RXVT(1) X Tools RXVT(1)NAMErxvt (ouR XVT) - a VT102 emulator for the X window system
SYNOPSISrxvt [options] [-e command [ args ]]
DESCRIPTION
rxvt, version 2.7.8, is a colour vt102 terminal emulator
intended as an xterm(1) replacement for users who do not
require features such as Tektronix 4014 emulation and
toolkit-style configurability. As a result, rxvt uses
much less swap space -- a significant advantage on a
machine serving many X sessions.
OPTIONS
The rxvt options (mostly a subset of xterms) are listed
below. In keeping with the smaller-is-better philosophy,
options may be eliminated or default values chosen at com
pile-time, so options and defaults listed may not accu
rately reflect the version installed on your system.
`rxvt -h gives a list of major compile-time options on
the Options line. Option descriptions may be prefixed
with which compile option each is dependent upon. e.g.
`Compile XIM: requires XIM on the Options line. Note:
`rxvt -help gives a list of all command-line options com
piled into your version.
Note that rxvt permits the resource name to be used as a
long-option (--/++ option) so the potential command-line
options are far greater than those listed. For example:
`rxvt --loginShell --color1 Orange.
Also note that if you do not explictly specify a font (-fn
and -fm) or a multichar encoding method (-km), rxvt will
select a font for the preferable encoding according to
your locale. Supported encodings are: ISO-8859-n
(n=1...15), KOI8-R, KOI8-U, EUC-JP, Shift_JIS, EUC-KR,
EUC-CN (aka GB), and Big5.
The following options are available:
-help, --help
Print out a message describing available options.
-display displayname
Attempt to open a window on the named X display (-d
still respected). In the absence of this option,
the display specified by the DISPLAY environment
variable is used.
-geometry geom
Window geometry (-g still respected); resource
geometry.
-rv|+rv
Turn on/off simulated reverse video; resource
reverseVideo.
-j|+j Turn on/off jump scrolling; resource jumpScroll.
-ip|+ip
Turn on/off inheriting parent windows pixmap.
Alternative form is -tr; resource inheritPixmap.
-bg colour
Window background colour; resource background.
-fg colour
Window foreground colour; resource foreground.
-pixmap: file[;geom]
Compile XPM: Specify XPM file for the background
and also optionally specify its scaling with a
geometry string. Note you may need to add quotes
to avoid special shell interpretation of the `; in
the command-line; resource backgroundPixmap.
-cr colour
The cursor colour; resource cursorColor.
-pr colour
The mouse pointer colour; resource pointerColor.
-bd colour
The colour of the border between the xterm scroll
bar and the text; resource borderColor.
-fn fontname
Main normal text font; resource font.
-fb fontname
Main bold text font; resource boldFont.
-fm fontname
Main multicharacter font; resource mfont.
-km mode
Compile multichar_languages: Multiple-character
font-set encoding mode; eucj: EUC Japanese encod
ing. sjis: Shift JIS encoding. big5: BIG5 encod
ing. gb: GB encoding. kr: EUC Korean encoding.
noenc: no encoding; resource multichar_encoding.
-grk mode
Compile Greek: Greek keyboard translation; iso:
ISO-8859 mapping. ibm: IBM-437 mapping; resource
greek_keyboard.
-name name
Specify the application name under which resources
are to be obtained, rather than the default exe
cutable file name. Name should not contain `. or
`* characters. Also sets the icon and title name.
-ls|+ls
Start as a login-shell/sub-shell; resource login
Shell.
-ut|+ut
Compile utmp: Inhibit/enable writing a utmp entry;
resource utmpInhibit.
-vb|+vb
Turn on/off visual bell on receipt of a bell char
acter; resource visualBell.
-sb|+sb
Turn on/off scrollbar; resource scrollBar.
-si|+si
Turn on/off scroll-to-bottom on TTY output inhibit;
resource scrollTtyOutput has opposite effect.
-sk|+sk
Turn on/off scroll-to-bottom on keypress; resource
scrollTtyKeypress.
-sw|+sw
Turn on/off scrolling with the scrollback buffer as
new lines appear. This only takes effect if -si is
also given; resource scrollWithBuffer.
-sr|+sr
Put scrollbar on right/left; resource scroll
Bar_right.
-st|+st
Display normal (non XTerm/NeXT) scrollbar with
out/with a trough; resource scrollBar_floating.
-mcc|+mcc
Compile multichar_languages: treat multibyte glyphs
as single character for backspace, delete and cur
sor movement keys; resource multibyte_cursor.
-iconic
Start iconified, if the window manager supports
that option. Alternative form is -ic.
-sl number
Save number lines in the scrollback buffer. See
resource entry for limits; resource saveLines.
-b number
Compile frills: Internal border of number pixels.
See resource entry for limits; resource internal
Border.
-w number
Compile frills: External border of number pixels.
Also, -bw and -borderwidth. See resource entry for
limits; resource externalBorder.
-lsp number
Compile linespace: Lines (pixel height) to insert
between each row of the display; resource lines
pace.
-tn termname
This option specifies the name of the terminal type
to be set in the TERM environment variable. This
terminal type must exist in the termcap(5) database
and should have li# and co# entries; resource
termName.
-e command [arguments]
Run the command with its command-line arguments in
the rxvt window; also sets the window title and
icon name to be the basename of the program being
executed if neither -title (-T) nor -n are given on
the command line. If this option is used, it must
be the last on the command-line. If there is no -e
option then the default is to run the program spec
ified by the SHELL environment variable or, failing
that, sh(1).
-title text
Window title (-T still respected); the default
title is the basename of the program specified
after the -e option, if any, otherwise the applica
tion name; resource title.
-n text
Icon name; the default name is the basename of the
program specified after the -e option, if any, oth
erwise the application name; resource iconName.
-C Capture system console messages.
-pt style
Compile XIM: input style for input method; Over
TheSpot, OffTheSpot, Root; resource preeditType.
-im text
Compile XIM: input method name. resource input
Method.
-mod modifier
Override detection of Meta modifier with specified
key: alt, meta, hyper, super, mod1, mod2, mod3,
mod4, mod5; resource modifier.
-xrm resourcestring
No effect on rxvt. Simply passes through an argu
ment to be made available in the instances argu
ment list. Appears in WM_COMMAND in some window
managers.
RESOURCES (available also as long-options)
Note: `rxvt --help gives a list of all resources (long
options) compiled into your version. If compiled with
internal Xresources support (i.e. rxvt-h lists .Xde
faults) then rxvt accepts application defaults set in XAP
PLOADDIR/Rxvt (compile-time defined: usually
/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/Rxvt) and resources set in
~/.Xdefaults, or ~/.Xresources if ~/.Xdefaults does not
exist. Note that when reading X resources, rxvt recog
nizes two class names: XTerm and Rxvt. The class name
XTerm allows resources common to both rxvt and xterm to be
easily configured, while the class name Rxvt allows
resources unique to rxvt, notably colours and key-han
dling, to be shared between different rxvt configurations.
If no resources are specified, suitable defaults will be
used. Command-line arguments can be used to override
resource settings. The following resources are allowed:
geometry: geom
Create the window with the specified X window geom
etry [default 80x24]; option -geometry.
background: colour
Use the specified colour as the windows background
colour [default White]; option -bg.
foreground: colour
Use the specified colour as the windows foreground
colour [default Black]; option -fg.
colorn: colour
Use the specified colour for the colour value n,
where 0-7 corresponds to low-intensity (normal)
colours and 8-15 corresponds to high-intensity
(bold = bright foreground, blink = bright back
ground) colours. The canonical names are as fol
lows: 0=black, 1=red, 2=green, 3=yellow, 4=blue,
5=magenta, 6=cyan, 7=white, but the actual colour
names used are listed in the COLORS AND GRAPHICS
section.
colorBD: colour
Use the specified colour to display bold characters
when the foreground colour is the default.
colorUL: colour
Use the specified colour to display underlined
characters when the foreground colour is the
default.
colorRV: colour
Use the specified colour as the background for
reverse video characters.
cursorColor: colour
Use the specified colour for the cursor. The
default is to use the foreground colour; option
-cr.
cursorColor2: colour
Use the specified colour for the colour of the cur
sor text. For this to take effect, cursorColor
must also be specified. The default is to use the
background colour.
reverseVideo: boolean
True: simulate reverse video by foreground and
background colours; option -rv. False: regular
screen colours [default]; option +rv. See note in
COLORS AND GRAPHICS section.
jumpScroll: boolean
True: specify that jump scrolling should be used.
When scrolling quickly, fewer screen updates are
performed [default]; option -j. False: specify
that smooth scrolling should be used; option +j.
inheritPixmap: boolean
True: make the background inherit the parent win
dows pixmap, giving artificial transparency.
False: do not inherit the parent windows pixmap.
scrollColor: colour
Use the specified colour for the scrollbar [default
#B2B2B2].
troughColor: colour
Use the specified colour for the scrollbars trough
area [default #969696]. Only relevant for normal
(non XTerm/NeXT) scrollbar.
backgroundPixmap: file[;geom]
Use the specified XPM file (note the `.xpm exten
sion is optional) for the background and also
optionally specify its scaling with a geometry
string WxH+X+Y, in which "W" / "H" specify the hor
izontal/vertical scale (percent) and "X" / "Y"
locate the image centre (percent). A scale of 0
displays the image with tiling. A scale of 1 dis
plays the image without any scaling. A scale of 2
to 9 specifies an integer number of images in that
direction. No image will be magnified beyond 10
times its original size. The maximum permitted
scale is 1000. [default 0x0+50+50]
menu: file[;tag]
Read in the specified menu file (note the `.menu
extension is optional) and also optionally specify
a starting tag to find. See the reference documen
tation for details on the syntax for the menuBar.
path: path
Specify the colon-delimited search path for finding
files (XPM and menus), in addition to the paths
specified by the RXVTPATH and PATH environment
variables.
font: fontname
Select the main text font used [default 7x14];
option -fn.
fontn: fontname
Specify the alternative font n. The default font
values:
boldFont: fontname
Specify the name of the bold font to use if colorBD
has not been specified and it is not possible to
map the default foreground colour to colour 8-15
[default NONE]. This font must be the same height
and width as the normal font; option -fb.
mfont: fontname
Select the main multiple-character text font used
[default k14]; option -fk.
mfontn: fontname
Specify the alternative multiple-character font n.
If compiled for multiple-character fonts, the Roman
and multiple-character font sizes should match.
multichar_encoding: mode
Set the encoding mode to be used when multicharac
ter encoding is received; eucj: EUC Japanese encod
ing [default for Kanji]. sjis: Shift JIS encoding.
big5: BIG5 encoding. gb: GB encoding. kr: EUC
Korean encoding. noenc: no encoding; option -km.
greek_keyboard: mode
Set the Greek keyboard translation mode to be used;
iso: ISO-8859 mapping (elot-928) [default]. ibm:
IBM-437 mapping (DOS codepage 737); option -grk.
greektoggle_key: keysym
Set the key to toggle keyboard input between no
translation and Greek translation [default
Mode_switch]. For more details, see the dis
tributed file README.greek.
selectstyle: mode
Set mouse selection style to old which is 2.20,
oldword which is xterm style with 2.20 old word
selection, or anything else which gives xterm style
selection.
scrollstyle: mode
Set scrollbar style to rxvt, next or xterm
title: string
Set window title string, the default title is the
command-line specified after the -e option, if any,
otherwise the application name; option -title.
iconName: string
Set the name used to label the windows icon or
displayed in an icon manager window, it also sets
the windows title unless it is explicitly set;
option -n.
mapAlert: boolean
True: de-iconify (map) on receipt of a bell charac
ter. False: no de-iconify (map) on receipt of a
bell character [default].
visualBell: boolean
True: use visual bell on receipt of a bell charac
ter; option -vb. False: no visual bell [default];
option +vb.
loginShell: boolean
True: start as a login shell by prepending a `- to
argv[0] of the shell; option -ls. False: start as
a normal sub-shell [default]; option +ls.
utmpInhibit: boolean
True: inhibit writing record into the system log
file utmp; option -ut. False: write record into
the system log file utmp [default]; option +ut.
print-pipe: string
Specify a command pipe for vt100 printer [default
lpr(1)]. Use Print to initiate a screen dump to
the printer and Ctrl-Print or Shift-Print to
include the scrollback as well.
scrollBar: boolean
True: enable the scrollbar [default]; option -sb.
False: disable the scrollbar; option +sb.
scrollBar_right: boolean
True: place the scrollbar on the right of the win
dow; option -sr. False: place the scrollbar on the
left of the window; option +sr.
scrollBar_floating: boolean
True: display an rxvt scrollbar without a trough;
option -st. False: display an rxvt scrollbar with
a trough; option +st.
scrollBar_align: mode
Align the top, bottom or centre [default] of the
scrollbar thumb with the pointer on middle button
press/drag.
scrollTtyOutput: boolean
True: scroll to bottom when tty receives output;
option(+si). False: do not scroll to bottom when
tty receives output; option(-si).
scrollWithBuffer: boolean
True: scroll with scrollback buffer when tty
recieves new lines (and scrollTtyOutput is False);
option(+sw). False: do not scroll with scrollback
buffer when tty recieves new lines; option(-sw).
scrollTtyKeypress: boolean
True: scroll to bottom when a non-special key is
pressed. Special keys are those which are inter
cepted by rxvt for special handling and are not
passed onto the shell; option(-sk). False: do not
scroll to bottom when a non-special key is pressed;
option(+sk).
smallfont_key: keysym
If enabled, use Alt-keysym to toggle to a smaller
font [default Alt-<]
bigfont_key: keysym
If enabled, use Alt-keysym to toggle to a bigger
font [default Alt->]
saveLines: number
Save number lines in the scrollback buffer [default
64]. This resource is limited on most machines to
65535; option -sl.
internalBorder: number
Internal border of number pixels. This resource is
limited to 100; option -b.
externalBorder: number
External border of number pixels. This resource is
limited to 100; option -w, -bw, -borderwidth.
termName: termname
Specifies the terminal type name to be set in the
TERM environment variable; option -tn.
linespace: number
Specifies number of lines (pixel height) to insert
between each row of the display [default 0]; option
-lsp.
meta8: boolean
True: handle Meta (Alt) + keypress to set the 8th
bit. False: handle Meta (Alt) + keypress as an
escape prefix [default].
multibyte_cursor: boolean
True: consider multibyte glyphs as single character
for backspace, delete and cursor movement keys;
option -mcc. False: move through all components of
all glyphs; option +mcc.
backspacekey: string
The string to send when the backspace key is
pressed. If set to DEC or unset it will send
Delete (code 127) or, if shifted, Backspace (code
8) - which can be reversed with the appropriate DEC
private mode escape sequence.
deletekey: string
The string to send when the delete key (not the
keypad delete key) is pressed. If unset it will
send the sequence traditionally associated with the
Execute key.
cutchars: string
The characters used as delimiters for double-click
word selection. The built-in default:
BACKSLASH `&()*,;<=>?@[]{|}
preeditType: style
OverTheSpot, OffTheSpot, Root; option -pt.
inputMethod: name
name of inputMethod to use; option -im.
modifier: modifier
Set the key to be interpreted as the Meta key to:
alt, meta, hyper, super, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4,
mod5; option -mod.
answerbackString: string
Specify the reply rxvt sends to the shell when an
ENQ (control-E) character is passed through. It
may contain escape values as described in the entry
on keysym following.
keysym.sym: string
Associate string with keysym sym (0xFF00 - 0xFFFF).
It may contain escape values (\a: bell, \b:
backspace, \e, \E: escape, \n: newline, \r: return,
\t: tab, \000: octal number) or control characters
(^?: delete, ^@: null, ^A ...) and may enclosed
with double quotes so that it can start or end with
whitespace. The intervening resource name keysym.
cannot be omitted. This resource is only available
when compiled with KEYSYM_RESOURCE.
THE SCROLLBAR
Lines of text that scroll off the top of the rxvt window
(resource: saveLines) and can be scrolled back using the
scrollbar or by keystrokes. The normal rxvt scrollbar has
arrows and its behaviour is fairly intuitive. The xterm-
scrollbar is without arrows and its behaviour mimics that
of xterm
Scroll down with Button1 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Next.
Scroll up with Button3 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Prior.
Continuous scroll with Button2.
MOUSE REPORTING
To temporarily override mouse reporting, for either the
scrollbar or the normal text selection/insertion, hold
either the Shift or the Meta (Alt) key while performing
the desired mouse action.
If mouse reporting mode is active, the normal scrollbar
actions are disabled -- on the assumption that we are
using a fullscreen application. Instead, pressing Button1
and Button3 sends ESC[6~ (Next) and ESC[5~ (Prior),
respectively. Similarly, clicking on the up and down
arrows sends ESC[A (Up) and ESC[B (Down), respectively.
TEXT SELECTION AND INSERTION
The behaviour of text selection and insertion mechanism is
similar to xterm(1).
Selection:
Left click at the beginning of the region, drag to
the end of the region and release; Right click to
extend the marked region; Left double-click to
select a word; Left triple-click to select the
entire line.
Insertion:
Pressing and releasing the Middle mouse button (or
Shift-Insert) in an rxvt window causes the current
text selection to be inserted as if it had been
typed on the keyboard.
CHANGING FONTS
You can change fonts on-the-fly, which is to say cycle
through the default font and others of various sizes, by
using Shift-KP_Add and Shift-KP_Subtract. Or, alterna
tively (if enabled) with Alt-> and Alt-<, where the actual
key can be selected using resources smallfont_key/big
font_key.
LOGIN STAMPrxvt tries to write an entry into the utmp(5) file so that
it can be seen via the who(1) command, and can accept mes
sages. To allow this feature, rxvt must be installed
setuid root on some systems.
COLORS AND GRAPHICS
If graphics support was enabled at compile-time, rxvt can
be queried with ANSI escape sequences and can address
individual pixels instead of text characters. Note the
graphics support is still considered beta code.
In addition to the default foreground and background
colours, rxvt can display up to 16 colours (8 ANSI colours
plus high-intensity bold/blink versions of the same).
Here is a list of the colours with their rgb.txt names.
It is also possible to specify the colour values of fore
ground, background, cursorColor, cursorColor2, colorBD,
colorUL as a number 0-15, as a convenient shorthand to
reference the colour name of color0-color15.
Note that -rv ("reverseVideo: True") simulates reverse
video by always swapping the foreground/background
colours. This is in contrast to xterm(1) where the
colours are only swapped if they have not otherwise been
specified. For example,
rxvt-fg Black -bg White -rv
would yield White on Black, while on xterm(1) it
would yield Black on White.
ENVIRONMENTrxvt sets the environment variables TERM, COLORTERM and
COLORFGBG. The environment variable WINDOWID is set to
the X window id number of the rxvt window and it also uses
and sets the environment variable DISPLAY to specify which
display terminal to use. rxvt uses the environment vari
ables RXVTPATH and PATH to find XPM files.
FILES
/etc/utmp
System file for login records.
/usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt
Color names.
SEE ALSOxterm(1), sh(1), resize(1), X(1), pty(4), tty(4), utmp(5)
See rxvtRef.html rxvtRef.txt for detailed information on
recognized escape sequences and menuBar syntax, etc.
BUGS
Check the BUGS file for an up-to-date list.
Cursor change support is not yet implemented.
Click-and-drag doesnt work with X11 mouse report overrid
ing.
Graphics support is fairly crude.
FTP LOCATION
rxvt-2.7.8.tar.gz can be found at the following ftp sites
ftp://ftp.rxvt.org/pub/rxvt
CURRENT PROJECT COORDINATOR
Project Coordinator
Geoff Wing <gcw@rxvt.org>
Web page maintainter
Oezguer Kesim <oec@rxvt.org>
<http://www.rxvt.org/>
Mailing list
The Rxvt Workers <rxvt-workers@rxvt.org> mailing
list has also been established for rxvt develop
ment, to subscribe, email to <rxvt-workers-sub
scribe@rxvt.org>. There is also a mailing list for
announcements of new releases of rxvt. To sub
scribe, email to <rxvt-announce-sub
scribe@rxvt.org>.
AUTHORS
John Bovey
University of Kent, 1992, wrote the original Xvt.
Rob Nation <nation@rocket.sanders.lockheed.com>
very heavily modified Xvt and came up with Rxvt
Angelo Haritsis <ah@doc.ic.ac.uk>
wrote the Greek Keyboard Input
mj olesen <olesen@me.QueensU.CA>
Wrote the menu system.
Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.11 to 2.21)
Oezguer Kesim <kesim@math.fu-berlin.de>
Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.21a to 2.4.5)
Geoff Wing <gcw@pobox.com>
Rewrote screen display and text selection routines.
Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.4.6 - )
X Version 11 29 NOVEMBER 2001 RXVT(1)
