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16=head1 DESCRIPTION 16=head1 DESCRIPTION
17 17
18This document contains the FAQ, the RXVT TECHNICAL REFERENCE documenting 18This document contains the FAQ, the RXVT TECHNICAL REFERENCE documenting
19all escape sequences, and other background information. 19all escape sequences, and other background information.
20 20
21The newest version of this document is 21The newest version of this document is also available on the World Wide Web at
22also available on the World Wide Web at
23L<http://cvs.schmorp.de/browse/*checkout*/rxvt-unicode/doc/rxvt.7.html>. 22L<http://cvs.schmorp.de/browse/*checkout*/rxvt-unicode/doc/rxvt.7.html>.
24 23
25=head1 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 24=head1 RXVT-UNICODE/URXVT FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
26 25
27=over 4
28 26
29=item The new selection selects pieces that are too big/too small, can I 27=head2 Meta, Features & Commandline Issues
30change this?
31 28
32Yes. For example, if you want to select smaller pieces ("words") you can 29=head3 My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?
33use the following resource:
34 30
35 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+) 31Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: C<irc.freenode.net>,
32channel C<#rxvt-unicode> has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be
33interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :).
36 34
37If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended 35=head3 Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
38more and more.
39 36
40To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this pattern: 37Beginning with version 7.3, there is a perl extension that implements a
38simple tabbed terminal. It is installed by default, so any of these should
39give you tabs:
41 40
42 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\\\\]^`{|})]+) 41 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -pe tabbed
43 42
44=item I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I 43 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,tabbed
45change/disable it?
46 44
47You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the 45It will also work fine with tabbing functionality of many window managers
48B<perl-ext-common> resource to the empty string, which also keeps 46or similar tabbing programs, and its embedding-features allow it to be
49rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory. 47embedded into other programs, as witnessed by F<doc/rxvt-tabbed> or
48the upcoming C<Gtk2::URxvt> perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt
49(murxvt) terminal as an example embedding application.
50 50
51If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to 51=head3 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
52identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section
53B<PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS> in the @@RXVT_NAME@@perl(3) manpage. For
54example, to disable the B<selection-popup> and B<option-popup>, specify
55this B<perl-ext-common> resource:
56 52
57 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup 53The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape
54sequence C<ESC [ 8 n> sets the window title to the version number. When
55using the @@URXVT_NAME@@c client, the version displayed is that of the
56daemon.
58 57
59This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup 58=head3 Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
60extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example,
61scrollback search mode is triggered by B<M-s>. You can move it to any
62other combination either by setting the B<searchable-scrollback> resource:
63 59
64 URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s 60Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for something you
61don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings that
62you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by design,
63when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be loaded
64accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your characters.
65 65
66Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
67scrollback buffers: Without C<--enable-unicode3>, rxvt-unicode will use
686 bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to almost a
69kilobyte per line. A scrollback buffer of 10000 lines will then (if full)
70use 10 Megabytes of memory. With C<--enable-unicode3> it gets worse, as
71rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
72
73=head3 How can I start @@URXVT_NAME@@d in a race-free way?
74
75Try C<@@URXVT_NAME@@d -f -o>, which tells @@URXVT_NAME@@d to open the
76display, create the listening socket and then fork.
77
78=head3 How do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm? I need this to decide about setting colors etc.
79
80The original rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable "COLORTERM",
81so you can check and see if that is set. Note that several programs, JED,
82slrn, Midnight Commander automatically check this variable to decide
83whether or not to use color.
84
85=head3 How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?
86
87If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled
88insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script
89snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode
90wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in these snippets) then
91the COLORTERM variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from a
92regular xterm.
93
94Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script
95snippets:
96
97 # Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:
98 [ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know
99 if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
100 stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
101 echo -n '^[Z'
102 read term_id
103 stty icanon echo
104 if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
105 echo -n '^[[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
106 read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
107 fi
108 fi
109
110=head3 How do I compile the manual pages on my own?
111
112You need to have a recent version of perl installed as F</usr/bin/perl>,
113one that comes with F<pod2man>, F<pod2text> and F<pod2html>. Then go to
114the doc subdirectory and enter C<make alldoc>.
115
66=item Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat? 116=head3 Isn't rxvt-unicode supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?
67 117
68I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra 118I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra
69bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see 119bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see
70that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always being 120that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always being
71compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) after startup. Even 121compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) after startup. Even
75 125
76 text data bss drs rss filename 126 text data bss drs rss filename
77 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything 127 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything
78 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything 128 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything
79 129
80When you C<--enable-everything> (which _is_ unfair, as this involves xft 130When you C<--enable-everything> (which I<is> unfair, as this involves xft
81and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my 131and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my
82libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so. 132libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so.
83 133
84 text data bss drs rss filename 134 text data bss drs rss filename
85 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything 135 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything
103(21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole (22200k + extra 153(21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole (22200k + extra
10443180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half a minute of 15443180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half a minute of
105startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits out), it fares 155startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits out), it fares
106extremely well *g*. 156extremely well *g*.
107 157
108=item Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool? 158=head3 Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?
109 159
110Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I had 160Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I had
111to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a fraction 161to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a fraction
112of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put even 162of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put even
113shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++. 163shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++.
137 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000) 187 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
138 188
139No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically), 189No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically),
140except maybe libX11 :) 190except maybe libX11 :)
141 191
142=item Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
143 192
144rxvt-unicode does not directly support tabs. It will work fine with 193=head2 Rendering, Font & Look and Feel Issues
145tabbing functionality of many window managers or similar tabbing programs,
146and its embedding-features allow it to be embedded into other programs,
147as witnessed by F<doc/rxvt-tabbed> or the upcoming C<Gtk2::URxvt> perl
148module, which features a tabbed urxvt (murxvt) terminal as an example
149embedding application.
150 194
151=item How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using? 195=head3 I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?
152 196
153The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape 197First of all, transparency isn't officially supported in rxvt-unicode, so
154sequence C<ESC [ 8 n> sets the window title to the version number. When 198you are mostly on your own. Do not bug the author about it (but you may
155using the @@RXVT_NAME@@c client, the version displayed is that of the 199bug everybody else). Also, if you can't get it working consider it a rite
156daemon. 200of passage: ... and you failed.
157 201
158=item I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem... 202Here are four ways to get transparency. B<Do> read the manpage and option
203descriptions for the programs mentioned and rxvt-unicode. Really, do it!
159 204
160The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large 2051. Use inheritPixmap:
161patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode. Before
162reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please download and
163install the genuine version (L<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>)
164and try to reproduce the problem. If you cannot, chances are that the
165problems are specific to Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be
166reported via the Debian Bug Tracking System (use C<reportbug> to report
167the bug).
168 206
169For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and 207 Esetroot wallpaper.jpg
170probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's also a 208 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -ip -tint red -sh 40
171bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for other users that
172might encounter the same issue.
173 209
174=item I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation? 210That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack transparency and tinting
211support, or you are unable to read.
175 212
176You should build one binary with the default options. F<configure> 2132. Use a simple pixmap and emulate pseudo-transparency. This enables you
177now enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them 214to use effects other than tinting and shading: Just shade/tint/whatever
178runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling them, 215your picture with gimp or any other tool:
179except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter should
180be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely more in
181the future) depends on it.
182 216
183You should not overwrite the C<perl-ext-common> snd C<perl-ext> resources 217 convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.xpm
184system-wide (except maybe with C<defaults>). This will result in useful 218 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -pixmap background.xpm -pe automove-background
185behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty
186C<perl-ext-common> resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the
187perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it.
188 219
189If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal 220That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack XPM and Perl support, or you
190one with C<--disable-everything> (very useful) and a maximal one with 221are unable to read.
191C<--enable-everything> (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of
192encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used).
193 222
194=item I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe? 2233. Use an ARGB visual:
195 224
196Likely not. While I honestly try to make it secure, and am probably not 225 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -depth 32 -fg grey90 -bg rgba:0000/0000/4444/cccc
197bad at it, I think it is simply unreasonable to expect all of freetype
198+ fontconfig + xft + xlib + perl + ... + rxvt-unicode itself to all be
199secure. Also, rxvt-unicode disables some options when it detects that it
200runs setuid or setgid, which is not nice. Besides, with the embedded perl
201interpreter the possibility for security problems easily multiplies.
202 226
203Elevated privileges are only required for utmp and pty operations on some 227This requires XFT support, and the support of your X-server. If that
204systems (for example, GNU/Linux doesn't need any extra privileges for 228doesn't work for you, blame Xorg and Keith Packard. ARGB visuals aren't
205ptys, but some need it for utmp support). It is planned to mvoe this into 229there yet, no matter what they claim. Rxvt-Unicode contains the neccessary
206a forked handler process, but this is not yet done. 230bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work, but that
231doesn't mean that your WM has the required kludges in place.
207 232
208So, while setuid/setgid operation is supported and not a problem on your 2334. Use xcompmgr and let it do the job:
209typical single-user-no-other-logins unix desktop, always remember that
210its an awful lot of code, most of which isn't checked for security issues
211regularly.
212 234
235 xprop -frame -f _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 32c \
236 -set _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 0xc0000000
237
238Then click on a window you want to make transparent. Replace C<0xc0000000>
239by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and
240your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces.
241
242=head3 Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
243
244This is because there is a difference between script and language --
245rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is,
246as it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first
247sees a japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for
248display. Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many
249chinese characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first
250non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese font
251-- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font for
252chinese characters that are also in the japanese font.
253
254The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font
255list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as
256a preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
257first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
258
259In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
260runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different
261fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this
262has been designed yet).
263
264Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see L<Can
265I switch the fonts at runtime?> later in this document).
266
267=head3 Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?
268
269Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that character
270size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal use might
271contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode will avoid
272these characters. For characters that are just "a bit" too wide a special
273"careful" rendering mode is used that redraws adjacent characters.
274
275All of this requires that fonts do not lie about character sizes,
276however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed bounding
277box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct way is to
278ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is wrong in these
279cases).
280
281It's not clear (to me at least), wether this is a bug in Xft, freetype,
282or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try using
283the C<-lsp> option to give the font more height. If that doesn't work, you
284might be forced to use a different font.
285
286All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their bounding
287box data is correct.
288
289=head3 How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?
290
291First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings
292(C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then
293make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise
294rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect:
295
296 URxvt.colorBD: white
297 URxvt.colorIT: green
298
299=head3 Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?
300
301For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird
302colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the standard
3038 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of course, to fix
304these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very good reasons.
305
306In the meantime, you can either edit your C<rxvt-unicode> terminfo
307definition to only claim 8 colour support or use C<TERM=rxvt>, which will
308fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features.
309
310=head3 Can I switch the fonts at runtime?
311
312Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the same
313effect as using the C<-fn> switch, and takes effect immediately:
314
315 printf '\e]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
316
317This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a
318japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where
319japanese fonts would only be in your way.
320
321You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching.
322
323=head3 Why do italic characters look as if clipped?
324
325Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For
326example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font C<xft:Bitstream Vera Sans
327Mono> completely fails in it's italic face. A workaround might be to
328enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:
329
330 URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
331 URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
332
333=head3 Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?
334
335Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as
336it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable
337antialiasing (by appending C<:antialias=false>), which saves lots of
338memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
339
340=head3 Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?
341
342Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to
343fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core
344fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has
345antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they
346look best that way.
347
348If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually.
349
350=head3 What's with this bold/blink stuff?
351
352If no bold colour is set via C<colorBD:>, bold will invert text using the
353standard foreground colour.
354
355For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the
356text blink when compiled with C<--enable-blinking>. with standard
357colours. Without C<--enable-blinking>, the blink attribute will be
358ignored.
359
360On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity
361foreground/background colors.
362
363color0-7 are the low-intensity colors.
364
365color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colors.
366
367=head3 I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them?
368
369You can change the screen colors at run-time using F<~/.Xdefaults>
370resources (or as long-options).
371
372Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen,
373including the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow:
374
375 URxvt.color0: #000000
376 URxvt.color1: #A80000
377 URxvt.color2: #00A800
378 URxvt.color3: #A8A800
379 URxvt.color4: #0000A8
380 URxvt.color5: #A800A8
381 URxvt.color6: #00A8A8
382 URxvt.color7: #A8A8A8
383
384 URxvt.color8: #000054
385 URxvt.color9: #FF0054
386 URxvt.color10: #00FF54
387 URxvt.color11: #FFFF54
388 URxvt.color12: #0000FF
389 URxvt.color13: #FF00FF
390 URxvt.color14: #00FFFF
391 URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF
392
393And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors described (not by
394me) as "pretty girly".
395
396 URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1
397 URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1
398 URxvt.background: #0e0e0e
399 URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1
400 URxvt.color0: #000000
401 URxvt.color8: #8b8f93
402 URxvt.color1: #dc74d1
403 URxvt.color9: #dc74d1
404 URxvt.color2: #0eb8c7
405 URxvt.color10: #0eb8c7
406 URxvt.color3: #dfe37e
407 URxvt.color11: #dfe37e
408 URxvt.color5: #9e88f0
409 URxvt.color13: #9e88f0
410 URxvt.color6: #73f7ff
411 URxvt.color14: #73f7ff
412 URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
413 URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
414
415=head3 Why do some characters look so much different than others?
416
417See next entry.
418
419=head3 How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?
420
421Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is
422fine. Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of
423your system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want
424to display.
425
426B<rxvt-unicode> makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement
427font. Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks
428bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't
429resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial
430intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe
431the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct.
432
433In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list,
434e.g.:
435
436 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -fn basefont,font2,font3...
437
438When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base
439font. If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the
440next font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
441search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X-server.
442
443The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the base
444font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size, which
445must be the same due to the way terminals work.
446
447
448=head2 Keyboard, Mouse & User Interaction
449
450=head3 The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?
451
452If you want to select e.g. alphanumeric words, you can use the following
453setting:
454
455 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+)
456
457If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended
458more and more.
459
460To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this pattern:
461
462 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\\\\]^`{|})]+)
463
464Please also note that the I<LeftClick Shift-LeftClik> combination also
465selects words like the old code.
466
467=head3 I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?
468
469You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the
470B<perl-ext-common> resource to the empty string, which also keeps
471rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
472
473If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to
474identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section
475B<PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS> in the @@URXVT_NAME@@perl(3) manpage. For
476example, to disable the B<selection-popup> and B<option-popup>, specify
477this B<perl-ext-common> resource:
478
479 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup
480
481This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup
482extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example,
483scrollback search mode is triggered by B<M-s>. You can move it to any
484other combination either by setting the B<searchable-scrollback> resource:
485
486 URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s
487
488=head3 The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off?
489
490See next entry.
491
492=head3 During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?
493
494These are caused by the C<readline> perl extension. Under normal
495circumstances, it will move your cursor around when you click into the
496line that contains it. It tries hard not to do this at the wrong moment,
497but when running a program that doesn't parse cursor movements or in some
498cases during rlogin sessions, it fails to detect this properly.
499
500You can permamently switch this feature off by disabling the C<readline>
501extension:
502
503 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline
504
505=head3 My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?
506
507Some Debian GNUL/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no
508specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is caused
509by the wrong C<TERM> setting, although the details of wether and how
510this can happen are unknown, as C<TERM=rxvt> should offer a compatible
511keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please report if that
512helped.
513
514=head3 My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
515
516The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
517correctly, or you specified a B<preeditStyle> that is not supported by
518your input method. For example, if you specified B<OverTheSpot> and
519your input method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys)
520does not support this (for instance because it is not visual), then
521rxvt-unicode will continue without an input method.
522
523In this case either do not specify a B<preeditStyle> or specify more than
524one pre-edit style, such as B<OverTheSpot,Root,None>.
525
526=head3 I cannot type C<Ctrl-Shift-2> to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
527
528Either try C<Ctrl-2> alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
529international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
530advantage, typing <Ctrl-Shift-0> to get a ASCII NUL. This works for other
531codes, too, such as C<Ctrl-Shift-1-d> to type the default telnet escape
532character and so on.
533
534=head3 Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
535
536Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing
537some editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode. I've
538heard that tcsh may use mouse reporting unless it otherwise specified. A
539quick check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are
540depressed.
541
542=head3 What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
543
544Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the
545BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following
546question) there are two standard values that can be used for
547Backspace: C<^H> and C<^?>.
548
549Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the debian
550policy of using C<^?> when unsure, because it's the one only only correct
551choice :).
552
553Rxvt-unicode tries to inherit the current stty settings and uses the value
554of `erase' to guess the value for backspace. If rxvt-unicode wasn't
555started from a terminal (say, from a menu or by remote shell), then the
556system value of `erase', which corresponds to CERASE in <termios.h>, will
557be used (which may not be the same as your stty setting).
558
559For starting a new rxvt-unicode:
560
561 # use Backspace = ^H
562 $ stty erase ^H
563 $ @@URXVT_NAME@@
564
565 # use Backspace = ^?
566 $ stty erase ^?
567 $ @@URXVT_NAME@@
568
569Toggle with C<ESC [ 36 h> / C<ESC [ 36 l>.
570
571For an existing rxvt-unicode:
572
573 # use Backspace = ^H
574 $ stty erase ^H
575 $ echo -n "^[[36h"
576
577 # use Backspace = ^?
578 $ stty erase ^?
579 $ echo -n "^[[36l"
580
581This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur, but
582if you use Backspace = C<^H>, make sure that the termcap/terminfo value
583properly reflects that.
584
585The Delete key is a another casualty of the ill-defined Backspace problem.
586To avoid confusion between the Backspace and Delete keys, the Delete
587key has been assigned an escape sequence to match the vt100 for Execute
588(C<ESC [ 3 ~>) and is in the supplied termcap/terminfo.
589
590Some other Backspace problems:
591
592some editors use termcap/terminfo,
593some editors (vim I'm told) expect Backspace = ^H,
594GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help.
595
596Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.
597
598=head3 I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?
599
600There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless
601you have run "configure" with the C<--disable-resources> option you can
602use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with keysyms.
603
604Here's an example for a URxvt session started using C<@@URXVT_NAME@@ -name URxvt>
605
606 URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[1~
607 URxvt.keysym.End: \033[4~
608 URxvt.keysym.C-apostrophe: \033<C-'>
609 URxvt.keysym.C-slash: \033<C-/>
610 URxvt.keysym.C-semicolon: \033<C-;>
611 URxvt.keysym.C-grave: \033<C-`>
612 URxvt.keysym.C-comma: \033<C-,>
613 URxvt.keysym.C-period: \033<C-.>
614 URxvt.keysym.C-0x60: \033<C-`>
615 URxvt.keysym.C-Tab: \033<C-Tab>
616 URxvt.keysym.C-Return: \033<C-Return>
617 URxvt.keysym.S-Return: \033<S-Return>
618 URxvt.keysym.S-space: \033<S-Space>
619 URxvt.keysym.M-Up: \033<M-Up>
620 URxvt.keysym.M-Down: \033<M-Down>
621 URxvt.keysym.M-Left: \033<M-Left>
622 URxvt.keysym.M-Right: \033<M-Right>
623 URxvt.keysym.M-C-0: list \033<M-C- 0123456789 >
624 URxvt.keysym.M-C-a: list \033<M-C- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz >
625 URxvt.keysym.F12: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007
626
627See some more examples in the documentation for the B<keysym> resource.
628
629=head3 I'm using keyboard model XXX that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys. How do I make use of them? For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4 has the following map
630
631 KP_Insert == Insert
632 F22 == Print
633 F27 == Home
634 F29 == Prior
635 F33 == End
636 F35 == Next
637
638Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various possible
639keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the keys as
640required for your particular machine.
641
642
643
644=head2 Terminal Configuration
645
646=head3 Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?
647
648Well, why, indeed? It does, in a way very similar to other X
649applications. Most importantly, this means that if you or your OS loads
650resources into the X display (the right way to do it), rxvt-unicode will
651ignore any resource files in your home directory. It will only read
652F<$HOME/.Xdefaults> when no resources are attached to the display.
653
654If you have or use an F<$HOME/.Xresources> file, chances are that
655resources are loaded into your X-server. In this case, you have to
656re-login after every change (or run F<xrdb -merge $HOME/.Xresources>).
657
658Also consider the form resources have to use:
659
660 URxvt.resource: value
661
662If you want to use another form (there are lots of different ways of
663specifying resources), make sure you understand wether and why it
664works. If unsure, use the form above.
665
213=item When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? 666=head3 When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?
214 667
215The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available 668The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available
216as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often arises). 669as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often arises).
217 670
218The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this can 671The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this can
234resource to set it: 687resource to set it:
235 688
236 URxvt.termName: rxvt 689 URxvt.termName: rxvt
237 690
238If you don't plan to use B<rxvt> (quite common...) you could also replace 691If you don't plan to use B<rxvt> (quite common...) you could also replace
239the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one. 692the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one and use C<TERM=rxvt>.
240 693
241=item C<tic> outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry. 694=head3 C<tic> outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
242 695
243Most likely it's the empty definition for C<enacs=>. Just replace it by 696Most likely it's the empty definition for C<enacs=>. Just replace it by
244C<enacs=\E[0@> and try again. 697C<enacs=\E[0@> and try again.
245 698
246=item C<bash>'s readline does not work correctly under @@RXVT_NAME@@. 699=head3 C<bash>'s readline does not work correctly under @@URXVT_NAME@@.
247 700
701See next entry.
702
248=item I need a termcap file entry. 703=head3 I need a termcap file entry.
249 704
250One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating 705One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating
251systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap 706systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap
252library (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry 707library (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry
253for C<rxvt-unicode>. 708for C<rxvt-unicode>.
279 :sc=\E7:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:\ 734 :sc=\E7:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:\
280 :te=\E[r\E[?1049l:ti=\E[?1049h:ue=\E[24m:up=\E[A:\ 735 :te=\E[r\E[?1049l:ti=\E[?1049h:ue=\E[24m:up=\E[A:\
281 :us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\ 736 :us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
282 :vs=\E[?25h: 737 :vs=\E[?25h:
283 738
284=item Why does C<ls> no longer have coloured output? 739=head3 Why does C<ls> no longer have coloured output?
285 740
286The C<ls> in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to 741The C<ls> in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to
287decide wether a terminal has colour, but uses it's own configuration 742decide wether a terminal has colour, but uses it's own configuration
288file. Needless to say, C<rxvt-unicode> is not in it's default file (among 743file. Needless to say, C<rxvt-unicode> is not in it's default file (among
289with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add: 744with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add:
294 749
295 alias ls='ls --color=auto' 750 alias ls='ls --color=auto'
296 751
297to your C<.profile> or C<.bashrc>. 752to your C<.profile> or C<.bashrc>.
298 753
299=item Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode? 754=head3 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?
300 755
756See next entry.
757
301=item Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic? 758=head3 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?
302 759
760See next entry.
761
303=item Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly? 762=head3 Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?
304 763
305Make sure you are using C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>. Some pre-packaged 764Make sure you are using C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>. Some pre-packaged
306distributions (most notably Debian GNU/Linux) break rxvt-unicode 765distributions (most notably Debian GNU/Linux) break rxvt-unicode
307by setting C<TERM> to C<rxvt>, which doesn't have these extra 766by setting C<TERM> to C<rxvt>, which doesn't have these extra
308features. Unfortunately, some of these (most notably, again, Debian 767features. Unfortunately, some of these (most notably, again, Debian
309GNU/Linux) furthermore fail to even install the C<rxvt-unicode> terminfo 768GNU/Linux) furthermore fail to even install the C<rxvt-unicode> terminfo
310file, so you will need to install it on your own (See the question B<When 769file, so you will need to install it on your own (See the question B<When
311I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?> on 770I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?> on
312how to do this). 771how to do this).
313 772
314=item My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?
315 773
316Some Debian GNUL/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no 774=head2 Encoding / Locale / Input Method Issues
317specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is caused
318by the wrong C<TERM> setting, although the details of wether and how
319this can happen are unknown, as C<TERM=rxvt> should offer a compatible
320keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please report if that
321helped.
322 775
323=item Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding? 776=head3 Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?
324 777
778See next entry.
779
325=item Unicode does not seem to work? 780=head3 Unicode does not seem to work?
326 781
327If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but 782If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but
328getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output is 783getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output is
329subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings. 784subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings.
330 785
350 805
351If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then 806If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then
352you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't 807you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't
353support locales :( 808support locales :(
354 809
355=item Why do some characters look so much different than others? 810=head3 How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
356 811
357=item How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts? 812See next entry.
358 813
359Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is 814=head3 Is there an option to switch encodings?
360fine. Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of
361your system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want
362to display.
363 815
364B<rxvt-unicode> makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement 816Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
365font. Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks 817specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know about
366bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't 818UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O.
367resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial
368intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe
369the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct.
370 819
371In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list, 820The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for selecting
372e.g.: 821the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating this to all
373 822applications so everybody agrees on character properties such as width
374 @@RXVT_NAME@@ -fn basefont,font2,font3... 823and code number. This mechanism is the I<locale>. Applications not using
375 824that info will have problems (for example, C<xterm> gets the width of
376When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base 825characters wrong as it uses it's own, locale-independent table under all
377font. If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the
378next font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
379search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X-server.
380
381The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the base
382font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size, which
383must be the same due to the way terminals work.
384
385=item Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
386
387This is because there is a difference between script and language --
388rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is,
389as it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first
390sees a japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for
391display. Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many
392chinese characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first
393non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese font
394-- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font for
395chinese characters that are also in the japanese font.
396
397The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font
398list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as
399a preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
400first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
401
402In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
403runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different
404fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this
405has been designed yet).
406
407Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see L<Can
408I switch the fonts at runtime?> later in this document).
409
410=item Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?
411
412Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that character
413size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal use might
414contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode will avoid
415these characters. For characters that are just "a bit" too wide a special
416"careful" rendering mode is used that redraws adjacent characters.
417
418All of this requires that fonts do not lie about character sizes,
419however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed bounding
420box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct way is to
421ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is wrong in these
422cases). 826locales).
423 827
424It's not clear (to me at least), wether this is a bug in Xft, freetype, 828Rxvt-unicode uses the C<LC_CTYPE> locale category to select encoding. All
425or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try using 829programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the
426the C<-lsp> option to give the font more height. If that doesn't work, you 830interpretation of characters.
427might be forced to use a different font.
428 831
429All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their bounding 832Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor
430box data is correct. 833is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like.
431 834
835On most systems, the content of the C<LC_CTYPE> environment variable
836contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed
837locale. Common names for locales are C<en_US.UTF-8>, C<de_DE.ISO-8859-15>,
838C<ja_JP.EUC-JP>, i.e. C<language_country.encoding>, but other forms
839(i.e. C<de> or C<german>) are also common.
840
841Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for
842the encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings,
843i.e. C<de_DE.UTF-8> and C<ja_JP.UTF-8> are the normally same to
844rxvt-unicode.
845
846If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
847rxvt-unicode with the correct C<LC_CTYPE> category.
848
849=head3 Can I switch locales at runtime?
850
851Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
852rxvt-unicode's idea of C<LC_CTYPE>.
853
854 printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
855
856See also the previous answer.
857
858Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in
859one locale (e.g. C<de_DE.UTF-8>) but some programs don't support it
860(e.g. UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start C<xjdic>, which
861first switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
862
863 printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
864 xjdic -js
865 printf '\e]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8
866
867You can also use xterm's C<luit> program, which usually works fine, except
868for some locales where character width differs between program- and
869rxvt-unicode-locales.
870
871=head3 My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?
872
873You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of the
874terminal, using the resource C<imlocale>:
875
876 URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
877
878Now you can start your terminal with C<LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8> and still
879use your input method. Please note, however, that you will not be able to
880input characters outside C<EUC-JP> in a normal way then, as your input
881method limits you.
882
883=head3 Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
884
885Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
886design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
887leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at
888exit time. B<kinput2> (and derived input methods) generally succeeds,
889while B<SCIM> (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however,
890crashes cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate.
891
892So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
893
894
895=head2 Operating Systems / Package Maintaining
896
897=head3 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...
898
899The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large
900patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode (but
901unfortunately this notice has been removed). Before reporting a bug to
902the original rxvt-unicode author please download and install the genuine
903version (L<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>) and try to reproduce
904the problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific to
905Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the Debian Bug
906Tracking System (use C<reportbug> to report the bug).
907
908For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and
909probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's also a
910bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for other users that
911might encounter the same issue.
912
913=head3 I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation?
914
915You should build one binary with the default options. F<configure>
916now enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
917runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling them,
918except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter should
919be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely more in
920the future) depends on it.
921
922You should not overwrite the C<perl-ext-common> snd C<perl-ext> resources
923system-wide (except maybe with C<defaults>). This will result in useful
924behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty
925C<perl-ext-common> resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the
926perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it.
927
928If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal
929one with C<--disable-everything> (very useful) and a maximal one with
930C<--enable-everything> (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of
931encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used).
932
933=head3 I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe?
934
935It should be, starting with release 7.1. You are encouraged to properly
936install urxvt with privileges necessary for your OS now.
937
938When rxvt-unicode detects that it runs setuid or setgid, it will fork
939into a helper process for privileged operations (pty handling on some
940systems, utmp/wtmp/lastlog handling on others) and drop privileges
941immediately. This is much safer than most other terminals that keep
942privileges while running (but is more relevant to urxvt, as it contains
943things as perl interpreters, which might be "helpful" to attackers).
944
945This forking is done as the very first within main(), which is very early
946and reduces possible bugs to initialisation code run before main(), or
947things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should result in very
948little risk.
949
432=item On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide. 950=head3 On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide.
433 951
434Seems to be a known bug, read 952Seems to be a known bug, read
435L<http://nixdoc.net/files/forum/about34198.html>. Some people use the 953L<http://nixdoc.net/files/forum/about34198.html>. Some people use the
436following ugly workaround to get non-double-wide-characters working: 954following ugly workaround to get non-double-wide-characters working:
437 955
438 #define wcwidth(x) wcwidth(x) > 1 ? 1 : wcwidth(x) 956 #define wcwidth(x) wcwidth(x) > 1 ? 1 : wcwidth(x)
439 957
440=item My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
441
442The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
443correctly, or you specified a B<preeditStyle> that is not supported by
444your input method. For example, if you specified B<OverTheSpot> and
445your input method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys)
446does not support this (for instance because it is not visual), then
447rxvt-unicode will continue without an input method.
448
449In this case either do not specify a B<preeditStyle> or specify more than
450one pre-edit style, such as B<OverTheSpot,Root,None>.
451
452=item I cannot type C<Ctrl-Shift-2> to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
453
454Either try C<Ctrl-2> alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
455international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
456advantage, typing <Ctrl-Shift-0> to get a ASCII NUL. This works for other
457codes, too, such as C<Ctrl-Shift-1-d> to type the default telnet escape
458character and so on.
459
460=item How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?
461
462First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings
463(C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then
464make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise
465rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect:
466
467 URxvt.colorBD: white
468 URxvt.colorIT: green
469
470=item Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?
471
472For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird
473colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the standard
4748 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of course, to fix
475these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very good reasons.
476
477In the meantime, you can either edit your C<rxvt-unicode> terminfo
478definition to only claim 8 colour support or use C<TERM=rxvt>, which will
479fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features.
480
481=item I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all. 958=head3 I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.
482 959
483Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> to be defined 960Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> to be defined
484in your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it, 961in your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it,
485wether it defines the symbol or not. C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> requires that 962wether it defines the symbol or not. C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> requires that
486B<wchar_t> is represented as unicode. 963B<wchar_t> is represented as unicode.
508 985
509The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the 986The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the
510system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry 987system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry
511complete replacements for them :) 988complete replacements for them :)
512 989
513=item I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc. 990=head3 I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc.
514 991
515Try the diff in F<doc/solaris9.patch> as a base. It fixes the worst 992Try the diff in F<doc/solaris9.patch> as a base. It fixes the worst
516problems with C<wcwidth> and a compile problem. 993problems with C<wcwidth> and a compile problem.
517 994
518=item How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin? 995=head3 How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
519 996
520rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using 997rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using
521the X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no 998the X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no
522longer supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a 999longer supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a
523single font). I recommend starting the X-server in C<-multiwindow> or 1000single font). I recommend starting the X-server in C<-multiwindow> or
526 1003
527At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any multi-byte 1004At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any multi-byte
528encodings (you might try C<LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8>), so you are likely limited 1005encodings (you might try C<LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8>), so you are likely limited
529to 8-bit encodings. 1006to 8-bit encodings.
530 1007
531=item How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
532
533=item Is there an option to switch encodings?
534
535Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
536specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know about
537UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O.
538
539The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for selecting
540the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating this to all
541applications so everybody agrees on character properties such as width
542and code number. This mechanism is the I<locale>. Applications not using
543that info will have problems (for example, C<xterm> gets the width of
544characters wrong as it uses it's own, locale-independent table under all
545locales).
546
547Rxvt-unicode uses the C<LC_CTYPE> locale category to select encoding. All
548programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the
549interpretation of characters.
550
551Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor
552is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like.
553
554On most systems, the content of the C<LC_CTYPE> environment variable
555contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed
556locale. Common names for locales are C<en_US.UTF-8>, C<de_DE.ISO-8859-15>,
557C<ja_JP.EUC-JP>, i.e. C<language_country.encoding>, but other forms
558(i.e. C<de> or C<german>) are also common.
559
560Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for
561the encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings,
562i.e. C<de_DE.UTF-8> and C<ja_JP.UTF-8> are the normally same to
563rxvt-unicode.
564
565If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
566rxvt-unicode with the correct C<LC_CTYPE> category.
567
568=item Can I switch locales at runtime?
569
570Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
571rxvt-unicode's idea of C<LC_CTYPE>.
572
573 printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
574
575See also the previous answer.
576
577Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in
578one locale (e.g. C<de_DE.UTF-8>) but some programs don't support it
579(e.g. UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start C<xjdic>, which
580first switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
581
582 printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
583 xjdic -js
584 printf '\e]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8
585
586You can also use xterm's C<luit> program, which usually works fine, except
587for some locales where character width differs between program- and
588rxvt-unicode-locales.
589
590=item Can I switch the fonts at runtime?
591
592Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the same
593effect as using the C<-fn> switch, and takes effect immediately:
594
595 printf '\e]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
596
597This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a
598japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where
599japanese fonts would only be in your way.
600
601You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching.
602
603=item Why do italic characters look as if clipped?
604
605Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For
606example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font C<xft:Bitstream Vera Sans
607Mono> completely fails in it's italic face. A workaround might be to
608enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:
609
610 URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
611 URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
612
613=item My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?
614
615You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of the
616terminal, using the resource C<imlocale>:
617
618 URxvt*imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
619
620Now you can start your terminal with C<LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8> and still
621use your input method. Please note, however, that you will not be able to
622input characters outside C<EUC-JP> in a normal way then, as your input
623method limits you.
624
625=item Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
626
627Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
628design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
629leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at
630exit time. B<kinput2> (and derived input methods) generally succeeds,
631while B<SCIM> (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however,
632crashes cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate.
633
634So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
635
636=item Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
637
638Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for something you
639don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings that
640you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by design,
641when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be loaded
642accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your characters.
643
644Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
645scrollback buffers: Without C<--enable-unicode3>, rxvt-unicode will use
6466 bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to almost a
647kilobyte per line. A scrollback buffer of 10000 lines will then (if full)
648use 10 Megabytes of memory. With C<--enable-unicode3> it gets worse, as
649rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
650
651=item Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?
652
653Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as
654it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable
655antialiasing (by appending C<:antialias=false>), which saves lots of
656memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
657
658=item Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?
659
660Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to
661fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core
662fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has
663antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they
664look best that way.
665
666If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually.
667
668=item Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
669
670Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing
671some editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode. I've
672heard that tcsh may use mouse reporting unless it otherwise specified. A
673quick check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are
674depressed. See @@RXVT_NAME@@(7)
675
676=item What's with this bold/blink stuff?
677
678If no bold colour is set via C<colorBD:>, bold will invert text using the
679standard foreground colour.
680
681For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the
682text blink when compiled with C<--enable-blinking>. with standard
683colours. Without C<--enable-blinking>, the blink attribute will be
684ignored.
685
686On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity
687foreground/background colors.
688
689color0-7 are the low-intensity colors.
690
691color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colors.
692
693=item I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them?
694
695You can change the screen colors at run-time using F<~/.Xdefaults>
696resources (or as long-options).
697
698Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen,
699including the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow:
700
701 URxvt.color0: #000000
702 URxvt.color1: #A80000
703 URxvt.color2: #00A800
704 URxvt.color3: #A8A800
705 URxvt.color4: #0000A8
706 URxvt.color5: #A800A8
707 URxvt.color6: #00A8A8
708 URxvt.color7: #A8A8A8
709
710 URxvt.color8: #000054
711 URxvt.color9: #FF0054
712 URxvt.color10: #00FF54
713 URxvt.color11: #FFFF54
714 URxvt.color12: #0000FF
715 URxvt.color13: #FF00FF
716 URxvt.color14: #00FFFF
717 URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF
718
719And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors described (not by
720me) as "pretty girly".
721
722 URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1
723 URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1
724 URxvt.background: #0e0e0e
725 URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1
726 URxvt.color0: #000000
727 URxvt.color8: #8b8f93
728 URxvt.color1: #dc74d1
729 URxvt.color9: #dc74d1
730 URxvt.color2: #0eb8c7
731 URxvt.color10: #0eb8c7
732 URxvt.color3: #dfe37e
733 URxvt.color11: #dfe37e
734 URxvt.color5: #9e88f0
735 URxvt.color13: #9e88f0
736 URxvt.color6: #73f7ff
737 URxvt.color14: #73f7ff
738 URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
739 URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
740
741=item How can I start @@RXVT_NAME@@d in a race-free way?
742
743Try C<@@RXVT_NAME@@d -f -o>, which tells @@RXVT_NAME@@d to open the
744display, create the listening socket and then fork.
745
746=item What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
747
748Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the
749BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following
750question) there are two standard values that can be used for
751Backspace: C<^H> and C<^?>.
752
753Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the debian
754policy of using C<^?> when unsure, because it's the one only only correct
755choice :).
756
757Rxvt-unicode tries to inherit the current stty settings and uses the value
758of `erase' to guess the value for backspace. If rxvt-unicode wasn't
759started from a terminal (say, from a menu or by remote shell), then the
760system value of `erase', which corresponds to CERASE in <termios.h>, will
761be used (which may not be the same as your stty setting).
762
763For starting a new rxvt-unicode:
764
765 # use Backspace = ^H
766 $ stty erase ^H
767 $ @@RXVT_NAME@@
768
769 # use Backspace = ^?
770 $ stty erase ^?
771 $ @@RXVT_NAME@@
772
773Toggle with C<ESC [ 36 h> / C<ESC [ 36 l> as documented in @@RXVT_NAME@@(7).
774
775For an existing rxvt-unicode:
776
777 # use Backspace = ^H
778 $ stty erase ^H
779 $ echo -n "^[[36h"
780
781 # use Backspace = ^?
782 $ stty erase ^?
783 $ echo -n "^[[36l"
784
785This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur, but
786if you use Backspace = C<^H>, make sure that the termcap/terminfo value
787properly reflects that.
788
789The Delete key is a another casualty of the ill-defined Backspace problem.
790To avoid confusion between the Backspace and Delete keys, the Delete
791key has been assigned an escape sequence to match the vt100 for Execute
792(C<ESC [ 3 ~>) and is in the supplied termcap/terminfo.
793
794Some other Backspace problems:
795
796some editors use termcap/terminfo,
797some editors (vim I'm told) expect Backspace = ^H,
798GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help.
799
800Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.
801
802=item I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?
803
804There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless
805you have run "configure" with the C<--disable-resources> option you can
806use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with keysyms.
807
808Here's an example for a URxvt session started using C<@@RXVT_NAME@@ -name URxvt>
809
810 URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[1~
811 URxvt.keysym.End: \033[4~
812 URxvt.keysym.C-apostrophe: \033<C-'>
813 URxvt.keysym.C-slash: \033<C-/>
814 URxvt.keysym.C-semicolon: \033<C-;>
815 URxvt.keysym.C-grave: \033<C-`>
816 URxvt.keysym.C-comma: \033<C-,>
817 URxvt.keysym.C-period: \033<C-.>
818 URxvt.keysym.C-0x60: \033<C-`>
819 URxvt.keysym.C-Tab: \033<C-Tab>
820 URxvt.keysym.C-Return: \033<C-Return>
821 URxvt.keysym.S-Return: \033<S-Return>
822 URxvt.keysym.S-space: \033<S-Space>
823 URxvt.keysym.M-Up: \033<M-Up>
824 URxvt.keysym.M-Down: \033<M-Down>
825 URxvt.keysym.M-Left: \033<M-Left>
826 URxvt.keysym.M-Right: \033<M-Right>
827 URxvt.keysym.M-C-0: list \033<M-C- 0123456789 >
828 URxvt.keysym.M-C-a: list \033<M-C- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz >
829 URxvt.keysym.F12: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007
830
831See some more examples in the documentation for the B<keysym> resource.
832
833=item I'm using keyboard model XXX that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys.
834How do I make use of them? For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4
835has the following mappings that rxvt-unicode doesn't recognize.
836
837 KP_Insert == Insert
838 F22 == Print
839 F27 == Home
840 F29 == Prior
841 F33 == End
842 F35 == Next
843
844Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various possible
845keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the keys as
846required for your particular machine.
847
848=item How do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm?
849I need this to decide about setting colors etc.
850
851rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable "COLORTERM", so you can
852check and see if that is set. Note that several programs, JED, slrn,
853Midnight Commander automatically check this variable to decide whether or
854not to use color.
855
856=item How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?
857
858If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled
859insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script
860snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode
861wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in these snippets) then
862the COLORTERM variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from a
863regular xterm.
864
865Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script
866snippets:
867
868 # Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:
869 [ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know
870 if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
871 stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
872 echo -n '^[Z'
873 read term_id
874 stty icanon echo
875 if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
876 echo -n '^[[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
877 read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
878 fi
879 fi
880
881=item How do I compile the manual pages for myself?
882
883You need to have a recent version of perl installed as F</usr/bin/perl>,
884one that comes with F<pod2man>, F<pod2text> and F<pod2html>. Then go to
885the doc subdirectory and enter C<make alldoc>.
886
887=item My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?
888
889Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: C<irc.freenode.net>,
890channel C<#rxvt-unicode> has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be
891interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :).
892
893=back
894
895=head1 RXVT TECHNICAL REFERENCE 1008=head1 RXVT-UNICODE TECHNICAL REFERENCE
896 1009
897=head1 DESCRIPTION 1010=head1 DESCRIPTION
898 1011
899The rest of this document describes various technical aspects of 1012The rest of this document describes various technical aspects of
900B<rxvt-unicode>. First the description of supported command sequences, 1013B<rxvt-unicode>. First the description of supported command sequences,
901followed by menu and pixmap support and last by a description of all 1014followed by pixmap support and last by a description of all features
902features selectable at C<configure> time. 1015selectable at C<configure> time.
903 1016
904=head1 Definitions 1017=head1 Definitions
905 1018
906=over 4 1019=over 4
907 1020
1475 B<< C<h> >> Send Mouse X & Y on button press. 1588 B<< C<h> >> Send Mouse X & Y on button press.
1476 B<< C<l> >> No mouse reporting. 1589 B<< C<l> >> No mouse reporting.
1477 1590
1478=end table 1591=end table
1479 1592
1480=item B<< C<Ps = 10> >> (B<rxvt>)
1481
1482=begin table
1483
1484 B<< C<h> >> menuBar visible
1485 B<< C<l> >> menuBar invisible
1486
1487=end table
1488
1489=item B<< C<Ps = 25> >> 1593=item B<< C<Ps = 25> >>
1490 1594
1491=begin table 1595=begin table
1492 1596
1493 B<< C<h> >> Visible cursor {cnorm/cvvis} 1597 B<< C<h> >> Visible cursor {cnorm/cvvis}
1675 B<< C<Ps = 12> >> Change colour of text cursor foreground to B<< C<Pt> >> 1779 B<< C<Ps = 12> >> Change colour of text cursor foreground to B<< C<Pt> >>
1676 B<< C<Ps = 13> >> Change colour of mouse foreground to B<< C<Pt> >> 1780 B<< C<Ps = 13> >> Change colour of mouse foreground to B<< C<Pt> >>
1677 B<< C<Ps = 17> >> Change colour of highlight characters to B<< C<Pt> >> 1781 B<< C<Ps = 17> >> Change colour of highlight characters to B<< C<Pt> >>
1678 B<< C<Ps = 18> >> Change colour of bold characters to B<< C<Pt> >> [deprecated, see 706] 1782 B<< C<Ps = 18> >> Change colour of bold characters to B<< C<Pt> >> [deprecated, see 706]
1679 B<< C<Ps = 19> >> Change colour of underlined characters to B<< C<Pt> >> [deprecated, see 707] 1783 B<< C<Ps = 19> >> Change colour of underlined characters to B<< C<Pt> >> [deprecated, see 707]
1680 B<< C<Ps = 20> >> Change default background to B<< C<Pt> >> 1784 B<< C<Ps = 20> >> Change background pixmap parameters (see section XPM) (Compile XPM).
1681 B<< C<Ps = 39> >> Change default foreground colour to B<< C<Pt> >>. 1785 B<< C<Ps = 39> >> Change default foreground colour to B<< C<Pt> >>.
1682 B<< C<Ps = 46> >> Change Log File to B<< C<Pt> >> I<unimplemented> 1786 B<< C<Ps = 46> >> Change Log File to B<< C<Pt> >> I<unimplemented>
1683 B<< C<Ps = 49> >> Change default background colour to B<< C<Pt> >>. 1787 B<< C<Ps = 49> >> Change default background colour to B<< C<Pt> >>.
1684 B<< C<Ps = 50> >> Set fontset to B<< C<Pt> >>, with the following special values of B<< C<Pt> >> (B<rxvt>) B<< C<#+n> >> change up B<< C<n> >> B<< C<#-n> >> change down B<< C<n> >> if B<< C<n> >> is missing of 0, a value of 1 is used I<empty> change to font0 B<< C<n> >> change to font B<< C<n> >> 1788 B<< C<Ps = 50> >> Set fontset to B<< C<Pt> >>, with the following special values of B<< C<Pt> >> (B<rxvt>) B<< C<#+n> >> change up B<< C<n> >> B<< C<#-n> >> change down B<< C<n> >> if B<< C<n> >> is missing of 0, a value of 1 is used I<empty> change to font0 B<< C<n> >> change to font B<< C<n> >>
1685 B<< C<Ps = 55> >> Log all scrollback buffer and all of screen to B<< C<Pt> >> 1789 B<< C<Ps = 55> >> Log all scrollback buffer and all of screen to B<< C<Pt> >>
1686 B<< C<Ps = 701> >> Change current locale to B<< C<Pt> >>, or, if B<< C<Pt> >> is B<< C<?> >>, return the current locale (Compile frills). 1790 B<< C<Ps = 701> >> Change current locale to B<< C<Pt> >>, or, if B<< C<Pt> >> is B<< C<?> >>, return the current locale (Compile frills).
1687 B<< C<Ps = 703> >> Menubar command B<< C<Pt> >> (Compile menubar). 1791 B<< C<Ps = 702> >> Request version if B<< C<Pt> >> is B<< C<?> >>, returning C<rxvt-unicode>, the resource name, the major and minor version numbers, e.g. C<ESC ] 702 ; rxvt-unicode ; urxvt ; 7 ; 4 ST>.
1688 B<< C<Ps = 704> >> Change colour of italic characters to B<< C<Pt> >> 1792 B<< C<Ps = 704> >> Change colour of italic characters to B<< C<Pt> >>
1689 B<< C<Ps = 705> >> Change background pixmap tint colour to B<< C<Pt> >> (Compile transparency). 1793 B<< C<Ps = 705> >> Change background pixmap tint colour to B<< C<Pt> >> (Compile transparency).
1690 B<< C<Ps = 706> >> Change colour of bold characters to B<< C<Pt> >> 1794 B<< C<Ps = 706> >> Change colour of bold characters to B<< C<Pt> >>
1691 B<< C<Ps = 707> >> Change colour of underlined characters to B<< C<Pt> >> 1795 B<< C<Ps = 707> >> Change colour of underlined characters to B<< C<Pt> >>
1692 B<< C<Ps = 710> >> Set normal fontset to B<< C<Pt> >>. Same as C<Ps = 50>. 1796 B<< C<Ps = 710> >> Set normal fontset to B<< C<Pt> >>. Same as C<Ps = 50>.
1699 1803
1700=end table 1804=end table
1701 1805
1702=back 1806=back
1703 1807
1704X<menuBar>
1705
1706=head1 menuBar
1707
1708B<< The exact syntax used is I<almost> solidified. >>
1709In the menus, B<DON'T> try to use menuBar commands that add or remove a
1710menuBar.
1711
1712Note that in all of the commands, the B<< I</path/> >> I<cannot> be
1713omitted: use B<./> to specify a menu relative to the current menu.
1714
1715=head2 Overview of menuBar operation
1716
1717For the menuBar XTerm escape sequence C<ESC ] 703 ; Pt ST>, the syntax
1718of C<Pt> can be used for a variety of tasks:
1719
1720At the top level is the current menuBar which is a member of a circular
1721linked-list of other such menuBars.
1722
1723The menuBar acts as a parent for the various drop-down menus, which in
1724turn, may have labels, separator lines, menuItems and subMenus.
1725
1726The menuItems are the useful bits: you can use them to mimic keyboard
1727input or even to send text or escape sequences back to rxvt.
1728
1729The menuBar syntax is intended to provide a simple yet robust method of
1730constructing and manipulating menus and navigating through the
1731menuBars.
1732
1733The first step is to use the tag B<< [menu:I<name>] >> which creates
1734the menuBar called I<name> and allows access. You may now or menus,
1735subMenus, and menuItems. Finally, use the tag B<[done]> to set the
1736menuBar access as B<readonly> to prevent accidental corruption of the
1737menus. To re-access the current menuBar for alterations, use the tag
1738B<[menu]>, make the alterations and then use B<[done]>
1739
1740X<menuBarCommands>
1741
1742=head2 Commands
1743
1744=over 4
1745
1746=item B<< [menu:+I<name>] >>
1747
1748access the named menuBar for creation or alteration. If a new menuBar
1749is created, it is called I<name> (max of 15 chars) and the current
1750menuBar is pushed onto the stack
1751
1752=item B<[menu]>
1753
1754access the current menuBar for alteration
1755
1756=item B<< [title:+I<string>] >>
1757
1758set the current menuBar's title to I<string>, which may contain the
1759following format specifiers:
1760
1761 B<%n> rxvt name (as per the B<-name> command-line option)
1762 B<%v> rxvt version
1763 B<%%> literal B<%> character
1764
1765=item B<[done]>
1766
1767set menuBar access as B<readonly>.
1768End-of-file tag for B<< [read:+I<file>] >> operations.
1769
1770=item B<< [read:+I<file>] >>
1771
1772read menu commands directly from I<file> (extension ".menu" will be
1773appended if required.) Start reading at a line with B<[menu]> or B<<
1774[menu:+I<name> >> and continuing until B<[done]> is encountered.
1775
1776Blank and comment lines (starting with B<#>) are ignored. Actually,
1777since any invalid menu commands are also ignored, almost anything could
1778be construed as a comment line, but this may be tightened up in the
1779future ... so don't count on it!.
1780
1781=item B<< [read:+I<file>;+I<name>] >>
1782
1783The same as B<< [read:+I<file>] >>, but start reading at a line with
1784B<< [menu:+I<name>] >> and continuing until B<< [done:+I<name>] >> or
1785B<[done]> is encountered.
1786
1787=item B<[dump]>
1788
1789dump all menuBars to the file B</tmp/rxvt-PID> in a format suitable for
1790later rereading.
1791
1792=item B<[rm:name]>
1793
1794remove the named menuBar
1795
1796=item B<[rm] [rm:]>
1797
1798remove the current menuBar
1799
1800=item B<[rm*] [rm:*]>
1801
1802remove all menuBars
1803
1804=item B<[swap]>
1805
1806swap the top two menuBars
1807
1808=item B<[prev]>
1809
1810access the previous menuBar
1811
1812=item B<[next]>
1813
1814access the next menuBar
1815
1816=item B<[show]>
1817
1818Enable display of the menuBar
1819
1820=item B<[hide]>
1821
1822Disable display of the menuBar
1823
1824=item B<< [pixmap:+I<name>] >>
1825
1826=item B<< [pixmap:+I<name>;I<scaling>] >>
1827
1828(set the background pixmap globally
1829
1830B<< A Future implementation I<may> make this local to the menubar >>)
1831
1832=item B<< [:+I<command>:] >>
1833
1834ignore the menu readonly status and issue a I<command> to or a menu or
1835menuitem or change the ; a useful shortcut for setting the quick arrows
1836from a menuBar.
1837
1838=back
1839
1840X<menuBarAdd>
1841
1842=head2 Adding and accessing menus
1843
1844The following commands may also be B<+> prefixed.
1845
1846=over 4
1847
1848=item B</+>
1849
1850access menuBar top level
1851
1852=item B<./+>
1853
1854access current menu level
1855
1856=item B<../+>
1857
1858access parent menu (1 level up)
1859
1860=item B<../../>
1861
1862access parent menu (multiple levels up)
1863
1864=item B<< I</path/>menu >>
1865
1866add/access menu
1867
1868=item B<< I</path/>menu/* >>
1869
1870add/access menu and clear it if it exists
1871
1872=item B<< I</path/>{-} >>
1873
1874add separator
1875
1876=item B<< I</path/>{item} >>
1877
1878add B<item> as a label
1879
1880=item B<< I</path/>{item} action >>
1881
1882add/alter I<menuitem> with an associated I<action>
1883
1884=item B<< I</path/>{item}{right-text} >>
1885
1886add/alter I<menuitem> with B<right-text> as the right-justified text
1887and as the associated I<action>
1888
1889=item B<< I</path/>{item}{rtext} action >>
1890
1891add/alter I<menuitem> with an associated I<action> and with B<rtext> as
1892the right-justified text.
1893
1894=back
1895
1896=over 4
1897
1898=item Special characters in I<action> must be backslash-escaped:
1899
1900B<\a \b \E \e \n \r \t \octal>
1901
1902=item or in control-character notation:
1903
1904B<^@, ^A .. ^Z .. ^_, ^?>
1905
1906=back
1907
1908To send a string starting with a B<NUL> (B<^@>) character to the
1909program, start I<action> with a pair of B<NUL> characters (B<^@^@>),
1910the first of which will be stripped off and the balance directed to the
1911program. Otherwise if I<action> begins with B<NUL> followed by
1912non-+B<NUL> characters, the leading B<NUL> is stripped off and the
1913balance is sent back to rxvt.
1914
1915As a convenience for the many Emacs-type editors, I<action> may start
1916with B<M-> (eg, B<M-$> is equivalent to B<\E$>) and a B<CR> will be
1917appended if missed from B<M-x> commands.
1918
1919As a convenience for issuing XTerm B<ESC ]> sequences from a menubar (or
1920quick arrow), a B<BEL> (B<^G>) will be appended if needed.
1921
1922=over 4
1923
1924=item For example,
1925
1926B<M-xapropos> is equivalent to B<\Exapropos\r>
1927
1928=item and
1929
1930B<\E]703;mona;100> is equivalent to B<\E]703;mona;100\a>
1931
1932=back
1933
1934The option B<< {I<right-rtext>} >> will be right-justified. In the
1935absence of a specified action, this text will be used as the I<action>
1936as well.
1937
1938=over 4
1939
1940=item For example,
1941
1942B</File/{Open}{^X^F}> is equivalent to B</File/{Open}{^X^F} ^X^F>
1943
1944=back
1945
1946The left label I<is> necessary, since it's used for matching, but
1947implicitly hiding the left label (by using same name for both left and
1948right labels), or explicitly hiding the left label (by preceeding it
1949with a dot), makes it possible to have right-justified text only.
1950
1951=over 4
1952
1953=item For example,
1954
1955B</File/{Open}{Open} Open-File-Action>
1956
1957=item or hiding it
1958
1959B</File/{.anylabel}{Open} Open-File-Action>
1960
1961=back
1962
1963X<menuBarRemove>
1964
1965=head2 Removing menus
1966
1967=over 4
1968
1969=item B<< -/*+ >>
1970
1971remove all menus from the menuBar, the same as B<[clear]>
1972
1973=item B<< -+I</path>menu+ >>
1974
1975remove menu
1976
1977=item B<< -+I</path>{item}+ >>
1978
1979remove item
1980
1981=item B<< -+I</path>{-} >>
1982
1983remove separator)
1984
1985=item B<-/path/menu/*>
1986
1987remove all items, separators and submenus from menu
1988
1989=back
1990
1991X<menuBarArrows>
1992
1993=head2 Quick Arrows
1994
1995The menus also provide a hook for I<quick arrows> to provide easier
1996user access. If nothing has been explicitly set, the default is to
1997emulate the curror keys. The syntax permits each arrow to be altered
1998individually or all four at once without re-entering their common
1999beginning/end text. For example, to explicitly associate cursor actions
2000with the arrows, any of the following forms could be used:
2001
2002=over 4
2003
2004=item B<< <r>+I<Right> >>
2005
2006=item B<< <l>+I<Left> >>
2007
2008=item B<< <u>+I<Up> >>
2009
2010=item B<< <d>+I<Down> >>
2011
2012Define actions for the respective arrow buttons
2013
2014=item B<< <b>+I<Begin> >>
2015
2016=item B<< <e>+I<End> >>
2017
2018Define common beginning/end parts for I<quick arrows> which used in
2019conjunction with the above <r> <l> <u> <d> constructs
2020
2021=back
2022
2023=over 4
2024
2025=item For example, define arrows individually,
2026
2027 <u>\E[A
2028
2029 <d>\E[B
2030
2031 <r>\E[C
2032
2033 <l>\E[D
2034
2035=item or all at once
2036
2037 <u>\E[AZ<><d>\E[BZ<><r>\E[CZ<><l>\E[D
2038
2039=item or more compactly (factoring out common parts)
2040
2041 <b>\E[<u>AZ<><d>BZ<><r>CZ<><l>D
2042
2043=back
2044
2045X<menuBarSummary>
2046
2047=head2 Command Summary
2048
2049A short summary of the most I<common> commands:
2050
2051=over 4
2052
2053=item [menu:name]
2054
2055use an existing named menuBar or start a new one
2056
2057=item [menu]
2058
2059use the current menuBar
2060
2061=item [title:string]
2062
2063set menuBar title
2064
2065=item [done]
2066
2067set menu access to readonly and, if reading from a file, signal EOF
2068
2069=item [done:name]
2070
2071if reading from a file using [read:file;name] signal EOF
2072
2073=item [rm:name]
2074
2075remove named menuBar(s)
2076
2077=item [rm] [rm:]
2078
2079remove current menuBar
2080
2081=item [rm*] [rm:*]
2082
2083remove all menuBar(s)
2084
2085=item [swap]
2086
2087swap top two menuBars
2088
2089=item [prev]
2090
2091access the previous menuBar
2092
2093=item [next]
2094
2095access the next menuBar
2096
2097=item [show]
2098
2099map menuBar
2100
2101=item [hide]
2102
2103unmap menuBar
2104
2105=item [pixmap;file]
2106
2107=item [pixmap;file;scaling]
2108
2109set a background pixmap
2110
2111=item [read:file]
2112
2113=item [read:file;name]
2114
2115read in a menu from a file
2116
2117=item [dump]
2118
2119dump out all menuBars to /tmp/rxvt-PID
2120
2121=item /
2122
2123access menuBar top level
2124
2125=item ./
2126
2127=item ../
2128
2129=item ../../
2130
2131access current or parent menu level
2132
2133=item /path/menu
2134
2135add/access menu
2136
2137=item /path/{-}
2138
2139add separator
2140
2141=item /path/{item}{rtext} action
2142
2143add/alter menu item
2144
2145=item -/*
2146
2147remove all menus from the menuBar
2148
2149=item -/path/menu
2150
2151remove menu items, separators and submenus from menu
2152
2153=item -/path/menu
2154
2155remove menu
2156
2157=item -/path/{item}
2158
2159remove item
2160
2161=item -/path/{-}
2162
2163remove separator
2164
2165=item <b>Begin<r>Right<l>Left<u>Up<d>Down<e>End
2166
2167menu quick arrows
2168
2169=back
2170X<XPM> 1808X<XPM>
2171 1809
2172=head1 XPM 1810=head1 XPM
2173 1811
2174For the XPM XTerm escape sequence B<< C<ESC ] 20 ; Pt ST> >> then value 1812For the XPM XTerm escape sequence B<< C<ESC ] 20 ; Pt ST> >> then value
2273=begin table 1911=begin table
2274 1912
2275 4 Shift 1913 4 Shift
2276 8 Meta 1914 8 Meta
2277 16 Control 1915 16 Control
2278 32 Double Click I<(Rxvt extension)> 1916 32 Double Click I<(rxvt extension)>
2279 1917
2280=end table 1918=end table
2281 1919
2282Col = B<< C<< <x> - SPACE >> >> 1920Col = B<< C<< <x> - SPACE >> >>
2283 1921
2421alternative input methods (e.g. kinput2) and will also correctly 2059alternative input methods (e.g. kinput2) and will also correctly
2422set up the input for people using dead keys or compose keys. 2060set up the input for people using dead keys or compose keys.
2423 2061
2424=item --enable-unicode3 (default: off) 2062=item --enable-unicode3 (default: off)
2425 2063
2064Recommended to stay off unless you really need non-BMP characters.
2065
2426Enable direct support for displaying unicode codepoints above 2066Enable direct support for displaying unicode codepoints above
242765535 (the basic multilingual page). This increases storage 206765535 (the basic multilingual page). This increases storage
2428requirements per character from 2 to 4 bytes. X11 fonts do not yet 2068requirements per character from 2 to 4 bytes. X11 fonts do not yet
2429support these extra characters, but Xft does. 2069support these extra characters, but Xft does.
2430 2070
2440composite characters. This is required for proper viewing of text 2080composite characters. This is required for proper viewing of text
2441where accents are encoded as seperate unicode characters. This is 2081where accents are encoded as seperate unicode characters. This is
2442done by using precomposited characters when available or creating 2082done by using precomposited characters when available or creating
2443new pseudo-characters when no precomposed form exists. 2083new pseudo-characters when no precomposed form exists.
2444 2084
2445Without --enable-unicode3, the number of additional precomposed characters 2085Without --enable-unicode3, the number of additional precomposed
2446is rather limited (2048, if this is full, rxvt-unicode will use the 2086characters is somewhat limited (the 6400 private use characters will be
2447private use area, extending the number of combinations to 8448). With
2448--enable-unicode3, no practical limit exists. 2087(ab-)used). With --enable-unicode3, no practical limit exists.
2449 2088
2450This option will also enable storage (but not display) of characters 2089This option will also enable storage (but not display) of characters
2451beyond plane 0 (>65535) when --enable-unicode3 was not specified. 2090beyond plane 0 (>65535) when --enable-unicode3 was not specified.
2452 2091
2453The combining table also contains entries for arabic presentation forms, 2092The combining table also contains entries for arabic presentation forms,
2454but these are not currently used. Bug me if you want these to be used (and 2093but these are not currently used. Bug me if you want these to be used (and
2455tell me how these are to be used...). 2094tell me how these are to be used...).
2456 2095
2457=item --enable-fallback(=CLASS) (default: Rxvt) 2096=item --enable-fallback(=CLASS) (default: Rxvt)
2458 2097
2459When reading resource settings, also read settings for class CLASS. To disable resource fallback use --disable-fallback. 2098When reading resource settings, also read settings for class CLASS. To
2099disable resource fallback use --disable-fallback.
2460 2100
2461=item --with-res-name=NAME (default: urxvt) 2101=item --with-res-name=NAME (default: urxvt)
2462 2102
2463Use the given name as default application name when 2103Use the given name as default application name when
2464reading resources. Specify --with-res-name=rxvt to replace rxvt. 2104reading resources. Specify --with-res-name=rxvt to replace rxvt.
2501 2141
2502=item --enable-tinting (default: on) 2142=item --enable-tinting (default: on)
2503 2143
2504Add support for tinting of transparent backgrounds (requires C<--enable-transparency>). 2144Add support for tinting of transparent backgrounds (requires C<--enable-transparency>).
2505 2145
2506=item --enable-menubar (default: off) [DEPRECATED]
2507
2508Add support for our menu bar system (this interacts badly with dynamic
2509locale switching currently). This option is DEPRECATED and will be removed
2510in the future.
2511
2512=item --enable-rxvt-scroll (default: on) 2146=item --enable-rxvt-scroll (default: on)
2513 2147
2514Add support for the original rxvt scrollbar. 2148Add support for the original rxvt scrollbar.
2515 2149
2516=item --enable-next-scroll (default: on) 2150=item --enable-next-scroll (default: on)
2525 2159
2526Add support for a very unobtrusive, plain-looking scrollbar that 2160Add support for a very unobtrusive, plain-looking scrollbar that
2527is the favourite of the rxvt-unicode author, having used it for 2161is the favourite of the rxvt-unicode author, having used it for
2528many years. 2162many years.
2529 2163
2530=item --enable-half-shadow (default: off)
2531
2532Make shadows on the scrollbar only half the normal width & height.
2533only applicable to rxvt scrollbars.
2534
2535=item --enable-ttygid (default: off) 2164=item --enable-ttygid (default: off)
2536 2165
2537Change tty device setting to group "tty" - only use this if 2166Change tty device setting to group "tty" - only use this if
2538your system uses this type of security. 2167your system uses this type of security.
2539 2168
2547do it. 2176do it.
2548 2177
2549=item --disable-resources 2178=item --disable-resources
2550 2179
2551Removes any support for resource checking. 2180Removes any support for resource checking.
2552
2553=item --enable-strings (default: off)
2554
2555Add support for our possibly faster memset() function and other
2556various routines, overriding your system's versions which may
2557have been hand-crafted in assembly or may require extra libraries
2558to link in. (this breaks ANSI-C rules and has problems on many
2559GNU/Linux systems).
2560 2181
2561=item --disable-swapscreen 2182=item --disable-swapscreen
2562 2183
2563Remove support for secondary/swap screen. 2184Remove support for secondary/swap screen.
2564 2185
2573 2194
2574 MWM-hints 2195 MWM-hints
2575 EWMH-hints (pid, utf8 names) and protocols (ping) 2196 EWMH-hints (pid, utf8 names) and protocols (ping)
2576 seperate underline colour (-underlineColor) 2197 seperate underline colour (-underlineColor)
2577 settable border widths and borderless switch (-w, -b, -bl) 2198 settable border widths and borderless switch (-w, -b, -bl)
2199 visual depth selection (-depth)
2578 settable extra linespacing /-lsp) 2200 settable extra linespacing /-lsp)
2579 iso-14755-2 and -3, and visual feedback 2201 iso-14755-2 and -3, and visual feedback
2580 backindex and forwardindex escape sequence
2581 window op and some xterm/OSC escape sequences
2582 tripleclickwords (-tcw) 2202 tripleclickwords (-tcw)
2583 settable insecure mode (-insecure) 2203 settable insecure mode (-insecure)
2584 keysym remapping support 2204 keysym remapping support
2585 cursor blinking and underline cursor (-cb, -uc) 2205 cursor blinking and underline cursor (-cb, -uc)
2586 XEmbed support (-embed) 2206 XEmbed support (-embed)
2587 user-pty (-pty-fd) 2207 user-pty (-pty-fd)
2588 hold on exit (-hold) 2208 hold on exit (-hold)
2589 skip builtin block graphics (-sbg) 2209 skip builtin block graphics (-sbg)
2210
2211It also enabled some non-essential features otherwise disabled, such as:
2212
2213 some round-trip time optimisations
2214 nearest color allocation on pseudocolor screens
2215 UTF8_STRING supporr for selection
2590 sgr modes 90..97 and 100..107 2216 sgr modes 90..97 and 100..107
2217 backindex and forwardindex escape sequences
2218 view change/zero scorllback esacpe sequences
2219 locale switching escape sequence
2220 window op and some xterm/OSC escape sequences
2221 rectangular selections
2222 trailing space removal for selections
2223 verbose X error handling
2591 2224
2592=item --enable-iso14755 (default: on) 2225=item --enable-iso14755 (default: on)
2593 2226
2594Enable extended ISO 14755 support (see @@RXVT_NAME@@(1), or 2227Enable extended ISO 14755 support (see @@RXVT_NAME@@(1), or
2595F<doc/rxvt.1.txt>). Basic support (section 5.1) is enabled by 2228F<doc/rxvt.1.txt>). Basic support (section 5.1) is enabled by
2638 2271
2639=item --enable-pointer-blank (default: on) 2272=item --enable-pointer-blank (default: on)
2640 2273
2641Add support to have the pointer disappear when typing or inactive. 2274Add support to have the pointer disappear when typing or inactive.
2642 2275
2643=item --enable-perl (default: off) 2276=item --enable-perl (default: on)
2644 2277
2645Enable an embedded perl interpreter. See the B<@@RXVT_NAME@@perl(3)> 2278Enable an embedded perl interpreter. See the B<@@RXVT_NAME@@perl(3)>
2646manpage (F<doc/rxvtperl.txt>) for more info on this feature, or the files 2279manpage (F<doc/rxvtperl.txt>) for more info on this feature, or the files
2647in F<src/perl-ext/> for the extensions that are installed by default. The 2280in F<src/perl-ext/> for the extensions that are installed by default. The
2648perl interpreter that is used can be specified via the C<PERL> environment 2281perl interpreter that is used can be specified via the C<PERL> environment

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