1XTERM(1) X Window System XTERM(1)
2
6 xterm - terminal emulator for X
7
9 xterm [-toolkitoption ...] [-option ...] [shell]
10
12 The xterm program is a terminal emulator for the X Window System. It
13 provides DEC VT102/VT220 and selected features from higher-level
14 terminals such as VT320/VT420/VT520 (VTxxx). It also provides
15 Tektronix 4014 emulation for programs that cannot use the window system
16 directly. If the underlying operating system supports terminal
17 resizing capabilities (for example, the SIGWINCH signal in systems
18 derived from 4.3BSD), xterm will use the facilities to notify programs
19 running in the window whenever it is resized.
20 The VTxxx and Tektronix 4014 terminals each have their own window so
22 that you can edit text in one and look at graphics in the other at the
23 same time. To maintain the correct aspect ratio (height/width),
24 Tektronix graphics will be restricted to the largest box with a 4014's
25 aspect ratio that will fit in the window. This box is located in the
26 upper left area of the window.
27 Although both windows may be displayed at the same time, one of them is
29 considered the “active” window for receiving keyboard input and
30 terminal output. This is the window that contains the text cursor.
31 The active window can be chosen through escape sequences, the VT
32 Options menu in the VTxxx window, and the Tek Options menu in the 4014
33 window.
34
36 Xterm provides usable emulations of related DEC terminals:
37 · VT52 emulation is complete.
39 · VT102 emulation is fairly complete, but does not support autorepeat
41 (because that would affect the keyboard used by other X clients).
42 Double-size characters are displayed properly if your font server
44 supports scalable bitmap fonts.
45 · VT220 emulation does not support soft fonts, it is otherwise
47 complete.
48 · VT420 emulation (the default) supports controls for manipulating
50 rectangles of characters as well as left/right margins.
51 Xterm does not support some other features which are not suitable
53 for emulation, e.g., two-sessions.
54 Terminal database (terminfo (5) or termcap (5)) entries that work with
56 xterm include
57 an optional platform-specific entry (“xterm”),
59 “xterm”,
60 “vt102”,
61 “vt100”,
62 “ansi” and
63 “dumb”
64 Xterm automatically searches the terminal database in this order for
66 these entries and then sets the “TERM” variable (and the “TERMCAP”
67 environment variable on a few older systems). The alternatives after
68 “xterm” are very old, from the late 1980s.
69 VT100 and VT102 emulations are commonly equated, though they actually
71 differ. The VT102 provided controls for inserting and deleting lines.
72 Similarly, “ansi” and “vt100” are often equated. These are not really
74 the same. For instance, they use different controls for scrolling (but
75 xterm supports both). These features differ in an “ansi” terminal
76 description from xterm:
77 acsc
79 Pseudo-graphics (line-drawing) uses a different mapping.
80 xenl
82 Xterm wraps text at the right margin using the VT100 “newline
83 glitch” behavior.
84 Because of the wrapping behavior, you would occasionally have to
86 repaint the screen when using a text editor with the “ansi”
87 description.
88 You may also use descriptions corresponding to the various supported
90 emulations such as “vt220” or “vt420”, but should set the terminal
91 emulation level with the decTerminalID resource.
92 On most systems, xterm will use the terminfo database. Some older
94 systems use termcap. (The “TERMCAP” environment variable is not set if
95 xterm is linked against a terminfo library, since the requisite
96 information is not provided by the termcap emulation of terminfo
97 libraries).
98 Many of the special xterm features may be modified under program
100 control through a set of escape sequences different from the standard
101 VTxxx escape sequences (see Xterm Control Sequences).
102 The Tektronix 4014 emulation is also fairly good. It supports 12-bit
104 graphics addressing, scaled to the window size. Four different font
105 sizes and five different lines types are supported. There is no write-
106 through or defocused mode support. The Tektronix text and graphics
107 commands are recorded internally by xterm and may be written to a file
108 by sending the COPY escape sequence (or through the Tektronix menu; see
109 below). The name of the file will be
110 “COPYyyyy-MM-dd.hh:mm:ss”
112 where yyyy, MM, dd, hh, mm and ss are the year, month, day, hour,
114 minute and second when the COPY was performed (the file is created in
115 the directory xterm is started in, or the home directory for a login
116 xterm).
117 Not all of the features described in this manual are necessarily
119 available in this version of xterm. Some (e.g., the non-VT220
120 extensions) are available only if they were compiled in, though the
121 most commonly-used are in the default configuration.
122
124 Xterm automatically highlights the text cursor when the pointer enters
125 the window (selected) and unhighlights it when the pointer leaves the
126 window (unselected). If the window is the focus window, then the text
127 cursor is highlighted no matter where the pointer is.
128 In VTxxx mode, there are escape sequences to activate and deactivate an
130 alternate screen buffer, which is the same size as the display area of
131 the window. When activated, the current screen is saved and replaced
132 with the alternate screen. Saving of lines scrolled off the top of the
133 window is disabled until the normal screen is restored. The usual
134 terminal description for xterm allows the visual editor vi(1) to switch
135 to the alternate screen for editing and to restore the screen on exit.
136 A popup menu entry makes it simple to switch between the normal and
137 alternate screens for cut and paste.
138 In either VTxxx or Tektronix mode, there are escape sequences to change
140 the name of the windows. Additionally, in VTxxx mode, xterm implements
141 the window-manipulation control sequences from dtterm, such as resizing
142 the window, setting its location on the screen.
143 Xterm allows character-based applications to receive mouse events
145 (currently button-press and release events, and button-motion events)
146 as keyboard control sequences. See Xterm Control Sequences for
147 details.
148
150 Because xterm uses the X Toolkit library, it accepts the standard X
151 Toolkit command line options. Xterm also accepts many application-
152 specific options.
153 By convention, if an option begins with a “+” instead of a “-”, the
155 option is restored to its default value.
156 Most of the xterm options are actually parsed by the X Toolkit, which
158 sets resource values, and overrides corresponding resource-settings in
159 your X resource files. Xterm provides the X Toolkit with a table of
160 options. A few of these are marked, telling the X Toolkit to ignore
161 them (-help, -version, -class, -e, and -into). After the X Toolkit has
162 parsed the command-line parameters, it removes those which it handles,
163 leaving the specially-marked parameters for xterm to handle.
164 These options do not set a resource value, and are handled specially:
166 -version
168 This causes xterm to print a version number to the standard
169 output, and then exit.
170 -help This causes xterm to print out a verbose message describing its
172 options, one per line. The message is written to the standard
173 output. After printing the message, xterm exits. Xterm
174 generates this message, sorting it and noting whether a
175 “-option” or a “+option” turns the feature on or off, since
176 some features historically have been one or the other. Xterm
177 generates a concise help message (multiple options per line)
178 when an unknown option is used, e.g.,
179 xterm -z
181 If the logic for a particular option such as logging is not
183 compiled into xterm, the help text for that option also is not
184 displayed by the -help option.
185 The -version and -help options are interpreted even if xterm cannot
187 open the display, and are useful for testing and configuration scripts.
188 Along with -class, they are checked before other options. To do this,
189 xterm has its own (much simpler) argument parser, along with a table of
190 the X Toolkit's built-in list of options.
191 Relying upon the X Toolkit to parse the options and associated values
193 has the advantages of simplicity and good integration with the X
194 resource mechanism. There are a few drawbacks
195 · Xterm cannot tell easily whether a resource value was set by one of
197 the external resource- or application-defaults files, whether it
198 was set using xrdb(1), or if it was set through the -xrm option or
199 via some directly relevant command-line option. Xterm sees only
200 the end-result: a value supplied when creating its widgets.
201 · Xterm does not know the order in which particular options and items
203 in resource files are evaluated. Rather, it sees all of the values
204 for a given widget at the same time. In the design of these
205 options, some are deemed more important, and can override other
206 options.
207 The X Toolkit uses patterns (constants and wildcards) to match
209 resources. Once a particular pattern has been used, it will not
210 modify it. To override a given setting, a more-specific pattern
211 must be used, e.g., replacing “*” with “.”. Some poorly-designed
212 resource files are too specific to allow the command-line options
213 to affect the relevant widget values.
214 · In a few cases, the X Toolkit combines its standard options in ways
216 which do not work well with xterm. This happens with the color
217 (-fg, -bg) and reverse (-rv) options. Xterm makes a special case
218 of these and adjusts its sense of “reverse” to lessen user
219 surprise.
220 One parameter (after all options) may be given. That overrides xterm's
222 built-in choice of shell program:
223 · If the parameter is not a relative path, i.e., beginning with “./”
225 or “../”, xterm looks for the file in the user's PATH. In either
226 case, this check fails if xterm cannot construct an absolute path.
227 · If that check fails (or if no such parameter is given), xterm next
229 checks the “SHELL” variable. If that specifies an executable file,
230 xterm will attempt to start that. However, xterm additionally
231 checks if it is a valid shell, and will unset “SHELL” if it is not.
232 · If “SHELL” is not set to an executable file, xterm tries to use the
234 shell program specified in the user's password file entry. As
235 before, xterm verifies if this is a valid shell.
236 · Finally, if the password file entry does not specify a valid shell,
238 xterm uses /bin/sh.
239 The -e option cannot be used with this parameter since it uses all
241 parameters following the option.
242 Xterm validates shell programs by finding their pathname in the text
244 file /etc/shells. It treats the environment variable “SHELL” specially
245 because (like “TERM”), xterm both reads and updates the variable, and
246 because the program started by xterm is not necessarily a shell.
247 The other options are used to control the appearance and behavior. Not
249 all options are necessarily configured into your copy of xterm:
250 -132 Normally, the VT102 DECCOLM escape sequence that switches
252 between 80 and 132 column mode is ignored. This option causes
253 the DECCOLM escape sequence to be recognized, and the xterm
254 window will resize appropriately.
255 -ah This option indicates that xterm should always highlight the
257 text cursor. By default, xterm will display a hollow text
258 cursor whenever the focus is lost or the pointer leaves the
259 window.
260 +ah This option indicates that xterm should do text cursor
262 highlighting based on focus.
263 -ai This option disables active icon support if that feature was
265 compiled into xterm. This is equivalent to setting the vt100
266 resource activeIcon to “false”.
267 +ai This option enables active icon support if that feature was
269 compiled into xterm. This is equivalent to setting the vt100
270 resource activeIcon to “true”.
271 -aw This option indicates that auto-wraparound should be allowed,
273 and is equivalent to setting the vt100 resource autoWrap to
274 “false”.
275 Auto-wraparound allows the cursor to automatically wrap to the
277 beginning of the next line when it is at the rightmost position
278 of a line and text is output.
279 +aw This option indicates that auto-wraparound should not be
281 allowed, and is equivalent to setting the vt100 resource
282 autoWrap to “false”.
283 -b number
285 This option specifies the size of the inner border (the
286 distance between the outer edge of the characters and the
287 window border) in pixels. That is the vt100 internalBorder
288 resource. The default is “2”.
289 -baudrate number
291 Set the line-speed, used to test the behavior of applications
292 that use the line-speed when optimizing their output to the
293 screen. The default is “38400”.
294 +bc turn off text cursor blinking. This overrides the cursorBlink
296 resource.
297 -bc turn on text cursor blinking. This overrides the cursorBlink
299 resource.
300 -bcf milliseconds
302 set the amount of time text cursor is off when blinking via the
303 cursorOffTime resource.
304 -bcn milliseconds
306 set the amount of time text cursor is on when blinking via the
307 cursorOnTime resource.
308 -bdc Set the vt100 resource colorBDMode to “false”, disabling the
310 display of characters with bold attribute as color.
311 +bdc Set the vt100 resource colorBDMode to “true”, enabling the
313 display of characters with bold attribute as color rather than
314 bold.
315 -cb Set the vt100 resource cutToBeginningOfLine to “false”.
317 +cb Set the vt100 resource cutToBeginningOfLine to “true”.
319 -cc characterclassrange:value[, ...]
321 This sets classes indicated by the given ranges for using in
322 selecting by words (see CHARACTER CLASSES and the charClass
323 resource).
324 -cjk_width
326 Set the cjkWidth resource to “true”. When turned on,
327 characters with East Asian Ambiguous (A) category in UTR 11
328 have a column width of 2. Otherwise, they have a column width
329 of 1. This may be useful for some legacy CJK text terminal-
330 based programs assuming box drawings and others to have a
331 column width of 2. It also should be turned on when you
332 specify a TrueType CJK double-width (bi-width/monospace) font
333 either with -fa at the command line or faceName resource. The
334 default is “false”
335 +cjk_width
337 Reset the cjkWidth resource.
338 -class string
340 This option allows you to override xterm's resource class.
341 Normally it is “XTerm”, but can be set to another class such as
342 “UXTerm” to override selected resources.
343 X Toolkit sets the WM_CLASS property using the instance name
345 and this class value.
346 -cm This option disables recognition of ANSI color-change escape
348 sequences. It sets the colorMode resource to “false”.
349 +cm This option enables recognition of ANSI color-change escape
351 sequences. This is the same as the vt100 resource colorMode.
352 -cn This option indicates that newlines should not be cut in line-
354 mode selections. It sets the cutNewline resource to “false”.
355 +cn This option indicates that newlines should be cut in line-mode
357 selections. It sets the cutNewline resource to “true”.
358 -cr color
360 This option specifies the color to use for text cursor. The
361 default is to use the same foreground color that is used for
362 text. It sets the cursorColor resource according to the
363 parameter.
364 -cu This option indicates that xterm should work around a bug in
366 the more(1) program that causes it to incorrectly display lines
367 that are exactly the width of the window and are followed by a
368 line beginning with a tab (the leading tabs are not displayed).
369 This option is so named because it was originally thought to be
370 a bug in the curses(3x) cursor motion package.
371 +cu This option indicates that xterm should not work around the
373 more(1) bug mentioned above.
374 -dc This option disables the escape sequence to change dynamic
376 colors: the vt100 foreground and background colors, its text
377 cursor color, the pointer cursor foreground and background
378 colors, the Tektronix emulator foreground and background
379 colors, its text cursor color and highlight color. The option
380 sets the dynamicColors option to “false”.
381 +dc This option enables the escape sequence to change dynamic
383 colors. The option sets the dynamicColors option to “true”.
384 -e program [ arguments ... ]
386 This option specifies the program (and its command line
387 arguments) to be run in the xterm window. It also sets the
388 window title and icon name to be the basename of the program
389 being executed if neither -T nor -n are given on the command
390 line.
391 NOTE: This must be the last option on the command line.
393 -en encoding
395 This option determines the encoding on which xterm runs. It
396 sets the locale resource. Encodings other than UTF-8 are
397 supported by using luit. The -lc option should be used instead
398 of -en for systems with locale support.
399 -fb font
401 This option specifies a font to be used when displaying bold
402 text. It sets the boldFont resource.
403 This font must be the same height and width as the normal font,
405 otherwise it is ignored. If only one of the normal or bold
406 fonts is specified, it will be used as the normal font and the
407 bold font will be produced by overstriking this font.
408 See also the discussion of boldMode and alwaysBoldMode
410 resources.
411 -fa pattern
413 This option sets the pattern for fonts selected from the
414 FreeType library if support for that library was compiled into
415 xterm. This corresponds to the faceName resource. When a CJK
416 double-width font is specified, you also need to turn on the
417 cjkWidth resource.
418 If you specify both -fa and the X Toolkit option -fn, the -fa
420 setting overrides the latter.
421 See also the renderFont resource, which combines with this to
423 determine whether FreeType fonts are initially active.
424 -fbb This option indicates that xterm should compare normal and bold
426 fonts bounding boxes to ensure they are compatible. It sets
427 the freeBoldBox resource to “false”.
428 +fbb This option indicates that xterm should not compare normal and
430 bold fonts bounding boxes to ensure they are compatible. It
431 sets the freeBoldBox resource to “true”.
432 -fbx This option indicates that xterm should not assume that the
434 normal and bold fonts have VT100 line-drawing characters. If
435 any are missing, xterm will draw the characters directly. It
436 sets the forceBoxChars resource to “false”.
437 +fbx This option indicates that xterm should assume that the normal
439 and bold fonts have VT100 line-drawing characters. It sets the
440 forceBoxChars resource to “true”.
441 -fd pattern
443 This option sets the pattern for double-width fonts selected
444 from the FreeType library if support for that library was
445 compiled into xterm. This corresponds to the
446 faceNameDoublesize resource.
447 -fi font
449 This option sets the font for active icons if that feature was
450 compiled into xterm.
451 See also the discussion of the iconFont resource.
453 -fs size
455 This option sets the pointsize for fonts selected from the
456 FreeType library if support for that library was compiled into
457 xterm. This corresponds to the faceSize resource.
458 -fullscreen
460 This option indicates that xterm should ask the window manager
461 to let it use the full-screen for display, e.g., without window
462 decorations. It sets the fullscreen resource to “true”.
463 +fullscreen
465 This option indicates that xterm should not ask the window
466 manager to let it use the full-screen for display. It sets the
467 fullscreen resource to “false”.
468 -fw font
470 This option specifies the font to be used for displaying wide
471 text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice as wide
472 as the font that will be used to draw normal text. If no
473 double-width font is found, it will improvise, by stretching
474 the normal font. This corresponds to the wideFont resource.
475 -fwb font
477 This option specifies the font to be used for displaying bold
478 wide text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice as
479 wide as the font that will be used to draw bold text. If no
480 double-width font is found, it will improvise, by stretching
481 the bold font. This corresponds to the wideBoldFont resource.
482 -fx font
484 This option specifies the font to be used for displaying the
485 preedit string in the “OverTheSpot” input method.
486 See also the discussion of the ximFont resource.
488 -hc color
490 (see -selbg).
491 -hf This option indicates that HP function key escape codes should
493 be generated for function keys. It sets the hpFunctionKeys
494 resource to “true”.
495 +hf This option indicates that HP function key escape codes should
497 not be generated for function keys. It sets the hpFunctionKeys
498 resource to “false”.
499 -hm Tells xterm to use highlightTextColor and highlightColor to
501 override the reversed foreground/background colors in a
502 selection. It sets the highlightColorMode resource to “true”.
503 +hm Tells xterm not to use highlightTextColor and highlightColor to
505 override the reversed foreground/background colors in a
506 selection. It sets the highlightColorMode resource to “false”.
507 -hold Turn on the hold resource, i.e., xterm will not immediately
509 destroy its window when the shell command completes. It will
510 wait until you use the window manager to destroy/kill the
511 window, or if you use the menu entries that send a signal,
512 e.g., HUP or KILL.
513 +hold Turn off the hold resource, i.e., xterm will immediately
515 destroy its window when the shell command completes.
516 -ie Turn on the ptyInitialErase resource, i.e., use the pseudo-
518 terminal's sense of the stty erase value.
519 +ie Turn off the ptyInitialErase resource, i.e., set the stty erase
521 value using the kb string from the termcap entry as a
522 reference, if available.
523 -im Turn on the useInsertMode resource, which forces use of insert
525 mode by adding appropriate entries to the TERMCAP environment
526 variable. (This option is ignored on most systems, because
527 TERMCAP is not used).
528 +im Turn off the useInsertMode resource.
530 -into windowId
532 Given an X window identifier (an integer, which can be
533 hexadecimal, octal or decimal according to whether it begins
534 with "0x", "0" or neither), xterm will reparent its top-level
535 shell widget to that window. This is used to embed xterm
536 within other applications.
537 For instance, there are scripts for Tcl/Tk and Gtk which can be
539 used to demonstrate the feature. When using Gtk, there is a
540 limitation of that toolkit which requires that xterm's
541 allowSendEvents resource is enabled.
542 -itc Set the vt100 resource colorITMode to “false”, disabling the
544 display of characters with italic attribute as color.
545 +itc Set the vt100 resource colorITMode to “true”, enabling the
547 display of characters with italic attribute as color rather
548 than italic.
549 -j This option indicates that xterm should do jump scrolling. It
551 corresponds to the jumpScroll resource. Normally, text is
552 scrolled one line at a time; this option allows xterm to move
553 multiple lines at a time so that it does not fall as far
554 behind. Its use is strongly recommended since it makes xterm
555 much faster when scanning through large amounts of text. The
556 VT100 escape sequences for enabling and disabling smooth scroll
557 as well as the VT Options menu can be used to turn this feature
558 on or off.
559 +j This option indicates that xterm should not do jump scrolling.
561 -k8 This option sets the allowC1Printable resource. When
563 allowC1Printable is set, xterm overrides the mapping of C1
564 control characters (code 128–159) to treat them as printable.
565 +k8 This option resets the allowC1Printable resource.
567 -kt keyboardtype
569 This option sets the keyboardType resource. Possible values
570 include: “unknown”, “default”, “legacy”, “hp”, “sco”, “sun”,
571 “tcap” and “vt220”.
572 The value “unknown”, causes the corresponding resource to be
574 ignored.
575 The value “default”, suppresses the associated resources
577 hpFunctionKeys,
579 scoFunctionKeys,
580 sunFunctionKeys,
581 tcapFunctionKeys,
582 oldXtermFKeys and
583 sunKeyboard,
584 using the Sun/PC keyboard layout.
586 -l Turn logging on, unless disabled by the logInhibit resource.
588 Some versions of xterm may have logging enabled. However,
590 normally logging is not supported, due to security concerns in
591 the early 1990s. That was a problem in X11R4 xterm (1989)
592 which was addressed by a patch to X11R5 late in 1993. X11R6
593 included these fixes. The older version (when running with
594 root privilege) would create the log file using root privilege.
595 The reason why xterm ran with root privileges was to open
596 pseudo-terminals. Those privileges are now needed only on very
597 old systems: Unix98 pseudo-terminals made the BSD scheme
598 unnecessary.
599 Unless overridden by the -lf option or the logFile resource:
601 · If the filename is “-”, then logging is sent to the
603 standard output.
604 · Otherwise a filename is generated, and the log file is
606 written to the directory from which xterm is invoked.
607 · The generated filename is of the form
609 XtermLog.XXXXXX
611 or
613 Xterm.log.hostname.yyyy.mm.dd.hh.mm.ss.XXXXXX
615 depending on how xterm was built.
617 +l Turn logging off.
619 -lc Turn on support of various encodings according to the users'
621 locale setting, i.e., LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG environment
622 variables. This is achieved by turning on UTF-8 mode and by
623 invoking luit for conversion between locale encodings and
624 UTF-8. (luit is not invoked in UTF-8 locales.) This
625 corresponds to the locale resource.
626 The actual list of encodings which are supported is determined
628 by luit. Consult the luit manual page for further details.
629 See also the discussion of the -u8 option which supports UTF-8
631 locales.
632 +lc Turn off support of automatic selection of locale encodings.
634 Conventional 8bit mode or, in UTF-8 locales or with -u8 option,
635 UTF-8 mode will be used.
636 -lcc path
638 File name for the encoding converter from/to locale encodings
639 and UTF-8 which is used with -lc option or locale resource.
640 This corresponds to the localeFilter resource.
641 -leftbar
643 Force scrollbar to the left side of VT100 screen. This is the
644 default, unless you have set the rightScrollBar resource.
645 -lf filename
647 Specify the log filename. This sets the logFile resource. If
648 set to “-”, xterm writes its log to the standard output. See
649 the -l option.
650 -ls This option indicates that the shell that is started in the
652 xterm window will be a login shell (i.e., the first character
653 of argv[0] will be a dash, indicating to the shell that it
654 should read the user's .login or .profile).
655 The -ls flag and the loginShell resource are ignored if -e is
657 also given, because xterm does not know how to make the shell
658 start the given command after whatever it does when it is a
659 login shell - the user's shell of choice need not be a Bourne
660 shell after all. Also, xterm -e is supposed to provide a
661 consistent functionality for other applications that need to
662 start text-mode programs in a window, and if loginShell were
663 not ignored, the result of ~/.profile might interfere with
664 that.
665 If you do want the effect of -ls and -e simultaneously, you may
667 get away with something like
668 xterm -e /bin/bash -l -c "my command here"
670 Finally, -ls is not completely ignored, because xterm -ls -e
672 does write a /etc/wtmp entry (if configured to do so), whereas
673 xterm -e does not.
674 -maximized
676 This option indicates that xterm should ask the window manager
677 to maximize its layout on startup. This corresponds to the
678 maximized resource.
679 Maximizing is not the reverse of iconifying; it is possible to
681 do both with certain window managers.
682 +maximized
684 This option indicates that xterm should ask the window manager
685 to not maximize its layout on startup.
686 +ls This option indicates that the shell that is started should not
688 be a login shell (i.e., it will be a normal “subshell”).
689 -mb This option indicates that xterm should ring a margin bell when
691 the user types near the right end of a line.
692 +mb This option indicates that margin bell should not be rung.
694 -mc milliseconds
696 This option specifies the maximum time between multi-click
697 selections.
698 -mesg Turn off the messages resource, i.e., disallow write access to
700 the terminal.
701 +mesg Turn on the messages resource, i.e., allow write access to the
703 terminal.
704 -mk_width
706 Set the mkWidth resource to “true”. This makes xterm use a
707 built-in version of the wide-character width calculation. The
708 default is “false”
709 +mk_width
711 Reset the mkWidth resource.
712 -ms color
714 This option specifies the color to be used for the pointer
715 cursor. The default is to use the foreground color. This sets
716 the pointerColor resource.
717 -nb number
719 This option specifies the number of characters from the right
720 end of a line at which the margin bell, if enabled, will ring.
721 The default is “10”.
722 -nul This option disables the display of underlining.
724 +nul This option enables the display of underlining.
726 -pc This option enables the PC-style use of bold colors (see
728 boldColors resource).
729 +pc This option disables the PC-style use of bold colors.
731 -pob This option indicates that the window should be raised whenever
733 a Control-G is received.
734 +pob This option indicates that the window should not be raised
736 whenever a Control-G is received.
737 -report-charclass
739 Print a report to the standard output showing information about
740 the character-classes which can be altered using the charClass
741 resource.
742 -report-colors
744 Print a report to the standard output showing information about
745 colors as xterm allocates them. This corresponds to the
746 reportColors resource.
747 -report-fonts
749 Print a report to the standard output showing information about
750 fonts which are loaded. This corresponds to the reportFonts
751 resource.
752 -report-icons
754 Print a report to the standard output showing information about
755 pixmap-icons which are loaded. This corresponds to the
756 reportIcons resource.
757 -report-xres
759 Print a report to the standard output showing the values of
760 boolean, numeric or string X resources for the VT100 widget
761 when initialization is complete. This corresponds to the
762 reportXRes resource.
763 -rightbar
765 Force scrollbar to the right side of VT100 screen.
766 -rvc This option disables the display of characters with reverse
768 attribute as color.
769 +rvc This option enables the display of characters with reverse
771 attribute as color.
772 -rw This option indicates that reverse-wraparound should be
774 allowed. This allows the cursor to back up from the leftmost
775 column of one line to the rightmost column of the previous
776 line. This is very useful for editing long shell command lines
777 and is encouraged. This option can be turned on and off from
778 the VT Options menu.
779 +rw This option indicates that reverse-wraparound should not be
781 allowed.
782 -s This option indicates that xterm may scroll asynchronously,
784 meaning that the screen does not have to be kept completely up
785 to date while scrolling. This allows xterm to run faster when
786 network latencies are very high and is typically useful when
787 running across a very large internet or many gateways.
788 +s This option indicates that xterm should scroll synchronously.
790 -samename
792 Does not send title and icon name change requests when the
793 request would have no effect: the name is not changed. This
794 has the advantage of preventing flicker and the disadvantage of
795 requiring an extra round trip to the server to find out the
796 previous value. In practice this should never be a problem.
797 +samename
799 Always send title and icon name change requests.
800 -sb This option indicates that some number of lines that are
802 scrolled off the top of the window should be saved and that a
803 scrollbar should be displayed so that those lines can be
804 viewed. This option may be turned on and off from the VT
805 Options menu.
806 +sb This option indicates that a scrollbar should not be displayed.
808 -selbg color
810 This option specifies the color to use for the background of
811 selected text. If not specified, reverse video is used. See
812 the discussion of the highlightColor resource.
813 -selfg color
815 This option specifies the color to use for selected text. If
816 not specified, reverse video is used. See the discussion of
817 the highlightTextColor resource.
818 -sf This option indicates that Sun function key escape codes should
820 be generated for function keys.
821 +sf This option indicates that the standard escape codes should be
823 generated for function keys.
824 -sh number
826 scale line-height values by the given number. See the
827 discussion of the scaleHeight resource.
828 -si This option indicates that output to a window should not
830 automatically reposition the screen to the bottom of the
831 scrolling region. This option can be turned on and off from
832 the VT Options menu.
833 +si This option indicates that output to a window should cause it
835 to scroll to the bottom.
836 -sk This option indicates that pressing a key while using the
838 scrollbar to review previous lines of text should cause the
839 window to be repositioned automatically in the normal position
840 at the bottom of the scroll region.
841 +sk This option indicates that pressing a key while using the
843 scrollbar should not cause the window to be repositioned.
844 -sl number
846 This option specifies the number of lines to save that have
847 been scrolled off the top of the screen. This corresponds to
848 the saveLines resource. The default is “1024”.
849 -sm This option, corresponding to the sessionMgt resource,
851 indicates that xterm should set up session manager callbacks.
852 +sm This option indicates that xterm should not set up session
854 manager callbacks.
855 -sp This option indicates that Sun/PC keyboard should be assumed,
857 providing mapping for keypad “+” to “,”, and CTRL-F1 to F13,
858 CTRL-F2 to F14, etc.
859 +sp This option indicates that the standard escape codes should be
861 generated for keypad and function keys.
862 -t This option indicates that xterm should start in Tektronix
864 mode, rather than in VTxxx mode. Switching between the two
865 windows is done using the “Options” menus.
866 Terminal database (terminfo (5) or termcap (5)) entries that
868 work with xterm are:
869 “tek4014”,
871 “tek4015”,
872 “tek4012”,
873 “tek4013”,
874 “tek4010”, and
875 “dumb”.
876 Xterm automatically searches the terminal database in this
878 order for these entries and then sets the “TERM” variable (and
879 the “TERMCAP” environment variable, if relevant).
880 +t This option indicates that xterm should start in VTxxx mode.
882 -tb This option, corresponding to the toolBar resource, indicates
884 that xterm should display a toolbar (or menubar) at the top of
885 its window. The buttons in the toolbar correspond to the popup
886 menus, e.g., control/left/mouse for Main Options.
887 +tb This option indicates that xterm should not set up a toolbar.
889 -ti term_id
891 Specify the name used by xterm to select the correct response
892 to terminal ID queries. It also specifies the emulation level,
893 used to determine the type of response to a DA control
894 sequence. Valid values include vt52, vt100, vt101, vt102,
895 vt220, and vt240 (the “vt” is optional). The default is
896 “vt420”. The term_id argument specifies the terminal ID to
897 use. (This is the same as the decTerminalID resource).
898 -tm string
900 This option specifies a series of terminal setting keywords
901 followed by the characters that should be bound to those
902 functions, similar to the stty program. The keywords and their
903 values are described in detail in the ttyModes resource.
904 -tn name
906 This option specifies the name of the terminal type to be set
907 in the TERM environment variable. It corresponds to the
908 termName resource. This terminal type must exist in the
909 terminal database (termcap or terminfo, depending on how xterm
910 is built) and should have li# and co# entries. If the terminal
911 type is not found, xterm uses the built-in list “xterm”,
912 “vt102”, etc.
913 -u8 This option sets the utf8 resource. When utf8 is set, xterm
915 interprets incoming data as UTF-8. This sets the wideChars
916 resource as a side-effect, but the UTF-8 mode set by this
917 option prevents it from being turned off. If you must turn
918 UTF-8 encoding on and off, use the -wc option or the
919 corresponding wideChars resource, rather than the -u8 option.
920 This option and the utf8 resource are overridden by the -lc and
922 -en options and locale resource. That is, if xterm has been
923 compiled to support luit, and the locale resource is not
924 “false” this option is ignored. We recommend using the -lc
925 option or the “locale: true” resource in UTF-8 locales when
926 your operating system supports locale, or -en UTF-8 option or
927 the “locale: UTF-8” resource when your operating system does
928 not support locale.
929 +u8 This option resets the utf8 resource.
931 -uc This option makes the cursor underlined instead of a box.
933 +uc This option makes the cursor a box instead of underlined.
935 -ulc This option disables the display of characters with underline
937 attribute as color rather than with underlining.
938 +ulc This option enables the display of characters with underline
940 attribute as color rather than with underlining.
941 -ulit This option, corresponding to the italicULMode resource,
943 disables the display of characters with underline attribute as
944 italics rather than with underlining.
945 +ulit This option, corresponding to the italicULMode resource,
947 enables the display of characters with underline attribute as
948 italics rather than with underlining.
949 -ut This option indicates that xterm should not write a record into
951 the system utmp log file.
952 +ut This option indicates that xterm should write a record into the
954 system utmp log file.
955 -vb This option indicates that a visual bell is preferred over an
957 audible one. Instead of ringing the terminal bell whenever a
958 Control-G is received, the window will be flashed.
959 +vb This option indicates that a visual bell should not be used.
961 -wc This option sets the wideChars resource.
963 When wideChars is set, xterm maintains internal structures for
965 16-bit characters. If xterm is not started in UTF-8 mode (or
966 if this resource is not set), initially it maintains those
967 structures to support 8-bit characters. Xterm can later be
968 switched, using a menu entry or control sequence, causing it to
969 reallocate those structures to support 16-bit characters.
970 The default is “false”.
972 +wc This option resets the wideChars resource.
974 -wf This option indicates that xterm should wait for the window to
976 be mapped the first time before starting the subprocess so that
977 the initial terminal size settings and environment variables
978 are correct. It is the application's responsibility to catch
979 subsequent terminal size changes.
980 +wf This option indicates that xterm should not wait before
982 starting the subprocess.
983 -ziconbeep percent
985 Same as zIconBeep resource. If percent is non-zero, xterms
986 that produce output while iconified will cause an XBell sound
987 at the given volume and have “***” prepended to their icon
988 titles. Most window managers will detect this change
989 immediately, showing you which window has the output. (A
990 similar feature was in x10 xterm.)
991 -C This option indicates that this window should receive console
993 output. This is not supported on all systems. To obtain
994 console output, you must be the owner of the console device,
995 and you must have read and write permission for it. If you are
996 running X under xdm on the console screen you may need to have
997 the session startup and reset programs explicitly change the
998 ownership of the console device in order to get this option to
999 work.
1000 -Sccn This option allows xterm to be used as an input and output
1002 channel for an existing program and is sometimes used in
1003 specialized applications. The option value specifies the last
1004 few letters of the name of a pseudo-terminal to use in slave
1005 mode, plus the number of the inherited file descriptor. If the
1006 option contains a “/” character, that delimits the characters
1007 used for the pseudo-terminal name from the file descriptor.
1008 Otherwise, exactly two characters are used from the option for
1009 the pseudo-terminal name, the remainder is the file descriptor.
1010 Examples (the first two are equivalent since the descriptor
1011 follows the last “/”):
1012 -S/dev/pts/123/45
1014 -S123/45
1015 -Sab34
1016 Note that xterm does not close any file descriptor which it did
1018 not open for its own use. It is possible (though probably not
1019 portable) to have an application which passes an open file
1020 descriptor down to xterm past the initialization or the -S
1021 option to a process running in the xterm.
1022 Old Options
1024 The following command line arguments are provided for compatibility
1025 with older versions. They may not be supported in the next release as
1026 the X Toolkit provides standard options that accomplish the same task.
1027 %geom This option specifies the preferred size and position of the
1029 Tektronix window. It is shorthand for specifying the
1030 “tekGeometry” resource.
1031 #geom This option specifies the preferred position of the icon
1033 window. It is shorthand for specifying the “iconGeometry”
1034 resource.
1035 -T string
1037 This option specifies the title for xterm's windows. It is
1038 equivalent to -title.
1039 -n string
1041 This option specifies the icon name for xterm's windows. It is
1042 shorthand for specifying the “iconName” resource. Note that
1043 this is not the same as the toolkit option -name. The default
1044 icon name is the application name.
1045 If no suitable icon is found, xterm provides a compiled-in
1047 pixmap.
1048 X Toolkit sets the WM_ICON_NAME property using this value.
1050 -r This option indicates that reverse video should be simulated by
1052 swapping the foreground and background colors. It is
1053 equivalent to -rv.
1054 -w number
1056 This option specifies the width in pixels of the border
1057 surrounding the window. It is equivalent to -borderwidth or
1058 -bw.
1059 X Toolkit Options
1061 The following standard X Toolkit command line arguments are commonly
1062 used with xterm:
1063 -bd color
1065 This option specifies the color to use for the border of the
1066 window. The corresponding resource name is borderColor. Xterm
1067 uses the X Toolkit default, which is “XtDefaultForeground”.
1068 Xterm's VT100 window has two borders: the inner border
1070 internalBorder and the outer border borderWidth, managed by the
1071 X Toolkit.
1072 Normally xterm fills the inner border using the VT100 window's
1074 background color. If the colorInnerBorder resource is enabled,
1075 then xterm may fill the inner border using the borderColor
1076 resource.
1077 -bg color
1079 This option specifies the color to use for the background of
1080 the window. The corresponding resource name is background.
1081 The default is “XtDefaultBackground”.
1082 -bw number
1084 This option specifies the width in pixels of the border
1085 surrounding the window.
1086 This appears to be a legacy of older X releases. It sets the
1088 borderWidth resource of the shell widget, and may provide
1089 advice to your window manager to set the thickness of the
1090 window frame. Most window managers do not use this
1091 information. See the -b option, which controls the inner
1092 border of the xterm window.
1093 -display display
1095 This option specifies the X server to contact; see X(7).
1096 -fg color
1098 This option specifies the color to use for displaying text.
1099 The corresponding resource name is foreground. The default is
1100 “XtDefaultForeground”.
1101 -fn font
1103 This option specifies the font to be used for displaying normal
1104 text. The corresponding resource name is font. The resource
1105 value default is fixed.
1106 -font font
1108 This is the same as -fn.
1109 -geometry geometry
1111 This option specifies the preferred size and position of the
1112 VTxxx window; see X(7).
1113 The normal geometry specification can be suffixed with @
1115 followed by a Xinerama screen specification; it can be either g
1116 for the global screen (default), c for the current screen or a
1117 screen number.
1118 -iconic
1120 This option indicates that xterm should ask the window manager
1121 to start it as an icon rather than as the normal window. The
1122 corresponding resource name is iconic.
1123 -name name
1125 This option specifies the application name under which
1126 resources are to be obtained, rather than the default
1127 executable file name. Name should not contain “.” or “*”
1128 characters.
1129 -rv This option indicates that reverse video should be simulated by
1131 swapping the foreground and background colors. The
1132 corresponding resource name is reverseVideo.
1133 +rv Disable the simulation of reverse video by swapping foreground
1135 and background colors.
1136 -title string
1138 This option specifies the window title string, which may be
1139 displayed by window managers if the user so chooses. It is
1140 shorthand for specifying the “title” resource. The default
1141 title is the command line specified after the -e option, if
1142 any, otherwise the application name.
1143 X Toolkit sets the WM_NAME property using this value.
1145 -xrm resourcestring
1147 This option specifies a resource string to be used. This is
1148 especially useful for setting resources that do not have
1149 separate command line options.
1150 X Toolkit accepts alternate names for a few of these options, e.g.,
1152 · “-background” for “-bg”
1154 · “-font” for “-fn”
1156 · “-foreground” for “-fg”
1158 Abbreviated options also are supported, e.g., “-v” for “-verbose.”
1160
1162 Xterm understands all of the core X Toolkit resource names and classes.
1163 Application specific resources (e.g., “XTerm.NAME”) follow:
1164 Application Resources
1166 backarrowKeyIsErase (class BackarrowKeyIsErase)
1167 Tie the VTxxx backarrowKey and ptyInitialErase resources
1168 together by setting the DECBKM state according to whether the
1169 initial erase character is a backspace (8) or delete (127)
1170 character. A “false” value disables this feature. The default
1171 is “False”.
1172 Here are tables showing how the initial settings for
1174 · backarrowKeyIsErase (BKIE),
1176 · backarrowKey (BK), and
1178 · ptyInitialErase (PIE), along with the
1180 · stty erase character (^H for backspace, ^? for delete)
1182 will affect DECBKM. First, xterm obtains the initial erase
1184 character:
1185 · xterm's internal value is ^H
1187 · xterm asks the operating system for the value which stty
1189 shows
1190 · the ttyModes resource may override erase
1192 · if ptyInitialErase is false, xterm will look in the
1194 terminal database
1195 Summarizing that as a table:
1197 PIE stty termcap erase
1199 ───────────────────────────────
1200 false ^H ^H ^H
1201 false ^H ^? ^?
1202 false ^? ^H ^H
1203 false ^? ^? ^?
1204 true ^H ^H ^H
1205 true ^H ^? ^H
1206 true ^? ^H ^?
1207 true ^? ^? ^?
1208 Using that erase character, xterm allows further choices:
1210 · if backarrowKeyIsErase is true, xterm uses the erase
1212 character for the initial state of DECBKM
1213 · if backarrowKeyIsErase is false, xterm sets DECBKM to 2
1215 (internal). This ties together backarrowKey and the
1216 control sequence for DECBKM.
1217 · applications can send a control sequence to set/reset
1219 DECBKM control set
1220 · the “Backarrow Key (BS/DEL)” menu entry toggles DECBKM
1222 Summarizing the initialization details:
1224 erase BKIE BK DECBKM result
1226 ────────────────────────────────────────
1227 ^? false false 2 ^H
1228 ^? false true 2 ^?
1229 ^? true false 0 ^?
1230 ^? true true 1 ^?
1231 ^H false false 2 ^H
1232 ^H false true 2 ^?
1233 ^H true false 0 ^H
1234 ^H true true 1 ^H
1235 buffered (class Buffered)
1237 Normally xterm is built with double-buffer support. This
1238 resource can be used to turn it on or off. Setting the
1239 resource to “true” turns double-buffering on. The default
1240 value is “False”.
1241 bufferedFPS (class BufferedFPS)
1243 When xterm is built with double-buffer support, this gives the
1244 maximum number of frames/second. The default is “40” and is
1245 limited to the range 1 through 100.
1246 fullscreen (class Fullscreen)
1248 Specifies whether or not xterm should ask the window manager to
1249 use a fullscreen layout on startup. Xterm accepts either a
1250 keyword (ignoring case) or the number shown in parentheses:
1251 false (0)
1253 Fullscreen layout is not used initially, but may be later
1254 via menu-selection or control sequence.
1255 true (1)
1257 Fullscreen layout is used initially, but may be disabled
1258 later via menu-selection or control sequence.
1259 always (2)
1261 Fullscreen layout is used initially, and cannot be disabled
1262 later via menu-selection or control sequence.
1263 never (3)
1265 Fullscreen layout is not used, and cannot be enabled later
1266 via menu-selection or control sequence.
1267 The default is “false”.
1269 hold (class Hold)
1271 If true, xterm will not immediately destroy its window when the
1272 shell command completes. It will wait until you use the window
1273 manager to destroy/kill the window, or if you use the menu
1274 entries that send a signal, e.g., HUP or KILL. You may scroll
1275 back, select text, etc., to perform most graphical operations.
1276 Resizing the display will lose data, however, since this
1277 involves interaction with the shell which is no longer running.
1278 hpFunctionKeys (class HpFunctionKeys)
1280 Specifies whether or not HP function key escape codes should be
1281 generated for function keys. The default is “false”, i.e.,
1282 this feature is disabled.
1283 The keyboardType resource is the preferred mechanism for
1285 selecting this mode.
1286 iconGeometry (class IconGeometry)
1288 Specifies the preferred size and position of the application
1289 when iconified. It is not necessarily obeyed by all window
1290 managers.
1291 iconHint (class IconHint)
1293 Specifies an icon which will be added to the window manager
1294 hints. Xterm provides no default value.
1295 Set this resource to “none” to omit the hint entirely, using
1297 whatever the window manager may decide.
1298 If the iconHint resource is given (or is set via the -n option)
1300 xterm searches for a pixmap file with that name, in the current
1301 directory as well as in /usr/share/pixmaps. if the resource
1302 does not specify an absolute pathname. In each case, xterm
1303 adds “_48x48” and/or “.xpm” to the filename after trying
1304 without those suffixes. If it is able to load the file, xterm
1305 sets the window manager hint for the icon-pixmap. These
1306 pixmaps are distributed with xterm, and can optionally be
1307 compiled-in:
1308 · mini.xterm_16x16, mini.xterm_32x32, mini.xterm_48x48
1310 · filled-xterm_16x16, filled-xterm_32x32, filled-xterm_48x48
1312 · xterm_16x16, xterm_32x32, xterm_48x48
1314 · xterm-color_16x16, xterm-color_32x32, xterm-color_48x48
1316 In either case, xterm allows for adding a “_48x48” to specify
1318 the largest of the pixmaps as a default. That is, “mini.xterm”
1319 is the same as “mini.xterm_48x48”.
1320 If no explicit iconHint resource is given (or if none of the
1322 compiled-in names matches), xterm uses “mini.xterm” (which is
1323 always compiled-in).
1324 The iconHint resource has no effect on “desktop” files,
1326 including “panel” and “menu”. Those are typically set via a
1327 “.desktop” file; xterm provides samples for itself (and the
1328 uxterm script). The more capable desktop systems allow
1329 changing the icon on a per-user basis.
1330 iconName (class IconName)
1332 Specifies a label for xterm when iconified. Xterm provides no
1333 default value; some window managers may assume the application
1334 name, e.g., “xterm”.
1335 Setting the iconName resource sets the icon label unless
1337 overridden by zIconBeep or the control sequences which change
1338 the window and icon labels.
1339 keyboardType (class KeyboardType)
1341 Enables one (or none) of the various keyboard-type resources:
1342 hpFunctionKeys, scoFunctionKeys, sunFunctionKeys,
1343 tcapFunctionKeys, oldXtermFKeys and sunKeyboard.
1344 The resource's value should be one of the corresponding strings
1346 “hp”, “sco”, “sun”, “tcap”, “legacy” or “vt220”, respectively.
1347 The individual resources are provided for legacy support; this
1349 resource is simpler to use. Xterm will use only one keyboard-
1350 type, but if multiple resources are set, it warns and uses the
1351 last one it checks.
1352 The default is “unknown”, i.e., none of the associated
1354 resources are set via this resource.
1355 maxBufSize (class MaxBufSize)
1357 Specify the maximum size of the input buffer. The default is
1358 “32768”. You cannot set this to a value less than the
1359 minBufSize resource. It will be increased as needed to make
1360 that value evenly divide this one.
1361 On some systems you may want to increase one or both of the
1363 maxBufSize and minBufSize resource values to achieve better
1364 performance if the operating system prefers larger buffer
1365 sizes.
1366 maximized (class Maximized)
1368 Specifies whether or not xterm should ask the window manager to
1369 maximize its layout on startup. The default is “false”.
1370 menuHeight (class MenuHeight)
1372 Specifies the height of the toolbar, which may be increased by
1373 the X toolkit layout widget depending upon the fontsize used.
1374 The default is “25”.
1375 messages (class Messages)
1377 Specifies whether write access to the terminal is allowed
1378 initially. See mesg(1). The default is “true”.
1379 menuLocale (class MenuLocale)
1381 Specify the locale used for character-set computations when
1382 loading the popup menus. Use this to improve initialization
1383 performance of the Athena popup menus, which may load
1384 unnecessary (and very large) fonts, e.g., in a locale having
1385 UTF-8 encoding. The default is “C” (POSIX).
1386 To use the current locale (only useful if you have localized
1388 the resource settings for the menu entries), set the resource
1389 to an empty string.
1390 minBufSize (class MinBufSize)
1392 Specify the minimum size of the input buffer, i.e., the amount
1393 of data that xterm requests on each read. The default is
1394 “4096”. You cannot set this to a value less than 64.
1395 omitTranslation (class OmitTranslation)
1397 Selectively omit one or more parts of xterm's default
1398 translations at startup. The resource value is a comma-
1399 separated list of keywords, which may be abbreviated:
1400 default
1402 ignore (mouse) button-down events which were not handled
1403 by other translations
1404 fullscreen
1406 assigns a key-binding to the fullscreen() action.
1407 keypress
1409 assigns keypresses by default to the insert-seven-bit()
1410 and insert-eight-bit() actions.
1411 paging assigns key bindings to the scroll-back() and scroll-
1413 forw() actions.
1414 popup-menu
1416 assigns mouse-buttons with the control modifier to the
1417 popup-menus.
1418 reset assigns mouse-button 2 with the meta modifier to the
1420 clear-saved-lines action.
1421 scroll-lock
1423 assigns a key-binding to the scroll-lock() action.
1424 select assigns mouse- and keypress-combinations to actions
1426 which manipulate the selection.
1427 shift-fonts
1429 assigns key-bindings to larger-vt-font() and smaller-vt-
1430 font() actions.
1431 wheel-mouse
1433 assigns buttons 4 and 5 with different modifiers to the
1434 scroll-back() and scroll-forw() actions.
1435 ptyHandshake (class PtyHandshake)
1437 If “true”, xterm will perform handshaking during initialization
1438 to ensure that the parent and child processes update the utmp
1439 and stty state.
1440 See also waitForMap which waits for the pseudo-terminal's
1442 notion of the screen size, and ptySttySize which resets the
1443 screen size after other terminal initialization is complete.
1444 The default is “true”.
1445 ptyInitialErase (class PtyInitialErase)
1447 If “true”, xterm will use the pseudo-terminal's sense of the
1448 stty erase value. If “false”, xterm will set the stty erase
1449 value to match its own configuration, using the kb string from
1450 the termcap entry as a reference, if available.
1451 In either case, the result is applied to the TERMCAP variable
1453 which xterm sets, if the system uses TERMCAP.
1454 See also the ttyModes resource, which may override this. The
1456 default is “False”.
1457 ptySttySize (class PtySttySize)
1459 If “true”, xterm will reset the screen size after terminal
1460 initialization is complete. This is needed for some systems
1461 whose pseudo-terminals cannot propagate terminal
1462 characteristics. Where it is not needed, it can interfere with
1463 other methods for setting the initial screen size, e.g., via
1464 window manager interaction.
1465 See also waitForMap which waits for a handshake-message giving
1467 the pseudo-terminal's notion of the screen size. The default
1468 is “false” on Linux and macOS systems, “true” otherwise.
1469 reportColors (class ReportColors)
1471 If true, xterm will print to the standard output a summary of
1472 colors as it allocates them. The default is “false”.
1473 reportFonts (class ReportFonts)
1475 If true, xterm will print to the standard output a summary of
1476 each font's metrics (size, number of glyphs, etc.), as it loads
1477 them. The default is “false”.
1478 reportIcons (class ReportIcons)
1480 If true, xterm will print to the standard output a summary of
1481 each pixmap icon as it loads them. The default is “false”.
1482 reportXRes (class ReportXRes)
1484 If true, xterm will print to the standard output a list of the
1485 boolean, numeric and string X resources for the VT100 widget
1486 after initialization. The default is “false”.
1487 sameName (class SameName)
1489 If the value of this resource is “true”, xterm does not send
1490 title and icon name change requests when the request would have
1491 no effect: the name is not changed. This has the advantage of
1492 preventing flicker and the disadvantage of requiring an extra
1493 round trip to the server to find out the previous value. In
1494 practice this should never be a problem. The default is
1495 “true”.
1496 scaleHeight (class ScaleHeight)
1498 Scale line-height values by the resource value, which is
1499 limited to “0.9” to “1.5”. The default value is “1.0”,
1500 While this resource applies to either bitmap or TrueType fonts,
1502 its main purpose is to help work around incompatible changes in
1503 the Xft library's font metrics. Xterm checks the font metrics
1504 to find what the library claims are the bounding boxes for each
1505 glyph (character). However, some of Xft's features (such as
1506 the autohinter) can cause the glyphs to be scaled larger than
1507 the bounding boxes, and be partly overwritten by the next row.
1508 See useClipping for a related resource.
1510 scoFunctionKeys (class ScoFunctionKeys)
1512 Specifies whether or not SCO function key escape codes should
1513 be generated for function keys. The default is “false”, i.e.,
1514 this feature is disabled.
1515 The keyboardType resource is the preferred mechanism for
1517 selecting this mode.
1518 sessionMgt (class SessionMgt)
1520 If the value of this resource is “true”, xterm sets up session
1521 manager callbacks for XtNdieCallback and XtNsaveCallback. The
1522 default is “true”.
1523 sunFunctionKeys (class SunFunctionKeys)
1525 Specifies whether or not Sun function key escape codes should
1526 be generated for function keys. The default is “false”, i.e.,
1527 this feature is disabled.
1528 The keyboardType resource is the preferred mechanism for
1530 selecting this mode.
1531 sunKeyboard (class SunKeyboard)
1533 Xterm translates certain key symbols based on its assumptions
1534 about your keyboard. This resource specifies whether or not
1535 Sun/PC keyboard layout (i.e., the PC keyboard's numeric keypad
1536 together with 12 function keys) should be assumed rather than
1537 DEC VT220. This causes the keypad “+” to be mapped to “,”.
1538 and CTRL F1-F10 to F11-F20, depending on the setting of the
1539 ctrlFKeys resource, so xterm emulates a DEC VT220 more
1540 accurately. Otherwise (the default, with sunKeyboard set to
1541 “false”), xterm uses PC-style bindings for the function keys
1542 and keypad.
1543 PC-style bindings use the Shift, Alt, Control and Meta keys as
1545 modifiers for function-keys and keypad (see Xterm Control
1546 Sequences for details). The PC-style bindings are analogous to
1547 PCTerm, but not the same thing. Normally these bindings do not
1548 conflict with the use of the Meta key as described for the
1549 eightBitInput resource. If they do, note that the PC-style
1550 bindings are evaluated first.
1551 See also the keyboardType resource.
1553 tcapFunctionKeys (class TcapFunctionKeys)
1555 Specifies whether or not function key escape codes read from
1556 the termcap/terminfo entry corresponding to the TERM
1557 environment variable should be generated for function keys
1558 instead of those configured using sunKeyboard and keyboardType.
1559 The default is “false”, i.e., this feature is disabled.
1560 The keyboardType resource is the preferred mechanism for
1562 selecting this mode.
1563 termName (class TermName)
1565 Specifies the terminal type name to be set in the TERM
1566 environment variable.
1567 title (class Title)
1569 Specifies a string that may be used by the window manager when
1570 displaying this application.
1571 toolBar (class ToolBar)
1573 Specifies whether or not the toolbar should be displayed. The
1574 default is “true”.
1575 ttyModes (class TtyModes)
1577 Specifies a string containing terminal setting keywords.
1578 Except where noted, they may be bound to characters. Other
1579 keywords set modes. Not all keywords are supported on a given
1580 system. Allowable keywords include:
1581 Keyword POSIX? Notes
1583 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1584 brk no CHAR may send an “interrupt” signal, as well
1585 as ending the input-line.
1586 dsusp no CHAR will send a terminal “stop” signal
1587 after input is flushed.
1588 eof yes CHAR will terminate input (i.e., an end of
1589 file).
1590 eol yes CHAR will end the line.
1591 eol2 no alternate CHAR for ending the line.
1592 erase yes CHAR will erase the last character typed.
1593 erase2 no alternate CHAR for erasing the last input-
1594 character.
1595 flush no CHAR will cause output to be discarded until
1596 another flush character is typed.
1597 intr yes CHAR will send an “interrupt” signal.
1598 kill yes CHAR will erase the current line.
1599 lnext no CHAR will enter the next character quoted.
1600 quit yes CHAR will send a “quit” signal.
1601 rprnt no CHAR will redraw the current line.
1602 start yes CHAR will restart the output after stopping
1603 it.
1604 status no CHAR will cause a system-generated status
1605 line to be printed.
1606 stop yes CHAR will stop the output.
1607 susp yes CHAR will send a terminal “stop” signal
1608 swtch no CHAR will switch to a different shell layer.
1609 tabs yes Mode disables tab-expansion.
1610 -tabs yes Mode enables tab-expansion.
1611 weras no CHAR will erase the last word typed.
1612 Control characters may be specified as ^char (e.g., ^c or ^u)
1614 and ^? may be used to indicate delete (127). Use ^- to denote
1615 undef. Use \034 to represent ^\, since a literal backslash in
1616 an X resource escapes the next character.
1617 This is very useful for overriding the default terminal
1619 settings without having to run stty every time an xterm is
1620 started. Note, however, that the stty program on a given host
1621 may use different keywords; xterm's table is built in. The
1622 POSIX column in the table indicates which keywords are
1623 supported by a standard stty program.
1624 If the ttyModes resource specifies a value for erase, that
1626 overrides the ptyInitialErase resource setting, i.e., xterm
1627 initializes the terminal to match that value.
1628 useInsertMode (class UseInsertMode)
1630 Force use of insert mode by adding appropriate entries to the
1631 TERMCAP environment variable. This is useful if the system
1632 termcap is broken. (This resource is ignored on most systems,
1633 because TERMCAP is not used). The default is “false”.
1634 utmpDisplayId (class UtmpDisplayId)
1636 Specifies whether or not xterm should try to record the display
1637 identifier (display number and screen number) as well as the
1638 hostname in the system utmp log file. The default is “true”.
1639 utmpInhibit (class UtmpInhibit)
1641 Specifies whether or not xterm should try to record the user's
1642 terminal in the system utmp log file. If true, xterm will not
1643 try. The default is “false”.
1644 validShells (class ValidShells)
1646 Augment (add to) the system's /etc/shells, when determining
1647 whether to set the “SHELL” environment variable when running a
1648 given program.
1649 The resource value is a list of lines (separated by newlines).
1651 Each line holds one pathname. Xterm ignores any line beginning
1652 with “#” after trimming leading/trailing whitespace from each
1653 line.
1654 The default is an empty string.
1656 waitForMap (class WaitForMap)
1658 Specifies whether or not xterm should wait for the initial
1659 window map before starting the subprocess. This is part of the
1660 ptyHandshake logic. When xterm is directed to wait in this
1661 fashion, it passes the terminal size from the display end of
1662 the pseudo-terminal to the terminal I/O connection, e.g., using
1663 the size according to the window manager. Otherwise, it uses
1664 the size as given in resource values or command-line option
1665 -geometry. The default is “false”.
1666 zIconBeep (class ZIconBeep)
1668 Same as -ziconbeep command line argument. If the value of this
1669 resource is non-zero, xterms that produce output while
1670 iconified will cause an XBell sound at the given volume and
1671 have “*** ” prepended to their icon titles. Most window
1672 managers will detect this change immediately, showing you which
1673 window has the output. (A similar feature was in x10 xterm.)
1674 The default is “false”.
1675 zIconTitleFormat (class ZIconTitleFormat)
1677 Allow customization of the string used in the zIconBeep
1678 feature. The default value is “*** %s”.
1679 If the resource value contains a “%s”, then xterm inserts the
1681 icon title at that point rather than prepending the string to
1682 the icon title. (Only the first “%s” is used).
1683 VT100 Widget Resources
1685 The following resources are specified as part of the vt100 widget
1686 (class VT100). They are specified by patterns such as
1687 “XTerm.vt100.NAME”.
1688 If your xterm is configured to support the “toolbar”, then those
1690 patterns need an extra level for the form-widget which holds the
1691 toolbar and vt100 widget. A wildcard between the top-level “XTerm” and
1692 the “vt100” widget makes the resource settings work for either, e.g.,
1693 “XTerm*vt100.NAME”.
1694 activeIcon (class ActiveIcon)
1696 Specifies whether or not active icon windows are to be used
1697 when the xterm window is iconified, if this feature is compiled
1698 into xterm. The active icon is a miniature representation of
1699 the content of the window and will update as the content
1700 changes. Not all window managers necessarily support
1701 application icon windows. Some window managers will allow you
1702 to enter keystrokes into the active icon window. The default
1703 is “default”.
1704 Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
1706 shown in parentheses:
1707 false (0)
1709 No active icon is shown.
1710 true (1)
1712 The active icon is shown. If you are using twm, use
1713 this setting to enable active-icons.
1714 default (2)
1716 Xterm checks at startup, and shows an active icon only
1717 for window managers which it can identify and which are
1718 known to support the feature. These are fvwm (full
1719 support), and window maker (limited). A few other
1720 windows managers (such as twm and ctwm) support active
1721 icons, but do not support the extensions which allow
1722 xterm to identify the window manager.
1723 allowBoldFonts (class AllowBoldFonts)
1725 When set to “false”, xterm will not use bold fonts. This
1726 overrides both the alwaysBoldMode and the boldMode resources.
1727 allowC1Printable (class AllowC1Printable)
1729 If true, overrides the mapping of C1 controls (codes 128–159)
1730 to make them be treated as if they were printable characters.
1731 Although this corresponds to no particular standard, some users
1732 insist it is a VT100. The default is “false”.
1733 allowColorOps (class AllowColorOps)
1735 Specifies whether control sequences that set/query the dynamic
1736 colors should be allowed. ANSI colors are unaffected by this
1737 resource setting. The default is “true”.
1738 allowFontOps (class AllowFontOps)
1740 Specifies whether control sequences that set/query the font
1741 should be allowed. The default is “true”.
1742 allowMouseOps (class AllowMouseOps)
1744 Specifies whether control sequences that enable xterm to send
1745 escape sequences to the host on mouse-clicks and movement. The
1746 default is “true”.
1747 allowPasteControls (class AllowPasteControls)
1749 If true, allow control characters such as BEL and CAN to be
1750 pasted. Formatting characters (tab, newline) are always
1751 allowed. Other C0 control characters are suppressed unless
1752 this resource is enabled. The exact set of control characters
1753 (C0 and C1) depends upon whether UTF-8 encoding is used, as
1754 well as the allowC1Printable resource. The default is “false”.
1755 allowScrollLock (class AllowScrollLock)
1757 Specifies whether control sequences that set/query the Scroll
1758 Lock key should be allowed, as well as whether the Scroll Lock
1759 key responds to user's keypress. The default is “false”.
1760 When this feature is enabled, xterm will sense the state of the
1762 Scroll Lock key each time it acquires focus. Pressing the
1763 Scroll Lock key toggles xterm's internal state, as well as
1764 toggling the associated LED. While the Scroll Lock is active,
1765 xterm attempts to keep a viewport on the same set of lines. If
1766 the current viewport is scrolled past the limit set by the
1767 saveLines resource, then Scroll Lock has no further effect.
1768 The reason for setting the default to “false” is to avoid user
1770 surprise. This key is generally unused in keyboard
1771 configurations, and has not acquired a standard meaning even
1772 when it is used in that manner. Consequently, users have
1773 assigned it for ad hoc purposes.
1774 allowSendEvents (class AllowSendEvents)
1776 Specifies whether or not synthetic key and button events
1777 (generated using the X protocol SendEvent request) should be
1778 interpreted or discarded. The default is “false” meaning they
1779 are discarded. Note that allowing such events would create a
1780 very large security hole, therefore enabling this resource
1781 forcefully disables the allowXXXOps resources. The default is
1782 “false”.
1783 allowTcapOps (class AllowTcapOps)
1785 Specifies whether control sequences that query the terminal's
1786 notion of its function-key strings, as termcap or terminfo
1787 capabilities should be allowed. The default is “true”.
1788 A few programs, e.g., vim, use this feature to get an accurate
1790 description of the terminal's capabilities, independent of the
1791 termcap/terminfo setting:
1792 · Xterm can tell the querying program how many colors it
1794 supports. This is a constant, depending on how it is
1795 compiled, typically 16. It does not change if you alter
1796 resource settings, e.g., the boldColors resource.
1797 · Xterm can tell the querying program what strings are sent
1799 by modified (shift-, control-, alt-) function- and keypad-
1800 keys. Reporting control- and alt-modifiers is a feature
1801 that relies on the ncurses extended naming.
1802 allowTitleOps (class AllowTitleOps)
1804 Specifies whether control sequences that modify the window
1805 title or icon name should be allowed. The default is “true”.
1806 allowWindowOps (class AllowWindowOps)
1808 Specifies whether extended window control sequences (as used in
1809 dtterm) should be allowed. These include several control
1810 sequences which manipulate the window size or position, as well
1811 as reporting these values and the title or icon name. Each of
1812 these can be abused in a script; curiously enough most terminal
1813 emulators that implement these restrict only a small part of
1814 the repertoire. For fine-tuning, see disallowedWindowOps. The
1815 default is “false”.
1816 altIsNotMeta (class AltIsNotMeta)
1818 If “true”, treat the Alt-key as if it were the Meta-key. Your
1819 keyboard may happen to be configured so they are the same. But
1820 if they are not, this allows you to use the same prefix- and
1821 shifting operations with the Alt-key as with the Meta-key. See
1822 altSendsEscape and metaSendsEscape. The default is “false”.
1823 altSendsEscape (class AltSendsEscape)
1825 This is an additional keyboard operation that may be processed
1826 after the logic for metaSendsEscape. It is only available if
1827 the altIsNotMeta resource is set.
1828 · If “true”, Alt characters (a character combined with the
1830 modifier associated with left/right Alt-keys) are converted
1831 into a two-character sequence with the character itself
1832 preceded by ESC. This applies as well to function key
1833 control sequences, unless xterm sees that Alt is used in
1834 your key translations.
1835 · If “false”, Alt characters input from the keyboard cause a
1837 shift to 8-bit characters (just like metaSendsEscape). By
1838 combining the Alt- and Meta-modifiers, you can create
1839 corresponding combinations of ESC-prefix and 8-bit
1840 characters.
1841 The default is “False”. Xterm provides a menu option for
1843 toggling this resource.
1844 alternateScroll (class ScrollCond)
1846 If “true”, the scroll-back and scroll-forw actions send
1847 cursor-up and -down keys when xterm is displaying the alternate
1848 screen. The default is “false”.
1849 The alternateScroll state can also be set using a control
1851 sequence.
1852 alwaysBoldMode (class AlwaysBoldMode)
1854 Specifies whether xterm should check if the normal and bold
1855 fonts are distinct before deciding whether to use overstriking
1856 to simulate bold fonts. If this resource is true, xterm does
1857 not make the check for distinct fonts when deciding how to
1858 handle the boldMode resource. The default is “false”.
1859 boldMode alwaysBoldMode Comparison Action
1861 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1862 false false ignored use font
1863 false true ignored use font
1864 true false same overstrike
1865 true false different use font
1866 true true ignored overstrike
1867 This resource is used only for bitmap fonts:
1869 · When using bitmap fonts, it is possible that the font
1871 server will approximate the bold font by rescaling it from
1872 a different font size than expected. The alwaysBoldMode
1873 resource allows the user to override the (sometimes poor)
1874 resulting bold font with overstriking (which is at least
1875 consistent).
1876 · The problem does not occur with TrueType fonts (though
1878 there can be other unnecessary issues such as different
1879 coverage of the normal and bold fonts).
1880 As an alternative, setting the allowBoldFonts resource to false
1882 overrides both the alwaysBoldMode and the boldMode resources.
1883 alwaysHighlight (class AlwaysHighlight)
1885 Specifies whether or not xterm should always display a
1886 highlighted text cursor. By default (if this resource is
1887 false), a hollow text cursor is displayed whenever the pointer
1888 moves out of the window or the window loses the input focus.
1889 The default is “false”.
1890 alwaysUseMods (class AlwaysUseMods)
1892 Override the numLock resource, telling xterm to use the Alt and
1893 Meta modifiers to construct parameters for function key
1894 sequences even if those modifiers appear in the translations
1895 resource. Normally xterm checks if Alt or Meta is used in a
1896 translation that would conflict with function key modifiers,
1897 and will ignore these modifiers in that special case. The
1898 default is “false”.
1899 answerbackString (class AnswerbackString)
1901 Specifies the string that xterm sends in response to an ENQ
1902 (control/E) character from the host. The default is a blank
1903 string, i.e., “”. A hardware VT100 implements this feature as
1904 a setup option.
1905 appcursorDefault (class AppcursorDefault)
1907 If “true”, the cursor keys are initially in application mode.
1908 This is the same as the VT102 private DECCKM mode, The default
1909 is “false”.
1910 appkeypadDefault (class AppkeypadDefault)
1912 If “true”, the keypad keys are initially in application mode.
1913 The default is “false”.
1914 assumeAllChars (class AssumeAllChars)
1916 If “true”, this enables a special case in bitmap fonts to allow
1917 the font server to choose how to display missing glyphs. The
1918 default is “true”.
1919 The reason for this resource is to help with certain quasi-
1921 automatically generated fonts (such as the ISO-10646-1 encoding
1922 of Terminus) which have incorrect font-metrics.
1923 autoWrap (class AutoWrap)
1925 Specifies whether or not auto-wraparound should be enabled.
1926 This is the same as the VT102 DECAWM. The default is “true”.
1927 awaitInput (class AwaitInput)
1929 Specifies whether or not xterm uses a 50 millisecond timeout to
1930 await input (i.e., to support the Xaw3d arrow scrollbar). The
1931 default is “false”.
1932 backarrowKey (class BackarrowKey)
1934 Specifies whether the backarrow key transmits a backspace (8)
1935 or delete (127) character. This corresponds to the DECBKM
1936 control sequence. A “true” value specifies backspace. The
1937 default is “False”. Pressing the control key toggles this
1938 behavior.
1939 background (class Background)
1941 Specifies the color to use for the background of the window.
1942 The default is “XtDefaultBackground”.
1943 bellIsUrgent (class BellIsUrgent)
1945 Specifies whether to set the Urgency hint for the window
1946 manager when making a bell sound. The default is “false”.
1947 bellOnReset (class BellOnReset)
1949 Specifies whether to sound a bell when doing a hard reset. The
1950 default is “true”.
1951 bellSuppressTime (class BellSuppressTime)
1953 Number of milliseconds after a bell command is sent during
1954 which additional bells will be suppressed. Default is 200. If
1955 set non-zero, additional bells will also be suppressed until
1956 the server reports that processing of the first bell has been
1957 completed; this feature is most useful with the visible bell.
1958 boldColors (class ColorMode)
1960 Specifies whether to combine bold attribute with colors like
1961 the IBM PC, i.e., map colors 0 through 7 to colors 8 through
1962 15. These normally are the brighter versions of the first 8
1963 colors, hence bold. The default is “true”.
1964 boldFont (class BoldFont)
1966 Specifies the name of the bold font to use instead of
1967 overstriking. There is no default for this resource.
1968 This font must be the same height and width as the normal font,
1970 otherwise it is ignored. If only one of the normal or bold
1971 fonts is specified, it will be used as the normal font and the
1972 bold font will be produced by overstriking this font.
1973 See also the discussion of boldMode and alwaysBoldMode
1975 resources.
1976 boldMode (class BoldMode)
1978 This specifies whether or not text with the bold attribute
1979 should be overstruck to simulate bold fonts if the resolved
1980 bold font is the same as the normal font. It may be desirable
1981 to disable bold fonts when color is being used for the bold
1982 attribute.
1983 Note that xterm has one bold font which you may set explicitly.
1985 Xterm attempts to derive a bold font for the other font
1986 selections (font1 through font6). If it cannot find a bold
1987 font, it will use the normal font. In each case (whether the
1988 explicit resource or the derived font), if the normal and bold
1989 fonts are distinct, this resource has no effect. The default
1990 is “true”.
1991 See the alwaysBoldMode resource which can modify the behavior
1993 of this resource.
1994 Although xterm attempts to derive a bold font for other font
1996 selections, the font server may not cooperate. Since X11R6,
1997 bitmap fonts have been scaled. The font server claims to
1998 provide the bold font that xterm requests, but the result is
1999 not always readable. XFree86 introduced a feature which can be
2000 used to suppress the scaling. In the X server's configuration
2001 file (e.g., “/etc/X11/xorg.conf”), you can add “:unscaled” to
2002 the end of the directory specification for the “misc” fonts,
2003 which comprise the fixed-pitch fonts that are used by xterm.
2004 For example
2005 FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc/"
2007 would become
2009 FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc/:unscaled"
2011 Depending on your configuration, the font server may have its
2013 own configuration file. The same “:unscaled” can be added to
2014 its configuration file at the end of the directory
2015 specification for “misc”.
2016 The bitmap scaling feature is also used by xterm to implement
2018 VT102 double-width and double-height characters.
2019 brokenLinuxOSC (class BrokenLinuxOSC)
2021 If true, xterm applies a workaround to ignore malformed control
2022 sequences that a Linux script might send. Compare the palette
2023 control sequences documented in console_codes with ECMA-48.
2024 The default is “true”.
2025 brokenSelections (class BrokenSelections)
2027 If true, xterm in 8-bit mode will interpret STRING selections
2028 as carrying text in the current locale's encoding. Normally
2029 STRING selections carry ISO-8859-1 encoded text. Setting this
2030 resource to “true” violates the ICCCM; it may, however, be
2031 useful for interacting with some broken X clients. The default
2032 is “false”.
2033 brokenStringTerm (class BrokenStringTerm)
2035 provides a work-around for some ISDN routers which start an
2036 application control string without completing it. Set this to
2037 “true” if xterm appears to freeze when connecting. The default
2038 is “false”.
2039 Xterm's state parser recognizes several types of control
2041 strings which can contain text, e.g.,
2042 APC (Application Program Command),
2044 DCS (Device Control String),
2045 OSC (Operating System Command),
2046 PM (Privacy Message), and
2047 SOS (Start of String),
2048 Each should end with a string-terminator (a special character
2050 which cannot appear in these strings). Ordinary control
2051 characters found within the string are not ignored; they are
2052 processed without interfering with the process of accumulating
2053 the control string's content. Xterm recognizes these controls
2054 in all modes, although some of the functions may be suppressed
2055 after parsing the control.
2056 When enabled, this feature allows the user to exit from an
2058 unterminated control string when any of these ordinary control
2059 characters are found:
2060 control/D (used as an end of file in many shells),
2062 control/H (backspace),
2063 control/I (tab-feed),
2064 control/J (line feed aka newline),
2065 control/K (vertical tab),
2066 control/L (form feed),
2067 control/M (carriage return),
2068 control/N (shift-out),
2069 control/O (shift-in),
2070 control/Q (XOFF),
2071 control/X (cancel)
2072 c132 (class C132)
2074 Specifies whether or not the VT102 DECCOLM escape sequence,
2075 used to switch between 80 and 132 columns, should be honored.
2076 The default is “false”.
2077 cacheDoublesize (class CacheDoublesize)
2079 Tells whether to cache double-sized fonts by xterm. Set this
2080 to zero to disable double-sized fonts altogether.
2081 cdXtraScroll (class CdXtraScroll)
2083 Specifies whether xterm should scroll to a new page when
2084 clearing the whole screen. Like tiXtraScroll, the intent of
2085 this option is to provide a picture of the full-screen
2086 application's display on the scrollback before wiping out the
2087 text. The default for this resource is “false”.
2088 charClass (class CharClass)
2090 Specifies comma-separated lists of character class bindings of
2091 the form
2092 low[-high][:value].
2094 These are used in determining which sets of characters should
2096 be treated the same when doing cut and paste. See the
2097 CHARACTER CLASSES section.
2098 checksumExtension (class ChecksumExtension)
2100 DEC VT420 and up support a control sequence DECRQCRA which
2101 reports the checksum of the characters in a rectangle. Xterm
2102 supports this, with extensions that can be configured with bits
2103 of the checksumExtension:
2104 0 do not negate the result.
2106 1 do not report the VT100 video attributes.
2108 2 do not omit checksum for blanks.
2110 3 omit checksum for cells not explicitly initialized.
2112 4 do not mask cell value to 8 bits or ignore combining
2114 characters.
2115 5 do not mask cell value to 7 bits.
2117 With the default value (0), xterm matches the behavior of DEC's
2119 terminals. To use all extensions, set all bits, “-1” for
2120 example.
2121 cjkWidth (class CjkWidth)
2123 Specifies whether xterm should follow the traditional East
2124 Asian width convention. When turned on, characters with East
2125 Asian Ambiguous (A) category in UTR 11 have a column width of
2126 2. You may have to set this option to “true” if you have some
2127 old East Asian terminal based programs that assume that line-
2128 drawing characters have a column width of 2. If this resource
2129 is false, the mkWidth resource controls the choice between the
2130 system's wcwidth and xterm's built-in tables. The default is
2131 “false”.
2132 color0 (class Color0)
2134 color1 (class Color1)
2136 color2 (class Color2)
2138 color3 (class Color3)
2140 color4 (class Color4)
2142 color5 (class Color5)
2144 color6 (class Color6)
2146 color7 (class Color7)
2148 These specify the colors for the ISO-6429 extension. The
2149 defaults are, respectively, black, red3, green3, yellow3, a
2150 customizable dark blue, magenta3, cyan3, and gray90. The
2151 default shades of color are chosen to allow the colors 8–15 to
2152 be used as brighter versions.
2153 color8 (class Color8)
2155 color9 (class Color9)
2157 color10 (class Color10)
2159 color11 (class Color11)
2161 color12 (class Color12)
2163 color13 (class Color13)
2165 color14 (class Color14)
2167 color15 (class Color15)
2169 These specify the colors for the ISO-6429 extension if the bold
2170 attribute is also enabled. The default resource values are
2171 respectively, gray50, red, green, yellow, a customized light
2172 blue, magenta, cyan, and white.
2173 color16 (class Color16)
2175 through
2177 color255 (class Color255)
2179 These specify the colors for the 256-color extension. The
2180 default resource values are for
2181 · colors 16 through 231 to make a 6x6x6 color cube, and
2183 · colors 232 through 255 to make a grayscale ramp.
2185 Resources past color15 are available as a compile-time option.
2187 Due to a hardcoded limit in the X libraries on the total number
2188 of resources (to 400), the resources for 256-colors are omitted
2189 when wide-character support and luit are enabled. Besides
2190 inconsistent behavior if only part of the resources were
2191 allowed, determining the exact cutoff is difficult, and the X
2192 libraries tend to crash if the number of resources exceeds the
2193 limit. The color palette is still initialized to the same
2194 default values, and can be modified via control sequences.
2195 On the other hand, the resource limit does permit including the
2197 entire range for 88-colors.
2198 colorAttrMode (class ColorAttrMode)
2200 Specifies whether colorBD, colorBL, colorRV, and colorUL should
2201 override ANSI colors. If not, these are displayed only when no
2202 ANSI colors have been set for the corresponding position. The
2203 default is “false”.
2204 colorBD (class ColorBD)
2206 This specifies the color to use to display bold characters if
2207 the “colorBDMode” resource is enabled. The default is
2208 “XtDefaultForeground”.
2209 See also the veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
2211 bold and color.
2212 colorBDMode (class ColorAttrMode)
2214 Specifies whether characters with the bold attribute should be
2215 displayed in color or as bold characters. Note that setting
2216 colorMode off disables all colors, including bold. The default
2217 is “false”.
2218 colorBL (class ColorBL)
2220 This specifies the color to use to display blink characters if
2221 the “colorBLMode” resource is enabled. The default is
2222 “XtDefaultForeground”.
2223 See also the veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
2225 underline and color.
2226 colorBLMode (class ColorAttrMode)
2228 Specifies whether characters with the blink attribute should be
2229 displayed in color. Note that setting colorMode off disables
2230 all colors, including this. The default is “false”.
2231 colorIT (class ColorIT)
2233 This specifies the color to use to display italic characters if
2234 the “colorITMode” resource is enabled. The default is
2235 “XtDefaultForeground”.
2236 See also the veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
2238 attributes and color.
2239 colorITMode (class ColorAttrMode)
2241 Specifies whether characters with the italic attribute should
2242 be displayed in color or as italic characters. The default is
2243 “false”.
2244 Note that:
2246 · Setting colorMode off disables all colors, including
2248 italic.
2249 · The italicULMode resource overrides colorITMode.
2251 colorInnerBorder (class ColorInnerBorder)
2253 Normally, xterm fills the VT100 window's inner border using the
2254 background color.
2255 If the colorInnerBorder resource is enabled, at startup xterm
2257 will compare the borderColor and the window's background color.
2258 If those are different, xterm will use the borderColor resource
2259 to fill the inner border. Otherwise, it will use the window's
2260 background color.
2261 The default is “false”.
2263 colorMode (class ColorMode)
2265 Specifies whether or not recognition of ANSI (ISO-6429) color
2266 change escape sequences should be enabled. The default is
2267 “true”.
2268 colorRV (class ColorRV)
2270 This specifies the color to use to display reverse characters
2271 if the “colorRVMode” resource is enabled. The default is
2272 “XtDefaultForeground”.
2273 See also the veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
2275 reverse and color.
2276 colorRVMode (class ColorAttrMode)
2278 Specifies whether characters with the reverse attribute should
2279 be displayed in color. Note that setting colorMode off
2280 disables all colors, including this. The default is “false”.
2281 colorUL (class ColorUL)
2283 This specifies the color to use to display underlined
2284 characters if the “colorULMode” resource is enabled. The
2285 default is “XtDefaultForeground”.
2286 See also the veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
2288 underline and color.
2289 colorULMode (class ColorAttrMode)
2291 Specifies whether characters with the underline attribute
2292 should be displayed in color or as underlined characters. Note
2293 that setting colorMode off disables all colors, including
2294 underlining. The default is “false”.
2295 combiningChars (class CombiningChars)
2297 Specifies the number of wide-characters which can be stored in
2298 a cell to overstrike (combine) with the base character of the
2299 cell. This can be set to values in the range 0 to 5. The
2300 default is “2”.
2301 ctrlFKeys (class CtrlFKeys)
2303 In VT220 keyboard mode (see sunKeyboard resource), specifies
2304 the amount by which to shift F1-F12 given a control modifier
2305 (CTRL). This allows you to generate key symbols for F10-F20 on
2306 a Sun/PC keyboard. The default is “10”, which means that CTRL
2307 F1 generates the key symbol for F11.
2308 curses (class Curses)
2310 Specifies whether or not the last column bug in more(1) should
2311 be worked around. See the -cu option for details. The default
2312 is “false”.
2313 cursorBlink (class CursorBlink)
2315 Specifies whether to make the cursor blink. Xterm accepts
2316 either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number shown in
2317 parentheses:
2318 false (0)
2320 The cursor will not blink, but may be combined with escape
2321 sequences according to the cursorBlinkXOR resource.
2322 true (1)
2324 The cursor will blink, but may be combined with escape
2325 sequences according to the cursorBlinkXOR resource.
2326 always (2)
2328 The cursor will always blink, ignoring escape sequences.
2329 The menu entry will be disabled.
2330 never (3)
2332 The cursor will never blink, ignoring escape sequences. The
2333 menu entry will be disabled.
2334 The default is “false”.
2336 cursorBlinkXOR (class CursorBlinkXOR)
2338 Xterm uses two inputs to determine whether the cursor blinks:
2339 · The cursorBlink resource (which can be altered with a menu
2341 entry).
2342 · Control sequences (private mode 12 and DECSCUSR).
2344 The cursorBlinkXOR resource determines how those inputs are
2346 combined:
2347 false
2349 Xterm uses the logical-OR of the two variables. If either
2350 is set, xterm makes the cursor blink.
2351 true
2353 Xterm uses the logical-XOR of the two variables. If only
2354 one is set, xterm makes the cursor blink.
2355 The default is “true”.
2357 cursorColor (class CursorColor)
2359 Specifies the color to use for the text cursor. The default is
2360 “XtDefaultForeground”. By default, xterm attempts to keep this
2361 color from being the same as the background color, since it
2362 draws the cursor by filling the background of a text cell. The
2363 same restriction applies to control sequences which may change
2364 this color.
2365 Setting this resource overrides most of xterm's adjustments to
2367 cursor color. It will still use reverse-video to disallow some
2368 cases, such as a black cursor on a black background.
2369 cursorOffTime (class CursorOffTime)
2371 Specifies the duration of the “off” part of the cursor blink
2372 cycle-time in milliseconds. The same timer is used for text
2373 blinking. The default is “300”.
2374 cursorOnTime (class CursorOnTime)
2376 Specifies the duration of the “on” part of the cursor blink
2377 cycle-time, in milliseconds. The same timer is used for text
2378 blinking. The default is “600”.
2379 cursorUnderLine (class CursorUnderLine)
2381 Specifies whether to make the cursor underlined or a box. The
2382 default is “false”.
2383 cutNewline (class CutNewline)
2385 If “false”, triple clicking to select a line does not include
2386 the newline at the end of the line. If “true”, the Newline is
2387 selected. The default is “true”.
2388 cutToBeginningOfLine (class CutToBeginningOfLine)
2390 If “false”, triple clicking to select a line selects only from
2391 the current word forward. If “true”, the entire line is
2392 selected. The default is “true”.
2393 decTerminalID (class DecTerminalID)
2395 Specifies the emulation level (100=VT100, 220=VT220, etc.),
2396 used to determine the type of response to a DA control
2397 sequence. Leading non-digit characters are ignored, e.g.,
2398 “vt100” and “100” are the same. The default is “420”.
2399 defaultString (class DefaultString)
2401 Specify the character (or string) which xterm will substitute
2402 when pasted text includes a character which cannot be
2403 represented in the current encoding. For instance, pasting
2404 UTF-8 text into a display of ISO-8859-1 characters will only be
2405 able to display codes 0–255, while UTF-8 text can include
2406 Unicode values above 255. The default is “#” (a single pound
2407 sign).
2408 If the undisplayable text would be double-width, xterm will add
2410 a space after the “#” character, to give roughly the same
2411 layout on the screen as the original text.
2412 deleteIsDEL (class DeleteIsDEL)
2414 Specifies what the Delete key on the editing keypad should send
2415 when pressed. The resource value is a string, evaluated as a
2416 boolean after startup. Xterm uses it in conjunction with the
2417 keyboardType resource:
2418 · If the keyboard type is “default”, or “vt220” and the
2420 resource is either “true” or “maybe” send the VT220-style
2421 Remove escape sequence. Otherwise, send DEL (127).
2422 · If the keyboard type is “legacy”, and the resource is
2424 “true” send DEL. Otherwise, send the Remove sequence.
2425 · Otherwise, if the keyboard type is none of these special
2427 cases, send DEL (127).
2428 The default is “Maybe”. The resource is allowed to be a non-
2430 boolean “maybe” so that the popup menu Delete is DEL entry does
2431 not override the keyboard type.
2432 directColor (class DirectColor)
2434 Specifies whether to handle direct-color control sequences
2435 using the X server's available colors, or to approximate those
2436 using a color map with 256 entries. A “true” value enables the
2437 former. The default is “true”.
2438 disallowedColorOps (class DisallowedColorOps)
2440 Specify which features will be disabled if allowColorOps is
2441 false. This is a comma-separated list of names. The default
2442 value is
2443 SetColor,GetColor,GetAnsiColor
2444 The names are listed below. Xterm ignores capitalization, but
2446 they are shown in mixed-case for clarity.
2447 SetColor
2449 Set a specific dynamic color.
2450 GetColor
2452 Report the current setting of a given dynamic color.
2453 GetAnsiColor
2455 Report the current setting of a given ANSI color (actually
2456 any of the colors set via ANSI-style controls).
2457 disallowedFontOps (class DisallowedFontOps)
2459 Specify which features will be disabled if allowFontOps is
2460 false. This is a comma-separated list of names. The default
2461 value is
2462 SetFont,GetFont
2464 The names are listed below. Xterm ignores capitalization, but
2466 they are shown in mixed-case for clarity.
2467 SetFont
2469 Set the specified font.
2470 GetFont
2472 Report the specified font.
2473 disallowedMouseOps (class DisallowedMouseOps)
2475 Specify which features will be disabled if allowMouseOps is
2476 false. This is a comma-separated list of names. The default
2477 value is “*” which matches all names. The names are listed
2478 below. Xterm ignores capitalization, but they are shown in
2479 mixed-case for clarity.
2480 X10 The original X10 mouse protocol.
2482 Locator
2484 DEC locator mode
2485 VT200Click
2487 X11 mouse-clicks only.
2488 VT200Hilite
2490 X11 mouse-clicks and highlighting.
2491 AnyButton
2493 XFree86 xterm any-button mode sends button-clicks as well
2494 as motion events while the button is pressed.
2495 AnyEvent
2497 XFree86 xterm any-event mode sends button-clicks as well
2498 as motion events whether or not a button is pressed.
2499 FocusEvent
2501 Send FocusIn/FocusOut events.
2502 Extended
2504 The first extension beyond X11 mouse protocol, this
2505 encodes the coordinates in UTF-8. It is deprecated in
2506 favor of SGR, but provided for compatibility.
2507 SGR This is the recommended extension for mouse-coordinates
2509 URXVT
2511 Like Extended, this is provided for compatibility.
2512 AlternateScroll
2514 This overrides the alternateScroll resource.
2515 disallowedPasteControls (class DisallowedPasteControls)
2517 The allowPasteControls resource is normally used to prevent
2518 pasting C1 controls, as well as non-formatting C0 controls such
2519 as the ASCII escape character. Those characters are simply
2520 ignored. This resource further extends the set of control
2521 characters which cannot be pasted, converting each into a
2522 space.
2523 The resource value is a comma-separated list of names. Xterm
2525 ignores capitalization. The default value is
2526 BS,HT,DEL,ESC
2528 The names are listed below:
2530 C0 all ASCII control characters.
2532 BS ASCII backspace
2534 CR ASCII carriage-return
2536 DEL ASCII delete
2538 ESC ASCII escape
2540 FF ASCII form-feed
2542 HT ASCII tab
2544 NL ASCII line-feed, i.e., “newline”.
2546 disallowedTcapOps (class DisallowedTcapOps)
2548 Specify which features will be disabled if allowTcapOps is
2549 false. This is a comma-separated list of names. The default
2550 value is
2551 SetTcap,GetTcap
2553 The names are listed below. Xterm ignores capitalization, but
2555 they are shown in mixed-case for clarity.
2556 SetTcap
2558 (not implemented)
2559 GetTcap
2561 Report specified function- and other special keys.
2562 disallowedWindowOps (class DisallowedWindowOps)
2564 Specify which features will be disabled if allowWindowOps is
2565 false. This is a comma-separated list of names, or (for the
2566 controls adapted from dtterm the operation number). The
2567 default value is
2568 20,21,SetXprop,SetSelection
2570 (i.e. no operations are allowed).
2571 The names are listed below. Xterm ignores capitalization, but
2573 they are shown in mixed-case for clarity. Where a number can
2574 be used as an alternative, it is given in parentheses after the
2575 name.
2576 GetChecksum
2578 Report checksum of characters in a rectangular region.
2579 GetIconTitle (20)
2581 Report xterm window's icon label as a string.
2582 GetScreenSizeChars (19)
2584 Report the size of the screen in characters as numbers.
2585 GetSelection
2587 Report selection data as a base64 string.
2588 GetWinPosition (13)
2590 Report xterm window position as numbers.
2591 GetWinSizeChars (18)
2593 Report the size of the text area in characters as numbers.
2594 GetWinSizePixels (14)
2596 Report xterm window in pixels as numbers.
2597 GetWinState (11)
2599 Report xterm window state as a number.
2600 GetWinTitle (21)
2602 Report xterm window's title as a string.
2603 LowerWin (6)
2605 Lower the xterm window to the bottom of the stacking
2606 order.
2607 MaximizeWin (9)
2609 Maximize window (i.e., resize to screen size).
2610 FullscreenWin (10)
2612 Use full screen (i.e., resize to screen size, without
2613 window decorations).
2614 MinimizeWin (2)
2616 Iconify window.
2617 PopTitle (23)
2619 Pop title from internal stack.
2620 PushTitle (22)
2622 Push title to internal stack.
2623 RaiseWin (5)
2625 Raise the xterm window to the front of the stacking order.
2626 RefreshWin (7)
2628 Refresh the xterm window.
2629 RestoreWin (1)
2631 De-iconify window.
2632 SetChecksum
2634 Modify algorithm for reporting checksum of characters in a
2635 rectangular region.
2636 SetSelection
2638 Set selection data.
2639 SetWinLines
2641 Resize to a given number of lines, at least 24.
2642 SetWinPosition (3)
2644 Move window to given coordinates.
2645 SetWinSizeChars (8)
2647 Resize the text area to given size in characters.
2648 SetWinSizePixels (4)
2650 Resize the xterm window to given size in pixels.
2651 SetXprop
2653 Set X property on top-level window.
2654 dynamicColors (class DynamicColors)
2656 Specifies whether or not escape sequences to change colors
2657 assigned to different attributes are recognized.
2658 eightBitControl (class EightBitControl)
2660 Specifies whether or not control sequences sent by the terminal
2661 should be eight-bit characters or escape sequences. The
2662 default is “false”.
2663 eightBitInput (class EightBitInput)
2665 If “true”, Meta characters (a single-byte character combined
2666 with the Meta modifier key) input from the keyboard are
2667 presented as a single character, modified according to the
2668 eightBitMeta resource. If “false”, Meta characters are
2669 converted into a two-character sequence with the character
2670 itself preceded by ESC. The default is “true”.
2671 The metaSendsEscape and altSendsEscape resources may override
2673 this feature. Generally keyboards do not have a key labeled
2674 “Meta”, but “Alt” keys are common, and they are conventionally
2675 used for “Meta”. If they were synonymous, it would have been
2676 reasonable to name this resource “altSendsEscape”, reversing
2677 its sense. For more background on this, see the meta(3x)
2678 function in curses.
2679 Note that the Alt key is not necessarily the same as the Meta
2681 modifier. The xmodmap utility lists your key modifiers. X
2682 defines modifiers for shift, (caps) lock and control, as well
2683 as 5 additional modifiers which are generally used to configure
2684 key modifiers. Xterm inspects the same information to find the
2685 modifier associated with either Meta key (left or right), and
2686 uses that key as the Meta modifier. It also looks for the
2687 NumLock key, to recognize the modifier which is associated with
2688 that.
2689 If your xmodmap configuration uses the same keycodes for Alt-
2691 and Meta-keys, xterm will only see the Alt-key definitions,
2692 since those are tested before Meta-keys. NumLock is tested
2693 first. It is important to keep these keys distinct; otherwise
2694 some of xterm's functionality is not available.
2695 The eightBitInput resource is tested at startup time. If
2697 “true”, the xterm tries to put the terminal into 8-bit mode.
2698 If “false”, on startup, xterm tries to put the terminal into
2699 7-bit mode. For some configurations this is unsuccessful;
2700 failure is ignored. After startup, xterm does not change the
2701 terminal between 8-bit and 7-bit mode.
2702 As originally implemented in X11, the resource value did not
2704 change after startup. However (since patch #216 in 2006) xterm
2705 can modify eightBitInput after startup via a control sequence.
2706 The corresponding terminfo capabilities smm (set meta mode) and
2707 rmm (reset meta mode) have been recognized by bash for some
2708 time. Interestingly enough, bash's notion of “meta mode”
2709 differs from the standard definition (in the terminfo manual),
2710 which describes the change to the eighth bit of a character.
2711 It happens that bash views “meta mode” as the ESC character
2712 that xterm puts before a character when a special meta key is
2713 pressed. bash's early documentation talks about the ESC
2714 character and ignores the eighth bit.
2715 eightBitMeta (class EightBitMeta)
2717 This controls the way xterm modifies the eighth bit of a
2718 single-byte key when the eightBitInput resource is set. The
2719 default is “locale”.
2720 The resource value is a string, evaluated as a boolean after
2722 startup.
2723 false
2725 The key is sent unmodified.
2726 locale
2728 The key is modified only if the locale uses eight-bit
2729 encoding.
2730 true The key is sent modified.
2732 never
2734 The key is always sent unmodified.
2735 Except for the never choice, xterm honors the terminfo
2737 capabilities smm (set meta mode) and rmm (reset meta mode),
2738 allowing the feature to be turned on or off dynamically.
2739 If eightBitMeta is enabled when the locale uses UTF-8, xterm
2741 encodes the value as UTF-8 (since patch #183 in 2003).
2742 eightBitOutput (class EightBitOutput)
2744 Specifies whether or not eight-bit characters sent from the
2745 host should be accepted as is or stripped when printed. The
2746 default is “true”, which means that they are accepted as is.
2747 eightBitSelectTypes (class EightBitSelectTypes)
2749 Override xterm's default selection target list (see
2750 SELECT/PASTE) for selections in normal (ISO-8859-1) mode. The
2751 default is an empty string, i.e., “”, which does not override
2752 anything.
2753 eraseSavedLines (class EraseSavedLines)
2755 Specifies whether or not to allow xterm extended ED/DECSED
2756 control sequences to erase the saved-line buffer. The default
2757 is “true”.
2758 faceName (class FaceName)
2760 Specify the pattern for scalable fonts selected from the
2761 FreeType library if support for that library was compiled into
2762 xterm. There is no default value.
2763 One or more fonts can be specified, separated by commas. If
2765 prefixed with “x:” or “x11:” the specification applies to the
2766 XLFD font resource. A “xft:” prefix is accepted but
2767 unnecessary since a missing prefix for faceName means that it
2768 will be used for TrueType. For example,
2769 XTerm*faceName: x:fixed,xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono
2771 If no faceName resource is specified, or if there is no match
2773 for both TrueType normal and bold fonts, xterm uses the XLFD
2774 (bitmap) font and related resources.
2775 It is possible to select suitable bitmap fonts using a script
2777 such as this:
2778 #!/bin/sh
2780 FONT=`xfontsel -print`
2781 test -n "$FONT" && xfd -fn "$FONT"
2782 However (even though xfd accepts a “-fa” option to denote
2784 FreeType fonts), xfontsel has not been similarly extended. As
2785 a workaround, you may try
2786 fc-list :scalable=true:spacing=mono: family
2788 to find a list of scalable fixed-pitch fonts which may be used
2790 for the faceName resource value.
2791 faceNameDoublesize (class FaceNameDoublesize)
2793 Specify a double-width scalable font for cases where an
2794 application requires this, e.g., in CJK applications. There is
2795 no default value.
2796 Like the faceName resource, this allows one or more comma-
2798 separated font specifications to be applied to the wide
2799 TrueType or XLFD fonts.
2800 If the application uses double-wide characters and this
2802 resource is not given, xterm will use a scaled version of the
2803 font given by faceName.
2804 faceSize (class FaceSize)
2806 Specify the pointsize for fonts selected from the FreeType
2807 library if support for that library was compiled into xterm.
2808 The default is “8.0” On the VT Fonts menu, this corresponds to
2809 the Default entry.
2810 Although the default is “8.0”, this may not be the same as the
2812 pointsize for the default bitmap font, i.e., that assigned with
2813 the -fn option, or the font resource. The default value of
2814 faceSize is chosen to match the size of the “fixed” font,
2815 making switching between bitmap and TrueType fonts via the font
2816 menu give comparable sizes for the window. If your -fn option
2817 uses a different pointsize, you might want to adjust the
2818 faceSize resource to match.
2819 You can specify the pointsize for TrueType fonts selected with
2821 the other size-related menu entries such as Medium, Huge, etc.,
2822 by using one of the following resource values. If you do not
2823 specify a value, they default to “0.0”, which causes xterm to
2824 use the ratio of font sizes from the corresponding bitmap font
2825 resources to obtain a TrueType pointsize.
2826 If all of the faceSize resources are set, then xterm will use
2828 this information to determine the next smaller/larger TrueType
2829 font for the larger-vt-font() and smaller-vt-font() actions.
2830 If any are not set, xterm will use only the areas of the bitmap
2831 fonts.
2832 faceSize1 (class FaceSize1)
2834 Specifies the pointsize of the first alternative font.
2835 faceSize2 (class FaceSize2)
2837 Specifies the pointsize of the second alternative font.
2838 faceSize3 (class FaceSize3)
2840 Specifies the pointsize of the third alternative font.
2841 faceSize4 (class FaceSize4)
2843 Specifies the pointsize of the fourth alternative font.
2844 faceSize5 (class FaceSize5)
2846 Specifies the pointsize of the fifth alternative font.
2847 faceSize6 (class FaceSize6)
2849 Specifies the pointsize of the sixth alternative font.
2850 font (class Font)
2852 Specifies the name of the normal font. The default is “fixed”.
2853 See the discussion of the locale resource, which describes how
2855 this font may be overridden.
2856 NOTE: some resource files use patterns such as
2858 *font: fixed
2860 which are overly broad, affecting both
2862 xterm.vt100.font
2864 and
2866 xterm.vt100.utf8Fonts.font
2868 which is probably not what you intended.
2870 fastScroll (class FastScroll)
2872 Modifies the effect of jump scroll (jumpScroll) by suppressing
2873 screen refreshes for the special case when output to the screen
2874 has completely shifted the contents off-screen. For instance,
2875 cat'ing a large file to the screen does this.
2876 font1 (class Font1)
2878 Specifies the name of the first alternative font, corresponding
2879 to “Unreadable” in the standard menu.
2880 font2 (class Font2)
2882 Specifies the name of the second alternative font,
2883 corresponding to “Tiny” in the standard menu.
2884 font3 (class Font3)
2886 Specifies the name of the third alternative font, corresponding
2887 to “Small” in the standard menu.
2888 font4 (class Font4)
2890 Specifies the name of the fourth alternative font,
2891 corresponding to “Medium” in the standard menu.
2892 font5 (class Font5)
2894 Specifies the name of the fifth alternative font, corresponding
2895 to “Large” in the standard menu.
2896 font6 (class Font6)
2898 Specifies the name of the sixth alternative font, corresponding
2899 to “Huge” in the standard menu.
2900 fontDoublesize (class FontDoublesize)
2902 Specifies whether xterm should attempt to use font scaling to
2903 draw double-sized characters. Some older font servers cannot
2904 do this properly, will return misleading font metrics. The
2905 default is “true”. If disabled, xterm will simulate double-
2906 sized characters by drawing normal characters with spaces
2907 between them.
2908 fontWarnings (class FontWarnings)
2910 Specify whether xterm should report an error if it fails to
2911 load a font:
2912 0 Never report an error (though the X libraries may).
2914 1 Report an error if the font name was given as a resource
2916 setting.
2917 2 Always report an error on failure to load a font.
2919 The default is “1”.
2921 forceBoxChars (class ForceBoxChars)
2923 Specifies whether xterm should assume the normal and bold fonts
2924 have VT100 line-drawing characters:
2925 · The fixed-pitch ISO-8859-*-encoded fonts used by xterm
2927 normally have the VT100 line-drawing glyphs in cells 1–31.
2928 Other fixed-pitch fonts may be more attractive, but lack
2929 these glyphs.
2930 · When using an ISO-10646-1 font and the wideChars resource
2932 is true, xterm uses the Unicode glyphs which match the
2933 VT100 line-drawing glyphs.
2934 If “false”, xterm checks for missing glyphs in the font and
2936 makes line-drawing characters directly as needed. If “true”,
2937 xterm assumes the font does not contain the line-drawing
2938 characters, and draws them directly. The default is “false”.
2939 forcePackedFont (class ForcePackedFont)
2941 Specifies whether xterm should use the maximum or minimum glyph
2942 width when displaying using a bitmap font. Use the maximum
2943 width to help with proportional fonts. The default is “true”,
2944 denoting the minimum width.
2945 foreground (class Foreground)
2947 Specifies the color to use for displaying text in the window.
2948 Setting the class name instead of the instance name is an easy
2949 way to have everything that would normally appear in the text
2950 color change color. The default is “XtDefaultForeground”.
2951 formatOtherKeys (class FormatOtherKeys)
2953 Overrides the format of the escape sequence used to report
2954 modified keys with the modifyOtherKeys resource.
2955 0 send modified keys as parameters for function-key 27
2957 (default).
2958 1 send modified keys as parameters for CSI u.
2960 freeBoldBox (class FreeBoldBox)
2962 Specifies whether xterm should assume the bounding boxes for
2963 normal and bold fonts are compatible. If “false”, xterm
2964 compares them and will reject choices of bold fonts that do not
2965 match the size of the normal font. The default is “false”,
2966 which means that the comparison is performed.
2967 geometry (class Geometry)
2969 Specifies the preferred size and position of the VTxxx window.
2970 There is no default for this resource.
2971 highlightColor (class HighlightColor)
2973 Specifies the color to use for the background of selected
2974 (highlighted) text. If not specified (i.e., matching the
2975 default foreground), reverse video is used. The default is
2976 “XtDefaultForeground”.
2977 highlightColorMode (class HighlightColorMode)
2979 Specifies whether xterm should use highlightTextColor and
2980 highlightColor to override the reversed foreground/background
2981 colors in a selection. The default is unspecified: at startup,
2982 xterm checks if those resources are set to something other than
2983 the default foreground and background colors. Setting this
2984 resource disables the check.
2985 The following table shows the interaction of the highlighting
2987 resources, abbreviated as shown to fit in this page:
2988 HCM
2990 highlightColorMode
2991 HR highlightReverse
2993 HBG
2995 highlightColor
2996 HFG
2998 highlightTextColor
2999 HCM HR HBG HFG Highlight
3001 ────────────────────────────────────────────────
3002 false false default default bg/fg
3003 false false default set bg/fg
3004 false false set default fg/HBG
3005 false false set set fg/HBG
3006 ────────────────────────────────────────────────
3007 false true default default bg/fg
3008 false true default set bg/fg
3009 false true set default fg/HBG
3010 false true set set fg/HBG
3011 ────────────────────────────────────────────────
3012 true false default default bg/fg
3013 true false default set HFG/fg
3014 true false set default bg/HBG
3015 true false set set HFG/HBG
3016 ────────────────────────────────────────────────
3017 true true default default bg/fg
3018 true true default set HFG/fg
3019 true true set default fg/HBG
3020 true true set set HFG/HBG
3021 ────────────────────────────────────────────────
3022 default false default default bg/fg
3023 default false default set bg/fg
3024 default false set default fg/HBG
3025 default false set set HFG/HBG
3026 ────────────────────────────────────────────────
3027 default true default default bg/fg
3028 default true default set bg/fg
3029 default true set default fg/HBG
3030 default true set set HFG/HBG
3031 ────────────────────────────────────────────────
3032 highlightReverse (class HighlightReverse)
3034 Specifies whether xterm should reverse the selection foreground
3035 and background colors when selecting text with reverse-video
3036 attribute. This applies only to the highlightColor and
3037 highlightTextColor resources, e.g., to match the color scheme
3038 of xwsh. If “true”, xterm reverses the colors, If “false”,
3039 xterm does not reverse colors, The default is “true”.
3040 highlightSelection (class HighlightSelection)
3042 Tells xterm whether to highlight all of the selected positions,
3043 or only the selected text:
3044 · If “false”, selecting with the mouse highlights all
3046 positions on the screen between the beginning of the
3047 selection and the current position.
3048 · If “true”, xterm highlights only the positions that contain
3050 text that can be selected.
3051 The default is “false”.
3053 Depending on the way your applications write to the screen,
3055 there may be trailing blanks on a line. Xterm stores data as
3056 it is shown on the screen. Erasing the display changes the
3057 internal state of each cell so it is not considered a blank for
3058 the purpose of selection. Blanks written since the last erase
3059 are selectable. If you do not wish to have trailing blanks in
3060 a selection, use the trimSelection resource.
3061 highlightTextColor (class HighlightTextColor)
3063 Specifies the color to use for the foreground of selected
3064 (highlighted) text. If not specified (i.e., matching the
3065 default background), reverse video is used. The default is
3066 “XtDefaultBackground”.
3067 hpLowerleftBugCompat (class HpLowerleftBugCompat)
3069 Specifies whether to work around a bug in HP's xdb, which
3070 ignores termcap and always sends ESC F to move to the lower
3071 left corner. “true” causes xterm to interpret ESC F as a
3072 request to move to the lower left corner of the screen. The
3073 default is “false”.
3074 i18nSelections (class I18nSelections)
3076 If false, xterm will not request the targets COMPOUND_TEXT or
3077 TEXT. The default is “true”. It may be set to false in order
3078 to work around ICCCM violations by other X clients.
3079 iconBorderColor (class BorderColor)
3081 Specifies the border color for the active icon window if this
3082 feature is compiled into xterm. Not all window managers will
3083 make the icon border visible.
3084 iconBorderWidth (class BorderWidth)
3086 Specifies the border width for the active icon window if this
3087 feature is compiled into xterm. The default is “2”. Not all
3088 window managers will make the border visible.
3089 iconFont (class IconFont)
3091 Specifies the font for the miniature active icon window, if
3092 this feature is compiled into xterm. The default is “nil2”.
3093 initialFont (class InitialFont)
3095 Specifies which of the VT100 fonts to use initially. Values
3096 are the same as for the set-vt-font action. The default is
3097 “d”, i.e., “default”.
3098 inputMethod (class InputMethod)
3100 Tells xterm which type of input method to use. There is no
3101 default method.
3102 internalBorder (class BorderWidth)
3104 Specifies the number of pixels between the characters and the
3105 window border. The default is “2”.
3106 italicULMode (class ColorAttrMode)
3108 Specifies whether characters with the underline attribute
3109 should be displayed in an italic font or as underlined
3110 characters. It is implemented only for TrueType fonts.
3111 jumpScroll (class JumpScroll)
3113 Specifies whether or not jump scroll should be used. This
3114 corresponds to the VT102 DECSCLM private mode. The default is
3115 “true”. See fastScroll for a variation.
3116 keepClipboard (class KeepClipboard)
3118 Specifies whether xterm will reuse the selection data which it
3119 copied to the clipboard rather than asking the clipboard for
3120 its current contents when told to provide the selection. The
3121 default is “false”.
3122 The menu entry Keep Clipboard allows you to change this at
3124 runtime.
3125 keepSelection (class KeepSelection)
3127 Specifies whether xterm will keep the selection even after the
3128 selected area was touched by some output to the terminal. The
3129 default is “true”.
3130 The menu entry Keep Selection allows you to change this at
3132 runtime.
3133 keyboardDialect (class KeyboardDialect)
3135 Specifies the initial keyboard dialect, as well as the default
3136 value when the terminal is reset. The value given is the same
3137 as the final character in the control sequences which change
3138 character sets. The default is “B”, which corresponds to US
3139 ASCII.
3140 nameKeymap (class NameKeymap)
3142 See the discussion of the keymap() action.
3143 limitFontsets (class LimitFontsets)
3145 Limits the number of TrueType fallback fonts (i.e., fontset)
3146 which can be used. The default is “50”.
3147 This limits the number of fallback fonts which xterm uses to
3149 display characters. Because TrueType fonts typically are
3150 small, xterm may open several fonts for good coverage, and may
3151 open additional fonts to obtain information. You can see which
3152 font-files xterm opens by setting the environment variable
3153 XFT_DEBUG to 3. The Xft library and xterm write this debugging
3154 trace to the standard output.
3155 Set this to “0” to disable fallbacks entirely.
3157 limitResize (class LimitResize)
3159 Limits resizing of the screen via control sequence to a given
3160 multiple of the display dimensions. The default is “1”.
3161 limitResponse (class LimitResponse)
3163 Limits the buffer-size used when xterm replies to various
3164 control sequences. The default is “1024”. The minimum value
3165 is “256”.
3166 locale (class Locale)
3168 Specifies how to use luit, an encoding converter between UTF-8
3169 and locale encodings. The resource value (ignoring case) may
3170 be:
3171 true
3173 Xterm will use the encoding specified by the users'
3174 LC_CTYPE locale (i.e., LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG variables)
3175 as far as possible. This is realized by always enabling
3176 UTF-8 mode and invoking luit in non-UTF-8 locales.
3177 medium
3179 Xterm will follow users' LC_CTYPE locale only for UTF-8,
3180 east Asian, and Thai locales, where the encodings were not
3181 supported by conventional 8bit mode with changing fonts.
3182 For other locales, xterm will use conventional 8bit mode.
3183 checkfont
3185 If mini-luit is compiled-in, xterm will check if a Unicode
3186 font has been specified. If so, it checks if the character
3187 encoding for the current locale is POSIX, Latin-1 or
3188 Latin-9, uses the appropriate mapping to support those with
3189 the Unicode font. For other encodings, xterm assumes that
3190 UTF-8 encoding is required.
3191 false
3193 Xterm will use conventional 8bit mode or UTF-8 mode
3194 according to utf8 resource or -u8 option.
3195 Any other value, e.g., “UTF-8” or “ISO8859-2”, is assumed to be
3197 an encoding name; luit will be invoked to support the encoding.
3198 The actual list of supported encodings depends on luit. The
3199 default is “medium”.
3200 Regardless of your locale and encoding, you need an ISO-10646-1
3202 font to display the result. Your configuration may not include
3203 this font, or locale-support by xterm may not be needed.
3204 At startup, xterm uses a mechanism equivalent to the load-vt-
3206 fonts(utf8Fonts, Utf8Fonts) action to load font name
3207 subresources of the VT100 widget. That is, resource patterns
3208 such as “*vt100.utf8Fonts.font” will be loaded, and (if this
3209 resource is enabled), override the normal fonts. If no
3210 subresources are found, the normal fonts such as “*vt100.font”,
3211 etc., are used.
3212 For instance, you could have this in your resource file:
3214 *VT100.font: 12x24
3216 *VT100.utf8Fonts.font:9x15
3217 When started with a UTF-8 locale, xterm would use 9x15, but
3219 allow you to switch to the 12x24 font using the menu entry
3220 “UTF-8 Fonts”.
3221 The resource files distributed with xterm use ISO-10646-1
3223 fonts, but do not rely on them unless you are using the locale
3224 mechanism.
3225 localeFilter (class LocaleFilter)
3227 Specifies the file name for the encoding converter from/to
3228 locale encodings and UTF-8 which is used with the -lc option or
3229 locale resource. The help message shown by “xterm -help” lists
3230 the default value, which depends on your system configuration.
3231 If the encoding converter requires command-line parameters, you
3233 can add those after the command, e.g.,
3234 *localeFilter: xterm-filter -p
3236 Alternatively, you may put those parameter within a shell
3238 script to execute the converter, and set this resource to point
3239 to the shell script.
3240 When using a locale-filter, e.g., with the -e option, or the
3242 shell, xterm first tries passing control via that filter. If
3243 it fails, xterm will retry without the locale-filter. Xterm
3244 warns about the failure before retrying.
3245 loginShell (class LoginShell)
3247 Specifies whether or not the shell to be run in the window
3248 should be started as a login shell. The default is “false”.
3249 logFile (class Logfile)
3251 Specify the name for xterm's log file. If no name is
3252 specified, xterm will generate a name when logging is enabled,
3253 as described in the -l option.
3254 logInhibit (class LogInhibit)
3256 If “true”, prevent the logging feature from being enabled,
3257 whether by the command-line option -l, or the menu entry Log to
3258 File. The default is “false”.
3259 logging (class Logging)
3261 If “true”, (and if logInhibit is not set) enable the logging
3262 feature. This resource is set/updated by the -l option and the
3263 menu entry Log to File. The default is “false”.
3264 marginBell (class MarginBell)
3266 Specifies whether or not the bell should be rung when the user
3267 types near the right margin. The default is “false”.
3268 maxGraphicSize (class MaxGraphicSize)
3270 If xterm is configured to support ReGIS or SIXEL graphics, this
3271 resource controls the maximum size of a graph which can be
3272 displayed.
3273 The default is “1000x1000” (given as width by height).
3275 If the resource is “auto” then xterm will use the decTerminalID
3277 resource:
3278 Result decTerminalID
3280 ────────────────────────
3281 768x400 125
3282 800x460 240
3283 800x460 241
3284 800x480 330
3285 800x480 340
3286 860x750 382
3287 800x480 other
3288 metaSendsEscape (class MetaSendsEscape)
3290 Tells xterm what to do with input-characters modified by Meta:
3291 · If “true”, Meta characters (a character combined with the
3293 Meta modifier key) are converted into a two-character
3294 sequence with the character itself preceded by ESC. This
3295 applies as well to function key control sequences, unless
3296 xterm sees that Meta is used in your key translations.
3297 · If “false”, Meta characters input from the keyboard are
3299 handled according to the eightBitInput resource.
3300 The default is “True”.
3302 mkSamplePass (class MkSamplePass)
3304 If mkSampleSize is nonzero, and mkWidth (and cjkWidth) are
3305 false, on startup xterm compares its built-in tables to the
3306 system's wide character width data to decide if it will use the
3307 system's data. It tests the first mkSampleSize character
3308 values, and allows up to mkSamplePass mismatches before the
3309 test fails. The default (for the allowed number of mismatches)
3310 is 655 (one percent of the default value for mkSampleSize).
3311 mkSampleSize (class MkSampleSize)
3313 With mkSamplePass, this specifies a startup test used for
3314 initializing wide character width calculations. The default
3315 (number of characters to check) is 65536.
3316 mkWidth (class MkWidth)
3318 Specifies whether xterm should use a built-in version of the
3319 wide character width calculation. See also the cjkWidth
3320 resource which can override this. The default is “false”.
3321 Here is a summary of the resources which control the choice of
3323 wide character width calculation:
3324 cjkWidth mkWidth Action
3326 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
3327 false false use system tables subject to mkSamplePass
3328 false true use built-in tables
3329 true false use built-in CJK tables
3330 true true use built-in CJK tables
3331 To disable mkWidth, and use the system's tables, set both
3333 mkSampleSize and mkSamplePass to “0”. Doing that may make
3334 xterm more consistent with applications running in xterm, but
3335 may omit some font glyphs whose width correctly differs from
3336 the system's character tables.
3337 modifyCursorKeys (class ModifyCursorKeys)
3339 Tells how to handle the special case where Control-, Shift-,
3340 Alt- or Meta-modifiers are used to add a parameter to the
3341 escape sequence returned by a cursor-key. The default is “2”:
3342 -1 disables the feature.
3344 0 uses the old/obsolete behavior, i.e., the modifier is the
3346 first parameter.
3347 1 prefixes modified sequences with CSI.
3349 2 forces the modifier to be the second parameter if it would
3351 otherwise be the first.
3352 3 marks the sequence with a “>” to hint that it is private.
3354 modifyFunctionKeys (class ModifyFunctionKeys)
3356 Tells how to handle the special case where Control-, Shift-,
3357 Alt- or Meta-modifiers are used to add a parameter to the
3358 escape sequence returned by a (numbered) function-key. The
3359 default is “2”. The resource values are similar to
3360 modifyCursorKeys:
3361 -1 permits the user to use shift- and control-modifiers to
3363 construct function-key strings using the normal encoding
3364 scheme.
3365 0 uses the old/obsolete behavior, i.e., the modifier is the
3367 first parameter.
3368 1 prefixes modified sequences with CSI.
3370 2 forces the modifier to be the second parameter if it would
3372 otherwise be the first.
3373 3 marks the sequence with a “>” to hint that it is private.
3375 If modifyFunctionKeys is zero, xterm uses Control- and Shift-
3377 modifiers to allow the user to construct numbered function-keys
3378 beyond the set provided by the keyboard:
3379 Control
3381 adds the value given by the ctrlFKeys resource.
3382 Shift
3384 adds twice the value given by the ctrlFKeys resource.
3385 Control/Shift
3387 adds three times the value given by the ctrlFKeys
3388 resource.
3389 modifyKeyboard (class ModifyKeyboard)
3391 Normally xterm makes a special case regarding modifiers (shift,
3392 control, etc.) to handle special keyboard layouts (legacy and
3393 vt220). This is done to provide compatible keyboards for DEC
3394 VT220 and related terminals that implement user-defined keys
3395 (UDK).
3396 The bits of the resource value selectively enable modification
3398 of the given category when these keyboards are selected. The
3399 default is “0”:
3400 0 The legacy/vt220 keyboards interpret only the Control-
3402 modifier when constructing numbered function-keys. Other
3403 special keys are not modified.
3404 1 allows modification of the numeric keypad
3406 2 allows modification of the editing keypad
3408 4 allows modification of function-keys, overrides use of
3410 Shift-modifier for UDK.
3411 8 allows modification of other special keys
3413 modifyOtherKeys (class ModifyOtherKeys)
3415 Like modifyCursorKeys, tells xterm to construct an escape
3416 sequence for ordinary (i.e., “other”) keys (such as “2”) when
3417 modified by Shift-, Control-, Alt- or Meta-modifiers. This
3418 feature does not apply to special keys, i.e., cursor-, keypad-,
3419 function- or control-keys which are labeled on your keyboard.
3420 Those have key symbols which XKB identifies uniquely.
3421 For example, this feature does not apply to special control-
3423 keys (e.g., Escape, Tab, Enter, Backspace) Other control keys
3424 (e.g., Control-I, Control-M, Control-H) may send escape
3425 sequences when this feature is enabled.
3426 The default is “0”:
3428 0 disables this feature.
3430 1 enables this feature for keys except for those with well-
3432 known behavior, e.g., Tab, Backarrow and some special
3433 control character cases which are built into the X11
3434 library, e.g., Control-Space to make a NUL, or Control-3
3435 to make an Escape character.
3436 Except for those special cases built into the X11 library,
3438 the Shift- and Control- modifiers are treated normally.
3439 The Alt- and Meta- modifiers do not cause xterm to send
3440 escape sequences. Those modifier keys are interpreted
3441 according to other resources, e.g., the metaSendsEscape
3442 resource.
3443 2 enables this feature for keys including the exceptions
3445 listed. Xterm ignores the special cases built into the
3446 X11 library. Any shifted (modified) ordinary key sends an
3447 escape sequence. The Alt- and Meta- modifiers cause xterm
3448 to send escape sequences.
3449 The Xterm FAQ has an extended discussion of this feature, with
3451 examples:
3452 https://invisible-island.net/xterm/modified-keys.html
3453 multiClickTime (class MultiClickTime)
3455 Specifies the maximum time in milliseconds between multi-click
3456 select events. The default is “250” milliseconds.
3457 multiScroll (class MultiScroll)
3459 Specifies whether or not scrolling should be done
3460 asynchronously. The default is “false”.
3461 nMarginBell (class Column)
3463 Specifies the number of characters from the right margin at
3464 which the margin bell should be rung, when enabled by the
3465 marginBell resource. The default is “10”.
3466 nextEventDelay (class NextEventDelay)
3468 Specifies a delay time in milliseconds before checking for new
3469 X events. The default is “1”.
3470 numColorRegisters (class NumColorRegisters)
3472 If xterm is configured to support ReGIS or SIXEL graphics, this
3473 specifies the number of color-registers which are available.
3474 If this resource is not specified, xterm uses a value
3476 determined by the decTerminalID resource:
3477 Result decTerminalID
3479 ───────────────────────
3480 4 125
3481 4 240
3482 4 241
3483 4 330
3484 16 340
3485 2 382
3486 1024 other
3487 numLock (class NumLock)
3489 If “true”, xterm checks if NumLock is used as a modifier (see
3490 xmodmap(1)). If so, this modifier is used to simplify the
3491 logic when implementing special NumLock for the sunKeyboard
3492 resource. Also (when sunKeyboard is false), similar logic is
3493 used to find the modifier associated with the left and right
3494 Alt keys. The default is “true”.
3495 oldXtermFKeys (class OldXtermFKeys)
3497 If “true”, xterm will use old-style (X11R5) escape sequences
3498 for function keys F1 to F4, for compatibility with X Consortium
3499 xterm. Otherwise, it uses the VT100 codes for PF1 to PF4. The
3500 default is “false”.
3501 Setting this resource has the same effect as setting the
3503 keyboardType to legacy. The keyboardType resource is the
3504 preferred mechanism for selecting this mode.
3505 The old-style escape sequences resemble VT220 keys, but appear
3507 to have been invented for xterm in X11R4.
3508 on2Clicks (class On2Clicks)
3510 on3Clicks (class On3Clicks)
3512 on4Clicks (class On4Clicks)
3514 on5Clicks (class On5Clicks)
3516 Specify selection behavior in response to multiple mouse
3517 clicks. A single mouse click is always interpreted as
3518 described in the Selection Functions section (see POINTER
3519 USAGE). Multiple mouse clicks (using the button which
3520 activates the select-start action) are interpreted according to
3521 the resource values of on2Clicks, etc. The resource value can
3522 be one of these:
3523 word
3525 Select a “word” as determined by the charClass resource.
3526 See the CHARACTER CLASSES section.
3527 line
3529 Select a line (counting wrapping).
3530 group
3532 Select a group of adjacent lines (counting wrapping). The
3533 selection stops on a blank line, and does not extend outside
3534 the current page.
3535 page
3537 Select all visible lines, i.e., the page.
3538 all
3540 Select all lines, i.e., including the saved lines.
3541 regex
3543 Select the best match for the POSIX extended regular
3544 expression (ERE) which follows in the resource value:
3545 · Xterm matches the regular expression against a byte
3547 array for the entire (possibly wrapped) line. That byte
3548 array may be UTF-8 or ISO-8859-1, depending on the mode
3549 in which xterm is running.
3550 · Xterm steps through each byte-offset in this array,
3552 keeping track of the best (longest) match. If more than
3553 one match ties for the longest length, the first is
3554 used.
3555 Xterm does this to make it convenient to click anywhere
3557 in the area of interest and cause the regular expression
3558 to match the entire word, etc.
3559 · The “^” and “$” anchors in a regular expression denote
3561 the ends of the entire line.
3562 · If the regular expression contains backslashes “\” those
3564 should be escaped “\\” because the X libraries interpret
3565 backslashes in resource strings.
3566 none
3568 No selection action is associated with this resource. Xterm
3569 interprets it as the end of the list. For example, you may
3570 use it to disable triple (and higher) clicking by setting
3571 on3Clicks to “none”.
3572 The default values for on2Clicks and on3Clicks are “word” and
3574 “line”, respectively. There is no default value for on4Clicks
3575 or on5Clicks, making those inactive. On startup, xterm
3576 determines the maximum number of clicks by the onXClicks
3577 resource values which are set.
3578 openIm (class OpenIm)
3580 Tells xterm whether to open the input method at startup. The
3581 default is “true”.
3582 pointerColor (class PointerColor)
3584 Specifies the foreground color of the pointer. The default is
3585 “XtDefaultForeground”.
3586 pointerColorBackground (class PointerColorBackground)
3588 Specifies the background color of the pointer. The default is
3589 “XtDefaultBackground”.
3590 pointerMode (class PointerMode)
3592 Specifies when the pointer may be hidden as the user types. It
3593 will be redisplayed if the user moves the mouse, or clicks one
3594 of its buttons.
3595 0 never
3597 1 the application running in xterm has not activated mouse
3599 mode. This is the default.
3600 2 always.
3602 pointerShape (class Cursor)
3604 Specifies the name of the shape of the pointer. The default is
3605 “xterm”.
3606 popOnBell (class PopOnBell)
3608 Specifies whether the window would be raised when Control-G is
3609 received. The default is “false”.
3610 If the window is iconified, this has no effect. However, the
3612 zIconBeep resource provides you with the ability to see which
3613 iconified windows have sounded a bell.
3614 precompose (class Precompose)
3616 Tells xterm whether to precompose UTF-8 data into Normalization
3617 Form C, which combines commonly-used accents onto base
3618 characters. If it does not do this, accents are left as
3619 separate characters. The default is “true”.
3620 preeditType (class PreeditType)
3622 Tells xterm which types of preedit (preconversion) string to
3623 display. The default is “OverTheSpot,Root”.
3624 printAttributes (class PrintAttributes)
3626 Specifies whether to print graphic attributes along with the
3627 text. A real DEC VTxxx terminal will print the underline,
3628 highlighting codes but your printer may not handle these.
3629 · “0” disables the attributes.
3631 · “1” prints the normal set of attributes (bold, underline,
3633 inverse and blink) as VT100-style control sequences.
3634 · “2” prints ANSI color attributes as well.
3636 The default is “1”.
3638 printFileImmediate (class PrintFileImmediate)
3640 When the print-immediate action is invoked, xterm prints the
3641 screen contents directly to a file. Set this resource to the
3642 prefix of the filename (a timestamp will be appended to the
3643 actual name).
3644 The default is an empty string, i.e., “”, However, when the
3646 print-immediate action is invoked, if the string is empty, then
3647 “XTerm” is used.
3648 printFileOnXError (class PrintFileOnXError)
3650 If xterm exits with an X error, e.g., your connection is broken
3651 when the server crashes, it can be told to write the contents
3652 of the screen to a file. To enable the feature, set this
3653 resource to the prefix of the filename (a timestamp will be
3654 appended to the actual name).
3655 The default is an empty string, i.e., “”, which disables this
3657 feature. However, when the print-on-error action is invoked,
3658 if the string is empty, then “XTermError” is used.
3659 These error codes are handled: ERROR_XERROR, ERROR_XIOERROR and
3661 ERROR_ICEERROR.
3662 printModeImmediate (class PrintModeImmediate)
3664 When the print-immediate action is invoked, xterm prints the
3665 screen contents directly to a file. You can use the
3666 printModeImmediate resource to tell it to use escape sequences
3667 to reconstruct the video attributes and colors. This uses the
3668 same values as the printAttributes resource. The default is
3669 “0”.
3670 printModeOnXError (class PrintModeOnXError)
3672 Xterm implements the printFileOnXError feature using the
3673 printer feature, although the output is written directly to a
3674 file. You can use the printModeOnXError resource to tell it to
3675 use escape sequences to reconstruct the video attributes and
3676 colors. This uses the same values as the printAttributes
3677 resource. The default is “0”.
3678 printOptsImmediate (class PrintOptsImmediate)
3680 Specify the range of text which is printed to a file when the
3681 print-immediate action is invoked.
3682 · If zero (0), then this selects the current (visible screen)
3684 plus the saved lines, except if the alternate screen is
3685 being used. In that case, only the alternate screen is
3686 selected.
3687 · If nonzero, the bits of this resource value (checked in
3689 descending order) select the range:
3690 8 selects the saved lines.
3692 4 selects the alternate screen.
3694 2 selects the normal screen.
3696 1 selects the current screen, which can be either the
3698 normal or alternate screen.
3699 The default is “9”, which selects the current visible screen
3701 plus saved lines, with no special case for the alternated
3702 screen.
3703 printOptsOnXError (class PrintOptsOnXError)
3705 Specify the range of text which is printed to a file when the
3706 print-on-error action is invoked. The resource value is
3707 interpreted the same as in printOptsImmediate.
3708 The default is “9”, which selects the current visible screen
3710 plus saved lines, with no special case for the alternated
3711 screen.
3712 printerAutoClose (class PrinterAutoClose)
3714 If “true”, xterm will close the printer (a pipe) when the
3715 application switches the printer offline with a Media Copy
3716 command. The default is “false”.
3717 printerCommand (class PrinterCommand)
3719 Specifies a shell command to which xterm will open a pipe when
3720 the first MC (Media Copy) command is initiated. The default is
3721 an empty string, i.e., “”. If the resource value is given as
3722 an empty string, the printer is disabled.
3723 printerControlMode (class PrinterControlMode)
3725 Specifies the printer control mode. A “1” selects autoprint
3726 mode, which causes xterm to print a line from the screen when
3727 · you move the cursor off that line with a line feed, form
3729 feed or vertical tab character, or
3730 · an autowrap occurs.
3732 Autoprint mode is overridden by printer controller mode (a
3734 “2”), which causes all of the output to be directed to the
3735 printer. The default is “0”.
3736 printerExtent (class PrinterExtent)
3738 Controls whether a print page function will print the entire
3739 page (true), or only the portion within the scrolling margins
3740 (false). The default is “false”.
3741 printerFormFeed (class PrinterFormFeed)
3743 Controls whether a form feed is sent to the printer at the end
3744 of a print page function. The default is “false”.
3745 printerNewLine (class PrinterNewLine)
3747 Controls whether a newline is sent to the printer at the end of
3748 a print page function. The default is “true”.
3749 privateColorRegisters (class PrivateColorRegisters)
3751 If xterm is configured to support ReGIS or SIXEL graphics, this
3752 controls whether xterm allocates separate color registers for
3753 each sixel device control string, e.g., for DECGCI. If not
3754 true, color registers are allocated only once, when the
3755 terminal is reset, and color changes in any graphic affect
3756 all graphics. The default is “true”.
3757 quietGrab (class QuietGrab)
3759 Controls whether the cursor is repainted when NotifyGrab and
3760 NotifyUngrab event types are received during change of focus.
3761 The default is “false”.
3762 regisDefaultFont (class RegisDefaultFont)
3764 If xterm is configured to support ReGIS graphics, this resource
3765 tells xterm which font to use if the ReGIS data does not
3766 specify one. No default value is specified; xterm accepts a
3767 TrueType font specification as in the faceName resource.
3768 If no value is specified, xterm draws a bitmap indicating a
3770 missing character.
3771 regisScreenSize (class RegisScreenSize)
3773 If xterm is configured to support ReGIS graphics, this resource
3774 tells xterm the default size (in pixels) for these graphics,
3775 which also sets the default coordinate space to [0,0] (upper-
3776 left) and [width,height] (lower-right).
3777 The application using ReGIS may use the “A” option of the “S”
3779 command to adjust the coordinate space or change the
3780 addressable portion of the screen.
3781 The default is “1000x1000” (given as width by height).
3783 Xterm accepts a special resource value “auto”, which tells
3785 xterm to use the decTerminalID resource to set the default size
3786 based on the hardware terminal's limits. Those limits are the
3787 same as for the maxGraphicSize resource.
3788 renderFont (class RenderFont)
3790 If xterm is built with the Xft library, this controls whether
3791 the faceName resource is used. The default is “default”.
3792 The resource values are strings, evaluated as booleans after
3794 startup.
3795 false
3797 disable the feature and use the normal (bitmap) font.
3798 true
3800 startup using the TrueType font specified by the faceName
3801 and faceSize resource settings. If there is no value for
3802 faceName, disable the feature and use the normal (bitmap)
3803 font.
3804 After startup, you can still switch to/from the bitmap
3806 font using the “TrueType Fonts” menu entry.
3807 default
3809 Enable the “TrueType Fonts” menu entry to allow runtime
3810 switching to/from TrueType fonts. The initial font used
3811 depends upon whether the faceName resource is set:
3812 · If the faceName resource is not set, start by using
3814 the normal (bitmap) font. Xterm has a separate
3815 compiled-in value for faceName for this special case.
3816 That is normally “mono”.
3817 · If the faceName resource is set, then start by using
3819 the TrueType font rather than the bitmap font.
3820 resizeGravity (class ResizeGravity)
3822 Affects the behavior when the window is resized to be taller or
3823 shorter. NorthWest specifies that the top line of text on the
3824 screen stay fixed. If the window is made shorter, lines are
3825 dropped from the bottom; if the window is made taller, blank
3826 lines are added at the bottom. This is compatible with the
3827 behavior in X11R4. SouthWest (the default) specifies that the
3828 bottom line of text on the screen stay fixed. If the window is
3829 made taller, additional saved lines will be scrolled down onto
3830 the screen; if the window is made shorter, lines will be
3831 scrolled off the top of the screen, and the top saved lines
3832 will be dropped.
3833 retryInputMethod (class RetryInputMethod)
3835 Tells xterm how many times to retry, in case the input-method
3836 server is not responding. This is a different issue than
3837 unsupported preedit type, etc. You may encounter retries if
3838 your X configuration (and its libraries) are missing pieces.
3839 Setting this resource to zero “0” will cancel the retrying.
3840 The default is “3”.
3841 reverseVideo (class ReverseVideo)
3843 Specifies whether or not reverse video should be simulated.
3844 The default is “false”.
3845 There are several aspects to reverse video in xterm:
3847 · The command-line -rv option tells the X libraries to
3849 reverse the foreground and background colors. Xterm's
3850 command-line options set resource values. In particular,
3851 the X Toolkit sets the reverseVideo resource when the -rv
3852 option is used.
3853 · If the user has also used command-line options -fg or -bg
3855 to set the foreground and background colors, xterm does not
3856 see these options directly. Instead, it examines the
3857 resource values to reconstruct the command-line options,
3858 and determine which of the colors is the user's intended
3859 foreground, etc. Their actual values are irrelevant to the
3860 reverse video function; some users prefer the X defaults
3861 (black text on a white background), others prefer white
3862 text on a black background.
3863 · After startup, the user can toggle the “Enable Reverse
3865 Video” menu entry. This exchanges the current foreground
3866 and background colors of the VT100 widget, and repaints the
3867 screen. Because of the X resource hierarchy, the
3868 reverseVideo resource applies to more than the VT100
3869 widget.
3870 Programs running in an xterm can also use control sequences to
3872 enable the VT100 reverse video mode. These are independent of
3873 the reverseVideo resource and the menu entry. Xterm exchanges
3874 the current foreground and background colors when drawing text
3875 affected by these control sequences.
3876 Other control sequences can alter the foreground and background
3878 colors which are used:
3879 · Programs can also use the ANSI color control sequences to
3881 set the foreground and background colors.
3882 · Extensions to the ANSI color controls (such as 16-, 88- or
3884 256-colors) are treated similarly to the ANSI control.
3885 · Using other control sequences (the “dynamic colors”
3887 feature), a program can change the foreground and
3888 background colors.
3889 reverseWrap (class ReverseWrap)
3891 Specifies whether or not reverse-wraparound should be enabled.
3892 This corresponds to xterm's private mode 45. The default is
3893 “false”.
3894 rightScrollBar (class RightScrollBar)
3896 Specifies whether or not the scrollbar should be displayed on
3897 the right rather than the left. The default is “false”.
3898 saveLines (class SaveLines)
3900 Specifies the number of lines to save beyond the top of the
3901 screen when a scrollbar is turned on. The default is “1024”.
3902 scrollBar (class ScrollBar)
3904 Specifies whether or not the scrollbar should be displayed.
3905 The default is “false”.
3906 scrollBarBorder (class ScrollBarBorder)
3908 Specifies the width of the scrollbar border. Note that this is
3909 drawn to overlap the border of the xterm window. Modifying the
3910 scrollbar's border affects only the line between the VT100
3911 widget and the scrollbar. The default value is 1.
3912 scrollKey (class ScrollCond)
3914 Specifies whether or not pressing a key should automatically
3915 cause the scrollbar to go to the bottom of the scrolling
3916 region. This corresponds to xterm's private mode 1011. The
3917 default is “false”.
3918 scrollLines (class ScrollLines)
3920 Specifies the number of lines that the scroll-back and scroll-
3921 forw actions should use as a default. The default value is 1.
3922 scrollTtyOutput (class ScrollCond)
3924 Specifies whether or not output to the terminal should
3925 automatically cause the scrollbar to go to the bottom of the
3926 scrolling region. The default is “true”.
3927 selectToClipboard (class SelectToClipboard)
3929 Tells xterm whether to use the PRIMARY or CLIPBOARD for SELECT
3930 tokens in the selection mechanism. The set-select action can
3931 change this at runtime, allowing the user to work with programs
3932 that handle only one of these mechanisms. The default is
3933 “false”, which tells it to use PRIMARY.
3934 shiftFonts (class ShiftFonts)
3936 Specifies whether to enable the actions larger-vt-font() and
3937 smaller-vt-font(), which are normally bound to the shifted
3938 KP_Add and KP_Subtract. The default is “true”.
3939 showBlinkAsBold (class ShowBlinkAsBold)
3941 Tells xterm whether to display text with blink-attribute the
3942 same as bold. If xterm has not been configured to support
3943 blinking text, the default is “true”, which corresponds to
3944 older versions of xterm, otherwise the default is “false”.
3945 showMissingGlyphs (class ShowMissingGlyphs)
3947 Tells xterm whether to display a box outlining places where a
3948 character has been used that the font does not represent. The
3949 default is “false”.
3950 showWrapMarks (class ShowWrapMarks)
3952 For debugging xterm and applications that may manipulate the
3953 wrapped-line flag by writing text at the right margin, show a
3954 mark on the right inner-border of the window. The mark shows
3955 which lines have the flag set.
3956 signalInhibit (class SignalInhibit)
3958 Specifies whether or not the entries in the Main Options menu
3959 for sending signals to xterm should be disallowed. The default
3960 is “false”.
3961 sixelScrolling (class SixelScrolling)
3963 If xterm is configured to support SIXEL graphics, this resource
3964 tells it whether to scroll up one line at a time when sixels
3965 would be written past the bottom line on the window. The
3966 default is “false”.
3967 sixelScrollsRight (class SixelScrollsRight)
3969 If xterm is configured to support SIXEL graphics, this resource
3970 tells it whether to scroll to the right as needed to keep the
3971 current position visible rather than truncate the plot on the
3972 on the right. The default is “false”.
3973 tekGeometry (class Geometry)
3975 Specifies the preferred size and position of the Tektronix
3976 window. There is no default for this resource.
3977 tekInhibit (class TekInhibit)
3979 Specifies whether or not the escape sequence to enter Tektronix
3980 mode should be ignored. The default is “false”.
3981 tekSmall (class TekSmall)
3983 Specifies whether or not the Tektronix mode window should start
3984 in its smallest size if no explicit geometry is given. This is
3985 useful when running xterm on displays with small screens. The
3986 default is “false”.
3987 tekStartup (class TekStartup)
3989 Specifies whether or not xterm should start up in Tektronix
3990 mode. The default is “false”.
3991 tiXtraScroll (class TiXtraScroll)
3993 Specifies whether xterm should scroll to a new page when
3994 processing the ti termcap entry, i.e., the private modes 47,
3995 1047 or 1049. This is only in effect if titeInhibit is “true”,
3996 because the intent of this option is to provide a picture of
3997 the full-screen application's display on the scrollback without
3998 wiping out the text that would be shown before the application
3999 was initialized. The default for this resource is “false”.
4000 titeInhibit (class TiteInhibit)
4002 Originally specified whether or not xterm should remove ti and
4003 te termcap entries (used to switch between alternate screens on
4004 startup of many screen-oriented programs) from the TERMCAP
4005 string.
4006 TERMCAP is used rarely now, but xterm supports the feature on
4008 modern systems:
4009 · If set, xterm also ignores the escape sequence to switch to
4011 the alternate screen.
4012 · Xterm supports terminfo in a different way, supporting
4014 composite control sequences (also known as private modes)
4015 1047, 1048 and 1049 which have the same effect as the
4016 original 47 control sequence.
4017 The default for this resource is “false”.
4019 titleModes (class TitleModes)
4021 Tells xterm whether to accept or return window- and icon-labels
4022 in ISO-8859-1 (the default) or UTF-8. Either can be encoded in
4023 hexadecimal:
4024 · UTF-8 titles require special treatment, because they may
4026 contain bytes which can be mistaken for control characters.
4027 Hexadecimal-encoding is supported to eliminate that
4028 possibility.
4029 · As an alternative, you could use the allowC1Printable
4031 resource, which suppresses xterm's parsing of the relevant
4032 control characters (and as a result, treats those bytes as
4033 data).
4034 The default for this resource is “0”.
4036 Each bit (bit “0” is 1, bit “1” is 2, etc.) corresponds to one
4038 of the parameters set by the title modes control sequence:
4039 0 Set window/icon labels using hexadecimal
4041 1 Query window/icon labels using hexadecimal
4043 2 Set window/icon labels using UTF-8 (gives the same effect
4045 as the utf8Title resource).
4046 3 Query window/icon labels using UTF-8
4048 translations (class Translations)
4050 Specifies the key and button bindings for menus, selections,
4051 “programmed strings”, etc. The translations resource, which
4052 provides much of xterm's configurability, is a feature of the X
4053 Toolkit Intrinsics library (Xt). See the Actions section.
4054 trimSelection (class TrimSelection)
4056 If you set highlightSelection, you can see the text which is
4057 selected, including any trailing spaces. Clearing the screen
4058 (or a line) resets it to a state containing no spaces. Some
4059 lines may contain trailing spaces when an application writes
4060 them to the screen. However, you may not wish to paste lines
4061 with trailing spaces. If this resource is true, xterm will
4062 trim trailing spaces from text which is selected. It does not
4063 affect spaces which result in a wrapped line, nor will it trim
4064 the trailing newline from your selection. The default is
4065 “false”.
4066 underLine (class UnderLine)
4068 This specifies whether or not text with the underline attribute
4069 should be underlined. It may be desirable to disable
4070 underlining when color is being used for the underline
4071 attribute. The default is “true”.
4072 useBorderClipping (class UseBorderClipping)
4074 Tell xterm whether to apply clipping when useClipping is false.
4075 Unlike useClipping, this simply limits text to keep it within
4076 the window borders, e.g., as a refinement to the scaleHeight
4077 workaround. The default is “false”.
4078 useClipping (class UseClipping)
4080 Tell xterm whether to use clipping to keep from producing dots
4081 outside the text drawing area. Originally used to work around
4082 for overstriking effects, this is also needed to work with some
4083 incorrectly-sized fonts. The default is “true”.
4084 utf8 (class Utf8)
4086 This specifies whether xterm will run in UTF-8 mode. If you
4087 set this resource, xterm also sets the wideChars resource as a
4088 side-effect. The resource can be set via the menu entry “UTF-8
4089 Encoding”. The default is “default”.
4090 Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
4092 shown in parentheses:
4093 false (0)
4095 UTF-8 mode is initially off. The command-line option +u8
4096 sets the resource to this value. Escape sequences for
4097 turning UTF-8 mode on/off are allowed.
4098 true (1)
4100 UTF-8 mode is initially on. Escape sequences for turning
4101 UTF-8 mode on/off are allowed.
4102 always (2)
4104 The command-line option -u8 sets the resource to this value.
4105 Escape sequences for turning UTF-8 mode on/off are ignored.
4106 default (3)
4108 This is the default value of the resource. It is changed
4109 during initialization depending on whether the locale
4110 resource was set, to false (0) or always (2). See the
4111 locale resource for additional discussion of non-UTF-8
4112 locales.
4113 If you want to set the value of utf8, it should be in this
4115 range. Other nonzero values are treated the same as “1”, i.e.,
4116 UTF-8 mode is initially on, and escape sequences for turning
4117 UTF-8 mode on/off are allowed.
4118 utf8Fonts (class Utf8Fonts)
4120 See the discussion of the locale resource. This specifies
4121 whether xterm will use UTF-8 fonts specified via resource
4122 patterns such as “*vt100.utf8Fonts.font” or normal (ISO-8859-1)
4123 fonts via patterns such as “*vt100.font”. The resource can be
4124 set via the menu entry “UTF-8 Fonts”. The default is
4125 “default”.
4126 Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
4128 shown in parentheses:
4129 false (0)
4131 Use the ISO-8859-1 fonts. The menu entry is enabled,
4132 allowing the choice of fonts to be changed at runtime.
4133 true (1)
4135 Use the UTF-8 fonts. The menu entry is enabled,
4136 allowing the choice of fonts to be changed at runtime.
4137 always (2)
4139 Always use the UTF-8 fonts. This also disables the menu
4140 entry.
4141 default (3)
4143 At startup, the resource is set to true or false,
4144 according to the effective value of the utf8 resource.
4145 utf8Latin1 (class Utf8Latin1)
4147 If true, allow an ISO-8859-1 normal font to be combined with an
4148 ISO-10646-1 font if the latter is given via the -fw option or
4149 its corresponding resource value. The default is “false”.
4150 utf8SelectTypes (class Utf8SelectTypes)
4152 Override xterm's default selection target list (see
4153 SELECT/PASTE) for selections in wide-character (UTF-8) mode.
4154 The default is an empty string, i.e., “”, which does not
4155 override anything.
4156 utf8Title (class Utf8Title)
4158 Applications can set xterm's title by writing a control
4159 sequence. Normally this control sequence follows the VT220
4160 convention, which encodes the string in ISO-8859-1 and allows
4161 for an 8-bit string terminator. If xterm is started in a UTF-8
4162 locale, it translates the ISO-8859-1 string to UTF-8 to work
4163 with the X libraries which assume the string is UTF-8.
4164 However, some users may wish to write a title string encoded in
4166 UTF-8. The window manager is responsible for drawing window
4167 titles. Some window managers (not all) support UTF-8 encoding
4168 of window titles. Set this resource to “true” to also set
4169 UTF-8 encoded title strings using the EWMH properties.
4170 This feature is available as a menu entry, since it is related
4172 to the particular applications you are running within xterm.
4173 You can also use a control sequence (see the discussion of
4174 “Title Modes” in Xterm Control Sequences), to set an equivalent
4175 flag (which can also be set using the titleModes resource).
4176 Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
4178 shown in parentheses:
4179 false (0)
4181 Set only ISO-8859-1 title strings, e.g., using the ICCCM
4182 WM_NAME STRING property. The menu entry is enabled,
4183 allowing the choice of title-strings to be changed at
4184 runtime.
4185 true (1)
4187 Set both the EWMH (UTF-8 strings) and the ICCCM WM_NAME,
4188 etc. The menu entry is enabled, allowing the choice to
4189 be changed at runtime.
4190 always (2)
4192 Always set both the EWMH (UTF-8 strings) and the ICCCM
4193 WM_NAME, etc. This also disables the menu entry.
4194 default (3)
4196 At startup, the resource is set to true or false,
4197 according to the effective value of the utf8 resource.
4198 The default is “default”.
4200 veryBoldColors (class VeryBoldColors)
4202 Specifies whether to combine video attributes with colors
4203 specified by colorBD, colorBL, colorIT, colorRV, and colorUL.
4204 The resource value is the sum of values for each attribute:
4205 1 for reverse,
4206 2 for underline,
4207 4 for bold,
4208 8 for blink, and
4209 512 for italic
4210 The default is “0”.
4212 visualBell (class VisualBell)
4214 Specifies whether or not a visible bell (i.e., flashing) should
4215 be used instead of an audible bell when Control-G is received.
4216 The default is “false”, which tells xterm to use an audible
4217 bell.
4218 visualBellDelay (class VisualBellDelay)
4220 Number of milliseconds to delay when displaying a visual bell.
4221 Default is 100. If set to zero, no visual bell is displayed.
4222 This is useful for very slow displays, e.g., an LCD display on
4223 a laptop.
4224 visualBellLine (class VisualBellLine)
4226 Specifies whether to flash only the current line when
4227 displaying a visual bell rather than flashing the entire
4228 screen: The default is “false”, which tells xterm to flash the
4229 entire screen.
4230 vt100Graphics (class VT100Graphics)
4232 This specifies whether xterm will interpret VT100 graphic
4233 character escape sequences while in UTF-8 mode. The default is
4234 “true”, to provide support for various legacy applications.
4235 wideBoldFont (class WideBoldFont)
4237 This option specifies the font to be used for displaying bold
4238 wide text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice as
4239 wide as the font that will be used to draw bold text. If no
4240 double-width font is found, it will improvise, by stretching
4241 the bold font.
4242 wideChars (class WideChars)
4244 Specifies if xterm should respond to control sequences that
4245 process 16-bit characters. The default is “false”.
4246 wideFont (class WideFont)
4248 This option specifies the font to be used for displaying wide
4249 text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice as wide
4250 as the font that will be used to draw normal text. If no
4251 double-width font is found, it will improvise, by stretching
4252 the normal font.
4253 ximFont (class XimFont)
4255 This option specifies the font to be used for displaying the
4256 preedit string in the “OverTheSpot” input method.
4257 In “OverTheSpot” preedit type, the preedit (preconversion)
4259 string is displayed at the position of the cursor. It is the
4260 XIM server's responsibility to display the preedit string. The
4261 XIM client must inform the XIM server of the cursor position.
4262 For best results, the preedit string must be displayed with a
4263 proper font. Therefore, xterm informs the XIM server of the
4264 proper font. The font is be supplied by a "fontset", whose
4265 default value is “*”. This matches every font, the X library
4266 automatically chooses fonts with proper charsets. The ximFont
4267 resource is provided to override this default font setting.
4268 Tek4014 Widget Resources
4270 The following resources are specified as part of the tek4014 widget
4271 (class Tek4014). These are specified by patterns such as
4272 “XTerm.tek4014.NAME”:
4273 font2 (class Font)
4275 Specifies font number 2 to use in the Tektronix window.
4276 font3 (class Font)
4278 Specifies font number 3 to use in the Tektronix window.
4279 fontLarge (class Font)
4281 Specifies the large font to use in the Tektronix window.
4282 fontSmall (class Font)
4284 Specifies the small font to use in the Tektronix window.
4285 ginTerminator (class GinTerminator)
4287 Specifies what character(s) should follow a GIN report or
4288 status report. The possibilities are “none”, which sends no
4289 terminating characters, “CRonly”, which sends CR, and “CR&EOT”,
4290 which sends both CR and EOT. The default is “none”.
4291 height (class Height)
4293 Specifies the height of the Tektronix window in pixels.
4294 initialFont (class InitialFont)
4296 Specifies which of the four Tektronix fonts to use initially.
4297 Values are the same as for the set-tek-text action. The
4298 default is “large”.
4299 width (class Width)
4301 Specifies the width of the Tektronix window in pixels.
4302 Menu Resources
4304 The resources that may be specified for the various menus are described
4305 in the documentation for the Athena SimpleMenu widget. The name and
4306 classes of the entries in each of the menus are listed below.
4307 Resources named “lineN” where N is a number are separators with class
4308 SmeLine.
4309 As with all X resource-based widgets, the labels mentioned are
4311 customary defaults for the application.
4312 The Main Options menu (widget name mainMenu) has the following entries:
4314 toolbar (class SmeBSB)
4316 This entry invokes the set-toolbar(toggle) action.
4317 securekbd (class SmeBSB)
4319 This entry invokes the secure() action.
4320 allowsends (class SmeBSB)
4322 This entry invokes the allow-send-events(toggle) action.
4323 redraw (class SmeBSB)
4325 This entry invokes the redraw() action.
4326 logging (class SmeBSB)
4328 This entry invokes the logging(toggle) action.
4329 print-immediate (class SmeBSB)
4331 This entry invokes the print-immediate() action.
4332 print-on-error (class SmeBSB)
4334 This entry invokes the print-on-error() action.
4335 print (class SmeBSB)
4337 This entry invokes the print() action.
4338 print-redir (class SmeBSB)
4340 This entry invokes the print-redir() action.
4341 dump-html (class SmeBSB)
4343 This entry invokes the dump-html() action.
4344 dump-svg (class SmeBSB)
4346 This entry invokes the dump-svg() action.
4347 8-bit-control (class SmeBSB)
4349 This entry invokes the set-8-bit-control(toggle) action.
4350 backarrow key (class SmeBSB)
4352 This entry invokes the set-backarrow(toggle) action.
4353 num-lock (class SmeBSB)
4355 This entry invokes the set-num-lock(toggle) action.
4356 alt-esc (class SmeBSB)
4358 This entry invokes the alt-sends-escape(toggle) action.
4359 meta-esc (class SmeBSB)
4361 This entry invokes the meta-sends-escape(toggle) action.
4362 delete-is-del (class SmeBSB)
4364 This entry invokes the delete-is-del(toggle) action.
4365 oldFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)
4367 This entry invokes the set-old-function-keys(toggle) action.
4368 hpFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)
4370 This entry invokes the set-hp-function-keys(toggle) action.
4371 scoFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)
4373 This entry invokes the set-sco-function-keys(toggle) action.
4374 sunFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)
4376 This entry invokes the set-sun-function-keys(toggle) action.
4377 sunKeyboard (class SmeBSB)
4379 This entry invokes the sunKeyboard(toggle) action.
4380 suspend (class SmeBSB)
4382 This entry invokes the send-signal(tstp) action on systems that
4383 support job control.
4384 continue (class SmeBSB)
4386 This entry invokes the send-signal(cont) action on systems that
4387 support job control.
4388 interrupt (class SmeBSB)
4390 This entry invokes the send-signal(int) action.
4391 hangup (class SmeBSB)
4393 This entry invokes the send-signal(hup) action.
4394 terminate (class SmeBSB)
4396 This entry invokes the send-signal(term) action.
4397 kill (class SmeBSB)
4399 This entry invokes the send-signal(kill) action.
4400 quit (class SmeBSB)
4402 This entry invokes the quit() action.
4403 The VT Options menu (widget name vtMenu) has the following entries:
4405 scrollbar (class SmeBSB)
4407 This entry invokes the set-scrollbar(toggle) action.
4408 jumpscroll (class SmeBSB)
4410 This entry invokes the set-jumpscroll(toggle) action.
4411 reversevideo (class SmeBSB)
4413 This entry invokes the set-reverse-video(toggle) action.
4414 autowrap (class SmeBSB)
4416 This entry invokes the set-autowrap(toggle) action.
4417 reversewrap (class SmeBSB)
4419 This entry invokes the set-reversewrap(toggle) action.
4420 autolinefeed (class SmeBSB)
4422 This entry invokes the set-autolinefeed(toggle) action.
4423 appcursor (class SmeBSB)
4425 This entry invokes the set-appcursor(toggle) action.
4426 appkeypad (class SmeBSB)
4428 This entry invokes the set-appkeypad(toggle) action.
4429 scrollkey (class SmeBSB)
4431 This entry invokes the set-scroll-on-key(toggle) action.
4432 scrollttyoutput (class SmeBSB)
4434 This entry invokes the set-scroll-on-tty-output(toggle) action.
4435 allow132 (class SmeBSB)
4437 This entry invokes the set-allow132(toggle) action.
4438 cursesemul (class SmeBSB)
4440 This entry invokes the set-cursesemul(toggle) action.
4441 keepSelection (class SmeBSB)
4443 This entry invokes the set-keep-selection(toggle) action.
4444 selectToClipboard (class SmeBSB)
4446 This entry invokes the set-keep-clipboard(toggle) action.
4447 visualbell (class SmeBSB)
4449 This entry invokes the set-visual-bell(toggle) action.
4450 bellIsUrgent (class SmeBSB)
4452 This entry invokes the set-bellIsUrgent(toggle) action.
4453 poponbell (class SmeBSB)
4455 This entry invokes the set-pop-on-bell(toggle) action.
4456 cursorblink (class SmeBSB)
4458 This entry invokes the set-cursorblink(toggle) action.
4459 titeInhibit (class SmeBSB)
4461 This entry invokes the set-titeInhibit(toggle) action.
4462 activeicon (class SmeBSB)
4464 This entry toggles active icons on and off if this feature was
4465 compiled into xterm. It is enabled only if xterm was started
4466 with the command line option +ai or the activeIcon resource is
4467 set to “true”.
4468 softreset (class SmeBSB)
4470 This entry invokes the soft-reset() action.
4471 hardreset (class SmeBSB)
4473 This entry invokes the hard-reset() action.
4474 clearsavedlines (class SmeBSB)
4476 This entry invokes the clear-saved-lines() action.
4477 tekshow (class SmeBSB)
4479 This entry invokes the set-visibility(tek,toggle) action.
4480 tekmode (class SmeBSB)
4482 This entry invokes the set-terminal-type(tek) action.
4483 vthide (class SmeBSB)
4485 This entry invokes the set-visibility(vt,off) action.
4486 altscreen (class SmeBSB)
4488 This entry invokes the set-altscreen(toggle) action.
4489 sixelScrolling (class SmeBSB)
4491 This entry invokes the set-sixel-scrolling(toggle) action.
4492 privateColorRegisters (class SmeBSB)
4494 This entry invokes the set-private-colors(toggle) action.
4495 The VT Fonts menu (widget name fontMenu) has the following entries:
4497 fontdefault (class SmeBSB)
4499 This entry invokes the set-vt-font(d) action, setting the font
4500 using the font (default) resource, e.g., “Default” in the menu.
4501 font1 (class SmeBSB)
4503 This entry invokes the set-vt-font(1) action, setting the font
4504 using the font1 resource, e.g., “Unreadable” in the menu.
4505 font2 (class SmeBSB)
4507 This entry invokes the set-vt-font(2) action, setting the font
4508 using the font2 resource, e.g., “Tiny” in the menu.
4509 font3 (class SmeBSB)
4511 This entry invokes the set-vt-font(3) action, setting the font
4512 using the font3 resource, e.g., “Small” in the menu.
4513 font4 (class SmeBSB)
4515 This entry invokes the set-vt-font(4) action, letting the font
4516 using the font4 resource, e.g., “Medium” in the menu.
4517 font5 (class SmeBSB)
4519 This entry invokes the set-vt-font(5) action, letting the font
4520 using the font5 resource, e.g., “Large” in the menu.
4521 font6 (class SmeBSB)
4523 This entry invokes the set-vt-font(6) action, letting the font
4524 using the font6 resource, e.g., “Huge” in the menu.
4525 fontescape (class SmeBSB)
4527 This entry invokes the set-vt-font(e) action.
4528 fontsel (class SmeBSB)
4530 This entry invokes the set-vt-font(s) action.
4531 allow-bold-fonts (class SmeBSB)
4533 This entry invokes the allow-bold-fonts(toggle) action.
4534 font-linedrawing (class SmeBSB)
4536 This entry invokes the set-font-linedrawing(s) action.
4537 font-packed (class SmeBSB)
4539 This entry invokes the set-font-packed(s) action.
4540 font-doublesize (class SmeBSB)
4542 This entry invokes the set-font-doublesize(s) action.
4543 render-font (class SmeBSB)
4545 This entry invokes the set-render-font(s) action.
4546 utf8-fonts (class SmeBSB)
4548 This entry invokes the set-utf8-fonts(s) action.
4549 utf8-mode (class SmeBSB)
4551 This entry invokes the set-utf8-mode(s) action.
4552 utf8-title (class SmeBSB)
4554 This entry invokes the set-utf8-title(s) action.
4555 allow-color-ops (class SmeBSB)
4557 This entry invokes the allow-color-ops(toggle) action.
4558 allow-font-ops (class SmeBSB)
4560 This entry invokes the allow-fonts-ops(toggle) action.
4561 allow-tcap-ops (class SmeBSB)
4563 This entry invokes the allow-tcap-ops(toggle) action.
4564 allow-title-ops (class SmeBSB)
4566 This entry invokes the allow-title-ops(toggle) action.
4567 allow-window-ops (class SmeBSB)
4569 This entry invokes the allow-window-ops(toggle) action.
4570 The Tek Options menu (widget name tekMenu) has the following entries:
4572 tektextlarge (class SmeBSB)
4574 This entry invokes the set-tek-text(large) action.
4575 tektext2 (class SmeBSB)
4577 This entry invokes the set-tek-text(2) action.
4578 tektext3 (class SmeBSB)
4580 This entry invokes the set-tek-text(3) action.
4581 tektextsmall (class SmeBSB)
4583 This entry invokes the set-tek-text(small) action.
4584 tekpage (class SmeBSB)
4586 This entry invokes the tek-page() action.
4587 tekreset (class SmeBSB)
4589 This entry invokes the tek-reset() action.
4590 tekcopy (class SmeBSB)
4592 This entry invokes the tek-copy() action.
4593 vtshow (class SmeBSB)
4595 This entry invokes the set-visibility(vt,toggle) action.
4596 vtmode (class SmeBSB)
4598 This entry invokes the set-terminal-type(vt) action.
4599 tekhide (class SmeBSB)
4601 This entry invokes the set-visibility(tek,toggle) action.
4602 Scrollbar Resources
4604 The following resources are useful when specified for the Athena
4605 Scrollbar widget:
4606 thickness (class Thickness)
4608 Specifies the width in pixels of the scrollbar.
4609 background (class Background)
4611 Specifies the color to use for the background of the scrollbar.
4612 foreground (class Foreground)
4614 Specifies the color to use for the foreground of the scrollbar.
4615 The “thumb” of the scrollbar is a simple checkerboard pattern
4616 alternating pixels for foreground and background color.
4617
4619 Once the VTxxx window is created, xterm allows you to select text and
4620 copy it within the same or other windows using the pointer or the
4621 keyboard.
4622 A “pointer” could be a mouse, touchpad or similar device. X
4624 applications generally do not care, since they see only button events
4625 which have
4626 · position and
4628 · button up/down state
4630 Xterm can see these events as long as it has focus.
4632 The keyboard also supplies events, but it is less flexible than the
4634 pointer for selecting/copying text.
4635 Events are applied to actions using the translations resource. See
4637 Actions for a complete list, and Default Key Bindings for the built-in
4638 set of translations resources.
4639 Selection Functions
4641 The selection functions are invoked when the pointer buttons are used
4642 with no modifiers, and when they are used with the “shift” key. The
4643 assignment of the functions described below to keys and buttons may be
4644 changed through the resource database; see Actions below.
4645 Pointer button one (usually left)
4647 is used to save text into the cut buffer:
4648 ~Meta <Btn1Down>:select-start()
4650 Move the cursor to beginning of the text, and then hold the button
4652 down while moving the cursor to the end of the region and
4653 releasing the button. The selected text is highlighted and is
4654 saved in the global cut buffer and made the selection when the
4655 button is released:
4656 <BtnUp>:select-end(SELECT, CUT_BUFFER0) \n
4658 Normally (but see the discussion of on2Clicks, etc):
4660 · Double-clicking selects by words.
4662 · Triple-clicking selects by lines.
4664 · Quadruple-clicking goes back to characters, etc.
4666 Multiple-click is determined by the time from button up to button
4668 down, so you can change the selection unit in the middle of a
4669 selection. Logical words and lines selected by double- or triple-
4670 clicking may wrap across more than one screen line if lines were
4671 wrapped by xterm itself rather than by the application running in
4672 the window. If the key/button bindings specify that an X
4673 selection is to be made, xterm will leave the selected text
4674 highlighted for as long as it is the selection owner.
4675 Pointer button two (usually middle)
4677 “types” (pastes) the text from the given selection, if any,
4678 otherwise from the cut buffer, inserting it as keyboard input:
4679 ~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn2Up>:insert-selection(SELECT, CUT_BUFFER0)
4681 Pointer button three (usually right)
4683 extends the current selection.
4684 ~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn3Down>:start-extend()
4686 (Without loss of generality, you can swap “right” and “left”
4688 everywhere in the rest of this paragraph.) If pressed while
4689 closer to the right edge of the selection than the left, it
4690 extends/contracts the right edge of the selection. If you
4691 contract the selection past the left edge of the selection, xterm
4692 assumes you really meant the left edge, restores the original
4693 selection, then extends/contracts the left edge of the selection.
4694 Extension starts in the selection unit mode that the last
4695 selection or extension was performed in; you can multiple-click to
4696 cycle through them.
4697 By cutting and pasting pieces of text without trailing new lines, you
4699 can take text from several places in different windows and form a
4700 command to the shell, for example, or take output from a program and
4701 insert it into your favorite editor. Since cut buffers are globally
4702 shared among different applications, you may regard each as a “file”
4703 whose contents you know. The terminal emulator and other text programs
4704 should be treating it as if it were a text file, i.e., the text is
4705 delimited by new lines.
4706 Scrolling
4708 The scroll region displays the position and amount of text currently
4709 showing in the window (highlighted) relative to the amount of text
4710 actually saved. As more text is saved (up to the maximum), the size of
4711 the highlighted area decreases.
4712 Clicking button one with the pointer in the scroll region moves the
4714 adjacent line to the top of the display window.
4715 Clicking button three moves the top line of the display window down to
4717 the pointer position.
4718 Clicking button two moves the display to a position in the saved text
4720 that corresponds to the pointer's position in the scrollbar.
4721 Tektronix Pointer
4723 Unlike the VTxxx window, the Tektronix window does not allow the
4724 copying of text. It does allow Tektronix GIN mode, and in this mode
4725 the cursor will change from an arrow to a cross. Pressing any key will
4726 send that key and the current coordinate of the cross cursor. Pressing
4727 button one, two, or three will return the letters “l”, “m”, and “r”,
4728 respectively. If the “shift” key is pressed when a pointer button is
4729 pressed, the corresponding upper case letter is sent. To distinguish a
4730 pointer button from a key, the high bit of the character is set (but
4731 this is bit is normally stripped unless the terminal mode is RAW; see
4732 tty(4) for details).
4733
4735 X clients provide select and paste support by responding to requests
4736 conveyed by the X server. The X server holds data in “atoms” which
4737 correspond to the different types of selection (PRIMARY, SECONDARY,
4738 CLIPBOARD) as well as the similar cut buffer mechanism (CUT_BUFFER0 to
4739 CUT_BUFFER7). Those are documented in the ICCCM.
4740 The ICCCM deals with the underlying mechanism for select/paste. It
4742 does not mention highlighting. The selection is not the same as
4743 highlighting. Xterm (like many applications) uses highlighting to show
4744 you the currently selected text. An X application may own a selection,
4745 which allows it to be the source of data copied using a given selection
4746 atom Xterm may continue owning a selection after it stops highlighting
4747 (see keepSelection).
4748 PRIMARY
4750 When configured to use the primary selection (the default), xterm can
4751 provide the selection data in ways which help to retain character
4752 encoding information as it is pasted.
4753 The PRIMARY token is a standard X feature, documented in the ICCCM
4755 (Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual), which states
4756 The selection named by the atom PRIMARY is used for all commands
4758 that take only a single argument and is the principal means of
4759 communication between clients that use the selection mechanism.
4760 A user “selects” text on xterm, which highlights the selected text. A
4762 subsequent “paste” to another client forwards a request to the client
4763 owning the selection. If xterm owns the primary selection, it makes
4764 the data available in the form of one or more “selection targets”. If
4765 it does not own the primary selection, e.g., if it has released it or
4766 another client has asserted ownership, it relies on cut-buffers to pass
4767 the data. But cut-buffers handle only ISO-8859-1 data (officially -
4768 some clients ignore the rules).
4769 CLIPBOARD
4771 When configured to use the clipboard (using the selectToClipboard
4772 resource), the problem with persistence of ownership is bypassed.
4773 Otherwise, there is no difference regarding the data which can be
4774 passed via selection.
4775 The selectToClipboard resource is a compromise, allowing CLIPBOARD to
4777 be treated almost like PRIMARY, unlike the ICCCM, which describes
4778 CLIPBOARD in different terms than PRIMARY or SECONDARY. Its lengthy
4779 explanation begins with the essential points:
4780 The selection named by the atom CLIPBOARD is used to hold data that
4782 is being transferred between clients, that is, data that usually is
4783 being cut and then pasted or copied and then pasted. Whenever a
4784 client wants to transfer data to the clipboard:
4785 · It should assert ownership of the CLIPBOARD.
4787 · If it succeeds in acquiring ownership, it should be prepared to
4789 respond to a request for the contents of the CLIPBOARD in the
4790 usual way (retaining the data to be able to return it). The
4791 request may be generated by the clipboard client described
4792 below.
4793 SELECT
4795 However, many applications use CLIPBOARD in imitation of other
4796 windowing systems. The selectToClipboard resource (and corresponding
4797 menu entry Select to Clipboard) introduce the SELECT token (known only
4798 to xterm) which chooses between the PRIMARY and CLIPBOARD tokens.
4799 Without using this feature, one can use workarounds such as the xclip
4801 program to show the contents of the X clipboard within an xterm window.
4802 SECONDARY
4804 This is used less often than PRIMARY or CLIPBOARD. According to the
4805 ICCCM, it is used
4806 · As the second argument to commands taking two arguments (for
4808 example, “exchange primary and secondary selections”)
4809 · As a means of obtaining data when there is a primary selection and
4811 the user does not want to disturb it
4812 Selection Targets
4814 The different types of data which are passed depend on what the
4815 receiving client asks for. These are termed selection targets.
4816 When asking for the selection data, xterm tries the following types in
4818 this order:
4819 UTF8_STRING
4821 This is an XFree86 extension, which denotes that the data is
4822 encoded in UTF-8. When xterm is built with wide-character
4823 support, it both accepts and provides this type.
4824 TEXT the text is in the encoding which corresponds to your current
4826 locale.
4827 COMPOUND_TEXT
4829 this is a format for multiple character set data, such as
4830 multi-lingual text. It can store UTF-8 data as a special
4831 case.
4832 STRING
4834 This is Latin 1 (ISO-8859-1) data.
4835 The middle two (TEXT and COMPOUND_TEXT) are added if xterm is
4837 configured with the i18nSelections resource set to “true”.
4838 UTF8_STRING is preferred (therefore first in the list) since xterm
4840 stores text as Unicode data when running in wide-character mode, and no
4841 translation is needed. On the other hand, TEXT and COMPOUND_TEXT may
4842 require translation. If the translation is incomplete, they will
4843 insert X's “defaultString” whose value cannot be set, and may simply be
4844 empty. Xterm's defaultString resource specifies the string to use for
4845 incomplete translations of the UTF8_STRING.
4846 You can alter the types which xterm tries using the eightBitSelectTypes
4848 or utf8SelectTypes resources. For instance, you might have some
4849 specific locale setting which does not use UTF-8 encoding. The
4850 resource value is a comma-separated list of the selection targets,
4851 which consist of the names shown. You can use the special name I18N to
4852 denote the optional inclusion of TEXT and COMPOUND_TEXT. The names are
4853 matched ignoring case, and can be abbreviated. The default list can be
4854 expressed in several ways, e.g.,
4855 UTF8_STRING,I18N,STRING
4857 utf8,i18n,string
4858 u,i,s
4859 Mouse Protocol
4861 Applications can send escape sequences to xterm to cause it to send
4862 escape sequences back to the computer when you press a pointer button,
4863 or even (depending on which escape sequence) send escape sequences back
4864 to the computer as you move the pointer.
4865 These escape sequences and the responses, called the mouse protocol,
4867 are documented in XTerm Control Sequences. They do not appear in the
4868 actions invoked by the translations resource because the resource does
4869 not change while you run xterm, whereas applications can change the
4870 mouse prototol (i.e., enable, disable, use different modes).
4871 However, the mouse protocol is interpreted within the actions that are
4873 usually associated with the pointer buttons. Xterm ignores the mouse
4874 protocol in the insert-selection action if the shift-key is pressed at
4875 the same time. It also modifies a few other actions if the shift-key
4876 is pressed, e.g., suppressing the response with the pointer position,
4877 though not eliminating changes to the selected text.
4878
4880 Xterm has four menus, named mainMenu, vtMenu, fontMenu, and tekMenu.
4881 Each menu pops up under the correct combinations of key and button
4882 presses. Each menu is divided into sections, separated by a horizontal
4883 line. Some menu entries correspond to modes that can be altered. A
4884 check mark appears next to a mode that is currently active. Selecting
4885 one of these modes toggles its state. Other menu entries are commands;
4886 selecting one of these performs the indicated function.
4887 All of the menu entries correspond to X actions. In the list below,
4889 the menu label is shown followed by the action's name in parenthesis.
4890 Main Options
4892 The xterm mainMenu pops up when the “control” key and pointer button
4893 one are pressed in a window. This menu contains items that apply to
4894 both the VTxxx and Tektronix windows. There are several sections:
4895 Commands for managing X events:
4897 Toolbar (resource toolbar)
4899 Clicking on the “Toolbar” menu entry hides the toolbar if
4900 it is visible, and shows it if it is not.
4901 Secure Keyboard (resource securekbd)
4903 The Secure Keyboard mode is helpful when typing in
4904 passwords or other sensitive data in an unsecure
4905 environment (see SECURITY below, but read the limitations
4906 carefully).
4907 Allow SendEvents (resource allowsends)
4909 Specifies whether or not synthetic key and button events
4910 generated using the X protocol SendEvent request should
4911 be interpreted or discarded. This corresponds to the
4912 allowSendEvents resource.
4913 Redraw Window (resource redraw)
4915 Forces the X display to repaint; useful in some
4916 environments.
4917 Commands for capturing output:
4919 Log to File (resource logging)
4921 Captures text sent to the screen in a log file, as in the
4922 -l logging option.
4923 Print-All Immediately (resource print-immediate)
4925 Invokes the print-immediate action, sending the text of
4926 the current window directly to a file, as specified by
4927 the printFileImmediate, printModeImmediate and
4928 printOptsImmediate resources.
4929 Print-All on Error (resource print-on-error)
4931 Invokes the print-on-error action, which toggles a flag
4932 telling xterm that if it exits with an X error, to send
4933 the text of the current window directly to a file, as
4934 specified by the printFileOnXError, printModeOnXError and
4935 printOptsOnXError resources.
4936 Print Window (resource print)
4938 Sends the text of the current window to the program given
4939 in the printerCommand resource.
4940 Redirect to Printer (resource print-redir)
4942 This sets the printerControlMode to 0 or 2. You can use
4943 this to turn the printer on as if an application had sent
4944 the appropriate control sequence. It is also useful for
4945 switching the printer off if an application turns it on
4946 without resetting the print control mode.
4947 XHTML Screen Dump (resource dump-html)
4949 Available only when compiled with screen dump support.
4950 Invokes the dump-html action. This creates an XHTML file
4951 matching the contents of the current screen, including
4952 the border, internal border, colors and most attributes:
4953 bold, italic, underline, faint, strikeout, reverse; blink
4954 is rendered as white-on-red; double underline is rendered
4955 the same as underline since there is no portable
4956 equivalent in CSS 2.2.
4957 The font is whatever your browser uses for preformatted
4959 (<pre>) elements. The XHTML file references a cascading
4960 style sheet (CSS) named “xterm.css” that you can create
4961 to select a font or override properties.
4962 The following CSS selectors are used with the expected
4964 default behavior in the XHTML file:
4965 .ul for underline,
4967 .bd for bold,
4968 .it for italic,
4969 .st for strikeout,
4970 .lu for strikeout combined with underline.
4971 In addition you may use
4973 .ev to affect even numbered lines and
4975 .od to affect odd numbered lines.
4976 Attributes faint, reverse and blink are implemented as
4978 style attributes setting color properties. All colors
4979 are specified as RGB percentages in order to support
4980 displays with 10 bits per RGB.
4981 The name of the file will be
4983 xterm.yyyy.MM.dd.hh.mm.ss.xhtml
4985 where yyyy, MM, dd, hh, mm and ss are the year, month,
4987 day, hour, minute and second when the screen dump was
4988 performed (the file is created in the directory xterm is
4989 started in, or the home directory for a login xterm).
4990 The dump-html action can also be triggered using the
4992 Media Copy control sequence CSI 1 0 i, for example from a
4993 shell script with
4994 printf '\033[10i'
4996 Only the UTF-8 encoding is supported.
4998 SVG Screen Dump (resource dump-svg)
5000 Available only when compiled with screen dump support.
5001 Invokes the dump-svg action. This creates a Scalable
5002 Vector Graphics (SVG) file matching the contents of the
5003 current screen, including the border, internal border,
5004 colors and most attributes: bold, italic, underline,
5005 double underline, faint, strikeout, reverse; blink is
5006 rendered as white-on-red. The font is whatever your
5007 renderer uses for the monospace font-family. All colors
5008 are specified as RGB percentages in order to support
5009 displays with 10 bits per RGB.
5010 The name of the file will be
5012 xterm.yyyy.MM.dd.hh.mm.ss.svg
5014 where yyyy, MM, dd, hh, mm and ss are the year, month,
5016 day, hour, minute and second when the screen dump was
5017 performed (the file is created in the directory xterm is
5018 started in, or the home directory for a login xterm).
5019 The dump-svg action can also be triggered using the Media
5021 Copy control sequence CSI 1 1 i, for example from a shell
5022 script with
5023 printf '\033[11i'
5025 Only the UTF-8 encoding is supported.
5027 Modes for setting keyboard style:
5029 8-Bit Controls (resource 8-bit-control)
5031 Enabled for VT220 emulation, this controls whether xterm
5032 will send 8-bit control sequences rather than using 7-bit
5033 (ASCII) controls, e.g., sending a byte in the range
5034 128–159 rather than the escape character followed by a
5035 second byte. Xterm always interprets both 8-bit and
5036 7-bit control sequences (see Xterm Control Sequences).
5037 This corresponds to the eightBitControl resource.
5038 Backarrow Key (BS/DEL) (resource backarrow key)
5040 Modifies the behavior of the backarrow key, making it
5041 transmit either a backspace (8) or delete (127)
5042 character. This corresponds to the backarrowKey
5043 resource.
5044 Alt/NumLock Modifiers (resource num-lock)
5046 Controls the treatment of Alt- and NumLock-key modifiers.
5047 This corresponds to the numLock resource.
5048 Meta Sends Escape (resource meta-esc)
5050 Controls whether Meta keys are converted into a two-
5051 character sequence with the character itself preceded by
5052 ESC. This corresponds to the metaSendsEscape resource.
5053 Delete is DEL (resource delete-is-del)
5055 Controls whether the Delete key on the editing keypad
5056 should send DEL (127) or the VT220-style Remove escape
5057 sequence. This corresponds to the deleteIsDEL resource.
5058 Old Function-Keys (resource oldFunctionKeys)
5060 HP Function-Keys (resource hpFunctionKeys)
5062 SCO Function-Keys (resource scoFunctionKeys)
5064 Sun Function-Keys (resource sunFunctionKeys)
5066 VT220 Keyboard (resource sunKeyboard)
5068 These act as a radio-button, selecting one style for the
5069 keyboard layout. The layout corresponds to more than one
5070 resource setting: sunKeyboard, sunFunctionKeys,
5071 scoFunctionKeys and hpFunctionKeys.
5072 Commands for process signalling:
5074 Send STOP Signal (resource suspend)
5076 Send CONT Signal (resource continue)
5078 Send INT Signal (resource interrupt)
5080 Send HUP Signal (resource hangup)
5082 Send TERM Signal (resource terminate)
5084 Send KILL Signal (resource kill)
5086 These send the SIGTSTP, SIGCONT, SIGINT, SIGHUP, SIGTERM
5087 and SIGKILL signals respectively, to the process group of
5088 the process running under xterm (usually the shell). The
5089 SIGCONT function is especially useful if the user has
5090 accidentally typed CTRL-Z, suspending the process.
5091 Quit (resource quit)
5093 Stop processing X events except to support the -hold
5094 option, and then send a SIGHUP signal to the process
5095 group of the process running under xterm (usually the
5096 shell).
5097 VT Options
5099 The xterm vtMenu sets various modes in the VTxxx emulation, and is
5100 popped up when the “control” key and pointer button two are pressed in
5101 the VTxxx window.
5102 VTxxx Modes:
5104 Enable Scrollbar (resource scrollbar)
5106 Enable (or disable) the scrollbar. This corresponds to
5107 the -sb option and the scrollBar resource.
5108 Enable Jump Scroll (resource jumpscroll)
5110 Enable (or disable) jump scrolling. This corresponds to
5111 the -j option and the jumpScroll resource.
5112 Enable Reverse Video (resource reversevideo)
5114 Enable (or disable) reverse-video. This corresponds to
5115 the -rv option and the reverseVideo resource.
5116 Enable Auto Wraparound (resource autowrap)
5118 Enable (or disable) auto-wraparound. This corresponds to
5119 the -aw option and the autoWrap resource.
5120 Enable Reverse Wraparound (resource reversewrap)
5122 Enable (or disable) reverse wraparound. This corresponds
5123 to the -rw option and the reverseWrap resource.
5124 Enable Auto Linefeed (resource autolinefeed)
5126 Enable (or disable) auto-linefeed. This is the VT102 NEL
5127 function, which causes the emulator to emit a line feed
5128 after each carriage return. There is no corresponding
5129 command-line option or resource setting.
5130 Enable Application Cursor Keys (resource appcursor)
5132 Enable (or disable) application cursor keys. This
5133 corresponds to the appcursorDefault resource. There is
5134 no corresponding command-line option.
5135 Enable Application Keypad (resource appkeypad)
5137 Enable (or disable) application keypad keys. This
5138 corresponds to the appkeypadDefault resource. There is
5139 no corresponding command-line option.
5140 Scroll to Bottom on Key Press (resource scrollkey)
5142 Enable (or disable) scrolling to the bottom of the
5143 scrolling region on a keypress. This corresponds to the
5144 -sk option and the scrollKey resource.
5145 As a special case, the XON / XOFF keys (control/S and
5147 control/Q) are ignored.
5148 Scroll to Bottom on Tty Output (resource scrollttyoutput)
5150 Enable (or disable) scrolling to the bottom of the
5151 scrolling region on output to the terminal. This
5152 corresponds to the -si option and the scrollTtyOutput
5153 resource.
5154 Allow 80/132 Column Switching (resource allow132)
5156 Enable (or disable) switching between 80 and 132 columns.
5157 This corresponds to the -132 option and the c132
5158 resource.
5159 Keep Selection (resource keepSelection)
5161 Tell xterm whether to disown the selection when it stops
5162 highlighting it, e.g., when an application modifies the
5163 display so that it no longer matches the text which has
5164 been highlighted. As long as xterm continues to own the
5165 selection for a given atom, it can provide the
5166 corresponding text to other clients which request the
5167 selection using that atom.
5168 This corresponds to the keepSelection resource. There is
5170 no corresponding command-line option.
5171 Telling xterm to not disown the selection does not
5173 prevent other applications from taking ownership of the
5174 selection. When that happens, xterm receives
5175 notification that this has happened, and removes its
5176 highlighting.
5177 See SELECT/PASTE for more information.
5179 Select to Clipboard (resource selectToClipboard)
5181 Tell xterm whether to use the PRIMARY or CLIPBOARD for
5182 SELECT tokens in the translations resource which maps
5183 keyboard and mouse actions to select/paste actions.
5184 This corresponds to the selectToClipboard resource.
5186 There is no corresponding command-line option.
5187 The keepSelection resource setting applies to CLIPBOARD
5189 selections just as it does for PRIMARY selections.
5190 However some window managers treat the clipboard
5191 specially. For instance, XQuartz's synchronization
5192 between the OSX pasteboard and the X11 clipboard causes
5193 applications to lose the selection ownership for that
5194 atom when a selection is copied to the clipboard.
5195 See SELECT/PASTE for more information.
5197 Enable Visual Bell (resource visualbell)
5199 Enable (or disable) visible bell (i.e., flashing) instead
5200 of an audible bell. This corresponds to the -vb option
5201 and the visualBell resource.
5202 Enable Bell Urgency (resource bellIsUrgent)
5204 Enable (or disable) Urgency window manager hint when
5205 Control-G is received. This corresponds to the
5206 bellIsUrgent resource.
5207 Enable Pop on Bell (resource poponbell)
5209 Enable (or disable) raising of the window when Control-G
5210 is received. This corresponds to the -pop option and the
5211 popOnBell resource.
5212 Enable Blinking Cursor (resource cursorblink)
5214 Enable (or disable) the blinking-cursor feature. This
5215 corresponds to the -bc option and the cursorBlink
5216 resource. There are also escape sequences (see Xterm
5217 Control Sequences):
5218 · If the cursorBlinkXOR resource is set, the menu entry
5220 and the escape sequence states will be XOR'd: if both
5221 are enabled, the cursor will not blink, if only one
5222 is enabled, the cursor will blink.
5223 · If the cursorBlinkXOR is not set; if either the menu
5225 entry or the escape sequence states are set, the
5226 cursor will blink.
5227 In either case, the checkbox for the menu shows the state
5229 of the cursorBlink resource, which may not correspond to
5230 what the cursor is actually doing.
5231 Enable Alternate Screen Switching (resource titeInhibit)
5233 Enable (or disable) switching between the normal and
5234 alternate screens. This corresponds to the titeInhibit
5235 resource. There is no corresponding command-line option.
5236 Enable Active Icon (resource activeicon)
5238 Enable (or disable) the active-icon feature. This
5239 corresponds to the -ai option and the activeIcon
5240 resource.
5241 Sixel Scrolling (resource sixelScrolling)
5243 When enabled, sixel graphics are positioned at the
5244 current text cursor location, scroll the image vertically
5245 if larger than the screen, and leave the text cursor at
5246 the start of the next complete line after the image when
5247 returning to text mode (this is the default). When
5248 disabled, sixel graphics are positioned at the upper left
5249 of the screen, are cropped to fit the screen, and do not
5250 affect the text cursor location. This corresponds to the
5251 sixelScrolling resource. There is no corresponding
5252 command-line option.
5253 Private Color Registers (resource privateColorRegisters)
5255 If xterm is configured to support ReGIS graphics, this
5256 controls whether a private color palette can be used.
5257 When enabled, each graphic image uses a separate set of
5259 color registers, so that it essentially has a private
5260 palette (this is the default). If it is not set, all
5261 graphics images share a common set of registers which is
5262 how sixel and ReGIS graphics worked on actual hardware.
5263 The default is likely a more useful mode on modern
5264 TrueColor hardware.
5265 This corresponds to the privateColorRegisters resource.
5267 There is no corresponding command-line option.
5268 VTxxx Commands:
5270 Do Soft Reset (resource softreset)
5272 Reset scroll regions. This can be convenient when some
5273 program has left the scroll regions set incorrectly
5274 (often a problem when using VMS or TOPS-20). This
5275 corresponds to the VT220 DECSTR control sequence.
5276 Do Full Reset (resource hardreset)
5278 The full reset entry will clear the screen, reset tabs to
5279 every eight columns, and reset the terminal modes (such
5280 as wrap and smooth scroll) to their initial states just
5281 after xterm has finished processing the command line
5282 options. This corresponds to the VT102 RIS control
5283 sequence, with a few obvious differences. For example,
5284 your session is not disconnected as a real VT102 would
5285 do.
5286 Reset and Clear Saved Lines (resource clearsavedlines)
5288 Perform a full reset, and also clear the saved lines.
5289 Commands for setting the current screen:
5291 Show Tek Window (resource tekshow)
5293 When enabled, pops the Tektronix 4014 window up (makes it
5294 visible). When disabled, hides the Tektronix 4014
5295 window.
5296 Switch to Tek Mode (resource tekmode)
5298 When enabled, pops the Tektronix 4014 window up if it is
5299 not already visible, and switches the input stream to
5300 that window. When disabled, hides the Tektronix 4014
5301 window and switches input back to the VTxxx window.
5302 Hide VT Window (resource vthide)
5304 When enabled, hides the VTxxx window, shows the Tektronix
5305 4014 window if it was not already visible and switches
5306 the input stream to that window. When disabled, shows
5307 the VTxxx window, and switches the input stream to that
5308 window.
5309 Show Alternate Screen (resource altscreen)
5311 When enabled, shows the alternate screen. When disabled,
5312 shows the normal screen. Note that the normal screen may
5313 have saved lines; the alternate screen does not.
5314 VT Fonts
5316 The xterm fontMenu pops up when the “control” key and pointer button
5317 three are pressed in a window. It sets the font used in the VTxxx
5318 window, or modifies the way the font is specified or displayed. There
5319 are several sections.
5320 The first section allows you to select the font from a set of
5322 alternatives:
5323 Default (resource fontdefault)
5325 Set the font to the default, i.e., that given by the
5326 *VT100.font resource.
5327 Unreadable (resource font1)
5329 Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font1 resource.
5330 Tiny (resource font2)
5332 Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font2 resource.
5333 Small (resource font3)
5335 Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font3 resource.
5336 Medium (resource font4)
5338 Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font4 resource.
5339 Large (resource font5)
5341 Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font5 resource.
5342 Huge (resource font6)
5344 Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font6 resource.
5345 Escape Sequence (resource fontescape)
5347 This allows you to set the font last specified by the Set
5348 Font escape sequence (see Xterm Control Sequences).
5349 Selection (resource fontsel)
5351 This allows you to set the font specified the current
5352 selection as a font name (if the PRIMARY selection is
5353 owned).
5354 The second section allows you to modify the way it is displayed:
5356 Bold Fonts (resource allow-bold-fonts)
5358 This is normally checked (enabled). When unchecked,
5359 xterm will not use bold fonts. The setting corresponds
5360 to the allowBoldFonts resource.
5361 Line-Drawing Characters (resource font-linedrawing)
5363 When set, tells xterm to draw its own line-drawing
5364 characters. Otherwise it relies on the font containing
5365 these. Compare to the forceBoxChars resource.
5366 Packed Font (resource font-packed)
5368 When set, tells xterm to use the minimum glyph-width from
5369 a font when displaying characters. Use the maximum width
5370 (unchecked) to help display proportional fonts. Compare
5371 to the forcePackedFont resource.
5372 Doublesized Characters (resource font-doublesize)
5374 When set, xterm may ask the font server to produce scaled
5375 versions of the normal font, for VT102 double-size
5376 characters.
5377 The third section allows you to modify the way it is specified:
5379 TrueType Fonts (resource render-font)
5381 If the renderFont and corresponding resources were set,
5382 this is a further control whether xterm will actually use
5383 the Xft library calls to obtain a font.
5384 UTF-8 Encoding (resource utf8-mode)
5386 This controls whether xterm uses UTF-8 encoding of
5387 input/output. It is useful for temporarily switching
5388 xterm to display text from an application which does not
5389 follow the locale settings. It corresponds to the utf8
5390 resource.
5391 UTF-8 Fonts (resource utf8-fonts)
5393 This controls whether xterm uses UTF-8 fonts for display.
5394 It is useful for temporarily switching xterm to display
5395 text from an application which does not follow the locale
5396 settings. It combines the utf8 and utf8Fonts resources,
5397 subject to the locale resource.
5398 UTF-8 Titles (resource utf8-title)
5400 This controls whether xterm accepts UTF-8 encoding for
5401 title control sequences. It corresponds to the utf8Fonts
5402 resource.
5403 Initially the checkmark is set according to both the utf8
5405 and utf8Fonts resource values. If the latter is set to
5406 “always”, the checkmark is disabled. Likewise, if there
5407 are no fonts given in the utf8Fonts subresources, then
5408 the checkmark also is disabled.
5409 The standard XTerm app-defaults file defines both sets of
5411 fonts, while the UXTerm app-defaults file defines only
5412 one set. Assuming the standard app-defaults files, this
5413 command will launch xterm able to switch between UTF-8
5414 and ISO-8859-1 encoded fonts:
5415 uxterm -class XTerm
5417 The fourth section allows you to enable or disable special operations
5419 which can be controlled by writing escape sequences to the terminal.
5420 These are disabled if the SendEvents feature is enabled:
5421 Allow Color Ops (resource allow-font-ops)
5423 This corresponds to the allowColorOps resource. Enable
5424 or disable control sequences that set/query the colors.
5425 Allow Font Ops (resource allow-font-ops)
5427 This corresponds to the allowFontOps resource. Enable or
5428 disable control sequences that set/query the font.
5429 Allow Mouse Ops (resource allow-mouse-ops)
5431 Enable or disable control sequences that cause the
5432 terminal to send escape sequences on pointer-clicks and
5433 movement. This corresponds to the allowMouseOps
5434 resource.
5435 Allow Tcap Ops (resource allow-tcap-ops)
5437 Enable or disable control sequences that query the
5438 terminal's notion of its function-key strings, as termcap
5439 or terminfo capabilities. This corresponds to the
5440 allowTcapOps resource.
5441 Allow Title Ops (resource allow-title-ops)
5443 Enable or disable control sequences that modify the
5444 window title or icon name. This corresponds to the
5445 allowTitleOps resource.
5446 Allow Window Ops (resource allow-window-ops)
5448 Enable or disable extended window control sequences (as
5449 used in dtterm). This corresponds to the allowWindowOps
5450 resource.
5451 Tek Options
5453 The xterm tekMenu sets various modes in the Tektronix emulation, and is
5454 popped up when the “control” key and pointer button two are pressed in
5455 the Tektronix window. The current font size is checked in the modes
5456 section of the menu.
5457 Large Characters (resource tektextlarge)
5459 #2 Size Characters (resource tektext2)
5461 #3 Size Characters (resource tektext3)
5463 Small Characters (resource tektextsmall)
5465 Commands:
5467 PAGE (resource tekpage)
5469 Simulates the Tektronix “PAGE” button by
5470 · clearing the window,
5472 · cancelling the graphics input-mode, and
5474 · moving the cursor to the home position.
5476 RESET (resource tekreset)
5478 Unlike the similarly-named Tektronix “RESET” button, this
5479 does everything that PAGE does as well as resetting the
5480 line-type and font-size to their default values.
5481 COPY (resource tekcopy)
5483 Simulates the Tektronix “COPY” button (which makes a
5484 hard-copy of the screen) by writing the information to a
5485 text file.
5486 Windows:
5488 Show VT Window (resource vtshow)
5490 Switch to VT Mode (resource vtmode)
5492 Hide Tek Window (resource tekhide)
5494
5496 X environments differ in their security consciousness.
5497 · Most servers, run under xdm, are capable of using a “magic cookie”
5499 authorization scheme that can provide a reasonable level of
5500 security for many people. If your server is only using a host-
5501 based mechanism to control access to the server (see xhost(1)),
5502 then if you enable access for a host and other users are also
5503 permitted to run clients on that same host, it is possible that
5504 someone can run an application which uses the basic services of the
5505 X protocol to snoop on your activities, potentially capturing a
5506 transcript of everything you type at the keyboard.
5507 · Any process which has access to your X display can manipulate it in
5509 ways that you might not anticipate, even redirecting your keyboard
5510 to itself and sending events to your application's windows. This
5511 is true even with the “magic cookie” authorization scheme. While
5512 the allowSendEvents provides some protection against rogue
5513 applications tampering with your programs, guarding against a
5514 snooper is harder.
5515 · The X input extension for instance allows an application to bypass
5517 all of the other (limited) authorization and security features,
5518 including the GrabKeyboard protocol.
5519 · The possibility of an application spying on your keystrokes is of
5521 particular concern when you want to type in a password or other
5522 sensitive data. The best solution to this problem is to use a
5523 better authorization mechanism than is provided by X.
5524 Subject to all of these caveats, a simple mechanism exists for
5526 protecting keyboard input in xterm.
5527 The xterm menu (see MENUS above) contains a Secure Keyboard entry
5529 which, when enabled, attempts to ensure that all keyboard input is
5530 directed only to xterm (using the GrabKeyboard protocol request). When
5531 an application prompts you for a password (or other sensitive data),
5532 you can enable Secure Keyboard using the menu, type in the data, and
5533 then disable Secure Keyboard using the menu again.
5534 · This ensures that you know which window is accepting your
5536 keystrokes.
5537 · It cannot ensure that there are no processes which have access to
5539 your X display that might be observing the keystrokes as well.
5540 Only one X client at a time can grab the keyboard, so when you attempt
5542 to enable Secure Keyboard it may fail. In this case, the bell will
5543 sound. If the Secure Keyboard succeeds, the foreground and background
5544 colors will be exchanged (as if you selected the Enable Reverse Video
5545 entry in the Modes menu); they will be exchanged again when you exit
5546 secure mode. If the colors do not switch, then you should be very
5547 suspicious that you are being spoofed. If the application you are
5548 running displays a prompt before asking for the password, it is safest
5549 to enter secure mode before the prompt gets displayed, and to make sure
5550 that the prompt gets displayed correctly (in the new colors), to
5551 minimize the probability of spoofing. You can also bring up the menu
5552 again and make sure that a check mark appears next to the entry.
5553 Secure Keyboard mode will be disabled automatically if your xterm
5555 window becomes iconified (or otherwise unmapped), or if you start up a
5556 reparenting window manager (that places a title bar or other decoration
5557 around the window) while in Secure Keyboard mode. (This is a feature
5558 of the X protocol not easily overcome.) When this happens, the
5559 foreground and background colors will be switched back and the bell
5560 will sound in warning.
5561
5563 Clicking the left pointer button twice in rapid succession (double-
5564 clicking) causes all characters of the same class (e.g., letters, white
5565 space, punctuation) to be selected as a “word”. Since different people
5566 have different preferences for what should be selected (for example,
5567 should filenames be selected as a whole or only the separate subnames),
5568 the default mapping can be overridden through the use of the charClass
5569 (class CharClass) resource.
5570 This resource is a series of comma-separated range:value pairs.
5572 · The range is either a single number or low-high in the range of 0
5574 to 65535, corresponding to the code for the character or characters
5575 to be set.
5576 · The value is arbitrary. For example, the default table uses the
5578 character number of the first character occurring in the set. When
5579 not in UTF-8 mode, only the first 256 entries of this table will be
5580 used.
5581 The default table starts as follows -
5583 static int charClass[256] = {
5585 /* NUL SOH STX ETX EOT ENQ ACK BEL */
5586 32, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
5587 /* BS HT NL VT NP CR SO SI */
5588 1, 32, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
5589 /* DLE DC1 DC2 DC3 DC4 NAK SYN ETB */
5590 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
5591 /* CAN EM SUB ESC FS GS RS US */
5592 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
5593 /* SP ! " # $ % & ' */
5594 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39,
5595 /* ( ) * + , - . / */
5596 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47,
5597 /* 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 */
5598 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
5599 /* 8 9 : ; < = > ? */
5600 48, 48, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63,
5601 /* @ A B C D E F G */
5602 64, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
5603 /* H I J K L M N O */
5604 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
5605 /* P Q R S T U V W */
5606 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
5607 /* X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _ */
5608 48, 48, 48, 91, 92, 93, 94, 48,
5609 /* ` a b c d e f g */
5610 96, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
5611 /* h i j k l m n o */
5612 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
5613 /* p q r s t u v w */
5614 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
5615 /* x y z { | } ~ DEL */
5616 48, 48, 48, 123, 124, 125, 126, 1,
5617 /* x80 x81 x82 x83 IND NEL SSA ESA */
5618 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
5619 /* HTS HTJ VTS PLD PLU RI SS2 SS3 */
5620 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
5621 /* DCS PU1 PU2 STS CCH MW SPA EPA */
5622 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
5623 /* x98 x99 x9A CSI ST OSC PM APC */
5624 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
5625 /* - i c/ L ox Y- | So */
5626 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167,
5627 /* .. c0 ip << _ R0 - */
5628 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175,
5629 /* o +- 2 3 ' u q| . */
5630 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183,
5631 /* , 1 2 >> 1/4 1/2 3/4 ? */
5632 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191,
5633 /* A` A' A^ A~ A: Ao AE C, */
5634 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
5635 /* E` E' E^ E: I` I' I^ I: */
5636 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
5637 /* D- N~ O` O' O^ O~ O: X */
5638 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 215,
5639 /* O/ U` U' U^ U: Y' P B */
5640 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
5641 /* a` a' a^ a~ a: ao ae c, */
5642 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
5643 /* e` e' e^ e: i` i' i^ i: */
5644 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
5645 /* d n~ o` o' o^ o~ o: -: */
5646 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 247,
5647 /* o/ u` u' u^ u: y' P y: */
5648 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48};
5649 For example, the string “33:48,37:48,45-47:48,38:48” indicates
5651 that the exclamation mark, percent sign, dash, period, slash,
5652 and ampersand characters should be treated the same way as
5653 characters and numbers. This is useful for cutting and pasting
5654 electronic mailing addresses and filenames.
5655
5657 It is possible to rebind keys (or sequences of keys) to arbitrary
5658 strings for input, by changing the translations resources for the vt100
5659 or tek4014 widgets. Changing the translations resource for events
5660 other than key and button events is not expected, and will cause
5661 unpredictable behavior.
5662 Actions
5664 The following actions are provided for use within the vt100 or tek4014
5665 translations resources:
5666 allow-bold-fonts(on/off/toggle)
5668 This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowBoldFonts resource
5669 and is also invoked by the allow-bold-fonts entry in fontMenu.
5670 allow-color-ops(on/off/toggle)
5672 This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowColorOps resource
5673 and is also invoked by the allow-color-ops entry in fontMenu.
5674 allow-font-ops(on/off/toggle)
5676 This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowFontOps resource
5677 and is also invoked by the allow-font-ops entry in fontMenu.
5678 allow-mouse-ops(on/off/toggle)
5680 This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowMousepOps resource
5681 and is also invoked by the allow-mouse-ops entry in fontMenu.
5682 allow-send-events(on/off/toggle)
5684 This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowSendEvents
5685 resource and is also invoked by the allowsends entry in
5686 mainMenu.
5687 allow-tcap-ops(on/off/toggle)
5689 This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowTcapOps resource
5690 and is also invoked by the allow-tcap-ops entry in fontMenu.
5691 allow-title-ops(on/off/toggle)
5693 This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowTitleOps resource
5694 and is also invoked by the allow-title-ops entry in fontMenu.
5695 allow-window-ops(on/off/toggle)
5697 This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowWindowOps resource
5698 and is also invoked by the allow-window-ops entry in fontMenu.
5699 alt-sends-escape()
5701 This action toggles the state of the altSendsEscape resource.
5702 bell([percent])
5704 This action rings the keyboard bell at the specified percentage
5705 above or below the base volume.
5706 clear-saved-lines()
5708 This action does hard-reset() and also clears the history of
5709 lines saved off the top of the screen. It is also invoked from
5710 the clearsavedlines entry in vtMenu. The effect is identical
5711 to a hardware reset (RIS) control sequence.
5712 copy-selection(destname [, ...])
5714 This action puts the currently selected text into all of the
5715 selections or cutbuffers specified by destname. Unlike select-
5716 end, it does not send a mouse position or otherwise modify the
5717 internal selection state.
5718 create-menu(m/v/f/t)
5720 This action creates one of the menus used by xterm, if it has
5721 not been previously created. The parameter values are the menu
5722 names: mainMenu, vtMenu, fontMenu, tekMenu, respectively.
5723 dabbrev-expand()
5725 Expands the word before cursor by searching in the preceding
5726 text on the screen and in the scrollback buffer for words
5727 starting with that abbreviation. Repeating dabbrev-expand()
5728 several times in sequence searches for an alternative expansion
5729 by looking farther back. Lack of more matches is signaled by a
5730 bell. Attempts to expand an empty word (i.e., when cursor is
5731 preceded by a space) yield successively all previous words.
5732 Consecutive identical expansions are ignored. The word here is
5733 defined as a sequence of non-whitespace characters. This
5734 feature partially emulates the behavior of “dynamic
5735 abbreviation” expansion in Emacs (bound there to M-/). Here is
5736 a resource setting for xterm which will do the same thing:
5737 *VT100*translations: #override \n\
5739 Meta <KeyPress> /:dabbrev-expand()
5740 deiconify()
5742 Changes the window state back to normal, if it was iconified.
5743 delete-is-del()
5745 This action toggles the state of the deleteIsDEL resource.
5746 dired-button()
5748 Handles a button event (other than press and release) by
5749 echoing the event's position (i.e., character line and column)
5750 in the following format:
5751 ^X ESC G <line+“ ”> <col+“ ”>
5753 dump-html()
5755 Invokes the XHTML Screen Dump feature.
5756 dump-svg()
5758 Invokes the SVG Screen Dump feature.
5759 exec-formatted(format, sourcename [, ...])
5761 Execute an external command, using the current selection for
5762 part of the command's parameters. The first parameter, format
5763 gives the basic command. Succeeding parameters specify the
5764 selection source as in insert-selection.
5765 The format parameter allows these substitutions:
5767 %% inserts a "%".
5769 %P the screen-position at the beginning of the highlighted
5771 region, as a semicolon-separated pair of integers using
5772 the values that the CUP control sequence would use.
5773 %p the screen-position after the beginning of the highlighted
5775 region, using the same convention as “%P”.
5776 %S the length of the string that “%s” would insert.
5778 %s the content of the selection, unmodified.
5780 %T the length of the string that “%t” would insert.
5782 %t the selection, trimmed of leading/trailing whitespace.
5784 Embedded spaces (and newlines) are copied as is.
5785 %R the length of the string that “%r” would insert.
5787 %r the selection, trimmed of trailing whitespace.
5789 %V the video attributes at the beginning of the highlighted
5791 region, as a semicolon-separated list of integers using
5792 the values that the SGR control sequence would use.
5793 %v the video attributes after the end of the highlighted
5795 region, using the same convention as “%V”.
5796 After constructing the command-string, xterm forks a subprocess
5798 and executes the command, which completes independently of
5799 xterm.
5800 For example, this translation would invoke a new xterm process
5802 to view a file whose name is selected while holding the shift
5803 key down. The new process is started when the mouse button is
5804 released:
5805 *VT100*translations: #override Shift \
5807 <Btn1Up>:exec-formatted("xterm -e view '%t'", SELECT)
5808 exec-selectable(format, onClicks)
5810 Execute an external command, using data copied from the screen
5811 for part of the command's parameters. The first parameter,
5812 format gives the basic command as in exec-formatted. The
5813 second parameter specifies the method for copying the data as
5814 in the on2Clicks resource.
5815 fullscreen(on/off/toggle)
5817 This action sets, unsets or toggles the fullscreen resource.
5818 iconify()
5820 Iconifies the window.
5821 hard-reset()
5823 This action resets the scrolling region, tabs, window size, and
5824 cursor keys and clears the screen. It is also invoked from the
5825 hardreset entry in vtMenu.
5826 ignore()
5828 This action ignores the event but checks for special pointer
5829 position escape sequences.
5830 insert()
5832 This action inserts the character or string associated with the
5833 key that was pressed.
5834 insert-eight-bit()
5836 This action inserts an eight-bit (Meta) version of the
5837 character or string associated with the key that was pressed.
5838 Only single-byte values are treated specially. The exact
5839 action depends on the value of the altSendsEscape and the
5840 metaSendsEscape and the eightBitInput resources. The
5841 metaSendsEscape resource is tested first. See the
5842 eightBitInput resource for a full discussion.
5843 The term “eight-bit” is misleading: xterm checks if the key is
5845 in the range 128 to 255 (the eighth bit is set). If the value
5846 is in that range, depending on the resource values, xterm may
5847 then do one of the following:
5848 · add 128 to the value, setting its eighth bit,
5850 · send an ESC byte before the key, or
5852 · send the key unaltered.
5854 insert-formatted(format, sourcename [, ...])
5856 Insert the current selection or data related to it, formatted.
5857 The first parameter, format gives the template for the data as
5858 in exec-formatted. Succeeding parameters specify the selection
5859 source as in insert-selection.
5860 insert-selectable(format, onClicks)
5862 Insert data copied from the screen, formatted. The first
5863 parameter, format gives the template for the data as in exec-
5864 formatted. The second parameter specifies the method for
5865 copying the data as in the on2Clicks resource.
5866 insert-selection(sourcename [, ...])
5868 This action inserts the string found in the selection or
5869 cutbuffer indicated by sourcename. Sources are checked in the
5870 order given (case is significant) until one is found.
5871 Commonly-used selections include: PRIMARY, SECONDARY, and
5872 CLIPBOARD. Cut buffers are typically named CUT_BUFFER0 through
5873 CUT_BUFFER7.
5874 insert-seven-bit()
5876 This action is a synonym for insert(). The term “seven-bit” is
5877 misleading: it only implies that xterm does not try to add 128
5878 to the key's value as in insert-eight-bit().
5879 interpret(control-sequence)
5881 Interpret the given control sequence locally, i.e., without
5882 passing it to the host. This works by inserting the control
5883 sequence at the front of the input buffer. Use “\” to escape
5884 octal digits in the string. Xt does not allow you to put a
5885 null character (i.e., “\000”) in the string.
5886 keymap(name)
5888 This action dynamically defines a new translation table whose
5889 resource name is name with the suffix “Keymap” (i.e.,
5890 nameKeymap, where case is significant). The name None restores
5891 the original translation table.
5892 larger-vt-font()
5894 Set the font to the next larger one, based on the font
5895 dimensions. See also set-vt-font().
5896 load-vt-fonts(name[,class])
5898 Load fontnames from the given subresource name and class. That
5899 is, load the “*VT100.name.font”, resource as “*VT100.font” etc.
5900 If no name is given, the original set of fontnames is restored.
5901 Unlike set-vt-font(), this does not affect the escape- and
5903 select-fonts, since those are not based on resource values. It
5904 does affect the fonts loosely organized under the “Default”
5905 menu entry, including font, boldFont, wideFont and
5906 wideBoldFont.
5907 maximize()
5909 Resizes the window to fill the screen.
5910 meta-sends-escape()
5912 This action toggles the state of the metaSendsEscape resource.
5913 popup-menu(menuname)
5915 This action displays the specified popup menu. Valid names
5916 (case is significant) include: mainMenu, vtMenu, fontMenu, and
5917 tekMenu.
5918 print(printer-flags)
5920 This action prints the window. It is also invoked by the print
5921 entry in mainMenu.
5922 The action accepts optional parameters, which temporarily
5924 override resource settings. The parameter values are matched
5925 ignoring case:
5926 noFormFeed
5928 no form feed will be sent at the end of the last line
5929 printed (i.e., printerFormFeed is “false”).
5930 FormFeed
5932 a form feed will be sent at the end of the last line
5933 printed (i.e., printerFormFeed is “true”).
5934 noNewLine
5936 no newline will be sent at the end of the last line
5937 printed, and wrapped lines will be combined into long
5938 lines (i.e., printerNewLine is “false”).
5939 NewLine
5941 a newline will be sent at the end of the last line
5942 printed, and each line will be limited (by adding a
5943 newline) to the screen width (i.e., printerNewLine is
5944 “true”).
5945 noAttrs
5947 the page is printed without attributes (i.e.,
5948 printAttributes is “0”).
5949 monoAttrs
5951 the page is printed with monochrome (vt220) attributes
5952 (i.e., printAttributes is “1”).
5953 colorAttrs
5955 the page is printed with ANSI color attributes (i.e.,
5956 printAttributes is “2”).
5957 print-everything(printer-flags)
5959 This action sends the entire text history, in addition to the
5960 text currently visible, to the program given in the
5961 printerCommand resource. It allows the same optional
5962 parameters as the print action. With a suitable printer
5963 command, the action can be used to load the text history in an
5964 editor.
5965 print-immediate()
5967 Sends the text of the current window directly to a file, as
5968 specified by the printFileImmediate, printModeImmediate and
5969 printOptsImmediate resources.
5970 print-on-error()
5972 Toggles a flag telling xterm that if it exits with an X error,
5973 to send the text of the current window directly to a file, as
5974 specified by the printFileOnXError, printModeOnXError and
5975 printOptsOnXError resources.
5976 print-redir()
5978 This action toggles the printerControlMode between 0 and 2.
5979 The corresponding popup menu entry is useful for switching the
5980 printer off if you happen to change your mind after deciding to
5981 print random binary files on the terminal.
5982 quit()
5984 This action sends a SIGHUP to the subprogram and exits. It is
5985 also invoked by the quit entry in mainMenu.
5986 readline-button()
5988 Supports the optional readline feature by echoing repeated
5989 cursor forward or backward control sequences on button release
5990 event, to request that the host application update its notion
5991 of the cursor's position to match the button event.
5992 redraw()
5994 This action redraws the window. It is also invoked by the
5995 redraw entry in mainMenu.
5996 restore()
5998 Restores the window to the size before it was last maximized.
5999 scroll-back(count [,units [,mouse] ])
6001 This action scrolls the text window backward so that text that
6002 had previously scrolled off the top of the screen is now
6003 visible.
6004 The count argument indicates the number of units (which may be
6006 page, halfpage, pixel, or line) by which to scroll. If no
6007 count parameter is given, xterm uses the number of lines given
6008 by the scrollLines resource.
6009 An adjustment can be specified for the page or halfpage units
6011 by appending a “+” or “-” sign followed by a number, e.g.,
6012 page-2 to specify 2 lines less than a page.
6013 If the second parameter is omitted “lines” is used.
6015 If the third parameter mouse is given, the action is ignored
6017 when mouse reporting is enabled.
6018 scroll-forw(count [,units [,mouse] ])
6020 This action is similar to scroll-back except that it scrolls in
6021 the other direction.
6022 secure()
6024 This action toggles the Secure Keyboard mode (see SECURITY),
6025 and is invoked from the securekbd entry in mainMenu.
6026 scroll-lock(on/off/toggle)
6028 This action sets, unsets or toggles internal state which tells
6029 xterm whether Scroll Lock is active, subject to the
6030 allowScrollLock resource.
6031 scroll-to(count)
6033 Scroll to the given line relative to the beginning of the
6034 saved-lines. For instance, “scroll-to(0)” would scroll to the
6035 beginning. Two special nonnumeric parameters are recognized:
6036 scroll-to(begin)
6038 Scroll to the beginning of the saved lines.
6039 scroll-to(end)
6041 Scroll to the end of the saved lines, i.e., to the
6042 currently active page.
6043 select-cursor-end(destname [, ...])
6045 This action is similar to select-end except that it should be
6046 used with select-cursor-start.
6047 select-cursor-extend()
6049 This action is similar to select-extend except that it should
6050 be used with select-cursor-start.
6051 select-cursor-start()
6053 This action is similar to select-start except that it begins
6054 the selection at the current text cursor position.
6055 select-end(destname [, ...])
6057 This action puts the currently selected text into all of the
6058 selections or cutbuffers specified by destname. It also sends
6059 a mouse position and updates the internal selection state to
6060 reflect the end of the selection process.
6061 select-extend()
6063 This action tracks the pointer and extends the selection. It
6064 should only be bound to Motion events.
6065 select-set()
6067 This action stores text that corresponds to the current
6068 selection, without affecting the selection mode.
6069 select-start()
6071 This action begins text selection at the current pointer
6072 location. See the section on POINTER USAGE for information on
6073 making selections.
6074 send-signal(signame)
6076 This action sends the signal named by signame to the xterm
6077 subprocess (the shell or program specified with the -e command
6078 line option). It is also invoked by the suspend, continue,
6079 interrupt, hangup, terminate, and kill entries in mainMenu.
6080 Allowable signal names are (case is not significant): tstp (if
6081 supported by the operating system), suspend (same as tstp),
6082 cont (if supported by the operating system), int, hup, term,
6083 quit, alrm, alarm (same as alrm) and kill.
6084 set-8-bit-control(on/off/toggle)
6086 This action sets, unsets or toggles the eightBitControl
6087 resource. It is also invoked from the 8-bit-control entry in
6088 vtMenu.
6089 set-allow132(on/off/toggle)
6091 This action sets, unsets or toggles the c132 resource. It is
6092 also invoked from the allow132 entry in vtMenu.
6093 set-altscreen(on/off/toggle)
6095 This action sets, unsets or toggles between the alternate and
6096 current screens.
6097 set-appcursor(on/off/toggle)
6099 This action sets, unsets or toggles the handling Application
6100 Cursor Key mode and is also invoked by the appcursor entry in
6101 vtMenu.
6102 set-appkeypad(on/off/toggle)
6104 This action sets, unsets or toggles the handling of Application
6105 Keypad mode and is also invoked by the appkeypad entry in
6106 vtMenu.
6107 set-autolinefeed(on/off/toggle)
6109 This action sets, unsets or toggles automatic insertion of line
6110 feeds. It is also invoked by the autolinefeed entry in vtMenu.
6111 set-autowrap(on/off/toggle)
6113 This action sets, unsets or toggles automatic wrapping of long
6114 lines. It is also invoked by the autowrap entry in vtMenu.
6115 set-backarrow(on/off/toggle)
6117 This action sets, unsets or toggles the backarrowKey resource.
6118 It is also invoked from the backarrow key entry in vtMenu.
6119 set-bellIsUrgent(on/off/toggle)
6121 This action sets, unsets or toggles the bellIsUrgent resource.
6122 It is also invoked by the bellIsUrgent entry in vtMenu.
6123 set-cursorblink(on/off/toggle)
6125 This action sets, unsets or toggles the cursorBlink resource.
6126 It is also invoked from the cursorblink entry in vtMenu.
6127 set-cursesemul(on/off/toggle)
6129 This action sets, unsets or toggles the curses resource. It is
6130 also invoked from the cursesemul entry in vtMenu.
6131 set-font-doublesize(on/off/toggle)
6133 This action sets, unsets or toggles the fontDoublesize
6134 resource. It is also invoked by the font-doublesize entry in
6135 fontMenu.
6136 set-hp-function-keys(on/off/toggle)
6138 This action sets, unsets or toggles the hpFunctionKeys
6139 resource. It is also invoked by the hpFunctionKeys entry in
6140 mainMenu.
6141 set-jumpscroll(on/off/toggle)
6143 This action sets, unsets or toggles the jumpscroll resource.
6144 It is also invoked by the jumpscroll entry in vtMenu.
6145 set-font-linedrawing(on/off/toggle)
6147 This action sets, unsets or toggles the xterm's state regarding
6148 whether the current font has line-drawing characters and
6149 whether it should draw them directly. It is also invoked by
6150 the font-linedrawing entry in fontMenu.
6151 set-font-packed(on/off/toggle)
6153 This action sets, unsets or toggles the forcePackedFont
6154 resource which controls use of the font's minimum or maximum
6155 glyph width. It is also invoked by the font-packed entry in
6156 fontMenu.
6157 set-keep-clipboard(on/off/toggle)
6159 This action sets, unsets or toggles the keepClipboard resource.
6160 set-keep-selection(on/off/toggle)
6162 This action sets, unsets or toggles the keepSelection resource.
6163 It is also invoked by the keepSelection entry in vtMenu.
6164 set-logging(on/off/toggle)
6166 This action sets, unsets or toggles the state of the logging
6167 option.
6168 set-old-function-keys(on/off/toggle)
6170 This action sets, unsets or toggles the state of legacy
6171 function keys. It is also invoked by the oldFunctionKeys entry
6172 in mainMenu.
6173 set-marginbell(on/off/toggle)
6175 This action sets, unsets or toggles the marginBell resource.
6176 set-num-lock(on/off/toggle)
6178 This action toggles the state of the numLock resource.
6179 set-pop-on-bell(on/off/toggle)
6181 This action sets, unsets or toggles the popOnBell resource. It
6182 is also invoked by the poponbell entry in vtMenu.
6183 set-private-colors(on/off/toggle)
6185 This action sets, unsets or toggles the privateColorRegisters
6186 resource.
6187 set-render-font(on/off/toggle)
6189 This action sets, unsets or toggles the renderFont resource.
6190 It is also invoked by the render-font entry in fontMenu.
6191 set-reverse-video(on/off/toggle)
6193 This action sets, unsets or toggles the reverseVideo resource.
6194 It is also invoked by the reversevideo entry in vtMenu.
6195 set-reversewrap(on/off/toggle)
6197 This action sets, unsets or toggles the reverseWrap resource.
6198 It is also invoked by the reversewrap entry in vtMenu.
6199 set-scroll-on-key(on/off/toggle)
6201 This action sets, unsets or toggles the scrollKey resource. It
6202 is also invoked from the scrollkey entry in vtMenu.
6203 set-scroll-on-tty-output(on/off/toggle)
6205 This action sets, unsets or toggles the scrollTtyOutput
6206 resource. It is also invoked from the scrollttyoutput entry in
6207 vtMenu.
6208 set-scrollbar(on/off/toggle)
6210 This action sets, unsets or toggles the scrollbar resource. It
6211 is also invoked by the scrollbar entry in vtMenu.
6212 set-sco-function-keys(on/off/toggle)
6214 This action sets, unsets or toggles the scoFunctionKeys
6215 resource. It is also invoked by the scoFunctionKeys entry in
6216 mainMenu.
6217 set-select(on/off/toggle)
6219 This action sets, unsets or toggles the selectToClipboard
6220 resource. It is also invoked by the selectToClipboard entry in
6221 vtMenu.
6222 set-sixel-scrolling(on/off/toggle)
6224 This action toggles between inline (sixel scrolling) and
6225 absolute positioning. It can also be controlled via DEC
6226 private mode 80 (DECSDM) or from the sixelScrolling entry in
6227 the btMenu.
6228 set-sun-function-keys(on/off/toggle)
6230 This action sets, unsets or toggles the sunFunctionKeys
6231 resource. It is also invoked by the sunFunctionKeys entry in
6232 mainMenu.
6233 set-sun-keyboard(on/off/toggle)
6235 This action sets, unsets or toggles the sunKeyboard resource.
6236 It is also invoked by the sunKeyboard entry in mainMenu.
6237 set-tek-text(large/2/3/small)
6239 This action sets the font used in the Tektronix window to the
6240 value of the selected resource according to the argument. The
6241 argument can be either a keyword or single-letter alias, as
6242 shown in parentheses:
6243 large (l)
6245 Use resource fontLarge, same as menu entry tektextlarge.
6246 two (2)
6248 Use resource font2, same as menu entry tektext2.
6249 three (3)
6251 Use resource font3, same as menu entry tektext3.
6252 small (s)
6254 Use resource fontSmall, same as menu entry tektextsmall.
6255 set-terminal-type(type)
6257 This action directs output to either the vt or tek windows,
6258 according to the type string. It is also invoked by the
6259 tekmode entry in vtMenu and the vtmode entry in tekMenu.
6260 set-titeInhibit(on/off/toggle)
6262 This action sets, unsets or toggles the titeInhibit resource,
6263 which controls switching between the alternate and current
6264 screens.
6265 set-toolbar(on/off/toggle)
6267 This action sets, unsets or toggles the toolbar feature. It is
6268 also invoked by the toolbar entry in mainMenu.
6269 set-utf8-fonts(on/off/toggle)
6271 This action sets, unsets or toggles the utf8Fonts resource. It
6272 is also invoked by the utf8-fonts entry in fontMenu.
6273 set-utf8-mode(on/off/toggle)
6275 This action sets, unsets or toggles the utf8 resource. It is
6276 also invoked by the utf8-mode entry in fontMenu.
6277 set-utf8-title(on/off/toggle)
6279 This action sets, unsets or toggles the utf8Title resource. It
6280 is also invoked by the utf8-title entry in fontMenu.
6281 set-visibility(vt/tek,on/off/toggle)
6283 This action sets, unsets or toggles whether or not the vt or
6284 tek windows are visible. It is also invoked from the tekshow
6285 and vthide entries in vtMenu and the vtshow and tekhide entries
6286 in tekMenu.
6287 set-visual-bell(on/off/toggle)
6289 This action sets, unsets or toggles the visualBell resource.
6290 It is also invoked by the visualbell entry in vtMenu.
6291 set-vt-font(d/1/2/3/4/5/6/e/s [,normalfont [, boldfont]])
6293 This action sets the font or fonts currently being used in the
6294 VTxxx window. The first argument is a single character that
6295 specifies the font to be used:
6296 d or D indicate the default font (the font initially used when
6298 xterm was started),
6299 1 through 6 indicate the fonts specified by the font1 through
6301 font6 resources,
6302 e or E indicate the normal and bold fonts that have been set
6304 through escape codes (or specified as the second and
6305 third action arguments, respectively), and
6306 s or S indicate the font selection (as made by programs such as
6308 xfontsel(1)) indicated by the second action argument.
6309 If xterm is configured to support wide characters, an
6311 additional two optional parameters are recognized for the e
6312 argument: wide font and wide bold font.
6313 smaller-vt-font()
6315 Set the font to the next smaller one, based on the font
6316 dimensions. See also set-vt-font().
6317 soft-reset()
6319 This action resets the scrolling region. It is also invoked
6320 from the softreset entry in vtMenu. The effect is identical to
6321 a soft reset (DECSTR) control sequence.
6322 spawn-new-terminal(params)
6324 Spawn a new xterm process. This is available on systems which
6325 have a modern version of the process filesystem, e.g., “/proc”,
6326 which xterm can read.
6327 Use the “cwd” process entry, e.g., /proc/12345/cwd to obtain
6329 the working directory of the process which is running in the
6330 current xterm.
6331 On systems which have the “exe” process entry, e.g.,
6333 /proc/12345/exe, use this to obtain the actual executable.
6334 Otherwise, use the $PATH variable to find xterm.
6335 If parameters are given in the action, pass them to the new
6337 xterm process.
6338 start-extend()
6340 This action is similar to select-start except that the
6341 selection is extended to the current pointer location.
6342 start-cursor-extend()
6344 This action is similar to select-extend except that the
6345 selection is extended to the current text cursor position.
6346 string(string)
6348 This action inserts the specified text string as if it had been
6349 typed. Quotation is necessary if the string contains
6350 whitespace or non-alphanumeric characters. If the string
6351 argument begins with the characters “0x”, it is interpreted as
6352 a hex character constant.
6353 tek-copy()
6355 This action copies the escape codes used to generate the
6356 current window contents to a file in the current directory
6357 beginning with the name COPY. It is also invoked from the
6358 tekcopy entry in tekMenu.
6359 tek-page()
6361 This action clears the Tektronix window. It is also invoked by
6362 the tekpage entry in tekMenu.
6363 tek-reset()
6365 This action resets the Tektronix window. It is also invoked by
6366 the tekreset entry in tekMenu.
6367 vi-button()
6369 Handles a button event (other than press and release) by
6370 echoing a control sequence computed from the event's line
6371 number in the screen relative to the current line:
6372 ESC ^P
6374 or
6376 ESC ^N
6378 according to whether the event is before, or after the current
6380 line, respectively. The ^N (or ^P) is repeated once for each
6381 line that the event differs from the current line. The control
6382 sequence is omitted altogether if the button event is on the
6383 current line.
6384 visual-bell()
6386 This action flashes the window quickly.
6387 The Tektronix window also has the following action:
6389 gin-press(l/L/m/M/r/R)
6391 This action sends the indicated graphics input code.
6392 Default Key Bindings
6394 The default bindings in the VTxxx window use the SELECT token, which is
6395 set by the selectToClipboard resource. These are for the vt100 widget:
6396 Shift <KeyPress> Prior:scroll-back(1,halfpage) \n\
6398 Shift <KeyPress> Next:scroll-forw(1,halfpage) \n\
6399 Shift <KeyPress> Select:select-cursor-start() \
6400 select-cursor-end(SELECT, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
6401 Shift <KeyPress> Insert:insert-selection(SELECT, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
6402 Alt <Key>Return:fullscreen() \n\
6403 <KeyRelease> Scroll_Lock:scroll-lock() \n\
6404 Shift~Ctrl <KeyPress> KP_Add:larger-vt-font() \n\
6405 Shift Ctrl <KeyPress> KP_Add:smaller-vt-font() \n\
6406 Shift <KeyPress> KP_Subtract:smaller-vt-font() \n\
6407 ~Meta <KeyPress>:insert-seven-bit() \n\
6408 Meta <KeyPress>:insert-eight-bit() \n\
6409 !Ctrl <Btn1Down>:popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
6410 !Lock Ctrl <Btn1Down>:popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
6411 !Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn1Down>:popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
6412 ! @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn1Down>:popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
6413 ~Meta <Btn1Down>:select-start() \n\
6414 ~Meta <Btn1Motion>:select-extend() \n\
6415 !Ctrl <Btn2Down>:popup-menu(vtMenu) \n\
6416 !Lock Ctrl <Btn2Down>:popup-menu(vtMenu) \n\
6417 !Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn2Down>:popup-menu(vtMenu) \n\
6418 ! @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn2Down>:popup-menu(vtMenu) \n\
6419 ~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn2Down>:ignore() \n\
6420 Meta <Btn2Down>:clear-saved-lines() \n\
6421 ~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn2Up>:insert-selection(SELECT, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
6422 !Ctrl <Btn3Down>:popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
6423 !Lock Ctrl <Btn3Down>:popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
6424 !Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn3Down>:popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
6425 ! @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn3Down>:popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
6426 ~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn3Down>:start-extend() \n\
6427 ~Meta <Btn3Motion>:select-extend() \n\
6428 Ctrl <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
6429 Lock Ctrl <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
6430 Lock @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
6431 @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
6432 <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(5,line,m) \n\
6433 Ctrl <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
6434 Lock Ctrl <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
6435 Lock @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
6436 @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
6437 <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(5,line,m) \n\
6438 <BtnUp>:select-end(SELECT, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
6439 <BtnDown>:ignore()
6440 The default bindings in the Tektronix window are analogous but less
6442 extensive. These are for the tek4014 widget:
6443 ~Meta<KeyPress>: insert-seven-bit() \n\
6445 Meta<KeyPress>: insert-eight-bit() \n\
6446 !Ctrl <Btn1Down>: popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
6447 !Lock Ctrl <Btn1Down>: popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
6448 !Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn1Down>: popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
6449 !Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn1Down>: popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
6450 !Ctrl <Btn2Down>: popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
6451 !Lock Ctrl <Btn2Down>: popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
6452 !Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn2Down>: popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
6453 !Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn2Down>: popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
6454 Shift ~Meta<Btn1Down>: gin-press(L) \n\
6455 ~Meta<Btn1Down>: gin-press(l) \n\
6456 Shift ~Meta<Btn2Down>: gin-press(M) \n\
6457 ~Meta<Btn2Down>: gin-press(m) \n\
6458 Shift ~Meta<Btn3Down>: gin-press(R) \n\
6459 ~Meta<Btn3Down>: gin-press(r)
6460 Custom Key Bindings
6462 You can modify the translations resource by overriding parts of it, or
6463 merging your resources with it.
6464 Here is an example which uses shifted select/paste to copy to the
6466 clipboard, and unshifted select/paste for the primary selection. In
6467 each case, a (different) cut buffer is also a target or source of the
6468 select/paste operation. It is important to remember however, that cut
6469 buffers store data in ISO-8859-1 encoding, while selections can store
6470 data in a variety of formats and encodings. While xterm owns the
6471 selection, it highlights it. When it loses the selection, it removes
6472 the corresponding highlight. But you can still paste from the
6473 corresponding cut buffer.
6474 *VT100*translations: #override \n\
6476 ~Shift~Ctrl<Btn2Up>: insert-selection(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
6477 Shift~Ctrl<Btn2Up>: insert-selection(CLIPBOARD, CUT_BUFFER1) \n\
6478 ~Shift <BtnUp> : select-end(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
6479 Shift <BtnUp> : select-end(CLIPBOARD, CUT_BUFFER1)
6480 In the example, the class name VT100 is used rather than the widget
6482 name. These are different; a class name could apply to more than one
6483 widget. A leading “*” is used because the widget hierarchy above the
6484 vt100 widget depends on whether the toolbar support is compiled into
6485 xterm.
6486 Most of the predefined translations are related to the mouse, with a
6488 few that use some of the special keys on the keyboard. Applications
6489 use special keys (function-keys, cursor-keys, keypad-keys) with
6490 modifiers (shift, control, alt). If xterm defines a translation for a
6491 given combination of special key and modifier, that makes it
6492 unavailable for use by applications within the terminal. For instance,
6493 one might extend the use of Page Up and Page Down keys seen here:
6494 Shift <KeyPress> Prior : scroll-back(1,halfpage) \n\
6496 Shift <KeyPress> Next : scroll-forw(1,halfpage) \n\
6497 to the Home and End keys:
6499 Shift <KeyPress> Home : scroll-to(begin) \n\
6501 Shift <KeyPress> End : scroll-to(end)
6502 but then shift-Home and shift-End would then be unavailable to
6504 applications.
6505 Not everyone finds the three-button mouse bindings easy to use. In a
6507 wheel mouse, the middle button might be the wheel. As an alternative,
6508 you could add a binding using shifted keys:
6509 *VT100*translations: #override \n\
6511 Shift <Key>Home: copy-selection(SELECT) \n\
6512 Shift <Key>Insert: copy-selection(SELECT) \n\
6513 Ctrl Shift <Key>C: copy-selection(SELECT) \n\
6514 Ctrl Shift <Key>V: insert-selection(SELECT)
6515 You would still use the left- and right-mouse buttons (typically 1 and
6517 3) for beginning and extending selections.
6518 Besides mouse problems, there are also keyboards with inconvenient
6520 layouts. Some lack a numeric keypad, making it hard to use the shifted
6521 keypad plus and minus bindings for switching between font sizes. You
6522 can work around that by assigning the actions to more readily accessed
6523 keys:
6524 *VT100*translations: #override \n\
6526 Ctrl <Key> +: larger-vt-font() \n\
6527 Ctrl <Key> -: smaller-vt-font()
6528 The keymap feature allows you to switch between sets of translations.
6530 The sample below shows how the keymap() action may be used to add
6531 special keys for entering commonly-typed words:
6532 *VT100.Translations: #override <Key>F13: keymap(dbx)
6534 *VT100.dbxKeymap.translations: \
6535 <Key>F14: keymap(None) \n\
6536 <Key>F17: string("next") \n\
6537 string(0x0d) \n\
6538 <Key>F18: string("step") \n\
6539 string(0x0d) \n\
6540 <Key>F19: string("continue") \n\
6541 string(0x0d) \n\
6542 <Key>F20: string("print ") \n\
6543 insert-selection(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0)
6544 Default Scrollbar Bindings
6546 Key bindings are normally associated with the vt100 or tek4014 widgets
6547 which act as terminal emulators. Xterm's scrollbar (and toolbar if it
6548 is configured) are separate widgets. Because all of these use the X
6549 Toolkit, they have corresponding translations resources. Those
6550 resources are distinct, and match different patterns, e.g., the
6551 differences in widget-name and number of levels of widgets which they
6552 may contain.
6553 The scrollbar widget is a child of the vt100 widget. It is positioned
6555 on top of the vt100 widget. Toggling the scrollbar on and off causes
6556 the vt100 widget to resize.
6557 The default bindings for the scrollbar widget use only mouse-button
6559 events:
6560 <Btn5Down>: StartScroll(Forward) \n\
6562 <Btn1Down>: StartScroll(Forward) \n\
6563 <Btn2Down>: StartScroll(Continuous) MoveThumb() NotifyThumb() \n\
6564 <Btn3Down>: StartScroll(Backward) \n\
6565 <Btn4Down>: StartScroll(Backward) \n\
6566 <Btn2Motion>: MoveThumb() NotifyThumb() \n\
6567 <BtnUp>: NotifyScroll(Proportional) EndScroll()
6568 Events which the scrollbar widget does not recognize at all are lost.
6570 However, at startup, xterm augments these translations with the default
6572 translations used for the vt100 widget, together with the resource
6573 “actions” which those translations use. Because the scrollbar (or
6574 menubar) widgets do not recognize these actions (but because it has a
6575 corresponding translation), they are passed on to the vt100 widget.
6576 This augmenting of the scrollbar's translations has a few limitations:
6578 · Xterm knows what the default translations are, but there is no
6580 suitable library interface for determining what customizations a
6581 user may have added to the vt100 widget. All that xterm can do is
6582 augment the scrollbar widget to give it the same starting point for
6583 further customization by the user.
6584 · Events in the gap between the widgets may be lost.
6586 · Compose sequences begun in one widget cannot be completed in the
6588 other, because the input methods for each widget do not share
6589 context information.
6590 Most customizations of the scrollbar translations do not concern key
6592 bindings. Rather, users are generally more interested in changing the
6593 bindings of the mouse buttons. For example, some people prefer using
6594 the left pointer button for dragging the scrollbar thumb. That can be
6595 set up by altering the translations resource, e.g.,
6596 *VT100.scrollbar.translations: #override \n\
6598 <Btn5Down>: StartScroll(Forward) \n\
6599 <Btn1Down>: StartScroll(Continuous) MoveThumb() NotifyThumb() \n\
6600 <Btn4Down>: StartScroll(Backward) \n\
6601 <Btn1Motion>: MoveThumb() NotifyThumb() \n\
6602 <BtnUp>: NotifyScroll(Proportional) EndScroll()
6603
6605 Applications can send sequences of characters to the terminal to change
6606 its behavior. Often they are referred to as “ANSI escape sequences” or
6607 just plain “escape sequences” but both terms are misleading:
6608 · ANSI x3.64 (obsolete) which was replaced by ISO 6429 (ECMA-48) gave
6610 rules for the format of these sequences of characters.
6611 · While the original VT100 was claimed to be ANSI-compatible (against
6613 x3.64), there is no freely available version of the ANSI standard
6614 to show where the VT100 differs. Most of the documents which
6615 mention the ANSI standard have additions not found in the original
6616 (such as those based on ansi.sys). So this discussion focuses on
6617 the ISO standards.
6618 · The standard describes only sequences sent from the host to the
6620 terminal. There is no standard for sequences sent by special keys
6621 from the terminal to the host. By convention (and referring to
6622 existing terminals), the format of those sequences usually conforms
6623 to the host-to-terminal standard.
6624 · Some of xterm's sequences do not fit into the standard scheme.
6626 Technically those are “unspecified”. As an example, DEC Screen
6627 Alignment Test (DECALN) is this three-character sequence:
6628 ESC # 8
6630 · Some sequences fit into the standard format, but are not listed in
6632 the standard. These include the sequences used for setting up
6633 scrolling margins and doing forward/reverse scrolling.
6634 · Some of the sequences (in particular, the single-character
6636 functions such as tab and backspace) do not include the escape
6637 character.
6638 With all of that in mind, the standard refers to these sequences of
6640 characters as “control sequences”.
6641 Xterm Control Sequences lists the control sequences which an
6643 application can send xterm to make it perform various operations. Most
6644 of these operations are standardized, from either the DEC or Tektronix
6645 terminals, or from more widely used standards such as ISO-6429.
6646 A few examples of usage are given in this section.
6648 Window and Icon Titles
6650 Some scripts use echo with options -e and -n to tell the shell to
6651 interpret the string “\e” as the escape character and to suppress a
6652 trailing newline on output. Those are not portable, nor recommended.
6653 Instead, use printf (POSIX).
6654 For example, to set the window title to “Hello world!”, you could use
6656 one of these commands in a script:
6657 printf '\033]2;Hello world!\033\'
6659 printf '\033]2;Hello world!\007'
6660 printf '\033]2;%s\033\' "Hello world!"
6661 printf '\033]2;%s\007' "Hello world!"
6662 The printf command interprets the octal value “\033” for escape, and
6664 (since it was not given in the format) omits a trailing newline from
6665 the output.
6666 Some programs (such as screen(1)) set both window- and icon-titles at
6668 the same time, using a slightly different control sequence:
6669 printf '\033]0;Hello world!\033\'
6671 printf '\033]0;Hello world!\007'
6672 printf '\033]0;%s\033\' "Hello world!"
6673 printf '\033]0;%s\007' "Hello world!"
6674 The difference is the parameter “0” in each command. Most window
6676 managers will honor either window title or icon title. Some will make
6677 a distinction and allow you to set just the icon title. You can tell
6678 xterm to ask for this with a different parameter in the control
6679 sequence:
6680 printf '\033]1;Hello world!\033\'
6682 printf '\033]1;Hello world!\007'
6683 printf '\033]1;%s\033\' "Hello world!"
6684 printf '\033]1;%s\007' "Hello world!"
6685 Special Keys
6687 Xterm, like any VT100-compatible terminal emulator, has two modes for
6688 the special keys (cursor-keys, numeric keypad, and certain function-
6689 keys):
6690 · normal mode, which makes the special keys transmit “useful”
6692 sequences such as the control sequence for cursor-up when pressing
6693 the up-arrow, and
6694 · application mode, which uses a different control sequence that
6696 cannot be mistaken for the “useful” sequences.
6697 The main difference between the two modes is that normal mode sequences
6699 start with CSI (escape [) and application mode sequences start with SS3
6700 (escape O).
6701 The terminal is initialized into one of these two modes (usually the
6703 normal mode), based on the terminal description (termcap or terminfo).
6704 The terminal description also has capabilities (strings) defined for
6705 the keypad mode used in curses applications.
6706 There is a problem in using the terminal description for applications
6708 that are not intended to be full-screen curses applications: the
6709 definitions of special keys are only correct for this keypad mode. For
6710 example, some shells (unlike ksh(1), which appears to be hard-coded,
6711 not even using termcap) allow their users to customize key-bindings,
6712 assigning shell actions to special keys.
6713 · bash(1) allows constant strings to be assigned to functions. This
6715 is only successful if the terminal is initialized to application
6716 mode by default, because bash lacks flexibility in this area. It
6717 uses a (less expressive than bash's) readline scripting language
6718 for setting up key bindings, which relies upon the user to
6719 statically enumerate the possible bindings for given values of
6720 $TERM.
6721 · zsh(1) provides an analogous feature, but it accepts runtime
6723 expressions, as well as providing a $terminfo array for scripts.
6724 In particular, one can use the terminal database, transforming when
6725 defining a key-binding. By transforming the output so that CSI and
6726 SS3 are equated, zsh can use the terminal database to obtain useful
6727 definitions for its command-line use regardless of whether the
6728 terminal uses normal or application mode initially. Here is an
6729 example:
6730 [[ "$terminfo[kcuu1]" == "^[O"* ]] && \
6732 bindkey -M viins "${terminfo[kcuu1]/O/[}" \
6733 vi-up-line-or-history
6734 Changing Colors
6736 A few shell programs provide the ability for users to add color and
6737 other video attributes to the shell prompt strings. Users can do this
6738 by setting $PS1 (the primary prompt string). Again, bash and zsh have
6739 provided features not found in ksh. There is a problem, however: the
6740 prompt's width on the screen will not necessarily be the same as the
6741 number of characters. Because there is no guidance in the POSIX
6742 standard, each shell addresses the problem in a different way:
6743 · bash treats characters within “\[” and “\]” as nonprinting (using
6745 no width on the screen).
6746 · zsh treats characters within “%{” and “%}” as nonprinting.
6748 In addition to the difference in syntax, the shells provide different
6750 methods for obtaining useful escape sequences:
6751 · As noted in Special Keys, zsh initializes the $terminfo array with
6753 the terminal capabilities.
6754 It also provides a function echoti which works like tput(1) to
6756 convert a terminal capability with its parameters into a string
6757 that can be written to the terminal.
6758 · Shells lacking a comparable feature (such as bash) can always use
6760 the program tput to do this transformation.
6761 Hard-coded escape sequences are supported by each shell, but are not
6763 recommended because those rely upon particular configurations and
6764 cannot be easily moved between different user environments.
6765
6767 Xterm sets several environment variables.
6768 System Independent
6770 Some variables are used on every system:
6771 DISPLAY
6773 is the display name, pointing to the X server (see DISPLAY NAMES
6774 in X(7)).
6775 TERM
6777 is set according to the terminfo (or termcap) entry which it is
6778 using as a reference.
6779 On some systems, you may encounter situations where the shell
6781 which you use and xterm are built using libraries with different
6782 terminal databases. In that situation, xterm may choose a
6783 terminal description not known to the shell.
6784 WINDOWID
6786 is set to the X window id number of the xterm window.
6787 XTERM_FILTER
6789 is set if a locale-filter is used. The value is the pathname of
6790 the filter.
6791 XTERM_LOCALE
6793 shows the locale which was used by xterm on startup. Some shell
6794 initialization scripts may set a different locale.
6795 XTERM_SHELL
6797 is set to the pathname of the program which is invoked. Usually
6798 that is a shell program, e.g., /bin/sh. Since it is not
6799 necessarily a shell program however, it is distinct from “SHELL”.
6800 XTERM_VERSION
6802 is set to the string displayed by the -version option. That is
6803 normally an identifier for the X Window libraries used to build
6804 xterm, followed by xterm's patch number in parenthesis. The patch
6805 number is also part of the response to a Secondary Device
6806 Attributes (DA) control sequence (see Xterm Control Sequences).
6807 System Dependent
6809 Depending on your system configuration, xterm may also set the
6810 following:
6811 COLUMNS
6813 the width of the xterm in characters (cf: “stty columns”).
6814 When this variable is set, curses applications (and most terminal
6816 programs) will assume that the terminal has this many columns.
6817 Xterm would do this for systems which have no ability to tell the
6819 size of the terminal. Those are very rare, none newer than the
6820 mid 1990s when SVR4 became prevalent.
6821 HOME
6823 when xterm is configured (at build-time) to update utmp.
6824 LINES
6826 the height of the xterm in characters (cf: “stty rows”).
6827 When this variable is set, curses applications (and most terminal
6829 programs) will assume that the terminal has this many lines
6830 (rows).
6831 Xterm would do this for systems which have no ability to tell the
6833 size of the terminal. Those are very rare, none newer than the
6834 mid 1990s when SVR4 became prevalent.
6835 LOGNAME
6837 when xterm is configured (at build-time) to update utmp.
6838 Your configuration may have set LOGNAME; xterm does not modify
6840 that. If it is unset, xterm will use USER if it is set. Finally,
6841 if neither is set, xterm will use the getlogin(3) function.
6842 SHELL
6844 when xterm is configured (at build-time) to update utmp. It is
6845 also set if you provide a valid shell name as the optional
6846 parameter.
6847 Xterm sets this to an absolute pathname. If you have set the
6849 variable to a relative pathname, xterm may set it to a different
6850 shell pathname.
6851 If you have set this to an pathname which does not correspond to a
6853 valid shell, xterm may unset it, to avoid confusion.
6854 TERMCAP
6856 the contents of the termcap entry corresponding to $TERM, with
6857 lines and columns values substituted for the actual size window
6858 you have created.
6859 This feature is, like LINES and COLUMNS, used rarely. It
6861 addresses the same limitation of a few older systems by providing
6862 a way for termcap-based applications to get the initial screen
6863 size.
6864 TERMINFO
6866 may be defined to a nonstandard location using the configure
6867 script.
6868
6870 In the output from xprop(1), there are several properties.
6871 Properties set by X Toolkit
6873 WM_CLASS
6874 This shows the instance name and the X resource class, passed to X
6875 Toolkit during initialization of xterm, e.g.,
6876 WM_CLASS(STRING) = "xterm", "UXTerm"
6878 WM_CLIENT_LEADER
6880 This shows the window-id which xterm provides with an environment
6881 variable (WINDOWID), e.g.,
6882 WM_CLIENT_LEADER(WINDOW): window id # 0x800023
6884 WM_COMMAND
6886 This shows the command-line arguments for xterm which are passed
6887 to X Toolkit during initialization, e.g.,
6888 WM_COMMAND(STRING) = { "xterm", "-class", "UXTerm", "-title", "uxterm", "-u8" }
6890 WM_ICON_NAME
6892 This holds the icon title, which different window managers handle
6893 in various ways. It is set via the iconName resource.
6894 Applications can change this using control sequences.
6895 WM_LOCALE_NAME
6897 This shows the result from the setlocale(3) function for the
6898 LC_CTYPE category, e.g.,
6899 WM_LOCALE_NAME(STRING) = "en_US.UTF-8"
6901 WM_NAME
6903 This holds the window title, normally at the top of xterm's
6904 window. It is set via the title resource. Applications can
6905 change this using control sequences.
6906 Properties set by Xterm
6908 X Toolkit does not manage EWMH properties. Xterm does this directly.
6909 _NET_WM_ICON_NAME
6911 stores the icon name.
6912 _NET_WM_NAME
6914 stores the title string.
6915 _NET_WM_PID
6917 stores the process identifier for xterm's display.
6918 Properties used by Xterm
6920 _NET_SUPPORTED
6921 Xterm checks this property on the supporting window to decide if
6922 the window manager supports specific maximizing styles. That may
6923 include other window manager hints; xterm uses the X library calls
6924 to manage those.
6925 _NET_SUPPORTING_WM_CHECK
6927 Xterm checks this to ensure that it will only update the EWMH
6928 properties for a window manager which claims EWMH compliance.
6929 _NET_WM_STATE
6931 This tells xterm whether its window has been maximized by the
6932 window manager, and if so, what type of maximizing:
6933 _NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN
6935 _NET_WM_STATE_MAXIMIZED_HORZ
6937 _NET_WM_STATE_MAXIMIZED_VERT
6939
6941 The actual pathnames given may differ on your system.
6942 /etc/shells
6944 contains a list of valid shell programs, used by xterm to decide
6945 if the “SHELL” environment variable should be set for the process
6946 started by xterm.
6947 On systems which have the getusershell function, xterm will use
6949 that function rather than directly reading the file, since the
6950 file may not be present if the system uses default settings.
6951 /etc/utmp
6953 the system log file, which records user logins.
6954 /etc/wtmp
6956 the system log file, which records user logins and logouts.
6957 /usr/share/X11/app-defaults/XTerm
6959 the xterm default application resources.
6960 /usr/share/X11/app-defaults/XTerm-color
6962 the xterm color application resources. If your display supports
6963 color, use this
6964 *customization: -color
6966 in your .Xdefaults file to automatically use this resource file
6968 rather than /usr/share/X11/app-defaults/XTerm. If you do not do
6969 this, xterm uses its compiled-in default resource settings for
6970 colors.
6971 /usr/share/pixmaps
6973 the directory in which xterm's pixmap icon files are installed.
6974
6976 Most of the fatal error messages from xterm use the following format:
6977 xterm: Error XXX, errno YYY: ZZZ
6979 The XXX codes (which are used by xterm as its exit-code) are listed
6981 below, with a brief explanation.
6982 1 is used for miscellaneous errors, usually accompanied by a
6984 specific message,
6985 11 ERROR_FIONBIO
6987 main: ioctl() failed on FIONBIO
6988 12 ERROR_F_GETFL
6990 main: ioctl() failed on F_GETFL
6991 13 ERROR_F_SETFL
6993 main: ioctl() failed on F_SETFL
6994 14 ERROR_OPDEVTTY
6996 spawn: open() failed on /dev/tty
6997 15 ERROR_TIOCGETP
6999 spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCGETP
7000 17 ERROR_PTSNAME
7002 spawn: ptsname() failed
7003 18 ERROR_OPPTSNAME
7005 spawn: open() failed on ptsname
7006 19 ERROR_PTEM
7008 spawn: ioctl() failed on I_PUSH/"ptem"
7009 20 ERROR_CONSEM
7011 spawn: ioctl() failed on I_PUSH/"consem"
7012 21 ERROR_LDTERM
7014 spawn: ioctl() failed on I_PUSH/"ldterm"
7015 22 ERROR_TTCOMPAT
7017 spawn: ioctl() failed on I_PUSH/"ttcompat"
7018 23 ERROR_TIOCSETP
7020 spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCSETP
7021 24 ERROR_TIOCSETC
7023 spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCSETC
7024 25 ERROR_TIOCSETD
7026 spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCSETD
7027 26 ERROR_TIOCSLTC
7029 spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCSLTC
7030 27 ERROR_TIOCLSET
7032 spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCLSET
7033 28 ERROR_INIGROUPS
7035 spawn: initgroups() failed
7036 29 ERROR_FORK
7038 spawn: fork() failed
7039 30 ERROR_EXEC
7041 spawn: exec() failed
7042 32 ERROR_PTYS
7044 get_pty: not enough ptys
7045 34 ERROR_PTY_EXEC
7047 waiting for initial map
7048 35 ERROR_SETUID
7050 spawn: setuid() failed
7051 36 ERROR_INIT
7053 spawn: can't initialize window
7054 46 ERROR_TIOCKSET
7056 spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCKSET
7057 47 ERROR_TIOCKSETC
7059 spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCKSETC
7060 49 ERROR_LUMALLOC
7062 luit: command-line malloc failed
7063 50 ERROR_SELECT
7065 in_put: select() failed
7066 54 ERROR_VINIT
7068 VTInit: can't initialize window
7069 57 ERROR_KMMALLOC1
7071 HandleKeymapChange: malloc failed
7072 60 ERROR_TSELECT
7074 Tinput: select() failed
7075 64 ERROR_TINIT
7077 TekInit: can't initialize window
7078 71 ERROR_BMALLOC2
7080 SaltTextAway: malloc() failed
7081 80 ERROR_LOGEXEC
7083 StartLog: exec() failed
7084 83 ERROR_XERROR
7086 xerror: XError event
7087 84 ERROR_XIOERROR
7089 xioerror: X I/O error
7090 85 ERROR_ICEERROR
7092 ICE I/O error
7093 90 ERROR_SCALLOC
7095 Alloc: calloc() failed on base
7096 91 ERROR_SCALLOC2
7098 Alloc: calloc() failed on rows
7099 102 ERROR_SAVE_PTR
7101 ScrnPointers: malloc/realloc() failed
7102
7104 Large pastes do not work on some systems. This is not a bug in xterm;
7105 it is a bug in the pseudo terminal driver of those systems. Xterm
7106 feeds large pastes to the pty only as fast as the pty will accept data,
7107 but some pty drivers do not return enough information to know if the
7108 write has succeeded.
7109 When connected to an input method, it is possible for xterm to hang if
7111 the XIM server is suspended or killed.
7112 Many of the options are not resettable after xterm starts.
7114 This program still needs to be rewritten. It should be split into very
7116 modular sections, with the various emulators being completely separate
7117 widgets that do not know about each other. Ideally, you'd like to be
7118 able to pick and choose emulator widgets and stick them into a single
7119 control widget.
7120 There needs to be a dialog box to allow entry of the Tek COPY file
7122 name.
7123
7125 resize(1), luit(1), uxterm(1), X(7), pty(4), tty(4)
7126 Xterm Control Sequences (this is the file ctlseqs.ms).
7128 https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.html
7130 https://invisible-island.net/xterm/manpage/xterm.html
7131 https://invisible-island.net/xterm/ctlseqs/ctlseqs.html
7132 https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.faq.html
7133 https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.log.html
7134 X Toolkit Intrinsics – C Language Interface (Xt),
7136 Joel McCormack, Paul Asente, Ralph R. Swick (1994),
7137 Thomas E. Dickey (2019).
7138 Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual (ICCCM),
7140 David Rosenthal and Stuart W. Marks (version 2.0, 1994).
7141 Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH),
7143 X Desktop Group (version 1.3, 2005).
7144 EWMH uses UTF8_STRING pervasively without defining it, but does mention
7146 the ICCCM. Version 2.0 of the ICCCM does not address UTF-8. That is
7147 an extension added in XFree86.
7148 · Markus Kuhn summarized this in UTF-8 and Unicode FAQ for Unix/Linux
7150 (2001), in the section “Is X11 ready for Unicode?”
7151 https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html
7153 · Juliusz Chroboczek proposed the UTF8_STRING selection atom in
7155 1999/2000, which became part of the ICCCM in XFree86.
7156 https://www.irif.fr/~jch/software/UTF8_STRING/
7158 An Xorg developer removed that part of the documentation in 2004
7160 when incorporating other work from XFree86 into Xorg. The feature
7161 is still supported in Xorg, though undocumented as of 2019.
7162
7164 Far too many people.
7165 These contributed to the X Consortium: Loretta Guarino Reid (DEC-UEG-
7167 WSL), Joel McCormack (DEC-UEG-WSL), Terry Weissman (DEC-UEG-WSL),
7168 Edward Moy (Berkeley), Ralph R. Swick (MIT-Athena), Mark Vandevoorde
7169 (MIT-Athena), Bob McNamara (DEC-MAD), Jim Gettys (MIT-Athena), Bob
7170 Scheifler (MIT X Consortium), Doug Mink (SAO), Steve Pitschke
7171 (Stellar), Ron Newman (MIT-Athena), Jim Fulton (MIT X Consortium), Dave
7172 Serisky (HP), Jonathan Kamens (MIT-Athena).
7173 Beginning with XFree86, there were far more identifiable contributors.
7175 The THANKS file in xterm's source lists 211 at the end of 2018. Keep
7176 in mind these: Jason Bacon, Jens Schweikhardt, Ross Combs, Stephen P.
7177 Wall, David Wexelblat, and Thomas Dickey (invisible-island.net).
7178Patch #351 2019-11-17 XTERM(1)