1XSET(1) General Commands Manual XSET(1)
2
6 xset - user preference utility for X
7
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]]]
15 [dpms force {standby|suspend|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}]
24 [s {expose|noexpose}] [s {on|off}] [s default] [s activate] [s reset]
25 [q]
26 [-version]
27
29 This program is used to set various user preference options of the dis‐
30 play.
31
33 -display display
34 This option specifies the server to use; see X(7).
35 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 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 ap‐
58 plication development should be done with this mode disabled.
59 The server must support the MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD protocol ex‐
60 tension in order for this option to work.
61 c The c option controls key click. This option can take an op‐
63 tional value, a preceding dash(-), or an 'on/off' flag. If no
64 parameter or the 'on' flag is given, the system defaults will
65 be used. If the dash or 'off' flag is used, keyclick will be
66 disabled. If a value from 0 to 100 is given, it is used to in‐
67 dicate 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 -dpms The -dpms option disables Display Power Management Signaling
72 (DPMS) features.
73 +dpms The +dpms option enables Display Power Management Signaling
75 (DPMS) features.
76 dpms flags...
78 The dpms option allows the Display Power Management Signaling
79 (DPMS) parameters to be set. The option can take up to three
80 numerical values, or the `force' flag followed by a DPMS state.
81 The `force' flags forces the server to immediately switch to
82 the DPMS state specified. The DPMS state can be one of
83 `standby', `suspend', `off', or `on'. When numerical values
84 are given, they set the inactivity period (in units of seconds)
85 before the three modes are activated. The first value given is
86 for the `standby' mode, the second is for the `suspend' mode,
87 and the third is for the `off' mode. Setting these values im‐
88 plicitly enables the DPMS features. A value of zero disables a
89 particular mode.
90 fp= path,...
92 The fp= sets the font path to the entries given in the path ar‐
93 gument. The entries are interpreted by the server, not by the
94 client. Typically they are directory names or font server
95 names, but the interpretation is server-dependent.
96 fp default
98 The default argument causes the font path to be reset to the
99 server's default.
100 fp rehash
102 The rehash argument resets the font path to its current value,
103 causing the server to reread the font databases in the current
104 font path. This is generally only used when adding new fonts
105 to a font directory (after running mkfontdir to recreate the
106 font database).
107 -fp or fp-
109 The -fp and fp- options remove elements from the current font
110 path. They must be followed by a comma-separated list of en‐
111 tries.
112 +fp or fp+
114 This +fp and fp+ options prepend and append elements to the
115 current font path, respectively. They must be followed by a
116 comma-separated list of entries.
117 led The led option controls the keyboard LEDs. This controls the
119 turning on or off of one or all of the LEDs. It accepts an op‐
120 tional integer, a preceding dash(-) or an 'on/off' flag. If no
121 parameter or the 'on' flag is given, all LEDs are turned on.
122 If a preceding dash or the flag 'off' is given, all LEDs are
123 turned off. If a value between 1 and 32 is given, that LED
124 will be turned on or off depending on the existence of a pre‐
125 ceding dash. ``xset led 3'' would turn led #3 on. ``xset -led
126 3'' would turn it off. The particular LED values may refer to
127 different LEDs on different hardware. If the X server supports
128 the XKEYBOARD (XKB) extension, leds may be referenced by the
129 XKB indicator name by specifying the `named' keyword and the
130 indicator name. For example, to turn on the Scroll Lock LED:
131 xset led named "Scroll Lock"
133 mouse The m option controls the mouse parameters; it may be abbrevi‐
135 ated to 'm'. Of course, it applies to most pointing devices,
136 not just mice. The parameters for the pointing device are `ac‐
137 celeration' and `threshold'. The acceleration can be specified
138 as an integer, or as a simple fraction. Threshold is just an
139 integer. The setting is applied to all connected pointing de‐
140 vices. xinput(1) should be used if you need device-specific
141 settings.
142 By default the pointer (the on-screen representation of the pointing
144 device) will go `acceleration' times as fast when the device travels
145 more than `threshold' mickeys (i.e. would-be pixels) in 10 ms, includ‐
146 ing a small transition range. This way, the pointing device can be used
147 for precise alignment when it is moved slowly, yet it can be set to
148 travel across the screen in a flick of the wrist when desired. One or
149 both parameters for the m option can be omitted, but if only one is
150 given, it will be interpreted as the acceleration. If no parameters or
151 the flag 'default' is used, the system defaults will be set.
152 If the `threshold' parameter is provided and 0, the `acceleration' pa‐
154 rameter will be used in the exponent of a more natural and continuous
155 formula, giving precise control for slow motion but big reach for fast
156 motion, and a progressive transition for motions in between. Recom‐
157 mended `acceleration' value in this case is 3/2 to 3, but not limited
158 to that range.
159 In the X.org X Server 1.6 and above, the behaviour described so far is
161 linked to the default profile. There are other profiles (i.e. functions
162 determining pointer acceleration from device velocity) and additional
163 settings, so the above description may not apply to non-default cases.
164 In the X.org Server 1.7, these are available as input device properties
165 (see xinput).
166 p The p option controls pixel color values. The parameters are
169 the color map entry number in decimal, and a color specifica‐
170 tion. The root background colors may be changed on some
171 servers by altering the entries for BlackPixel and WhitePixel.
172 Although these are often 0 and 1, they need not be. Also, a
173 server may choose to allocate those colors privately, in which
174 case an error will be generated. The map entry must not be a
175 read-only color, or an error will result.
176 r The r option controls the autorepeat. Invoking with "-r", or
178 "r off", will disable autorepeat, whereas "r", or "r on" will
179 enable autorepeat. Following the "-r" or "r" option with an
180 integer keycode between 0 and 255 will disable or enable au‐
181 torepeat on that key respectively, but only if it makes sense
182 for the particular keycode. Keycodes below 8 are not typically
183 valid for this command. Example: "xset -r 10" will disable au‐
184 torepeat for the "1" key on the top row of an IBM PC keyboard.
185 If the server supports the XFree86-Misc extension, or the XKB
187 extension, then a parameter of 'rate' is accepted and should be
188 followed by zero, one or two numeric values. The first speci‐
189 fies the delay before autorepeat starts and the second speci‐
190 fies the repeat rate. In the case that the server supports the
191 XKB extension, the delay is the number of milliseconds before
192 autorepeat starts, and the rate is the number of repeats per
193 second. If the rate or delay is not given, it will be set to
194 the default value.
195 s The s option lets you set the screen saver parameters. This
197 option accepts up to two numerical parameters, a
198 'blank/noblank' flag, an 'expose/noexpose' flag, an 'on/off'
199 flag, an 'activate/reset' flag, or the 'default' flag. If no
200 parameters or the 'default' flag is used, the system will be
201 set to its default screen saver characteristics. The 'on/off'
202 flags simply turn the screen saver functions on or off. The
203 'activate' flag forces activation of screen saver even if the
204 screen saver had been turned off. The 'reset' flag forces de‐
205 activation of screen saver if it is active. The 'blank' flag
206 sets the preference to blank the video (if the hardware can do
207 so) rather than display a background pattern, while 'noblank'
208 sets the preference to display a pattern rather than blank the
209 video. The 'expose' flag sets the preference to allow window
210 exposures (the server can freely discard window contents),
211 while 'noexpose' sets the preference to disable screen saver
212 unless the server can regenerate the screens without causing
213 exposure events. The length and period parameters for the
214 screen saver function determines how long the server must be
215 inactive for screen saving to activate, and the period to
216 change the background pattern to avoid burn in. The arguments
217 are specified in seconds. If only one numerical parameter is
218 given, it will be used for the length.
219 q The q option gives you information on the current settings.
221 -version
223 The -version option prints the program version and exits with‐
224 out doing anything else.
225 These settings will be reset to default values when you log out.
227 Note that not all X implementations are guaranteed to honor all of
229 these options.
230
232 X(7), Xserver(1), xmodmap(1), xrdb(1), xsetroot(1), xinput(1)
233
235 Bob Scheifler, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
236 David Krikorian, MIT Project Athena (X11 version)
237 XFree86-Misc support added by David Dawes and Joe Moss
238 Manpage updates added by Mike A. Harris <mharris@redhat.com>
239X Version 11 xset 1.2.5 XSET(1)