1XSET(1)                     General Commands Manual                    XSET(1)
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NAME

6       xset - user preference utility for X
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SYNOPSIS

9       xset [-display display]
10       [-b] [b {on|off}] [b [volume [pitch [duration]]]]
11       [-bc] [bc]
12       [-c] [c {on|off}] [c [volume]]
13       [+dpms] [-dpms]
14            [dpms  standby  [  suspend [ off]]]      [dpms force {standby|sus‐
15       pend|off|on}]
16       [fp=pathlist] [-fp=pathlist] [+fp=pathlist] [fp-pathlist] [fp+pathlist]
17       [fp default] [fp rehash]
18       [-led [integer|named indicator]] [led [integer|named indicator]]
19       [led {on|off}]
20       [mouse [accel_mult[/accel_div] [threshold]]] [mouse default]
21       [p pixel color]
22       [-r [keycode]]  [r [keycode]] [r {on|off}] [r rate delay [rate]]
23       [s [length [period]]]  [s  {blank|noblank}]  [s  {expose|noexpose}]  [s
24       {on|off}] [s default] [s activate] [s reset]
25       [q]
26       [-version]
27

DESCRIPTION

29       This program is used to set various user preference options of the dis‐
30       play.
31

OPTIONS

33       -display display
34               This option specifies the server to use; see X(7).
35
36       b       The b option controls bell volume, pitch  and  duration.   This
37               option  accepts  up  to three numerical parameters, a preceding
38               dash(-), or a 'on/off' flag.  If no parameters  are  given,  or
39               the  'on'  flag  is used, the system defaults will be used.  If
40               the dash or 'off' are given, the bell will be turned  off.   If
41               only  one numerical parameter is given, the bell volume will be
42               set to that value, as a percentage of its  maximum.   Likewise,
43               the  second  numerical  parameter  specifies the bell pitch, in
44               hertz, and the third numerical parameter specifies the duration
45               in  milliseconds.  Note that not all hardware can vary the bell
46               characteristics.  The X server will set the characteristics  of
47               the bell as closely as it can to the user's specifications.
48
49       bc      The bc option controls bug compatibility mode in the server, if
50               possible; a preceding dash(-) disables the mode, otherwise  the
51               mode is enabled.  Various pre-R4 clients pass illegal values in
52               some protocol requests, and pre-R4 servers  did  not  correctly
53               generate errors in these cases.  Such clients, when run against
54               an R4 server, will terminate abnormally or  otherwise  fail  to
55               operate  correctly.  Bug compatibility mode explicitly reintro‐
56               duces certain bugs into the X server, so that many such clients
57               can  still  be  run.   This  mode should be used with care; new
58               application development should be done with this mode disabled.
59               The  server  must  support  the MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD protocol
60               extension in order for this option to work.
61
62       c       The c option controls key  click.   This  option  can  take  an
63               optional  value,  a preceding dash(-), or an 'on/off' flag.  If
64               no parameter or the 'on' flag is  given,  the  system  defaults
65               will  be used. If the dash or 'off' flag is used, keyclick will
66               be disabled.  If a value from 0 to 100 is given, it is used  to
67               indicate  volume, as a percentage of the maximum.  The X server
68               will set the volume to the nearest value that the hardware  can
69               support.
70
71       -dpms   The -dpms option disables DPMS (Energy Star) features.
72
73       +dpms   The +dpms option enables DPMS (Energy Star) features.
74
75       dpms flags...
76               The  dpms option allows the DPMS (Energy Star) parameters to be
77               set.  The option can take up to three numerical values, or  the
78               `force'  flag  followed  by  a  DPMS  state.  The `force' flags
79               forces the server to immediately switch to the DPMS state spec‐
80               ified.   The  DPMS  state  can  be one of `standby', `suspend',
81               `off', or `on'.  When numerical values are given, they set  the
82               inactivity  period (in units of seconds) before the three modes
83               are activated.  The first value  given  is  for  the  `standby'
84               mode,  the  second  is for the `suspend' mode, and the third is
85               for the `off' mode.  Setting these  values  implicitly  enables
86               the DPMS features.  A value of zero disables a particular mode.
87
88       fp= path,...
89               The  fp=  sets  the  font path to the entries given in the path
90               argument.  The entries are interpreted by the  server,  not  by
91               the  client.  Typically they are directory names or font server
92               names, but the interpretation is server-dependent.
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94       fp default
95               The default argument causes the font path to be  reset  to  the
96               server's default.
97
98       fp rehash
99               The  rehash argument resets the font path to its current value,
100               causing the server to reread the font databases in the  current
101               font  path.   This is generally only used when adding new fonts
102               to a font directory (after running mkfontdir  to  recreate  the
103               font database).
104
105       -fp or fp-
106               The  -fp  and fp- options remove elements from the current font
107               path.  They must be  followed  by  a  comma-separated  list  of
108               entries.
109
110       +fp or fp+
111               This  +fp  and  fp+  options prepend and append elements to the
112               current font path, respectively.  They must be  followed  by  a
113               comma-separated list of entries.
114
115       led     The  led  option controls the keyboard LEDs.  This controls the
116               turning on or off of one or all of the  LEDs.   It  accepts  an
117               optional  integer, a preceding dash(-) or an 'on/off' flag.  If
118               no parameter or the 'on' flag is given, all LEDs are turned on.
119               If  a  preceding  dash or the flag 'off' is given, all LEDs are
120               turned off.  If a value between 1 and 32  is  given,  that  LED
121               will  be  turned on or off depending on the existence of a pre‐
122               ceding dash.  ``xset led 3'' would turn led #3 on.  ``xset -led
123               3''  would turn it off.  The particular LED values may refer to
124               different LEDs on different hardware.  If the X server supports
125               the  XKEYBOARD  (XKB)  extension, leds may be referenced by the
126               XKB indicator name by specifying the `named'  keyword  and  the
127               indicator name.   For example, to turn on the Scroll Lock LED:
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129               xset led named "Scroll Lock"
130
131       mouse   The  m option controls the mouse parameters; it may be abbrevi‐
132               ated to 'm'. Of course, it applies to  most  pointing  devices,
133               not  just  mice.  The  parameters  for  the pointing device are
134               `acceleration' and `threshold'. The acceleration can be  speci‐
135               fied  as an integer, or as a simple fraction. Threshold is just
136               an integer. The setting is applied to  all  connected  pointing
137               devices.  xinput(1)  should be used if you need device-specific
138               settings.
139
140       By default the pointer (the on-screen representation  of  the  pointing
141       device)  will  go  `acceleration' times as fast when the device travels
142       more than `threshold' mickeys (i.e. would-be pixels) in 10 ms,  includ‐
143       ing a small transition range. This way, the pointing device can be used
144       for precise alignment when it is moved slowly, yet it  can  be  set  to
145       travel  across the screen in a flick of the wrist when desired.  One or
146       both parameters for the m option can be omitted, but  if  only  one  is
147       given, it will be interpreted as the acceleration.  If no parameters or
148       the flag 'default' is used, the system defaults will be set.
149
150       If the `threshold' parameter is  provided  and  0,  the  `acceleration'
151       parameter will be used in the exponent of a more natural and continuous
152       formula, giving precise control for slow motion but big reach for  fast
153       motion,  and  a  progressive transition for motions in between.  Recom‐
154       mended `acceleration' value in this case is 3/2 to 3, but  not  limited
155       to that range.
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157       In  the X.org X Server 1.6 and above, the behaviour described so far is
158       linked to the default profile. There are other profiles (i.e. functions
159       determining  pointer  acceleration from device velocity) and additional
160       settings, so the above description may not apply to non-default  cases.
161       In the X.org Server 1.7, these are available as input device properties
162       (see xinput).
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164
165       p       The p option controls pixel color values.  The  parameters  are
166               the  color  map entry number in decimal, and a color specifica‐
167               tion.  The root  background  colors  may  be  changed  on  some
168               servers  by altering the entries for BlackPixel and WhitePixel.
169               Although these are often 0 and 1, they need not  be.   Also,  a
170               server  may choose to allocate those colors privately, in which
171               case an error will be generated.  The map entry must not  be  a
172               read-only color, or an error will result.
173
174       r       The  r  option controls the autorepeat.  Invoking with "-r", or
175               "r off", will disable autorepeat, whereas "r", or  "r on"  will
176               enable  autorepeat.   Following  the "-r" or "r" option with an
177               integer keycode between  0  and  255  will  disable  or  enable
178               autorepeat on that key respectively, but only if it makes sense
179               for the particular keycode.  Keycodes below 8 are not typically
180               valid  for  this  command.   Example: "xset -r 10" will disable
181               autorepeat for the "1" key on the top row of  an  IBM  PC  key‐
182               board.
183
184               If  the  server supports the XFree86-Misc extension, or the XKB
185               extension, then a parameter of 'rate' is accepted and should be
186               followed  by  zero, one or two numeric values. The first speci‐
187               fies the delay before autorepeat starts and the  second  speci‐
188               fies the repeat rate.  In the case that the server supports the
189               XKB extension, the delay is the number of  milliseconds  before
190               autorepeat  starts,  and  the rate is the number of repeats per
191               second.  If the rate or delay is not given, it will be  set  to
192               the default value.
193
194       s       The  s  option  lets you set the screen saver parameters.  This
195               option   accepts   up   to   two   numerical   parameters,    a
196               'blank/noblank'  flag,  an  'expose/noexpose' flag, an 'on/off'
197               flag, an 'activate/reset' flag, or the 'default' flag.   If  no
198               parameters  or  the  'default' flag is used, the system will be
199               set to its default screen saver characteristics.  The  'on/off'
200               flags  simply  turn  the screen saver functions on or off.  The
201               'activate' flag forces activation of screen saver even  if  the
202               screen  saver  had  been  turned  off.  The 'reset' flag forces
203               deactivation of screen saver if it is active.  The 'blank' flag
204               sets  the preference to blank the video (if the hardware can do
205               so) rather than display a background pattern,  while  'noblank'
206               sets  the preference to display a pattern rather than blank the
207               video.  The 'expose' flag sets the preference to  allow  window
208               exposures  (the  server  can  freely  discard window contents),
209               while 'noexpose' sets the preference to  disable  screen  saver
210               unless  the  server  can regenerate the screens without causing
211               exposure events.  The length  and  period  parameters  for  the
212               screen  saver  function  determines how long the server must be
213               inactive for screen saving  to  activate,  and  the  period  to
214               change  the background pattern to avoid burn in.  The arguments
215               are specified in seconds.  If only one numerical  parameter  is
216               given, it will be used for the length.
217
218       q       The q option gives you information on the current settings.
219
220       -version
221               The  -version option prints the program version and exits with‐
222               out doing anything else.
223
224       These settings will be reset to default values when you log out.
225
226       Note that not all X implementations are  guaranteed  to  honor  all  of
227       these options.
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SEE ALSO

230       X(7), Xserver(1), xmodmap(1), xrdb(1), xsetroot(1), xinput(1)
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AUTHOR

233       Bob Scheifler, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
234       David Krikorian, MIT Project Athena (X11 version)
235       XFree86-Misc support added by David Dawes and Joe Moss
236       Manpage updates added by Mike A. Harris <mharris@redhat.com>
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240X Version 11                      xset 1.2.4                           XSET(1)
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