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# Content
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 rxvt-unicode, version 6.2, is a colour vt102 terminal emulator intended
10 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
15 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
16 See rxvt(7) (try "man 7 rxvt") for a list of frequently asked questions
17 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
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 -ip|+ip | -tr|+tr
99 Turn on/off inheriting parent window's pixmap. Alternative form is
100 -tr; resource inheritPixmap.
101
102 -fade *number*
103 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
111 -tint *colour*
112 Tint the transparent background pixmap with the given colour when
113 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
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 need to add quotes to avoid special shell interpretation of the ";"
134 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 -is|+is
181 Compile font-styles: Bold/Italic font styles imply high intensity
182 foreground/background (default). See resource intensityStyles for
183 details.
184
185 -name *name*
186 Specify the application name under which resources are to be
187 obtained, rather than the default executable file name. Name should
188 not contain `.' or `*' characters. Also sets the icon and title
189 name.
190
191 -ls|+ls
192 Start as a login-shell/sub-shell; resource loginShell.
193
194 -ut|+ut
195 Compile *utmp*: Inhibit/enable writing a utmp entry; resource
196 utmpInhibit.
197
198 -vb|+vb
199 Turn on/off visual bell on receipt of a bell character; resource
200 visualBell.
201
202 -sb|+sb
203 Turn on/off scrollbar; resource scrollBar.
204
205 -si|+si
206 Turn on/off scroll-to-bottom on TTY output inhibit; resource
207 scrollTtyOutput has opposite effect.
208
209 -sk|+sk
210 Turn on/off scroll-to-bottom on keypress; resource
211 scrollTtyKeypress.
212
213 -sw|+sw
214 Turn on/off scrolling with the scrollback buffer as new lines
215 appear. This only takes effect if -si is also given; resource
216 scrollWithBuffer.
217
218 -sr|+sr
219 Put scrollbar on right/left; resource scrollBar_right.
220
221 -st|+st
222 Display rxvt (non XTerm/NeXT) scrollbar without/with a trough;
223 resource scrollBar_floating.
224
225 -ptab|+ptab
226 If enabled (default), "Horizontal Tab" characters are being stored
227 as actual wide characters in the screen buffer, which makes it
228 possible to select and paste them. Since a horizontal tab is a
229 cursor movement and not an actual glyph, this can sometimes be
230 visually annoying as the cursor on a tab character is displayed as a
231 wide cursor; resource pastableTabs.
232
233 -bc|+bc
234 Blink the cursor; resource cursorBlink.
235
236 -iconic
237 Start iconified, if the window manager supports that option.
238 Alternative form is -ic.
239
240 -sl *number*
241 Save *number* lines in the scrollback buffer. See resource entry for
242 limits; resource saveLines.
243
244 -b *number*
245 Compile *frills*: Internal border of *number* pixels. See resource
246 entry for limits; resource internalBorder.
247
248 -w *number*
249 Compile *frills*: External border of *number* pixels. Also, -bw and
250 -borderwidth. See resource entry for limits; resource
251 externalBorder.
252
253 -bl Compile *frills*: Set MWM hints to request a borderless window, i.e.
254 if honoured by the WM, the rxvt-unicode window will not have window
255 decorations; resource borderLess.
256
257 -lsp *number*
258 Compile *frills*: Lines (pixel height) to insert between each row of
259 the display. Useful to work around font rendering problems; resource
260 linespace.
261
262 -tn *termname*
263 This option specifies the name of the terminal type to be set in the
264 TERM environment variable. This terminal type must exist in the
265 *termcap(5)* database and should have *li#* and *co#* entries;
266 resource termName.
267
268 -e *command [arguments]*
269 Run the command with its command-line arguments in the rxvt window;
270 also sets the window title and icon name to be the basename of the
271 program being executed if neither *-title* (*-T*) nor *-n* are given
272 on the command line. If this option is used, it must be the last on
273 the command-line. If there is no -e option then the default is to
274 run the program specified by the SHELL environment variable or,
275 failing that, *sh(1)*.
276
277 Please note that you must specify a program with arguments. If you
278 want to run shell commands, you have to specify the shell, like
279 this:
280
281 rxvt -e sh -c "shell commands"
282
283 -title *text*
284 Window title (-T still respected); the default title is the basename
285 of the program specified after the -e option, if any, otherwise the
286 application name; resource title.
287
288 -n *text*
289 Icon name; the default name is the basename of the program specified
290 after the -e option, if any, otherwise the application name;
291 resource iconName.
292
293 -C Capture system console messages.
294
295 -pt *style*
296 Compile *XIM*: input style for input method; OverTheSpot,
297 OffTheSpot, Root; resource preeditType.
298
299 -im *text*
300 Compile *XIM*: input method name. resource inputMethod.
301
302 -imlocale *string*
303 The locale to use for opening the IM. You can use an "LC_CTYPE" of
304 e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8" for normal text processing but "ja_JP.EUC-JP" for
305 the input extension to be able to input japanese characters while
306 staying in another locale. resource imLocale.
307
308 -imfont *fontset*
309 Set the font set to use for the X Input Method, see resource imFont
310 for more info.
311
312 -tcw
313 Change the meaning of triple-click selection with the left mouse
314 button. Instead of selecting a full line it will extend the
315 selection the end of the logical line only. resource
316 tripleclickwords.
317
318 -insecure
319 Enable "insecure" mode, which currently enables most of the escape
320 sequences that echo strings. See the resource insecure for more
321 info.
322
323 -mod *modifier*
324 Override detection of Meta modifier with specified key: alt, meta,
325 hyper, super, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4, mod5; resource *modifier*.
326
327 -ssc|+ssc
328 Turn on/off secondary screen (default enabled); resource
329 secondaryScreen.
330
331 -ssr|+ssr
332 Turn on/off secondary screen scroll (default enabled); resource
333 secondaryScroll.
334
335 -hold|+hold
336 Turn on/off hold window after exit support. If enabled, rxvt will
337 not immediately destroy its window when the program executed within
338 it exits. Instead, it will wait till it is being killed or closed by
339 the user; resource hold.
340
341 -keysym.*sym* *string*
342 Remap a key symbol. See resource keysym.
343
344 -embed *windowid*
345 Tells rxvt to embed it's windows into an already-existing window,
346 which enables applications to easily embed a terminal.
347
348 Right now, rxvt will first unmap/map the specified window, so it
349 shouldn't be a top-level window. rxvt will also reconfigure it quite
350 a bit, so don't expect it to keep some specific state. It's best to
351 create an extra subwindow for rxvt and leave it alone.
352
353 The window will not be destroyed when rxvt exits.
354
355 It might be useful to know that rxvt will not close file descriptors
356 passed to it (except for stdin/out/err, of course), so you can use
357 file descriptors to communicate with the programs within the
358 terminal. This works regardless of wether the "-embed" option was
359 used or not.
360
361 Here is a short Gtk2-perl snippet that illustrates how this option
362 can be used (a longer example is in doc/embed):
363
364 my $rxvt = new Gtk2::Socket;
365 $rxvt->signal_connect_after (realize => sub {
366 my $xid = $_[0]->window->get_xid;
367 system "rxvt -embed $xid &";
368 });
369
370 -pty-fd *fileno*
371 Tells rxvt NOT to execute any commands or create a new pty/tty pair
372 but instead use the given filehandle as the tty master. This is
373 useful if you want to drive rxvt as a generic terminal emulator
374 without having to run a program within it.
375
376 If this switch is given, rxvt will not create any utmp/wtmp entries
377 and will not tinker with pty/tty permissions - you have to do that
378 yourself if you want that.
379
380 Here is a example in perl that illustrates how this option can be
381 used (a longer example is in doc/pty-fd):
382
383 use IO::Pty;
384 use Fcntl;
385
386 my $pty = new IO::Pty;
387 fcntl $pty, F_SETFD, 0; # clear close-on-exec
388 system "rxvt -pty-fd " . (fileno $pty) . "&";
389 close $pty;
390
391 # now communicate with rxvt
392 my $slave = $pty->slave;
393 while (<$slave>) { print $slave "got <$_>\n" }
394
395 RESOURCES (available also as long-options)
396 Note: `rxvt --help' gives a list of all resources (long options)
397 compiled into your version.
398
399 There are two different methods that rxvt can use to get the Xresource
400 data: using the X libraries (Xrm*-functions) or internal Xresources
401 reader (~/.Xdefaults). For the first method (ie. rxvt -h lists
402 XGetDefaults), you can set and change the resources using X11 tools like
403 xrdb. Many distribution do also load settings from the ~/.Xresources
404 file when X starts. rxvt will consult the following files/resources in
405 order, with later settings overwriting earlier ones:
406
407 1. system-wide app-defaults file, either locale-dependent OR global
408 2. app-defaults file in $XAPPLRESDIR
409 3. RESOURCE_MANAGER property on root-window OR $HOME/.Xdefaults
410 4. SCREEN_RESOURCES for the current screen
411 5. $XENVIRONMENT file OR $HOME/.Xdefaults-<nodename>
412
413 If compiled with internal Xresources support (i.e. rxvt -h lists
414 .Xdefaults) then rxvt accepts application defaults set in
415 XAPPLOADDIR/URxvt (compile-time defined: usually
416 /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/URxvt) and resources set in ~/.Xdefaults, or
417 ~/.Xresources if ~/.Xdefaults does not exist. Note that when reading X
418 resources, rxvt recognizes two class names: XTerm and URxvt. The class
419 name Rxvt allows resources common to both rxvt and the original *rxvt*
420 to be easily configured, while the class name URxvt allows resources
421 unique to rxvt, notably colours and key-handling, to be shared between
422 different rxvt configurations. If no resources are specified, suitable
423 defaults will be used. Command-line arguments can be used to override
424 resource settings. The following resources are allowed:
425
426 geometry: *geom*
427 Create the window with the specified X window geometry [default
428 80x24]; option -geometry.
429
430 background: *colour*
431 Use the specified colour as the window's background colour [default
432 White]; option -bg.
433
434 foreground: *colour*
435 Use the specified colour as the window's foreground colour [default
436 Black]; option -fg.
437
438 color*n*: *colour*
439 Use the specified colour for the colour value *n*, where 0-7
440 corresponds to low-intensity (normal) colours and 8-15 corresponds
441 to high-intensity (bold = bright foreground, blink = bright
442 background) colours. The canonical names are as follows: 0=black,
443 1=red, 2=green, 3=yellow, 4=blue, 5=magenta, 6=cyan, 7=white, but
444 the actual colour names used are listed in the COLORS AND GRAPHICS
445 section.
446
447 Colours higher than 15 cannot be set using resources (yet), but can
448 be changed using an escape command (see rxvt(7)).
449
450 Colours 16-79 form a standard 4x4x4 colour cube (the same as xterm
451 with 88 colour support). Colours 80-87 are evenly spaces grey steps.
452
453 colorBD: *colour*
454 colorIT: *colour*
455 Use the specified colour to display bold or italic characters when
456 the foreground colour is the default. If font styles are not
457 available (Compile *styles*) and this option is unset, reverse video
458 is used instead.
459
460 colorUL: *colour*
461 Use the specified colour to display underlined characters when the
462 foreground colour is the default.
463
464 colorRV: *colour*
465 Use the specified colour as the background for reverse video
466 characters.
467
468 underlineColor: *colour*
469 If set, use the specified colour as the colour for the underline
470 itself. If unset, use the foreground colour.
471
472 cursorColor: *colour*
473 Use the specified colour for the cursor. The default is to use the
474 foreground colour; option -cr.
475
476 cursorColor2: *colour*
477 Use the specified colour for the colour of the cursor text. For this
478 to take effect, cursorColor must also be specified. The default is
479 to use the background colour.
480
481 reverseVideo: *boolean*
482 True: simulate reverse video by foreground and background colours;
483 option -rv. False: regular screen colours [default]; option +rv. See
484 note in COLORS AND GRAPHICS section.
485
486 jumpScroll: *boolean*
487 True: specify that jump scrolling should be used. When scrolling
488 quickly, fewer screen updates are performed [default]; option -j.
489 False: specify that smooth scrolling should be used; option +j.
490
491 inheritPixmap: *boolean*
492 True: make the background inherit the parent windows' pixmap, giving
493 artificial transparency. False: do not inherit the parent windows'
494 pixmap.
495
496 fading: *number*
497 Fade the text by the given percentage when focus is lost; option
498 -fade.
499
500 fadeColor: *colour*
501 Fade to this colour, when fading is used (see fading:). The default
502 colour is black; option -fadecolor.
503
504 tintColor: *colour*
505 Tint the transparent background pixmap with the given colour; option
506 -tint.
507
508 shading: *number*
509 Darken (0 .. 100) or lighten (-1 .. -100) the transparent background
510 image in addition to tinting it.
511
512 scrollColor: *colour*
513 Use the specified colour for the scrollbar [default #B2B2B2].
514
515 troughColor: *colour*
516 Use the specified colour for the scrollbar's trough area [default
517 #969696]. Only relevant for rxvt (non XTerm/NeXT) scrollbar.
518
519 borderColor: *colour*
520 The colour of the border around the text area and between the
521 scrollbar and the text.
522
523 backgroundPixmap: *file[;geom]*
524 Use the specified XPM file (note the `.xpm' extension is optional)
525 for the background and also optionally specify its scaling with a
526 geometry string WxH+X+Y, in which "W" / "H" specify the
527 horizontal/vertical scale (percent) and "X" / "Y" locate the image
528 centre (percent). A scale of 0 displays the image with tiling. A
529 scale of 1 displays the image without any scaling. A scale of 2 to 9
530 specifies an integer number of images in that direction. No image
531 will be magnified beyond 10 times its original size. The maximum
532 permitted scale is 1000. [default 0x0+50+50]
533
534 menu: *file[;tag]*
535 Read in the specified menu file (note the `.menu' extension is
536 optional) and also optionally specify a starting tag to find. See
537 the reference documentation for details on the syntax for the
538 menuBar.
539
540 path: *path*
541 Specify the colon-delimited search path for finding files (XPM and
542 menus), in addition to the paths specified by the RXVTPATH and PATH
543 environment variables.
544
545 font: *fontlist*
546 Select the fonts to be used. This is a comma separated list of font
547 names that are used in turn when trying to display Unicode
548 characters. The first font defines the cell size for characters;
549 other fonts might be smaller, but not larger. A reasonable default
550 font list is always appended to it. option -fn.
551
552 Each font can either be a standard X11 core font (XLFD) name, with
553 optional prefix "x:" or a Xft font (Compile *xft*), prefixed with
554 "xft:".
555
556 In addition, each font can be prefixed with additional hints and
557 specifications enclosed in square brackets ("[]"). The only
558 available hint currently is "codeset=codeset-name", and this is only
559 used for Xft fonts.
560
561 For example, this font resource
562
563 URxvt*font: 9x15bold,\
564 -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1,\
565 -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1, \
566 [codeset=JISX0208]xft:Kochi Gothic:antialias=false, \
567 xft:Code2000:antialias=false
568
569 specifies five fonts to be used. The first one is "9x15bold"
570 (actually the iso8859-1 version of the second font), which is the
571 base font (because it is named first) and thus defines the character
572 cell grid to be 9 pixels wide and 15 pixels high.
573
574 The second font is just used to add additional unicode characters
575 not in the base font, likewise the third, which is unfortunately
576 non-bold, but the bold version of the font does contain less
577 characters, so this is a useful supplement.
578
579 The third font is an Xft font with aliasing turned off, and the
580 characters are limited to the JIS 0208 codeset (i.e. japanese
581 kanji). The font contains other characters, but we are not
582 interested in them.
583
584 The last font is a useful catch-all font that supplies most of the
585 remaining unicode characters.
586
587 boldFont: *fontlist*
588 italicFont: *fontlist*
589 boldItalicFont: *fontlist*
590 The font list to use for displaying bold, *italic* or *bold italic*
591 characters, respectively.
592
593 If specified and non-empty, then the syntax is the same as for the
594 font-resource, and the given font list will be used as is, which
595 makes it possible to substitute completely different font styles for
596 bold and italic.
597
598 If unset (the default), a suitable font list will be synthesized by
599 "morphing" the normal text font list into the desired shape. If that
600 is not possible, replacement fonts of the desired shape will be
601 tried.
602
603 If set, but empty, then this specific style is disabled and the
604 normal text font will being used for the given style.
605
606 intensityStyles: *boolean*
607 When font styles are not enabled, or this option is enabled (True,
608 option -is, the default), bold and italic font styles imply high
609 intensity foreground/backround colours. Disabling this option
610 (False, option +is) disables this behaviour, the high intensity
611 colours are not reachable.
612
613 selectstyle: *mode*
614 Set mouse selection style to old which is 2.20, oldword which is
615 xterm style with 2.20 old word selection, or anything else which
616 gives xterm style selection.
617
618 scrollstyle: *mode*
619 Set scrollbar style to rxvt, plain, next or xterm. plain is the
620 author's favourite.
621
622 title: *string*
623 Set window title string, the default title is the command-line
624 specified after the -e option, if any, otherwise the application
625 name; option -title.
626
627 iconName: *string*
628 Set the name used to label the window's icon or displayed in an icon
629 manager window, it also sets the window's title unless it is
630 explicitly set; option -n.
631
632 mapAlert: *boolean*
633 True: de-iconify (map) on receipt of a bell character. False: no
634 de-iconify (map) on receipt of a bell character [default].
635
636 visualBell: *boolean*
637 True: use visual bell on receipt of a bell character; option -vb.
638 False: no visual bell [default]; option +vb.
639
640 loginShell: *boolean*
641 True: start as a login shell by prepending a `-' to argv[0] of the
642 shell; option -ls. False: start as a normal sub-shell [default];
643 option +ls.
644
645 utmpInhibit: *boolean*
646 True: inhibit writing record into the system log file utmp; option
647 -ut. False: write record into the system log file utmp [default];
648 option +ut.
649
650 print-pipe: *string*
651 Specify a command pipe for vt100 printer [default *lpr(1)*]. Use
652 Print to initiate a screen dump to the printer and Ctrl-Print or
653 Shift-Print to include the scrollback as well.
654
655 The string will be interpreted as if typed into the shell as-is.
656
657 Example:
658
659 URxvt*print-pipe: cat > $(TMPDIR=$HOME mktemp urxvt.XXXXXX)
660
661 This creates a new file in your home directory with the screen
662 contents everytime you hit "Print".
663
664 scrollBar: *boolean*
665 True: enable the scrollbar [default]; option -sb. False: disable the
666 scrollbar; option +sb.
667
668 scrollBar_right: *boolean*
669 True: place the scrollbar on the right of the window; option -sr.
670 False: place the scrollbar on the left of the window; option +sr.
671
672 scrollBar_floating: *boolean*
673 True: display an rxvt scrollbar without a trough; option -st. False:
674 display an rxvt scrollbar with a trough; option +st.
675
676 scrollBar_align: *mode*
677 Align the top, bottom or centre [default] of the scrollbar thumb
678 with the pointer on middle button press/drag.
679
680 scrollTtyOutput: *boolean*
681 True: scroll to bottom when tty receives output; option -si. False:
682 do not scroll to bottom when tty receives output; option +si.
683
684 scrollWithBuffer: *boolean*
685 True: scroll with scrollback buffer when tty receives new lines (and
686 scrollTtyOutput is False); option -sw. False: do not scroll with
687 scrollback buffer when tty recieves new lines; option +sw.
688
689 scrollTtyKeypress: *boolean*
690 True: scroll to bottom when a non-special key is pressed. Special
691 keys are those which are intercepted by rxvt-unicode for special
692 handling and are not passed onto the shell; option -sk. False: do
693 not scroll to bottom when a non-special key is pressed; option +sk.
694
695 saveLines: *number*
696 Save *number* lines in the scrollback buffer [default 64]. This
697 resource is limited on most machines to 65535; option -sl.
698
699 internalBorder: *number*
700 Internal border of *number* pixels. This resource is limited to 100;
701 option -b.
702
703 externalBorder: *number*
704 External border of *number* pixels. This resource is limited to 100;
705 option -w, -bw, -borderwidth.
706
707 borderLess: *boolean*
708 Set MWM hints to request a borderless window, i.e. if honoured by
709 the WM, the rxvt-unicode window will not have window decorations;
710 option -bl.
711
712 termName: *termname*
713 Specifies the terminal type name to be set in the TERM environment
714 variable; option -tn.
715
716 linespace: *number*
717 Specifies number of lines (pixel height) to insert between each row
718 of the display [default 0]; option -lsp.
719
720 meta8: *boolean*
721 True: handle Meta (Alt) + keypress to set the 8th bit. False: handle
722 Meta (Alt) + keypress as an escape prefix [default].
723
724 mouseWheelScrollPage: *boolean*
725 True: the mouse wheel scrolls a page full. False: the mouse wheel
726 scrolls five lines [default].
727
728 pastableTabs: *boolean*
729 True: store tabs as wide characters. False: interpret tabs as cursor
730 movement only; option "-ptab".
731
732 cursorBlink: *boolean*
733 True: blink the cursor. False: do not blink the cursor [default];
734 option -bc.
735
736 pointerBlank: *boolean*
737 True: blank the pointer when a key is pressed or after a set number
738 of seconds of inactivity. False: the pointer is always visible
739 [default].
740
741 pointerColor: *colour*
742 Mouse pointer foreground colour.
743
744 pointerColor2: *colour*
745 Mouse pointer background colour.
746
747 pointerBlankDelay: *number*
748 Specifies number of seconds before blanking the pointer [default 2].
749 Use a large number (e.g. 987654321) to effectively disable the
750 timeout.
751
752 backspacekey: *string*
753 The string to send when the backspace key is pressed. If set to DEC
754 or unset it will send Delete (code 127) or, if shifted, Backspace
755 (code 8) - which can be reversed with the appropriate DEC private
756 mode escape sequence.
757
758 deletekey: *string*
759 The string to send when the delete key (not the keypad delete key)
760 is pressed. If unset it will send the sequence traditionally
761 associated with the Execute key.
762
763 cutchars: *string*
764 The characters used as delimiters for double-click word selection.
765 The built-in default:
766
767 BACKSLASH `"'&()*,;<=>?@[]{|}
768
769 preeditType: *style*
770 OverTheSpot, OffTheSpot, Root; option -pt.
771
772 inputMethod: *name*
773 *name* of inputMethod to use; option -im.
774
775 imLocale: *name*
776 The locale to use for opening the IM. You can use an "LC_CTYPE" of
777 e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8" for normal text processing but "ja_JP.EUC-JP" for
778 the input extension to be able to input japanese characters while
779 staying in another locale. option -imlocale.
780
781 imFont: *fontset*
782 Specify the font-set used for XIM styles "OverTheSpot" or
783 "OffTheSpot". It must be a standard X font set (XLFD patterns
784 separated by commas), i.e. it's not in the same format as the other
785 font lists used in rxvt. The default will be set-up to chose *any*
786 suitable found found, preferably one or two pixels differing in size
787 to the base font. option -imfont.
788
789 tripleclickwords: *boolean*
790 Change the meaning of triple-click selection with the left mouse
791 button. Instead of selecting a full line it will extend the
792 selection to the end of the logical line only. option -tcw.
793
794 insecure: *boolean*
795 Enables "insecure" mode. Rxvt-unicode offers some escape sequences
796 that echo arbitrary strings like the icon name or the locale. This
797 could be abused if somebody gets 8-bit-clean access to your display,
798 whether through a mail client displaying mail bodies unfiltered or
799 through write(1) or any other means. Therefore, these sequences are
800 disabled by default. (Note that many other terminals, including
801 xterm, have these sequences enabled by default, which doesn't make
802 it safer, though).
803
804 You can enable them by setting this boolean resource or specifying
805 -insecure as an option. At the moment, this enables display-answer,
806 locale, findfont, icon label and window title requests as well as
807 dynamic menubar dispatch.
808
809 modifier: *modifier*
810 Set the key to be interpreted as the Meta key to: alt, meta, hyper,
811 super, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4, mod5; option -mod.
812
813 answerbackString: *string*
814 Specify the reply rxvt-unicode sends to the shell when an ENQ
815 (control-E) character is passed through. It may contain escape
816 values as described in the entry on keysym following.
817
818 secondaryScreen: *bool*
819 Turn on/off secondary screen (default enabled).
820
821 secondaryScroll: *bool*
822 Turn on/off secondary screen scroll (default enabled). If the this
823 option is enabled, scrolls on the secondary screen will change the
824 scrollback buffer and switching to/from the secondary screen will
825 instead scroll the screen up.
826
827 hold: *bool*
828 Turn on/off hold window after exit support. If enabled, rxvt will
829 not immediately destroy its window when the program executed within
830 it exits. Instead, it will wait till it is being killed or closed by
831 the user.
832
833 keysym.*sym*: *string*
834 Compile *frills*: Associate *string* with keysym *sym*. The
835 intervening resource name keysym. cannot be omitted.
836
837 The format of *sym* is "*(modifiers-)key*", where *modifiers* can be
838 any combination of ISOLevel3, AppKeypad, Control, NumLock, Shift,
839 Meta, Lock, Mod1, Mod2, Mod3, Mod4, Mod5, and the abbreviated I, K,
840 C, N, S, M, A, L, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
841
842 The NumLock, Meta and ISOLevel3 modifiers are usually aliased to
843 whatever modifier the NumLock key, Meta/Alt keys or ISO Level3
844 Shift/AltGr keys are being mapped. AppKeypad is a synthetic modifier
845 mapped to the current application keymap mode state.
846
847 The spellings of *key* can be obtained by using xev(1) command or
848 searching keysym macros from /usr/X11R6/include/X11/keysymdef.h and
849 omitting the prefix XK_. Alternatively you can specify *key* by its
850 hex keysym value (0x0000 - 0xFFFF). Note that the lookup of *sym*s
851 is not performed in an exact manner; however, the closest match is
852 assured.
853
854 *string* may contain escape values ("\a": bell, "\b": backspace,
855 "\e", "\E": escape, "\n": newline, "\r": carriage return, "\t": tab,
856 "\000": octal number) or verbatim control characters ("^?": delete,
857 "^@": null, "^A" ...) and may be enclosed with double quotes so that
858 it can start or end with whitespace.
859
860 Please note that you need to double the "\" when using
861 "--enable-xgetdefault", as X itself does it's own de-escaping (you
862 can use "\033" instead of "\e" (and so on), which will work with
863 both Xt and rxvt's own processing).
864
865 You can define a range of keysyms in one shot by providing a
866 *string* with pattern list/PREFIX/MIDDLE/SUFFIX, where the delimeter
867 `/' should be a character not used by the strings.
868
869 Its usage can be demonstrated by an example:
870
871 URxvt.keysym.M-C-0x61: list|\033<M-C-|abc|>
872
873 The above line is equivalent to the following three lines:
874
875 URxvt.keysym.Meta-Control-0x61: \033<M-C-a>
876 URxvt.keysym.Meta-Control-0x62: \033<M-C-b>
877 URxvt.keysym.Meta-Control-0x63: \033<M-C-c>
878
879 If *string* takes the form of "command:STRING", the specified STRING
880 is interpreted and executed as rxvt's control sequence. For example
881 the following means "change the current locale to "zh_CN.GBK" when
882 Control-Meta-c is being pressed":
883
884 URxvt.keysym.M-C-c: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007
885
886 Due the the large number of modifier combinations, a defined key
887 mapping will match if at *at least* the specified identifiers are
888 being set, and no other key mappings with those and more bits are
889 being defined. That means that defining a key map for "a" will
890 automatically provide definitions for "Meta-a", "Shift-a" and so on,
891 unless some of those are defined mappings themselves.
892
893 Unfortunately, this will override built-in key mappings. For example
894 if you overwrite the "Insert" key you will disable rxvt's
895 "Shift-Insert" mapping. To re-enable that, you can poke "holes" into
896 the user-defined keymap using the "builtin:" replacement:
897
898 URxvt.keysym.Insert: <my insert key sequence>
899 URxvt.keysym.S-Insert: builtin:
900
901 The first line defines a mapping for "Insert" and *any* combination
902 of modifiers. The second line re-establishes the default mapping for
903 "Shift-Insert".
904
905 The following example will map Control-Meta-1 and Control-Meta-2 to
906 the fonts "suxuseuro" and "9x15bold", so you can have some limited
907 font-switching at runtime:
908
909 URxvt.keysym.M-C-1: command:\033]50;suxuseuro\007
910 URxvt.keysym.M-C-2: command:\033]50;9x15bold\007
911
912 Other things are possible, e.g. resizing (see rxvt(7) for more
913 info):
914
915 URxvt.keysym.M-C-3: command:\033[8;25;80t
916 URxvt.keysym.M-C-4: command:\033[8;48;110t
917
918 THE SCROLLBAR
919 Lines of text that scroll off the top of the rxvt window (resource:
920 saveLines) and can be scrolled back using the scrollbar or by
921 keystrokes. The normal rxvt scrollbar has arrows and its behaviour is
922 fairly intuitive. The xterm-scrollbar is without arrows and its
923 behaviour mimics that of *xterm*
924
925 Scroll down with Button1 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Next. Scroll up with
926 Button3 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Prior. Continuous scroll with
927 Button2.
928
929 MOUSE REPORTING
930 To temporarily override mouse reporting, for either the scrollbar or the
931 normal text selection/insertion, hold either the Shift or the Meta (Alt)
932 key while performing the desired mouse action.
933
934 If mouse reporting mode is active, the normal scrollbar actions are
935 disabled -- on the assumption that we are using a fullscreen
936 application. Instead, pressing Button1 and Button3 sends ESC [ 6 ~
937 (Next) and ESC [ 5 ~ (Prior), respectively. Similarly, clicking on the
938 up and down arrows sends ESC [ A (Up) and ESC [ B (Down), respectively.
939
940 TEXT SELECTION AND INSERTION
941 The behaviour of text selection and insertion mechanism is similar to
942 *xterm*(1).
943
944 Selection:
945 Left click at the beginning of the region, drag to the end of the
946 region and release; Right click to extend the marked region; Left
947 double-click to select a word; Left triple-click to select the
948 entire logical line (which can span multiple screen lines), unless
949 modified by resource tripleclickwords.
950
951 Starting a selection while pressing the Meta key (or Meta+Ctrl keys)
952 (Compile: *frills*) will create a rectangular selection instead of a
953 normal one. In this mode, every selected row becomes its own line in
954 the selection, and trailing whitespace is visually underlined and
955 removed from the selection.
956
957 Insertion:
958 Pressing and releasing the Middle mouse button (or Shift-Insert) in
959 an rxvt window causes the current text selection to be inserted as
960 if it had been typed on the keyboard.
961
962 CHANGING FONTS
963 Changing fonts (or font sizes, respectively) via the keypad is not yet
964 supported in rxvt-unicode. Bug me if you need this.
965
966 You can, however, switch fonts at runtime using escape sequences (and
967 therefore using the menubar), e.g.:
968
969 printf '\e]710;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
970
971 rxvt-unicode will automatically re-apply these fonts to the output so
972 far.
973
974 ISO 14755 SUPPORT
975 ISO 14755 is a standard for entering and viewing unicode characters and
976 character codes using the keyboard. It consists of 4 parts. The first
977 part is available rxvt-unicode has been compiled with "--enable-frills",
978 the rest is available when rxvt-unicode was compiled with
979 "--enable-iso14755".
980
981 * 5.1: Basic method
982 This allows you to enter unicode characters using their hexcode.
983
984 Start by pressing and holding both "Control" and "Shift", then enter
985 hex-digits (between one and six). Releasing "Control" and "Shift"
986 will commit the character as if it were typed directly. While
987 holding down "Control" and "Shift" you can also enter multiple
988 characters by pressing "Space", which will commit the current
989 character and lets you start a new one.
990
991 As an example of use, imagine a business card with a japanese e-mail
992 address, which you cannot type. Fortunately, the card has the e-mail
993 address printed as hexcodes, e.g. "671d 65e5". You can enter this
994 easily by pressing "Control" and "Shift", followed by
995 "6-7-1-D-SPACE-6-5-E-5", followed by releasing the modifier keys.
996
997 * 5.2: Keyboard symbols entry method
998 This mode lets you input characters representing the keycap symbols
999 of your keyboard, if representable in the current locale encoding.
1000
1001 Start by pressing "Control" and "Shift" together, then releasing
1002 them. The next special key (cursor keys, home etc.) you enter will
1003 not invoke it's usual function but instead will insert the
1004 corresponding keycap symbol. The symbol will only be entered when
1005 the key has been released, otherwise pressing e.g. "Shift" would
1006 enter the symbol for "ISO Level 2 Switch", although your intention
1007 might have been to enter a reverse tab (Shift-Tab).
1008
1009 * 5.3: Screen-selection entry method
1010 While this is implemented already (it's basically the selection
1011 mechanism), it could be extended by displaying a unicode character
1012 map.
1013
1014 * 5.4: Feedback method for identifying displayed characters for later
1015 input
1016 This method lets you display the unicode character code associated
1017 with characters already displayed.
1018
1019 You enter this mode by holding down "Control" and "Shift" together,
1020 then pressing and holding the left mouse button and moving around.
1021 The unicode hex code(s) (it might be a combining character) of the
1022 character under the pointer is displayed until you release "Control"
1023 and "Shift".
1024
1025 In addition to the hex codes it will display the font used to draw
1026 this character - due to implementation reasons, characters combined
1027 with combining characters, line drawing characters and unknown
1028 characters will always be drawn using the built-in support font.
1029
1030 With respect to conformance, rxvt-unicode is supposed to be compliant to
1031 both scenario A and B of ISO 14755, including part 5.2.
1032
1033 LOGIN STAMP
1034 rxvt tries to write an entry into the *utmp*(5) file so that it can be
1035 seen via the *who(1)* command, and can accept messages. To allow this
1036 feature, rxvt may need to be installed setuid root on some systems or
1037 setgid to root or to some other group on others.
1038
1039 COLORS AND GRAPHICS
1040 In addition to the default foreground and background colours, rxvt can
1041 display up to 16 colours (8 ANSI colours plus high-intensity bold/blink
1042 versions of the same). Here is a list of the colours with their rgb.txt
1043 names.
1044
1045 color0 (black) = Black
1046 color1 (red) = Red3
1047 color2 (green) = Green3
1048 color3 (yellow) = Yellow3
1049 color4 (blue) = Blue3
1050 color5 (magenta) = Magenta3
1051 color6 (cyan) = Cyan3
1052 color7 (white) = AntiqueWhite
1053 color8 (bright black) = Grey25
1054 color9 (bright red) = Red
1055 color10 (bright green) = Green
1056 color11 (bright yellow) = Yellow
1057 color12 (bright blue) = Blue
1058 color13 (bright magenta) = Magenta
1059 color14 (bright cyan) = Cyan
1060 color15 (bright white) = White
1061 foreground = Black
1062 background = White
1063
1064 It is also possible to specify the colour values of foreground,
1065 background, cursorColor, cursorColor2, colorBD, colorUL as a number
1066 0-15, as a convenient shorthand to reference the colour name of
1067 color0-color15.
1068
1069 Note that -rv ("reverseVideo: True") simulates reverse video by always
1070 swapping the foreground/background colours. This is in contrast to
1071 *xterm*(1) where the colours are only swapped if they have not otherwise
1072 been specified. For example,
1073
1074 rxvt -fg Black -bg White -rv
1075 would yield White on Black, while on *xterm*(1) it would yield Black
1076 on White.
1077
1078 ENVIRONMENT
1079 rxvt sets and/or uses the following environment variables:
1080
1081 TERM
1082 Normally set to "rxvt-unicode", unless overwritten at configure
1083 time, via resources or on the commandline.
1084
1085 COLORTERM
1086 Either "rxvt", "rxvt-xpm", depending on wether rxvt was compiled
1087 with XPM support, and optionally with the added extension "-mono" to
1088 indicate that rxvt-unicode runs on a monochrome screen.
1089
1090 COLORFGBG
1091 Set to a string of the form "fg;bg" or "fg;xpm;bg", where "fg" is
1092 the colour code used as default foreground/text colour (or the
1093 string "default" to indicate that the default-colour escape sequence
1094 is to be used), "bg" is the colour code used as default background
1095 colour (or the string "default"), and "xpm" is the string "default"
1096 if rxvt was compiled with XPM support. Libraries like "ncurses" and
1097 "slang" can (and do) use this information to optimize screen output.
1098
1099 WINDOWID
1100 Set to the (decimal) X Window ID of the rxvt window (the toplevel
1101 window, which usually has subwindows for the scrollbar, the terminal
1102 window and so on).
1103
1104 TERMINFO
1105 Set to the terminfo directory iff rxvt was configured with
1106 "--with-terminfo=PATH".
1107
1108 DISPLAY
1109 Used by rxvt to connect to the display and set to the correct
1110 display in it's child processes.
1111
1112 SHELL
1113 The shell to be used for command execution, defaults to "/bin/sh".
1114
1115 RXVTPATH
1116 The path where rxvt looks for support files such as menu and xpm
1117 files.
1118
1119 PATH
1120 Used in the same way as "RXVTPATH".
1121
1122 RXVT_SOCKET
1123 The unix domain socket path used by rxvtc(1) and rxvtd(1).
1124
1125 Default $HOME/.rxvt-unicode-*<nodename*.
1126
1127 HOME
1128 Used to locate the default directory for the unix domain socket for
1129 daemon communications and to locate various resource files (such as
1130 ".Xdefaults")
1131
1132 XAPPLRESDIR
1133 Directory where various X resource files are being located.
1134
1135 XENVIRONMENT
1136 If set and accessible, gives the name of a X resource file to be
1137 loaded by rxvt.
1138
1139 FILES
1140 /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt
1141 Color names.
1142
1143 SEE ALSO
1144 rxvt(7), rxvtc(1), rxvtd(1), xterm(1), sh(1), resize(1), X(1), pty(4),
1145 tty(4), utmp(5)
1146
1147 CURRENT PROJECT COORDINATOR
1148 Project Coordinator
1149 Marc A. Lehmann <rxvt-unicode@schmorp.de>
1150
1151 <http://software.schmorp.de/#rxvt-unicode>
1152
1153 AUTHORS
1154 John Bovey
1155 University of Kent, 1992, wrote the original Xvt.
1156
1157 Rob Nation <nation@rocket.sanders.lockheed.com>
1158 very heavily modified Xvt and came up with Rxvt
1159
1160 Angelo Haritsis <ah@doc.ic.ac.uk>
1161 wrote the Greek Keyboard Input (no longer in code)
1162
1163 mj olesen <olesen@me.QueensU.CA>
1164 Wrote the menu system.
1165
1166 Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.11 to 2.21)
1167
1168 Oezguer Kesim <kesim@math.fu-berlin.de>
1169 Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.21a to 2.4.5)
1170
1171 Geoff Wing <gcw@pobox.com>
1172 Rewrote screen display and text selection routines. Project
1173 Coordinator (changes.txt 2.4.6 - rxvt-unicode)
1174
1175 Marc Alexander Lehmann <rxvt-unicode@schmorp.de>
1176 Forked rxvt-unicode, rewrote most of the display code and internal
1177 character handling to store text in unicode, improve xterm
1178 compatibility and apply numerous other bugfixes and extensions.
1179
1180 Project Coordinator (Changes 1.0 -)
1181