1XRDB(1)                     General Commands Manual                    XRDB(1)
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NAME

6       xrdb - X server resource database utility
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SYNOPSIS

9       xrdb [-option ...] [filename]
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DESCRIPTION

12       Xrdb  is  used to get or set the contents of the RESOURCE_MANAGER prop‐
13       erty on the root window of screen 0, or the  SCREEN_RESOURCES  property
14       on  the root window of any or all screens, or everything combined.  You
15       would normally run this program from your X startup file.
16
17       Most X clients use the RESOURCE_MANAGER and SCREEN_RESOURCES properties
18       to get user preferences about color, fonts, and so on for applications.
19       Having this information in the server (where it  is  available  to  all
20       clients) instead of on disk, solves the problem in previous versions of
21       X that required you to maintain defaults files on  every  machine  that
22       you might use.  It also allows for dynamic changing of defaults without
23       editing files.
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25       The RESOURCE_MANAGER property is used for resources that apply  to  all
26       screens  of  the display.  The SCREEN_RESOURCES property on each screen
27       specifies additional (or overriding) resources  to  be  used  for  that
28       screen.   (When  there is only one screen, SCREEN_RESOURCES is normally
29       not used, all resources are just placed in the  RESOURCE_MANAGER  prop‐
30       erty.)
31
32       The  file specified by filename (or the contents from standard input if
33       - or no filename is given) is optionally  passed  through  the  C  pre‐
34       processor with the following symbols defined, based on the capabilities
35       of the server being used:
36
37       SERVERHOST=hostname
38               the hostname portion of the display to which you are connected.
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40       SRVR_name
41               the SERVERHOST hostname string turned into a legal  identifier.
42               For         example,        "my-dpy.lcs.mit.edu"        becomes
43               SRVR_my_dpy_lcs_mit_edu.
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45       HOST=hostname
46               the same as SERVERHOST.
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48       DISPLAY_NUM=num
49               the number of the display on the server host.
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51       CLIENTHOST=hostname
52               the name of the host on which xrdb is running.
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54       CLNT_name
55               the CLIENTHOST hostname string turned into a legal  identifier.
56               For example, "expo.lcs.mit.edu" becomes CLNT_expo_lcs_mit_edu.
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58       RELEASE=num
59               the  vendor  release number for the server.  The interpretation
60               of this number will vary depending on VENDOR.
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62       REVISION=num
63               the X protocol minor version supported  by  this  server  (cur‐
64               rently 0).
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66       VERSION=num
67               the  X  protocol major version supported by this server (should
68               always be 11).
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70       VENDOR="vendor"
71               a string literal specifying the vendor of the server.
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73       VNDR_name
74               the VENDOR name string turned into a legal identifier.  For ex‐
75               ample, "MIT X Consortium" becomes VNDR_MIT_X_Consortium.
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77       EXT_name
78               A  symbol  is  defined for each protocol extension supported by
79               the server.  Each extension string name is turned into a  legal
80               identifier.  For example, "X3D-PEX" becomes EXT_X3D_PEX.
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82       NUM_SCREENS=num
83               the total number of screens.
84
85       SCREEN_NUM=num
86               the number of the current screen (from zero).
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88       BITS_PER_RGB=num
89               the  number  of significant bits in an RGB color specification.
90               This is the log base 2 of the number of distinct shades of each
91               primary  that  the hardware can generate.  Note that it usually
92               is not related to PLANES.
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94       CLASS=visualclass
95               one of StaticGray, GrayScale, StaticColor,  PseudoColor,  True‐
96               Color,  DirectColor.  This is the visual class of the root win‐
97               dow.
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99       CLASS_visualclass=visualid
100               the visual class of the root window in a form  you  can  #ifdef
101               on.  The value is the numeric id of the visual.
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103       COLOR   defined only if CLASS is one of StaticColor, PseudoColor, True‐
104               Color, or DirectColor.
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106       CLASS_visualclass_depth=num
107               A symbol is defined for each visual supported for  the  screen.
108               The  symbol includes the class of the visual and its depth; the
109               value is the numeric id of the visual.  (If more than one  vis‐
110               ual  has  the same class and depth, the numeric id of the first
111               one reported by the server is used.)
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113       HEIGHT=num
114               the height of the root window in pixels.
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116       WIDTH=num
117               the width of the root window in pixels.
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119       PLANES=num
120               the number of bit planes (the depth) of the root window.
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122       X_RESOLUTION=num
123               the x resolution of the screen in pixels per meter.
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125       Y_RESOLUTION=num
126               the y resolution of the screen in pixels per meter.
127
128       SRVR_name, CLNT_name, VNDR_name, and EXT_name identifiers are formed by
129       changing  all characters other than letters and digits into underscores
130       (_).
131
132       Lines that begin with an exclamation mark (!) are ignored  and  may  be
133       used as comments.
134
135       Note  that  since  xrdb can read from standard input, it can be used to
136       the change the contents of properties directly from a terminal or  from
137       a shell script.
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OPTIONS

140       xrdb program accepts the following options:
141
142       -help   This  option (or any unsupported option) will cause a brief de‐
143               scription  of  the  allowable  options  and  parameters  to  be
144               printed.
145
146       -version
147               This  option  will cause the xrdb version to be printed and the
148               program to exit without performing any other operations.
149
150       -display display
151               This option specifies the X server to be used;  see  X(7).   It
152               also specifies the screen to use for the -screen option, and it
153               specifies the screen from which preprocessor  symbols  are  de‐
154               rived for the -global option.
155
156       -all    This option indicates that operation should be performed on the
157               screen-independent  resource  property  (RESOURCE_MANAGER),  as
158               well  as the screen-specific property (SCREEN_RESOURCES) on ev‐
159               ery screen of the display.  For example, when used in  conjunc‐
160               tion  with  -query,  the contents of all properties are output.
161               For -load, -override and -merge, the input  file  is  processed
162               once  for  each screen.  The resources which occur in common in
163               the output for every screen are collected, and  these  are  ap‐
164               plied  as  the screen-independent resources.  The remaining re‐
165               sources are applied for each  individual  per-screen  property.
166               This the default mode of operation.
167
168       -global This  option  indicates  that the operation should only be per‐
169               formed on the screen-independent RESOURCE_MANAGER property.
170
171       -screen This option indicates that the operation should  only  be  per‐
172               formed  on  the SCREEN_RESOURCES property of the default screen
173               of the display.
174
175       -screens
176               This option indicates that the operation should be performed on
177               the  SCREEN_RESOURCES  property  of each screen of the display.
178               For -load, -override and -merge, the input  file  is  processed
179               for each screen.
180
181       -n      This  option indicates that changes to the specified properties
182               (when used with -load, -override or -merge) or to the  resource
183               file  (when  used  with  -edit) should be shown on the standard
184               output, but should not be performed.
185
186       -quiet  This option indicates  that  warning  about  duplicate  entries
187               should not be displayed.
188
189       -cpp filename
190               This  option  specifies the pathname of the C preprocessor pro‐
191               gram to be used.  Although xrdb was designed to  use  CPP,  any
192               program  that  acts  as a filter and accepts the -D, -I, and -U
193               options may be used.
194
195       -nocpp  This option indicates that xrdb should not run the  input  file
196               through a preprocessor before loading it into properties.
197
198       -undef  This  option  is  passed to the C preprocessor if used. It pre‐
199               vents it from predefining any system specific macros.
200
201       -E      This option indicates that any cpp command run and  the  output
202               from it should be shown on standard output.  If -nocpp was also
203               specified, the input file will be shown as read.  The specified
204               changes  will  also  be  performed unless the -n option is also
205               specified.
206
207       -symbols
208               This option indicates that the symbols that are defined for the
209               preprocessor should be printed onto the standard output.
210
211       -query  This  option  indicates that the current contents of the speci‐
212               fied properties should be printed  onto  the  standard  output.
213               Note  that  since  preprocessor  commands in the input resource
214               file are part of the input file, not part of the property, they
215               won't  appear in the output from this option.  The -edit option
216               can be used to merge the contents of properties back  into  the
217               input resource file without damaging preprocessor commands.
218
219       -get name
220               This  option indicates that the current content of the property
221               matching name should be printed onto the standard output.
222
223       -load   This option indicates that the input should be  loaded  as  the
224               new  value  of the specified properties, replacing whatever was
225               there (i.e.  the old contents are removed).  This  is  the  de‐
226               fault action.
227
228       -override
229               This  option  indicates  that the input should be added to, in‐
230               stead of replacing, the current contents of the specified prop‐
231               erties.  New entries override previous entries.
232
233       -merge  This option indicates that the input should be merged and lexi‐
234               cographically sorted with, instead of  replacing,  the  current
235               contents of the specified properties.
236
237       -remove This  option  indicates that the specified properties should be
238               removed from the server.
239
240       -retain This option indicates that the server should be instructed  not
241               to  reset  if  xrdb  is the first client.  This should never be
242               necessary under normal conditions, since xdm and  xinit  always
243               act as the first client.
244
245       -edit filename
246               This  option indicates that the contents of the specified prop‐
247               erties should be edited into the given file, replacing any val‐
248               ues  already listed there.  This allows you to put changes that
249               you have made to your defaults back into  your  resource  file,
250               preserving any comments or preprocessor lines.
251
252       -backup string
253               This  option  specifies a suffix to be appended to the filename
254               used with -edit to generate a backup file.
255
256       -Dname[=value]
257               This option is passed through to the preprocessor and  is  used
258               to define symbols for use with conditionals such as #ifdef.
259
260       -Uname  This  option  is passed through to the preprocessor and is used
261               to remove any definitions of this symbol.
262
263       -Idirectory
264               This option is passed through to the preprocessor and  is  used
265               to  specify a directory to search for files that are referenced
266               with #include.
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FILES

269       Xrdb does not load any files on its own, but many desktop  environments
270       use  xrdb  to load ~/.Xresources files on session startup to initialize
271       the resource database, as a generalized  replacement  for  ~/.Xdefaults
272       files.
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SEE ALSO

275       X(7),  appres(1),  listres(1),  Xlib Resource Manager documentation, Xt
276       resource documentation
277

ENVIRONMENT

279       DISPLAY to figure out which display to use.
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BUGS

282       The default for no arguments should be to query, not to  overwrite,  so
283       that it is consistent with other programs.
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AUTHORS

286       Bob Scheifler, Phil Karlton, rewritten from the original by Jim Gettys
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290X Version 11                      xrdb 1.2.2                           XRDB(1)
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