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Revision: 1.26
Committed: Sat Dec 17 20:55:45 2005 UTC (18 years, 6 months ago) by root
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Branch: MAIN
CVS Tags: rel-5_9
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# User Rev Content
1 root 1.1 NAME
2     rxvt-unicode (ouR XVT, unicode) - (a VT102 emulator for the X window
3     system)
4    
5     SYNOPSIS
6     rxvt [options] [-e command [ args ]]
7    
8     DESCRIPTION
9 root 1.26 rxvt-unicode, version 5.9, is a colour vt102 terminal emulator intended
10 root 1.14 as an *xterm*(1) replacement for users who do not require features such
11     as Tektronix 4014 emulation and toolkit-style configurability. As a
12     result, rxvt-unicode uses much less swap space -- a significant
13     advantage on a machine serving many X sessions.
14 root 1.1
15     FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
16     See rxvt(7) (try "man 7 rxvt") for a list of frequently asked questions
17 root 1.11 and answer to them and some common problems. That document is also
18     accessible on the World-Wide-Web at
19     <http://cvs.schmorp.de/browse/*checkout*/rxvt-unicode/doc/rxvt.7.html>.
20 root 1.1
21     RXVT-UNICODE VS. RXVT
22     Unlike the original rxvt, rxvt-unicode stores all text in Unicode
23     internally. That means it can store and display most scripts in the
24     world. Being a terminal emulator, however, some things are very
25     difficult, especially cursive scripts such as arabic, vertically written
26     scripts like mongolian or scripts requiring extremely complex combining
27     rules, like tibetan or devenagari. Don't expect pretty output when using
28     these scripts. Most other scripts, latin, cyrillic, kanji, thai etc.
29     should work fine, though. A somewhat difficult case are left-to-right
30     scripts, such as hebrew: rxvt-unicode adopts the view that bidirectional
31     algorithms belong into the application, not the terminal emulator (too
32     many things -- such as cursor-movement while editing -- break
33     otherwise), but that might change.
34    
35     If you are looking for a terminal that supports more exotic scripts, let
36     me recommend "mlterm", which is a very userfriendly, lean and clean
37     terminal emulator. In fact, the reason rxvt-unicode was born was solely
38     because the author couldn't get "mlterm" to use one font for latin1 and
39     another for japanese.
40    
41     Therefore another design rationale was the use of multiple fonts to
42     display characters: The idea of a single unicode font which many other
43     programs force onto it's users never made sense to me: You should be
44     able to choose any font for any script freely.
45    
46     Apart from that, rxvt-unicode is also much better internationalised than
47     it's predecessor, supports things such as XFT and ISO 14755 that are
48     handy in i18n-environments, is faster, and has a lot less bugs than the
49     original rxvt. This all in addition to dozens of other small
50     improvements.
51    
52     It is still faithfully following the original rxvt idea of being lean
53     and nice on resources: for example, you can still configure rxvt-unicode
54     without most of it's features to get a lean binary. It also comes with a
55     client/daemon pair that lets you open any number of terminal windows
56     from within a single process, which makes startup time very fast and
57     drastically reduces memory usage. See rxvtd(1) (daemon) and rxvtc(1)
58     (client).
59    
60     It also makes technical information about escape sequences (which have
61     been extended) easier accessible: see rxvt(7) for technical reference
62     documentation (escape sequences etc.).
63    
64     OPTIONS
65     The rxvt options (mostly a subset of *xterm*'s) are listed below. In
66     keeping with the smaller-is-better philosophy, options may be eliminated
67     or default values chosen at compile-time, so options and defaults listed
68     may not accurately reflect the version installed on your system. `rxvt
69     -h' gives a list of major compile-time options on the *Options* line.
70     Option descriptions may be prefixed with which compile option each is
71     dependent upon. e.g. `Compile *XIM*:' requires *XIM* on the *Options*
72     line. Note: `rxvt -help' gives a list of all command-line options
73     compiled into your version.
74    
75     Note that rxvt permits the resource name to be used as a long-option
76     (--/++ option) so the potential command-line options are far greater
77     than those listed. For example: `rxvt --loginShell --color1 Orange'.
78    
79     The following options are available:
80    
81     -help, --help
82     Print out a message describing available options.
83    
84     -display *displayname*
85     Attempt to open a window on the named X display (-d still
86     respected). In the absence of this option, the display specified by
87     the DISPLAY environment variable is used.
88    
89     -geometry *geom*
90     Window geometry (-g still respected); resource geometry.
91    
92     -rv|+rv
93     Turn on/off simulated reverse video; resource reverseVideo.
94    
95     -j|+j
96     Turn on/off jump scrolling; resource jumpScroll.
97    
98 root 1.24 -ip|+ip | -tr|+tr
99 root 1.1 Turn on/off inheriting parent window's pixmap. Alternative form is
100     -tr; resource inheritPixmap.
101    
102     -fade *number*
103 root 1.24 Fade the text by the given percentage when focus is lost. Small
104     values fade a little only, 100 completely replaces all colours by
105     the fade colour; resource fading.
106    
107     -fadecolor *colour*
108     Fade to this colour when fading is used (see -fade). The default
109     colour is black. resource fadeColor.
110 root 1.1
111     -tint *colour*
112     Tint the transparent background pixmap with the given colour when
113 root 1.24 transparency is enabled with -tr or -ip. This only works for
114     non-tiled backgrounds, currently. See also the -sh option that can
115     be used to brighten or darken the image in addition to tinting it;
116     resource *tintColor*. Example:
117    
118     rxvt -tr -tint blue -sh 40
119 root 1.1
120     -sh *number* Darken (0 .. 100) or lighten (-1 .. -100) the transparent
121     background image in addition to tinting it (i.e. -tint must be
122     specified, too, e.g. "-tint white").
123    
124     -bg *colour*
125     Window background colour; resource background.
126    
127     -fg *colour*
128     Window foreground colour; resource foreground.
129    
130     -pixmap *file[;geom]*
131     Compile *XPM*: Specify XPM file for the background and also
132     optionally specify its scaling with a geometry string. Note you may
133 root 1.3 need to add quotes to avoid special shell interpretation of the ";"
134 root 1.1 in the command-line; resource backgroundPixmap.
135    
136     -cr *colour*
137     The cursor colour; resource cursorColor.
138    
139     -pr *colour*
140     The mouse pointer foreground colour; resource pointerColor.
141    
142     -pr2 *colour*
143     The mouse pointer background colour; resource pointerColor2.
144    
145     -bd *colour*
146     The colour of the border around the text area and between the
147     scrollbar and the text; resource borderColor.
148    
149     -fn *fontlist*
150     Select the fonts to be used. This is a comma separated list of font
151     names that are used in turn when trying to display Unicode
152     characters. The first font defines the cell size for characters;
153     other fonts might be smaller, but not (in general) larger. A
154     (hopefully) reasonable default font list is always appended to it.
155     See resource font for more details.
156    
157     In short, to specify an X11 core font, just specify it's name or
158     prefix it with "x:". To specify an XFT-font, you need to prefix it
159     with "xft:", e.g.:
160    
161     rxvt -fn "xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:pixelsize=15"
162     rxvt -fn "9x15bold,xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono"
163    
164     See also the question "How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?" in the
165     FAQ section of rxvt(7).
166    
167     -fb *fontlist*
168     Compile font-styles: The bold font list to use when bold characters
169     are to be printed. See resource boldFont for details.
170    
171     -fi *fontlist*
172     Compile font-styles: The italic font list to use when bold
173     characters are to be printed. See resource italicFont for details.
174    
175     -fbi *fontlist*
176     Compile font-styles: The bold italic font list to use when bold
177     characters are to be printed. See resource boldItalicFont for
178     details.
179    
180     -name *name*
181     Specify the application name under which resources are to be
182     obtained, rather than the default executable file name. Name should
183     not contain `.' or `*' characters. Also sets the icon and title
184     name.
185    
186     -ls|+ls
187     Start as a login-shell/sub-shell; resource loginShell.
188    
189     -ut|+ut
190     Compile *utmp*: Inhibit/enable writing a utmp entry; resource
191     utmpInhibit.
192    
193     -vb|+vb
194     Turn on/off visual bell on receipt of a bell character; resource
195     visualBell.
196    
197     -sb|+sb
198     Turn on/off scrollbar; resource scrollBar.
199    
200     -si|+si
201     Turn on/off scroll-to-bottom on TTY output inhibit; resource
202     scrollTtyOutput has opposite effect.
203    
204     -sk|+sk
205     Turn on/off scroll-to-bottom on keypress; resource
206     scrollTtyKeypress.
207    
208     -sw|+sw
209     Turn on/off scrolling with the scrollback buffer as new lines
210     appear. This only takes effect if -si is also given; resource
211     scrollWithBuffer.
212    
213     -sr|+sr
214     Put scrollbar on right/left; resource scrollBar_right.
215    
216     -st|+st
217 root 1.22 Display rxvt (non XTerm/NeXT) scrollbar without/with a trough;
218 root 1.1 resource scrollBar_floating.
219    
220     -ptab|+ptab
221     If enabled (default), "Horizontal Tab" characters are being stored
222     as actual wide characters in the screen buffer, which makes it
223     possible to select and paste them. Since a horizontal tab is a
224     cursor movement and not an actual glyph, this can sometimes be
225     visually annoying as the cursor on a tab character is displayed as a
226     wide cursor; resource pastableTabs.
227    
228     -bc|+bc
229     Blink the cursor; resource cursorBlink.
230    
231     -iconic
232     Start iconified, if the window manager supports that option.
233     Alternative form is -ic.
234    
235     -sl *number*
236     Save *number* lines in the scrollback buffer. See resource entry for
237     limits; resource saveLines.
238    
239     -b *number*
240     Compile *frills*: Internal border of *number* pixels. See resource
241     entry for limits; resource internalBorder.
242    
243     -w *number*
244     Compile *frills*: External border of *number* pixels. Also, -bw and
245     -borderwidth. See resource entry for limits; resource
246     externalBorder.
247    
248     -bl Compile *frills*: Set MWM hints to request a borderless window, i.e.
249     if honoured by the WM, the rxvt-unicode window will not have window
250     decorations; resource borderLess.
251    
252     -lsp *number*
253     Compile *frills*: Lines (pixel height) to insert between each row of
254     the display. Useful to work around font rendering problems; resource
255     linespace.
256    
257     -tn *termname*
258     This option specifies the name of the terminal type to be set in the
259     TERM environment variable. This terminal type must exist in the
260     *termcap(5)* database and should have *li#* and *co#* entries;
261     resource termName.
262    
263     -e *command [arguments]*
264     Run the command with its command-line arguments in the rxvt window;
265     also sets the window title and icon name to be the basename of the
266     program being executed if neither *-title* (*-T*) nor *-n* are given
267     on the command line. If this option is used, it must be the last on
268     the command-line. If there is no -e option then the default is to
269     run the program specified by the SHELL environment variable or,
270     failing that, *sh(1)*.
271    
272     -title *text*
273     Window title (-T still respected); the default title is the basename
274     of the program specified after the -e option, if any, otherwise the
275     application name; resource title.
276    
277     -n *text*
278     Icon name; the default name is the basename of the program specified
279     after the -e option, if any, otherwise the application name;
280     resource iconName.
281    
282     -C Capture system console messages.
283    
284     -pt *style*
285     Compile *XIM*: input style for input method; OverTheSpot,
286     OffTheSpot, Root; resource preeditType.
287    
288     -im *text*
289     Compile *XIM*: input method name. resource inputMethod.
290    
291     -imlocale *string*
292 root 1.6 The locale to use for opening the IM. You can use an "LC_CTYPE" of
293     e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8" for normal text processing but "ja_JP.EUC-JP" for
294     the input extension to be able to input japanese characters while
295     staying in another locale. resource imLocale.
296    
297     -imfont *fontset*
298     Set the font set to use for the X Input Method, see resource imFont
299     for more info.
300    
301     -tcw
302     Change the meaning of triple-click selection with the left mouse
303     button. Instead of selecting a full line it will extend the
304     selection the end of the logical line only. resource
305     tripleclickwords.
306 root 1.1
307     -insecure
308     Enable "insecure" mode, which currently enables most of the escape
309     sequences that echo strings. See the resource insecure for more
310     info.
311    
312     -mod *modifier*
313     Override detection of Meta modifier with specified key: alt, meta,
314     hyper, super, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4, mod5; resource *modifier*.
315    
316     -ssc|+ssc
317     Turn on/off secondary screen (default enabled); resource
318     secondaryScreen.
319    
320     -ssr|+ssr
321     Turn on/off secondary screen scroll (default enabled); resource
322     secondaryScroll.
323    
324 root 1.17 -keysym.*sym* *string*
325 root 1.11 Remap a key symbol. See resource keysym.
326    
327 root 1.17 -embed *windowid*
328 root 1.14 Tells rxvt to embed it's windows into an already-existing window,
329     which enables applications to easily embed a terminal.
330    
331     Right now, rxvt will first unmap/map the specified window, so it
332     shouldn't be a top-level window. rxvt will also reconfigure it quite
333     a bit, so don't expect it to keep some specific state. It's best to
334     create an extra subwindow for rxvt and leave it alone.
335    
336 root 1.15 The window will not be destroyed when rxvt exits.
337    
338 root 1.14 It might be useful to know that rxvt will not close file descriptors
339     passed to it (except for stdin/out/err, of course), so you can use
340     file descriptors to communicate with the programs within the
341     terminal. This works regardless of wether the "-embed" option was
342     used or not.
343 root 1.1
344 root 1.17 Here is a short Gtk2-perl snippet that illustrates how this option
345     can be used (a longer example is in doc/embed):
346    
347 root 1.19 my $rxvt = new Gtk2::Socket;
348     $rxvt->signal_connect_after (realize => sub {
349     my $xid = $_[0]->window->get_xid;
350     system "rxvt -embed $xid &";
351     });
352 root 1.17
353     -pty-fd *fileno*
354     Tells rxvt NOT to execute any commands or create a new pty/tty pair
355     but instead use the given filehandle as the tty master. This is
356     useful if you want to drive rxvt as a generic terminal emulator
357     without having to run a program within it.
358    
359     If this switch is given, rxvt will not create any utmp/wtmp entries
360     and will not tinker with pty/tty permissions - you have to do that
361     yourself if you want that.
362    
363     Here is a example in perl that illustrates how this option can be
364     used (a longer example is in doc/pty-fd):
365    
366     use IO::Pty;
367     use Fcntl;
368    
369     my $pty = new IO::Pty;
370     fcntl $pty, F_SETFD, 0; # clear close-on-exec
371     system "rxvt -pty-fd " . (fileno $pty) . "&";
372 root 1.18 close $pty;
373 root 1.17
374     # now communicate with rxvt
375     my $slave = $pty->slave;
376     while (<$slave>) { print $slave "got <$_>\n" }
377    
378 root 1.1 RESOURCES (available also as long-options)
379     Note: `rxvt --help' gives a list of all resources (long options)
380     compiled into your version.
381    
382     There are two different methods that rxvt can use to get the Xresource
383     data: using the X libraries (Xrm*-functions) or internal Xresources
384     reader (~/.Xdefaults). For the first method (ie. rxvt -h lists
385     XGetDefaults), you can set and change the resources using X11 tools like
386 root 1.11 xrdb. Many distribution do also load settings from the ~/.Xresources
387     file when X starts. rxvt will consult the following files/resources in
388     order, with later settings overwriting earlier ones:
389    
390     1. system-wide app-defaults file, either locale-dependent OR global
391     2. app-defaults file in $XAPPLRESDIR
392     3. RESOURCE_MANAGER property on root-window OR $HOME/.Xdefaults
393     4. SCREEN_RESOURCES for the current screen
394     5. $XENVIRONMENT file OR $HOME/.Xdefaults-<nodename>
395 root 1.1
396     If compiled with internal Xresources support (i.e. rxvt -h lists
397     .Xdefaults) then rxvt accepts application defaults set in
398     XAPPLOADDIR/URxvt (compile-time defined: usually
399     /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/URxvt) and resources set in ~/.Xdefaults, or
400     ~/.Xresources if ~/.Xdefaults does not exist. Note that when reading X
401     resources, rxvt recognizes two class names: XTerm and URxvt. The class
402     name Rxvt allows resources common to both rxvt and the original *rxvt*
403     to be easily configured, while the class name URxvt allows resources
404     unique to rxvt, notably colours and key-handling, to be shared between
405     different rxvt configurations. If no resources are specified, suitable
406     defaults will be used. Command-line arguments can be used to override
407     resource settings. The following resources are allowed:
408    
409     geometry: *geom*
410     Create the window with the specified X window geometry [default
411     80x24]; option -geometry.
412    
413     background: *colour*
414     Use the specified colour as the window's background colour [default
415     White]; option -bg.
416    
417     foreground: *colour*
418     Use the specified colour as the window's foreground colour [default
419     Black]; option -fg.
420    
421     color*n*: *colour*
422     Use the specified colour for the colour value *n*, where 0-7
423     corresponds to low-intensity (normal) colours and 8-15 corresponds
424     to high-intensity (bold = bright foreground, blink = bright
425     background) colours. The canonical names are as follows: 0=black,
426     1=red, 2=green, 3=yellow, 4=blue, 5=magenta, 6=cyan, 7=white, but
427     the actual colour names used are listed in the COLORS AND GRAPHICS
428     section.
429    
430     Colours higher than 15 cannot be set using resources (yet), but can
431     be changed using an escape command (see rxvt(7)).
432    
433     Colours 16-79 form a standard 4x4x4 colour cube (the same as xterm
434     with 88 colour support). Colours 80-87 are evenly spaces grey steps.
435    
436     colorBD: *colour*
437     colorIT: *colour*
438     Use the specified colour to display bold or italic characters when
439     the foreground colour is the default. If font styles are not
440 root 1.3 available (Compile *styles*) and this option is unset, reverse video
441 root 1.1 is used instead.
442    
443     colorUL: *colour*
444     Use the specified colour to display underlined characters when the
445     foreground colour is the default.
446    
447     colorRV: *colour*
448     Use the specified colour as the background for reverse video
449     characters.
450    
451     underlineColor: *colour*
452     If set, use the specified colour as the colour for the underline
453     itself. If unset, use the foreground colour.
454    
455     cursorColor: *colour*
456     Use the specified colour for the cursor. The default is to use the
457     foreground colour; option -cr.
458    
459     cursorColor2: *colour*
460     Use the specified colour for the colour of the cursor text. For this
461     to take effect, cursorColor must also be specified. The default is
462     to use the background colour.
463    
464     reverseVideo: *boolean*
465     True: simulate reverse video by foreground and background colours;
466     option -rv. False: regular screen colours [default]; option +rv. See
467     note in COLORS AND GRAPHICS section.
468    
469     jumpScroll: *boolean*
470     True: specify that jump scrolling should be used. When scrolling
471     quickly, fewer screen updates are performed [default]; option -j.
472     False: specify that smooth scrolling should be used; option +j.
473    
474     inheritPixmap: *boolean*
475     True: make the background inherit the parent windows' pixmap, giving
476     artificial transparency. False: do not inherit the parent windows'
477     pixmap.
478    
479     fading: *number*
480 root 1.24 Fade the text by the given percentage when focus is lost; option
481     -fade.
482    
483     fadeColor: *colour*
484     Fade to this colour, when fading is used (see fading:). The default
485     colour is black; option -fadecolor.
486 root 1.1
487     tintColor: *colour*
488 root 1.24 Tint the transparent background pixmap with the given colour; option
489     -tint.
490 root 1.1
491     shading: *number*
492     Darken (0 .. 100) or lighten (-1 .. -100) the transparent background
493     image in addition to tinting it.
494    
495     scrollColor: *colour*
496     Use the specified colour for the scrollbar [default #B2B2B2].
497    
498     troughColor: *colour*
499     Use the specified colour for the scrollbar's trough area [default
500 root 1.22 #969696]. Only relevant for rxvt (non XTerm/NeXT) scrollbar.
501 root 1.1
502     borderColor: *colour*
503     The colour of the border around the text area and between the
504     scrollbar and the text.
505    
506     backgroundPixmap: *file[;geom]*
507     Use the specified XPM file (note the `.xpm' extension is optional)
508     for the background and also optionally specify its scaling with a
509     geometry string WxH+X+Y, in which "W" / "H" specify the
510     horizontal/vertical scale (percent) and "X" / "Y" locate the image
511     centre (percent). A scale of 0 displays the image with tiling. A
512     scale of 1 displays the image without any scaling. A scale of 2 to 9
513     specifies an integer number of images in that direction. No image
514     will be magnified beyond 10 times its original size. The maximum
515     permitted scale is 1000. [default 0x0+50+50]
516    
517     menu: *file[;tag]*
518     Read in the specified menu file (note the `.menu' extension is
519     optional) and also optionally specify a starting tag to find. See
520     the reference documentation for details on the syntax for the
521     menuBar.
522    
523     path: *path*
524     Specify the colon-delimited search path for finding files (XPM and
525     menus), in addition to the paths specified by the RXVTPATH and PATH
526     environment variables.
527    
528     font: *fontlist*
529     Select the fonts to be used. This is a comma separated list of font
530     names that are used in turn when trying to display Unicode
531     characters. The first font defines the cell size for characters;
532     other fonts might be smaller, but not larger. A reasonable default
533     font list is always appended to it. option -fn.
534    
535     Each font can either be a standard X11 core font (XLFD) name, with
536 root 1.3 optional prefix "x:" or a Xft font (Compile *xft*), prefixed with
537 root 1.1 "xft:".
538    
539     In addition, each font can be prefixed with additional hints and
540     specifications enclosed in square brackets ("[]"). The only
541     available hint currently is "codeset=codeset-name", and this is only
542     used for Xft fonts.
543    
544     For example, this font resource
545    
546     URxvt*font: 9x15bold,\
547     -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1,\
548     -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1, \
549     [codeset=JISX0208]xft:Kochi Gothic:antialias=false, \
550     xft:Code2000:antialias=false
551    
552     specifies five fonts to be used. The first one is "9x15bold"
553     (actually the iso8859-1 version of the second font), which is the
554     base font (because it is named first) and thus defines the character
555     cell grid to be 9 pixels wide and 15 pixels high.
556    
557     The second font is just used to add additional unicode characters
558     not in the base font, likewise the third, which is unfortunately
559     non-bold, but the bold version of the font does contain less
560     characters, so this is a useful supplement.
561    
562     The third font is an Xft font with aliasing turned off, and the
563     characters are limited to the JIS 0208 codeset (i.e. japanese
564     kanji). The font contains other characters, but we are not
565     interested in them.
566    
567     The last font is a useful catch-all font that supplies most of the
568     remaining unicode characters.
569    
570     boldFont: *fontlist*
571     italicFont: *fontlist*
572     boldItalicFont: *fontlist*
573     The font list to use for displaying bold, *italic* or *bold italic*
574     characters, respectively.
575    
576     If specified and non-empty, then the syntax is the same as for the
577     font-resource, and the given font list will be used as is, which
578     makes it possible to substitute completely different font styles for
579     bold and italic.
580    
581     If unset (the default), a suitable font list will be synthesized by
582     "morphing" the normal text font list into the desired shape. If that
583     is not possible, replacement fonts of the desired shape will be
584     tried.
585    
586     If set, but empty, then this specific style is disabled and the
587     normal text font will being used for the given style.
588    
589     selectstyle: *mode*
590     Set mouse selection style to old which is 2.20, oldword which is
591     xterm style with 2.20 old word selection, or anything else which
592     gives xterm style selection.
593    
594     scrollstyle: *mode*
595     Set scrollbar style to rxvt, plain, next or xterm. plain is the
596 root 1.22 author's favourite.
597 root 1.1
598     title: *string*
599     Set window title string, the default title is the command-line
600     specified after the -e option, if any, otherwise the application
601     name; option -title.
602    
603     iconName: *string*
604     Set the name used to label the window's icon or displayed in an icon
605     manager window, it also sets the window's title unless it is
606     explicitly set; option -n.
607    
608     mapAlert: *boolean*
609     True: de-iconify (map) on receipt of a bell character. False: no
610     de-iconify (map) on receipt of a bell character [default].
611    
612     visualBell: *boolean*
613     True: use visual bell on receipt of a bell character; option -vb.
614     False: no visual bell [default]; option +vb.
615    
616     loginShell: *boolean*
617     True: start as a login shell by prepending a `-' to argv[0] of the
618     shell; option -ls. False: start as a normal sub-shell [default];
619     option +ls.
620    
621     utmpInhibit: *boolean*
622     True: inhibit writing record into the system log file utmp; option
623     -ut. False: write record into the system log file utmp [default];
624     option +ut.
625    
626     print-pipe: *string*
627     Specify a command pipe for vt100 printer [default *lpr(1)*]. Use
628     Print to initiate a screen dump to the printer and Ctrl-Print or
629     Shift-Print to include the scrollback as well.
630    
631 root 1.23 The string will be interpreted as if typed into the shell as-is.
632    
633     Example:
634    
635     URxvt*print-pipe: cat > $(TMPDIR=$HOME mktemp urxvt.XXXXXX)
636    
637     This creates a new file in your home directory with the screen
638     contents everytime you hit "Print".
639    
640 root 1.1 scrollBar: *boolean*
641     True: enable the scrollbar [default]; option -sb. False: disable the
642     scrollbar; option +sb.
643    
644     scrollBar_right: *boolean*
645     True: place the scrollbar on the right of the window; option -sr.
646     False: place the scrollbar on the left of the window; option +sr.
647    
648     scrollBar_floating: *boolean*
649     True: display an rxvt scrollbar without a trough; option -st. False:
650     display an rxvt scrollbar with a trough; option +st.
651    
652     scrollBar_align: *mode*
653     Align the top, bottom or centre [default] of the scrollbar thumb
654     with the pointer on middle button press/drag.
655    
656     scrollTtyOutput: *boolean*
657     True: scroll to bottom when tty receives output; option -si. False:
658     do not scroll to bottom when tty receives output; option +si.
659    
660     scrollWithBuffer: *boolean*
661     True: scroll with scrollback buffer when tty receives new lines (and
662 root 1.16 scrollTtyOutput is False); option -sw. False: do not scroll with
663     scrollback buffer when tty recieves new lines; option +sw.
664 root 1.1
665     scrollTtyKeypress: *boolean*
666     True: scroll to bottom when a non-special key is pressed. Special
667     keys are those which are intercepted by rxvt-unicode for special
668     handling and are not passed onto the shell; option -sk. False: do
669     not scroll to bottom when a non-special key is pressed; option +sk.
670    
671     saveLines: *number*
672     Save *number* lines in the scrollback buffer [default 64]. This
673     resource is limited on most machines to 65535; option -sl.
674    
675     internalBorder: *number*
676     Internal border of *number* pixels. This resource is limited to 100;
677     option -b.
678    
679     externalBorder: *number*
680     External border of *number* pixels. This resource is limited to 100;
681     option -w, -bw, -borderwidth.
682    
683     borderLess: *boolean*
684     Set MWM hints to request a borderless window, i.e. if honoured by
685     the WM, the rxvt-unicode window will not have window decorations;
686     option -bl.
687    
688     termName: *termname*
689     Specifies the terminal type name to be set in the TERM environment
690     variable; option -tn.
691    
692     linespace: *number*
693     Specifies number of lines (pixel height) to insert between each row
694     of the display [default 0]; option -lsp.
695    
696     meta8: *boolean*
697     True: handle Meta (Alt) + keypress to set the 8th bit. False: handle
698     Meta (Alt) + keypress as an escape prefix [default].
699    
700     mouseWheelScrollPage: *boolean*
701     True: the mouse wheel scrolls a page full. False: the mouse wheel
702     scrolls five lines [default].
703    
704     pastableTabs: *boolean*
705     True: store tabs as wide characters. False: interpret tabs as cursor
706     movement only; option "-ptab".
707    
708     cursorBlink: *boolean*
709     True: blink the cursor. False: do not blink the cursor [default];
710     option -bc.
711    
712     pointerBlank: *boolean*
713     True: blank the pointer when a key is pressed or after a set number
714     of seconds of inactivity. False: the pointer is always visible
715     [default].
716    
717     pointerColor: *colour*
718     Mouse pointer foreground colour.
719    
720     pointerColor2: *colour*
721     Mouse pointer background colour.
722    
723     pointerBlankDelay: *number*
724     Specifies number of seconds before blanking the pointer [default 2].
725 root 1.20 Use a large number (e.g. 987654321) to effectively disable the
726     timeout.
727 root 1.1
728     backspacekey: *string*
729     The string to send when the backspace key is pressed. If set to DEC
730     or unset it will send Delete (code 127) or, if shifted, Backspace
731     (code 8) - which can be reversed with the appropriate DEC private
732     mode escape sequence.
733    
734     deletekey: *string*
735     The string to send when the delete key (not the keypad delete key)
736     is pressed. If unset it will send the sequence traditionally
737     associated with the Execute key.
738    
739     cutchars: *string*
740     The characters used as delimiters for double-click word selection.
741     The built-in default:
742    
743     BACKSLASH `"'&()*,;<=>?@[]{|}
744    
745     preeditType: *style*
746     OverTheSpot, OffTheSpot, Root; option -pt.
747    
748     inputMethod: *name*
749     *name* of inputMethod to use; option -im.
750    
751     imLocale: *name*
752 root 1.6 The locale to use for opening the IM. You can use an "LC_CTYPE" of
753     e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8" for normal text processing but "ja_JP.EUC-JP" for
754     the input extension to be able to input japanese characters while
755 root 1.1 staying in another locale. option -imlocale.
756    
757 root 1.6 imFont: *fontset*
758     Specify the font-set used for XIM styles "OverTheSpot" or
759     "OffTheSpot". It must be a standard X font set (XLFD patterns
760     separated by commas), i.e. it's not in the same format as the other
761     font lists used in rxvt. The default will be set-up to chose *any*
762     suitable found found, preferably one or two pixels differing in size
763     to the base font. option -imfont.
764    
765     tripleclickwords: *boolean*
766     Change the meaning of triple-click selection with the left mouse
767     button. Instead of selecting a full line it will extend the
768     selection to the end of the logical line only. option -tcw.
769    
770 root 1.1 insecure: *boolean*
771     Enables "insecure" mode. Rxvt-unicode offers some escape sequences
772     that echo arbitrary strings like the icon name or the locale. This
773     could be abused if somebody gets 8-bit-clean access to your display,
774 root 1.26 whether through a mail client displaying mail bodies unfiltered or
775     through write(1) or any other means. Therefore, these sequences are
776     disabled by default. (Note that many other terminals, including
777     xterm, have these sequences enabled by default, which doesn't make
778     it safer, though).
779    
780     You can enable them by setting this boolean resource or specifying
781     -insecure as an option. At the moment, this enables display-answer,
782     locale, findfont, icon label and window title requests as well as
783     dynamic menubar dispatch.
784 root 1.1
785     modifier: *modifier*
786     Set the key to be interpreted as the Meta key to: alt, meta, hyper,
787     super, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4, mod5; option -mod.
788    
789     answerbackString: *string*
790     Specify the reply rxvt-unicode sends to the shell when an ENQ
791     (control-E) character is passed through. It may contain escape
792     values as described in the entry on keysym following.
793    
794     secondaryScreen: *bool*
795     Turn on/off secondary screen (default enabled).
796    
797     secondaryScroll: *bool*
798     Turn on/off secondary screen scroll (default enabled). If the this
799     option is enabled, scrolls on the secondary screen will change the
800     scrollback buffer and switching to/from the secondary screen will
801     instead scroll the screen up.
802    
803     keysym.*sym*: *string*
804 root 1.3 Compile *frills*: Associate *string* with keysym *sym*. The
805     intervening resource name keysym. cannot be omitted.
806    
807     The format of *sym* is "*(modifiers-)key*", where *modifiers* can be
808     any combination of ISOLevel3, AppKeypad, Control, NumLock, Shift,
809     Meta, Lock, Mod1, Mod2, Mod3, Mod4, Mod5, and the abbreviated I, K,
810     C, N, S, M, A, L, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
811    
812     The NumLock, Meta and ISOLevel3 modifiers are usually aliased to
813     whatever modifier the NumLock key, Meta/Alt keys or ISO Level3
814 root 1.6 Shift/AltGr keys are being mapped. AppKeypad is a synthetic modifier
815     mapped to the current application keymap mode state.
816 root 1.3
817     The spellings of *key* can be obtained by using xev(1) command or
818 root 1.2 searching keysym macros from /usr/X11R6/include/X11/keysymdef.h and
819 root 1.3 omitting the prefix XK_. Alternatively you can specify *key* by its
820     hex keysym value (0x0000 - 0xFFFF). Note that the lookup of *sym*s
821     is not performed in an exact manner; however, the closest match is
822 root 1.2 assured.
823    
824 root 1.3 *string* may contain escape values ("\a": bell, "\b": backspace,
825     "\e", "\E": escape, "\n": newline, "\r": carriage return, "\t": tab,
826     "\000": octal number) or verbatim control characters ("^?": delete,
827     "^@": null, "^A" ...) and may be enclosed with double quotes so that
828     it can start or end with whitespace.
829 root 1.2
830 root 1.11 Please note that you need to double the "\" when using
831     "--enable-xgetdefault", as X itself does it's own de-escaping (you
832     can use "\033" instead of "\e" (and so on), which will work with
833     both Xt and rxvt's own processing).
834    
835 root 1.2 You can define a range of keysyms in one shot by providing a
836 root 1.3 *string* with pattern list/PREFIX/MIDDLE/SUFFIX, where the delimeter
837     `/' should be a character not used by the strings.
838 root 1.2
839 root 1.3 Its usage can be demonstrated by an example:
840    
841 root 1.11 URxvt.keysym.M-C-0x61: list|\033<M-C-|abc|>
842 root 1.2
843     The above line is equivalent to the following three lines:
844 root 1.3
845 root 1.11 URxvt.keysym.Meta-Control-0x61: \033<M-C-a>
846     URxvt.keysym.Meta-Control-0x62: \033<M-C-b>
847     URxvt.keysym.Meta-Control-0x63: \033<M-C-c>
848 root 1.3
849 root 1.11 If *string* takes the form of "command:STRING", the specified STRING
850 root 1.6 is interpreted and executed as rxvt's control sequence. For example
851     the following means "change the current locale to "zh_CN.GBK" when
852     Control-Meta-c is being pressed":
853    
854 root 1.11 URxvt.keysym.M-C-c: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007
855 root 1.6
856 root 1.21 Due the the large number of modifier combinations, a defined key
857     mapping will match if at *at least* the specified identifiers are
858     being set, and no other key mappings with those and more bits are
859     being defined. That means that defining a key map for "a" will
860     automatically provide definitions for "Meta-a", "Shift-a" and so on,
861     unless some of those are defined mappings themselves.
862    
863     Unfortunately, this will override built-in key mappings. For example
864     if you overwrite the "Insert" key you will disable rxvt's
865     "Shift-Insert" mapping. To re-enable that, you can poke "holes" into
866     the user-defined keymap using the "builtin:" replacement:
867    
868     URxvt.keysym.Insert: <my insert key sequence>
869     URxvt.keysym.S-Insert: builtin:
870    
871     The first line defines a mapping for "Insert" and *any* combination
872     of modifiers. The second line re-establishes the default mapping for
873     "Shift-Insert".
874    
875 root 1.6 The following example will map Control-Meta-1 and Control-Meta-2 to
876 root 1.11 the fonts "suxuseuro" and "9x15bold", so you can have some limited
877 root 1.6 font-switching at runtime:
878    
879 root 1.11 URxvt.keysym.M-C-1: command:\033]50;suxuseuro\007
880     URxvt.keysym.M-C-2: command:\033]50;9x15bold\007
881    
882     Other things are possible, e.g. resizing (see rxvt(7) for more
883     info):
884 root 1.6
885 root 1.11 URxvt.keysym.M-C-3: command:\033[8;25;80t
886     URxvt.keysym.M-C-4: command:\033[8;48;110t
887 root 1.1
888     THE SCROLLBAR
889     Lines of text that scroll off the top of the rxvt window (resource:
890     saveLines) and can be scrolled back using the scrollbar or by
891     keystrokes. The normal rxvt scrollbar has arrows and its behaviour is
892     fairly intuitive. The xterm-scrollbar is without arrows and its
893     behaviour mimics that of *xterm*
894    
895     Scroll down with Button1 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Next. Scroll up with
896     Button3 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Prior. Continuous scroll with
897     Button2.
898    
899     MOUSE REPORTING
900     To temporarily override mouse reporting, for either the scrollbar or the
901     normal text selection/insertion, hold either the Shift or the Meta (Alt)
902     key while performing the desired mouse action.
903    
904     If mouse reporting mode is active, the normal scrollbar actions are
905     disabled -- on the assumption that we are using a fullscreen
906 root 1.11 application. Instead, pressing Button1 and Button3 sends ESC [ 6 ~
907     (Next) and ESC [ 5 ~ (Prior), respectively. Similarly, clicking on the
908     up and down arrows sends ESC [ A (Up) and ESC [ B (Down), respectively.
909 root 1.1
910     TEXT SELECTION AND INSERTION
911     The behaviour of text selection and insertion mechanism is similar to
912     *xterm*(1).
913    
914     Selection:
915     Left click at the beginning of the region, drag to the end of the
916     region and release; Right click to extend the marked region; Left
917     double-click to select a word; Left triple-click to select the
918 root 1.6 entire logical line (which can span multiple screen lines), unless
919     modified by resource tripleclickwords.
920 root 1.1
921     Starting a selection while pressing the Meta key (or Meta+Ctrl keys)
922 root 1.3 (Compile: *frills*) will create a rectangular selection instead of a
923 root 1.1 normal one.
924    
925     Insertion:
926     Pressing and releasing the Middle mouse button (or Shift-Insert) in
927     an rxvt window causes the current text selection to be inserted as
928     if it had been typed on the keyboard.
929    
930     CHANGING FONTS
931     Changing fonts (or font sizes, respectively) via the keypad is not yet
932     supported in rxvt-unicode. Bug me if you need this.
933    
934     You can, however, switch fonts at runtime using escape sequences (and
935     therefore using the menubar), e.g.:
936    
937 root 1.26 printf '\e]710;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
938 root 1.1
939     rxvt-unicode will automatically re-apply these fonts to the output so
940     far.
941    
942     ISO 14755 SUPPORT
943     ISO 14755 is a standard for entering and viewing unicode characters and
944     character codes using the keyboard. It consists of 4 parts. The first
945     part is available rxvt-unicode has been compiled with "--enable-frills",
946     the rest is available when rxvt-unicode was compiled with
947     "--enable-iso14755".
948    
949 root 1.6 * 5.1: Basic method
950 root 1.1 This allows you to enter unicode characters using their hexcode.
951    
952     Start by pressing and holding both "Control" and "Shift", then enter
953     hex-digits (between one and six). Releasing "Control" and "Shift"
954     will commit the character as if it were typed directly. While
955     holding down "Control" and "Shift" you can also enter multiple
956     characters by pressing "Space", which will commit the current
957     character and lets you start a new one.
958    
959     As an example of use, imagine a business card with a japanese e-mail
960     address, which you cannot type. Fortunately, the card has the e-mail
961     address printed as hexcodes, e.g. "671d 65e5". You can enter this
962     easily by pressing "Control" and "Shift", followed by
963     "6-7-1-D-SPACE-6-5-E-5", followed by releasing the modifier keys.
964    
965 root 1.6 * 5.2: Keyboard symbols entry method
966 root 1.1 This mode lets you input characters representing the keycap symbols
967     of your keyboard, if representable in the current locale encoding.
968    
969     Start by pressing "Control" and "Shift" together, then releasing
970     them. The next special key (cursor keys, home etc.) you enter will
971     not invoke it's usual function but instead will insert the
972     corresponding keycap symbol. The symbol will only be entered when
973     the key has been released, otherwise pressing e.g. "Shift" would
974     enter the symbol for "ISO Level 2 Switch", although your intention
975     might have been to enter a reverse tab (Shift-Tab).
976    
977 root 1.6 * 5.3: Screen-selection entry method
978 root 1.1 While this is implemented already (it's basically the selection
979     mechanism), it could be extended by displaying a unicode character
980     map.
981    
982 root 1.6 * 5.4: Feedback method for identifying displayed characters for later
983 root 1.1 input
984     This method lets you display the unicode character code associated
985     with characters already displayed.
986    
987     You enter this mode by holding down "Control" and "Shift" together,
988     then pressing and holding the left mouse button and moving around.
989     The unicode hex code(s) (it might be a combining character) of the
990     character under the pointer is displayed until you release "Control"
991     and "Shift".
992    
993     In addition to the hex codes it will display the font used to draw
994     this character - due to implementation reasons, characters combined
995     with combining characters, line drawing characters and unknown
996     characters will always be drawn using the built-in support font.
997    
998     With respect to conformance, rxvt-unicode is supposed to be compliant to
999     both scenario A and B of ISO 14755, including part 5.2.
1000    
1001     LOGIN STAMP
1002     rxvt tries to write an entry into the *utmp*(5) file so that it can be
1003     seen via the *who(1)* command, and can accept messages. To allow this
1004 root 1.6 feature, rxvt may need to be installed setuid root on some systems or
1005     setgid to root or to some other group on others.
1006 root 1.1
1007     COLORS AND GRAPHICS
1008     In addition to the default foreground and background colours, rxvt can
1009     display up to 16 colours (8 ANSI colours plus high-intensity bold/blink
1010     versions of the same). Here is a list of the colours with their rgb.txt
1011     names.
1012    
1013     color0 (black) = Black
1014     color1 (red) = Red3
1015     color2 (green) = Green3
1016     color3 (yellow) = Yellow3
1017     color4 (blue) = Blue3
1018     color5 (magenta) = Magenta3
1019     color6 (cyan) = Cyan3
1020     color7 (white) = AntiqueWhite
1021     color8 (bright black) = Grey25
1022     color9 (bright red) = Red
1023     color10 (bright green) = Green
1024     color11 (bright yellow) = Yellow
1025     color12 (bright blue) = Blue
1026     color13 (bright magenta) = Magenta
1027     color14 (bright cyan) = Cyan
1028     color15 (bright white) = White
1029     foreground = Black
1030     background = White
1031    
1032     It is also possible to specify the colour values of foreground,
1033     background, cursorColor, cursorColor2, colorBD, colorUL as a number
1034     0-15, as a convenient shorthand to reference the colour name of
1035     color0-color15.
1036    
1037     Note that -rv ("reverseVideo: True") simulates reverse video by always
1038     swapping the foreground/background colours. This is in contrast to
1039     *xterm*(1) where the colours are only swapped if they have not otherwise
1040     been specified. For example,
1041    
1042     rxvt -fg Black -bg White -rv
1043     would yield White on Black, while on *xterm*(1) it would yield Black
1044     on White.
1045    
1046     ENVIRONMENT
1047 root 1.11 rxvt sets and/or uses the following environment variables:
1048    
1049     TERM
1050     Normally set to "rxvt-unicode", unless overwritten at configure
1051     time, via resources or on the commandline.
1052    
1053     COLORTERM
1054     Either "rxvt", "rxvt-xpm", depending on wether rxvt was compiled
1055     with XPM support, and optionally with the added extension "-mono" to
1056     indicate that rxvt-unicode runs on a monochrome screen.
1057    
1058     COLORFGBG
1059     Set to a string of the form "fg;bg" or "fg;xpm;bg", where "fg" is
1060     the colour code used as default foreground/text colour (or the
1061     string "default" to indicate that the default-colour escape sequence
1062     is to be used), "bg" is the colour code used as default background
1063     colour (or the string "default"), and "xpm" is the string "default"
1064 root 1.12 if rxvt was compiled with XPM support. Libraries like "ncurses" and
1065     "slang" can (and do) use this information to optimize screen output.
1066 root 1.11
1067     WINDOWID
1068     Set to the (decimal) X Window ID of the rxvt window (the toplevel
1069     window, which usually has subwindows for the scrollbar, the terminal
1070     window and so on).
1071    
1072     TERMINFO
1073     Set to the terminfo directory iff rxvt was configured with
1074     "--with-terminfo=PATH".
1075    
1076     DISPLAY
1077     Used by rxvt to connect to the display and set to the correct
1078     display in it's child processes.
1079    
1080     SHELL
1081     The shell to be used for command execution, defaults to "/bin/sh".
1082    
1083     RXVTPATH
1084     The path where rxvt looks for support files such as menu and xpm
1085     files.
1086    
1087     PATH
1088     Used in the same way as "RXVTPATH".
1089    
1090     RXVT_SOCKET
1091     The unix domain socket path used by rxvtc(1) and rxvtd(1).
1092    
1093 root 1.23 Default $HOME/.rxvt-unicode-*<nodename*.
1094 root 1.11
1095     HOME
1096     Used to locate the default directory for the unix domain socket for
1097     daemon communications and to locate various resource files (such as
1098     ".Xdefaults")
1099    
1100     XAPPLRESDIR
1101     Directory where various X resource files are being located.
1102    
1103     XENVIRONMENT
1104     If set and accessible, gives the name of a X resource file to be
1105     loaded by rxvt.
1106 root 1.1
1107     FILES
1108     /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt
1109     Color names.
1110    
1111     SEE ALSO
1112 root 1.23 rxvt(7), rxvtc(1), rxvtd(1), xterm(1), sh(1), resize(1), X(1), pty(4),
1113     tty(4), utmp(5)
1114 root 1.1
1115     CURRENT PROJECT COORDINATOR
1116     Project Coordinator
1117 root 1.13 Marc A. Lehmann <rxvt-unicode@schmorp.de>
1118 root 1.1
1119 root 1.13 <http://software.schmorp.de/#rxvt-unicode>
1120 root 1.1
1121     AUTHORS
1122     John Bovey
1123     University of Kent, 1992, wrote the original Xvt.
1124    
1125     Rob Nation <nation@rocket.sanders.lockheed.com>
1126     very heavily modified Xvt and came up with Rxvt
1127    
1128     Angelo Haritsis <ah@doc.ic.ac.uk>
1129     wrote the Greek Keyboard Input (no longer in code)
1130    
1131     mj olesen <olesen@me.QueensU.CA>
1132     Wrote the menu system.
1133    
1134     Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.11 to 2.21)
1135    
1136     Oezguer Kesim <kesim@math.fu-berlin.de>
1137     Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.21a to 2.4.5)
1138    
1139     Geoff Wing <gcw@pobox.com>
1140     Rewrote screen display and text selection routines. Project
1141     Coordinator (changes.txt 2.4.6 - rxvt-unicode)
1142    
1143 root 1.13 Marc Alexander Lehmann <rxvt-unicode@schmorp.de>
1144 root 1.1 Forked rxvt-unicode, rewrote most of the display code and internal
1145     character handling to store text in unicode, improve xterm
1146     compatibility and apply numerous other bugfixes and extensions.
1147    
1148     Project Coordinator (Changes 1.0 -)
1149