1RXVT(1) X Tools RXVT(1)
2
6 rxvt (ouR XVT) - a VT102 emulator for the X window system
7
9 rxvt [options] [-e command [ args ]]
10
12 rxvt, version 2.7.10, is a colour vt102 terminal emulator intended as
13 an xterm(1) replacement for users who do not require features such as
14 Tektronix 4014 emulation and toolkit-style configurability. As a
15 result, rxvt uses much less swap space -- a significant advantage on a
16 machine serving many X sessions.
17
19 The rxvt options (mostly a subset of xterm´s) are listed below. In
20 keeping with the smaller-is-better philosophy, options may be elimi‐
21 nated or default values chosen at compile-time, so options and defaults
22 listed may not accurately reflect the version installed on your system.
23 `rxvt -h´ gives a list of major compile-time options on the Options
24 line. Option descriptions may be prefixed with which compile option
25 each is dependent upon. e.g. `Compile XIM:´ requires XIM on the
26 Options line. Note: `rxvt -help´ gives a list of all command-line
27 options compiled into your version.
28 Note that rxvt permits the resource name to be used as a long-option
30 (--/++ option) so the potential command-line options are far greater
31 than those listed. For example: `rxvt --loginShell --color1 Orange´.
32 Also note that if you do not explictly specify a font (-fn and -fm) or
34 a multichar encoding method (-km), rxvt will select a font for the
35 preferable encoding according to your locale. Supported encodings are:
36 ISO-8859-n (n=1...15), KOI8-R, KOI8-U, EUC-JP, Shift_JIS, EUC-KR, EUC-
37 CN (aka GB), and Big5.
38 The following options are available:
40 -help, --help
42 Print out a message describing available options.
43 -display displayname
45 Attempt to open a window on the named X display (-d still
46 respected). In the absence of this option, the display speci‐
47 fied by the DISPLAY environment variable is used.
48 -geometry geom
50 Window geometry (-g still respected); resource geometry.
51 -rv|+rv
53 Turn on/off simulated reverse video; resource reverseVideo.
54 -j|+j Turn on/off jump scrolling; resource jumpScroll.
56 -ip|+ip
58 Turn on/off inheriting parent window´s pixmap. Alternative form
59 is -tr; resource inheritPixmap.
60 -bg colour
62 Window background colour; resource background.
63 -fg colour
65 Window foreground colour; resource foreground.
66 -pixmap: file[;geom]
68 Compile XPM: Specify XPM file for the background and also
69 optionally specify its scaling with a geometry string. Note you
70 may need to add quotes to avoid special shell interpretation of
71 the `;´ in the command-line; resource backgroundPixmap.
72 -cr colour
74 The cursor colour; resource cursorColor.
75 -pr colour
77 The mouse pointer colour; resource pointerColor.
78 -bd colour
80 The colour of the border between the xterm scrollbar and the
81 text; resource borderColor.
82 -fn fontname
84 Main normal text font; resource font.
85 -fb fontname
87 Main bold text font; resource boldFont.
88 -fm fontname
90 Main multicharacter font; resource mfont.
91 -km mode
93 Compile multichar_languages: Multiple-character font-set encod‐
94 ing mode; eucj: EUC Japanese encoding. sjis: Shift JIS encod‐
95 ing. big5: BIG5 encoding. gb: GB encoding. kr: EUC Korean
96 encoding. noenc: no encoding; resource multichar_encoding.
97 -grk mode
99 Compile Greek: Greek keyboard translation; iso: ISO-8859 map‐
100 ping. ibm: IBM-437 mapping; resource greek_keyboard.
101 -name name
103 Specify the application name under which resources are to be
104 obtained, rather than the default executable file name. Name
105 should not contain `.´ or `*´ characters. Also sets the icon
106 and title name.
107 -ls|+ls
109 Start as a login-shell/sub-shell; resource loginShell.
110 -ut|+ut
112 Compile utmp: Inhibit/enable writing a utmp entry; resource
113 utmpInhibit.
114 -vb|+vb
116 Turn on/off visual bell on receipt of a bell character; resource
117 visualBell.
118 -sb|+sb
120 Turn on/off scrollbar; resource scrollBar.
121 -si|+si
123 Turn on/off scroll-to-bottom on TTY output inhibit; resource
124 scrollTtyOutput has opposite effect.
125 -sk|+sk
127 Turn on/off scroll-to-bottom on keypress; resource scrollTtyKey‐
128 press.
129 -sw|+sw
131 Turn on/off scrolling with the scrollback buffer as new lines
132 appear. This only takes effect if -si is also given; resource
133 scrollWithBuffer.
134 -sr|+sr
136 Put scrollbar on right/left; resource scrollBar_right.
137 -st|+st
139 Display normal (non XTerm/NeXT) scrollbar without/with a trough;
140 resource scrollBar_floating.
141 -mcc|+mcc
143 Compile multichar_languages: treat multibyte glyphs as single
144 character for backspace, delete and cursor movement keys;
145 resource multibyte_cursor.
146 -iconic
148 Start iconified, if the window manager supports that option.
149 Alternative form is -ic.
150 -sl number
152 Save number lines in the scrollback buffer. See resource entry
153 for limits; resource saveLines.
154 -b number
156 Compile frills: Internal border of number pixels. See resource
157 entry for limits; resource internalBorder.
158 -w number
160 Compile frills: External border of number pixels. Also, -bw and
161 -borderwidth. See resource entry for limits; resource external‐
162 Border.
163 -lsp number
165 Compile linespace: Lines (pixel height) to insert between each
166 row of the display; resource linespace.
167 -tn termname
169 This option specifies the name of the terminal type to be set in
170 the TERM environment variable. This terminal type must exist in
171 the termcap(5) database and should have li# and co# entries;
172 resource termName.
173 -e command [arguments]
175 Run the command with its command-line arguments in the rxvt win‐
176 dow; also sets the window title and icon name to be the basename
177 of the program being executed if neither -title (-T) nor -n are
178 given on the command line. If this option is used, it must be
179 the last on the command-line. If there is no -e option then the
180 default is to run the program specified by the SHELL environment
181 variable or, failing that, sh(1).
182 -title text
184 Window title (-T still respected); the default title is the
185 basename of the program specified after the -e option, if any,
186 otherwise the application name; resource title.
187 -n text
189 Icon name; the default name is the basename of the program spec‐
190 ified after the -e option, if any, otherwise the application
191 name; resource iconName.
192 -C Capture system console messages.
194 -pt style
196 Compile XIM: input style for input method; OverTheSpot, OffTheS‐
197 pot, Root; resource preeditType.
198 -im text
200 Compile XIM: input method name. resource inputMethod.
201 -mod modifier
203 Override detection of Meta modifier with specified key: alt,
204 meta, hyper, super, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4, mod5; resource modi‐
205 fier.
206 -xrm resourcestring
208 No effect on rxvt. Simply passes through an argument to be made
209 available in the instance´s argument list. Appears in WM_COM‐
210 MAND in some window managers.
211
213 Note: `rxvt --help´ gives a list of all resources (long options) com‐
214 piled into your version. If compiled with internal Xresources support
215 (i.e. rxvt -h lists .Xdefaults) then rxvt accepts application defaults
216 set in XAPPLOADDIR/Rxvt (compile-time defined: usually
217 /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/Rxvt) and resources set in ~/.Xdefaults, or
218 ~/.Xresources if ~/.Xdefaults does not exist. Note that when reading X
219 resources, rxvt recognizes two class names: XTerm and Rxvt. The class
220 name XTerm allows resources common to both rxvt and xterm to be easily
221 configured, while the class name Rxvt allows resources unique to rxvt,
222 notably colours and key-handling, to be shared between different rxvt
223 configurations. If no resources are specified, suitable defaults will
224 be used. Command-line arguments can be used to override resource set‐
225 tings. The following resources are allowed:
226 geometry: geom
228 Create the window with the specified X window geometry [default
229 80x24]; option -geometry.
230 background: colour
232 Use the specified colour as the window´s background colour
233 [default White]; option -bg.
234 foreground: colour
236 Use the specified colour as the window´s foreground colour
237 [default Black]; option -fg.
238 colorn: colour
240 Use the specified colour for the colour value n, where 0-7 cor‐
241 responds to low-intensity (normal) colours and 8-15 corresponds
242 to high-intensity (bold = bright foreground, blink = bright
243 background) colours. The canonical names are as follows:
244 0=black, 1=red, 2=green, 3=yellow, 4=blue, 5=magenta, 6=cyan,
245 7=white, but the actual colour names used are listed in the COL‐
246 ORS AND GRAPHICS section.
247 colorBD: colour
249 Use the specified colour to display bold characters when the
250 foreground colour is the default.
251 colorUL: colour
253 Use the specified colour to display underlined characters when
254 the foreground colour is the default.
255 colorRV: colour
257 Use the specified colour as the background for reverse video
258 characters.
259 cursorColor: colour
261 Use the specified colour for the cursor. The default is to use
262 the foreground colour; option -cr.
263 cursorColor2: colour
265 Use the specified colour for the colour of the cursor text. For
266 this to take effect, cursorColor must also be specified. The
267 default is to use the background colour.
268 reverseVideo: boolean
270 True: simulate reverse video by foreground and background
271 colours; option -rv. False: regular screen colours [default];
272 option +rv. See note in COLORS AND GRAPHICS section.
273 jumpScroll: boolean
275 True: specify that jump scrolling should be used. When
276 scrolling quickly, fewer screen updates are performed [default];
277 option -j. False: specify that smooth scrolling should be used;
278 option +j.
279 inheritPixmap: boolean
281 True: make the background inherit the parent windows´ pixmap,
282 giving artificial transparency. False: do not inherit the par‐
283 ent windows´ pixmap.
284 scrollColor: colour
286 Use the specified colour for the scrollbar [default #B2B2B2].
287 troughColor: colour
289 Use the specified colour for the scrollbar´s trough area
290 [default #969696]. Only relevant for normal (non XTerm/NeXT)
291 scrollbar.
292 backgroundPixmap: file[;geom]
294 Use the specified XPM file (note the `.xpm´ extension is
295 optional) for the background and also optionally specify its
296 scaling with a geometry string WxH+X+Y, in which "W" / "H" spec‐
297 ify the horizontal/vertical scale (percent) and "X" / "Y" locate
298 the image centre (percent). A scale of 0 displays the image
299 with tiling. A scale of 1 displays the image without any scal‐
300 ing. A scale of 2 to 9 specifies an integer number of images in
301 that direction. No image will be magnified beyond 10 times its
302 original size. The maximum permitted scale is 1000. [default
303 0x0+50+50]
304 menu: file[;tag]
306 Read in the specified menu file (note the `.menu´ extension is
307 optional) and also optionally specify a starting tag to find.
308 See the reference documentation for details on the syntax for
309 the menuBar.
310 path: path
312 Specify the colon-delimited search path for finding files (XPM
313 and menus), in addition to the paths specified by the RXVTPATH
314 and PATH environment variables.
315 font: fontname
317 Select the main text font used [default 7x14]; option -fn.
318 fontn: fontname
320 Specify the alternative font n. The default font values:
321 boldFont: fontname
323 Specify the name of the bold font to use if colorBD has not been
324 specified and it is not possible to map the default foreground
325 colour to colour 8-15 [default NONE]. This font must be the
326 same height and width as the normal font; option -fb.
327 mfont: fontname
329 Select the main multiple-character text font used [default k14];
330 option -fk.
331 mfontn: fontname
333 Specify the alternative multiple-character font n. If compiled
334 for multiple-character fonts, the Roman and multiple-character
335 font sizes should match.
336 multichar_encoding: mode
338 Set the encoding mode to be used when multicharacter encoding is
339 received; eucj: EUC Japanese encoding [default for Kanji].
340 sjis: Shift JIS encoding. big5: BIG5 encoding. gb: GB encod‐
341 ing. kr: EUC Korean encoding. noenc: no encoding; option -km.
342 greek_keyboard: mode
344 Set the Greek keyboard translation mode to be used; iso:
345 ISO-8859 mapping (elot-928) [default]. ibm: IBM-437 mapping
346 (DOS codepage 737); option -grk.
347 greektoggle_key: keysym
349 Set the key to toggle keyboard input between no translation and
350 Greek translation [default Mode_switch]. For more details, see
351 the distributed file README.greek.
352 selectstyle: mode
354 Set mouse selection style to old which is 2.20, oldword which is
355 xterm style with 2.20 old word selection, or anything else which
356 gives xterm style selection.
357 scrollstyle: mode
359 Set scrollbar style to rxvt, next or xterm
360 title: string
362 Set window title string, the default title is the command-line
363 specified after the -e option, if any, otherwise the application
364 name; option -title.
365 iconName: string
367 Set the name used to label the window´s icon or displayed in an
368 icon manager window, it also sets the window´s title unless it
369 is explicitly set; option -n.
370 mapAlert: boolean
372 True: de-iconify (map) on receipt of a bell character. False:
373 no de-iconify (map) on receipt of a bell character [default].
374 visualBell: boolean
376 True: use visual bell on receipt of a bell character; option
377 -vb. False: no visual bell [default]; option +vb.
378 loginShell: boolean
380 True: start as a login shell by prepending a `-´ to argv[0] of
381 the shell; option -ls. False: start as a normal sub-shell
382 [default]; option +ls.
383 utmpInhibit: boolean
385 True: inhibit writing record into the system log file utmp;
386 option -ut. False: write record into the system log file utmp
387 [default]; option +ut.
388 print-pipe: string
390 Specify a command pipe for vt100 printer [default lpr(1)]. Use
391 Print to initiate a screen dump to the printer and Ctrl-Print or
392 Shift-Print to include the scrollback as well.
393 scrollBar: boolean
395 True: enable the scrollbar [default]; option -sb. False: dis‐
396 able the scrollbar; option +sb.
397 scrollBar_right: boolean
399 True: place the scrollbar on the right of the window; option
400 -sr. False: place the scrollbar on the left of the window;
401 option +sr.
402 scrollBar_floating: boolean
404 True: display an rxvt scrollbar without a trough; option -st.
405 False: display an rxvt scrollbar with a trough; option +st.
406 scrollBar_align: mode
408 Align the top, bottom or centre [default] of the scrollbar thumb
409 with the pointer on middle button press/drag.
410 scrollTtyOutput: boolean
412 True: scroll to bottom when tty receives output; option(+si).
413 False: do not scroll to bottom when tty receives output;
414 option(-si).
415 scrollWithBuffer: boolean
417 True: scroll with scrollback buffer when tty recieves new lines
418 (and scrollTtyOutput is False); option(+sw). False: do not
419 scroll with scrollback buffer when tty recieves new lines;
420 option(-sw).
421 scrollTtyKeypress: boolean
423 True: scroll to bottom when a non-special key is pressed. Spe‐
424 cial keys are those which are intercepted by rxvt for special
425 handling and are not passed onto the shell; option(-sk). False:
426 do not scroll to bottom when a non-special key is pressed;
427 option(+sk).
428 smallfont_key: keysym
430 If enabled, use Alt-keysym to toggle to a smaller font [default
431 Alt-<]
432 bigfont_key: keysym
434 If enabled, use Alt-keysym to toggle to a bigger font [default
435 Alt->]
436 saveLines: number
438 Save number lines in the scrollback buffer [default 64]. This
439 resource is limited on most machines to 65535; option -sl.
440 internalBorder: number
442 Internal border of number pixels. This resource is limited to
443 100; option -b.
444 externalBorder: number
446 External border of number pixels. This resource is limited to
447 100; option -w, -bw, -borderwidth.
448 termName: termname
450 Specifies the terminal type name to be set in the TERM environ‐
451 ment variable; option -tn.
452 linespace: number
454 Specifies number of lines (pixel height) to insert between each
455 row of the display [default 0]; option -lsp.
456 meta8: boolean
458 True: handle Meta (Alt) + keypress to set the 8th bit. False:
459 handle Meta (Alt) + keypress as an escape prefix [default].
460 mouseWheelScrollPage: boolean
462 True: the mouse wheel scrolls a page full. False: the mouse
463 wheel scrolls five lines [default].
464 multibyte_cursor: boolean
466 True: consider multibyte glyphs as single character for
467 backspace, delete and cursor movement keys; option -mcc. False:
468 move through all components of all glyphs; option +mcc.
469 backspacekey: string
471 The string to send when the backspace key is pressed. If set to
472 DEC or unset it will send Delete (code 127) or, if shifted,
473 Backspace (code 8) - which can be reversed with the appropriate
474 DEC private mode escape sequence.
475 deletekey: string
477 The string to send when the delete key (not the keypad delete
478 key) is pressed. If unset it will send the sequence tradition‐
479 ally associated with the Execute key.
480 cutchars: string
482 The characters used as delimiters for double-click word selec‐
483 tion. The built-in default:
484 BACKSLASH `"´&()*,;<=>?@[]{|}
485 preeditType: style
487 OverTheSpot, OffTheSpot, Root; option -pt.
488 inputMethod: name
490 name of inputMethod to use; option -im.
491 modifier: modifier
493 Set the key to be interpreted as the Meta key to: alt, meta,
494 hyper, super, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4, mod5; option -mod.
495 answerbackString: string
497 Specify the reply rxvt sends to the shell when an ENQ (control-
498 E) character is passed through. It may contain escape values as
499 described in the entry on keysym following.
500 keysym.sym: string
502 Associate string with keysym sym (0xFF00 - 0xFFFF). It may con‐
503 tain escape values (\a: bell, \b: backspace, \e, \E: escape, \n:
504 newline, \r: return, \t: tab, \000: octal number) or control
505 characters (^?: delete, ^@: null, ^A ...) and may enclosed with
506 double quotes so that it can start or end with whitespace. The
507 intervening resource name keysym. cannot be omitted. This
508 resource is only available when compiled with KEYSYM_RESOURCE.
509
511 Lines of text that scroll off the top of the rxvt window (resource:
512 saveLines) and can be scrolled back using the scrollbar or by key‐
513 strokes. The normal rxvt scrollbar has arrows and its behaviour is
514 fairly intuitive. The xterm-scrollbar is without arrows and its behav‐
515 iour mimics that of xterm
516 Scroll down with Button1 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Next. Scroll up
518 with Button3 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Prior. Continuous scroll with
519 Button2.
520
522 To temporarily override mouse reporting, for either the scrollbar or
523 the normal text selection/insertion, hold either the Shift or the Meta
524 (Alt) key while performing the desired mouse action.
525 If mouse reporting mode is active, the normal scrollbar actions are
527 disabled -- on the assumption that we are using a fullscreen applica‐
528 tion. Instead, pressing Button1 and Button3 sends ESC[6~ (Next) and
529 ESC[5~ (Prior), respectively. Similarly, clicking on the up and down
530 arrows sends ESC[A (Up) and ESC[B (Down), respectively.
531
533 The behaviour of text selection and insertion mechanism is similar to
534 xterm(1).
535 Selection:
537 Left click at the beginning of the region, drag to the end of
538 the region and release; Right click to extend the marked region;
539 Left double-click to select a word; Left triple-click to select
540 the entire line.
541 Insertion:
543 Pressing and releasing the Middle mouse button (or Shift-Insert)
544 in an rxvt window causes the current text selection to be
545 inserted as if it had been typed on the keyboard.
546
548 You can change fonts on-the-fly, which is to say cycle through the
549 default font and others of various sizes, by using Shift-KP_Add and
550 Shift-KP_Subtract. Or, alternatively (if enabled) with Alt-> and
551 Alt-<, where the actual key can be selected using resources small‐
552 font_key/bigfont_key.
553
555 rxvt tries to write an entry into the utmp(5) file so that it can be
556 seen via the who(1) command, and can accept messages. To allow this
557 feature, rxvt must be installed setuid root on some systems.
558
560 If graphics support was enabled at compile-time, rxvt can be queried
561 with ANSI escape sequences and can address individual pixels instead of
562 text characters. Note the graphics support is still considered beta
563 code.
564 In addition to the default foreground and background colours, rxvt can
566 display up to 16 colours (8 ANSI colours plus high-intensity bold/blink
567 versions of the same). Here is a list of the colours with their
568 rgb.txt names.
569 It is also possible to specify the colour values of foreground, back‐
571 ground, cursorColor, cursorColor2, colorBD, colorUL as a number 0-15,
572 as a convenient shorthand to reference the colour name of
573 color0-color15.
574 Note that -rv ("reverseVideo: True") simulates reverse video by always
576 swapping the foreground/background colours. This is in contrast to
577 xterm(1) where the colours are only swapped if they have not otherwise
578 been specified. For example,
579 rxvt -fg Black -bg White -rv
581 would yield White on Black, while on xterm(1) it would yield
582 Black on White.
583
585 rxvt sets the environment variables TERM, COLORTERM and COLORFGBG. The
586 environment variable WINDOWID is set to the X window id number of the
587 rxvt window and it also uses and sets the environment variable DISPLAY
588 to specify which display terminal to use. rxvt uses the environment
589 variables RXVTPATH and PATH to find XPM files.
590
592 /etc/utmp
593 System file for login records.
594 /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt
596 Color names.
597
599 xterm(1), sh(1), resize(1), X(1), pty(4), tty(4), utmp(5)
600 See rxvtRef.html rxvtRef.txt for detailed information on recognized
602 escape sequences and menuBar syntax, etc.
603
605 Check the BUGS file for an up-to-date list.
606 Cursor change support is not yet implemented.
608 Click-and-drag doesn´t work with X11 mouse report overriding.
610 Graphics support is fairly crude.
612
614 rxvt-2.7.10.tar.gz can be found at the following ftp sites
615 ftp://ftp.rxvt.org/pub/rxvt
616
618 Project Coordinator
619 Geoff Wing <gcw@rxvt.org>
620 Web page maintainter
622 Oezguer Kesim <oec@rxvt.org>
623 <http://www.rxvt.org/>
624 Mailing list
626 The Rxvt Workers <rxvt-workers@rxvt.org> mailing list has also
627 been established for rxvt development, to subscribe, email to
628 <rxvt-workers-subscribe@rxvt.org>. There is also a mailing list
629 for announcements of new releases of rxvt. To subscribe, email
630 to <rxvt-announce-subscribe@rxvt.org>.
631
633 John Bovey
634 University of Kent, 1992, wrote the original Xvt.
635 Rob Nation <nation@rocket.sanders.lockheed.com>
637 very heavily modified Xvt and came up with Rxvt
638 Angelo Haritsis <ah@doc.ic.ac.uk>
640 wrote the Greek Keyboard Input
641 mj olesen <olesen@me.QueensU.CA>
643 Wrote the menu system.
644 Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.11 to 2.21)
645 Oezguer Kesim <kesim@math.fu-berlin.de>
647 Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.21a to 2.4.5)
648 Geoff Wing <gcw@pobox.com>
650 Rewrote screen display and text selection routines.
651 Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.4.6 - )
652X Version 11 26 MARCH 2003 RXVT(1)