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Revision 1.115 by root, Tue Feb 21 01:01:33 2006 UTC

19all escape sequences, and other background information. 19all escape sequences, and other background information.
20 20
21The newest version of this document is also available on the World Wide Web at 21The newest version of this document is also available on the World Wide Web at
22L<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>.
23 23
24=head1 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 24=head1 RXVT-UNICODE/URXVT FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
25 25
26=head2 The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?
27 26
28If you want to select e.g. alphanumeric words, you can use the following 27=head2 Meta, Features & Commandline Issues
29setting:
30 28
31 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+) 29=head3 My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?
32 30
33If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended 31Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: C<irc.freenode.net>,
34more and more. 32channel C<#rxvt-unicode> has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be
33interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :).
35 34
36To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this pattern: 35=head3 Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
37 36
38 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\\\\]^`{|})]+) 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:
39 40
40Please also note that the I<LeftClick Shift-LeftClik> combination also 41 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -pe tabbed
41selects words like the old code.
42 42
43=head2 I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?
44
45You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the
46B<perl-ext-common> resource to the empty string, which also keeps
47rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
48
49If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to
50identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section
51B<PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS> in the @@RXVT_NAME@@perl(3) manpage. For
52example, to disable the B<selection-popup> and B<option-popup>, specify
53this B<perl-ext-common> resource:
54
55 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup
56
57This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup
58extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example,
59scrollback search mode is triggered by B<M-s>. You can move it to any
60other combination either by setting the B<searchable-scrollback> resource:
61
62 URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s
63
64=head2 The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off?
65
66See next entry.
67
68=head2 During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?
69
70These are caused by the C<readline> perl extension. Under normal
71circumstances, it will move your cursor around when you click into the
72line that contains it. It tries hard not to do this at the wrong moment,
73but when running a program that doesn't parse cursor movements or in some
74cases during rlogin sessions, it fails to detect this properly.
75
76You can permamently switch this feature off by disabling the C<readline>
77extension:
78
79 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline 43 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,tabbed
80 44
81=head2 Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources? 45It will also work fine with tabbing functionality of many window managers
46or similar tabbing programs, and its embedding-features allow it to be
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.
82 50
83Well, why, indeed? It does, in a way very similar to other X 51=head3 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
84applications. Most importantly, this means that if you or your OS loads
85resources into the X display (the right way to do it), rxvt-unicode will
86ignore any resource files in your home directory. It will only read
87F<$HOME/.Xdefaults> when no resources are attached to the display.
88 52
89If you have or use an F<$HOME/.Xresources> file, chances are that 53The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape
90resources are loaded into your X-server. In this case, you have to 54sequence C<ESC [ 8 n> sets the window title to the version number. When
91re-login after every change (or run F<xrdb -merge $HOME/.Xresources>). 55using the @@URXVT_NAME@@c client, the version displayed is that of the
56daemon.
92 57
93Also consider the form resources have to use: 58=head3 Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
94 59
95 URxvt.resource: value 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.
96 65
97If you want to use another form (there are lots of different ways of 66Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
98specifying resources), make sure you understand wether and why it 67scrollback buffers: Without C<--enable-unicode3>, rxvt-unicode will use
99works. If unsure, use the form above. 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.
100 72
101=head2 I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong? 73=head3 How can I start @@URXVT_NAME@@d in a race-free way?
102 74
103First of all, transparency isn't officially supported in rxvt-unicode, so 75Try C<@@URXVT_NAME@@d -f -o>, which tells @@URXVT_NAME@@d to open the
104you are mostly on your own. Do not bug the author about it (but you may 76display, create the listening socket and then fork.
105bug everybody else). Also, if you can't get it working consider it a rite
106of passage: ... and you failed.
107 77
108Here are four ways to get transparency. B<Do> read the manpage and option 78=head3 How can I start @@URXVT_NAME@@d automatically when I run URXVT_NAME@@c?
109descriptions for the programs mentioned and rxvt-unicode. Really, do it!
110 79
1111. Use inheritPixmap: 80If you want to start @@URXVT_NAME@@d automatically whenever you run
81@@URXVT_NAME@@c and the daemon isn't running yet, use this script:
112 82
113 Esetroot wallpaper.jpg 83 #!/bin/sh
114 @@RXVT_NAME@@ -ip -tint red -sh 40 84 @@URXVT_NAME@@c "$@"
85 if [ $? -eq 2 ]; then
86 @@URXVT_NAME@@d -q -o -f
87 @@URXVT_NAME@@c "$@"
88 fi
115 89
116That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack transparency and tinting 90This tries to create a new terminal, and if fails with exit status 2,
117support, or you are unable to read. 91meaning it couldn't connect to the daemon, it will start the daemon and
92re-run the command. Subsequent invocations of the script will re-use the
93existing daemon.
118 94
1192. Use a simple pixmap and emulate pseudo-transparency. This enables you 95=head3 How do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm? I need this to decide about setting colors etc.
120to use effects other than tinting and shading: Just shade/tint/whatever
121your picture with gimp:
122 96
123 convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.xpm 97The original rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable "COLORTERM",
124 @@RXVT_NAME@@ -pixmap background.xpm -pe automove-background 98so you can check and see if that is set. Note that several programs, JED,
99slrn, Midnight Commander automatically check this variable to decide
100whether or not to use color.
125 101
126That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack XPM and Perl support, or you 102=head3 How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?
127are unable to read.
128 103
1293. Use an ARGB visual: 104If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled
105insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script
106snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode
107wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in these snippets) then
108the COLORTERM variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from a
109regular xterm.
130 110
131 @@RXVT_NAME@@ -depth 32 -fg grey90 -bg rgba:0000/0000/4444/cccc 111Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script
112snippets:
132 113
133This requires XFT support, and the support of your X-server. If that 114 # Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:
134doesn't work for you, blame Xorg and Keith Packard. ARGB visuals aren't 115 [ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know
135there yet, no matter what they claim. Rxvt-Unicode contains the neccessary 116 if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
136bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work, but that 117 stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
137doesn't mean that your WM has the required kludges in place. 118 echo -n '^[Z'
119 read term_id
120 stty icanon echo
121 if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
122 echo -n '^[[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
123 read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
124 fi
125 fi
138 126
1394. Use xcompmgr and let it do the job: 127=head3 How do I compile the manual pages on my own?
140 128
141 xprop -frame -f _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 32c \ 129You need to have a recent version of perl installed as F</usr/bin/perl>,
142 -set _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 0xc0000000 130one that comes with F<pod2man>, F<pod2text> and F<pod2html>. Then go to
131the doc subdirectory and enter C<make alldoc>.
143 132
144Then click on a window you want to make transparent. Replace C<0xc0000000>
145by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and
146your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces.
147
148=head2 Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat? 133=head3 Isn't rxvt-unicode supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?
149 134
150I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra 135I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra
151bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see 136bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see
152that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always being 137that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always being
153compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) after startup. Even 138compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) after startup. Even
157 142
158 text data bss drs rss filename 143 text data bss drs rss filename
159 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything 144 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything
160 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything 145 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything
161 146
162When you C<--enable-everything> (which _is_ unfair, as this involves xft 147When you C<--enable-everything> (which I<is> unfair, as this involves xft
163and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my 148and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my
164libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so. 149libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so.
165 150
166 text data bss drs rss filename 151 text data bss drs rss filename
167 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything 152 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything
185(21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole (22200k + extra 170(21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole (22200k + extra
18643180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half a minute of 17143180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half a minute of
187startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits out), it fares 172startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits out), it fares
188extremely well *g*. 173extremely well *g*.
189 174
190=head2 Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool? 175=head3 Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?
191 176
192Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I had 177Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I had
193to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a fraction 178to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a fraction
194of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put even 179of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put even
195shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++. 180shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++.
219 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000) 204 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
220 205
221No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically), 206No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically),
222except maybe libX11 :) 207except maybe libX11 :)
223 208
224=head2 Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
225 209
226Beginning with version 7.3, there is a perl extension that implements a 210=head2 Rendering, Font & Look and Feel Issues
227simple tabbed terminal. It is installed by default, so any of these should
228give you tabs:
229 211
230 @@RXVT_NAME@@ -pe tabbed 212=head3 I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?
231 213
214First of all, transparency isn't officially supported in rxvt-unicode, so
215you are mostly on your own. Do not bug the author about it (but you may
216bug everybody else). Also, if you can't get it working consider it a rite
217of passage: ... and you failed.
218
219Here are four ways to get transparency. B<Do> read the manpage and option
220descriptions for the programs mentioned and rxvt-unicode. Really, do it!
221
2221. Use inheritPixmap:
223
224 Esetroot wallpaper.jpg
225 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -ip -tint red -sh 40
226
227That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack transparency and tinting
228support, or you are unable to read.
229
2302. Use a simple pixmap and emulate pseudo-transparency. This enables you
231to use effects other than tinting and shading: Just shade/tint/whatever
232your picture with gimp or any other tool:
233
234 convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.xpm
235 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -pixmap background.xpm -pe automove-background
236
237That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack XPM and Perl support, or you
238are unable to read.
239
2403. Use an ARGB visual:
241
242 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -depth 32 -fg grey90 -bg rgba:0000/0000/4444/cccc
243
244This requires XFT support, and the support of your X-server. If that
245doesn't work for you, blame Xorg and Keith Packard. ARGB visuals aren't
246there yet, no matter what they claim. Rxvt-Unicode contains the neccessary
247bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work, but that
248doesn't mean that your WM has the required kludges in place.
249
2504. Use xcompmgr and let it do the job:
251
252 xprop -frame -f _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 32c \
253 -set _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 0xc0000000
254
255Then click on a window you want to make transparent. Replace C<0xc0000000>
256by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and
257your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces.
258
259=head3 Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?
260
261Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that character
262size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal use might
263contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode will avoid
264these characters. For characters that are just "a bit" too wide a special
265"careful" rendering mode is used that redraws adjacent characters.
266
267All of this requires that fonts do not lie about character sizes,
268however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed bounding
269box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct way is to
270ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is wrong in these
271cases).
272
273It's not clear (to me at least), wether this is a bug in Xft, freetype,
274or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try using
275the C<-lsp> option to give the font more height. If that doesn't work, you
276might be forced to use a different font.
277
278All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their bounding
279box data is correct.
280
281=head3 How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?
282
283First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings
284(C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then
285make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise
286rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect:
287
288 URxvt.colorBD: white
289 URxvt.colorIT: green
290
291=head3 Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?
292
293For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird
294colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the standard
2958 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of course, to fix
296these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very good reasons.
297
298In the meantime, you can either edit your C<rxvt-unicode> terminfo
299definition to only claim 8 colour support or use C<TERM=rxvt>, which will
300fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features.
301
302=head3 Can I switch the fonts at runtime?
303
304Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the same
305effect as using the C<-fn> switch, and takes effect immediately:
306
307 printf '\e]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
308
309This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a
310japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where
311japanese fonts would only be in your way.
312
313You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching.
314
315=head3 Why do italic characters look as if clipped?
316
317Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For
318example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font C<xft:Bitstream Vera Sans
319Mono> completely fails in it's italic face. A workaround might be to
320enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:
321
322 URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
323 URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
324
325=head3 Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?
326
327Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as
328it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable
329antialiasing (by appending C<:antialias=false>), which saves lots of
330memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
331
332=head3 Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?
333
334Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to
335fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core
336fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has
337antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they
338look best that way.
339
340If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually.
341
342=head3 What's with this bold/blink stuff?
343
344If no bold colour is set via C<colorBD:>, bold will invert text using the
345standard foreground colour.
346
347For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the
348text blink when compiled with C<--enable-blinking>. with standard
349colours. Without C<--enable-blinking>, the blink attribute will be
350ignored.
351
352On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity
353foreground/background colors.
354
355color0-7 are the low-intensity colors.
356
357color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colors.
358
359=head3 I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them?
360
361You can change the screen colors at run-time using F<~/.Xdefaults>
362resources (or as long-options).
363
364Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen,
365including the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow:
366
367 URxvt.color0: #000000
368 URxvt.color1: #A80000
369 URxvt.color2: #00A800
370 URxvt.color3: #A8A800
371 URxvt.color4: #0000A8
372 URxvt.color5: #A800A8
373 URxvt.color6: #00A8A8
374 URxvt.color7: #A8A8A8
375
376 URxvt.color8: #000054
377 URxvt.color9: #FF0054
378 URxvt.color10: #00FF54
379 URxvt.color11: #FFFF54
380 URxvt.color12: #0000FF
381 URxvt.color13: #FF00FF
382 URxvt.color14: #00FFFF
383 URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF
384
385And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors.
386
387 URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1
388 URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1
389 URxvt.background: #0e0e0e
390 URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1
391 URxvt.color0: #000000
392 URxvt.color8: #8b8f93
393 URxvt.color1: #dc74d1
394 URxvt.color9: #dc74d1
395 URxvt.color2: #0eb8c7
396 URxvt.color10: #0eb8c7
397 URxvt.color3: #dfe37e
398 URxvt.color11: #dfe37e
399 URxvt.color5: #9e88f0
400 URxvt.color13: #9e88f0
401 URxvt.color6: #73f7ff
402 URxvt.color14: #73f7ff
403 URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
404 URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
405
406They have been described (not by me) as "pretty girly".
407
408=head3 Why do some characters look so much different than others?
409
410See next entry.
411
412=head3 How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?
413
414Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is
415fine. Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of
416your system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want
417to display.
418
419B<rxvt-unicode> makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement
420font. Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks
421bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't
422resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial
423intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe
424the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct.
425
426In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list,
427e.g.:
428
429 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -fn basefont,font2,font3...
430
431When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base
432font. If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the
433next font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
434search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X-server.
435
436The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the base
437font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size, which
438must be the same due to the way terminals work.
439
440=head3 Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
441
442This is because there is a difference between script and language --
443rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is,
444as it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first
445sees a japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for
446display. Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many
447chinese characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first
448non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese font
449-- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font for
450chinese characters that are also in the japanese font.
451
452The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font
453list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as
454a preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
455first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
456
457In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
458runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different
459fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this
460has been designed yet).
461
462Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see L<Can
463I switch the fonts at runtime?> later in this document).
464
465=head2 Keyboard, Mouse & User Interaction
466
467=head3 The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?
468
469If you want to select e.g. alphanumeric words, you can use the following
470setting:
471
472 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+)
473
474If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended
475more and more.
476
477To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this pattern:
478
479 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\\\\]^`{|})]+)
480
481Please also note that the I<LeftClick Shift-LeftClik> combination also
482selects words like the old code.
483
484=head3 I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?
485
486You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the
487B<perl-ext-common> resource to the empty string, which also keeps
488rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
489
490If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to
491identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section
492B<PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS> in the @@URXVT_NAME@@perl(3) manpage. For
493example, to disable the B<selection-popup> and B<option-popup>, specify
494this B<perl-ext-common> resource:
495
496 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup
497
498This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup
499extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example,
500scrollback search mode is triggered by B<M-s>. You can move it to any
501other combination either by setting the B<searchable-scrollback> resource:
502
503 URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s
504
505=head3 The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off?
506
507See next entry.
508
509=head3 During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?
510
511These are caused by the C<readline> perl extension. Under normal
512circumstances, it will move your cursor around when you click into the
513line that contains it. It tries hard not to do this at the wrong moment,
514but when running a program that doesn't parse cursor movements or in some
515cases during rlogin sessions, it fails to detect this properly.
516
517You can permamently switch this feature off by disabling the C<readline>
518extension:
519
232 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,tabbed 520 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline
233 521
234It will also work fine with tabbing functionality of many window managers 522=head3 My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?
235or similar tabbing programs, and its embedding-features allow it to be
236embedded into other programs, as witnessed by F<doc/rxvt-tabbed> or
237the upcoming C<Gtk2::URxvt> perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt
238(murxvt) terminal as an example embedding application.
239 523
240=head2 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using? 524Some Debian GNUL/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no
525specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is caused
526by the wrong C<TERM> setting, although the details of wether and how
527this can happen are unknown, as C<TERM=rxvt> should offer a compatible
528keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please report if that
529helped.
241 530
242The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape 531=head3 My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
243sequence C<ESC [ 8 n> sets the window title to the version number. When
244using the @@RXVT_NAME@@c client, the version displayed is that of the
245daemon.
246 532
247=head2 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem... 533The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
534correctly, or you specified a B<preeditStyle> that is not supported by
535your input method. For example, if you specified B<OverTheSpot> and
536your input method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys)
537does not support this (for instance because it is not visual), then
538rxvt-unicode will continue without an input method.
248 539
249The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large 540In this case either do not specify a B<preeditStyle> or specify more than
250patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode (but 541one pre-edit style, such as B<OverTheSpot,Root,None>.
251unfortunately this notice has been removed). Before reporting a bug to
252the original rxvt-unicode author please download and install the genuine
253version (L<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>) and try to reproduce
254the problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific to
255Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the Debian Bug
256Tracking System (use C<reportbug> to report the bug).
257 542
258For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and 543=head3 I cannot type C<Ctrl-Shift-2> to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
259probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's also a
260bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for other users that
261might encounter the same issue.
262 544
263=head2 I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation? 545Either try C<Ctrl-2> alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
546international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
547advantage, typing <Ctrl-Shift-0> to get a ASCII NUL. This works for other
548codes, too, such as C<Ctrl-Shift-1-d> to type the default telnet escape
549character and so on.
264 550
265You should build one binary with the default options. F<configure> 551=head3 Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
266now enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
267runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling them,
268except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter should
269be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely more in
270the future) depends on it.
271 552
272You should not overwrite the C<perl-ext-common> snd C<perl-ext> resources 553Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing
273system-wide (except maybe with C<defaults>). This will result in useful 554some editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode. I've
274behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty 555heard that tcsh may use mouse reporting unless it otherwise specified. A
275C<perl-ext-common> resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the 556quick check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are
276perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it. 557depressed.
277 558
278If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal 559=head3 What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
279one with C<--disable-everything> (very useful) and a maximal one with
280C<--enable-everything> (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of
281encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used).
282 560
283=head2 I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe? 561Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the
562BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following
563question) there are two standard values that can be used for
564Backspace: C<^H> and C<^?>.
284 565
285It should be, starting with release 7.1. You are encouraged to properly 566Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the debian
286install urxvt with privileges necessary for your OS now. 567policy of using C<^?> when unsure, because it's the one only only correct
568choice :).
287 569
288When rxvt-unicode detects that it runs setuid or setgid, it will fork 570Rxvt-unicode tries to inherit the current stty settings and uses the value
289into a helper process for privileged operations (pty handling on some 571of `erase' to guess the value for backspace. If rxvt-unicode wasn't
290systems, utmp/wtmp/lastlog handling on others) and drop privileges 572started from a terminal (say, from a menu or by remote shell), then the
291immediately. This is much safer than most other terminals that keep 573system value of `erase', which corresponds to CERASE in <termios.h>, will
292privileges while running (but is more relevant to urxvt, as it contains 574be used (which may not be the same as your stty setting).
293things as perl interpreters, which might be "helpful" to attackers).
294 575
295This forking is done as the very first within main(), which is very early 576For starting a new rxvt-unicode:
296and reduces possible bugs to initialisation code run before main(), or
297things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should result in very
298little risk.
299 577
578 # use Backspace = ^H
579 $ stty erase ^H
580 $ @@URXVT_NAME@@
581
582 # use Backspace = ^?
583 $ stty erase ^?
584 $ @@URXVT_NAME@@
585
586Toggle with C<ESC [ 36 h> / C<ESC [ 36 l>.
587
588For an existing rxvt-unicode:
589
590 # use Backspace = ^H
591 $ stty erase ^H
592 $ echo -n "^[[36h"
593
594 # use Backspace = ^?
595 $ stty erase ^?
596 $ echo -n "^[[36l"
597
598This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur, but
599if you use Backspace = C<^H>, make sure that the termcap/terminfo value
600properly reflects that.
601
602The Delete key is a another casualty of the ill-defined Backspace problem.
603To avoid confusion between the Backspace and Delete keys, the Delete
604key has been assigned an escape sequence to match the vt100 for Execute
605(C<ESC [ 3 ~>) and is in the supplied termcap/terminfo.
606
607Some other Backspace problems:
608
609some editors use termcap/terminfo,
610some editors (vim I'm told) expect Backspace = ^H,
611GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help.
612
613Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.
614
615=head3 I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?
616
617There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless
618you have run "configure" with the C<--disable-resources> option you can
619use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with keysyms.
620
621Here's an example for a URxvt session started using C<@@URXVT_NAME@@ -name URxvt>
622
623 URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[1~
624 URxvt.keysym.End: \033[4~
625 URxvt.keysym.C-apostrophe: \033<C-'>
626 URxvt.keysym.C-slash: \033<C-/>
627 URxvt.keysym.C-semicolon: \033<C-;>
628 URxvt.keysym.C-grave: \033<C-`>
629 URxvt.keysym.C-comma: \033<C-,>
630 URxvt.keysym.C-period: \033<C-.>
631 URxvt.keysym.C-0x60: \033<C-`>
632 URxvt.keysym.C-Tab: \033<C-Tab>
633 URxvt.keysym.C-Return: \033<C-Return>
634 URxvt.keysym.S-Return: \033<S-Return>
635 URxvt.keysym.S-space: \033<S-Space>
636 URxvt.keysym.M-Up: \033<M-Up>
637 URxvt.keysym.M-Down: \033<M-Down>
638 URxvt.keysym.M-Left: \033<M-Left>
639 URxvt.keysym.M-Right: \033<M-Right>
640 URxvt.keysym.M-C-0: list \033<M-C- 0123456789 >
641 URxvt.keysym.M-C-a: list \033<M-C- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz >
642 URxvt.keysym.F12: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007
643
644See some more examples in the documentation for the B<keysym> resource.
645
646=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
647
648 KP_Insert == Insert
649 F22 == Print
650 F27 == Home
651 F29 == Prior
652 F33 == End
653 F35 == Next
654
655Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various possible
656keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the keys as
657required for your particular machine.
658
659
660
661=head2 Terminal Configuration
662
663=head3 Can I see a typical configuration?
664
665The default configuration tries to be xterm-like, which I don't like that
666much, but it's least surprise to regular users.
667
668As a rxvt or rxvt-unicode user, you are practically supposed to invest
669time into customising your terminal. To get you started, here is the
670author's .Xdefaults entries, with comments on what they do. It's certainly
671not I<typical>, but what's typical...
672
673 URxvt.cutchars: "()*,<>[]{}|'
674 URxvt.print-pipe: cat >/tmp/xxx
675
676These are just for testing stuff.
677
678 URxvt.imLocale: ja_JP.UTF-8
679 URxvt.preeditType: OnTheSpot,None
680
681This tells rxvt-unicode to use a special locale when communicating with
682the X Input Method, and also tells it to only use the OnTheSpot pre-edit
683type, which requires the C<xim-onthespot> perl extension but rewards me
684with correct-looking fonts.
685
686 URxvt.perl-lib: /root/lib/urxvt
687 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,selection-autotransform,selection-pastebin,xim-onthespot,remote-clipboard
688 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ( at .*? line \\d+)
689 URxvt.selection.pattern-1: ^(/[^:]+):\
690 URxvt.selection-autotransform.0: s/^([^:[:space:]]+):(\\d+):?$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/
691 URxvt.selection-autotransform.1: s/^ at (.*?) line (\\d+)$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/
692
693This is my perl configuration. The first two set the perl library
694directory and also tells urxvt to use a large number of extensions. I
695develop for myself mostly, so I actually use most of the extensions I
696write.
697
698The selection stuff mainly makes the selection perl-error-message aware
699and tells it to convert pelr error mssages into vi-commands to load the
700relevant file and go tot he error line number.
701
702 URxvt.scrollstyle: plain
703 URxvt.secondaryScroll: true
704
705As the documentation says: plain is the preferred scrollbar for the
706author. The C<secondaryScroll> confgiures urxvt to scroll in full-screen
707apps, like screen, so lines scorlled out of screen end up in urxvt's
708scrollback buffer.
709
710 URxvt.background: #000000
711 URxvt.foreground: gray90
712 URxvt.color7: gray90
713 URxvt.colorBD: #ffffff
714 URxvt.cursorColor: #e0e080
715 URxvt.throughColor: #8080f0
716 URxvt.highlightColor: #f0f0f0
717
718Some colours. Not sure which ones are being used or even non-defaults, but
719these are in my .Xdefaults. Most notably, they set foreground/background
720to light gray/black, and also make sure that the colour 7 matches the
721default foreground colour.
722
723 URxvt.underlineColor: yellow
724
725Another colour, makes underline lines look different. Sometimes hurts, but
726is mostly a nice effect.
727
728 URxvt.geometry: 154x36
729 URxvt.loginShell: false
730 URxvt.meta: ignore
731 URxvt.utmpInhibit: true
732
733Uh, well, should be mostly self-explanatory. By specifying some defaults
734manually, I can quickly switch them for testing.
735
736 URxvt.saveLines: 8192
737
738A large scrollback buffer is essential. Really.
739
740 URxvt.mapAlert: true
741
742The only case I use it is for my IRC window, which I like to keep
743iconified till people msg me (which beeps).
744
745 URxvt.visualBell: true
746
747The audible bell is often annoying, especially when in a crowd.
748
749 URxvt.insecure: true
750
751Please don't hack my mutt! Ooops...
752
753 URxvt.pastableTabs: false
754
755I once thought this is a great idea.
756
757 urxvt.font: 9x15bold,\
758 -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1,\
759 -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1, \
760 [codeset=JISX0208]xft:Kochi Gothic, \
761 xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:autohint=true, \
762 xft:Code2000:antialias=false
763 urxvt.boldFont: -xos4-terminus-bold-r-normal--14-140-72-72-c-80-iso8859-15
764 urxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
765 urxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
766
767I wrote rxvt-unicode to be able to specify fonts exactly. So don't be
768overwhelmed. A special note: the C<9x15bold> mentioend above is actually
769the version from XFree-3.3, as XFree-4 replaced it by a totally different
770font (different glyphs for C<;> and many other harmless characters),
771while the second font is actually the C<9x15bold> from XFree4/XOrg. The
772bold version has less chars than the medium version, so I use it for rare
773characters, too. Whene ditign sources with vim, I use italic for comments
774and other stuff, which looks quite good with Bitstream Vera anti-aliased.
775
776Terminus is a quite bad font (many very wrong glyphs), but for most of my
777purposes, it works, and gives a different look, as my normal (Non-bold)
778font is already bold, and I want to see a difference between bold and
779normal fonts.
780
781Please note that I used the C<urxvt> instance name and not the C<URxvt>
782class name. Thats because I use different configs for different purposes,
783for example, my IRC window is started with C<-name IRC>, and uses these
784defaults:
785
786 IRC*title: IRC
787 IRC*geometry: 87x12+535+542
788 IRC*saveLines: 0
789 IRC*mapAlert: true
790 IRC*font: suxuseuro
791 IRC*boldFont: suxuseuro
792 IRC*colorBD: white
793 IRC*keysym.M-C-1: command:\033]710;suxuseuro\007\033]711;suxuseuro\007
794 IRC*keysym.M-C-2: command:\033]710;9x15bold\007\033]711;9x15bold\007
795
796C<Alt-Shift-1> and C<Alt-Shift-2> switch between two different font
797sizes. C<suxuseuro> allows me to keep an eye (and actually read)
798stuff while keeping a very small window. If somebody pastes something
799complicated (e.g. japanese), I temporarily switch to a larger font.
800
801The above is all in my C<.Xdefaults> (I don't use C<.Xresources> nor
802C<xrdb>). I also have some resources in a separate C<.Xdefaults-hostname>
803file for different hosts, for example, on ym main desktop, I use:
804
805 URxvt.keysym.C-M-q: command:\033[3;5;5t
806 URxvt.keysym.C-M-y: command:\033[3;5;606t
807 URxvt.keysym.C-M-e: command:\033[3;1605;5t
808 URxvt.keysym.C-M-c: command:\033[3;1605;606t
809 URxvt.keysym.C-M-p: perl:test
810
811The first for keysym definitions allow me to quickly bring some windows
812in the layout I like most. Ion users might start laughing but will stop
813immediately when I tell them that I use my own Fvwm2 module for much the
814same effect as Ion provides, and I only very rarely use the above key
815combinations :->
816
817=head3 Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?
818
819Well, why, indeed? It does, in a way very similar to other X
820applications. Most importantly, this means that if you or your OS loads
821resources into the X display (the right way to do it), rxvt-unicode will
822ignore any resource files in your home directory. It will only read
823F<$HOME/.Xdefaults> when no resources are attached to the display.
824
825If you have or use an F<$HOME/.Xresources> file, chances are that
826resources are loaded into your X-server. In this case, you have to
827re-login after every change (or run F<xrdb -merge $HOME/.Xresources>).
828
829Also consider the form resources have to use:
830
831 URxvt.resource: value
832
833If you want to use another form (there are lots of different ways of
834specifying resources), make sure you understand wether and why it
835works. If unsure, use the form above.
836
300=head2 When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? 837=head3 When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?
301 838
302The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available 839The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available
303as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often arises). 840as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often arises).
304 841
305The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this can 842The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this can
321resource to set it: 858resource to set it:
322 859
323 URxvt.termName: rxvt 860 URxvt.termName: rxvt
324 861
325If you don't plan to use B<rxvt> (quite common...) you could also replace 862If you don't plan to use B<rxvt> (quite common...) you could also replace
326the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one. 863the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one and use C<TERM=rxvt>.
327 864
328=head2 C<tic> outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry. 865=head3 C<tic> outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
329 866
330Most likely it's the empty definition for C<enacs=>. Just replace it by 867Most likely it's the empty definition for C<enacs=>. Just replace it by
331C<enacs=\E[0@> and try again. 868C<enacs=\E[0@> and try again.
332 869
333=head2 C<bash>'s readline does not work correctly under @@RXVT_NAME@@. 870=head3 C<bash>'s readline does not work correctly under @@URXVT_NAME@@.
334 871
335See next entry. 872See next entry.
336 873
337=head2 I need a termcap file entry. 874=head3 I need a termcap file entry.
338 875
339One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating 876One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating
340systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap 877systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap
341library (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry 878library (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry
342for C<rxvt-unicode>. 879for C<rxvt-unicode>.
368 :sc=\E7:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:\ 905 :sc=\E7:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:\
369 :te=\E[r\E[?1049l:ti=\E[?1049h:ue=\E[24m:up=\E[A:\ 906 :te=\E[r\E[?1049l:ti=\E[?1049h:ue=\E[24m:up=\E[A:\
370 :us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\ 907 :us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
371 :vs=\E[?25h: 908 :vs=\E[?25h:
372 909
373=head2 Why does C<ls> no longer have coloured output? 910=head3 Why does C<ls> no longer have coloured output?
374 911
375The C<ls> in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to 912The C<ls> in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to
376decide wether a terminal has colour, but uses it's own configuration 913decide wether a terminal has colour, but uses it's own configuration
377file. Needless to say, C<rxvt-unicode> is not in it's default file (among 914file. Needless to say, C<rxvt-unicode> is not in it's default file (among
378with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add: 915with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add:
383 920
384 alias ls='ls --color=auto' 921 alias ls='ls --color=auto'
385 922
386to your C<.profile> or C<.bashrc>. 923to your C<.profile> or C<.bashrc>.
387 924
388=head2 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode? 925=head3 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?
389 926
390See next entry. 927See next entry.
391 928
392=head2 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic? 929=head3 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?
393 930
394See next entry. 931See next entry.
395 932
396=head2 Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly? 933=head3 Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?
397 934
398Make sure you are using C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>. Some pre-packaged 935Make sure you are using C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>. Some pre-packaged
399distributions (most notably Debian GNU/Linux) break rxvt-unicode 936distributions (most notably Debian GNU/Linux) break rxvt-unicode
400by setting C<TERM> to C<rxvt>, which doesn't have these extra 937by setting C<TERM> to C<rxvt>, which doesn't have these extra
401features. Unfortunately, some of these (most notably, again, Debian 938features. Unfortunately, some of these (most notably, again, Debian
402GNU/Linux) furthermore fail to even install the C<rxvt-unicode> terminfo 939GNU/Linux) furthermore fail to even install the C<rxvt-unicode> terminfo
403file, so you will need to install it on your own (See the question B<When 940file, so you will need to install it on your own (See the question B<When
404I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?> on 941I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?> on
405how to do this). 942how to do this).
406 943
407=head2 My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?
408 944
409Some Debian GNUL/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no 945=head2 Encoding / Locale / Input Method Issues
410specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is caused
411by the wrong C<TERM> setting, although the details of wether and how
412this can happen are unknown, as C<TERM=rxvt> should offer a compatible
413keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please report if that
414helped.
415 946
416=head2 Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding? 947=head3 Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?
417 948
418See next entry. 949See next entry.
419 950
420=head2 Unicode does not seem to work? 951=head3 Unicode does not seem to work?
421 952
422If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but 953If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but
423getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output is 954getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output is
424subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings. 955subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings.
425 956
445 976
446If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then 977If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then
447you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't 978you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't
448support locales :( 979support locales :(
449 980
450=head2 Why do some characters look so much different than others? 981=head3 How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
451 982
452See next entry. 983See next entry.
453 984
454=head2 How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts? 985=head3 Is there an option to switch encodings?
455 986
456Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is 987Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
457fine. Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of 988specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know about
458your system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want 989UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O.
459to display.
460 990
461B<rxvt-unicode> makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement 991The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for selecting
462font. Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks 992the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating this to all
463bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't 993applications so everybody agrees on character properties such as width
464resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial 994and code number. This mechanism is the I<locale>. Applications not using
465intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe 995that info will have problems (for example, C<xterm> gets the width of
466the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct. 996characters wrong as it uses it's own, locale-independent table under all
467
468In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list,
469e.g.:
470
471 @@RXVT_NAME@@ -fn basefont,font2,font3...
472
473When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base
474font. If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the
475next font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
476search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X-server.
477
478The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the base
479font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size, which
480must be the same due to the way terminals work.
481
482=head2 Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
483
484This is because there is a difference between script and language --
485rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is,
486as it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first
487sees a japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for
488display. Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many
489chinese characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first
490non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese font
491-- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font for
492chinese characters that are also in the japanese font.
493
494The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font
495list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as
496a preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
497first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
498
499In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
500runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different
501fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this
502has been designed yet).
503
504Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see L<Can
505I switch the fonts at runtime?> later in this document).
506
507=head2 Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?
508
509Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that character
510size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal use might
511contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode will avoid
512these characters. For characters that are just "a bit" too wide a special
513"careful" rendering mode is used that redraws adjacent characters.
514
515All of this requires that fonts do not lie about character sizes,
516however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed bounding
517box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct way is to
518ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is wrong in these
519cases). 997locales).
520 998
521It's not clear (to me at least), wether this is a bug in Xft, freetype, 999Rxvt-unicode uses the C<LC_CTYPE> locale category to select encoding. All
522or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try using 1000programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the
523the C<-lsp> option to give the font more height. If that doesn't work, you 1001interpretation of characters.
524might be forced to use a different font.
525 1002
526All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their bounding 1003Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor
527box data is correct. 1004is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like.
528 1005
1006On most systems, the content of the C<LC_CTYPE> environment variable
1007contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed
1008locale. Common names for locales are C<en_US.UTF-8>, C<de_DE.ISO-8859-15>,
1009C<ja_JP.EUC-JP>, i.e. C<language_country.encoding>, but other forms
1010(i.e. C<de> or C<german>) are also common.
1011
1012Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for
1013the encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings,
1014i.e. C<de_DE.UTF-8> and C<ja_JP.UTF-8> are the normally same to
1015rxvt-unicode.
1016
1017If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
1018rxvt-unicode with the correct C<LC_CTYPE> category.
1019
1020=head3 Can I switch locales at runtime?
1021
1022Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
1023rxvt-unicode's idea of C<LC_CTYPE>.
1024
1025 printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
1026
1027See also the previous answer.
1028
1029Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in
1030one locale (e.g. C<de_DE.UTF-8>) but some programs don't support it
1031(e.g. UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start C<xjdic>, which
1032first switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
1033
1034 printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
1035 xjdic -js
1036 printf '\e]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8
1037
1038You can also use xterm's C<luit> program, which usually works fine, except
1039for some locales where character width differs between program- and
1040rxvt-unicode-locales.
1041
1042=head3 I have problems getting my input method working.
1043
1044Try a search engine, as this is slightly different for every input method server.
1045
1046Here is a checklist:
1047
1048=over 4
1049
1050=item - Make sure your locale I<and> the imLocale are supported on your OS.
1051
1052Try C<locale -a> or check the documentation for your OS.
1053
1054=item - Make sure your locale or imLocale matches a locale supported by your XIM.
1055
1056For example, B<kinput2> does not support UTF-8 locales, you should use
1057C<ja_JP.EUC-JP> or equivalent.
1058
1059=item - Make sure your XIM server is actually running.
1060
1061=item - Make sure the C<XMODIFIERS> environment variable is set correctly when I<starting> rxvt-unicode.
1062
1063When you want to use e.g. B<kinput2>, it must be set to
1064C<@im=kinput2>. For B<scim>, use C<@im=SCIM>. Youc an see what input
1065method servers are running with this command:
1066
1067 xprop -root XIM_SERVERS
1068
1069=item
1070
1071=back
1072
1073=head3 My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?
1074
1075You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of the
1076terminal, using the resource C<imlocale>:
1077
1078 URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
1079
1080Now you can start your terminal with C<LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8> and still
1081use your input method. Please note, however, that, depending on your Xlib
1082version, you may not be able to input characters outside C<EUC-JP> in a
1083normal way then, as your input method limits you.
1084
1085=head3 Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
1086
1087Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
1088design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
1089leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at
1090exit time. B<kinput2> (and derived input methods) generally succeeds,
1091while B<SCIM> (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however,
1092crashes cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate.
1093
1094So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
1095
1096
1097=head2 Operating Systems / Package Maintaining
1098
1099=head3 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...
1100
1101The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large
1102patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode (but
1103unfortunately this notice has been removed). Before reporting a bug to
1104the original rxvt-unicode author please download and install the genuine
1105version (L<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>) and try to reproduce
1106the problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific to
1107Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the Debian Bug
1108Tracking System (use C<reportbug> to report the bug).
1109
1110For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and
1111probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's also a
1112bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for other users that
1113might encounter the same issue.
1114
1115=head3 I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation?
1116
1117You should build one binary with the default options. F<configure>
1118now enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
1119runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling them,
1120except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter should
1121be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely more in
1122the future) depends on it.
1123
1124You should not overwrite the C<perl-ext-common> snd C<perl-ext> resources
1125system-wide (except maybe with C<defaults>). This will result in useful
1126behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty
1127C<perl-ext-common> resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the
1128perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it.
1129
1130If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal
1131one with C<--disable-everything> (very useful) and a maximal one with
1132C<--enable-everything> (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of
1133encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used).
1134
1135=head3 I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe?
1136
1137It should be, starting with release 7.1. You are encouraged to properly
1138install urxvt with privileges necessary for your OS now.
1139
1140When rxvt-unicode detects that it runs setuid or setgid, it will fork
1141into a helper process for privileged operations (pty handling on some
1142systems, utmp/wtmp/lastlog handling on others) and drop privileges
1143immediately. This is much safer than most other terminals that keep
1144privileges while running (but is more relevant to urxvt, as it contains
1145things as perl interpreters, which might be "helpful" to attackers).
1146
1147This forking is done as the very first within main(), which is very early
1148and reduces possible bugs to initialisation code run before main(), or
1149things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should result in very
1150little risk.
1151
529=head2 On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide. 1152=head3 On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide.
530 1153
531Seems to be a known bug, read 1154Seems to be a known bug, read
532L<http://nixdoc.net/files/forum/about34198.html>. Some people use the 1155L<http://nixdoc.net/files/forum/about34198.html>. Some people use the
533following ugly workaround to get non-double-wide-characters working: 1156following ugly workaround to get non-double-wide-characters working:
534 1157
535 #define wcwidth(x) wcwidth(x) > 1 ? 1 : wcwidth(x) 1158 #define wcwidth(x) wcwidth(x) > 1 ? 1 : wcwidth(x)
536 1159
537=head2 My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
538
539The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
540correctly, or you specified a B<preeditStyle> that is not supported by
541your input method. For example, if you specified B<OverTheSpot> and
542your input method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys)
543does not support this (for instance because it is not visual), then
544rxvt-unicode will continue without an input method.
545
546In this case either do not specify a B<preeditStyle> or specify more than
547one pre-edit style, such as B<OverTheSpot,Root,None>.
548
549=head2 I cannot type C<Ctrl-Shift-2> to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
550
551Either try C<Ctrl-2> alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
552international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
553advantage, typing <Ctrl-Shift-0> to get a ASCII NUL. This works for other
554codes, too, such as C<Ctrl-Shift-1-d> to type the default telnet escape
555character and so on.
556
557=head2 How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?
558
559First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings
560(C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then
561make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise
562rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect:
563
564 URxvt.colorBD: white
565 URxvt.colorIT: green
566
567=head2 Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?
568
569For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird
570colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the standard
5718 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of course, to fix
572these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very good reasons.
573
574In the meantime, you can either edit your C<rxvt-unicode> terminfo
575definition to only claim 8 colour support or use C<TERM=rxvt>, which will
576fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features.
577
578=head2 I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all. 1160=head3 I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.
579 1161
580Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> to be defined 1162Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> to be defined
581in your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it, 1163in your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it,
582wether it defines the symbol or not. C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> requires that 1164wether it defines the symbol or not. C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> requires that
583B<wchar_t> is represented as unicode. 1165B<wchar_t> is represented as unicode.
605 1187
606The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the 1188The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the
607system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry 1189system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry
608complete replacements for them :) 1190complete replacements for them :)
609 1191
610=head2 I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc. 1192=head3 I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc.
611 1193
612Try the diff in F<doc/solaris9.patch> as a base. It fixes the worst 1194Try the diff in F<doc/solaris9.patch> as a base. It fixes the worst
613problems with C<wcwidth> and a compile problem. 1195problems with C<wcwidth> and a compile problem.
614 1196
615=head2 How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin? 1197=head3 How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
616 1198
617rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using 1199rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using
618the X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no 1200the X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no
619longer supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a 1201longer supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a
620single font). I recommend starting the X-server in C<-multiwindow> or 1202single font). I recommend starting the X-server in C<-multiwindow> or
623 1205
624At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any multi-byte 1206At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any multi-byte
625encodings (you might try C<LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8>), so you are likely limited 1207encodings (you might try C<LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8>), so you are likely limited
626to 8-bit encodings. 1208to 8-bit encodings.
627 1209
628=head2 How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
629
630See next entry.
631
632=head2 Is there an option to switch encodings?
633
634Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
635specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know about
636UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O.
637
638The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for selecting
639the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating this to all
640applications so everybody agrees on character properties such as width
641and code number. This mechanism is the I<locale>. Applications not using
642that info will have problems (for example, C<xterm> gets the width of
643characters wrong as it uses it's own, locale-independent table under all
644locales).
645
646Rxvt-unicode uses the C<LC_CTYPE> locale category to select encoding. All
647programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the
648interpretation of characters.
649
650Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor
651is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like.
652
653On most systems, the content of the C<LC_CTYPE> environment variable
654contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed
655locale. Common names for locales are C<en_US.UTF-8>, C<de_DE.ISO-8859-15>,
656C<ja_JP.EUC-JP>, i.e. C<language_country.encoding>, but other forms
657(i.e. C<de> or C<german>) are also common.
658
659Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for
660the encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings,
661i.e. C<de_DE.UTF-8> and C<ja_JP.UTF-8> are the normally same to
662rxvt-unicode.
663
664If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
665rxvt-unicode with the correct C<LC_CTYPE> category.
666
667=head2 Can I switch locales at runtime?
668
669Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
670rxvt-unicode's idea of C<LC_CTYPE>.
671
672 printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
673
674See also the previous answer.
675
676Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in
677one locale (e.g. C<de_DE.UTF-8>) but some programs don't support it
678(e.g. UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start C<xjdic>, which
679first switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
680
681 printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
682 xjdic -js
683 printf '\e]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8
684
685You can also use xterm's C<luit> program, which usually works fine, except
686for some locales where character width differs between program- and
687rxvt-unicode-locales.
688
689=head2 Can I switch the fonts at runtime?
690
691Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the same
692effect as using the C<-fn> switch, and takes effect immediately:
693
694 printf '\e]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
695
696This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a
697japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where
698japanese fonts would only be in your way.
699
700You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching.
701
702=head2 Why do italic characters look as if clipped?
703
704Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For
705example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font C<xft:Bitstream Vera Sans
706Mono> completely fails in it's italic face. A workaround might be to
707enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:
708
709 URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
710 URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
711
712=head2 My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?
713
714You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of the
715terminal, using the resource C<imlocale>:
716
717 URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
718
719Now you can start your terminal with C<LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8> and still
720use your input method. Please note, however, that you will not be able to
721input characters outside C<EUC-JP> in a normal way then, as your input
722method limits you.
723
724=head2 Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
725
726Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
727design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
728leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at
729exit time. B<kinput2> (and derived input methods) generally succeeds,
730while B<SCIM> (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however,
731crashes cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate.
732
733So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
734
735=head2 Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
736
737Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for something you
738don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings that
739you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by design,
740when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be loaded
741accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your characters.
742
743Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
744scrollback buffers: Without C<--enable-unicode3>, rxvt-unicode will use
7456 bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to almost a
746kilobyte per line. A scrollback buffer of 10000 lines will then (if full)
747use 10 Megabytes of memory. With C<--enable-unicode3> it gets worse, as
748rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
749
750=head2 Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?
751
752Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as
753it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable
754antialiasing (by appending C<:antialias=false>), which saves lots of
755memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
756
757=head2 Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?
758
759Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to
760fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core
761fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has
762antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they
763look best that way.
764
765If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually.
766
767=head2 Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
768
769Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing
770some editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode. I've
771heard that tcsh may use mouse reporting unless it otherwise specified. A
772quick check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are
773depressed.
774
775=head2 What's with this bold/blink stuff?
776
777If no bold colour is set via C<colorBD:>, bold will invert text using the
778standard foreground colour.
779
780For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the
781text blink when compiled with C<--enable-blinking>. with standard
782colours. Without C<--enable-blinking>, the blink attribute will be
783ignored.
784
785On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity
786foreground/background colors.
787
788color0-7 are the low-intensity colors.
789
790color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colors.
791
792=head2 I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them?
793
794You can change the screen colors at run-time using F<~/.Xdefaults>
795resources (or as long-options).
796
797Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen,
798including the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow:
799
800 URxvt.color0: #000000
801 URxvt.color1: #A80000
802 URxvt.color2: #00A800
803 URxvt.color3: #A8A800
804 URxvt.color4: #0000A8
805 URxvt.color5: #A800A8
806 URxvt.color6: #00A8A8
807 URxvt.color7: #A8A8A8
808
809 URxvt.color8: #000054
810 URxvt.color9: #FF0054
811 URxvt.color10: #00FF54
812 URxvt.color11: #FFFF54
813 URxvt.color12: #0000FF
814 URxvt.color13: #FF00FF
815 URxvt.color14: #00FFFF
816 URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF
817
818And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors described (not by
819me) as "pretty girly".
820
821 URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1
822 URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1
823 URxvt.background: #0e0e0e
824 URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1
825 URxvt.color0: #000000
826 URxvt.color8: #8b8f93
827 URxvt.color1: #dc74d1
828 URxvt.color9: #dc74d1
829 URxvt.color2: #0eb8c7
830 URxvt.color10: #0eb8c7
831 URxvt.color3: #dfe37e
832 URxvt.color11: #dfe37e
833 URxvt.color5: #9e88f0
834 URxvt.color13: #9e88f0
835 URxvt.color6: #73f7ff
836 URxvt.color14: #73f7ff
837 URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
838 URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
839
840=head2 How can I start @@RXVT_NAME@@d in a race-free way?
841
842Try C<@@RXVT_NAME@@d -f -o>, which tells @@RXVT_NAME@@d to open the
843display, create the listening socket and then fork.
844
845=head2 What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
846
847Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the
848BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following
849question) there are two standard values that can be used for
850Backspace: C<^H> and C<^?>.
851
852Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the debian
853policy of using C<^?> when unsure, because it's the one only only correct
854choice :).
855
856Rxvt-unicode tries to inherit the current stty settings and uses the value
857of `erase' to guess the value for backspace. If rxvt-unicode wasn't
858started from a terminal (say, from a menu or by remote shell), then the
859system value of `erase', which corresponds to CERASE in <termios.h>, will
860be used (which may not be the same as your stty setting).
861
862For starting a new rxvt-unicode:
863
864 # use Backspace = ^H
865 $ stty erase ^H
866 $ @@RXVT_NAME@@
867
868 # use Backspace = ^?
869 $ stty erase ^?
870 $ @@RXVT_NAME@@
871
872Toggle with C<ESC [ 36 h> / C<ESC [ 36 l>.
873
874For an existing rxvt-unicode:
875
876 # use Backspace = ^H
877 $ stty erase ^H
878 $ echo -n "^[[36h"
879
880 # use Backspace = ^?
881 $ stty erase ^?
882 $ echo -n "^[[36l"
883
884This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur, but
885if you use Backspace = C<^H>, make sure that the termcap/terminfo value
886properly reflects that.
887
888The Delete key is a another casualty of the ill-defined Backspace problem.
889To avoid confusion between the Backspace and Delete keys, the Delete
890key has been assigned an escape sequence to match the vt100 for Execute
891(C<ESC [ 3 ~>) and is in the supplied termcap/terminfo.
892
893Some other Backspace problems:
894
895some editors use termcap/terminfo,
896some editors (vim I'm told) expect Backspace = ^H,
897GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help.
898
899Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.
900
901=head2 I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?
902
903There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless
904you have run "configure" with the C<--disable-resources> option you can
905use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with keysyms.
906
907Here's an example for a URxvt session started using C<@@RXVT_NAME@@ -name URxvt>
908
909 URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[1~
910 URxvt.keysym.End: \033[4~
911 URxvt.keysym.C-apostrophe: \033<C-'>
912 URxvt.keysym.C-slash: \033<C-/>
913 URxvt.keysym.C-semicolon: \033<C-;>
914 URxvt.keysym.C-grave: \033<C-`>
915 URxvt.keysym.C-comma: \033<C-,>
916 URxvt.keysym.C-period: \033<C-.>
917 URxvt.keysym.C-0x60: \033<C-`>
918 URxvt.keysym.C-Tab: \033<C-Tab>
919 URxvt.keysym.C-Return: \033<C-Return>
920 URxvt.keysym.S-Return: \033<S-Return>
921 URxvt.keysym.S-space: \033<S-Space>
922 URxvt.keysym.M-Up: \033<M-Up>
923 URxvt.keysym.M-Down: \033<M-Down>
924 URxvt.keysym.M-Left: \033<M-Left>
925 URxvt.keysym.M-Right: \033<M-Right>
926 URxvt.keysym.M-C-0: list \033<M-C- 0123456789 >
927 URxvt.keysym.M-C-a: list \033<M-C- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz >
928 URxvt.keysym.F12: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007
929
930See some more examples in the documentation for the B<keysym> resource.
931
932=head2 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 mappings that rxvt-unicode doesn't recognize.
933
934 KP_Insert == Insert
935 F22 == Print
936 F27 == Home
937 F29 == Prior
938 F33 == End
939 F35 == Next
940
941Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various possible
942keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the keys as
943required for your particular machine.
944
945=head2 How do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm? I need this to decide about setting colors etc.
946
947rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable "COLORTERM", so you can
948check and see if that is set. Note that several programs, JED, slrn,
949Midnight Commander automatically check this variable to decide whether or
950not to use color.
951
952=head2 How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?
953
954If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled
955insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script
956snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode
957wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in these snippets) then
958the COLORTERM variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from a
959regular xterm.
960
961Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script
962snippets:
963
964 # Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:
965 [ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know
966 if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
967 stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
968 echo -n '^[Z'
969 read term_id
970 stty icanon echo
971 if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
972 echo -n '^[[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
973 read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
974 fi
975 fi
976
977=head2 How do I compile the manual pages for myself?
978
979You need to have a recent version of perl installed as F</usr/bin/perl>,
980one that comes with F<pod2man>, F<pod2text> and F<pod2html>. Then go to
981the doc subdirectory and enter C<make alldoc>.
982
983=head2 My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?
984
985Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: C<irc.freenode.net>,
986channel C<#rxvt-unicode> has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be
987interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :).
988
989=head1 RXVT TECHNICAL REFERENCE 1210=head1 RXVT-UNICODE TECHNICAL REFERENCE
990
991=head1 DESCRIPTION
992 1211
993The rest of this document describes various technical aspects of 1212The rest of this document describes various technical aspects of
994B<rxvt-unicode>. First the description of supported command sequences, 1213B<rxvt-unicode>. First the description of supported command sequences,
995followed by pixmap support and last by a description of all features 1214followed by pixmap support and last by a description of all features
996selectable at C<configure> time. 1215selectable at C<configure> time.
997 1216
998=head1 Definitions 1217=head2 Definitions
999 1218
1000=over 4 1219=over 4
1001 1220
1002=item B<< C<c> >> 1221=item B<< C<c> >>
1003 1222
1021 1240
1022A text parameter composed of printable characters. 1241A text parameter composed of printable characters.
1023 1242
1024=back 1243=back
1025 1244
1026=head1 Values 1245=head2 Values
1027 1246
1028=over 4 1247=over 4
1029 1248
1030=item B<< C<ENQ> >> 1249=item B<< C<ENQ> >>
1031 1250
1074 1293
1075Space Character 1294Space Character
1076 1295
1077=back 1296=back
1078 1297
1079=head1 Escape Sequences 1298=head2 Escape Sequences
1080 1299
1081=over 4 1300=over 4
1082 1301
1083=item B<< C<ESC # 8> >> 1302=item B<< C<ESC # 8> >>
1084 1303
1182 1401
1183=back 1402=back
1184 1403
1185X<CSI> 1404X<CSI>
1186 1405
1187=head1 CSI (Command Sequence Introducer) Sequences 1406=head2 CSI (Command Sequence Introducer) Sequences
1188 1407
1189=over 4 1408=over 4
1190 1409
1191=item B<< C<ESC [ Ps @> >> 1410=item B<< C<ESC [ Ps @> >>
1192 1411
1462 1681
1463=back 1682=back
1464 1683
1465X<PrivateModes> 1684X<PrivateModes>
1466 1685
1467=head1 DEC Private Modes 1686=head2 DEC Private Modes
1468 1687
1469=over 4 1688=over 4
1470 1689
1471=item B<< C<ESC [ ? Pm h> >> 1690=item B<< C<ESC [ ? Pm h> >>
1472 1691
1736 1955
1737=back 1956=back
1738 1957
1739X<XTerm> 1958X<XTerm>
1740 1959
1741=head1 XTerm Operating System Commands 1960=head2 XTerm Operating System Commands
1742 1961
1743=over 4 1962=over 4
1744 1963
1745=item B<< C<ESC ] Ps;Pt ST> >> 1964=item B<< C<ESC ] Ps;Pt ST> >>
1746 1965
1784 2003
1785=end table 2004=end table
1786 2005
1787=back 2006=back
1788 2007
1789X<XPM>
1790
1791=head1 XPM 2008=head1 XPM
1792 2009
1793For the XPM XTerm escape sequence B<< C<ESC ] 20 ; Pt ST> >> then value 2010For the XPM XTerm escape sequence B<< C<ESC ] 20 ; Pt ST> >> then value
1794of B<< C<Pt> >> can be the name of the background pixmap followed by a 2011of B<< C<Pt> >> can be the name of the background pixmap followed by a
1795sequence of scaling/positioning commands separated by semi-colons. The 2012sequence of scaling/positioning commands separated by semi-colons. The
1892=begin table 2109=begin table
1893 2110
1894 4 Shift 2111 4 Shift
1895 8 Meta 2112 8 Meta
1896 16 Control 2113 16 Control
1897 32 Double Click I<(Rxvt extension)> 2114 32 Double Click I<(rxvt extension)>
1898 2115
1899=end table 2116=end table
1900 2117
1901Col = B<< C<< <x> - SPACE >> >> 2118Col = B<< C<< <x> - SPACE >> >>
1902 2119
2230Remove support for mouse selection style like that of xterm. 2447Remove support for mouse selection style like that of xterm.
2231 2448
2232=item --enable-dmalloc (default: off) 2449=item --enable-dmalloc (default: off)
2233 2450
2234Use Gray Watson's malloc - which is good for debugging See 2451Use Gray Watson's malloc - which is good for debugging See
2235http://www.letters.com/dmalloc/ for details If you use either this or the 2452L<http://www.letters.com/dmalloc/> for details If you use either this or the
2236next option, you may need to edit src/Makefile after compiling to point 2453next option, you may need to edit src/Makefile after compiling to point
2237DINCLUDE and DLIB to the right places. 2454DINCLUDE and DLIB to the right places.
2238 2455
2239You can only use either this option and the following (should 2456You can only use either this option and the following (should
2240you use either) . 2457you use either) .

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