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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 6.3, 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
169 characters are to be printed. See resource boldFont for details.
170
171 -fi *fontlist*
172 Compile *font-styles*: The italic font list to use when *italic*
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 italic* characters are to be printed. See resource boldItalicFont
178 for 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 -sbg
258 Compile *frills*: Disable the usage of the built-in block
259 graphics/line drawing characters and just rely on what the specified
260 fonts provide. Use this if you have a good font and want to use its
261 block graphic glyphs; resource skipBuiltinGlyphs.
262
263 -lsp *number*
264 Compile *frills*: Lines (pixel height) to insert between each row of
265 the display. Useful to work around font rendering problems; resource
266 linespace.
267
268 -tn *termname*
269 This option specifies the name of the terminal type to be set in the
270 TERM environment variable. This terminal type must exist in the
271 *termcap(5)* database and should have *li#* and *co#* entries;
272 resource termName.
273
274 -e *command [arguments]*
275 Run the command with its command-line arguments in the rxvt window;
276 also sets the window title and icon name to be the basename of the
277 program being executed if neither *-title* (*-T*) nor *-n* are given
278 on the command line. If this option is used, it must be the last on
279 the command-line. If there is no -e option then the default is to
280 run the program specified by the SHELL environment variable or,
281 failing that, *sh(1)*.
282
283 Please note that you must specify a program with arguments. If you
284 want to run shell commands, you have to specify the shell, like
285 this:
286
287 rxvt -e sh -c "shell commands"
288
289 -title *text*
290 Window title (-T still respected); the default title is the basename
291 of the program specified after the -e option, if any, otherwise the
292 application name; resource title.
293
294 -n *text*
295 Icon name; the default name is the basename of the program specified
296 after the -e option, if any, otherwise the application name;
297 resource iconName.
298
299 -C Capture system console messages.
300
301 -pt *style*
302 Compile *XIM*: input style for input method; OverTheSpot,
303 OffTheSpot, Root; resource preeditType.
304
305 -im *text*
306 Compile *XIM*: input method name. resource inputMethod.
307
308 -imlocale *string*
309 The locale to use for opening the IM. You can use an "LC_CTYPE" of
310 e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8" for normal text processing but "ja_JP.EUC-JP" for
311 the input extension to be able to input japanese characters while
312 staying in another locale. resource imLocale.
313
314 -imfont *fontset*
315 Set the font set to use for the X Input Method, see resource imFont
316 for more info.
317
318 -tcw
319 Change the meaning of triple-click selection with the left mouse
320 button. Instead of selecting a full line it will extend the
321 selection the end of the logical line only. resource
322 tripleclickwords.
323
324 -insecure
325 Enable "insecure" mode, which currently enables most of the escape
326 sequences that echo strings. See the resource insecure for more
327 info.
328
329 -mod *modifier*
330 Override detection of Meta modifier with specified key: alt, meta,
331 hyper, super, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4, mod5; resource *modifier*.
332
333 -ssc|+ssc
334 Turn on/off secondary screen (default enabled); resource
335 secondaryScreen.
336
337 -ssr|+ssr
338 Turn on/off secondary screen scroll (default enabled); resource
339 secondaryScroll.
340
341 -hold|+hold
342 Turn on/off hold window after exit support. If enabled, rxvt will
343 not immediately destroy its window when the program executed within
344 it exits. Instead, it will wait till it is being killed or closed by
345 the user; resource hold.
346
347 -keysym.*sym* *string*
348 Remap a key symbol. See resource keysym.
349
350 -embed *windowid*
351 Tells rxvt to embed it's windows into an already-existing window,
352 which enables applications to easily embed a terminal.
353
354 Right now, rxvt will first unmap/map the specified window, so it
355 shouldn't be a top-level window. rxvt will also reconfigure it quite
356 a bit, so don't expect it to keep some specific state. It's best to
357 create an extra subwindow for rxvt and leave it alone.
358
359 The window will not be destroyed when rxvt exits.
360
361 It might be useful to know that rxvt will not close file descriptors
362 passed to it (except for stdin/out/err, of course), so you can use
363 file descriptors to communicate with the programs within the
364 terminal. This works regardless of wether the "-embed" option was
365 used or not.
366
367 Here is a short Gtk2-perl snippet that illustrates how this option
368 can be used (a longer example is in doc/embed):
369
370 my $rxvt = new Gtk2::Socket;
371 $rxvt->signal_connect_after (realize => sub {
372 my $xid = $_[0]->window->get_xid;
373 system "rxvt -embed $xid &";
374 });
375
376 -pty-fd *fileno*
377 Tells rxvt NOT to execute any commands or create a new pty/tty pair
378 but instead use the given filehandle as the tty master. This is
379 useful if you want to drive rxvt as a generic terminal emulator
380 without having to run a program within it.
381
382 If this switch is given, rxvt will not create any utmp/wtmp entries
383 and will not tinker with pty/tty permissions - you have to do that
384 yourself if you want that.
385
386 Here is a example in perl that illustrates how this option can be
387 used (a longer example is in doc/pty-fd):
388
389 use IO::Pty;
390 use Fcntl;
391
392 my $pty = new IO::Pty;
393 fcntl $pty, F_SETFD, 0; # clear close-on-exec
394 system "rxvt -pty-fd " . (fileno $pty) . "&";
395 close $pty;
396
397 # now communicate with rxvt
398 my $slave = $pty->slave;
399 while (<$slave>) { print $slave "got <$_>\n" }
400
401 -pe *string*
402 Colon-separated list of perl extension scripts to use in this
403 terminal instance. See resource perl-ext.
404
405 RESOURCES (available also as long-options)
406 Note: `rxvt --help' gives a list of all resources (long options)
407 compiled into your version.
408
409 There are two different methods that rxvt can use to get the Xresource
410 data: using the X libraries (Xrm*-functions) or internal Xresources
411 reader (~/.Xdefaults). For the first method (ie. rxvt -h lists
412 XGetDefaults), you can set and change the resources using X11 tools like
413 xrdb. Many distribution do also load settings from the ~/.Xresources
414 file when X starts. rxvt will consult the following files/resources in
415 order, with later settings overwriting earlier ones:
416
417 1. system-wide app-defaults file, either locale-dependent OR global
418 2. app-defaults file in $XAPPLRESDIR
419 3. RESOURCE_MANAGER property on root-window OR $HOME/.Xdefaults
420 4. SCREEN_RESOURCES for the current screen
421 5. $XENVIRONMENT file OR $HOME/.Xdefaults-<nodename>
422
423 If compiled with internal Xresources support (i.e. rxvt -h lists
424 .Xdefaults) then rxvt accepts application defaults set in
425 XAPPLOADDIR/URxvt (compile-time defined: usually
426 /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/URxvt) and resources set in ~/.Xdefaults, or
427 ~/.Xresources if ~/.Xdefaults does not exist. Note that when reading X
428 resources, rxvt recognizes two class names: XTerm and URxvt. The class
429 name Rxvt allows resources common to both rxvt and the original *rxvt*
430 to be easily configured, while the class name URxvt allows resources
431 unique to rxvt, notably colours and key-handling, to be shared between
432 different rxvt configurations. If no resources are specified, suitable
433 defaults will be used. Command-line arguments can be used to override
434 resource settings. The following resources are allowed:
435
436 geometry: *geom*
437 Create the window with the specified X window geometry [default
438 80x24]; option -geometry.
439
440 background: *colour*
441 Use the specified colour as the window's background colour [default
442 White]; option -bg.
443
444 foreground: *colour*
445 Use the specified colour as the window's foreground colour [default
446 Black]; option -fg.
447
448 color*n*: *colour*
449 Use the specified colour for the colour value *n*, where 0-7
450 corresponds to low-intensity (normal) colours and 8-15 corresponds
451 to high-intensity (bold = bright foreground, blink = bright
452 background) colours. The canonical names are as follows: 0=black,
453 1=red, 2=green, 3=yellow, 4=blue, 5=magenta, 6=cyan, 7=white, but
454 the actual colour names used are listed in the COLORS AND GRAPHICS
455 section.
456
457 Colours higher than 15 cannot be set using resources (yet), but can
458 be changed using an escape command (see rxvt(7)).
459
460 Colours 16-79 form a standard 4x4x4 colour cube (the same as xterm
461 with 88 colour support). Colours 80-87 are evenly spaces grey steps.
462
463 colorBD: *colour*
464 colorIT: *colour*
465 Use the specified colour to display bold or italic characters when
466 the foreground colour is the default. If font styles are not
467 available (Compile *styles*) and this option is unset, reverse video
468 is used instead.
469
470 colorUL: *colour*
471 Use the specified colour to display underlined characters when the
472 foreground colour is the default.
473
474 colorRV: *colour*
475 Use the specified colour as the background for reverse video
476 characters.
477
478 underlineColor: *colour*
479 If set, use the specified colour as the colour for the underline
480 itself. If unset, use the foreground colour.
481
482 cursorColor: *colour*
483 Use the specified colour for the cursor. The default is to use the
484 foreground colour; option -cr.
485
486 cursorColor2: *colour*
487 Use the specified colour for the colour of the cursor text. For this
488 to take effect, cursorColor must also be specified. The default is
489 to use the background colour.
490
491 reverseVideo: *boolean*
492 True: simulate reverse video by foreground and background colours;
493 option -rv. False: regular screen colours [default]; option +rv. See
494 note in COLORS AND GRAPHICS section.
495
496 jumpScroll: *boolean*
497 True: specify that jump scrolling should be used. When scrolling
498 quickly, fewer screen updates are performed [default]; option -j.
499 False: specify that smooth scrolling should be used; option +j.
500
501 inheritPixmap: *boolean*
502 True: make the background inherit the parent windows' pixmap, giving
503 artificial transparency. False: do not inherit the parent windows'
504 pixmap.
505
506 fading: *number*
507 Fade the text by the given percentage when focus is lost; option
508 -fade.
509
510 fadeColor: *colour*
511 Fade to this colour, when fading is used (see fading:). The default
512 colour is black; option -fadecolor.
513
514 tintColor: *colour*
515 Tint the transparent background pixmap with the given colour; option
516 -tint.
517
518 shading: *number*
519 Darken (0 .. 100) or lighten (-1 .. -100) the transparent background
520 image in addition to tinting it.
521
522 scrollColor: *colour*
523 Use the specified colour for the scrollbar [default #B2B2B2].
524
525 troughColor: *colour*
526 Use the specified colour for the scrollbar's trough area [default
527 #969696]. Only relevant for rxvt (non XTerm/NeXT) scrollbar.
528
529 borderColor: *colour*
530 The colour of the border around the text area and between the
531 scrollbar and the text.
532
533 backgroundPixmap: *file[;geom]*
534 Use the specified XPM file (note the `.xpm' extension is optional)
535 for the background and also optionally specify its scaling with a
536 geometry string WxH+X+Y, in which "W" / "H" specify the
537 horizontal/vertical scale (percent) and "X" / "Y" locate the image
538 centre (percent). A scale of 0 displays the image with tiling. A
539 scale of 1 displays the image without any scaling. A scale of 2 to 9
540 specifies an integer number of images in that direction. No image
541 will be magnified beyond 10 times its original size. The maximum
542 permitted scale is 1000. [default 0x0+50+50]
543
544 menu: *file[;tag]*
545 Read in the specified menu file (note the `.menu' extension is
546 optional) and also optionally specify a starting tag to find. See
547 the reference documentation for details on the syntax for the
548 menuBar.
549
550 path: *path*
551 Specify the colon-delimited search path for finding files (XPM and
552 menus), in addition to the paths specified by the RXVTPATH and PATH
553 environment variables.
554
555 font: *fontlist*
556 Select the fonts to be used. This is a comma separated list of font
557 names that are used in turn when trying to display Unicode
558 characters. The first font defines the cell size for characters;
559 other fonts might be smaller, but not larger. A reasonable default
560 font list is always appended to it; option -fn.
561
562 Each font can either be a standard X11 core font (XLFD) name, with
563 optional prefix "x:" or a Xft font (Compile *xft*), prefixed with
564 "xft:".
565
566 In addition, each font can be prefixed with additional hints and
567 specifications enclosed in square brackets ("[]"). The only
568 available hint currently is "codeset=codeset-name", and this is only
569 used for Xft fonts.
570
571 For example, this font resource
572
573 URxvt*font: 9x15bold,\
574 -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1,\
575 -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1, \
576 [codeset=JISX0208]xft:Kochi Gothic:antialias=false, \
577 xft:Code2000:antialias=false
578
579 specifies five fonts to be used. The first one is "9x15bold"
580 (actually the iso8859-1 version of the second font), which is the
581 base font (because it is named first) and thus defines the character
582 cell grid to be 9 pixels wide and 15 pixels high.
583
584 The second font is just used to add additional unicode characters
585 not in the base font, likewise the third, which is unfortunately
586 non-bold, but the bold version of the font does contain less
587 characters, so this is a useful supplement.
588
589 The third font is an Xft font with aliasing turned off, and the
590 characters are limited to the JIS 0208 codeset (i.e. japanese
591 kanji). The font contains other characters, but we are not
592 interested in them.
593
594 The last font is a useful catch-all font that supplies most of the
595 remaining unicode characters.
596
597 boldFont: *fontlist*
598 italicFont: *fontlist*
599 boldItalicFont: *fontlist*
600 The font list to use for displaying bold, *italic* or *bold italic*
601 characters, respectively.
602
603 If specified and non-empty, then the syntax is the same as for the
604 font-resource, and the given font list will be used as is, which
605 makes it possible to substitute completely different font styles for
606 bold and italic.
607
608 If unset (the default), a suitable font list will be synthesized by
609 "morphing" the normal text font list into the desired shape. If that
610 is not possible, replacement fonts of the desired shape will be
611 tried.
612
613 If set, but empty, then this specific style is disabled and the
614 normal text font will being used for the given style.
615
616 intensityStyles: *boolean*
617 When font styles are not enabled, or this option is enabled (True,
618 option -is, the default), bold and italic font styles imply high
619 intensity foreground/backround colours. Disabling this option
620 (False, option +is) disables this behaviour, the high intensity
621 colours are not reachable.
622
623 selectstyle: *mode*
624 Set mouse selection style to old which is 2.20, oldword which is
625 xterm style with 2.20 old word selection, or anything else which
626 gives xterm style selection.
627
628 scrollstyle: *mode*
629 Set scrollbar style to rxvt, plain, next or xterm. plain is the
630 author's favourite.
631
632 title: *string*
633 Set window title string, the default title is the command-line
634 specified after the -e option, if any, otherwise the application
635 name; option -title.
636
637 iconName: *string*
638 Set the name used to label the window's icon or displayed in an icon
639 manager window, it also sets the window's title unless it is
640 explicitly set; option -n.
641
642 mapAlert: *boolean*
643 True: de-iconify (map) on receipt of a bell character. False: no
644 de-iconify (map) on receipt of a bell character [default].
645
646 visualBell: *boolean*
647 True: use visual bell on receipt of a bell character; option -vb.
648 False: no visual bell [default]; option +vb.
649
650 loginShell: *boolean*
651 True: start as a login shell by prepending a `-' to argv[0] of the
652 shell; option -ls. False: start as a normal sub-shell [default];
653 option +ls.
654
655 utmpInhibit: *boolean*
656 True: inhibit writing record into the system log file utmp; option
657 -ut. False: write record into the system log file utmp [default];
658 option +ut.
659
660 print-pipe: *string*
661 Specify a command pipe for vt100 printer [default *lpr(1)*]. Use
662 Print to initiate a screen dump to the printer and Ctrl-Print or
663 Shift-Print to include the scrollback as well.
664
665 The string will be interpreted as if typed into the shell as-is.
666
667 Example:
668
669 URxvt*print-pipe: cat > $(TMPDIR=$HOME mktemp urxvt.XXXXXX)
670
671 This creates a new file in your home directory with the screen
672 contents everytime you hit "Print".
673
674 scrollBar: *boolean*
675 True: enable the scrollbar [default]; option -sb. False: disable the
676 scrollbar; option +sb.
677
678 scrollBar_right: *boolean*
679 True: place the scrollbar on the right of the window; option -sr.
680 False: place the scrollbar on the left of the window; option +sr.
681
682 scrollBar_floating: *boolean*
683 True: display an rxvt scrollbar without a trough; option -st. False:
684 display an rxvt scrollbar with a trough; option +st.
685
686 scrollBar_align: *mode*
687 Align the top, bottom or centre [default] of the scrollbar thumb
688 with the pointer on middle button press/drag.
689
690 scrollTtyOutput: *boolean*
691 True: scroll to bottom when tty receives output; option -si. False:
692 do not scroll to bottom when tty receives output; option +si.
693
694 scrollWithBuffer: *boolean*
695 True: scroll with scrollback buffer when tty receives new lines (and
696 scrollTtyOutput is False); option -sw. False: do not scroll with
697 scrollback buffer when tty recieves new lines; option +sw.
698
699 scrollTtyKeypress: *boolean*
700 True: scroll to bottom when a non-special key is pressed. Special
701 keys are those which are intercepted by rxvt-unicode for special
702 handling and are not passed onto the shell; option -sk. False: do
703 not scroll to bottom when a non-special key is pressed; option +sk.
704
705 saveLines: *number*
706 Save *number* lines in the scrollback buffer [default 64]. This
707 resource is limited on most machines to 65535; option -sl.
708
709 internalBorder: *number*
710 Internal border of *number* pixels. This resource is limited to 100;
711 option -b.
712
713 externalBorder: *number*
714 External border of *number* pixels. This resource is limited to 100;
715 option -w, -bw, -borderwidth.
716
717 borderLess: *boolean*
718 Set MWM hints to request a borderless window, i.e. if honoured by
719 the WM, the rxvt-unicode window will not have window decorations;
720 option -bl.
721
722 skipBuiltinGlyphs: *boolean*
723 Compile *frills*: Disable the usage of the built-in block
724 graphics/line drawing characters and just rely on what the specified
725 fonts provide. Use this if you have a good font and want to use its
726 block graphic glyphs; option -sbg.
727
728 termName: *termname*
729 Specifies the terminal type name to be set in the TERM environment
730 variable; option -tn.
731
732 linespace: *number*
733 Specifies number of lines (pixel height) to insert between each row
734 of the display [default 0]; option -lsp.
735
736 meta8: *boolean*
737 True: handle Meta (Alt) + keypress to set the 8th bit. False: handle
738 Meta (Alt) + keypress as an escape prefix [default].
739
740 mouseWheelScrollPage: *boolean*
741 True: the mouse wheel scrolls a page full. False: the mouse wheel
742 scrolls five lines [default].
743
744 pastableTabs: *boolean*
745 True: store tabs as wide characters. False: interpret tabs as cursor
746 movement only; option "-ptab".
747
748 cursorBlink: *boolean*
749 True: blink the cursor. False: do not blink the cursor [default];
750 option -bc.
751
752 pointerBlank: *boolean*
753 True: blank the pointer when a key is pressed or after a set number
754 of seconds of inactivity. False: the pointer is always visible
755 [default].
756
757 pointerColor: *colour*
758 Mouse pointer foreground colour.
759
760 pointerColor2: *colour*
761 Mouse pointer background colour.
762
763 pointerBlankDelay: *number*
764 Specifies number of seconds before blanking the pointer [default 2].
765 Use a large number (e.g. 987654321) to effectively disable the
766 timeout.
767
768 backspacekey: *string*
769 The string to send when the backspace key is pressed. If set to DEC
770 or unset it will send Delete (code 127) or, if shifted, Backspace
771 (code 8) - which can be reversed with the appropriate DEC private
772 mode escape sequence.
773
774 deletekey: *string*
775 The string to send when the delete key (not the keypad delete key)
776 is pressed. If unset it will send the sequence traditionally
777 associated with the Execute key.
778
779 cutchars: *string*
780 The characters used as delimiters for double-click word selection.
781 The built-in default:
782
783 BACKSLASH `"'&()*,;<=>?@[]{|}
784
785 preeditType: *style*
786 OverTheSpot, OffTheSpot, Root; option -pt.
787
788 inputMethod: *name*
789 *name* of inputMethod to use; option -im.
790
791 imLocale: *name*
792 The locale to use for opening the IM. You can use an "LC_CTYPE" of
793 e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8" for normal text processing but "ja_JP.EUC-JP" for
794 the input extension to be able to input japanese characters while
795 staying in another locale; option -imlocale.
796
797 imFont: *fontset*
798 Specify the font-set used for XIM styles "OverTheSpot" or
799 "OffTheSpot". It must be a standard X font set (XLFD patterns
800 separated by commas), i.e. it's not in the same format as the other
801 font lists used in rxvt. The default will be set-up to chose *any*
802 suitable found found, preferably one or two pixels differing in size
803 to the base font. option -imfont.
804
805 tripleclickwords: *boolean*
806 Change the meaning of triple-click selection with the left mouse
807 button. Instead of selecting a full line it will extend the
808 selection to the end of the logical line only; option -tcw.
809
810 insecure: *boolean*
811 Enables "insecure" mode. Rxvt-unicode offers some escape sequences
812 that echo arbitrary strings like the icon name or the locale. This
813 could be abused if somebody gets 8-bit-clean access to your display,
814 whether through a mail client displaying mail bodies unfiltered or
815 through write(1) or any other means. Therefore, these sequences are
816 disabled by default. (Note that many other terminals, including
817 xterm, have these sequences enabled by default, which doesn't make
818 it safer, though).
819
820 You can enable them by setting this boolean resource or specifying
821 -insecure as an option. At the moment, this enables display-answer,
822 locale, findfont, icon label and window title requests as well as
823 dynamic menubar dispatch.
824
825 modifier: *modifier*
826 Set the key to be interpreted as the Meta key to: alt, meta, hyper,
827 super, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4, mod5; option -mod.
828
829 answerbackString: *string*
830 Specify the reply rxvt-unicode sends to the shell when an ENQ
831 (control-E) character is passed through. It may contain escape
832 values as described in the entry on keysym following.
833
834 secondaryScreen: *bool*
835 Turn on/off secondary screen (default enabled).
836
837 secondaryScroll: *bool*
838 Turn on/off secondary screen scroll (default enabled). If the this
839 option is enabled, scrolls on the secondary screen will change the
840 scrollback buffer and switching to/from the secondary screen will
841 instead scroll the screen up.
842
843 hold: *bool*
844 Turn on/off hold window after exit support. If enabled, rxvt will
845 not immediately destroy its window when the program executed within
846 it exits. Instead, it will wait till it is being killed or closed by
847 the user.
848
849 keysym.*sym*: *string*
850 Compile *frills*: Associate *string* with keysym *sym*. The
851 intervening resource name keysym. cannot be omitted.
852
853 The format of *sym* is "*(modifiers-)key*", where *modifiers* can be
854 any combination of ISOLevel3, AppKeypad, Control, NumLock, Shift,
855 Meta, Lock, Mod1, Mod2, Mod3, Mod4, Mod5, and the abbreviated I, K,
856 C, N, S, M, A, L, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
857
858 The NumLock, Meta and ISOLevel3 modifiers are usually aliased to
859 whatever modifier the NumLock key, Meta/Alt keys or ISO Level3
860 Shift/AltGr keys are being mapped. AppKeypad is a synthetic modifier
861 mapped to the current application keymap mode state.
862
863 The spellings of *key* can be obtained by using xev(1) command or
864 searching keysym macros from /usr/X11R6/include/X11/keysymdef.h and
865 omitting the prefix XK_. Alternatively you can specify *key* by its
866 hex keysym value (0x0000 - 0xFFFF). Note that the lookup of *sym*s
867 is not performed in an exact manner; however, the closest match is
868 assured.
869
870 *string* may contain escape values ("\a": bell, "\b": backspace,
871 "\e", "\E": escape, "\n": newline, "\r": carriage return, "\t": tab,
872 "\000": octal number) or verbatim control characters ("^?": delete,
873 "^@": null, "^A" ...) and may be enclosed with double quotes so that
874 it can start or end with whitespace.
875
876 Please note that you need to double the "\" when using
877 "--enable-xgetdefault", as X itself does it's own de-escaping (you
878 can use "\033" instead of "\e" (and so on), which will work with
879 both Xt and rxvt's own processing).
880
881 You can define a range of keysyms in one shot by providing a
882 *string* with pattern list/PREFIX/MIDDLE/SUFFIX, where the delimeter
883 `/' should be a character not used by the strings.
884
885 Its usage can be demonstrated by an example:
886
887 URxvt.keysym.M-C-0x61: list|\033<M-C-|abc|>
888
889 The above line is equivalent to the following three lines:
890
891 URxvt.keysym.Meta-Control-0x61: \033<M-C-a>
892 URxvt.keysym.Meta-Control-0x62: \033<M-C-b>
893 URxvt.keysym.Meta-Control-0x63: \033<M-C-c>
894
895 If *string* takes the form of "command:STRING", the specified STRING
896 is interpreted and executed as rxvt's control sequence. For example
897 the following means "change the current locale to "zh_CN.GBK" when
898 Control-Meta-c is being pressed":
899
900 URxvt.keysym.M-C-c: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007
901
902 If *string* takes the form "perl:STRING", then the specified STRING
903 is passed to the "on_keyboard_command" perl handler. See the
904 rxvtperl(3) manpage. For example, the selection extension (activated
905 via "rxvt -pe selection") listens for "selection:rot13" events:
906
907 URxvt.keysym.M-C-c: perl:selection:rot13
908
909 Due the the large number of modifier combinations, a defined key
910 mapping will match if at *at least* the specified identifiers are
911 being set, and no other key mappings with those and more bits are
912 being defined. That means that defining a key map for "a" will
913 automatically provide definitions for "Meta-a", "Shift-a" and so on,
914 unless some of those are defined mappings themselves.
915
916 Unfortunately, this will override built-in key mappings. For example
917 if you overwrite the "Insert" key you will disable rxvt's
918 "Shift-Insert" mapping. To re-enable that, you can poke "holes" into
919 the user-defined keymap using the "builtin:" replacement:
920
921 URxvt.keysym.Insert: <my insert key sequence>
922 URxvt.keysym.S-Insert: builtin:
923
924 The first line defines a mapping for "Insert" and *any* combination
925 of modifiers. The second line re-establishes the default mapping for
926 "Shift-Insert".
927
928 The following example will map Control-Meta-1 and Control-Meta-2 to
929 the fonts "suxuseuro" and "9x15bold", so you can have some limited
930 font-switching at runtime:
931
932 URxvt.keysym.M-C-1: command:\033]50;suxuseuro\007
933 URxvt.keysym.M-C-2: command:\033]50;9x15bold\007
934
935 Other things are possible, e.g. resizing (see rxvt(7) for more
936 info):
937
938 URxvt.keysym.M-C-3: command:\033[8;25;80t
939 URxvt.keysym.M-C-4: command:\033[8;48;110t
940
941 perl-ext-common: *string*
942 perl-ext: *string*
943 Colon-separated list(s) of perl extension scripts to use in this
944 terminal instance. Each extension is looked up in the library
945 directories, loaded if necessary, and bound to the current terminal
946 instance. If this resource is empty or missing, then the perl
947 interpreter will not be initialized. The idea behind two options is
948 that perl-ext-common will be used for extensions that should be
949 available to all instances, while perl-ext is used for specific
950 instances; option -pe.
951
952 perl-eval: *string*
953 Perl code to be evaluated when all extensions have been registered.
954 See the rxvtperl(3) manpage.
955
956 perl-lib: *path*
957 Colon-separated list of additional directories that hold extension
958 scripts. When looking for extensions specified by the "perl"
959 resource, rxvt will first look in these directories and then in
960 /opt/rxvt/lib/urxvt/perl/.
961
962 See the rxvtperl(3) manpage.
963
964 THE SCROLLBAR
965 Lines of text that scroll off the top of the rxvt window (resource:
966 saveLines) and can be scrolled back using the scrollbar or by
967 keystrokes. The normal rxvt scrollbar has arrows and its behaviour is
968 fairly intuitive. The xterm-scrollbar is without arrows and its
969 behaviour mimics that of *xterm*
970
971 Scroll down with Button1 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Next. Scroll up with
972 Button3 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Prior. Continuous scroll with
973 Button2.
974
975 MOUSE REPORTING
976 To temporarily override mouse reporting, for either the scrollbar or the
977 normal text selection/insertion, hold either the Shift or the Meta (Alt)
978 key while performing the desired mouse action.
979
980 If mouse reporting mode is active, the normal scrollbar actions are
981 disabled -- on the assumption that we are using a fullscreen
982 application. Instead, pressing Button1 and Button3 sends ESC [ 6 ~
983 (Next) and ESC [ 5 ~ (Prior), respectively. Similarly, clicking on the
984 up and down arrows sends ESC [ A (Up) and ESC [ B (Down), respectively.
985
986 TEXT SELECTION AND INSERTION
987 The behaviour of text selection and insertion mechanism is similar to
988 *xterm*(1).
989
990 Selection:
991 Left click at the beginning of the region, drag to the end of the
992 region and release; Right click to extend the marked region; Left
993 double-click to select a word; Left triple-click to select the
994 entire logical line (which can span multiple screen lines), unless
995 modified by resource tripleclickwords.
996
997 Starting a selection while pressing the Meta key (or Meta+Ctrl keys)
998 (Compile: *frills*) will create a rectangular selection instead of a
999 normal one. In this mode, every selected row becomes its own line in
1000 the selection, and trailing whitespace is visually underlined and
1001 removed from the selection.
1002
1003 Insertion:
1004 Pressing and releasing the Middle mouse button (or Shift-Insert) in
1005 an rxvt window causes the current text selection to be inserted as
1006 if it had been typed on the keyboard.
1007
1008 CHANGING FONTS
1009 Changing fonts (or font sizes, respectively) via the keypad is not yet
1010 supported in rxvt-unicode. Bug me if you need this.
1011
1012 You can, however, switch fonts at runtime using escape sequences (and
1013 therefore using the menubar), e.g.:
1014
1015 printf '\e]710;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
1016
1017 rxvt-unicode will automatically re-apply these fonts to the output so
1018 far.
1019
1020 ISO 14755 SUPPORT
1021 ISO 14755 is a standard for entering and viewing unicode characters and
1022 character codes using the keyboard. It consists of 4 parts. The first
1023 part is available rxvt-unicode has been compiled with "--enable-frills",
1024 the rest is available when rxvt-unicode was compiled with
1025 "--enable-iso14755".
1026
1027 * 5.1: Basic method
1028 This allows you to enter unicode characters using their hexcode.
1029
1030 Start by pressing and holding both "Control" and "Shift", then enter
1031 hex-digits (between one and six). Releasing "Control" and "Shift"
1032 will commit the character as if it were typed directly. While
1033 holding down "Control" and "Shift" you can also enter multiple
1034 characters by pressing "Space", which will commit the current
1035 character and lets you start a new one.
1036
1037 As an example of use, imagine a business card with a japanese e-mail
1038 address, which you cannot type. Fortunately, the card has the e-mail
1039 address printed as hexcodes, e.g. "671d 65e5". You can enter this
1040 easily by pressing "Control" and "Shift", followed by
1041 "6-7-1-D-SPACE-6-5-E-5", followed by releasing the modifier keys.
1042
1043 * 5.2: Keyboard symbols entry method
1044 This mode lets you input characters representing the keycap symbols
1045 of your keyboard, if representable in the current locale encoding.
1046
1047 Start by pressing "Control" and "Shift" together, then releasing
1048 them. The next special key (cursor keys, home etc.) you enter will
1049 not invoke it's usual function but instead will insert the
1050 corresponding keycap symbol. The symbol will only be entered when
1051 the key has been released, otherwise pressing e.g. "Shift" would
1052 enter the symbol for "ISO Level 2 Switch", although your intention
1053 might have been to enter a reverse tab (Shift-Tab).
1054
1055 * 5.3: Screen-selection entry method
1056 While this is implemented already (it's basically the selection
1057 mechanism), it could be extended by displaying a unicode character
1058 map.
1059
1060 * 5.4: Feedback method for identifying displayed characters for later
1061 input
1062 This method lets you display the unicode character code associated
1063 with characters already displayed.
1064
1065 You enter this mode by holding down "Control" and "Shift" together,
1066 then pressing and holding the left mouse button and moving around.
1067 The unicode hex code(s) (it might be a combining character) of the
1068 character under the pointer is displayed until you release "Control"
1069 and "Shift".
1070
1071 In addition to the hex codes it will display the font used to draw
1072 this character - due to implementation reasons, characters combined
1073 with combining characters, line drawing characters and unknown
1074 characters will always be drawn using the built-in support font.
1075
1076 With respect to conformance, rxvt-unicode is supposed to be compliant to
1077 both scenario A and B of ISO 14755, including part 5.2.
1078
1079 LOGIN STAMP
1080 rxvt tries to write an entry into the *utmp*(5) file so that it can be
1081 seen via the *who(1)* command, and can accept messages. To allow this
1082 feature, rxvt may need to be installed setuid root on some systems or
1083 setgid to root or to some other group on others.
1084
1085 COLORS AND GRAPHICS
1086 In addition to the default foreground and background colours, rxvt can
1087 display up to 16 colours (8 ANSI colours plus high-intensity bold/blink
1088 versions of the same). Here is a list of the colours with their rgb.txt
1089 names.
1090
1091 color0 (black) = Black
1092 color1 (red) = Red3
1093 color2 (green) = Green3
1094 color3 (yellow) = Yellow3
1095 color4 (blue) = Blue3
1096 color5 (magenta) = Magenta3
1097 color6 (cyan) = Cyan3
1098 color7 (white) = AntiqueWhite
1099 color8 (bright black) = Grey25
1100 color9 (bright red) = Red
1101 color10 (bright green) = Green
1102 color11 (bright yellow) = Yellow
1103 color12 (bright blue) = Blue
1104 color13 (bright magenta) = Magenta
1105 color14 (bright cyan) = Cyan
1106 color15 (bright white) = White
1107 foreground = Black
1108 background = White
1109
1110 It is also possible to specify the colour values of foreground,
1111 background, cursorColor, cursorColor2, colorBD, colorUL as a number
1112 0-15, as a convenient shorthand to reference the colour name of
1113 color0-color15.
1114
1115 Note that -rv ("reverseVideo: True") simulates reverse video by always
1116 swapping the foreground/background colours. This is in contrast to
1117 *xterm*(1) where the colours are only swapped if they have not otherwise
1118 been specified. For example,
1119
1120 rxvt -fg Black -bg White -rv
1121 would yield White on Black, while on *xterm*(1) it would yield Black
1122 on White.
1123
1124 ENVIRONMENT
1125 rxvt sets and/or uses the following environment variables:
1126
1127 TERM
1128 Normally set to "rxvt-unicode", unless overwritten at configure
1129 time, via resources or on the commandline.
1130
1131 COLORTERM
1132 Either "rxvt", "rxvt-xpm", depending on wether rxvt was compiled
1133 with XPM support, and optionally with the added extension "-mono" to
1134 indicate that rxvt-unicode runs on a monochrome screen.
1135
1136 COLORFGBG
1137 Set to a string of the form "fg;bg" or "fg;xpm;bg", where "fg" is
1138 the colour code used as default foreground/text colour (or the
1139 string "default" to indicate that the default-colour escape sequence
1140 is to be used), "bg" is the colour code used as default background
1141 colour (or the string "default"), and "xpm" is the string "default"
1142 if rxvt was compiled with XPM support. Libraries like "ncurses" and
1143 "slang" can (and do) use this information to optimize screen output.
1144
1145 WINDOWID
1146 Set to the (decimal) X Window ID of the rxvt window (the toplevel
1147 window, which usually has subwindows for the scrollbar, the terminal
1148 window and so on).
1149
1150 TERMINFO
1151 Set to the terminfo directory iff rxvt was configured with
1152 "--with-terminfo=PATH".
1153
1154 DISPLAY
1155 Used by rxvt to connect to the display and set to the correct
1156 display in it's child processes.
1157
1158 SHELL
1159 The shell to be used for command execution, defaults to "/bin/sh".
1160
1161 RXVTPATH
1162 The path where rxvt looks for support files such as menu and xpm
1163 files.
1164
1165 PATH
1166 Used in the same way as "RXVTPATH".
1167
1168 RXVT_SOCKET
1169 The unix domain socket path used by rxvtc(1) and rxvtd(1).
1170
1171 Default $HOME/.rxvt-unicode-*<nodename*.
1172
1173 HOME
1174 Used to locate the default directory for the unix domain socket for
1175 daemon communications and to locate various resource files (such as
1176 ".Xdefaults")
1177
1178 XAPPLRESDIR
1179 Directory where various X resource files are being located.
1180
1181 XENVIRONMENT
1182 If set and accessible, gives the name of a X resource file to be
1183 loaded by rxvt.
1184
1185 FILES
1186 /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt
1187 Color names.
1188
1189 SEE ALSO
1190 rxvt(7), rxvtc(1), rxvtd(1), xterm(1), sh(1), resize(1), X(1), pty(4),
1191 tty(4), utmp(5)
1192
1193 CURRENT PROJECT COORDINATOR
1194 Project Coordinator
1195 Marc A. Lehmann <rxvt-unicode@schmorp.de>
1196
1197 <http://software.schmorp.de/#rxvt-unicode>
1198
1199 AUTHORS
1200 John Bovey
1201 University of Kent, 1992, wrote the original Xvt.
1202
1203 Rob Nation <nation@rocket.sanders.lockheed.com>
1204 very heavily modified Xvt and came up with Rxvt
1205
1206 Angelo Haritsis <ah@doc.ic.ac.uk>
1207 wrote the Greek Keyboard Input (no longer in code)
1208
1209 mj olesen <olesen@me.QueensU.CA>
1210 Wrote the menu system.
1211
1212 Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.11 to 2.21)
1213
1214 Oezguer Kesim <kesim@math.fu-berlin.de>
1215 Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.21a to 2.4.5)
1216
1217 Geoff Wing <gcw@pobox.com>
1218 Rewrote screen display and text selection routines. Project
1219 Coordinator (changes.txt 2.4.6 - rxvt-unicode)
1220
1221 Marc Alexander Lehmann <rxvt-unicode@schmorp.de>
1222 Forked rxvt-unicode, rewrote most of the display code and internal
1223 character handling to store text in unicode, improve xterm
1224 compatibility and apply numerous other bugfixes and extensions.
1225
1226 Project Coordinator (Changes 1.0 -)
1227