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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 22L<http://pod.tst.eu/http://cvs.schmorp.de/rxvt-unicode/doc/rxvt.7.pod>.
23L<http://cvs.schmorp.de/browse/*checkout*/rxvt-unicode/doc/rxvt.7.html>.
24 23
24The main manual page for @@RXVT_NAME@@ itself is available at
25L<http://pod.tst.eu/http://cvs.schmorp.de/rxvt-unicode/doc/rxvt.1.pod>.
26
25=head1 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 27=head1 RXVT-UNICODE/URXVT FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
26 28
27=over 4
28 29
29=item The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select 30=head2 Meta, Features & Commandline Issues
30single words?
31 31
32Yes. For example, if you want to select alphanumeric words, you can use 32=head3 My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?
33the following resource:
34 33
35 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+) 34Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: C<irc.freenode.net>,
35channel C<#rxvt-unicode> has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be
36interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :).
36 37
37If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended 38=head3 Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
38more and more.
39 39
40To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this pattern: 40Beginning with version 7.3, there is a perl extension that implements a
41simple tabbed terminal. It is installed by default, so any of these should
42give you tabs:
41 43
42 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\\\\]^`{|})]+) 44 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -pe tabbed
43 45
44Please also note that the I<LeftClick Shift-LeftClik> combination also 46 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,tabbed
45selects words like the old code.
46 47
47=item I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I 48It will also work fine with tabbing functionality of many window managers
48change/disable it? 49or similar tabbing programs, and its embedding-features allow it to be
50embedded into other programs, as witnessed by F<doc/rxvt-tabbed> or
51the upcoming C<Gtk2::URxvt> perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt
52(murxvt) terminal as an example embedding application.
49 53
50You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the 54=head3 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
51B<perl-ext-common> resource to the empty string, which also keeps
52rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
53 55
54If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to 56The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape
55identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section 57sequence C<ESC [ 8 n> sets the window title to the version number. When
56B<PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS> in the @@RXVT_NAME@@perl(3) manpage. For 58using the @@URXVT_NAME@@c client, the version displayed is that of the
57example, to disable the B<selection-popup> and B<option-popup>, specify 59daemon.
58this B<perl-ext-common> resource:
59 60
60 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup 61=head3 Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
61 62
62This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup 63Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for something you
63extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example, 64don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings that
64scrollback search mode is triggered by B<M-s>. You can move it to any 65you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by design,
65other combination either by setting the B<searchable-scrollback> resource: 66when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be loaded
67accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your characters.
66 68
67 URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s 69Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
70scrollback buffers: Without C<--enable-unicode3>, rxvt-unicode will use
716 bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to almost a
72kilobyte per line. A scrollback buffer of 10000 lines will then (if full)
73use 10 Megabytes of memory. With C<--enable-unicode3> it gets worse, as
74rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
68 75
76=head3 How can I start @@URXVT_NAME@@d in a race-free way?
77
78Try C<@@URXVT_NAME@@d -f -o>, which tells @@URXVT_NAME@@d to open the
79display, create the listening socket and then fork.
80
81=head3 How can I start @@URXVT_NAME@@d automatically when I run @@URXVT_NAME@@c?
82
83If you want to start @@URXVT_NAME@@d automatically whenever you run
84@@URXVT_NAME@@c and the daemon isn't running yet, use this script:
85
86 #!/bin/sh
87 @@URXVT_NAME@@c "$@"
88 if [ $? -eq 2 ]; then
89 @@URXVT_NAME@@d -q -o -f
90 @@URXVT_NAME@@c "$@"
91 fi
92
93This tries to create a new terminal, and if fails with exit status 2,
94meaning it couldn't connect to the daemon, it will start the daemon and
95re-run the command. Subsequent invocations of the script will re-use the
96existing daemon.
97
98=head3 How do I distinguish whether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm? I need this to decide about setting colors etc.
99
100The original rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable "COLORTERM",
101so you can check and see if that is set. Note that several programs, JED,
102slrn, Midnight Commander automatically check this variable to decide
103whether or not to use color.
104
105=head3 How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?
106
107If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled
108insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script
109snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode
110wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in these snippets) then
111the COLORTERM variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from a
112regular xterm.
113
114Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script
115snippets:
116
117 # Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:
118 [ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know
119 if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
120 stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
121 echo -n '^[Z'
122 read term_id
123 stty icanon echo
124 if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
125 echo -n '^[[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
126 read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
127 fi
128 fi
129
130=head3 How do I compile the manual pages on my own?
131
132You need to have a recent version of perl installed as F</usr/bin/perl>,
133one that comes with F<pod2man>, F<pod2text> and F<pod2xhtml> (from
134F<Pod::Xhtml>). Then go to the doc subdirectory and enter C<make alldoc>.
135
69=item Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat? 136=head3 Isn't rxvt-unicode supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?
70 137
71I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra 138I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra
72bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see 139bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see
73that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always being 140that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always being
74compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) after startup. Even 141compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) after startup. Even
78 145
79 text data bss drs rss filename 146 text data bss drs rss filename
80 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything 147 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything
81 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything 148 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything
82 149
83When you C<--enable-everything> (which _is_ unfair, as this involves xft 150When you C<--enable-everything> (which I<is> unfair, as this involves xft
84and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my 151and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my
85libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so. 152libc), the two diverge, but not unreasonably so.
86 153
87 text data bss drs rss filename 154 text data bss drs rss filename
88 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything 155 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything
89 1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything 156 1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything
90 157
106(21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole (22200k + extra 173(21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole (22200k + extra
10743180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half a minute of 17443180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half a minute of
108startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits out), it fares 175startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits out), it fares
109extremely well *g*. 176extremely well *g*.
110 177
111=item Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool? 178=head3 Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?
112 179
113Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I had 180Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I had
114to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a fraction 181to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a fraction
115of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put even 182of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put even
116shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++. 183shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++.
133 200
134And here is rxvt-unicode: 201And here is rxvt-unicode:
135 202
136 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000) 203 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
137 libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000) 204 libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000)
138 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000) 205 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000)
139 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000) 206 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000)
140 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000) 207 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
141 208
142No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically), 209No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically),
143except maybe libX11 :) 210except maybe libX11 :)
144 211
145=item Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
146 212
147rxvt-unicode does not directly support tabs. It will work fine with 213=head2 Rendering, Font & Look and Feel Issues
148tabbing functionality of many window managers or similar tabbing programs,
149and its embedding-features allow it to be embedded into other programs,
150as witnessed by F<doc/rxvt-tabbed> or the upcoming C<Gtk2::URxvt> perl
151module, which features a tabbed urxvt (murxvt) terminal as an example
152embedding application.
153 214
154=item How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using? 215=head3 I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?
155 216
156The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape 217First of all, please address all transparency related issues to Sasha Vasko at
157sequence C<ESC [ 8 n> sets the window title to the version number. When 218sasha@aftercode.net and do not bug the author about it. Also, if you can't
158using the @@RXVT_NAME@@c client, the version displayed is that of the 219get it working consider it a rite of passage: ... and you failed.
159daemon.
160 220
161=item I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem... 221Here are four ways to get transparency. B<Do> read the manpage and option
222descriptions for the programs mentioned and rxvt-unicode. Really, do it!
162 223
163The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large 2241. Use transparent mode:
164patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode. Before
165reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please download and
166install the genuine version (L<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>)
167and try to reproduce the problem. If you cannot, chances are that the
168problems are specific to Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be
169reported via the Debian Bug Tracking System (use C<reportbug> to report
170the bug).
171 225
172For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and 226 Esetroot wallpaper.jpg
173probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's also a 227 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -tr -tint red -sh 40
174bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for other users that
175might encounter the same issue.
176 228
177=item I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation? 229That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack transparency and tinting
230support, or you are unable to read.
178 231
179You should build one binary with the default options. F<configure> 2322. Use a simple pixmap and emulate pseudo-transparency. This enables you
180now enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them 233to use effects other than tinting and shading: Just shade/tint/whatever
181runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling them, 234your picture with gimp or any other tool:
182except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter should
183be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely more in
184the future) depends on it.
185 235
186You should not overwrite the C<perl-ext-common> snd C<perl-ext> resources 236 convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.jpg
187system-wide (except maybe with C<defaults>). This will result in useful 237 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -pixmap "background.jpg;:root"
188behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty
189C<perl-ext-common> resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the
190perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it.
191 238
192If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal 239That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack AfterImage support, or you
193one with C<--disable-everything> (very useful) and a maximal one with 240are unable to read.
194C<--enable-everything> (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of
195encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used).
196 241
197=item I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe? 2423. Use an ARGB visual:
198 243
199Likely not. While I honestly try to make it secure, and am probably not 244 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -depth 32 -fg grey90 -bg rgba:0000/0000/4444/cccc
200bad at it, I think it is simply unreasonable to expect all of freetype
201+ fontconfig + xft + xlib + perl + ... + rxvt-unicode itself to all be
202secure. Also, rxvt-unicode disables some options when it detects that it
203runs setuid or setgid, which is not nice. Besides, with the embedded perl
204interpreter the possibility for security problems easily multiplies.
205 245
206Elevated privileges are only required for utmp and pty operations on some 246This requires XFT support, and the support of your X-server. If that
207systems (for example, GNU/Linux doesn't need any extra privileges for 247doesn't work for you, blame Xorg and Keith Packard. ARGB visuals aren't
208ptys, but some need it for utmp support). It is planned to mvoe this into 248there yet, no matter what they claim. Rxvt-Unicode contains the necessary
209a forked handler process, but this is not yet done. 249bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work, but that
250doesn't mean that your WM has the required kludges in place.
210 251
211So, while setuid/setgid operation is supported and not a problem on your 2524. Use xcompmgr and let it do the job:
212typical single-user-no-other-logins unix desktop, always remember that
213its an awful lot of code, most of which isn't checked for security issues
214regularly.
215 253
216=item When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? 254 xprop -frame -f _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 32c \
255 -set _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 0xc0000000
217 256
218The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available 257Then click on a window you want to make transparent. Replace C<0xc0000000>
219as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often arises). 258by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and
259your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces.
220 260
221The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this can
222be done like this (with ncurses' infocmp):
223
224 REMOTE=remotesystem.domain
225 infocmp rxvt-unicode | ssh $REMOTE "cat >/tmp/ti && tic /tmp/ti"
226
227... or by installing rxvt-unicode normally on the remote system,
228
229If you cannot or do not want to do this, then you can simply set
230C<TERM=rxvt> or even C<TERM=xterm>, and live with the small number of
231problems arising, which includes wrong keymapping, less and different
232colours and some refresh errors in fullscreen applications. It's a nice
233quick-and-dirty workaround for rare cases, though.
234
235If you always want to do this (and are fine with the consequences) you
236can either recompile rxvt-unicode with the desired TERM value or use a
237resource to set it:
238
239 URxvt.termName: rxvt
240
241If you don't plan to use B<rxvt> (quite common...) you could also replace
242the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one.
243
244=item C<tic> outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
245
246Most likely it's the empty definition for C<enacs=>. Just replace it by
247C<enacs=\E[0@> and try again.
248
249=item C<bash>'s readline does not work correctly under @@RXVT_NAME@@.
250
251=item I need a termcap file entry.
252
253One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating
254systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap
255library (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry
256for C<rxvt-unicode>.
257
258You could use rxvt's termcap entry with resonable results in many cases.
259You can also create a termcap entry by using terminfo's infocmp program
260like this:
261
262 infocmp -C rxvt-unicode
263
264Or you could use this termcap entry, generated by the command above:
265
266 rxvt-unicode|rxvt-unicode terminal (X Window System):\
267 :am:bw:eo:km:mi:ms:xn:xo:\
268 :co#80:it#8:li#24:lm#0:\
269 :AL=\E[%dL:DC=\E[%dP:DL=\E[%dM:DO=\E[%dB:IC=\E[%d@:\
270 :K1=\EOw:K2=\EOu:K3=\EOy:K4=\EOq:K5=\EOs:LE=\E[%dD:\
271 :RI=\E[%dC:SF=\E[%dS:SR=\E[%dT:UP=\E[%dA:ae=\E(B:al=\E[L:\
272 :as=\E(0:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[2J:\
273 :cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:ct=\E[3g:dc=\E[P:\
274 :dl=\E[M:do=^J:ec=\E[%dX:ei=\E[4l:ho=\E[H:\
275 :i1=\E[?47l\E=\E[?1l:ic=\E[@:im=\E[4h:\
276 :is=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l:\
277 :k1=\E[11~:k2=\E[12~:k3=\E[13~:k4=\E[14~:k5=\E[15~:\
278 :k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:kD=\E[3~:\
279 :kI=\E[2~:kN=\E[6~:kP=\E[5~:kb=\177:kd=\EOB:ke=\E[?1l\E>:\
280 :kh=\E[7~:kl=\EOD:kr=\EOC:ks=\E[?1h\E=:ku=\EOA:le=^H:\
281 :mb=\E[5m:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m\017:mr=\E[7m:nd=\E[C:rc=\E8:\
282 :sc=\E7:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:\
283 :te=\E[r\E[?1049l:ti=\E[?1049h:ue=\E[24m:up=\E[A:\
284 :us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
285 :vs=\E[?25h:
286
287=item Why does C<ls> no longer have coloured output?
288
289The C<ls> in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to
290decide wether a terminal has colour, but uses it's own configuration
291file. Needless to say, C<rxvt-unicode> is not in it's default file (among
292with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add:
293
294 TERM rxvt-unicode
295
296to C</etc/DIR_COLORS> or simply add:
297
298 alias ls='ls --color=auto'
299
300to your C<.profile> or C<.bashrc>.
301
302=item Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?
303
304=item Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?
305
306=item Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?
307
308Make sure you are using C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>. Some pre-packaged
309distributions (most notably Debian GNU/Linux) break rxvt-unicode
310by setting C<TERM> to C<rxvt>, which doesn't have these extra
311features. Unfortunately, some of these (most notably, again, Debian
312GNU/Linux) furthermore fail to even install the C<rxvt-unicode> terminfo
313file, so you will need to install it on your own (See the question B<When
314I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?> on
315how to do this).
316
317=item My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?
318
319Some Debian GNUL/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no
320specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is caused
321by the wrong C<TERM> setting, although the details of wether and how
322this can happen are unknown, as C<TERM=rxvt> should offer a compatible
323keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please report if that
324helped.
325
326=item Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?
327
328=item Unicode does not seem to work?
329
330If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but
331getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output is
332subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings.
333
334Rxvt-unicode must be started with the same C<LC_CTYPE> setting as the
335programs. Often rxvt-unicode is started in the C<C> locale, while the
336login script running within the rxvt-unicode window changes the locale to
337something else, e.g. C<en_GB.UTF-8>. Needless to say, this is not going to work.
338
339The best thing is to fix your startup environment, as you will likely run
340into other problems. If nothing works you can try this in your .profile.
341
342 printf '\e]701;%s\007' "$LC_CTYPE"
343
344If this doesn't work, then maybe you use a C<LC_CTYPE> specification not
345supported on your systems. Some systems have a C<locale> command which
346displays this (also, C<perl -e0> can be used to check locale settings, as
347it will complain loudly if it cannot set the locale). If it displays something
348like:
349
350 locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: ...
351
352Then the locale you specified is not supported on your system.
353
354If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then
355you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't
356support locales :(
357
358=item Why do some characters look so much different than others?
359
360=item How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?
361
362Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is
363fine. Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of
364your system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want
365to display.
366
367B<rxvt-unicode> makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement
368font. Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks
369bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't
370resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial
371intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe
372the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct.
373
374In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list,
375e.g.:
376
377 @@RXVT_NAME@@ -fn basefont,font2,font3...
378
379When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base
380font. If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the
381next font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
382search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X-server.
383
384The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the base
385font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size, which
386must be the same due to the way terminals work.
387
388=item Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
389
390This is because there is a difference between script and language --
391rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is,
392as it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first
393sees a japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for
394display. Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many
395chinese characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first
396non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese font
397-- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font for
398chinese characters that are also in the japanese font.
399
400The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font
401list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as
402a preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
403first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
404
405In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
406runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different
407fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this
408has been designed yet).
409
410Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see L<Can
411I switch the fonts at runtime?> later in this document).
412
413=item Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings? 261=head3 Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?
414 262
415Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that character 263Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that character
416size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal use might 264size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal use might
417contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode will avoid 265contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode will avoid
418these characters. For characters that are just "a bit" too wide a special 266these characters. For characters that are just "a bit" too wide a special
422however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed bounding 270however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed bounding
423box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct way is to 271box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct way is to
424ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is wrong in these 272ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is wrong in these
425cases). 273cases).
426 274
427It's not clear (to me at least), wether this is a bug in Xft, freetype, 275It's not clear (to me at least), whether this is a bug in Xft, freetype,
428or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try using 276or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try using
429the C<-lsp> option to give the font more height. If that doesn't work, you 277the C<-lsp> option to give the font more height. If that doesn't work, you
430might be forced to use a different font. 278might be forced to use a different font.
431 279
432All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their bounding 280All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their bounding
433box data is correct. 281box data is correct.
434 282
435=item On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide.
436
437Seems to be a known bug, read
438L<http://nixdoc.net/files/forum/about34198.html>. Some people use the
439following ugly workaround to get non-double-wide-characters working:
440
441 #define wcwidth(x) wcwidth(x) > 1 ? 1 : wcwidth(x)
442
443=item My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
444
445The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
446correctly, or you specified a B<preeditStyle> that is not supported by
447your input method. For example, if you specified B<OverTheSpot> and
448your input method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys)
449does not support this (for instance because it is not visual), then
450rxvt-unicode will continue without an input method.
451
452In this case either do not specify a B<preeditStyle> or specify more than
453one pre-edit style, such as B<OverTheSpot,Root,None>.
454
455=item I cannot type C<Ctrl-Shift-2> to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
456
457Either try C<Ctrl-2> alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
458international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
459advantage, typing <Ctrl-Shift-0> to get a ASCII NUL. This works for other
460codes, too, such as C<Ctrl-Shift-1-d> to type the default telnet escape
461character and so on.
462
463=item How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much? 283=head3 How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?
464 284
465First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings 285First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings
466(C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then 286(C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then
467make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise 287make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise
468rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect: 288rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect:
469 289
470 URxvt.colorBD: white 290 URxvt.colorBD: white
471 URxvt.colorIT: green 291 URxvt.colorIT: green
472 292
473=item Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that? 293=head3 Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?
474 294
475For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird 295For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird
476colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the standard 296colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the standard
4778 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of course, to fix 2978 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of course, to fix
478these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very good reasons. 298these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very good reasons.
479 299
480In the meantime, you can either edit your C<rxvt-unicode> terminfo 300In the meantime, you can either edit your C<rxvt-unicode> terminfo
481definition to only claim 8 colour support or use C<TERM=rxvt>, which will 301definition to only claim 8 colour support or use C<TERM=rxvt>, which will
482fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features. 302fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features.
483 303
484=item I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.
485
486Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> to be defined
487in your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it,
488wether it defines the symbol or not. C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> requires that
489B<wchar_t> is represented as unicode.
490
491As you might have guessed, FreeBSD does neither define this symobl nor
492does it support it. Instead, it uses it's own internal representation of
493B<wchar_t>. This is, of course, completely fine with respect to standards.
494
495However, that means rxvt-unicode only works in C<POSIX>, C<ISO-8859-1> and
496C<UTF-8> locales under FreeBSD (which all use Unicode as B<wchar_t>.
497
498C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> is the only sane way to support multi-language
499apps in an OS, as using a locale-dependent (and non-standardized)
500representation of B<wchar_t> makes it impossible to convert between
501B<wchar_t> (as used by X11 and your applications) and any other encoding
502without implementing OS-specific-wrappers for each and every locale. There
503simply are no APIs to convert B<wchar_t> into anything except the current
504locale encoding.
505
506Some applications (such as the formidable B<mlterm>) work around this
507by carrying their own replacement functions for character set handling
508with them, and either implementing OS-dependent hacks or doing multiple
509conversions (which is slow and unreliable in case the OS implements
510encodings slightly different than the terminal emulator).
511
512The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the
513system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry
514complete replacements for them :)
515
516=item I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc.
517
518Try the diff in F<doc/solaris9.patch> as a base. It fixes the worst
519problems with C<wcwidth> and a compile problem.
520
521=item How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
522
523rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using
524the X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no
525longer supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a
526single font). I recommend starting the X-server in C<-multiwindow> or
527C<-rootless> mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as the
528old libW11 emulation.
529
530At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any multi-byte
531encodings (you might try C<LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8>), so you are likely limited
532to 8-bit encodings.
533
534=item How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
535
536=item Is there an option to switch encodings?
537
538Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
539specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know about
540UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O.
541
542The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for selecting
543the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating this to all
544applications so everybody agrees on character properties such as width
545and code number. This mechanism is the I<locale>. Applications not using
546that info will have problems (for example, C<xterm> gets the width of
547characters wrong as it uses it's own, locale-independent table under all
548locales).
549
550Rxvt-unicode uses the C<LC_CTYPE> locale category to select encoding. All
551programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the
552interpretation of characters.
553
554Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor
555is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like.
556
557On most systems, the content of the C<LC_CTYPE> environment variable
558contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed
559locale. Common names for locales are C<en_US.UTF-8>, C<de_DE.ISO-8859-15>,
560C<ja_JP.EUC-JP>, i.e. C<language_country.encoding>, but other forms
561(i.e. C<de> or C<german>) are also common.
562
563Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for
564the encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings,
565i.e. C<de_DE.UTF-8> and C<ja_JP.UTF-8> are the normally same to
566rxvt-unicode.
567
568If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
569rxvt-unicode with the correct C<LC_CTYPE> category.
570
571=item Can I switch locales at runtime?
572
573Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
574rxvt-unicode's idea of C<LC_CTYPE>.
575
576 printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
577
578See also the previous answer.
579
580Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in
581one locale (e.g. C<de_DE.UTF-8>) but some programs don't support it
582(e.g. UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start C<xjdic>, which
583first switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
584
585 printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
586 xjdic -js
587 printf '\e]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8
588
589You can also use xterm's C<luit> program, which usually works fine, except
590for some locales where character width differs between program- and
591rxvt-unicode-locales.
592
593=item Can I switch the fonts at runtime? 304=head3 Can I switch the fonts at runtime?
594 305
595Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the same 306Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the same
596effect as using the C<-fn> switch, and takes effect immediately: 307effect as using the C<-fn> switch, and takes effect immediately:
597 308
598 printf '\e]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic" 309 printf '\33]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
599 310
600This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a 311This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a
601japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where 312japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where
602japanese fonts would only be in your way. 313japanese fonts would only be in your way.
603 314
604You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching. 315You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching.
605 316
606=item Why do italic characters look as if clipped? 317=head3 Why do italic characters look as if clipped?
607 318
608Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For 319Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For
609example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font C<xft:Bitstream Vera Sans 320example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font C<xft:Bitstream Vera Sans
610Mono> completely fails in it's italic face. A workaround might be to 321Mono> completely fails in its italic face. A workaround might be to
611enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this: 322enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:
612 323
613 URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true 324 URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
614 URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true 325 URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
615 326
616=item My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?
617
618You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of the
619terminal, using the resource C<imlocale>:
620
621 URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
622
623Now you can start your terminal with C<LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8> and still
624use your input method. Please note, however, that you will not be able to
625input characters outside C<EUC-JP> in a normal way then, as your input
626method limits you.
627
628=item Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
629
630Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
631design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
632leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at
633exit time. B<kinput2> (and derived input methods) generally succeeds,
634while B<SCIM> (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however,
635crashes cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate.
636
637So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
638
639=item Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
640
641Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for something you
642don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings that
643you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by design,
644when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be loaded
645accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your characters.
646
647Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
648scrollback buffers: Without C<--enable-unicode3>, rxvt-unicode will use
6496 bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to almost a
650kilobyte per line. A scrollback buffer of 10000 lines will then (if full)
651use 10 Megabytes of memory. With C<--enable-unicode3> it gets worse, as
652rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
653
654=item Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow? 327=head3 Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?
655 328
656Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as 329Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as
657it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable 330it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable
658antialiasing (by appending C<:antialias=false>), which saves lots of 331antialiasing (by appending C<:antialias=false>), which saves lots of
659memory and also speeds up rendering considerably. 332memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
660 333
661=item Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong? 334=head3 Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?
662 335
663Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to 336Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to
664fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core 337fall back to its default font search list it will prefer X11 core
665fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has 338fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has
666antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they 339antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they
667look best that way. 340look best that way.
668 341
669If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually. 342If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually.
670 343
671=item Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
672
673Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing
674some editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode. I've
675heard that tcsh may use mouse reporting unless it otherwise specified. A
676quick check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are
677depressed.
678
679=item What's with this bold/blink stuff? 344=head3 What's with this bold/blink stuff?
680 345
681If no bold colour is set via C<colorBD:>, bold will invert text using the 346If no bold colour is set via C<colorBD:>, bold will invert text using the
682standard foreground colour. 347standard foreground colour.
683 348
684For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the 349For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make
685text blink when compiled with C<--enable-blinking>. with standard 350the text blink when compiled with C<--enable-text-blink>. Without
686colours. Without C<--enable-blinking>, the blink attribute will be 351C<--enable-text-blink>, the blink attribute will be ignored.
687ignored.
688 352
689On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity 353On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity
690foreground/background colors. 354foreground/background colors.
691 355
692color0-7 are the low-intensity colors. 356color0-7 are the low-intensity colors.
693 357
694color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colors. 358color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colors.
695 359
696=item I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them? 360=head3 I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them?
697 361
698You can change the screen colors at run-time using F<~/.Xdefaults> 362You can change the screen colors at run-time using F<~/.Xdefaults>
699resources (or as long-options). 363resources (or as long-options).
700 364
701Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen, 365Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen,
717 URxvt.color12: #0000FF 381 URxvt.color12: #0000FF
718 URxvt.color13: #FF00FF 382 URxvt.color13: #FF00FF
719 URxvt.color14: #00FFFF 383 URxvt.color14: #00FFFF
720 URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF 384 URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF
721 385
722And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors described (not by 386And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors.
723me) as "pretty girly".
724 387
725 URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1 388 URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1
726 URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1 389 URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1
727 URxvt.background: #0e0e0e 390 URxvt.background: #0e0e0e
728 URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1 391 URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1
739 URxvt.color6: #73f7ff 402 URxvt.color6: #73f7ff
740 URxvt.color14: #73f7ff 403 URxvt.color14: #73f7ff
741 URxvt.color7: #e1dddd 404 URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
742 URxvt.color15: #e1dddd 405 URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
743 406
744=item How can I start @@RXVT_NAME@@d in a race-free way? 407They have been described (not by me) as "pretty girly".
745 408
746Try C<@@RXVT_NAME@@d -f -o>, which tells @@RXVT_NAME@@d to open the 409=head3 Why do some characters look so much different than others?
747display, create the listening socket and then fork.
748 410
411See next entry.
412
413=head3 How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?
414
415Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is
416fine. Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of
417your system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want
418to display.
419
420B<rxvt-unicode> makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement
421font. Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks
422bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't
423resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial
424intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe
425the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct.
426
427In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list,
428e.g.:
429
430 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -fn basefont,font2,font3...
431
432When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base
433font. If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the
434next font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
435search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X-server.
436
437The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the base
438font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size, which
439must be the same due to the way terminals work.
440
441=head3 Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
442
443This is because there is a difference between script and language --
444rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is,
445as it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first
446sees a japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for
447display. Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many
448chinese characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first
449non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese font
450-- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font for
451chinese characters that are also in the japanese font.
452
453The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font
454list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as
455a preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
456first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
457
458In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
459runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different
460fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this
461has been designed yet).
462
463Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see L<Can
464I switch the fonts at runtime?> later in this document).
465
466=head3 How can I make mplayer display video correctly?
467
468We are working on it, in the meantime, as a workaround, use something like:
469
470 @@URXVT_NAME@@ -b 600 -geometry 20x1 -e sh -c 'mplayer -wid $WINDOWID file...'
471
472
473=head2 Keyboard, Mouse & User Interaction
474
475=head3 The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?
476
477If you want to select e.g. alphanumeric words, you can use the following
478setting:
479
480 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+)
481
482If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended
483more and more.
484
485To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this pattern:
486
487 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\\\\]^`{|})]+)
488
489Please also note that the I<LeftClick Shift-LeftClick> combination also
490selects words like the old code.
491
492=head3 I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?
493
494You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the
495B<perl-ext-common> resource to the empty string, which also keeps
496rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
497
498If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to
499identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section
500B<PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS> in the @@URXVT_NAME@@perl(3) manpage. For
501example, to disable the B<selection-popup> and B<option-popup>, specify
502this B<perl-ext-common> resource:
503
504 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup
505
506This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup
507extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example,
508scrollback search mode is triggered by B<M-s>. You can move it to any
509other combination either by setting the B<searchable-scrollback> resource:
510
511 URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s
512
513=head3 The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off?
514
515See next entry.
516
517=head3 During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?
518
519These are caused by the C<readline> perl extension. Under normal
520circumstances, it will move your cursor around when you click into the
521line that contains it. It tries hard not to do this at the wrong moment,
522but when running a program that doesn't parse cursor movements or in some
523cases during rlogin sessions, it fails to detect this properly.
524
525You can permanently switch this feature off by disabling the C<readline>
526extension:
527
528 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline
529
530=head3 My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?
531
532Some Debian GNUL/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no
533specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is caused
534by the wrong C<TERM> setting, although the details of whether and how
535this can happen are unknown, as C<TERM=rxvt> should offer a compatible
536keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please report if that
537helped.
538
539=head3 My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
540
541The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
542correctly, or you specified a B<preeditStyle> that is not supported by
543your input method. For example, if you specified B<OverTheSpot> and
544your input method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys)
545does not support this (for instance because it is not visual), then
546rxvt-unicode will continue without an input method.
547
548In this case either do not specify a B<preeditStyle> or specify more than
549one pre-edit style, such as B<OverTheSpot,Root,None>.
550
551=head3 I cannot type C<Ctrl-Shift-2> to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
552
553Either try C<Ctrl-2> alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
554international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
555advantage, typing <Ctrl-Shift-0> to get a ASCII NUL. This works for other
556codes, too, such as C<Ctrl-Shift-1-d> to type the default telnet escape
557character and so on.
558
559=head3 Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
560
561Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing
562some editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode. I've
563heard that tcsh may use mouse reporting unless it otherwise specified. A
564quick check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are
565depressed.
566
749=item What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour? 567=head3 What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
750 568
751Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the 569Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the
752BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following 570Backspace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following
753question) there are two standard values that can be used for 571question) there are two standard values that can be used for
754Backspace: C<^H> and C<^?>. 572Backspace: C<^H> and C<^?>.
755 573
756Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the debian 574Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the debian
757policy of using C<^?> when unsure, because it's the one only only correct 575policy of using C<^?> when unsure, because it's the one and only correct
758choice :). 576choice :).
759 577
760Rxvt-unicode tries to inherit the current stty settings and uses the value 578Rxvt-unicode tries to inherit the current stty settings and uses the value
761of `erase' to guess the value for backspace. If rxvt-unicode wasn't 579of `erase' to guess the value for backspace. If rxvt-unicode wasn't
762started from a terminal (say, from a menu or by remote shell), then the 580started from a terminal (say, from a menu or by remote shell), then the
765 583
766For starting a new rxvt-unicode: 584For starting a new rxvt-unicode:
767 585
768 # use Backspace = ^H 586 # use Backspace = ^H
769 $ stty erase ^H 587 $ stty erase ^H
770 $ @@RXVT_NAME@@ 588 $ @@URXVT_NAME@@
771 589
772 # use Backspace = ^? 590 # use Backspace = ^?
773 $ stty erase ^? 591 $ stty erase ^?
774 $ @@RXVT_NAME@@ 592 $ @@URXVT_NAME@@
775 593
776Toggle with C<ESC [ 36 h> / C<ESC [ 36 l>. 594Toggle with C<ESC [ 36 h> / C<ESC [ 36 l>.
777 595
778For an existing rxvt-unicode: 596For an existing rxvt-unicode:
779 597
800some editors (vim I'm told) expect Backspace = ^H, 618some editors (vim I'm told) expect Backspace = ^H,
801GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help. 619GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help.
802 620
803Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner. 621Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.
804 622
805=item I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them? 623=head3 I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?
806 624
807There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless 625There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless
808you have run "configure" with the C<--disable-resources> option you can 626you have run "configure" with the C<--disable-resources> option you can
809use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with keysyms. 627use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with keysyms.
810 628
811Here's an example for a URxvt session started using C<@@RXVT_NAME@@ -name URxvt> 629Here's an example for a URxvt session started using C<@@URXVT_NAME@@ -name URxvt>
812 630
813 URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[1~ 631 URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[1~
814 URxvt.keysym.End: \033[4~ 632 URxvt.keysym.End: \033[4~
815 URxvt.keysym.C-apostrophe: \033<C-'> 633 URxvt.keysym.C-apostrophe: \033<C-'>
816 URxvt.keysym.C-slash: \033<C-/> 634 URxvt.keysym.C-slash: \033<C-/>
831 URxvt.keysym.M-C-a: list \033<M-C- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz > 649 URxvt.keysym.M-C-a: list \033<M-C- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz >
832 URxvt.keysym.F12: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007 650 URxvt.keysym.F12: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007
833 651
834See some more examples in the documentation for the B<keysym> resource. 652See some more examples in the documentation for the B<keysym> resource.
835 653
836=item I'm using keyboard model XXX that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys. 654=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
837How do I make use of them? For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4
838has the following mappings that rxvt-unicode doesn't recognize.
839 655
840 KP_Insert == Insert 656 KP_Insert == Insert
841 F22 == Print 657 F22 == Print
842 F27 == Home 658 F27 == Home
843 F29 == Prior 659 F29 == Prior
846 662
847Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various possible 663Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various possible
848keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the keys as 664keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the keys as
849required for your particular machine. 665required for your particular machine.
850 666
851=item How do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm?
852I need this to decide about setting colors etc.
853 667
854rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable "COLORTERM", so you can 668=head2 Terminal Configuration
855check and see if that is set. Note that several programs, JED, slrn,
856Midnight Commander automatically check this variable to decide whether or
857not to use color.
858 669
859=item How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable? 670=head3 Can I see a typical configuration?
860 671
861If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled 672The default configuration tries to be xterm-like, which I don't like that
862insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script 673much, but it's least surprise to regular users.
863snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode
864wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in these snippets) then
865the COLORTERM variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from a
866regular xterm.
867 674
868Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script 675As a rxvt or rxvt-unicode user, you are practically supposed to invest
869snippets: 676time into customising your terminal. To get you started, here is the
677author's .Xdefaults entries, with comments on what they do. It's certainly
678not I<typical>, but what's typical...
870 679
871 # Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells: 680 URxvt.cutchars: "()*,<>[]{}|'
872 [ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know 681 URxvt.print-pipe: cat >/tmp/xxx
873 if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
874 stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
875 echo -n '^[Z'
876 read term_id
877 stty icanon echo
878 if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
879 echo -n '^[[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
880 read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
881 fi
882 fi
883 682
884=item How do I compile the manual pages for myself? 683These are just for testing stuff.
885 684
886You need to have a recent version of perl installed as F</usr/bin/perl>, 685 URxvt.imLocale: ja_JP.UTF-8
887one that comes with F<pod2man>, F<pod2text> and F<pod2html>. Then go to 686 URxvt.preeditType: OnTheSpot,None
888the doc subdirectory and enter C<make alldoc>.
889 687
890=item My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human? 688This tells rxvt-unicode to use a special locale when communicating with
689the X Input Method, and also tells it to only use the OnTheSpot pre-edit
690type, which requires the C<xim-onthespot> perl extension but rewards me
691with correct-looking fonts.
891 692
892Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: C<irc.freenode.net>, 693 URxvt.perl-lib: /root/lib/urxvt
893channel C<#rxvt-unicode> has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be 694 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,selection-autotransform,selection-pastebin,xim-onthespot,remote-clipboard
894interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :). 695 URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ( at .*? line \\d+)
696 URxvt.selection.pattern-1: ^(/[^:]+):\
697 URxvt.selection-autotransform.0: s/^([^:[:space:]]+):(\\d+):?$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/
698 URxvt.selection-autotransform.1: s/^ at (.*?) line (\\d+)$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/
699
700This is my perl configuration. The first two set the perl library
701directory and also tells urxvt to use a large number of extensions. I
702develop for myself mostly, so I actually use most of the extensions I
703write.
704
705The selection stuff mainly makes the selection perl-error-message aware
706and tells it to convert perl error messages into vi-commands to load the
707relevant file and go tot he error line number.
708
709 URxvt.scrollstyle: plain
710 URxvt.secondaryScroll: true
711
712As the documentation says: plain is the preferred scrollbar for the
713author. The C<secondaryScroll> configures urxvt to scroll in full-screen
714apps, like screen, so lines scrolled out of screen end up in urxvt's
715scrollback buffer.
716
717 URxvt.background: #000000
718 URxvt.foreground: gray90
719 URxvt.color7: gray90
720 URxvt.colorBD: #ffffff
721 URxvt.cursorColor: #e0e080
722 URxvt.throughColor: #8080f0
723 URxvt.highlightColor: #f0f0f0
724
725Some colours. Not sure which ones are being used or even non-defaults, but
726these are in my .Xdefaults. Most notably, they set foreground/background
727to light gray/black, and also make sure that the colour 7 matches the
728default foreground colour.
729
730 URxvt.underlineColor: yellow
731
732Another colour, makes underline lines look different. Sometimes hurts, but
733is mostly a nice effect.
734
735 URxvt.geometry: 154x36
736 URxvt.loginShell: false
737 URxvt.meta: ignore
738 URxvt.utmpInhibit: true
739
740Uh, well, should be mostly self-explanatory. By specifying some defaults
741manually, I can quickly switch them for testing.
742
743 URxvt.saveLines: 8192
744
745A large scrollback buffer is essential. Really.
746
747 URxvt.mapAlert: true
748
749The only case I use it is for my IRC window, which I like to keep
750iconified till people msg me (which beeps).
751
752 URxvt.visualBell: true
753
754The audible bell is often annoying, especially when in a crowd.
755
756 URxvt.insecure: true
757
758Please don't hack my mutt! Ooops...
759
760 URxvt.pastableTabs: false
761
762I once thought this is a great idea.
763
764 urxvt.font: 9x15bold,\
765 -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1,\
766 -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1, \
767 [codeset=JISX0208]xft:Kochi Gothic, \
768 xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:autohint=true, \
769 xft:Code2000:antialias=false
770 urxvt.boldFont: -xos4-terminus-bold-r-normal--14-140-72-72-c-80-iso8859-15
771 urxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
772 urxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
773
774I wrote rxvt-unicode to be able to specify fonts exactly. So don't be
775overwhelmed. A special note: the C<9x15bold> mentioned above is actually
776the version from XFree-3.3, as XFree-4 replaced it by a totally different
777font (different glyphs for C<;> and many other harmless characters),
778while the second font is actually the C<9x15bold> from XFree4/XOrg. The
779bold version has less chars than the medium version, so I use it for rare
780characters, too. When editing sources with vim, I use italic for comments
781and other stuff, which looks quite good with Bitstream Vera anti-aliased.
782
783Terminus is a quite bad font (many very wrong glyphs), but for most of my
784purposes, it works, and gives a different look, as my normal (Non-bold)
785font is already bold, and I want to see a difference between bold and
786normal fonts.
787
788Please note that I used the C<urxvt> instance name and not the C<URxvt>
789class name. Thats because I use different configs for different purposes,
790for example, my IRC window is started with C<-name IRC>, and uses these
791defaults:
792
793 IRC*title: IRC
794 IRC*geometry: 87x12+535+542
795 IRC*saveLines: 0
796 IRC*mapAlert: true
797 IRC*font: suxuseuro
798 IRC*boldFont: suxuseuro
799 IRC*colorBD: white
800 IRC*keysym.M-C-1: command:\033]710;suxuseuro\007\033]711;suxuseuro\007
801 IRC*keysym.M-C-2: command:\033]710;9x15bold\007\033]711;9x15bold\007
802
803C<Alt-Shift-1> and C<Alt-Shift-2> switch between two different font
804sizes. C<suxuseuro> allows me to keep an eye (and actually read)
805stuff while keeping a very small window. If somebody pastes something
806complicated (e.g. japanese), I temporarily switch to a larger font.
807
808The above is all in my C<.Xdefaults> (I don't use C<.Xresources> nor
809C<xrdb>). I also have some resources in a separate C<.Xdefaults-hostname>
810file for different hosts, for example, on ym main desktop, I use:
811
812 URxvt.keysym.C-M-q: command:\033[3;5;5t
813 URxvt.keysym.C-M-y: command:\033[3;5;606t
814 URxvt.keysym.C-M-e: command:\033[3;1605;5t
815 URxvt.keysym.C-M-c: command:\033[3;1605;606t
816 URxvt.keysym.C-M-p: perl:test
817
818The first for keysym definitions allow me to quickly bring some windows
819in the layout I like most. Ion users might start laughing but will stop
820immediately when I tell them that I use my own Fvwm2 module for much the
821same effect as Ion provides, and I only very rarely use the above key
822combinations :->
823
824=head3 Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?
825
826Well, why, indeed? It does, in a way very similar to other X
827applications. Most importantly, this means that if you or your OS loads
828resources into the X display (the right way to do it), rxvt-unicode will
829ignore any resource files in your home directory. It will only read
830F<$HOME/.Xdefaults> when no resources are attached to the display.
831
832If you have or use an F<$HOME/.Xresources> file, chances are that
833resources are loaded into your X-server. In this case, you have to
834re-login after every change (or run F<xrdb -merge $HOME/.Xresources>).
835
836Also consider the form resources have to use:
837
838 URxvt.resource: value
839
840If you want to use another form (there are lots of different ways of
841specifying resources), make sure you understand whether and why it
842works. If unsure, use the form above.
843
844=head3 When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?
845
846The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available
847as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often arises).
848
849The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this can
850be done like this (with ncurses' infocmp and works as user and admin):
851
852 REMOTE=remotesystem.domain
853 infocmp rxvt-unicode | ssh $REMOTE "mkdir -p .terminfo && cat >/tmp/ti && tic /tmp/ti"
854
855... or by installing rxvt-unicode normally on the remote system,
856
857One some systems you might need to set C<$TERMINFO> to the full path of
858F<$HOME/.terminfo> for this to work.
859
860If you cannot or do not want to do this, then you can simply set
861C<TERM=rxvt> or even C<TERM=xterm>, and live with the small number of
862problems arising, which includes wrong keymapping, less and different
863colours and some refresh errors in fullscreen applications. It's a nice
864quick-and-dirty workaround for rare cases, though.
865
866If you always want to do this (and are fine with the consequences) you
867can either recompile rxvt-unicode with the desired TERM value or use a
868resource to set it:
869
870 URxvt.termName: rxvt
871
872If you don't plan to use B<rxvt> (quite common...) you could also replace
873the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one and use C<TERM=rxvt>.
874
875=head3 C<tic> outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
876
877Most likely it's the empty definition for C<enacs=>. Just replace it by
878C<enacs=\E[0@> and try again.
879
880=head3 C<bash>'s readline does not work correctly under @@URXVT_NAME@@.
881
882See next entry.
883
884=head3 I need a termcap file entry.
885
886One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating
887systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap
888library (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry
889for C<rxvt-unicode>.
890
891You could use rxvt's termcap entry with reasonable results in many cases.
892You can also create a termcap entry by using terminfo's infocmp program
893like this:
894
895 infocmp -C rxvt-unicode
896
897Or you could use the termcap entry in doc/etc/rxvt-unicode.termcap,
898generated by the command above.
899
900=head3 Why does C<ls> no longer have coloured output?
901
902The C<ls> in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to
903decide whether a terminal has colour, but uses its own configuration
904file. Needless to say, C<rxvt-unicode> is not in its default file (among
905with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add:
906
907 TERM rxvt-unicode
908
909to C</etc/DIR_COLORS> or simply add:
910
911 alias ls='ls --color=auto'
912
913to your C<.profile> or C<.bashrc>.
914
915=head3 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?
916
917See next entry.
918
919=head3 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?
920
921See next entry.
922
923=head3 Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?
924
925Make sure you are using C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>. Some pre-packaged
926distributions (most notably Debian GNU/Linux) break rxvt-unicode
927by setting C<TERM> to C<rxvt>, which doesn't have these extra
928features. Unfortunately, some of these (most notably, again, Debian
929GNU/Linux) furthermore fail to even install the C<rxvt-unicode> terminfo
930file, so you will need to install it on your own (See the question B<When
931I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?> on
932how to do this).
933
934
935=head2 Encoding / Locale / Input Method Issues
936
937=head3 Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?
938
939See next entry.
940
941=head3 Unicode does not seem to work?
942
943If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but
944getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output is
945subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings.
946
947Rxvt-unicode must be started with the same C<LC_CTYPE> setting as the
948programs running in it. Often rxvt-unicode is started in the C<C> locale,
949while the login script running within the rxvt-unicode window changes the
950locale to something else, e.g. C<en_GB.UTF-8>. Needless to say, this is
951not going to work, and is the most common cause for problems.
952
953The best thing is to fix your startup environment, as you will likely run
954into other problems. If nothing works you can try this in your .profile.
955
956 printf '\33]701;%s\007' "$LC_CTYPE" # $LANG or $LC_ALL are worth a try, too
957
958If this doesn't work, then maybe you use a C<LC_CTYPE> specification not
959supported on your systems. Some systems have a C<locale> command which
960displays this (also, C<perl -e0> can be used to check locale settings, as
961it will complain loudly if it cannot set the locale). If it displays something
962like:
963
964 locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: ...
965
966Then the locale you specified is not supported on your system.
967
968If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then
969you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't
970support locales :(
971
972=head3 How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
973
974See next entry.
975
976=head3 Is there an option to switch encodings?
977
978Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
979specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know about
980UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O.
981
982The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for selecting
983the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating this to all
984applications so everybody agrees on character properties such as width
985and code number. This mechanism is the I<locale>. Applications not using
986that info will have problems (for example, C<xterm> gets the width of
987characters wrong as it uses its own, locale-independent table under all
988locales).
989
990Rxvt-unicode uses the C<LC_CTYPE> locale category to select encoding. All
991programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the
992interpretation of characters.
993
994Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor
995is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like.
996
997On most systems, the content of the C<LC_CTYPE> environment variable
998contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed
999locale. Common names for locales are C<en_US.UTF-8>, C<de_DE.ISO-8859-15>,
1000C<ja_JP.EUC-JP>, i.e. C<language_country.encoding>, but other forms
1001(i.e. C<de> or C<german>) are also common.
1002
1003Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for
1004the encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings,
1005i.e. C<de_DE.UTF-8> and C<ja_JP.UTF-8> are the normally same to
1006rxvt-unicode.
1007
1008If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
1009rxvt-unicode with the correct C<LC_CTYPE> category.
1010
1011=head3 Can I switch locales at runtime?
1012
1013Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
1014rxvt-unicode's idea of C<LC_CTYPE>.
1015
1016 printf '\33]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
1017
1018See also the previous answer.
1019
1020Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in
1021one locale (e.g. C<de_DE.UTF-8>) but some programs don't support it
1022(e.g. UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start C<xjdic>, which
1023first switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
1024
1025 printf '\33]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
1026 xjdic -js
1027 printf '\33]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8
1028
1029You can also use xterm's C<luit> program, which usually works fine, except
1030for some locales where character width differs between program- and
1031rxvt-unicode-locales.
1032
1033=head3 I have problems getting my input method working.
1034
1035Try a search engine, as this is slightly different for every input method server.
1036
1037Here is a checklist:
1038
1039=over 4
1040
1041=item - Make sure your locale I<and> the imLocale are supported on your OS.
1042
1043Try C<locale -a> or check the documentation for your OS.
1044
1045=item - Make sure your locale or imLocale matches a locale supported by your XIM.
1046
1047For example, B<kinput2> does not support UTF-8 locales, you should use
1048C<ja_JP.EUC-JP> or equivalent.
1049
1050=item - Make sure your XIM server is actually running.
1051
1052=item - Make sure the C<XMODIFIERS> environment variable is set correctly when I<starting> rxvt-unicode.
1053
1054When you want to use e.g. B<kinput2>, it must be set to
1055C<@im=kinput2>. For B<scim>, use C<@im=SCIM>. You can see what input
1056method servers are running with this command:
1057
1058 xprop -root XIM_SERVERS
1059
1060=item
895 1061
896=back 1062=back
897 1063
1064=head3 My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?
1065
1066You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of the
1067terminal, using the resource C<imlocale>:
1068
1069 URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
1070
1071Now you can start your terminal with C<LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8> and still
1072use your input method. Please note, however, that, depending on your Xlib
1073version, you may not be able to input characters outside C<EUC-JP> in a
1074normal way then, as your input method limits you.
1075
1076=head3 Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
1077
1078Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
1079design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
1080leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at
1081exit time. B<kinput2> (and derived input methods) generally succeeds,
1082while B<SCIM> (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however,
1083crashes cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate.
1084
1085So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
1086
1087
1088=head2 Operating Systems / Package Maintaining
1089
1090=head3 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...
1091
1092The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large
1093patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode (but
1094unfortunately this notice has been removed). Before reporting a bug to
1095the original rxvt-unicode author please download and install the genuine
1096version (L<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>) and try to reproduce
1097the problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific to
1098Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the Debian Bug
1099Tracking System (use C<reportbug> to report the bug).
1100
1101For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and
1102probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's also a
1103bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for other users that
1104might encounter the same issue.
1105
1106=head3 I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation?
1107
1108You should build one binary with the default options. F<configure>
1109now enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
1110runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enabling them,
1111except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter should
1112be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely more in
1113the future) depends on it.
1114
1115You should not overwrite the C<perl-ext-common> snd C<perl-ext> resources
1116system-wide (except maybe with C<defaults>). This will result in useful
1117behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty
1118C<perl-ext-common> resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the
1119perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it.
1120
1121If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal
1122one with C<--disable-everything> (very useful) and a maximal one with
1123C<--enable-everything> (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of
1124encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used).
1125
1126=head3 I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe?
1127
1128It should be, starting with release 7.1. You are encouraged to properly
1129install urxvt with privileges necessary for your OS now.
1130
1131When rxvt-unicode detects that it runs setuid or setgid, it will fork
1132into a helper process for privileged operations (pty handling on some
1133systems, utmp/wtmp/lastlog handling on others) and drop privileges
1134immediately. This is much safer than most other terminals that keep
1135privileges while running (but is more relevant to urxvt, as it contains
1136things as perl interpreters, which might be "helpful" to attackers).
1137
1138This forking is done as the very first within main(), which is very early
1139and reduces possible bugs to initialisation code run before main(), or
1140things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should result in very
1141little risk.
1142
1143=head3 I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.
1144
1145Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> to be defined
1146in your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it,
1147whether it defines the symbol or not. C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> requires that
1148B<wchar_t> is represented as unicode.
1149
1150As you might have guessed, FreeBSD does neither define this symbol nor
1151does it support it. Instead, it uses its own internal representation of
1152B<wchar_t>. This is, of course, completely fine with respect to standards.
1153
1154However, that means rxvt-unicode only works in C<POSIX>, C<ISO-8859-1> and
1155C<UTF-8> locales under FreeBSD (which all use Unicode as B<wchar_t>).
1156
1157C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> is the only sane way to support multi-language
1158apps in an OS, as using a locale-dependent (and non-standardized)
1159representation of B<wchar_t> makes it impossible to convert between
1160B<wchar_t> (as used by X11 and your applications) and any other encoding
1161without implementing OS-specific-wrappers for each and every locale. There
1162simply are no APIs to convert B<wchar_t> into anything except the current
1163locale encoding.
1164
1165Some applications (such as the formidable B<mlterm>) work around this
1166by carrying their own replacement functions for character set handling
1167with them, and either implementing OS-dependent hacks or doing multiple
1168conversions (which is slow and unreliable in case the OS implements
1169encodings slightly different than the terminal emulator).
1170
1171The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the
1172system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry
1173complete replacements for them :)
1174
1175=head3 How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
1176
1177rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using
1178the X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no
1179longer supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a
1180single font). I recommend starting the X-server in C<-multiwindow> or
1181C<-rootless> mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as the
1182old libW11 emulation.
1183
1184At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any multi-byte
1185encodings (you might try C<LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8>), so you are likely limited
1186to 8-bit encodings.
1187
1188=head3 Character widths are not correct.
1189
1190urxvt uses the system wcwidth function to know the information about
1191the width of characters, so on systems with incorrect locale data you
1192will likely get bad results. Two notorious examples are Solaris 9,
1193where single-width characters like U+2514 are reported as double-width,
1194and Darwin 8, where combining chars are reported having width 1.
1195
1196The solution is to upgrade your system or switch to a better one. A
1197possibly working workaround is to use a wcwidth implementation like
1198
1199http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/wcwidth.c
1200
898=head1 RXVT TECHNICAL REFERENCE 1201=head1 RXVT-UNICODE TECHNICAL REFERENCE
899
900=head1 DESCRIPTION
901 1202
902The rest of this document describes various technical aspects of 1203The rest of this document describes various technical aspects of
903B<rxvt-unicode>. First the description of supported command sequences, 1204B<rxvt-unicode>. First the description of supported command sequences,
904followed by pixmap support and last by a description of all features 1205followed by pixmap support and last by a description of all features
905selectable at C<configure> time. 1206selectable at C<configure> time.
906 1207
907=head1 Definitions 1208=head2 Definitions
908 1209
909=over 4 1210=over 4
910 1211
911=item B<< C<c> >> 1212=item B<< C<c> >>
912 1213
930 1231
931A text parameter composed of printable characters. 1232A text parameter composed of printable characters.
932 1233
933=back 1234=back
934 1235
935=head1 Values 1236=head2 Values
936 1237
937=over 4 1238=over 4
938 1239
939=item B<< C<ENQ> >> 1240=item B<< C<ENQ> >>
940 1241
983 1284
984Space Character 1285Space Character
985 1286
986=back 1287=back
987 1288
988=head1 Escape Sequences 1289=head2 Escape Sequences
989 1290
990=over 4 1291=over 4
991 1292
992=item B<< C<ESC # 8> >> 1293=item B<< C<ESC # 8> >>
993 1294
1091 1392
1092=back 1393=back
1093 1394
1094X<CSI> 1395X<CSI>
1095 1396
1096=head1 CSI (Command Sequence Introducer) Sequences 1397=head2 CSI (Command Sequence Introducer) Sequences
1097 1398
1098=over 4 1399=over 4
1099 1400
1100=item B<< C<ESC [ Ps @> >> 1401=item B<< C<ESC [ Ps @> >>
1101 1402
1156=begin table 1457=begin table
1157 1458
1158 B<< C<Ps = 0> >> Clear to Right (default) 1459 B<< C<Ps = 0> >> Clear to Right (default)
1159 B<< C<Ps = 1> >> Clear to Left 1460 B<< C<Ps = 1> >> Clear to Left
1160 B<< C<Ps = 2> >> Clear All 1461 B<< C<Ps = 2> >> Clear All
1462 B<< C<Ps = 3> >> Like Ps = 0, but is ignored when wrapped
1463 (@@RXVT_NAME@@ extension)
1161 1464
1162=end table 1465=end table
1163 1466
1164=item B<< C<ESC [ Ps L> >> 1467=item B<< C<ESC [ Ps L> >>
1165 1468
1371 1674
1372=back 1675=back
1373 1676
1374X<PrivateModes> 1677X<PrivateModes>
1375 1678
1376=head1 DEC Private Modes 1679=head2 DEC Private Modes
1377 1680
1378=over 4 1681=over 4
1379 1682
1380=item B<< C<ESC [ ? Pm h> >> 1683=item B<< C<ESC [ ? Pm h> >>
1381 1684
1397 1700
1398Toggle DEC Private Mode Values (rxvt extension). I<where> 1701Toggle DEC Private Mode Values (rxvt extension). I<where>
1399 1702
1400=over 4 1703=over 4
1401 1704
1402=item B<< C<Ps = 1> >> (DECCKM) 1705=item B<< C<Pm = 1> >> (DECCKM)
1403 1706
1404=begin table 1707=begin table
1405 1708
1406 B<< C<h> >> Application Cursor Keys 1709 B<< C<h> >> Application Cursor Keys
1407 B<< C<l> >> Normal Cursor Keys 1710 B<< C<l> >> Normal Cursor Keys
1408 1711
1409=end table 1712=end table
1410 1713
1411=item B<< C<Ps = 2> >> (ANSI/VT52 mode) 1714=item B<< C<Pm = 2> >> (ANSI/VT52 mode)
1412 1715
1413=begin table 1716=begin table
1414 1717
1415 B<< C<h> >> Enter VT52 mode 1718 B<< C<h> >> Enter VT52 mode
1416 B<< C<l> >> Enter VT52 mode 1719 B<< C<l> >> Enter VT52 mode
1417 1720
1418=end table 1721=end table
1419 1722
1420=item B<< C<Ps = 3> >> 1723=item B<< C<Pm = 3> >>
1421 1724
1422=begin table 1725=begin table
1423 1726
1424 B<< C<h> >> 132 Column Mode (DECCOLM) 1727 B<< C<h> >> 132 Column Mode (DECCOLM)
1425 B<< C<l> >> 80 Column Mode (DECCOLM) 1728 B<< C<l> >> 80 Column Mode (DECCOLM)
1426 1729
1427=end table 1730=end table
1428 1731
1429=item B<< C<Ps = 4> >> 1732=item B<< C<Pm = 4> >>
1430 1733
1431=begin table 1734=begin table
1432 1735
1433 B<< C<h> >> Smooth (Slow) Scroll (DECSCLM) 1736 B<< C<h> >> Smooth (Slow) Scroll (DECSCLM)
1434 B<< C<l> >> Jump (Fast) Scroll (DECSCLM) 1737 B<< C<l> >> Jump (Fast) Scroll (DECSCLM)
1435 1738
1436=end table 1739=end table
1437 1740
1438=item B<< C<Ps = 5> >> 1741=item B<< C<Pm = 5> >>
1439 1742
1440=begin table 1743=begin table
1441 1744
1442 B<< C<h> >> Reverse Video (DECSCNM) 1745 B<< C<h> >> Reverse Video (DECSCNM)
1443 B<< C<l> >> Normal Video (DECSCNM) 1746 B<< C<l> >> Normal Video (DECSCNM)
1444 1747
1445=end table 1748=end table
1446 1749
1447=item B<< C<Ps = 6> >> 1750=item B<< C<Pm = 6> >>
1448 1751
1449=begin table 1752=begin table
1450 1753
1451 B<< C<h> >> Origin Mode (DECOM) 1754 B<< C<h> >> Origin Mode (DECOM)
1452 B<< C<l> >> Normal Cursor Mode (DECOM) 1755 B<< C<l> >> Normal Cursor Mode (DECOM)
1453 1756
1454=end table 1757=end table
1455 1758
1456=item B<< C<Ps = 7> >> 1759=item B<< C<Pm = 7> >>
1457 1760
1458=begin table 1761=begin table
1459 1762
1460 B<< C<h> >> Wraparound Mode (DECAWM) 1763 B<< C<h> >> Wraparound Mode (DECAWM)
1461 B<< C<l> >> No Wraparound Mode (DECAWM) 1764 B<< C<l> >> No Wraparound Mode (DECAWM)
1462 1765
1463=end table 1766=end table
1464 1767
1465=item B<< C<Ps = 8> >> I<unimplemented> 1768=item B<< C<Pm = 8> >> I<unimplemented>
1466 1769
1467=begin table 1770=begin table
1468 1771
1469 B<< C<h> >> Auto-repeat Keys (DECARM) 1772 B<< C<h> >> Auto-repeat Keys (DECARM)
1470 B<< C<l> >> No Auto-repeat Keys (DECARM) 1773 B<< C<l> >> No Auto-repeat Keys (DECARM)
1471 1774
1472=end table 1775=end table
1473 1776
1474=item B<< C<Ps = 9> >> X10 XTerm 1777=item B<< C<Pm = 9> >> X10 XTerm
1475 1778
1476=begin table 1779=begin table
1477 1780
1478 B<< C<h> >> Send Mouse X & Y on button press. 1781 B<< C<h> >> Send Mouse X & Y on button press.
1479 B<< C<l> >> No mouse reporting. 1782 B<< C<l> >> No mouse reporting.
1480 1783
1481=end table 1784=end table
1482 1785
1483=item B<< C<Ps = 25> >> 1786=item B<< C<Pm = 25> >>
1484 1787
1485=begin table 1788=begin table
1486 1789
1487 B<< C<h> >> Visible cursor {cnorm/cvvis} 1790 B<< C<h> >> Visible cursor {cnorm/cvvis}
1488 B<< C<l> >> Invisible cursor {civis} 1791 B<< C<l> >> Invisible cursor {civis}
1489 1792
1490=end table 1793=end table
1491 1794
1492=item B<< C<Ps = 30> >> 1795=item B<< C<Pm = 30> >>
1493 1796
1494=begin table 1797=begin table
1495 1798
1496 B<< C<h> >> scrollBar visisble 1799 B<< C<h> >> scrollBar visible
1497 B<< C<l> >> scrollBar invisisble 1800 B<< C<l> >> scrollBar invisible
1498 1801
1499=end table 1802=end table
1500 1803
1501=item B<< C<Ps = 35> >> (B<rxvt>) 1804=item B<< C<Pm = 35> >> (B<rxvt>)
1502 1805
1503=begin table 1806=begin table
1504 1807
1505 B<< C<h> >> Allow XTerm Shift+key sequences 1808 B<< C<h> >> Allow XTerm Shift+key sequences
1506 B<< C<l> >> Disallow XTerm Shift+key sequences 1809 B<< C<l> >> Disallow XTerm Shift+key sequences
1507 1810
1508=end table 1811=end table
1509 1812
1510=item B<< C<Ps = 38> >> I<unimplemented> 1813=item B<< C<Pm = 38> >> I<unimplemented>
1511 1814
1512Enter Tektronix Mode (DECTEK) 1815Enter Tektronix Mode (DECTEK)
1513 1816
1514=item B<< C<Ps = 40> >> 1817=item B<< C<Pm = 40> >>
1515 1818
1516=begin table 1819=begin table
1517 1820
1518 B<< C<h> >> Allow 80/132 Mode 1821 B<< C<h> >> Allow 80/132 Mode
1519 B<< C<l> >> Disallow 80/132 Mode 1822 B<< C<l> >> Disallow 80/132 Mode
1520 1823
1521=end table 1824=end table
1522 1825
1523=item B<< C<Ps = 44> >> I<unimplemented> 1826=item B<< C<Pm = 44> >> I<unimplemented>
1524 1827
1525=begin table 1828=begin table
1526 1829
1527 B<< C<h> >> Turn On Margin Bell 1830 B<< C<h> >> Turn On Margin Bell
1528 B<< C<l> >> Turn Off Margin Bell 1831 B<< C<l> >> Turn Off Margin Bell
1529 1832
1530=end table 1833=end table
1531 1834
1532=item B<< C<Ps = 45> >> I<unimplemented> 1835=item B<< C<Pm = 45> >> I<unimplemented>
1533 1836
1534=begin table 1837=begin table
1535 1838
1536 B<< C<h> >> Reverse-wraparound Mode 1839 B<< C<h> >> Reverse-wraparound Mode
1537 B<< C<l> >> No Reverse-wraparound Mode 1840 B<< C<l> >> No Reverse-wraparound Mode
1538 1841
1539=end table 1842=end table
1540 1843
1541=item B<< C<Ps = 46> >> I<unimplemented> 1844=item B<< C<Pm = 46> >> I<unimplemented>
1542 1845
1543=item B<< C<Ps = 47> >> 1846=item B<< C<Pm = 47> >>
1544 1847
1545=begin table 1848=begin table
1546 1849
1547 B<< C<h> >> Use Alternate Screen Buffer 1850 B<< C<h> >> Use Alternate Screen Buffer
1548 B<< C<l> >> Use Normal Screen Buffer 1851 B<< C<l> >> Use Normal Screen Buffer
1549 1852
1550=end table 1853=end table
1551 1854
1552X<Priv66> 1855X<Priv66>
1553 1856
1554=item B<< C<Ps = 66> >> 1857=item B<< C<Pm = 66> >>
1555 1858
1556=begin table 1859=begin table
1557 1860
1558 B<< C<h> >> Application Keypad (DECPAM) == C<ESC => 1861 B<< C<h> >> Application Keypad (DECPAM) == C<ESC =>
1559 B<< C<l> >> Normal Keypad (DECPNM) == C<< ESC > >> 1862 B<< C<l> >> Normal Keypad (DECPNM) == C<< ESC > >>
1560 1863
1561=end table 1864=end table
1562 1865
1563=item B<< C<Ps = 67> >> 1866=item B<< C<Pm = 67> >>
1564 1867
1565=begin table 1868=begin table
1566 1869
1567 B<< C<h> >> Backspace key sends B<< C<BS> (DECBKM) >> 1870 B<< C<h> >> Backspace key sends B<< C<BS> (DECBKM) >>
1568 B<< C<l> >> Backspace key sends B<< C<DEL> >> 1871 B<< C<l> >> Backspace key sends B<< C<DEL> >>
1569 1872
1570=end table 1873=end table
1571 1874
1572=item B<< C<Ps = 1000> >> (X11 XTerm) 1875=item B<< C<Pm = 1000> >> (X11 XTerm)
1573 1876
1574=begin table 1877=begin table
1575 1878
1576 B<< C<h> >> Send Mouse X & Y on button press and release. 1879 B<< C<h> >> Send Mouse X & Y on button press and release.
1577 B<< C<l> >> No mouse reporting. 1880 B<< C<l> >> No mouse reporting.
1578 1881
1579=end table 1882=end table
1580 1883
1581=item B<< C<Ps = 1001> >> (X11 XTerm) I<unimplemented> 1884=item B<< C<Pm = 1001> >> (X11 XTerm) I<unimplemented>
1582 1885
1583=begin table 1886=begin table
1584 1887
1585 B<< C<h> >> Use Hilite Mouse Tracking. 1888 B<< C<h> >> Use Hilite Mouse Tracking.
1586 B<< C<l> >> No mouse reporting. 1889 B<< C<l> >> No mouse reporting.
1587 1890
1588=end table 1891=end table
1589 1892
1893=item B<< C<Pm = 1002> >> (X11 XTerm)
1894
1895=begin table
1896
1897 B<< C<h> >> Send Mouse X & Y on button press and release, and motion with a button pressed.
1898 B<< C<l> >> No mouse reporting.
1899
1900=end table
1901
1902=item B<< C<Pm = 1003> >> (X11 XTerm)
1903
1904=begin table
1905
1906 B<< C<h> >> Send Mouse X & Y on button press and release, and motion.
1907 B<< C<l> >> No mouse reporting.
1908
1909=end table
1910
1590=item B<< C<Ps = 1010> >> (B<rxvt>) 1911=item B<< C<Pm = 1010> >> (B<rxvt>)
1591 1912
1592=begin table 1913=begin table
1593 1914
1594 B<< C<h> >> Don't scroll to bottom on TTY output 1915 B<< C<h> >> Don't scroll to bottom on TTY output
1595 B<< C<l> >> Scroll to bottom on TTY output 1916 B<< C<l> >> Scroll to bottom on TTY output
1596 1917
1597=end table 1918=end table
1598 1919
1599=item B<< C<Ps = 1011> >> (B<rxvt>) 1920=item B<< C<Pm = 1011> >> (B<rxvt>)
1600 1921
1601=begin table 1922=begin table
1602 1923
1603 B<< C<h> >> Scroll to bottom when a key is pressed 1924 B<< C<h> >> Scroll to bottom when a key is pressed
1604 B<< C<l> >> Don't scroll to bottom when a key is pressed 1925 B<< C<l> >> Don't scroll to bottom when a key is pressed
1605 1926
1606=end table 1927=end table
1607 1928
1608=item B<< C<Ps = 1021> >> (B<rxvt>) 1929=item B<< C<Pm = 1021> >> (B<rxvt>)
1609 1930
1610=begin table 1931=begin table
1611 1932
1612 B<< C<h> >> Bold/italic implies high intensity (see option B<-is>) 1933 B<< C<h> >> Bold/italic implies high intensity (see option B<-is>)
1613 B<< C<l> >> Font styles have no effect on intensity (Compile styles) 1934 B<< C<l> >> Font styles have no effect on intensity (Compile styles)
1614 1935
1615=end table 1936=end table
1616 1937
1617=item B<< C<Ps = 1047> >> 1938=item B<< C<Pm = 1047> >>
1618 1939
1619=begin table 1940=begin table
1620 1941
1621 B<< C<h> >> Use Alternate Screen Buffer 1942 B<< C<h> >> Use Alternate Screen Buffer
1622 B<< C<l> >> Use Normal Screen Buffer - clear Alternate Screen Buffer if returning from it 1943 B<< C<l> >> Use Normal Screen Buffer - clear Alternate Screen Buffer if returning from it
1623 1944
1624=end table 1945=end table
1625 1946
1626=item B<< C<Ps = 1048> >> 1947=item B<< C<Pm = 1048> >>
1627 1948
1628=begin table 1949=begin table
1629 1950
1630 B<< C<h> >> Save cursor position 1951 B<< C<h> >> Save cursor position
1631 B<< C<l> >> Restore cursor position 1952 B<< C<l> >> Restore cursor position
1632 1953
1633=end table 1954=end table
1634 1955
1635=item B<< C<Ps = 1049> >> 1956=item B<< C<Pm = 1049> >>
1636 1957
1637=begin table 1958=begin table
1638 1959
1639 B<< C<h> >> Use Alternate Screen Buffer - clear Alternate Screen Buffer if switching to it 1960 B<< C<h> >> Use Alternate Screen Buffer - clear Alternate Screen Buffer if switching to it
1640 B<< C<l> >> Use Normal Screen Buffer 1961 B<< C<l> >> Use Normal Screen Buffer
1641 1962
1642=end table 1963=end table
1643 1964
1965=item B<< C<Pm = 2004> >>
1966
1967=begin table
1968
1969 B<< C<h> >> Enable bracketed paste mode - prepend / append to the pasted text the control sequences C<ESC [ 200 ~> / C<ESC [ 201 ~>
1970 B<< C<l> >> Disable bracketed paste mode
1971
1972=end table
1973
1644=back 1974=back
1645 1975
1646=back 1976=back
1647 1977
1648X<XTerm> 1978X<XTerm>
1649 1979
1650=head1 XTerm Operating System Commands 1980=head2 XTerm Operating System Commands
1651 1981
1652=over 4 1982=over 4
1653 1983
1654=item B<< C<ESC ] Ps;Pt ST> >> 1984=item B<< C<ESC ] Ps;Pt ST> >>
1655 1985
1662 B<< C<Ps = 0> >> Change Icon Name and Window Title to B<< C<Pt> >> 1992 B<< C<Ps = 0> >> Change Icon Name and Window Title to B<< C<Pt> >>
1663 B<< C<Ps = 1> >> Change Icon Name to B<< C<Pt> >> 1993 B<< C<Ps = 1> >> Change Icon Name to B<< C<Pt> >>
1664 B<< C<Ps = 2> >> Change Window Title to B<< C<Pt> >> 1994 B<< C<Ps = 2> >> Change Window Title to B<< C<Pt> >>
1665 B<< C<Ps = 3> >> If B<< C<Pt> >> starts with a B<< C<?> >>, query the (STRING) property of the window and return it. If B<< C<Pt> >> contains a B<< C<=> >>, set the named property to the given value, else delete the specified property. 1995 B<< C<Ps = 3> >> If B<< C<Pt> >> starts with a B<< C<?> >>, query the (STRING) property of the window and return it. If B<< C<Pt> >> contains a B<< C<=> >>, set the named property to the given value, else delete the specified property.
1666 B<< C<Ps = 4> >> B<< C<Pt> >> is a semi-colon separated sequence of one or more semi-colon separated B<number>/B<name> pairs, where B<number> is an index to a colour and B<name> is the name of a colour. Each pair causes the B<number>ed colour to be changed to B<name>. Numbers 0-7 corresponds to low-intensity (normal) colours and 8-15 corresponds to high-intensity colours. 0=black, 1=red, 2=green, 3=yellow, 4=blue, 5=magenta, 6=cyan, 7=white 1996 B<< C<Ps = 4> >> B<< C<Pt> >> is a semi-colon separated sequence of one or more semi-colon separated B<number>/B<name> pairs, where B<number> is an index to a colour and B<name> is the name of a colour. Each pair causes the B<number>ed colour to be changed to B<name>. Numbers 0-7 corresponds to low-intensity (normal) colours and 8-15 corresponds to high-intensity colours. 0=black, 1=red, 2=green, 3=yellow, 4=blue, 5=magenta, 6=cyan, 7=white
1667 B<< C<Ps = 10> >> Change colour of text foreground to B<< C<Pt> >> B<(NB: may change in future)> 1997 B<< C<Ps = 10> >> Change colour of text foreground to B<< C<Pt> >>
1668 B<< C<Ps = 11> >> Change colour of text background to B<< C<Pt> >> B<(NB: may change in future)> 1998 B<< C<Ps = 11> >> Change colour of text background to B<< C<Pt> >>
1669 B<< C<Ps = 12> >> Change colour of text cursor foreground to B<< C<Pt> >> 1999 B<< C<Ps = 12> >> Change colour of text cursor foreground to B<< C<Pt> >>
1670 B<< C<Ps = 13> >> Change colour of mouse foreground to B<< C<Pt> >> 2000 B<< C<Ps = 13> >> Change colour of mouse foreground to B<< C<Pt> >>
1671 B<< C<Ps = 17> >> Change colour of highlight characters to B<< C<Pt> >> 2001 B<< C<Ps = 17> >> Change colour of highlight characters to B<< C<Pt> >>
1672 B<< C<Ps = 18> >> Change colour of bold characters to B<< C<Pt> >> [deprecated, see 706] 2002 B<< C<Ps = 18> >> Change colour of bold characters to B<< C<Pt> >> [deprecated, see 706]
1673 B<< C<Ps = 19> >> Change colour of underlined characters to B<< C<Pt> >> [deprecated, see 707] 2003 B<< C<Ps = 19> >> Change colour of underlined characters to B<< C<Pt> >> [deprecated, see 707]
1674 B<< C<Ps = 20> >> Change default background to B<< C<Pt> >> 2004 B<< C<Ps = 20> >> Change background pixmap parameters (see section BACKGROUND IMAGE) (Compile AfterImage).
1675 B<< C<Ps = 39> >> Change default foreground colour to B<< C<Pt> >>. 2005 B<< C<Ps = 39> >> Change default foreground colour to B<< C<Pt> >>. [deprecated, use 10]
1676 B<< C<Ps = 46> >> Change Log File to B<< C<Pt> >> I<unimplemented> 2006 B<< C<Ps = 46> >> Change Log File to B<< C<Pt> >> I<unimplemented>
1677 B<< C<Ps = 49> >> Change default background colour to B<< C<Pt> >>. 2007 B<< C<Ps = 49> >> Change default background colour to B<< C<Pt> >>. [deprecated, use 11]
1678 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> >> 2008 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> >>
1679 B<< C<Ps = 55> >> Log all scrollback buffer and all of screen to B<< C<Pt> >> 2009 B<< C<Ps = 55> >> Log all scrollback buffer and all of screen to B<< C<Pt> >> [disabled]
1680 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). 2010 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).
2011 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>.
1681 B<< C<Ps = 704> >> Change colour of italic characters to B<< C<Pt> >> 2012 B<< C<Ps = 704> >> Change colour of italic characters to B<< C<Pt> >>
1682 B<< C<Ps = 705> >> Change background pixmap tint colour to B<< C<Pt> >> (Compile transparency). 2013 B<< C<Ps = 705> >> Change background pixmap tint colour to B<< C<Pt> >> (Compile transparency).
1683 B<< C<Ps = 706> >> Change colour of bold characters to B<< C<Pt> >> 2014 B<< C<Ps = 706> >> Change colour of bold characters to B<< C<Pt> >>
1684 B<< C<Ps = 707> >> Change colour of underlined characters to B<< C<Pt> >> 2015 B<< C<Ps = 707> >> Change colour of underlined characters to B<< C<Pt> >>
1685 B<< C<Ps = 710> >> Set normal fontset to B<< C<Pt> >>. Same as C<Ps = 50>. 2016 B<< C<Ps = 710> >> Set normal fontset to B<< C<Pt> >>. Same as C<Ps = 50>.
1692 2023
1693=end table 2024=end table
1694 2025
1695=back 2026=back
1696 2027
1697X<XPM> 2028=head1 BACKGROUND IMAGE
1698 2029
1699=head1 XPM
1700
1701For the XPM XTerm escape sequence B<< C<ESC ] 20 ; Pt ST> >> then value 2030For the BACKGROUND IMAGE XTerm escape sequence B<< C<ESC ] 20 ; Pt ST> >> the value
1702of B<< C<Pt> >> can be the name of the background pixmap followed by a 2031of B<< C<Pt> >> can be the name of the background image file followed by a
1703sequence of scaling/positioning commands separated by semi-colons. The 2032sequence of scaling/positioning commands separated by semi-colons. The
1704scaling/positioning commands are as follows: 2033scaling/positioning commands are as follows:
1705 2034
1706=over 4 2035=over 4
1707 2036
1745 2074
1746For example: 2075For example:
1747 2076
1748=over 4 2077=over 4
1749 2078
1750=item B<\E]20;funky\a> 2079=item B<\E]20;funky.jpg\a>
1751 2080
1752load B<funky.xpm> as a tiled image 2081load B<funky.jpg> as a tiled image
1753 2082
1754=item B<\E]20;mona;100\a> 2083=item B<\E]20;mona.jpg;100\a>
1755 2084
1756load B<mona.xpm> with a scaling of 100% 2085load B<mona.jpg> with a scaling of 100%
1757 2086
1758=item B<\E]20;;200;?\a> 2087=item B<\E]20;;200;?\a>
1759 2088
1760rescale the current pixmap to 200% and display the image geometry in 2089rescale the current pixmap to 200% and display the image geometry in
1761the title 2090the title
1762 2091
1763=back 2092=back
2093
1764X<Mouse> 2094X<Mouse>
1765 2095
1766=head1 Mouse Reporting 2096=head1 Mouse Reporting
1767 2097
1768=over 4 2098=over 4
1800=begin table 2130=begin table
1801 2131
1802 4 Shift 2132 4 Shift
1803 8 Meta 2133 8 Meta
1804 16 Control 2134 16 Control
1805 32 Double Click I<(Rxvt extension)> 2135 32 Double Click I<(rxvt extension)>
1806 2136
1807=end table 2137=end table
1808 2138
1809Col = B<< C<< <x> - SPACE >> >> 2139Col = B<< C<< <x> - SPACE >> >>
1810 2140
1811Row = B<< C<< <y> - SPACE >> >> 2141Row = B<< C<< <y> - SPACE >> >>
1812 2142
1813=back 2143=back
2144
2145=head1 Key Codes
2146
1814X<KeyCodes> 2147X<KeyCodes>
1815
1816=head1 Key Codes
1817 2148
1818Note: B<Shift> + B<F1>-B<F10> generates B<F11>-B<F20> 2149Note: B<Shift> + B<F1>-B<F10> generates B<F11>-B<F20>
1819 2150
1820For the keypad, use B<Shift> to temporarily override Application-Keypad 2151For the keypad, use B<Shift> to temporarily override Application-Keypad
1821setting use B<Num_Lock> to toggle Application-Keypad setting if 2152setting use B<Num_Lock> to toggle Application-Keypad setting if
1888 2219
1889=head1 CONFIGURE OPTIONS 2220=head1 CONFIGURE OPTIONS
1890 2221
1891General hint: if you get compile errors, then likely your configuration 2222General hint: if you get compile errors, then likely your configuration
1892hasn't been tested well. Either try with C<--enable-everything> or use 2223hasn't been tested well. Either try with C<--enable-everything> or use
1893the F<./reconf> script as a base for experiments. F<./reconf> is used by 2224the default configuration (i.e. no C<--enable-xxx> or C<--disable-xxx>
1894myself, so it should generally be a working config. Of course, you should 2225switches). Of course, you should always report when a combination doesn't
1895always report when a combination doesn't work, so it can be fixed. Marc 2226work, so it can be fixed. Marc Lehmann <rxvt@schmorp.de>.
1896Lehmann <rxvt@schmorp.de>.
1897 2227
1898All 2228All
1899 2229
1900=over 4 2230=over 4
1901 2231
1933 2263
1934=begin table 2264=begin table
1935 2265
1936 all all available codeset groups 2266 all all available codeset groups
1937 zh common chinese encodings 2267 zh common chinese encodings
1938 zh_ext rarely used but very big chinese encodigs 2268 zh_ext rarely used but very big chinese encodings
1939 jp common japanese encodings 2269 jp common japanese encodings
1940 jp_ext rarely used but big japanese encodings 2270 jp_ext rarely used but big japanese encodings
1941 kr korean encodings 2271 kr korean encodings
1942 2272
1943=end table 2273=end table
1947Add support for XIM (X Input Method) protocol. This allows using 2277Add support for XIM (X Input Method) protocol. This allows using
1948alternative input methods (e.g. kinput2) and will also correctly 2278alternative input methods (e.g. kinput2) and will also correctly
1949set up the input for people using dead keys or compose keys. 2279set up the input for people using dead keys or compose keys.
1950 2280
1951=item --enable-unicode3 (default: off) 2281=item --enable-unicode3 (default: off)
2282
2283Recommended to stay off unless you really need non-BMP characters.
1952 2284
1953Enable direct support for displaying unicode codepoints above 2285Enable direct support for displaying unicode codepoints above
195465535 (the basic multilingual page). This increases storage 228665535 (the basic multilingual page). This increases storage
1955requirements per character from 2 to 4 bytes. X11 fonts do not yet 2287requirements per character from 2 to 4 bytes. X11 fonts do not yet
1956support these extra characters, but Xft does. 2288support these extra characters, but Xft does.
1957 2289
1958Please note that rxvt-unicode can store unicode code points >65535 2290Please note that rxvt-unicode can store unicode code points >65535
1959even without this flag, but the number of such characters is 2291even without this flag, but the number of such characters is
1960limited to a view thousand (shared with combining characters, 2292limited to a few thousand (shared with combining characters,
1961see next switch), and right now rxvt-unicode cannot display them 2293see next switch), and right now rxvt-unicode cannot display them
1962(input/output and cut&paste still work, though). 2294(input/output and cut&paste still work, though).
1963 2295
1964=item --enable-combining (default: on) 2296=item --enable-combining (default: on)
1965 2297
1967composite characters. This is required for proper viewing of text 2299composite characters. This is required for proper viewing of text
1968where accents are encoded as seperate unicode characters. This is 2300where accents are encoded as seperate unicode characters. This is
1969done by using precomposited characters when available or creating 2301done by using precomposited characters when available or creating
1970new pseudo-characters when no precomposed form exists. 2302new pseudo-characters when no precomposed form exists.
1971 2303
1972Without --enable-unicode3, the number of additional precomposed characters 2304Without --enable-unicode3, the number of additional precomposed
1973is rather limited (2048, if this is full, rxvt-unicode will use the 2305characters is somewhat limited (the 6400 private use characters will be
1974private use area, extending the number of combinations to 8448). With
1975--enable-unicode3, no practical limit exists. 2306(ab-)used). With --enable-unicode3, no practical limit exists.
1976 2307
1977This option will also enable storage (but not display) of characters 2308This option will also enable storage (but not display) of characters
1978beyond plane 0 (>65535) when --enable-unicode3 was not specified. 2309beyond plane 0 (>65535) when --enable-unicode3 was not specified.
1979 2310
1980The combining table also contains entries for arabic presentation forms, 2311The combining table also contains entries for arabic presentation forms,
1981but these are not currently used. Bug me if you want these to be used (and 2312but these are not currently used. Bug me if you want these to be used (and
1982tell me how these are to be used...). 2313tell me how these are to be used...).
1983 2314
1984=item --enable-fallback(=CLASS) (default: Rxvt) 2315=item --enable-fallback(=CLASS) (default: Rxvt)
1985 2316
1986When reading resource settings, also read settings for class CLASS. To disable resource fallback use --disable-fallback. 2317When reading resource settings, also read settings for class CLASS. To
2318disable resource fallback use --disable-fallback.
1987 2319
1988=item --with-res-name=NAME (default: urxvt) 2320=item --with-res-name=NAME (default: urxvt)
1989 2321
1990Use the given name as default application name when 2322Use the given name as default application name when
1991reading resources. Specify --with-res-name=rxvt to replace rxvt. 2323reading resources. Specify --with-res-name=rxvt to replace rxvt.
1992 2324
1993=item --with-res-class=CLASS /default: URxvt) 2325=item --with-res-class=CLASS (default: URxvt)
1994 2326
1995Use the given class as default application class 2327Use the given class as default application class
1996when reading resources. Specify --with-res-class=Rxvt to replace 2328when reading resources. Specify --with-res-class=Rxvt to replace
1997rxvt. 2329rxvt.
1998 2330
2011 2343
2012Write user and tty to lastlog file (used by programs like 2344Write user and tty to lastlog file (used by programs like
2013F<lastlogin>) at start of rxvt execution. This option requires 2345F<lastlogin>) at start of rxvt execution. This option requires
2014--enable-utmp to also be specified. 2346--enable-utmp to also be specified.
2015 2347
2016=item --enable-xpm-background (default: on) 2348=item --enable-afterimage (default: on)
2017 2349
2018Add support for XPM background pixmaps. 2350Add support for libAfterImage to be used for transparency and background
2351images. It adds support for many file formats including JPG, PNG,
2352SVG, TIFF, GIF, XPM, BMP, ICO, XCF, TGA and AfterStep image XML
2353(L<http://www.afterstep.org/visualdoc.php?show=asimagexml>).
2354
2355This option also adds such eye candy as blending an image over the root
2356background, as well as dynamic scaling and bluring of background images.
2357
2358Note that with this option enabled, @@RXVT_NAME@@'s memory footprint might
2359increase by a few megabytes even if no extra features are used (mostly due
2360to third-party libraries used by libAI). Memory footprint may somewhat be
2361lowered if libAfterImage is configured without support for SVG.
2019 2362
2020=item --enable-transparency (default: on) 2363=item --enable-transparency (default: on)
2021 2364
2022Add support for inheriting parent backgrounds thus giving a fake 2365Add support for backgrounds, creating illusion of transparency in the term.
2023transparency to the term.
2024 2366
2025=item --enable-fading (default: on) 2367=item --enable-fading (default: on)
2026 2368
2027Add support for fading the text when focus is lost (requires C<--enable-transparency>). 2369Add support for fading the text when focus is lost.
2028
2029=item --enable-tinting (default: on)
2030
2031Add support for tinting of transparent backgrounds (requires C<--enable-transparency>).
2032 2370
2033=item --enable-rxvt-scroll (default: on) 2371=item --enable-rxvt-scroll (default: on)
2034 2372
2035Add support for the original rxvt scrollbar. 2373Add support for the original rxvt scrollbar.
2036 2374
2039Add support for a NeXT-like scrollbar. 2377Add support for a NeXT-like scrollbar.
2040 2378
2041=item --enable-xterm-scroll (default: on) 2379=item --enable-xterm-scroll (default: on)
2042 2380
2043Add support for an Xterm-like scrollbar. 2381Add support for an Xterm-like scrollbar.
2044
2045=item --enable-plain-scroll (default: on)
2046
2047Add support for a very unobtrusive, plain-looking scrollbar that
2048is the favourite of the rxvt-unicode author, having used it for
2049many years.
2050
2051=item --enable-half-shadow (default: off)
2052
2053Make shadows on the scrollbar only half the normal width & height.
2054only applicable to rxvt scrollbars.
2055
2056=item --enable-ttygid (default: off)
2057
2058Change tty device setting to group "tty" - only use this if
2059your system uses this type of security.
2060 2382
2061=item --disable-backspace-key 2383=item --disable-backspace-key
2062 2384
2063Removes any handling of the backspace key by us - let the X server do it. 2385Removes any handling of the backspace key by us - let the X server do it.
2064 2386
2084A non-exhaustive list of features enabled by C<--enable-frills> (possibly 2406A non-exhaustive list of features enabled by C<--enable-frills> (possibly
2085in combination with other switches) is: 2407in combination with other switches) is:
2086 2408
2087 MWM-hints 2409 MWM-hints
2088 EWMH-hints (pid, utf8 names) and protocols (ping) 2410 EWMH-hints (pid, utf8 names) and protocols (ping)
2411 urgency hint
2089 seperate underline colour (-underlineColor) 2412 seperate underline colour (-underlineColor)
2090 settable border widths and borderless switch (-w, -b, -bl) 2413 settable border widths and borderless switch (-w, -b, -bl)
2414 visual depth selection (-depth)
2091 settable extra linespacing /-lsp) 2415 settable extra linespacing /-lsp)
2092 iso-14755-2 and -3, and visual feedback 2416 iso-14755 5.1 (basic) support
2093 backindex and forwardindex escape sequence
2094 window op and some xterm/OSC escape sequences
2095 tripleclickwords (-tcw) 2417 tripleclickwords (-tcw)
2096 settable insecure mode (-insecure) 2418 settable insecure mode (-insecure)
2097 keysym remapping support 2419 keysym remapping support
2098 cursor blinking and underline cursor (-cb, -uc) 2420 cursor blinking and underline cursor (-cb, -uc)
2099 XEmbed support (-embed) 2421 XEmbed support (-embed)
2100 user-pty (-pty-fd) 2422 user-pty (-pty-fd)
2101 hold on exit (-hold) 2423 hold on exit (-hold)
2424 compile in built-in block graphics
2102 skip builtin block graphics (-sbg) 2425 skip builtin block graphics (-sbg)
2426 separate highlightcolor support (-hc)
2427
2428It also enables some non-essential features otherwise disabled, such as:
2429
2430 some round-trip time optimisations
2431 nearest color allocation on pseudocolor screens
2432 UTF8_STRING support for selection
2103 sgr modes 90..97 and 100..107 2433 sgr modes 90..97 and 100..107
2434 backindex and forwardindex escape sequences
2435 view change/zero scrollback escape sequences
2436 locale switching escape sequence
2437 window op and some xterm/OSC escape sequences
2438 rectangular selections
2439 trailing space removal for selections
2440 verbose X error handling
2104 2441
2105=item --enable-iso14755 (default: on) 2442=item --enable-iso14755 (default: on)
2106 2443
2107Enable extended ISO 14755 support (see @@RXVT_NAME@@(1), or 2444Enable extended ISO 14755 support (see @@RXVT_NAME@@(1)).
2108F<doc/rxvt.1.txt>). Basic support (section 5.1) is enabled by 2445Basic support (section 5.1) is enabled by C<--enable-frills>, while
2109C<--enable-frills>, while support for 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4 is enabled with 2446support for 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4 is enabled with this switch.
2110this switch.
2111 2447
2112=item --enable-keepscrolling (default: on) 2448=item --enable-keepscrolling (default: on)
2113 2449
2114Add support for continual scrolling of the display when you hold 2450Add support for continual scrolling of the display when you hold
2115the mouse button down on a scrollbar arrow. 2451the mouse button down on a scrollbar arrow.
2452
2453=item --enable-selectionscrolling (default: on)
2454
2455Add support for scrolling when the selection moves to the top or
2456bottom of the screen.
2116 2457
2117=item --enable-mousewheel (default: on) 2458=item --enable-mousewheel (default: on)
2118 2459
2119Add support for scrolling via mouse wheel or buttons 4 & 5. 2460Add support for scrolling via mouse wheel or buttons 4 & 5.
2120 2461
2122 2463
2123Add support for continual scrolling (using the mouse wheel as an 2464Add support for continual scrolling (using the mouse wheel as an
2124accelerator) while the control key is held down. This option 2465accelerator) while the control key is held down. This option
2125requires --enable-mousewheel to also be specified. 2466requires --enable-mousewheel to also be specified.
2126 2467
2127=item --disable-new-selection
2128
2129Remove support for mouse selection style like that of xterm.
2130
2131=item --enable-dmalloc (default: off)
2132
2133Use Gray Watson's malloc - which is good for debugging See
2134http://www.letters.com/dmalloc/ for details If you use either this or the
2135next option, you may need to edit src/Makefile after compiling to point
2136DINCLUDE and DLIB to the right places.
2137
2138You can only use either this option and the following (should
2139you use either) .
2140
2141=item --enable-dlmalloc (default: off)
2142
2143Use Doug Lea's malloc - which is good for a production version
2144See L<http://g.oswego.edu/dl/html/malloc.html> for details.
2145
2146=item --enable-smart-resize (default: on) 2468=item --enable-smart-resize (default: off)
2147 2469
2148Add smart growth/shrink behaviour when changing font size via hot 2470Add smart growth/shrink behaviour when resizing.
2149keys. This should keep the window corner which is closest to a corner of 2471This should keep the window corner which is closest to a corner of
2150the screen in a fixed position. 2472the screen in a fixed position.
2151 2473
2474=item --enable-text-blink (default: on)
2475
2476Add support for blinking text.
2477
2152=item --enable-pointer-blank (default: on) 2478=item --enable-pointer-blank (default: on)
2153 2479
2154Add support to have the pointer disappear when typing or inactive. 2480Add support to have the pointer disappear when typing or inactive.
2155 2481
2156=item --enable-perl (default: off) 2482=item --enable-perl (default: on)
2157 2483
2158Enable an embedded perl interpreter. See the B<@@RXVT_NAME@@perl(3)> 2484Enable an embedded perl interpreter. See the B<@@RXVT_NAME@@perl(3)>
2159manpage (F<doc/rxvtperl.txt>) for more info on this feature, or the files 2485manpage for more info on this feature, or the files in F<src/perl/>
2160in F<src/perl-ext/> for the extensions that are installed by default. The 2486for the extensions that are installed by default.
2161perl interpreter that is used can be specified via the C<PERL> environment 2487The perl interpreter that is used can be specified via the C<PERL>
2162variable when running configure. 2488environment variable when running configure. Even when compiled in,
2489perl will I<not> be initialised when all extensions have been disabled
2490C<-pe "" --perl-ext-common "">, so it should be safe to enable from a
2491resource standpoint.
2492
2493=item --with-afterimage-config=DIR
2494
2495Look for the libAfterImage config script in DIR.
2163 2496
2164=item --with-name=NAME (default: urxvt) 2497=item --with-name=NAME (default: urxvt)
2165 2498
2166Set the basename for the installed binaries, resulting 2499Set the basename for the installed binaries, resulting
2167in C<urxvt>, C<urxvtd> etc.). Specify C<--with-name=rxvt> to replace with 2500in C<urxvt>, C<urxvtd> etc.). Specify C<--with-name=rxvt> to replace with
2177PATH. 2510PATH.
2178 2511
2179=item --with-x 2512=item --with-x
2180 2513
2181Use the X Window System (pretty much default, eh?). 2514Use the X Window System (pretty much default, eh?).
2182
2183=item --with-xpm-includes=DIR
2184
2185Look for the XPM includes in DIR.
2186
2187=item --with-xpm-library=DIR
2188
2189Look for the XPM library in DIR.
2190
2191=item --with-xpm
2192
2193Not needed - define via --enable-xpm-background.
2194 2515
2195=back 2516=back
2196 2517
2197=head1 AUTHORS 2518=head1 AUTHORS
2198 2519

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