package manager ready), or you can install
		816	the terminfo database manually like this (with ncurses infocmp. works as
		817	user and root):
		818
		819	REMOTE=remotesystem.domain
		820	infocmp rxvt-unicode | ssh $REMOTE "mkdir -p .terminfo && cat >/tmp/ti && tic /tmp/ti"
		821
		822	One some systems you might need to set $TERMINFO to the full path of
		823	$HOME/.terminfo for this to work.
		824
		825	If you cannot or do not want to do this, then you can simply set
		826	"TERM=rxvt" or even "TERM=xterm", and live with the small number of
		827	problems arising, which includes wrong keymapping, less and different
		828	colours and some refresh errors in fullscreen applications. It's a nice
		829	quick-and-dirty workaround for rare cases, though.
		830
		831	If you always want to do this (and are fine with the consequences) you
		832	can either recompile rxvt-unicode with the desired TERM value or use a
		833	resource to set it:
		834
		835	URxvt.termName: rxvt
		836
		837	If you don't plan to use rxvt (quite common...) you could also replace
		838	the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one and use "TERM=rxvt".
		839
		840	nano fails with "Error opening terminal: rxvt-unicode"
		841	This exceptionally confusing and useless error message is printed by
		842	nano when it can't find the terminfo database. Nothing is wrong with
		843	your terminal, read the previous answer for a solution.
		844
		845	"tic" outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
		846	Most likely it's the empty definition for "enacs=". Just replace it by
		847	"enacs=\E[0@" and try again.
		848
		849	"bash"'s readline does not work correctly under urxvt.
		850	See next entry.
		851
		852	I need a termcap file entry.
		853	One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating
		854	systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap
		855	library (Fedora's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry for
		856	"rxvt-unicode".
		857
		858	You could use rxvt's termcap entry with reasonable results in many
		859	cases. You can also create a termcap entry by using terminfo's infocmp
		860	program like this:
		861
		862	infocmp -C rxvt-unicode
		863
		864	Or you could use the termcap entry in doc/etc/rxvt-unicode.termcap,
		865	generated by the command above.
		866
		867	Why does "ls" no longer have coloured output?
		868	The "ls" in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to
		869	decide whether a terminal has colour, but uses its own configuration
		870	file. Needless to say, "rxvt-unicode" is not in its default file (among
		871	with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add:
		872
		873	TERM rxvt-unicode
		874
		875	to "/etc/DIR_COLORS" or simply add:
		876
		877	alias ls='ls --color=auto'
		878
		879	to your ".profile" or ".bashrc".
		880
		881	Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?
		882	See next entry.
		883
		884	Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?
		885	See next entry.
		886
		887	Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?
		888	Make sure you are using "TERM=rxvt-unicode". Some pre-packaged
		889	distributions break rxvt-unicode by setting "TERM" to "rxvt", which
		890	doesn't have these extra features. Unfortunately, some of these
		891	furthermore fail to even install the "rxvt-unicode" terminfo file, so
		892	you will need to install it on your own (See the question When I log-in
		893	to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? on how to do
		894	this).
		895
		896	Encoding / Locale / Input Method Issues
		897	Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?
		898	See next entry.
		899
		900	Unicode does not seem to work?
		901	If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but
		902	getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output
		903	is subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings.
		904
		905	Rxvt-unicode must be started with the same "LC_CTYPE" setting as the
		906	programs running in it. Often rxvt-unicode is started in the "C" locale,
		907	while the login script running within the rxvt-unicode window changes
		908	the locale to something else, e.g. "en_GB.UTF-8". Needless to say, this
		909	is not going to work, and is the most common cause for problems.
		910
		911	The best thing is to fix your startup environment, as you will likely
		912	run into other problems. If nothing works you can try this in your
		913	.profile.
		914
		915	printf '\33]701;%s\007' "$LC_CTYPE" # $LANG or $LC_ALL are worth a try, too
		916
		917	If this doesn't work, then maybe you use a "LC_CTYPE" specification not
		918	supported on your systems. Some systems have a "locale" command which
		919	displays this (also, "perl -e0" can be used to check locale settings, as
		920	it will complain loudly if it cannot set the locale). If it displays
		921	something like:
		922
		923	locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: ...
		924
		925	Then the locale you specified is not supported on your system.
		926
		927	If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then
		928	you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't
		929	support locales :(
		930
		931	How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
		932	See next entry.
		933
		934	Is there an option to switch encodings?
		935	Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
		936	specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know
		937	about UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O.
		938
		939	The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for
		940	selecting the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating
		941	this to all applications so everybody agrees on character properties
		942	such as width and code number. This mechanism is the *locale*.
		943	Applications not using that info will have problems (for example,
		944	"xterm" gets the width of characters wrong as it uses its own,
		945	locale-independent table under all locales).
		946
		947	Rxvt-unicode uses the "LC_CTYPE" locale category to select encoding. All
		948	programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the
		949	interpretation of characters.
		950
		951	Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor
		952	is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like.
		953
		954	On most systems, the content of the "LC_CTYPE" environment variable
		955	contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed
		956	locale. Common names for locales are "en_US.UTF-8", "de_DE.ISO-8859-15",
		957	"ja_JP.EUC-JP", i.e. "language_country.encoding", but other forms (i.e.
		958	"de" or "german") are also common.
		959
		960	Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for the
		961	encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings, i.e.
		962	"de_DE.UTF-8" and "ja_JP.UTF-8" are the normally same to rxvt-unicode.
		963
		964	If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
		965	rxvt-unicode with the correct "LC_CTYPE" category.
		966
		967	Can I switch locales at runtime?
		968	Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
		969	rxvt-unicode's idea of "LC_CTYPE".
		970
		971	printf '\33]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
		972
		973	See also the previous answer.
		974
		975	Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in one
		976	locale (e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8") but some programs don't support it (e.g.
		977	UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start "xjdic", which first
		978	switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
		979
		980	printf '\33]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
		981	xjdic -js
		982	printf '\33]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8
		983
		984	You can also use xterm's "luit" program, which usually works fine,
		985	except for some locales where character width differs between program-
		986	and rxvt-unicode-locales.
		987
		988	I have problems getting my input method working.
		989	Try a search engine, as this is slightly different for every input
		990	method server.
		991
		992	Here is a checklist:
		993
		994	- Make sure your locale *and* the imLocale are supported on your OS.
		995	Try "locale -a" or check the documentation for your OS.
		996
		997	- Make sure your locale or imLocale matches a locale supported by your
		998	XIM.
		999	For example, kinput2 does not support UTF-8 locales, you should use
		1000	"ja_JP.EUC-JP" or equivalent.
		1001
		1002	- Make sure your XIM server is actually running.
		1003	- Make sure the "XMODIFIERS" environment variable is set correctly when
		1004	*starting* rxvt-unicode.
		1005	When you want to use e.g. kinput2, it must be set to "@im=kinput2".
		1006	For scim, use "@im=SCIM". You can see what input method servers are
		1007	running with this command:
		1008
		1009	xprop -root XIM_SERVERS
		1010
		1011	My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?
		1012	You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of
		1013	the terminal, using the resource "imlocale":
		1014
		1015	URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
		1016
		1017	Now you can start your terminal with "LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8" and still
		1018	use your input method. Please note, however, that, depending on your
		1019	Xlib version, you may not be able to input characters outside "EUC-JP"
		1020	in a normal way then, as your input method limits you.
		1021
		1022	Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
		1023	Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
		1024	design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
		1025	leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at
		1026	exit time. kinput2 (and derived input methods) generally succeeds, while
		1027	SCIM (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however, crashes
		1028	cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate.
		1029
		1030	So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
		1031
		1032	Operating Systems / Package Maintaining
		1033	I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation?
		1034	You should build one binary with the default options. configure now
		1035	enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
		1036	runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enabling
		1037	them, except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter
		1038	should be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely
		1039	more in the future) depends on it.
		1040
		1041	You should not overwrite the "perl-ext-common" and "perl-ext" resources
		1042	system-wide (except maybe with "defaults"). This will result in useful
		1043	behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty
		1044	"perl-ext-common" resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the
		1045	perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it.
		1046
		1047	If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal one
		1048	with "--disable-everything" (very useful) and a maximal one with
		1049	"--enable-everything" (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of
		1050	encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used).
		1051
		1052	I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe?
		1053	It should be, starting with release 7.1. You are encouraged to properly
		1054	install urxvt with privileges necessary for your OS now.
		1055
		1056	When rxvt-unicode detects that it runs setuid or setgid, it will fork
		1057	into a helper process for privileged operations (pty handling on some
		1058	systems, utmp/wtmp/lastlog handling on others) and drop privileges
		1059	immediately. This is much safer than most other terminals that keep
		1060	privileges while running (but is more relevant to urxvt, as it contains
		1061	things as perl interpreters, which might be "helpful" to attackers).
		1062
		1063	This forking is done as the very first within main(), which is very
		1064	early and reduces possible bugs to initialisation code run before
		1065	main(), or things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should
		1066	result in very little risk.
		1067
		1068	I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.
		1069	Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol "__STDC_ISO_10646__" to be defined in
		1070	your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it,
		1071	whether it defines the symbol or not. "__STDC_ISO_10646__" requires that
		1072	wchar_t is represented as unicode.
		1073
		1074	As you might have guessed, FreeBSD does neither define this symbol nor
		1075	does it support it. Instead, it uses its own internal representation of
		1076	wchar_t. This is, of course, completely fine with respect to standards.
		1077
		1078	However, that means rxvt-unicode only works in "POSIX", "ISO-8859-1" and
		1079	"UTF-8" locales under FreeBSD (which all use Unicode as wchar_t).
		1080
		1081	"__STDC_ISO_10646__" is the only sane way to support multi-language apps
		1082	in an OS, as using a locale-dependent (and non-standardized)
		1083	representation of wchar_t makes it impossible to convert between wchar_t
		1084	(as used by X11 and your applications) and any other encoding without
		1085	implementing OS-specific-wrappers for each and every locale. There
		1086	simply are no APIs to convert wchar_t into anything except the current
		1087	locale encoding.
		1088
		1089	Some applications (such as the formidable mlterm) work around this by
		1090	carrying their own replacement functions for character set handling with
		1091	them, and either implementing OS-dependent hacks or doing multiple
		1092	conversions (which is slow and unreliable in case the OS implements
		1093	encodings slightly different than the terminal emulator).
		1094
		1095	The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the
		1096	system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry
		1097	complete replacements for them :)
		1098
		1099	How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
		1100	rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using the
		1101	X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no longer
		1102	supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a single
		1103	font). I recommend starting the X-server in "-multiwindow" or
		1104	"-rootless" mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as the
		1105	old libW11 emulation.
		1106
		1107	At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any
		1108	multi-byte encodings (you might try "LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8"), so you are
		1109	likely limited to 8-bit encodings.
		1110
		1111	Character widths are not correct.
		1112	urxvt uses the system wcwidth function to know the information about the
		1113	width of characters, so on systems with incorrect locale data you will
		1114	likely get bad results. Two notorious examples are Solaris 9, where
		1115	single-width characters like U+2514 are reported as double-width, and
		1116	Darwin 8, where combining chars are reported having width 1.
		1117
		1118	The solution is to upgrade your system or switch to a better one. A
		1119	possibly working workaround is to use a wcwidth implementation like
		1120
		1121	http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/wcwidth.c
		1122

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