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]]] [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
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
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 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 -dpms The -dpms option disables DPMS (Energy Star) features.
72 +dpms The +dpms option enables DPMS (Energy Star) features.
74 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 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.
93 fp default
95 The default argument causes the font path to be reset to the
96 server's default.
97 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 -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 +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 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:
128 xset led named "Scroll Lock"
130 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 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 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.
156 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).
163 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 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 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 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 q The q option gives you information on the current settings.
219 -version
221 The -version option prints the program version and exits with‐
222 out doing anything else.
223 These settings will be reset to default values when you log out.
225 Note that not all X implementations are guaranteed to honor all of
227 these options.
228
230 X(7), Xserver(1), xmodmap(1), xrdb(1), xsetroot(1), xinput(1)
231
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>
237X Version 11 xset 1.2.3 XSET(1)