1XSET(1) General Commands Manual XSET(1)
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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
28 This program is used to set various user preference options of the dis‐
29 play.
30
32 -display display
33 This option specifies the server to use; see X(7).
34 b The b option controls bell volume, pitch and duration. This
36 option accepts up to three numerical parameters, a preceding
37 dash(-), or a 'on/off' flag. If no parameters are given, or
38 the 'on' flag is used, the system defaults will be used. If
39 the dash or 'off' are given, the bell will be turned off. If
40 only one numerical parameter is given, the bell volume will be
41 set to that value, as a percentage of its maximum. Likewise,
42 the second numerical parameter specifies the bell pitch, in
43 hertz, and the third numerical parameter specifies the duration
44 in milliseconds. Note that not all hardware can vary the bell
45 characteristics. The X server will set the characteristics of
46 the bell as closely as it can to the user's specifications.
47 bc The bc option controls bug compatibility mode in the server, if
49 possible; a preceding dash(-) disables the mode, otherwise the
50 mode is enabled. Various pre-R4 clients pass illegal values in
51 some protocol requests, and pre-R4 servers did not correctly
52 generate errors in these cases. Such clients, when run against
53 an R4 server, will terminate abnormally or otherwise fail to
54 operate correctly. Bug compatibility mode explicitly reintro‐
55 duces certain bugs into the X server, so that many such clients
56 can still be run. This mode should be used with care; new
57 application development should be done with this mode disabled.
58 The server must support the MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD protocol
59 extension in order for this option to work.
60 c The c option controls key click. This option can take an
62 optional value, a preceding dash(-), or an 'on/off' flag. If
63 no parameter or the 'on' flag is given, the system defaults
64 will be used. If the dash or 'off' flag is used, keyclick will
65 be disabled. If a value from 0 to 100 is given, it is used to
66 indicate volume, as a percentage of the maximum. The X server
67 will set the volume to the nearest value that the hardware can
68 support.
69 -dpms The -dpms option disables DPMS (Energy Star) features.
71 +dpms The +dpms option enables DPMS (Energy Star) features.
73 dpms flags...
75 The dpms option allows the DPMS (Energy Star) parameters to be
76 set. The option can take up to three numerical values, or the
77 `force' flag followed by a DPMS state. The `force' flags
78 forces the server to immediately switch to the DPMS state spec‐
79 ified. The DPMS state can be one of `standby', `suspend',
80 `off', or `on'. When numerical values are given, they set the
81 inactivity period (in units of seconds) before the three modes
82 are activated. The first value given is for the `standby'
83 mode, the second is for the `suspend' mode, and the third is
84 for the `off' mode. Setting these values implicitly enables
85 the DPMS features. A value of zero disables a particular mode.
86 fp= path,...
88 The fp= sets the font path to the entries given in the path
89 argument. The entries are interpreted by the server, not by
90 the client. Typically they are directory names or font server
91 names, but the interpretation is server-dependent.
92 fp default
94 The default argument causes the font path to be reset to the
95 server's default.
96 fp rehash
98 The rehash argument resets the font path to its current value,
99 causing the server to reread the font databases in the current
100 font path. This is generally only used when adding new fonts
101 to a font directory (after running mkfontdir to recreate the
102 font database).
103 -fp or fp-
105 The -fp and fp- options remove elements from the current font
106 path. They must be followed by a comma-separated list of
107 entries.
108 +fp or fp+
110 This +fp and fp+ options prepend and append elements to the
111 current font path, respectively. They must be followed by a
112 comma-separated list of entries.
113 led The led option controls the keyboard LEDs. This controls the
115 turning on or off of one or all of the LEDs. It accepts an
116 optional integer, a preceding dash(-) or an 'on/off' flag. If
117 no parameter or the 'on' flag is given, all LEDs are turned on.
118 If a preceding dash or the flag 'off' is given, all LEDs are
119 turned off. If a value between 1 and 32 is given, that LED
120 will be turned on or off depending on the existence of a pre‐
121 ceding dash. ``xset led 3'' would turn led #3 on. ``xset -led
122 3'' would turn it off. The particular LED values may refer to
123 different LEDs on different hardware. If the X server supports
124 the XKEYBOARD (XKB) extension, leds may be referenced by the
125 XKB indicator name by specifying the `named' keyword and the
126 indicator name. For example, to turn on the Scroll Lock LED:
127 xset led named "Scroll Lock"
129 mouse The m option controls the mouse parameters; it may be abbrevi‐
131 ated to 'm'. Of course, it applies to most pointing devices,
132 not just mice. The parameters for the pointing device are
133 `acceleration' and `threshold'. The acceleration can be speci‐
134 fied as an integer, or as a simple fraction. Threshold is just
135 an integer. The setting is applied to all connected pointing
136 devices. xinput(1) should be used if you need device-specific
137 settings.
138 By default the pointer (the on-screen representation of the pointing
140 device) will go `acceleration' times as fast when the device travels
141 more than `threshold' mickeys (i.e. would-be pixels) in 10 ms, includ‐
142 ing a small transition range. This way, the pointing device can be used
143 for precise alignment when it is moved slowly, yet it can be set to
144 travel across the screen in a flick of the wrist when desired. One or
145 both parameters for the m option can be omitted, but if only one is
146 given, it will be interpreted as the acceleration. If no parameters or
147 the flag 'default' is used, the system defaults will be set.
148 If the `threshold' parameter is provided and 0, the `acceleration'
150 parameter will be used in the exponent of a more natural and continuous
151 formula, giving precise control for slow motion but big reach for fast
152 motion, and a progressive transition for motions in between. Recom‐
153 mended `acceleration' value in this case is 3/2 to 3, but not limited
154 to that range.
155 In the X.org X Server 1.6 and above, the behaviour described so far is
157 linked to the default profile. There are other profiles (i.e. functions
158 determining pointer acceleration from device velocity) and additional
159 settings, so the above description may not apply to non-default cases.
160 In the X.org Server 1.7, these are available as input device properties
161 (see xinput).
162 p The p option controls pixel color values. The parameters are
165 the color map entry number in decimal, and a color specifica‐
166 tion. The root background colors may be changed on some
167 servers by altering the entries for BlackPixel and WhitePixel.
168 Although these are often 0 and 1, they need not be. Also, a
169 server may choose to allocate those colors privately, in which
170 case an error will be generated. The map entry must not be a
171 read-only color, or an error will result.
172 r The r option controls the autorepeat. Invoking with "-r", or
174 "r off", will disable autorepeat, whereas "r", or "r on" will
175 enable autorepeat. Following the "-r" or "r" option with an
176 integer keycode between 0 and 255 will disable or enable
177 autorepeat on that key respectively, but only if it makes sense
178 for the particular keycode. Keycodes below 8 are not typically
179 valid for this command. Example: "xset -r 10" will disable
180 autorepeat for the "1" key on the top row of an IBM PC key‐
181 board.
182 If the server supports the XFree86-Misc extension, or the XKB
184 extension, then a parameter of 'rate' is accepted and should be
185 followed by zero, one or two numeric values. The first speci‐
186 fies the delay before autorepeat starts and the second speci‐
187 fies the repeat rate. In the case that the server supports the
188 XKB extension, the delay is the number of milliseconds before
189 autorepeat starts, and the rate is the number of repeats per
190 second. If the rate or delay is not given, it will be set to
191 the default value.
192 s The s option lets you set the screen saver parameters. This
194 option accepts up to two numerical parameters, a
195 'blank/noblank' flag, an 'expose/noexpose' flag, an 'on/off'
196 flag, an 'activate/reset' flag, or the 'default' flag. If no
197 parameters or the 'default' flag is used, the system will be
198 set to its default screen saver characteristics. The 'on/off'
199 flags simply turn the screen saver functions on or off. The
200 'activate' flag forces activation of screen saver even if the
201 screen saver had been turned off. The 'reset' flag forces
202 deactivation of screen saver if it is active. The 'blank' flag
203 sets the preference to blank the video (if the hardware can do
204 so) rather than display a background pattern, while 'noblank'
205 sets the preference to display a pattern rather than blank the
206 video. The 'expose' flag sets the preference to allow window
207 exposures (the server can freely discard window contents),
208 while 'noexpose' sets the preference to disable screen saver
209 unless the server can regenerate the screens without causing
210 exposure events. The length and period parameters for the
211 screen saver function determines how long the server must be
212 inactive for screen saving to activate, and the period to
213 change the background pattern to avoid burn in. The arguments
214 are specified in seconds. If only one numerical parameter is
215 given, it will be used for the length.
216 q The q option gives you information on the current settings.
218 These settings will be reset to default values when you log out.
220 Note that not all X implementations are guaranteed to honor all of
222 these options.
223
225 X(7), Xserver(1), xmodmap(1), xrdb(1), xsetroot(1), xinput(1)
226
228 Bob Scheifler, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
229 David Krikorian, MIT Project Athena (X11 version)
230 XFree86-Misc support added by David Dawes and Joe Moss
231 Manpage updates added by Mike A. Harris <mharris@redhat.com>
232X Version 11 xset 1.2.1 XSET(1)