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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 *file descriptor*
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 As an extremely special case, specifying -1 will completely suppress
387 pty/tty operations.
388
389 Here is a example in perl that illustrates how this option can be
390 used (a longer example is in doc/pty-fd):
391
392 use IO::Pty;
393 use Fcntl;
394
395 my $pty = new IO::Pty;
396 fcntl $pty, F_SETFD, 0; # clear close-on-exec
397 system "rxvt -pty-fd " . (fileno $pty) . "&";
398 close $pty;
399
400 # now communicate with rxvt
401 my $slave = $pty->slave;
402 while (<$slave>) { print $slave "got <$_>\n" }
403
404 -pe *string*
405 Comma-separated list of perl extension scripts to use in this
406 terminal instance. See resource perl-ext.
407
408 RESOURCES (available also as long-options)
409 Note: `rxvt --help' gives a list of all resources (long options)
410 compiled into your version.
411
412 There are two different methods that rxvt can use to get the Xresource
413 data: using the X libraries (Xrm*-functions) or internal Xresources
414 reader (~/.Xdefaults). For the first method (ie. rxvt -h lists
415 XGetDefaults), you can set and change the resources using X11 tools like
416 xrdb. Many distribution do also load settings from the ~/.Xresources
417 file when X starts. rxvt will consult the following files/resources in
418 order, with later settings overwriting earlier ones:
419
420 1. system-wide app-defaults file, either locale-dependent OR global
421 2. app-defaults file in $XAPPLRESDIR
422 3. RESOURCE_MANAGER property on root-window OR $HOME/.Xdefaults
423 4. SCREEN_RESOURCES for the current screen
424 5. $XENVIRONMENT file OR $HOME/.Xdefaults-<nodename>
425
426 If compiled with internal Xresources support (i.e. rxvt -h lists
427 .Xdefaults) then rxvt accepts application defaults set in
428 XAPPLOADDIR/URxvt (compile-time defined: usually
429 /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/URxvt) and resources set in ~/.Xdefaults, or
430 ~/.Xresources if ~/.Xdefaults does not exist. Note that when reading X
431 resources, rxvt recognizes two class names: XTerm and URxvt. The class
432 name Rxvt allows resources common to both rxvt and the original *rxvt*
433 to be easily configured, while the class name URxvt allows resources
434 unique to rxvt, notably colours and key-handling, to be shared between
435 different rxvt configurations. If no resources are specified, suitable
436 defaults will be used. Command-line arguments can be used to override
437 resource settings. The following resources are allowed:
438
439 geometry: *geom*
440 Create the window with the specified X window geometry [default
441 80x24]; option -geometry.
442
443 background: *colour*
444 Use the specified colour as the window's background colour [default
445 White]; option -bg.
446
447 foreground: *colour*
448 Use the specified colour as the window's foreground colour [default
449 Black]; option -fg.
450
451 color*n*: *colour*
452 Use the specified colour for the colour value *n*, where 0-7
453 corresponds to low-intensity (normal) colours and 8-15 corresponds
454 to high-intensity (bold = bright foreground, blink = bright
455 background) colours. The canonical names are as follows: 0=black,
456 1=red, 2=green, 3=yellow, 4=blue, 5=magenta, 6=cyan, 7=white, but
457 the actual colour names used are listed in the COLORS AND GRAPHICS
458 section.
459
460 Colours higher than 15 cannot be set using resources (yet), but can
461 be changed using an escape command (see rxvt(7)).
462
463 Colours 16-79 form a standard 4x4x4 colour cube (the same as xterm
464 with 88 colour support). Colours 80-87 are evenly spaces grey steps.
465
466 colorBD: *colour*
467 colorIT: *colour*
468 Use the specified colour to display bold or italic characters when
469 the foreground colour is the default. If font styles are not
470 available (Compile *styles*) and this option is unset, reverse video
471 is used instead.
472
473 colorUL: *colour*
474 Use the specified colour to display underlined characters when the
475 foreground colour is the default.
476
477 colorRV: *colour*
478 Use the specified colour as the background for reverse video
479 characters.
480
481 underlineColor: *colour*
482 If set, use the specified colour as the colour for the underline
483 itself. If unset, use the foreground colour.
484
485 cursorColor: *colour*
486 Use the specified colour for the cursor. The default is to use the
487 foreground colour; option -cr.
488
489 cursorColor2: *colour*
490 Use the specified colour for the colour of the cursor text. For this
491 to take effect, cursorColor must also be specified. The default is
492 to use the background colour.
493
494 reverseVideo: *boolean*
495 True: simulate reverse video by foreground and background colours;
496 option -rv. False: regular screen colours [default]; option +rv. See
497 note in COLORS AND GRAPHICS section.
498
499 jumpScroll: *boolean*
500 True: specify that jump scrolling should be used. When scrolling
501 quickly, fewer screen updates are performed [default]; option -j.
502 False: specify that smooth scrolling should be used; option +j.
503
504 inheritPixmap: *boolean*
505 True: make the background inherit the parent windows' pixmap, giving
506 artificial transparency. False: do not inherit the parent windows'
507 pixmap.
508
509 fading: *number*
510 Fade the text by the given percentage when focus is lost; option
511 -fade.
512
513 fadeColor: *colour*
514 Fade to this colour, when fading is used (see fading:). The default
515 colour is black; option -fadecolor.
516
517 tintColor: *colour*
518 Tint the transparent background pixmap with the given colour; option
519 -tint.
520
521 shading: *number*
522 Darken (0 .. 100) or lighten (-1 .. -100) the transparent background
523 image in addition to tinting it.
524
525 scrollColor: *colour*
526 Use the specified colour for the scrollbar [default #B2B2B2].
527
528 troughColor: *colour*
529 Use the specified colour for the scrollbar's trough area [default
530 #969696]. Only relevant for rxvt (non XTerm/NeXT) scrollbar.
531
532 borderColor: *colour*
533 The colour of the border around the text area and between the
534 scrollbar and the text.
535
536 backgroundPixmap: *file[;geom]*
537 Use the specified XPM file (note the `.xpm' extension is optional)
538 for the background and also optionally specify its scaling with a
539 geometry string WxH+X+Y, in which "W" / "H" specify the
540 horizontal/vertical scale (percent) and "X" / "Y" locate the image
541 centre (percent). A scale of 0 displays the image with tiling. A
542 scale of 1 displays the image without any scaling. A scale of 2 to 9
543 specifies an integer number of images in that direction. No image
544 will be magnified beyond 10 times its original size. The maximum
545 permitted scale is 1000. [default 0x0+50+50]
546
547 menu: *file[;tag]*
548 Read in the specified menu file (note the `.menu' extension is
549 optional) and also optionally specify a starting tag to find. See
550 the reference documentation for details on the syntax for the
551 menuBar.
552
553 path: *path*
554 Specify the colon-delimited search path for finding files (XPM and
555 menus), in addition to the paths specified by the RXVTPATH and PATH
556 environment variables.
557
558 font: *fontlist*
559 Select the fonts to be used. This is a comma separated list of font
560 names that are used in turn when trying to display Unicode
561 characters. The first font defines the cell size for characters;
562 other fonts might be smaller, but not larger. A reasonable default
563 font list is always appended to it; option -fn.
564
565 Each font can either be a standard X11 core font (XLFD) name, with
566 optional prefix "x:" or a Xft font (Compile *xft*), prefixed with
567 "xft:".
568
569 In addition, each font can be prefixed with additional hints and
570 specifications enclosed in square brackets ("[]"). The only
571 available hint currently is "codeset=codeset-name", and this is only
572 used for Xft fonts.
573
574 For example, this font resource
575
576 URxvt*font: 9x15bold,\
577 -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1,\
578 -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1, \
579 [codeset=JISX0208]xft:Kochi Gothic:antialias=false, \
580 xft:Code2000:antialias=false
581
582 specifies five fonts to be used. The first one is "9x15bold"
583 (actually the iso8859-1 version of the second font), which is the
584 base font (because it is named first) and thus defines the character
585 cell grid to be 9 pixels wide and 15 pixels high.
586
587 The second font is just used to add additional unicode characters
588 not in the base font, likewise the third, which is unfortunately
589 non-bold, but the bold version of the font does contain less
590 characters, so this is a useful supplement.
591
592 The third font is an Xft font with aliasing turned off, and the
593 characters are limited to the JIS 0208 codeset (i.e. japanese
594 kanji). The font contains other characters, but we are not
595 interested in them.
596
597 The last font is a useful catch-all font that supplies most of the
598 remaining unicode characters.
599
600 boldFont: *fontlist*
601 italicFont: *fontlist*
602 boldItalicFont: *fontlist*
603 The font list to use for displaying bold, *italic* or *bold italic*
604 characters, respectively.
605
606 If specified and non-empty, then the syntax is the same as for the
607 font-resource, and the given font list will be used as is, which
608 makes it possible to substitute completely different font styles for
609 bold and italic.
610
611 If unset (the default), a suitable font list will be synthesized by
612 "morphing" the normal text font list into the desired shape. If that
613 is not possible, replacement fonts of the desired shape will be
614 tried.
615
616 If set, but empty, then this specific style is disabled and the
617 normal text font will being used for the given style.
618
619 intensityStyles: *boolean*
620 When font styles are not enabled, or this option is enabled (True,
621 option -is, the default), bold and italic font styles imply high
622 intensity foreground/backround colours. Disabling this option
623 (False, option +is) disables this behaviour, the high intensity
624 colours are not reachable.
625
626 selectstyle: *mode*
627 Set mouse selection style to old which is 2.20, oldword which is
628 xterm style with 2.20 old word selection, or anything else which
629 gives xterm style selection.
630
631 scrollstyle: *mode*
632 Set scrollbar style to rxvt, plain, next or xterm. plain is the
633 author's favourite.
634
635 title: *string*
636 Set window title string, the default title is the command-line
637 specified after the -e option, if any, otherwise the application
638 name; option -title.
639
640 iconName: *string*
641 Set the name used to label the window's icon or displayed in an icon
642 manager window, it also sets the window's title unless it is
643 explicitly set; option -n.
644
645 mapAlert: *boolean*
646 True: de-iconify (map) on receipt of a bell character. False: no
647 de-iconify (map) on receipt of a bell character [default].
648
649 visualBell: *boolean*
650 True: use visual bell on receipt of a bell character; option -vb.
651 False: no visual bell [default]; option +vb.
652
653 loginShell: *boolean*
654 True: start as a login shell by prepending a `-' to argv[0] of the
655 shell; option -ls. False: start as a normal sub-shell [default];
656 option +ls.
657
658 utmpInhibit: *boolean*
659 True: inhibit writing record into the system log file utmp; option
660 -ut. False: write record into the system log file utmp [default];
661 option +ut.
662
663 print-pipe: *string*
664 Specify a command pipe for vt100 printer [default *lpr(1)*]. Use
665 Print to initiate a screen dump to the printer and Ctrl-Print or
666 Shift-Print to include the scrollback as well.
667
668 The string will be interpreted as if typed into the shell as-is.
669
670 Example:
671
672 URxvt*print-pipe: cat > $(TMPDIR=$HOME mktemp urxvt.XXXXXX)
673
674 This creates a new file in your home directory with the screen
675 contents everytime you hit "Print".
676
677 scrollBar: *boolean*
678 True: enable the scrollbar [default]; option -sb. False: disable the
679 scrollbar; option +sb.
680
681 scrollBar_right: *boolean*
682 True: place the scrollbar on the right of the window; option -sr.
683 False: place the scrollbar on the left of the window; option +sr.
684
685 scrollBar_floating: *boolean*
686 True: display an rxvt scrollbar without a trough; option -st. False:
687 display an rxvt scrollbar with a trough; option +st.
688
689 scrollBar_align: *mode*
690 Align the top, bottom or centre [default] of the scrollbar thumb
691 with the pointer on middle button press/drag.
692
693 scrollTtyOutput: *boolean*
694 True: scroll to bottom when tty receives output; option -si. False:
695 do not scroll to bottom when tty receives output; option +si.
696
697 scrollWithBuffer: *boolean*
698 True: scroll with scrollback buffer when tty receives new lines (and
699 scrollTtyOutput is False); option -sw. False: do not scroll with
700 scrollback buffer when tty recieves new lines; option +sw.
701
702 scrollTtyKeypress: *boolean*
703 True: scroll to bottom when a non-special key is pressed. Special
704 keys are those which are intercepted by rxvt-unicode for special
705 handling and are not passed onto the shell; option -sk. False: do
706 not scroll to bottom when a non-special key is pressed; option +sk.
707
708 saveLines: *number*
709 Save *number* lines in the scrollback buffer [default 64]. This
710 resource is limited on most machines to 65535; option -sl.
711
712 internalBorder: *number*
713 Internal border of *number* pixels. This resource is limited to 100;
714 option -b.
715
716 externalBorder: *number*
717 External border of *number* pixels. This resource is limited to 100;
718 option -w, -bw, -borderwidth.
719
720 borderLess: *boolean*
721 Set MWM hints to request a borderless window, i.e. if honoured by
722 the WM, the rxvt-unicode window will not have window decorations;
723 option -bl.
724
725 skipBuiltinGlyphs: *boolean*
726 Compile *frills*: Disable the usage of the built-in block
727 graphics/line drawing characters and just rely on what the specified
728 fonts provide. Use this if you have a good font and want to use its
729 block graphic glyphs; option -sbg.
730
731 termName: *termname*
732 Specifies the terminal type name to be set in the TERM environment
733 variable; option -tn.
734
735 linespace: *number*
736 Specifies number of lines (pixel height) to insert between each row
737 of the display [default 0]; option -lsp.
738
739 meta8: *boolean*
740 True: handle Meta (Alt) + keypress to set the 8th bit. False: handle
741 Meta (Alt) + keypress as an escape prefix [default].
742
743 mouseWheelScrollPage: *boolean*
744 True: the mouse wheel scrolls a page full. False: the mouse wheel
745 scrolls five lines [default].
746
747 pastableTabs: *boolean*
748 True: store tabs as wide characters. False: interpret tabs as cursor
749 movement only; option "-ptab".
750
751 cursorBlink: *boolean*
752 True: blink the cursor. False: do not blink the cursor [default];
753 option -bc.
754
755 pointerBlank: *boolean*
756 True: blank the pointer when a key is pressed or after a set number
757 of seconds of inactivity. False: the pointer is always visible
758 [default].
759
760 pointerColor: *colour*
761 Mouse pointer foreground colour.
762
763 pointerColor2: *colour*
764 Mouse pointer background colour.
765
766 pointerBlankDelay: *number*
767 Specifies number of seconds before blanking the pointer [default 2].
768 Use a large number (e.g. 987654321) to effectively disable the
769 timeout.
770
771 backspacekey: *string*
772 The string to send when the backspace key is pressed. If set to DEC
773 or unset it will send Delete (code 127) or, if shifted, Backspace
774 (code 8) - which can be reversed with the appropriate DEC private
775 mode escape sequence.
776
777 deletekey: *string*
778 The string to send when the delete key (not the keypad delete key)
779 is pressed. If unset it will send the sequence traditionally
780 associated with the Execute key.
781
782 cutchars: *string*
783 The characters used as delimiters for double-click word selection.
784 The built-in default:
785
786 BACKSLASH `"'&()*,;<=>?@[]{|}
787
788 preeditType: *style*
789 OverTheSpot, OffTheSpot, Root; option -pt.
790
791 inputMethod: *name*
792 *name* of inputMethod to use; option -im.
793
794 imLocale: *name*
795 The locale to use for opening the IM. You can use an "LC_CTYPE" of
796 e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8" for normal text processing but "ja_JP.EUC-JP" for
797 the input extension to be able to input japanese characters while
798 staying in another locale; option -imlocale.
799
800 imFont: *fontset*
801 Specify the font-set used for XIM styles "OverTheSpot" or
802 "OffTheSpot". It must be a standard X font set (XLFD patterns
803 separated by commas), i.e. it's not in the same format as the other
804 font lists used in rxvt. The default will be set-up to chose *any*
805 suitable found found, preferably one or two pixels differing in size
806 to the base font. option -imfont.
807
808 tripleclickwords: *boolean*
809 Change the meaning of triple-click selection with the left mouse
810 button. Instead of selecting a full line it will extend the
811 selection to the end of the logical line only; option -tcw.
812
813 insecure: *boolean*
814 Enables "insecure" mode. Rxvt-unicode offers some escape sequences
815 that echo arbitrary strings like the icon name or the locale. This
816 could be abused if somebody gets 8-bit-clean access to your display,
817 whether through a mail client displaying mail bodies unfiltered or
818 through write(1) or any other means. Therefore, these sequences are
819 disabled by default. (Note that many other terminals, including
820 xterm, have these sequences enabled by default, which doesn't make
821 it safer, though).
822
823 You can enable them by setting this boolean resource or specifying
824 -insecure as an option. At the moment, this enables display-answer,
825 locale, findfont, icon label and window title requests as well as
826 dynamic menubar dispatch.
827
828 modifier: *modifier*
829 Set the key to be interpreted as the Meta key to: alt, meta, hyper,
830 super, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4, mod5; option -mod.
831
832 answerbackString: *string*
833 Specify the reply rxvt-unicode sends to the shell when an ENQ
834 (control-E) character is passed through. It may contain escape
835 values as described in the entry on keysym following.
836
837 secondaryScreen: *bool*
838 Turn on/off secondary screen (default enabled).
839
840 secondaryScroll: *bool*
841 Turn on/off secondary screen scroll (default enabled). If the this
842 option is enabled, scrolls on the secondary screen will change the
843 scrollback buffer and switching to/from the secondary screen will
844 instead scroll the screen up.
845
846 hold: *bool*
847 Turn on/off hold window after exit support. If enabled, rxvt will
848 not immediately destroy its window when the program executed within
849 it exits. Instead, it will wait till it is being killed or closed by
850 the user.
851
852 keysym.*sym*: *string*
853 Compile *frills*: Associate *string* with keysym *sym*. The
854 intervening resource name keysym. cannot be omitted.
855
856 The format of *sym* is "*(modifiers-)key*", where *modifiers* can be
857 any combination of ISOLevel3, AppKeypad, Control, NumLock, Shift,
858 Meta, Lock, Mod1, Mod2, Mod3, Mod4, Mod5, and the abbreviated I, K,
859 C, N, S, M, A, L, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
860
861 The NumLock, Meta and ISOLevel3 modifiers are usually aliased to
862 whatever modifier the NumLock key, Meta/Alt keys or ISO Level3
863 Shift/AltGr keys are being mapped. AppKeypad is a synthetic modifier
864 mapped to the current application keymap mode state.
865
866 The spellings of *key* can be obtained by using xev(1) command or
867 searching keysym macros from /usr/X11R6/include/X11/keysymdef.h and
868 omitting the prefix XK_. Alternatively you can specify *key* by its
869 hex keysym value (0x0000 - 0xFFFF). Note that the lookup of *sym*s
870 is not performed in an exact manner; however, the closest match is
871 assured.
872
873 *string* may contain escape values ("\a": bell, "\b": backspace,
874 "\e", "\E": escape, "\n": newline, "\r": carriage return, "\t": tab,
875 "\000": octal number) or verbatim control characters ("^?": delete,
876 "^@": null, "^A" ...) and may be enclosed with double quotes so that
877 it can start or end with whitespace.
878
879 Please note that you need to double the "\" when using
880 "--enable-xgetdefault", as X itself does it's own de-escaping (you
881 can use "\033" instead of "\e" (and so on), which will work with
882 both Xt and rxvt's own processing).
883
884 You can define a range of keysyms in one shot by providing a
885 *string* with pattern list/PREFIX/MIDDLE/SUFFIX, where the delimeter
886 `/' should be a character not used by the strings.
887
888 Its usage can be demonstrated by an example:
889
890 URxvt.keysym.M-C-0x61: list|\033<M-C-|abc|>
891
892 The above line is equivalent to the following three lines:
893
894 URxvt.keysym.Meta-Control-0x61: \033<M-C-a>
895 URxvt.keysym.Meta-Control-0x62: \033<M-C-b>
896 URxvt.keysym.Meta-Control-0x63: \033<M-C-c>
897
898 If *string* takes the form of "command:STRING", the specified STRING
899 is interpreted and executed as rxvt's control sequence. For example
900 the following means "change the current locale to "zh_CN.GBK" when
901 Control-Meta-c is being pressed":
902
903 URxvt.keysym.M-C-c: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007
904
905 If *string* takes the form "perl:STRING", then the specified STRING
906 is passed to the "on_keyboard_command" perl handler. See the
907 rxvtperl(3) manpage. For example, the selection extension (activated
908 via "rxvt -pe selection") listens for "selection:rot13" events:
909
910 URxvt.keysym.M-C-c: perl:selection:rot13
911
912 Due the the large number of modifier combinations, a defined key
913 mapping will match if at *at least* the specified identifiers are
914 being set, and no other key mappings with those and more bits are
915 being defined. That means that defining a key map for "a" will
916 automatically provide definitions for "Meta-a", "Shift-a" and so on,
917 unless some of those are defined mappings themselves.
918
919 Unfortunately, this will override built-in key mappings. For example
920 if you overwrite the "Insert" key you will disable rxvt's
921 "Shift-Insert" mapping. To re-enable that, you can poke "holes" into
922 the user-defined keymap using the "builtin:" replacement:
923
924 URxvt.keysym.Insert: <my insert key sequence>
925 URxvt.keysym.S-Insert: builtin:
926
927 The first line defines a mapping for "Insert" and *any* combination
928 of modifiers. The second line re-establishes the default mapping for
929 "Shift-Insert".
930
931 The following example will map Control-Meta-1 and Control-Meta-2 to
932 the fonts "suxuseuro" and "9x15bold", so you can have some limited
933 font-switching at runtime:
934
935 URxvt.keysym.M-C-1: command:\033]50;suxuseuro\007
936 URxvt.keysym.M-C-2: command:\033]50;9x15bold\007
937
938 Other things are possible, e.g. resizing (see rxvt(7) for more
939 info):
940
941 URxvt.keysym.M-C-3: command:\033[8;25;80t
942 URxvt.keysym.M-C-4: command:\033[8;48;110t
943
944 perl-ext-common: *string*
945 perl-ext: *string*
946 Comma-separated list(s) of perl extension scripts to use in this
947 terminal instance. Each extension is looked up in the library
948 directories, loaded if necessary, and bound to the current terminal
949 instance. If this resource is empty or missing, then the perl
950 interpreter will not be initialized. The idea behind two options is
951 that perl-ext-common will be used for extensions that should be
952 available to all instances, while perl-ext is used for specific
953 instances; option -pe.
954
955 perl-eval: *string*
956 Perl code to be evaluated when all extensions have been registered.
957 See the rxvtperl(3) manpage.
958
959 perl-lib: *path*
960 Colon-separated list of additional directories that hold extension
961 scripts. When looking for extensions specified by the "perl"
962 resource, rxvt will first look in these directories and then in
963 /opt/rxvt/lib/urxvt/perl/.
964
965 See the rxvtperl(3) manpage.
966
967 THE SCROLLBAR
968 Lines of text that scroll off the top of the rxvt window (resource:
969 saveLines) and can be scrolled back using the scrollbar or by
970 keystrokes. The normal rxvt scrollbar has arrows and its behaviour is
971 fairly intuitive. The xterm-scrollbar is without arrows and its
972 behaviour mimics that of *xterm*
973
974 Scroll down with Button1 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Next. Scroll up with
975 Button3 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Prior. Continuous scroll with
976 Button2.
977
978 MOUSE REPORTING
979 To temporarily override mouse reporting, for either the scrollbar or the
980 normal text selection/insertion, hold either the Shift or the Meta (Alt)
981 key while performing the desired mouse action.
982
983 If mouse reporting mode is active, the normal scrollbar actions are
984 disabled -- on the assumption that we are using a fullscreen
985 application. Instead, pressing Button1 and Button3 sends ESC [ 6 ~
986 (Next) and ESC [ 5 ~ (Prior), respectively. Similarly, clicking on the
987 up and down arrows sends ESC [ A (Up) and ESC [ B (Down), respectively.
988
989 TEXT SELECTION AND INSERTION
990 The behaviour of text selection and insertion mechanism is similar to
991 *xterm*(1).
992
993 Selection:
994 Left click at the beginning of the region, drag to the end of the
995 region and release; Right click to extend the marked region; Left
996 double-click to select a word; Left triple-click to select the
997 entire logical line (which can span multiple screen lines), unless
998 modified by resource tripleclickwords.
999
1000 Starting a selection while pressing the Meta key (or Meta+Ctrl keys)
1001 (Compile: *frills*) will create a rectangular selection instead of a
1002 normal one. In this mode, every selected row becomes its own line in
1003 the selection, and trailing whitespace is visually underlined and
1004 removed from the selection.
1005
1006 Insertion:
1007 Pressing and releasing the Middle mouse button (or Shift-Insert) in
1008 an rxvt window causes the current text selection to be inserted as
1009 if it had been typed on the keyboard.
1010
1011 CHANGING FONTS
1012 Changing fonts (or font sizes, respectively) via the keypad is not yet
1013 supported in rxvt-unicode. Bug me if you need this.
1014
1015 You can, however, switch fonts at runtime using escape sequences (and
1016 therefore using the menubar), e.g.:
1017
1018 printf '\e]710;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
1019
1020 rxvt-unicode will automatically re-apply these fonts to the output so
1021 far.
1022
1023 ISO 14755 SUPPORT
1024 ISO 14755 is a standard for entering and viewing unicode characters and
1025 character codes using the keyboard. It consists of 4 parts. The first
1026 part is available rxvt-unicode has been compiled with "--enable-frills",
1027 the rest is available when rxvt-unicode was compiled with
1028 "--enable-iso14755".
1029
1030 * 5.1: Basic method
1031 This allows you to enter unicode characters using their hexcode.
1032
1033 Start by pressing and holding both "Control" and "Shift", then enter
1034 hex-digits (between one and six). Releasing "Control" and "Shift"
1035 will commit the character as if it were typed directly. While
1036 holding down "Control" and "Shift" you can also enter multiple
1037 characters by pressing "Space", which will commit the current
1038 character and lets you start a new one.
1039
1040 As an example of use, imagine a business card with a japanese e-mail
1041 address, which you cannot type. Fortunately, the card has the e-mail
1042 address printed as hexcodes, e.g. "671d 65e5". You can enter this
1043 easily by pressing "Control" and "Shift", followed by
1044 "6-7-1-D-SPACE-6-5-E-5", followed by releasing the modifier keys.
1045
1046 * 5.2: Keyboard symbols entry method
1047 This mode lets you input characters representing the keycap symbols
1048 of your keyboard, if representable in the current locale encoding.
1049
1050 Start by pressing "Control" and "Shift" together, then releasing
1051 them. The next special key (cursor keys, home etc.) you enter will
1052 not invoke it's usual function but instead will insert the
1053 corresponding keycap symbol. The symbol will only be entered when
1054 the key has been released, otherwise pressing e.g. "Shift" would
1055 enter the symbol for "ISO Level 2 Switch", although your intention
1056 might have been to enter a reverse tab (Shift-Tab).
1057
1058 * 5.3: Screen-selection entry method
1059 While this is implemented already (it's basically the selection
1060 mechanism), it could be extended by displaying a unicode character
1061 map.
1062
1063 * 5.4: Feedback method for identifying displayed characters for later
1064 input
1065 This method lets you display the unicode character code associated
1066 with characters already displayed.
1067
1068 You enter this mode by holding down "Control" and "Shift" together,
1069 then pressing and holding the left mouse button and moving around.
1070 The unicode hex code(s) (it might be a combining character) of the
1071 character under the pointer is displayed until you release "Control"
1072 and "Shift".
1073
1074 In addition to the hex codes it will display the font used to draw
1075 this character - due to implementation reasons, characters combined
1076 with combining characters, line drawing characters and unknown
1077 characters will always be drawn using the built-in support font.
1078
1079 With respect to conformance, rxvt-unicode is supposed to be compliant to
1080 both scenario A and B of ISO 14755, including part 5.2.
1081
1082 LOGIN STAMP
1083 rxvt tries to write an entry into the *utmp*(5) file so that it can be
1084 seen via the *who(1)* command, and can accept messages. To allow this
1085 feature, rxvt may need to be installed setuid root on some systems or
1086 setgid to root or to some other group on others.
1087
1088 COLORS AND GRAPHICS
1089 In addition to the default foreground and background colours, rxvt can
1090 display up to 16 colours (8 ANSI colours plus high-intensity bold/blink
1091 versions of the same). Here is a list of the colours with their rgb.txt
1092 names.
1093
1094 color0 (black) = Black
1095 color1 (red) = Red3
1096 color2 (green) = Green3
1097 color3 (yellow) = Yellow3
1098 color4 (blue) = Blue3
1099 color5 (magenta) = Magenta3
1100 color6 (cyan) = Cyan3
1101 color7 (white) = AntiqueWhite
1102 color8 (bright black) = Grey25
1103 color9 (bright red) = Red
1104 color10 (bright green) = Green
1105 color11 (bright yellow) = Yellow
1106 color12 (bright blue) = Blue
1107 color13 (bright magenta) = Magenta
1108 color14 (bright cyan) = Cyan
1109 color15 (bright white) = White
1110 foreground = Black
1111 background = White
1112
1113 It is also possible to specify the colour values of foreground,
1114 background, cursorColor, cursorColor2, colorBD, colorUL as a number
1115 0-15, as a convenient shorthand to reference the colour name of
1116 color0-color15.
1117
1118 Note that -rv ("reverseVideo: True") simulates reverse video by always
1119 swapping the foreground/background colours. This is in contrast to
1120 *xterm*(1) where the colours are only swapped if they have not otherwise
1121 been specified. For example,
1122
1123 rxvt -fg Black -bg White -rv
1124 would yield White on Black, while on *xterm*(1) it would yield Black
1125 on White.
1126
1127 ENVIRONMENT
1128 rxvt sets and/or uses the following environment variables:
1129
1130 TERM
1131 Normally set to "rxvt-unicode", unless overwritten at configure
1132 time, via resources or on the commandline.
1133
1134 COLORTERM
1135 Either "rxvt", "rxvt-xpm", depending on wether rxvt was compiled
1136 with XPM support, and optionally with the added extension "-mono" to
1137 indicate that rxvt-unicode runs on a monochrome screen.
1138
1139 COLORFGBG
1140 Set to a string of the form "fg;bg" or "fg;xpm;bg", where "fg" is
1141 the colour code used as default foreground/text colour (or the
1142 string "default" to indicate that the default-colour escape sequence
1143 is to be used), "bg" is the colour code used as default background
1144 colour (or the string "default"), and "xpm" is the string "default"
1145 if rxvt was compiled with XPM support. Libraries like "ncurses" and
1146 "slang" can (and do) use this information to optimize screen output.
1147
1148 WINDOWID
1149 Set to the (decimal) X Window ID of the rxvt window (the toplevel
1150 window, which usually has subwindows for the scrollbar, the terminal
1151 window and so on).
1152
1153 TERMINFO
1154 Set to the terminfo directory iff rxvt was configured with
1155 "--with-terminfo=PATH".
1156
1157 DISPLAY
1158 Used by rxvt to connect to the display and set to the correct
1159 display in it's child processes.
1160
1161 SHELL
1162 The shell to be used for command execution, defaults to "/bin/sh".
1163
1164 RXVTPATH
1165 The path where rxvt looks for support files such as menu and xpm
1166 files.
1167
1168 PATH
1169 Used in the same way as "RXVTPATH".
1170
1171 RXVT_SOCKET
1172 The unix domain socket path used by rxvtc(1) and rxvtd(1).
1173
1174 Default $HOME/.rxvt-unicode-*<nodename*.
1175
1176 HOME
1177 Used to locate the default directory for the unix domain socket for
1178 daemon communications and to locate various resource files (such as
1179 ".Xdefaults")
1180
1181 XAPPLRESDIR
1182 Directory where various X resource files are being located.
1183
1184 XENVIRONMENT
1185 If set and accessible, gives the name of a X resource file to be
1186 loaded by rxvt.
1187
1188 FILES
1189 /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt
1190 Color names.
1191
1192 SEE ALSO
1193 rxvt(7), rxvtc(1), rxvtd(1), xterm(1), sh(1), resize(1), X(1), pty(4),
1194 tty(4), utmp(5)
1195
1196 CURRENT PROJECT COORDINATOR
1197 Project Coordinator
1198 Marc A. Lehmann <rxvt-unicode@schmorp.de>
1199
1200 <http://software.schmorp.de/#rxvt-unicode>
1201
1202 AUTHORS
1203 John Bovey
1204 University of Kent, 1992, wrote the original Xvt.
1205
1206 Rob Nation <nation@rocket.sanders.lockheed.com>
1207 very heavily modified Xvt and came up with Rxvt
1208
1209 Angelo Haritsis <ah@doc.ic.ac.uk>
1210 wrote the Greek Keyboard Input (no longer in code)
1211
1212 mj olesen <olesen@me.QueensU.CA>
1213 Wrote the menu system.
1214
1215 Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.11 to 2.21)
1216
1217 Oezguer Kesim <kesim@math.fu-berlin.de>
1218 Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.21a to 2.4.5)
1219
1220 Geoff Wing <gcw@pobox.com>
1221 Rewrote screen display and text selection routines. Project
1222 Coordinator (changes.txt 2.4.6 - rxvt-unicode)
1223
1224 Marc Alexander Lehmann <rxvt-unicode@schmorp.de>
1225 Forked rxvt-unicode, rewrote most of the display code and internal
1226 character handling to store text in unicode, improve xterm
1227 compatibility and apply numerous other bugfixes and extensions.
1228
1229 Project Coordinator (Changes 1.0 -)
1230