XTERM(1) X Window System XTERM(1)
NAME
xterm - terminal emulator for X
SYNOPSIS
xterm [-
toolkitoption ...] [-
option ...] [
shell]
DESCRIPTION
The
xterm program is a terminal emulator for the X Window System. It
provides DEC VT102/VT220 and selected features from higher-level
terminals such as VT320/VT420/VT520 (VT
xxx). It also provides
Tektronix 4014 emulation for programs that cannot use the window
system directly. If the underlying operating system supports
terminal resizing capabilities (for example, the SIGWINCH signal in
systems derived from 4.3BSD),
xterm will use the facilities to notify
programs running in the window whenever it is resized.
The VT
xxx and Tektronix 4014 terminals each have their own window so
that you can edit text in one and look at graphics in the other at
the same time. To maintain the correct aspect ratio (height/width),
Tektronix graphics will be restricted to the largest box with a
4014's aspect ratio that will fit in the window. This box is located
in the upper left area of the window.
Although both windows may be displayed at the same time, one of them
is considered the "active" window for receiving keyboard input and
terminal output. This is the window that contains the text cursor.
The active window can be chosen through escape sequences, the
VT Options menu in the VT
xxx window, and the
Tek Options menu in the
4014 window.
EMULATIONS
Xterm provides usable emulations of related DEC terminals:
+o VT52 emulation is complete.
+o VT102 emulation is fairly complete, but does not support
autorepeat (because that would affect the keyboard used by other
X clients).
Double-size characters are displayed properly if your font server
supports scalable bitmap fonts.
+o VT220 emulation does not support soft fonts, it is otherwise
complete.
+o VT420 emulation (the default) supports controls for manipulating
rectangles of characters as well as left/right margins.
Xterm does not support some other features which are not suitable
for emulation, e.g., two-sessions.
Terminal database (
terminfo (5) or
termcap (5)) entries that work
with
xterm include
an optional platform-specific entry ("xterm"),
"xterm",
"vt102",
"vt100",
"ansi" and
"dumb"
Xterm automatically searches the terminal database in this order for
these entries and then sets the "TERM" variable (and the "TERMCAP"
environment variable on a few older systems). The alternatives after
"xterm" are very old, from the late 1980s.
VT100 and VT102 emulations are commonly equated, though they actually
differ. The VT102 provided controls for inserting and deleting
lines.
Similarly, "ansi" and "vt100" are often equated. These are not
really the same. For instance, they use different controls for
scrolling (but
xterm supports both). These features differ in an
"ansi" terminal description from
xterm:
acsc Pseudo-graphics (line-drawing) uses a different mapping.
xenl Xterm wraps text at the right margin using the VT100 "newline
glitch" behavior.
Because of the wrapping behavior, you would occasionally have to
repaint the screen when using a text editor with the "ansi"
description.
You may also use descriptions corresponding to the various supported
emulations such as "vt220" or "vt420", but should set the terminal
emulation level with the
decTerminalID resource.
On most systems,
xterm will use the terminfo database. Some older
systems use termcap. (The "TERMCAP" environment variable is not set
if
xterm is linked against a terminfo library, since the requisite
information is not provided by the termcap emulation of terminfo
libraries).
Many of the special
xterm features may be modified under program
control through a set of escape sequences different from the standard
VT
xxx escape sequences (see
Xterm Control Sequences).
The Tektronix 4014 emulation is also fairly good. It supports 12-bit
graphics addressing, scaled to the window size. Four different font
sizes and five different lines types are supported. There is no
write-through or defocused mode support. The Tektronix text and
graphics commands are recorded internally by
xterm and may be written
to a file by sending the COPY escape sequence (or through the
Tektronix menu; see below). The name of the file will be
"COPY
yyyy-
MM-
dd.
hh:
mm:
ss"
where
yyyy,
MM,
dd,
hh,
mm and
ss are the year, month, day, hour,
minute and second when the COPY was performed (the file is created in
the directory
xterm is started in, or the home directory for a login
xterm).
Not all of the features described in this manual are necessarily
available in this version of
xterm. Some (e.g., the non-VT220
extensions) are available only if they were compiled in, though the
most commonly-used are in the default configuration.
OTHER FEATURES
Xterm automatically highlights the text cursor when the pointer
enters the window (selected) and unhighlights it when the pointer
leaves the window (unselected). If the window is the focus window,
then the text cursor is highlighted no matter where the pointer is.
In VT
xxx mode, there are escape sequences to activate and deactivate
an alternate screen buffer, which is the same size as the display
area of the window. When activated, the current screen is saved and
replaced with the alternate screen. Saving of lines scrolled off the
top of the window is disabled until the normal screen is restored.
The usual terminal description for
xterm allows the visual editor
vi(1) to switch to the alternate screen for editing and to restore
the screen on exit. A popup menu entry makes it simple to switch
between the normal and alternate screens for cut and paste.
In either VT
xxx or Tektronix mode, there are escape sequences to
change the name of the windows. Additionally, in VT
xxx mode,
xterm implements the window-manipulation control sequences from
dtterm,
such as resizing the window, setting its location on the screen.
Xterm allows character-based applications to receive mouse events
(currently button-press and release events, and button-motion events)
as keyboard control sequences. See
Xterm Control Sequences for
details.
OPTIONS
Because
xterm uses the
X Toolkit library, it accepts the standard
X Toolkit command line options.
Xterm also accepts many application-
specific options.
By convention, if an option begins with a "
+" instead of a "
-", the
option is restored to its default value.
Most of the
xterm options are actually parsed by the
X Toolkit, which
sets resource values, and overrides corresponding resource-settings
in your X resource files.
Xterm provides the
X Toolkit with a table
of options. A few of these are marked, telling the
X Toolkit to
ignore them (
-help,
-version,
-class,
-e, and
-into). After the
X Toolkit has parsed the command-line parameters, it removes those
which it handles, leaving the specially-marked parameters for
xterm to handle.
These options do not set a resource value, and are handled specially:
-version This causes
xterm to print a version number to the standard
output, and then exit.
-help This causes
xterm to print out a verbose message describing
its options, one per line. The message is written to the
standard output. After printing the message,
xterm exits.
Xterm generates this message, sorting it and noting whether a
"
-option" or a "
+option" turns the feature on or off, since
some features historically have been one or the other.
Xterm generates a concise help message (multiple options per line)
when an unknown option is used, e.g.,
xterm -z
If the logic for a particular option such as logging is not
compiled into
xterm, the help text for that option also is
not displayed by the
-help option.
The
-version and
-help options are interpreted even if
xterm cannot
open the display, and are useful for testing and configuration
scripts. Along with
-class, they are checked before other options.
To do this,
xterm has its own (much simpler) argument parser, along
with a table of the
X Toolkit's built-in list of options.
Relying upon the
X Toolkit to parse the options and associated values
has the advantages of simplicity and good integration with the X
resource mechanism. There are a few drawbacks
+o
Xterm cannot tell easily whether a resource value was set by one
of the external resource- or application-defaults files, whether
it was set using
xrdb(1), or if it was set through the
-xrm option or via some directly relevant command-line option.
Xterm sees only the end-result: a value supplied when creating its
widgets.
+o
Xterm does not know the order in which particular options and
items in resource files are evaluated. Rather, it sees all of
the values for a given widget at the same time. In the design of
these options, some are deemed more important, and can override
other options.
The
X Toolkit uses patterns (constants and wildcards) to match
resources. Once a particular pattern has been used, it will not
modify it. To override a given setting, a more-specific pattern
must be used, e.g., replacing "*" with ".". Some poorly-designed
resource files are too specific to allow the command-line options
to affect the relevant widget values.
+o In a few cases, the
X Toolkit combines its standard options in
ways which do not work well with
xterm. This happens with the
color (
-fg,
-bg) and reverse (
-rv) options.
Xterm makes a
special case of these and adjusts its sense of "reverse" to
lessen user surprise.
One parameter (after all options) may be given. That overrides
xterm's built-in choice of shell program:
+o If the parameter is not a relative path, i.e., beginning with
"./" or "../",
xterm looks for the file in the user's PATH. In
either case, this check fails if
xterm cannot construct an
absolute path.
+o If that check fails (or if no such parameter is given),
xterm next checks the "SHELL" variable. If that specifies an
executable file,
xterm will attempt to start that. However,
xterm additionally checks if it is a valid shell, and will unset
"SHELL" if it is not.
+o If "SHELL" is not set to an executable file,
xterm tries to use
the shell program specified in the user's password file entry.
As before,
xterm verifies if this is a valid shell.
+o Finally, if the password file entry does not specify a valid
shell,
xterm uses
/bin/sh.
The
-e option cannot be used with this parameter since it uses all
parameters following the option.
Xterm validates shell programs by finding their pathname in the text
file
/etc/shells. It treats the environment variable "SHELL"
specially because (like "TERM"),
xterm both reads and updates the
variable, and because the program started by
xterm is not necessarily
a shell.
The other options are used to control the appearance and behavior.
Not all options are necessarily configured into your copy of
xterm:
-132 Normally, the VT102 DECCOLM escape sequence that switches
between 80 and 132 column mode is ignored. This option
causes the DECCOLM escape sequence to be recognized, and the
xterm window will resize appropriately.
-ah This option indicates that
xterm should always highlight the
text cursor. By default,
xterm will display a hollow text
cursor whenever the focus is lost or the pointer leaves the
window.
+ah This option indicates that
xterm should do text cursor
highlighting based on focus.
-ai This option disables active icon support if that feature was
compiled into
xterm. This is equivalent to setting the
vt100 resource
activeIcon to "false".
+ai This option enables active icon support if that feature was
compiled into
xterm. This is equivalent to setting the
vt100 resource
activeIcon to "true".
-aw This option indicates that auto-wraparound should be allowed,
and is equivalent to setting the
vt100 resource
autoWrap to
"true".
Auto-wraparound allows the cursor to automatically wrap to
the beginning of the next line when it is at the rightmost
position of a line and text is output.
+aw This option indicates that auto-wraparound should not be
allowed, and is equivalent to setting the
vt100 resource
autoWrap to "false".
-b number This option specifies the size of the inner border (the
distance between the outer edge of the characters and the
window border) in pixels. That is the
vt100 internalBorder resource. The default is "2".
-barc This option, corresponding to the
cursorBar resource, makes
the cursor a bar instead of a box.
+barc This option, corresponding to the
cursorBar resource, makes
the cursor a box instead of a bar.
-baudrate number Set the line-speed, used to test the behavior of applications
that use the line-speed when optimizing their output to the
screen. The default is "38400".
-bc turn on text cursor blinking. This overrides the
cursorBlink resource.
+bc turn off text cursor blinking. This overrides the
cursorBlink resource.
-bcf milliseconds set the amount of time text cursor is off when blinking via
the
cursorOffTime resource.
-bcn milliseconds set the amount of time text cursor is on when blinking via
the
cursorOnTime resource.
-bdc Set the
vt100 resource
colorBDMode to "false", disabling the
display of characters with bold attribute as color.
+bdc Set the
vt100 resource
colorBDMode to "true", enabling the
display of characters with bold attribute as color rather
than bold.
-cb Set the
vt100 resource
cutToBeginningOfLine to "false".
+cb Set the
vt100 resource
cutToBeginningOfLine to "true".
-cc characterclassrange:value[, ...] This sets classes indicated by the given ranges for using in
selecting by words (see
CHARACTER CLASSES and the
charClass resource).
-cjk_width Set the
cjkWidth resource to "true". When turned on,
characters with East Asian Ambiguous (A) category in UTR 11
have a column width of 2. Otherwise, they have a column
width of 1. This may be useful for some legacy CJK text
terminal-based programs assuming box drawings and others to
have a column width of 2. It also should be turned on when
you specify a TrueType CJK double-width (bi-width/monospace)
font either with
-fa at the command line or
faceName resource. The default is "false"
+cjk_width Reset the
cjkWidth resource.
-class string This option allows you to override
xterm's resource class.
Normally it is "XTerm", but can be set to another class such
as "UXTerm" to override selected resources.
X Toolkit sets the
WM_CLASS property using the instance name
and this class value.
-cm This option disables recognition of ANSI color-change escape
sequences. It sets the
colorMode resource to "false".
+cm This option enables recognition of ANSI color-change escape
sequences. This is the same as the
vt100 resource
colorMode.
-cn This option indicates that newlines should not be cut in
line-mode selections. It sets the
cutNewline resource to
"false".
+cn This option indicates that newlines should be cut in line-
mode selections. It sets the
cutNewline resource to "true".
-cr color This option specifies the color to use for text cursor. The
default is to use the same foreground color that is used for
text. It sets the
cursorColor resource according to the
parameter.
-cu This option indicates that
xterm should work around a bug in
the
more(1) program that causes it to incorrectly display
lines that are exactly the width of the window and are
followed by a line beginning with a tab (the leading tabs are
not displayed). This option is so named because it was
originally thought to be a bug in the
curses(3x) cursor
motion package.
+cu This option indicates that
xterm should not work around the
more(1) bug mentioned above.
-dc This option disables the escape sequence to change dynamic
colors: the vt100 foreground and background colors, its text
cursor color, the pointer cursor foreground and background
colors, the Tektronix emulator foreground and background
colors, its text cursor color and highlight color. The
option sets the
dynamicColors option to "false".
+dc This option enables the escape sequence to change dynamic
colors. The option sets the
dynamicColors option to "true".
-e program [ arguments ... ] This option specifies the program (and its command line
arguments) to be run in the
xterm window. It also sets the
window title and icon name to be the basename of the program
being executed if neither
-T nor
-n are given on the command
line.
NOTE: This must be the
last option on the command line.
-en encoding This option determines the encoding on which
xterm runs. It
sets the
locale resource. Encodings other than UTF-8 are
supported by using
luit. The
-lc option should be used
instead of
-en for systems with locale support.
-fa pattern This option sets the pattern for fonts selected from the
FreeType library if support for that library was compiled
into
xterm. This corresponds to the
faceName resource. When
a CJK double-width font is specified, you also need to turn
on the
cjkWidth resource.
If you specify both
-fa and the
X Toolkit option
-fn, the
-fa setting overrides the latter.
See also the
renderFont resource, which combines with this to
determine whether FreeType fonts are initially active.
-fb font This option specifies a font to be used when displaying bold
text. It sets the
boldFont resource.
This font must be the same height and width as the normal
font, otherwise it is ignored. If only one of the normal or
bold fonts is specified, it will be used as the normal font
and the bold font will be produced by overstriking this font.
See also the discussion of
boldMode and
alwaysBoldMode resources.
-fbb This option indicates that
xterm should compare normal and
bold fonts bounding boxes to ensure they are compatible. It
sets the
freeBoldBox resource to "false".
+fbb This option indicates that
xterm should not compare normal
and bold fonts bounding boxes to ensure they are compatible.
It sets the
freeBoldBox resource to "true".
-fbx This option indicates that
xterm should not assume that the
normal and bold fonts have VT100 line-drawing characters. If
any are missing,
xterm will draw the characters directly. It
sets the
forceBoxChars resource to "false".
+fbx This option indicates that
xterm should assume that the
normal and bold fonts have VT100 line-drawing characters. It
sets the
forceBoxChars resource to "true".
-fc fontchoice Specify the initial font chosen from the font menu. The
option value corresponds to the
initialFont resource.
-fd pattern This option sets the pattern for double-width fonts selected
from the FreeType library if support for that library was
compiled into
xterm. This corresponds to the
faceNameDoublesize resource.
-fi font This option sets the font for active icons if that feature
was compiled into
xterm.
See also the discussion of the
iconFont resource.
-fs size This option sets the pointsize for fonts selected from the
FreeType library if support for that library was compiled
into
xterm. This corresponds to the
faceSize resource.
-fullscreen This option indicates that
xterm should ask the window
manager to let it use the full-screen for display, e.g.,
without window decorations. It sets the
fullscreen resource
to "true".
+fullscreen This option indicates that
xterm should not ask the window
manager to let it use the full-screen for display. It sets
the
fullscreen resource to "false".
-fw font This option specifies the font to be used for displaying wide
text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice as
wide as the font that will be used to draw normal text. If
no double-width font is found, it will improvise, by
stretching the normal font. This corresponds to the
wideFont resource.
-fwb font This option specifies the font to be used for displaying bold
wide text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice
as wide as the font that will be used to draw bold text. If
no double-width font is found, it will improvise, by
stretching the bold font. This corresponds to the
wideBoldFont resource.
-fx font This option specifies the font to be used for displaying the
preedit string in the "OverTheSpot" input method.
See also the discussion of the
ximFont resource.
-hc color (see
-selbg).
-hf This option indicates that HP function key escape codes
should be generated for function keys. It sets the
hpFunctionKeys resource to "true".
+hf This option indicates that HP function key escape codes
should not be generated for function keys. It sets the
hpFunctionKeys resource to "false".
-hm Tells
xterm to use
highlightTextColor and
highlightColor to
override the reversed foreground/background colors in a
selection. It sets the
highlightColorMode resource to
"true".
+hm Tells
xterm not to use
highlightTextColor and
highlightColor to override the reversed foreground/background colors in a
selection. It sets the
highlightColorMode resource to
"false".
-hold Turn on the
hold resource, i.e.,
xterm will not immediately
destroy its window when the shell command completes. It will
wait until you use the window manager to destroy/kill the
window, or if you use the menu entries that send a signal,
e.g., HUP or KILL.
+hold Turn off the
hold resource, i.e.,
xterm will immediately
destroy its window when the shell command completes.
-ie Turn on the
ptyInitialErase resource, i.e., use the pseudo-
terminal's sense of the
stty(1) erase value.
+ie Turn off the
ptyInitialErase resource, i.e., set the
stty erase value using the
kb string from the termcap entry as a
reference, if available.
-im Turn on the
useInsertMode resource, which forces use of
insert mode by adding appropriate entries to the TERMCAP
environment variable. (This option is ignored on most
systems, because TERMCAP is not used).
+im Turn off the
useInsertMode resource.
-into windowId Given an X window identifier (an integer, which can be
hexadecimal, octal or decimal according to whether it begins
with "0x", "0" or neither),
xterm will reparent its top-level
shell widget to that window. This is used to embed
xterm within other applications.
For instance, there are scripts for Tcl/Tk and Gtk which can
be used to demonstrate the feature. When using Gtk, there is
a limitation of that toolkit which requires that
xterm's
allowSendEvents resource is enabled.
-itc Set the
vt100 resource
colorITMode to "false", disabling the
display of characters with italic attribute as color.
+itc Set the
vt100 resource
colorITMode to "true", enabling the
display of characters with italic attribute as color rather
than italic.
-j This option indicates that
xterm should do jump scrolling.
It corresponds to the
jumpScroll resource. Normally, text is
scrolled one line at a time; this option allows
xterm to move
multiple lines at a time so that it does not fall as far
behind. Its use is strongly recommended since it makes
xterm much faster when scanning through large amounts of text. The
VT100 escape sequences for enabling and disabling smooth
scroll as well as the
VT Options menu can be used to turn
this feature on or off.
+j This option indicates that
xterm should not do jump
scrolling.
-jf When doing jump-scrolling or related indexing, e.g., carriage
returns,
xterm will defer flushing screen-updates, to improve
speed. This corresponds to the
fastScroll resource.
+jf When doing jump-scrolling or related indexing, e.g., carriage
returns,
xterm will not defer flushing screen-updates, to
improve speed. This corresponds to the
fastScroll resource.
-k8 This option sets the
allowC1Printable resource. When
allowC1Printable is set,
xterm overrides the mapping of C1
control characters (code 128-159) to treat them as printable.
+k8 This option resets the
allowC1Printable resource.
-kt keyboardtype This option sets the
keyboardType resource. Possible values
include: "unknown", "default", "legacy", "hp", "sco", "sun",
"tcap" and "vt220".
The value "unknown", causes the corresponding resource to be
ignored.
The value "default", suppresses the associated resources
hpFunctionKeys,
scoFunctionKeys,
sunFunctionKeys,
tcapFunctionKeys,
oldXtermFKeys and
sunKeyboard,
using the Sun/PC keyboard layout.
-l Turn logging on, unless disabled by the
logInhibit resource.
Some versions of
xterm may have logging enabled. However,
normally logging is not supported, due to security concerns
in the early 1990s. That was a problem in X11R4
xterm (1989)
which was addressed by a patch to X11R5 late in 1993. X11R6
included these fixes. The older version (when running with
root privilege) would create the log file using
root privilege. The reason why
xterm ran with
root privileges was
to open pseudo-terminals. Those privileges are now needed
only on very old systems: Unix98 pseudo-terminals made the
BSD scheme unnecessary.
Unless overridden by the
-lf option or the
logFile resource:
+o If the filename is "-", then logging is sent to the
standard output.
+o Otherwise a filename is generated, and the log file is
written to the directory from which
xterm is invoked.
+o The generated filename is of the form
XtermLog.
XXXXXX or
Xterm.log.
hostname.yyyy.mm.dd.hh.mm.ss.XXXXXX depending on how
xterm was built.
+l Turn logging off.
-lc Turn on support of various encodings according to the users'
locale setting, i.e., LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG environment
variables. This is achieved by turning on UTF-8 mode and by
invoking
luit for conversion between locale encodings and
UTF-8. (
luit is not invoked in UTF-8 locales.) This
corresponds to the
locale resource.
The actual list of encodings which are supported is
determined by
luit. Consult the
luit manual page for further
details.
See also the discussion of the
-u8 option which supports
UTF-8 locales.
+lc Turn off support of automatic selection of locale encodings.
Conventional 8bit mode or, in UTF-8 locales or with
-u8 option, UTF-8 mode will be used.
-lcc path File name for the encoding converter from/to locale encodings
and UTF-8 which is used with
-lc option or
locale resource.
This corresponds to the
localeFilter resource.
-leftbar Force scrollbar to the left side of VT100 screen. This is
the default, unless you have set the
rightScrollBar resource.
-lf filename Specify the log filename. This sets the
logFile resource.
If set to "-",
xterm writes its log to the standard output.
See the
-l option.
-ls This option indicates that the shell that is started in the
xterm window will be a login shell (i.e., the first character
of argv[0] will be a dash, indicating to the shell that it
should read the user's .login or .profile).
The
-ls flag and the
loginShell resource are ignored if
-e is
also given, because
xterm does not know how to make the shell
start the given command after whatever it does when it is a
login shell - the user's shell of choice need not be a Bourne
shell after all. Also,
xterm -e is supposed to provide a
consistent functionality for other applications that need to
start text-mode programs in a window, and if
loginShell were
not ignored, the result of ~/.profile might interfere with
that.
If you do want the effect of
-ls and
-e simultaneously, you
may get away with something like
xterm -e /bin/bash -l -c "my command here"
Finally,
-ls is not completely ignored, because
xterm -ls -e does write a
wtmpx entry (if configured to do so), whereas
xterm -e does not.
+ls This option indicates that the shell that is started should
not be a login shell (i.e., it will be a normal "subshell").
-maximized This option indicates that
xterm should ask the window
manager to maximize its layout on startup. This corresponds
to the
maximized resource.
Maximizing is not the reverse of iconifying; it is possible
to do both with certain window managers.
+maximized This option indicates that
xterm should ask the window
manager to not maximize its layout on startup.
-mb This option indicates that
xterm should ring a margin bell
when the user types near the right end of a line.
+mb This option indicates that margin bell should not be rung.
-mc milliseconds This option specifies the maximum time between multi-click
selections.
-mesg Turn off the
messages resource, i.e., disallow write access
to the terminal.
+mesg Turn on the
messages resource, i.e., allow write access to
the terminal.
-mk_width Set the
mkWidth resource to "true". This makes
xterm use a
built-in version of the wide-character width calculation.
The default is "false"
+mk_width Reset the
mkWidth resource.
-ms color This option specifies the color to be used for the pointer
cursor. The default is to use the foreground color. This
sets the
pointerColor resource.
-nb number This option specifies the number of characters from the right
end of a line at which the margin bell, if enabled, will
ring. The default is "10".
-nomap This option disables the initial
mapping of the terminal
window. Mapping an X window makes it visible if it is
managed. The default is "false" because
xterm's window is
normally displayed on startup.
After startup, an unmapped
xterm window can be mapped by
identifying its window-id, e.g., using
xwininfo(1) or
xlsclients(1), and then employing another program such as
xdotool(1) to ask the window manager to make it visible.
If the
xterm window is visible (i.e., mapped),
xterm's menus
and actions (i.e.,
set-visibility) allow one to select
whether the VT100 or Tek4014 windows should be displayed.
+nomap This option enables the initial
mapping of the terminal
window. This is the default behavior.
-nul This option disables the display of underlining.
+nul This option enables the display of underlining.
-pc This option enables the PC-style use of bold colors (see
boldColors resource).
+pc This option disables the PC-style use of bold colors.
-pf font This option specifies the font to be used for the pointer.
The corresponding resource name is
pointerFont. The resource
value default is
cursor.
-pob This option indicates that the window should be raised
whenever a Control-G is received.
+pob This option indicates that the window should not be raised
whenever a Control-G is received.
-report-charclass Print a report to the standard output showing information
about the character-classes which can be altered using the
charClass resource.
-report-colors Print a report to the standard output showing information
about colors as
xterm allocates them. This corresponds to
the
reportColors resource.
-report-fonts Print a report to the standard output showing information
about fonts which are loaded. This corresponds to the
reportFonts resource.
-report-icons Print a report to the standard output showing information
about pixmap-icons which are loaded. This corresponds to the
reportIcons resource.
-report-xres Print a report to the standard output showing the values of
boolean, numeric or string X resources for the VT100 widget
when initialization is complete. This corresponds to the
reportXRes resource.
-rightbar Force scrollbar to the right side of VT100 screen.
-rvc This option disables the display of characters with reverse
attribute as color.
+rvc This option enables the display of characters with reverse
attribute as color.
-rw This option indicates that reverse-wraparound should be
allowed. This allows the cursor to back up from the leftmost
column of one line to the rightmost column of the previous
line. This is very useful for editing long shell command
lines and is encouraged. This option can be turned on and
off from the
VT Options menu.
+rw This option indicates that reverse-wraparound should not be
allowed.
-s This option indicates that
xterm may scroll asynchronously,
meaning that the screen does not have to be kept completely
up to date while scrolling. This allows
xterm to run faster
when network latencies are very high and is typically useful
when running across a very large internet or many gateways.
+s This option indicates that
xterm should scroll synchronously.
-samename Does not send title and icon name change requests when the
request would have no effect: the name is not changed. This
has the advantage of preventing flicker and the disadvantage
of requiring an extra round trip to the server to find out
the previous value. In practice this should never be a
problem.
+samename Always send title and icon name change requests.
-sb This option indicates that some number of lines that are
scrolled off the top of the window should be saved and that a
scrollbar should be displayed so that those lines can be
viewed. This option may be turned on and off from the
VT Options menu.
+sb This option indicates that a scrollbar should not be
displayed.
-selbg color This option specifies the color to use for the background of
selected text. If not specified, reverse video is used. See
the discussion of the
highlightColor resource.
-selfg color This option specifies the color to use for selected text. If
not specified, reverse video is used. See the discussion of
the
highlightTextColor resource.
-sf This option indicates that Sun function key escape codes
should be generated for function keys.
+sf This option indicates that the standard escape codes should
be generated for function keys.
-sh number scale line-height values by the given number. See the
discussion of the
scaleHeight resource.
-si This option indicates that output to a window should not
automatically reposition the screen to the bottom of the
scrolling region. This option can be turned on and off from
the
VT Options menu.
+si This option indicates that output to a window should cause it
to scroll to the bottom.
-sk This option indicates that pressing a key while using the
scrollbar to review previous lines of text should cause the
window to be repositioned automatically in the normal
position at the bottom of the scroll region.
+sk This option indicates that pressing a key while using the
scrollbar should not cause the window to be repositioned.
-sl number This option specifies the number of lines to save that have
been scrolled off the top of the screen. This corresponds to
the
saveLines resource. The default is "1024".
-sm This option, corresponding to the
sessionMgt resource,
indicates that
xterm should set up session manager callbacks.
+sm This option indicates that
xterm should not set up session
manager callbacks.
-sp This option indicates that Sun/PC keyboard should be assumed,
providing mapping for keypad "+" to ",", and CTRL-F1 to F13,
CTRL-F2 to F14, etc.
+sp This option indicates that the standard escape codes should
be generated for keypad and function keys.
-t This option indicates that
xterm should start in Tektronix
mode, rather than in VT
xxx mode. Switching between the two
windows is done using the "Options" menus.
Terminal database (
terminfo (5) or
termcap (5)) entries that
work with
xterm are:
"tek4014",
"tek4015",
"tek4012",
"tek4013",
"tek4010", and
"dumb".
Xterm automatically searches the terminal database in this
order for these entries and then sets the "TERM" variable
(and the "TERMCAP" environment variable, if relevant).
+t This option indicates that
xterm should start in VT
xxx mode.
-tb This option, corresponding to the
toolBar resource, indicates
that
xterm should display a toolbar (or menubar) at the top
of its window. The buttons in the toolbar correspond to the
popup menus, e.g., control/left/mouse for
Main Options.
+tb This option indicates that
xterm should not set up a toolbar.
-ti term_id Specify the name used by
xterm to select the correct response
to terminal ID queries. It also specifies the emulation
level, used to determine the type of response to a DA control
sequence. Valid values include vt52, vt100, vt101, vt102,
vt220, and vt240 (the "vt" is optional). The default is
"vt420". The
term_id argument specifies the terminal ID to
use. (This is the same as the
decTerminalID resource).
-tm string This option specifies a series of terminal setting keywords
followed by the characters that should be bound to those
functions, similar to the
stty(1) program. The keywords and
their values are described in detail in the
ttyModes resource.
-tn name This option specifies the name of the terminal type to be set
in the TERM environment variable. It corresponds to the
termName resource. This terminal type must exist in the
terminal database (termcap or terminfo, depending on how
xterm is built) and should have
li# and
co# entries. If the
terminal type is not found,
xterm uses the built-in list
"xterm", "vt102", etc.
-u8 This option sets the
utf8 resource. When
utf8 is set,
xterm interprets incoming data as UTF-8. This sets the
wideChars resource as a side-effect, but the UTF-8 mode set by this
option prevents it from being turned off. If you must turn
UTF-8 encoding on and off, use the
-wc option or the
corresponding
wideChars resource, rather than the
-u8 option.
This option and the
utf8 resource are overridden by the
-lc and
-en options and
locale resource. That is, if
xterm has
been compiled to support
luit, and the
locale resource is not
"false" this option is ignored. We recommend using the
-lc option or the "
locale: true" resource in UTF-8 locales when
your operating system supports locale, or
-en UTF-8 option or
the "
locale: UTF-8" resource when your operating system does
not support locale.
+u8 This option resets the
utf8 resource.
-uc This option, corresponding to the
cursorUnderLine resource,
makes the cursor underlined instead of a box.
+uc This option m, corresponding to the
cursorUnderLine resource,
akes the cursor a box instead of underlined.
-ulc This option disables the display of characters with underline
attribute as color rather than with underlining.
+ulc This option enables the display of characters with underline
attribute as color rather than with underlining.
-ulit This option, corresponding to the
italicULMode resource,
disables the display of characters with underline attribute
as italics rather than with underlining.
+ulit This option, corresponding to the
italicULMode resource,
enables the display of characters with underline attribute as
italics rather than with underlining.
-ut This option indicates that
xterm should not write a record
into the system
utmpx log file.
+ut This option indicates that
xterm should write a record into
the system
utmpx log file.
-vb This option indicates that a visual bell is preferred over an
audible one. Instead of ringing the terminal bell whenever a
Control-G is received, the window will be flashed.
+vb This option indicates that a visual bell should not be used.
-wc This option sets the
wideChars resource.
When
wideChars is set,
xterm maintains internal structures
for 16-bit characters. If
xterm is not started in UTF-8 mode
(or if this resource is not set), initially it maintains
those structures to support 8-bit characters.
Xterm can
later be switched, using a menu entry or control sequence,
causing it to reallocate those structures to support 16-bit
characters.
The default is "false".
+wc This option resets the
wideChars resource.
-wf This option indicates that
xterm should wait for the window
to be mapped the first time before starting the subprocess so
that the initial terminal size settings and environment
variables are correct. It is the application's
responsibility to catch subsequent terminal size changes.
+wf This option indicates that
xterm should not wait before
starting the subprocess.
-ziconbeep percent Same as
zIconBeep resource. If percent is non-zero, xterms
that produce output while iconified will cause an XBell sound
at the given volume and have "***" prepended to their icon
titles. Most window managers will detect this change
immediately, showing you which window has the output. (A
similar feature was in x10
xterm.)
-C This option indicates that this window should receive console
output. This is not supported on all systems. To obtain
console output, you must be the owner of the console device,
and you must have read and write permission for it. If you
are running X under
xdm on the console screen you may need to
have the session startup and reset programs explicitly change
the ownership of the console device in order to get this
option to work.
-Sccn This option allows
xterm to be used as an input and output
channel for an existing program and is sometimes used in
specialized applications. The option value specifies the
last few letters of the name of a pseudo-terminal to use in
slave mode, plus the number of the inherited file descriptor.
If the option contains a "/" character, that delimits the
characters used for the pseudo-terminal name from the file
descriptor. Otherwise, exactly two characters are used from
the option for the pseudo-terminal name, the remainder is the
file descriptor. Examples (the first two are equivalent
since the descriptor follows the last "/"):
-S/dev/pts/123/45
-S123/45
-Sab34
Note that
xterm does not close any file descriptor which it
did not open for its own use. It is possible (though
probably not portable) to have an application which passes an
open file descriptor down to
xterm past the initialization or
the
-S option to a process running in the
xterm.
Old Options
The following command line arguments are provided for compatibility
with older versions. They may not be supported in the next release
as the
X Toolkit provides standard options that accomplish the same
task.
%geom This option specifies the preferred size and position of the
Tektronix window. It is shorthand for specifying the
"
tekGeometry" resource.
#geom This option specifies the preferred position of the icon
window. It is shorthand for specifying the "
iconGeometry"
resource.
-T string This option specifies the title for
xterm's windows. It is
equivalent to
-title.
-n string This option specifies the icon name for
xterm's windows. It
is shorthand for specifying the "
iconName" resource. Note
that this is not the same as the
X Toolkit option
-name. The
default icon name is the application name.
If no suitable icon is found,
xterm provides a compiled-in
pixmap.
X Toolkit sets the
WM_ICON_NAME property using this value.
-r This option indicates that reverse video should be simulated
by swapping the foreground and background colors. It is
equivalent to
-rv.
-w number This option specifies the width in pixels of the border
surrounding the window. It is equivalent to
-borderwidth or
-bw.
X Toolkit Options
The following standard
X Toolkit command line arguments are commonly
used with
xterm:
-bd color This option specifies the color to use for the border of the
window. The corresponding resource name is
borderColor.
Xterm uses the
X Toolkit default, which is
"XtDefaultForeground".
Xterm's VT100 window has two borders: the
inner border
internalBorder and the
outer border
borderWidth, managed by
the
X Toolkit.
Normally
xterm fills the inner border using the VT100
window's background color. If the
colorInnerBorder resource
is enabled, then
xterm may fill the inner border using the
borderColor resource.
-bg color This option specifies the color to use for the background of
the window. The corresponding resource name is
background.
The default is "XtDefaultBackground".
-bw number This option specifies the width in pixels of the border
surrounding the window.
This appears to be a legacy of older X releases. It sets the
borderWidth resource of the shell widget, and may provide
advice to your window manager to set the thickness of the
window frame. Most window managers do not use this
information. See the
-b option, which controls the inner
border of the
xterm window.
-display display This option specifies the X server to contact; see X(1).
-fg color This option specifies the color to use for displaying text.
The corresponding resource name is
foreground. The default
is "XtDefaultForeground".
-fn font This option specifies the font to be used for displaying
normal text. The corresponding resource name is
font. The
resource value default is
fixed.
Xterm's
-fn option accepts a comma-separated list like
-fa,
for the VT100 widget, using the first bitmap font (and
discarding additional fonts). However, other widgets (such
as the toolbar) will be confused by this and give a warning.
-font font This is the same as
-fn.
-geometry geometry This option specifies the preferred size and position of the
VT
xxx window; see X(1).
The normal geometry specification can be suffixed with
@ followed by a Xinerama screen specification; it can be either
g for the global screen (default),
c for the current screen
or a screen number.
-iconic This option indicates that
xterm should ask the window
manager to start it as an icon rather than as the normal
window. The corresponding resource name is
iconic.
-name name This option specifies the application name under which
resources are to be obtained, rather than the default
executable file name.
Name should not contain "." or "*"
characters.
-rv This option indicates that reverse video should be simulated
by swapping the foreground and background colors. The
corresponding resource name is
reverseVideo.
+rv Disable the simulation of reverse video by swapping
foreground and background colors.
-title string This option specifies the window title string, which may be
displayed by window managers if the user so chooses. It is
shorthand for specifying the "
title" resource. The default
title is the command line specified after the
-e option, if
any, otherwise the application name.
X Toolkit sets the
WM_NAME property using this value.
-xrm resourcestring This option specifies a resource string to be used. This is
especially useful for setting resources that do not have
separate command line options.
X Toolkit accepts alternate names for a few of these options, e.g.,
+o "
-background" for "
-bg"
+o "
-font" for "
-fn"
+o "
-foreground" for "
-fg"
Abbreviated options also are supported, e.g., "
-v" for "
-version."
RESOURCES
Xterm understands all of the core
X Toolkit resource names and
classes. It also uses the
X Toolkit resource types (such as
booleans, colors, fonts, integers, and strings) along with their
respective converters. Those resource types are not always
sufficient:
+o
Xterm's resource values may be lists of names.
X Toolkit resource types do not include lists.
Xterm uses a string for the
resource, and parses it.
Comma-separated lists of names ignore case.
+o
Xterm may defer processing a resource until it is needed. For
example,
font2 through
font7 are loaded as needed, to start
faster. Again, the actual resource type is a string, parsed and
used when needed.
Application specific resources (e.g., "
XTerm.NAME") follow:
Application Resources
backarrowKeyIsErase (class
BackarrowKeyIsErase)
Tie the VT
xxx backarrowKey and
ptyInitialErase resources
together by setting the DECBKM state according to whether the
initial erase character is a backspace (8) or delete (127)
character. A "false" value disables this feature. The
default is "False".
Here are tables showing how the initial settings for
+o
backarrowKeyIsErase (BKIE),
+o
backarrowKey (BK), and
+o
ptyInitialErase (PIE), along with the
+o
stty erase character (^H for backspace, ^? for delete)
will affect DECBKM. First,
xterm obtains the initial
erase character:
+o
xterm's internal value is ^H
+o
xterm asks the operating system for the value which
stty(1) shows
+o the
ttyModes resource may override
erase +o if
ptyInitialErase is false,
xterm will look in the
terminal database
Summarizing that as a table:
PIE stty termcap erase -------------------------------
false ^H ^H ^H
false ^H ^? ^?
false ^? ^H ^H
false ^? ^? ^?
true ^H ^H ^H
true ^H ^? ^H
true ^? ^H ^?
true ^? ^? ^?
Using that
erase character,
xterm allows further choices:
+o if
backarrowKeyIsErase is true,
xterm uses the
erase character for the initial state of
DECBKM +o if
backarrowKeyIsErase is false,
xterm sets
DECBKM to 2
(internal). This ties together
backarrowKey and the
control sequence for
DECBKM.
+o applications can send a control sequence to set/reset
DECBKM control set
+o the "Backarrow Key (BS/DEL)" menu entry toggles
DECBKM Summarizing the initialization details:
erase BKIE BK DECBKM result ----------------------------------------
^? false false 2 ^H
^? false true 2 ^?
^? true false 0 ^?
^? true true 1 ^?
^H false false 2 ^H
^H false true 2 ^?
^H true false 0 ^H
^H true true 1 ^H
buffered (class
Buffered)
Normally
xterm is built with double-buffer support. This
resource can be used to turn it on or off. Setting the
resource to "true" turns double-buffering on. The default
value is "False".
bufferedFPS (class
BufferedFPS)
When
xterm is built with double-buffer support, this gives
the maximum number of frames/second. The default is "40" and
is limited to the range 1 through 100.
cursorTheme (class
CursorTheme)
The
Xcursor(1) library provides a way to change the pointer
shape and size. The X11 library uses this library to extend
the font- and glyph-cursor calls used by applications such as
xterm to substitute external files for the built-in "core"
cursors provided by X.
Xterm uses the
pointerShape resource to select the X cursor
shape. Most of the available sets of cursor themes provide
an incomplete set of "core" cursors (while possibly adding
other cursors). Because of this limitation,
xterm disables
the feature by default.
The cursor theme feature can be useful because X cursors are
not scalable and on a high-resolution display, the cursors
are hard to find. Some of the cursor themes include larger
cursors to work around this limitation:
+o The default core cursors are 8x8 pixels;
+o Some cursor themes include cursors up to the X server
limit of 64x64 pixels.
At startup,
xterm sets the
XCURSOR_THEME environment variable
to enable or disable the cursor theme feature. The default
value is "none". Other values (including "default") are
passed to the Xcursor library to select a cursor theme.
fullscreen (class
Fullscreen)
Specifies whether or not
xterm should ask the window manager
to use a fullscreen layout on startup.
Xterm accepts either
a keyword (ignoring case) or the number shown in parentheses:
false (0)
Fullscreen layout is not used initially, but may be later
via menu-selection or control sequence.
true (1)
Fullscreen layout is used initially, but may be disabled
later via menu-selection or control sequence.
always (2)
Fullscreen layout is used initially, and cannot be
disabled later via menu-selection or control sequence.
never (3)
Fullscreen layout is not used, and cannot be enabled later
via menu-selection or control sequence.
The default is "false".
hold (class
Hold)
If true,
xterm will not immediately destroy its window when
the shell command completes. It will wait until you use the
window manager to destroy/kill the window, or if you use the
menu entries that send a signal, e.g., HUP or KILL. You may
scroll back, select text, etc., to perform most graphical
operations. Resizing the display will lose data, however,
since this involves interaction with the shell which is no
longer running.
hpFunctionKeys (class
HpFunctionKeys)
Specifies whether or not HP function key escape codes should
be generated for function keys. The default is "false",
i.e., this feature is disabled.
The
keyboardType resource is the preferred mechanism for
selecting this mode.
iconGeometry (class
IconGeometry)
Specifies the preferred size and position of the application
when iconified. It is not necessarily obeyed by all window
managers.
iconHint (class
IconHint)
Specifies an icon which will be added to the window manager
hints.
Xterm provides no default value.
Set this resource to "none" to omit the hint entirely, using
whatever the window manager may decide.
If the
iconHint resource is given (or is set via the
-n option)
xterm searches for a pixmap file with that name, in
the current directory as well as in /usr/share/pixmaps. if
the resource does not specify an absolute pathname. In each
case,
xterm adds "_48x48" and/or ".xpm" to the filename after
trying without those suffixes. If it is able to load the
file,
xterm sets the window manager hint for the icon-pixmap.
These pixmaps are distributed with
xterm, and can optionally
be compiled-in:
+o mini.xterm_16x16, mini.xterm_32x32, mini.xterm_48x48
+o filled-xterm_16x16, filled-xterm_32x32,
filled-xterm_48x48
+o xterm_16x16, xterm_32x32, xterm_48x48
+o xterm-color_16x16, xterm-color_32x32, xterm-color_48x48
In either case,
xterm allows for adding a "_48x48" to specify
the largest of the pixmaps as a default. That is,
"mini.xterm" is the same as "mini.xterm_48x48".
If no explicit
iconHint resource is given (or if none of the
compiled-in names matches),
xterm uses "mini.xterm" (which is
always compiled-in).
The
iconHint resource has no effect on "desktop" files,
including "panel" and "menu". Those are typically set via a
".desktop" file;
xterm provides samples for itself (and the
uxterm script). The more capable desktop systems allow
changing the icon on a per-user basis.
iconName (class
IconName)
Specifies a label for
xterm when iconified.
Xterm provides
no default value; some window managers may assume the
application name, e.g., "xterm".
Setting the
iconName resource sets the icon label unless
overridden by
zIconBeep or the control sequences which change
the window and icon labels.
keyboardType (class
KeyboardType)
Enables one (or none) of the various keyboard-type resources:
hpFunctionKeys,
scoFunctionKeys,
sunFunctionKeys,
tcapFunctionKeys,
oldXtermFKeys and
sunKeyboard.
The resource's value should be one of the corresponding
strings "hp", "sco", "sun", "tcap", "legacy" or "vt220",
respectively.
The individual resources are provided for legacy support;
this resource is simpler to use.
Xterm will use only one
keyboard-type, but if multiple resources are set, it warns
and uses the last one it checks.
The default is "unknown", i.e., none of the associated
resources are set via this resource.
maxBufSize (class
MaxBufSize)
Specify the maximum size of the input buffer. The default is
"32768". You cannot set this to a value less than the
minBufSize resource. It will be increased as needed to make
that value evenly divide this one.
On some systems you may want to increase one or both of the
maxBufSize and
minBufSize resource values to achieve better
performance if the operating system prefers larger buffer
sizes.
maximized (class
Maximized)
Specifies whether or not
xterm should ask the window manager
to maximize its layout on startup. The default is "false".
menuHeight (class
MenuHeight)
Specifies the height of the toolbar, which may be increased
by the
X Toolkit Layout widget depending upon the fontsize
used. The default is "25".
menuLocale (class
MenuLocale)
Specify the locale used for character-set computations when
loading the popup menus. Use this to improve initialization
performance of the
Athena popup menus, which may load
unnecessary (and very large) fonts, e.g., in a locale having
UTF-8 encoding. The default is "C" (POSIX).
To use the current locale (only useful if you have localized
the resource settings for the menu entries), set the resource
to an empty string.
messages (class
Messages)
Specifies whether write access to the terminal is allowed
initially. See
mesg(1). The default is "true".
minBufSize (class
MinBufSize)
Specify the minimum size of the input buffer, i.e., the
amount of data that
xterm requests on each read. The default
is "4096". You cannot set this to a value less than 64.
omitTranslation (class
OmitTranslation)
Selectively omit one or more parts of
xterm's default
translations at startup. The resource value is a comma-
separated list of keywords, which may be abbreviated:
default
ignore (mouse) button-down events which were not
handled by other translations
fullscreen
assigns a key-binding to the
fullscreen() action.
keypress
assigns keypresses by default to the
insert-seven-bit() and
insert-eight-bit() actions.
paging assigns key bindings to the
scroll-back() and
scroll-forw() actions.
pointer
assigns pointer
motion and
button events to the
pointer-motion() and
pointer-button() actions
respectively.
popup-menu
assigns mouse-buttons with the
control modifier to the
popup-menus.
reset assigns mouse-button 2 with the
meta modifier to the
clear-saved-lines action.
scroll-lock
assigns a key-binding to the
scroll-lock() action.
block-select
an optional (compile-time) feature for supporting
rectangular selections. By default, this is bound to
Meta button one.
select assigns mouse- and keypress-combinations to actions
which manipulate the selection.
Xterm also uses these actions to capture mouse button
and motion events which can be manipulated with the
mouse protocol control sequences. If the
select translations are omitted, then the
pointer-motion and
pointer-button handle these mouse protocol control
sequences instead.
shift-fonts
assigns key-bindings to
larger-vt-font() and
smaller-vt-font() actions.
wheel-mouse
assigns buttons 4 and 5 with different modifiers to
the
scroll-back() and
scroll-forw() actions.
ptyHandshake (class
PtyHandshake)
If "true",
xterm will perform handshaking during
initialization to ensure that the parent and child processes
update the
utmpx and
stty(1) state.
See also
waitForMap which waits for the pseudo-terminal's
notion of the screen size, and
ptySttySize which resets the
screen size after other terminal initialization is complete.
The default is "true".
ptyInitialErase (class
PtyInitialErase)
If "true",
xterm will use the pseudo-terminal's sense of the
stty erase value. If "false",
xterm will set the
stty erase
value to match its own configuration, using the
kb string
from the termcap entry as a reference, if available.
In either case, the result is applied to the TERMCAP variable
which
xterm sets, if the system uses TERMCAP.
See also the
ttyModes resource, which may override this. The
default is "False".
ptySttySize (class
PtySttySize)
If "true",
xterm will reset the screen size after terminal
initialization is complete. This is needed for some systems
whose pseudo-terminals cannot propagate terminal
characteristics. Where it is not needed, it can interfere
with other methods for setting the initial screen size, e.g.,
via window manager interaction.
See also
waitForMap which waits for a handshake-message
giving the pseudo-terminal's notion of the screen size. The
default is "false" on Linux and macOS systems, "true"
otherwise.
reportColors (class
ReportColors)
If true,
xterm will print to the standard output a summary of
colors as it allocates them. The default is "false".
reportFonts (class
ReportFonts)
If true,
xterm will print to the standard output a summary of
each font's metrics (size, number of glyphs, etc.), as it
loads them. The default is "false".
reportIcons (class
ReportIcons)
If true,
xterm will print to the standard output a summary of
each pixmap icon as it loads them. The default is "false".
reportXRes (class
ReportXRes)
If true,
xterm will print to the standard output a list of
the boolean, numeric and string X resources for the VT100
widget after initialization. The default is "false".
sameName (class
SameName)
If the value of this resource is "true",
xterm does not send
title and icon name change requests when the request would
have no effect: the name is not changed. This has the
advantage of preventing flicker and the disadvantage of
requiring an extra round trip to the server to find out the
previous value. In practice this should never be a problem.
The default is "true".
scaleHeight (class
ScaleHeight)
Scale line-height values by the resource value, which is
limited to "0.9" to "1.5". The default value is "1.0",
While this resource applies to either bitmap or TrueType
fonts, its main purpose is to help work around incompatible
changes in the Xft library's font metrics.
Xterm checks the
font metrics to find what the library claims are the bounding
boxes for each glyph (character). However, some of Xft's
features (such as the autohinter) can cause the glyphs to be
scaled larger than the bounding boxes, and be partly
overwritten by the next row.
See
useClipping for a related resource.
scoFunctionKeys (class
ScoFunctionKeys)
Specifies whether or not SCO function key escape codes should
be generated for function keys. The default is "false",
i.e., this feature is disabled.
The
keyboardType resource is the preferred mechanism for
selecting this mode.
sessionMgt (class
SessionMgt)
If the value of this resource is "true",
xterm sets up
session manager callbacks for
XtNdieCallback and
XtNsaveCallback. The default is "true".
sunFunctionKeys (class
SunFunctionKeys)
Specifies whether or not Sun function key escape codes should
be generated for function keys. The default is "false",
i.e., this feature is disabled.
The
keyboardType resource is the preferred mechanism for
selecting this mode.
sunKeyboard (class
SunKeyboard)
Xterm translates certain key symbols based on its assumptions
about your keyboard. This resource specifies whether or not
Sun/PC keyboard layout (i.e., the PC keyboard's numeric
keypad together with 12 function keys) should be assumed
rather than DEC VT220. This causes the keypad "+" to be
mapped to ",". and CTRL F1-F10 to F11-F20, depending on the
setting of the
ctrlFKeys resource, so
xterm emulates a DEC
VT220 more accurately. Otherwise (the default, with
sunKeyboard set to "false"),
xterm uses PC-style bindings for
the function keys and keypad.
PC-style bindings use the Shift, Alt, Control and Meta keys
as modifiers for function-keys and keypad (see
Xterm Control Sequences for details). The PC-style bindings are analogous
to PCTerm, but not the same thing. Normally these bindings
do not conflict with the use of the Meta key as described for
the
eightBitInput resource. If they do, note that the PC-
style bindings are evaluated first.
See also the
keyboardType resource.
tcapFunctionKeys (class
TcapFunctionKeys)
Specifies whether or not function key escape codes read from
the termcap/terminfo entry corresponding to the
TERM environment variable should be generated for function keys
instead of those configured using
sunKeyboard and
keyboardType. The default is "false", i.e., this feature is
disabled.
The
keyboardType resource is the preferred mechanism for
selecting this mode.
termName (class
TermName)
Specifies the terminal type name to be set in the TERM
environment variable.
title (class
Title)
Specifies a string that may be used by the window manager
when displaying this application.
toolBar (class
ToolBar)
Specifies whether or not the toolbar should be displayed.
The default is "true".
ttyModes (class
TtyModes)
Specifies a string containing terminal setting keywords.
Except where noted, they may be bound to
characters. Other
keywords set
modes. Not all keywords are supported on a
given system. Allowable keywords include:
Keyword POSIX? Notes ----------------------------------------------------------------
brk no
CHAR may send an "interrupt" signal, as well
as ending the input-line.
dsusp no
CHAR will send a terminal "stop" signal
after input is flushed.
eof yes
CHAR will terminate input (i.e., an end of
file).
eol yes
CHAR will end the line.
eol2 no alternate
CHAR for ending the line.
erase yes
CHAR will erase the last character typed.
erase2 no alternate
CHAR for erasing the last
input-character.
flush no
CHAR will cause output to be discarded until
another
flush character is typed.
intr yes
CHAR will send an "interrupt" signal.
kill yes
CHAR will erase the current line.
lnext no
CHAR will enter the next character quoted.
quit yes
CHAR will send a "quit" signal.
rprnt no
CHAR will redraw the current line.
start yes
CHAR will
restart the output after stopping
it.
status no
CHAR will cause a system-generated status
line to be printed.
stop yes
CHAR will stop the output.
susp yes
CHAR will send a terminal "stop" signal
swtch no
CHAR will switch to a different shell layer.
tabs yes
Mode disables tab-expansion.
-tabs yes
Mode enables tab-expansion.
weras no
CHAR will erase the last word typed.
Control characters may be specified as ^char (e.g., ^c or ^u)
and
^? may be used to indicate delete (127). Use
^- to
denote
undef. Use
\034 to represent
^\, since a literal
backslash in an X resource escapes the next character.
This is very useful for overriding the default terminal
settings without having to run
stty(1) every time an
xterm is
started. Note, however, that the
stty program on a given
host may use different keywords;
xterm's table is built in.
The
POSIX column in the table indicates which keywords are
supported by a standard
stty program.
If the
ttyModes resource specifies a value for
erase, that
overrides the
ptyInitialErase resource setting, i.e.,
xterm initializes the terminal to match that value.
useInsertMode (class
UseInsertMode)
Force use of insert mode by adding appropriate entries to the
TERMCAP environment variable. This is useful if the system
termcap is broken. (This resource is ignored on most
systems, because TERMCAP is not used). The default is
"false".
utmpDisplayId (class
UtmpDisplayId)
Specifies whether or not
xterm should try to record the
display identifier (display number and screen number) as well
as the hostname in the system
utmpx log file. The default is
"true".
utmpInhibit (class
UtmpInhibit)
Specifies whether or not
xterm should try to record the
user's terminal in the system
utmpx log file. If true,
xterm will not try. The default is "false".
validShells (class
ValidShells)
Augment (add to) the system's
/etc/shells, when determining
whether to set the "SHELL" environment variable when running
a given program.
The resource value is a list of lines (separated by
newlines). Each line holds one pathname.
Xterm ignores any
line beginning with "#" after trimming leading/trailing
whitespace from each line.
The default is an empty string.
waitForMap (class
WaitForMap)
Specifies whether or not
xterm should wait for the initial
window map before starting the subprocess. This is part of
the
ptyHandshake logic. When
xterm is directed to wait in
this fashion, it passes the terminal size from the display
end of the pseudo-terminal to the terminal I/O connection,
e.g., using the size according to the window manager.
Otherwise, it uses the size as given in resource values or
command-line option
-geometry. The default is "false".
zIconBeep (class
ZIconBeep)
Same as -ziconbeep command line argument. If the value of
this resource is non-zero, xterms that produce output while
iconified will cause an XBell sound at the given volume and
have "*** " prepended to their icon titles. Most window
managers will detect this change immediately, showing you
which window has the output. (A similar feature was in x10
xterm.) The default is "false".
zIconTitleFormat (class
ZIconTitleFormat)
Allow customization of the string used in the
zIconBeep feature. The default value is "*** %s".
If the resource value contains a "%s", then
xterm inserts the
icon title at that point rather than prepending the string to
the icon title. (Only the first "%s" is used).
VT100 Widget Resources The following resources are specified as part of the
vt100 widget
(class
VT100). They are specified by patterns such as
"
XTerm.vt100.NAME".
If your
xterm is configured to support the "toolbar", then those
patterns need an extra level for the form-widget which holds the
toolbar and vt100 widget. A wildcard between the top-level "XTerm"
and the "vt100" widget makes the resource settings work for either,
e.g., "
XTerm*vt100.NAME".
activeIcon (class
ActiveIcon)
Specifies whether or not active icon windows are to be used
when the
xterm window is iconified, if this feature is
compiled into
xterm. The active icon is a miniature
representation of the content of the window and will update
as the content changes. Not all window managers necessarily
support application icon windows. Some window managers will
allow you to enter keystrokes into the active icon window.
The default is "default".
Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
shown in parentheses:
false (0)
No active icon is shown.
true (1)
The active icon is shown. If you are using
twm, use
this setting to enable active-icons.
default (2)
Xterm checks at startup, and shows an active icon only
for window managers which it can identify and which
are known to support the feature. These are
fvwm (full support), and
window maker (limited). A few
other window managers (such as
twm and
ctwm) support
active icons, but do not support the extensions which
allow
xterm to identify the window manager.
allowBoldFonts (class
AllowBoldFonts)
When set to "false",
xterm will not use bold fonts. This
overrides both the
alwaysBoldMode and the
boldMode resources.
allowC1Printable (class
AllowC1Printable)
If true, overrides the mapping of C1 controls (codes 128-159)
to make them be treated as if they were printable characters.
Although this corresponds to no particular standard, some
users insist it is a VT100. The default is "false".
allowColorOps (class
AllowColorOps)
Specifies whether control sequences that set/query the
dynamic colors should be allowed. ANSI colors are unaffected
by this resource setting. The default is "true".
allowFontOps (class
AllowFontOps)
Specifies whether control sequences that set/query the font
should be allowed. The default is "true".
allowMouseOps (class
AllowMouseOps)
Specifies whether control sequences that enable
xterm to send
escape sequences to the host on mouse-clicks and movement.
The default is "true".
allowPasteControls (class
AllowPasteControls)
If true, allow control characters such as BEL and CAN to be
pasted. Formatting characters (tab, newline) are normally
allowed, unless suppressed via the
disallowedPasteControls resource. Other C0 control characters are suppressed unless
this resource is enabled. The exact set of control
characters (C0 and C1) depends upon whether UTF-8 encoding is
used, as well as the
allowC1Printable and
disallowedPasteControls resources. The default is "false".
allowScrollLock (class
AllowScrollLock)
Specifies whether control sequences that set/query the Scroll
Lock key should be allowed, as well as whether the Scroll
Lock key responds to user's keypress. The default is
"false".
When this feature is enabled,
xterm will sense the state of
the Scroll Lock key each time it acquires focus. Pressing
the Scroll Lock key toggles
xterm's internal state, as well
as toggling the associated LED. While the Scroll Lock is
active,
xterm attempts to keep a viewport on the same set of
lines. If the current viewport is scrolled past the limit
set by the
saveLines resource, then Scroll Lock has no
further effect.
The reason for setting the default to "false" is to avoid
user surprise. This key is generally unused in keyboard
configurations, and has not acquired a standard meaning even
when it is used in that manner. Consequently, users have
assigned it for ad hoc purposes.
See also the
autoScrollLock resource.
allowSendEvents (class
AllowSendEvents)
Specifies whether or not synthetic key and button events
(generated using the X protocol SendEvent request) should be
interpreted or discarded. The default is "false" meaning
they are discarded. Note that allowing such events would
create a very large security hole, therefore enabling this
resource forcefully disables the
allowXXXOps resources. The
default is "false".
allowTcapOps (class
AllowTcapOps)
Specifies whether control sequences that query the terminal's
notion of its function-key strings, as termcap or terminfo
capabilities should be allowed. The default is "true".
A few programs, e.g.,
vim, use this feature to get an
accurate description of the terminal's capabilities,
independent of the termcap/terminfo setting:
+o
Xterm can tell the querying program how many colors it
supports. This is a constant, depending on how it is
compiled, typically 16. It does not change if you alter
resource settings, e.g., the
boldColors resource.
+o
Xterm can tell the querying program what strings are sent
by modified (shift-, control-, alt-) function- and
keypad-keys. Reporting control- and alt-modifiers is a
feature that relies on the
ncurses extended naming.
allowTitleOps (class
AllowTitleOps)
Specifies whether control sequences that modify the window
title or icon name should be allowed. The default is "true".
allowWindowOps (class
AllowWindowOps)
Specifies whether extended window control sequences (as used
in
dtterm) should be allowed. These include several control
sequences which manipulate the window size or position, as
well as reporting these values and the title or icon name.
Each of these can be abused in a script; curiously enough
most terminal emulators that implement these restrict only a
small part of the repertoire. For fine-tuning, see
disallowedWindowOps. The default is "false".
altIsNotMeta (class
AltIsNotMeta)
If "true", treat the Alt-key as if it were the Meta-key.
Your keyboard may happen to be configured so they are the
same. But if they are not, this allows you to use the same
prefix- and shifting operations with the Alt-key as with the
Meta-key. See
altSendsEscape and
metaSendsEscape. The
default is "false".
altSendsEscape (class
AltSendsEscape)
This is an additional keyboard operation that may be
processed after the logic for
metaSendsEscape. It is only
available if the
altIsNotMeta resource is set.
+o If "true", Alt characters (a character combined with the
modifier associated with left/right Alt-keys) are
converted into a two-character sequence with the
character itself preceded by ESC. This applies as well
to function key control sequences, unless
xterm sees that
Alt is used in your key translations.
+o If "false", Alt characters input from the keyboard cause
a shift to 8-bit characters (just like
metaSendsEscape).
By combining the Alt- and Meta-modifiers, you can create
corresponding combinations of ESC-prefix and 8-bit
characters.
The default is "False".
Xterm provides a menu option for
toggling this resource.
alternateScroll (class
ScrollCond)
If "true", the
scroll-back and
scroll-forw actions send
cursor-up and -down keys when
xterm is displaying the
alternate screen. The default is "false".
The
alternateScroll state can also be set using a control
sequence.
alwaysBoldMode (class
AlwaysBoldMode)
Specifies whether
xterm should check if the normal and bold
fonts are distinct before deciding whether to use
overstriking to simulate bold fonts. If this resource is
true,
xterm does not make the check for distinct fonts when
deciding how to handle the
boldMode resource. The default is
"false".
boldMode alwaysBoldMode Comparison Action ----------------------------------------------------
false false ignored use font
false true ignored use font
true false same overstrike
true false different use font
true true ignored overstrike
This resource is used only for bitmap fonts:
+o When using bitmap fonts, it is possible that the font
server will approximate the bold font by rescaling it
from a different font size than expected. The
alwaysBoldMode resource allows the user to override the
(sometimes poor) resulting bold font with overstriking
(which is at least consistent).
+o The problem does not occur with TrueType fonts (though
there can be other unnecessary issues such as different
coverage of the normal and bold fonts).
As an alternative, setting the
allowBoldFonts resource to
false overrides both the
alwaysBoldMode and the
boldMode resources.
alwaysHighlight (class
AlwaysHighlight)
Specifies whether or not
xterm should always display a
highlighted text cursor. By default (if this resource is
false), a hollow text cursor is displayed whenever the
pointer moves out of the window or the window loses the input
focus. The default is "false".
alwaysUseMods (class
AlwaysUseMods)
Override the
numLock resource, telling
xterm to use the Alt
and Meta modifiers to construct parameters for function key
sequences even if those modifiers appear in the translations
resource. Normally
xterm checks if Alt or Meta is used in a
translation that would conflict with function key modifiers,
and will ignore these modifiers in that special case. The
default is "false".
answerbackString (class
AnswerbackString)
Specifies the string that
xterm sends in response to an ENQ
(control/E) character from the host. The default is a blank
string, i.e., "". A hardware VT100 implements this feature
as a setup option.
appcursorDefault (class
AppcursorDefault)
If "true", the cursor keys are initially in application mode.
This is the same as the VT102 private DECCKM mode, The
default is "false".
appkeypadDefault (class
AppkeypadDefault)
If "true", the keypad keys are initially in application mode.
The default is "false".
assumeAllChars (class
AssumeAllChars)
If "true", this enables a special case in bitmap fonts to
allow the font server to choose how to display missing
glyphs. The default is "true".
The reason for this resource is to help with certain quasi-
automatically generated fonts (such as the ISO-10646-1
encoding of Terminus) which have incorrect font-metrics.
autoScrollLock (class
AutoScrollLock)
If "true",
xterm will maintain its viewport of displayed
lines whenever displaying scrollback, as if
allowScrollLock were enabled and the Scroll Lock key had been pressed. The
default is "false". This feature is only useful if the
scrollTtyOutput resource is set to "false".
autoWrap (class
AutoWrap)
Specifies whether or not auto-wraparound should be enabled.
This is the same as the VT102 DECAWM. The default is "true".
awaitInput (class
AwaitInput)
Specifies whether or not
xterm uses a 50 millisecond timeout
to await input (i.e., to support the
Xaw3d arrow scrollbar).
The default is "false".
backarrowKey (class
BackarrowKey)
Specifies whether the backarrow key transmits a backspace (8)
or delete (127) character. This corresponds to the DECBKM
control sequence. A "true" value specifies backspace. The
default is "True". Pressing the control key toggles this
behavior.
background (class
Background)
Specifies the color to use for the background of the window.
The default is "XtDefaultBackground".
bellIsUrgent (class
BellIsUrgent)
Specifies whether to set the Urgency hint for the window
manager when making a bell sound. The default is "false".
bellOnReset (class
BellOnReset)
Specifies whether to sound a bell when doing a hard reset.
The default is "true".
bellSuppressTime (class
BellSuppressTime)
Number of milliseconds after a bell command is sent during
which additional bells will be suppressed. Default is 200.
If set non-zero, additional bells will also be suppressed
until the server reports that processing of the first bell
has been completed; this feature is most useful with the
visible bell.
boldColors (class
ColorMode)
Specifies whether to combine bold attribute with colors like
the IBM PC, i.e., map colors 0 through 7 to colors 8 through
15. These normally are the brighter versions of the first 8
colors, hence bold. The default is "true".
boldFont (class
BoldFont)
Specifies the name of the bold font to use instead of
overstriking. There is no default for this resource.
This font must be the same height and width as the normal
font, otherwise it is ignored. If only one of the normal or
bold fonts is specified, it will be used as the normal font
and the bold font will be produced by overstriking this font.
See also the discussion of
boldMode and
alwaysBoldMode resources.
boldMode (class
BoldMode)
This specifies whether or not text with the bold attribute
should be overstruck to simulate bold fonts if the resolved
bold font is the same as the normal font. It may be
desirable to disable bold fonts when color is being used for
the bold attribute.
Note that
xterm has one bold font which you may set
explicitly.
Xterm attempts to derive a bold font for the
other font selections (
font1 through
font7). If it cannot
find a bold font, it will use the normal font. In each case
(whether the explicit resource or the derived font), if the
normal and bold fonts are distinct, this resource has no
effect. The default is "true".
See the
alwaysBoldMode resource which can modify the behavior
of this resource.
Although
xterm attempts to derive a bold font for other font
selections, the font server may not cooperate. Since X11R6,
bitmap fonts have been scaled. The font server claims to
provide the bold font that
xterm requests, but the result is
not always readable. XFree86 introduced a feature which can
be used to suppress the scaling. In the X server's
configuration file (e.g., "/etc/X11/XFree86" or
"/etc/X11/xorg.conf"), you can add ":unscaled" to the end of
the directory specification for the "misc" fonts, which
comprise the fixed-pitch fonts that are used by
xterm. For
example
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
would become
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/:unscaled"
Depending on your configuration, the font server may have its
own configuration file. The same ":unscaled" can be added to
its configuration file at the end of the directory
specification for "misc".
The bitmap scaling feature is also used by
xterm to implement
VT102 double-width and double-height characters.
brokenLinuxOSC (class
BrokenLinuxOSC)
If true,
xterm applies a workaround to ignore malformed
control sequences that a Linux script might send. Compare
the palette control sequences documented in
console_codes with ECMA-48. The default is "true".
brokenSelections (class
BrokenSelections)
If true,
xterm in 8-bit mode will interpret
STRING selections
as carrying text in the current locale's encoding. Normally
STRING selections carry ISO-8859-1 encoded text. Setting
this resource to "true" violates the ICCCM; it may, however,
be useful for interacting with some broken X clients. The
default is "false".
brokenStringTerm (class
BrokenStringTerm)
provides a work-around for some ISDN routers which start an
application control string without completing it. Set this
to "true" if
xterm appears to freeze when connecting. The
default is "false".
Xterm's state parser recognizes several types of control
strings which can contain text, e.g.,
APC (Application Program Command),
DCS (Device Control String),
OSC (Operating System Command),
PM (Privacy Message), and
SOS (Start of String),
Each should end with a string-terminator (a special character
which cannot appear in these strings). Ordinary control
characters found within the string are not ignored; they are
processed without interfering with the process of
accumulating the control string's content.
Xterm recognizes
these controls in all modes, although some of the functions
may be suppressed after parsing the control.
When enabled, this feature allows the user to exit from an
unterminated control string when any of these ordinary
control characters are found:
control/D (used as an end of file in many shells),
control/H (backspace),
control/I (tab-feed),
control/J (line feed aka newline),
control/K (vertical tab),
control/L (form feed),
control/M (carriage return),
control/N (shift-out),
control/O (shift-in),
control/Q (XOFF),
control/X (cancel)
c132 (class
C132)
Specifies whether or not the VT102 DECCOLM escape sequence,
used to switch between 80 and 132 columns, should be honored.
The default is "false".
cacheDoublesize (class
CacheDoublesize)
Tells whether to cache double-sized fonts by
xterm. Set this
to zero to disable double-sized fonts altogether.
cdXtraScroll (class
CdXtraScroll)
Specifies whether
xterm should scroll to a new page when
clearing the whole screen. Like
tiXtraScroll, the intent of
this option is to provide a picture of the full-screen
application's display on the scrollback before wiping out the
text.
Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
shown in parentheses:
false (0)
nothing is added to the scrollback.
true (1)
the current screen is added to the scrollback.
trim (2)
the current screen is added to the scrollback, but
repeated blank lines are trimmed (reduced to a single
blank line).
The default for this resource is "false".
charClass (class
CharClass)
Specifies comma-separated lists of character class bindings
of the form
low[-
high][:
value].
These are used in determining which sets of characters should
be treated the same when doing cut and paste. See the
CHARACTER CLASSES section.
checksumExtension (class
ChecksumExtension)
DEC VT420 and up support a control sequence
DECRQCRA which
reports the checksum of the characters in a rectangle.
Xterm supports this, with extensions that can be configured with
bits of the
checksumExtension:
0 do not negate the result.
1 do not report the VT100 video attributes.
2 do not omit checksum for blanks.
3 omit checksum for cells not explicitly initialized.
4 do not mask cell value to 8 bits or ignore combining
characters.
5 do not mask cell value to 7 bits.
With the default value (0),
xterm matches the behavior of
DEC's terminals. To use all extensions, set all bits, "-1"
for example.
cjkWidth (class
CjkWidth)
Specifies whether
xterm should follow the traditional East
Asian width convention. When turned on, characters with East
Asian Ambiguous (A) category in UTR 11 have a column width of
2. You may have to set this option to "true" if you have
some old East Asian terminal based programs that assume that
line-drawing characters have a column width of 2. If this
resource is false, the
mkWidth resource controls the choice
between the system's
wcwidth(3) and
xterm's built-in tables.
The default is "false".
color0 (class
Color0)
color1 (class
Color1)
color2 (class
Color2)
color3 (class
Color3)
color4 (class
Color4)
color5 (class
Color5)
color6 (class
Color6)
color7 (class
Color7)
These specify the colors for the ISO-6429 extension. The
defaults are, respectively, black, red3, green3, yellow3, a
customizable dark blue, magenta3, cyan3, and gray90. The
default shades of color are chosen to allow the colors 8-15
to be used as brighter versions.
color8 (class
Color8)
color9 (class
Color9)
color10 (class
Color10)
color11 (class
Color11)
color12 (class
Color12)
color13 (class
Color13)
color14 (class
Color14)
color15 (class
Color15)
These specify the colors for the ISO-6429 extension if the
bold attribute is also enabled. The default resource values
are respectively, gray50, red, green, yellow, a customized
light blue, magenta, cyan, and white.
color16 (class
Color16)
through
color255 (class
Color255)
These specify the colors for the 256-color extension. The
default resource values are for
+o colors 16 through 231 to make a 6x6x6 color cube, and
+o colors 232 through 255 to make a grayscale ramp.
Resources past
color15 are available as a compile-time
option. Due to a hardcoded limit in the X libraries on the
total number of resources (to 400), the resources for
256-colors are omitted when wide-character support and
luit are enabled. Besides inconsistent behavior if only part of
the resources were allowed, determining the exact cutoff is
difficult, and the X libraries tend to crash if the number of
resources exceeds the limit. The color palette is still
initialized to the same default values, and can be modified
via control sequences.
On the other hand, the resource limit does permit including
the entire range for 88-colors.
colorAttrMode (class
ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether
colorBD,
colorBL,
colorRV, and
colorUL should override ANSI colors. If not, these are displayed
only when no ANSI colors have been set for the corresponding
position. The default is "false".
colorBD (class
ColorBD)
This specifies the color to use to display bold characters if
the "colorBDMode" resource is enabled. The default is
"XtDefaultForeground".
See also the
veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
bold and color.
colorBDMode (class
ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the bold attribute should
be displayed in color or as bold characters. Note that
setting
colorMode off disables all colors, including bold.
The default is "false".
colorBL (class
ColorBL)
This specifies the color to use to display blink characters
if the "colorBLMode" resource is enabled. The default is
"XtDefaultForeground".
See also the
veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
underline and color.
colorBLMode (class
ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the blink attribute should
be displayed in color. Note that setting
colorMode off
disables all colors, including this. The default is "false".
colorIT (class
ColorIT)
This specifies the color to use to display italic characters
if the "colorITMode" resource is enabled. The default is
"XtDefaultForeground".
See also the
veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
attributes and color.
colorITMode (class
ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the italic attribute should
be displayed in color or as italic characters. The default
is "false".
Note that:
+o Setting
colorMode off disables all colors, including
italic.
+o The
italicULMode resource overrides
colorITMode.
colorInnerBorder (class
ColorInnerBorder)
Normally,
xterm fills the VT100 window's inner border using
the background color.
If the
colorInnerBorder resource is enabled, at startup
xterm will compare the
borderColor and the window's background
color. If those are different,
xterm will use the
borderColor resource to fill the inner border. Otherwise, it
will use the window's background color.
The default is "false".
colorMode (class
ColorMode)
Specifies whether or not recognition of ANSI (ISO-6429) color
change escape sequences should be enabled. The default is
"true".
colorRV (class
ColorRV)
This specifies the color to use to display reverse characters
if the "colorRVMode" resource is enabled. The default is
"XtDefaultForeground".
See also the
veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
reverse and color.
colorRVMode (class
ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the reverse attribute
should be displayed in color. Note that setting
colorMode off disables all colors, including this. The default is
"false".
colorUL (class
ColorUL)
This specifies the color to use to display underlined
characters if the "colorULMode" resource is enabled. The
default is "XtDefaultForeground".
See also the
veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
underline and color.
colorULMode (class
ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the underline attribute
should be displayed in color or as underlined characters.
Note that setting
colorMode off disables all colors,
including underlining. The default is "false".
combiningChars (class
CombiningChars)
Specifies the number of wide-characters which can be stored
in a cell to overstrike (combine) with the base character of
the cell. This can be set to values in the range 0 to 5.
The default is "2".
ctrlFKeys (class
CtrlFKeys)
In VT220 keyboard mode (see
sunKeyboard resource), specifies
the amount by which to shift F1-F12 given a control modifier
(CTRL). This allows you to generate key symbols for F10-F20
on a Sun/PC keyboard. The default is "10", which means that
CTRL F1 generates the key symbol for F11.
curses (class
Curses)
Specifies whether or not the last column bug in
more(1)
should be worked around. See the
-cu option for details.
The default is "false".
cursorBar (class
CursorBar)
Specifies whether to make the cursor a left-bar or a box,
unless the
cursorUnderLine resource is set. The default is
"false".
cursorBlink (class
CursorBlink)
Specifies whether to make the cursor blink.
Xterm accepts
either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number shown in
parentheses:
false (0)
The cursor will not blink, but may be combined with escape
sequences according to the
cursorBlinkXOR resource.
true (1)
The cursor will blink, but may be combined with escape
sequences according to the
cursorBlinkXOR resource.
always (2)
The cursor will always blink, ignoring escape sequences.
The menu entry will be disabled.
never (3)
The cursor will never blink, ignoring escape sequences.
The menu entry will be disabled.
The default is "false".
cursorBlinkXOR (class
CursorBlinkXOR)
Xterm uses two inputs to determine whether the cursor blinks:
+o The
cursorBlink resource (which can be altered with a
menu entry).
+o Control sequences (private mode 12 and DECSCUSR).
The
cursorBlinkXOR resource determines how those inputs are
combined:
false
Xterm uses the logical-OR of the two variables. If
either is set,
xterm makes the cursor blink.
true
Xterm uses the logical-XOR of the two variables. If
only one is set,
xterm makes the cursor blink.
The default is "true".
cursorColor (class
CursorColor)
Specifies the color to use for the text cursor. The default
is "XtDefaultForeground". By default,
xterm attempts to keep
this color from being the same as the background color, since
it draws the cursor by filling the background of a text cell.
The same restriction applies to control sequences which may
change this color.
Setting this resource overrides most of
xterm's adjustments
to cursor color. It will still use reverse-video to disallow
some cases, such as a black cursor on a black background.
cursorOffTime (class
CursorOffTime)
Specifies the duration of the "off" part of the cursor blink
cycle-time in milliseconds. The same timer is used for text
blinking. The default is "300".
cursorOnTime (class
CursorOnTime)
Specifies the duration of the "on" part of the cursor blink
cycle-time, in milliseconds. The same timer is used for text
blinking. The default is "600".
cursorUnderLine (class
CursorUnderLine)
Specifies whether to make the cursor underlined or a box. If
unset (false), the
cursorBar resource may set the cursor
shape. The default is "false".
cutNewline (class
CutNewline)
If "false", triple clicking to select a line does not include
the
newline at the end of the line. If "true", the Newline
is selected. The default is "true".
cutToBeginningOfLine (class
CutToBeginningOfLine)
If "false", triple clicking to select a line selects only
from the current word forward. If "true", the entire line is
selected. The default is "true".
decGraphicsID (class
DecGraphicsID)
Allows a way to combine the graphics feature from certain DEC
terminals (125, 240, 241, 330, 340 or 382) with other
emulation levels which did not provide the graphics feature.
As in
decTerminalID, leading non-digit characters are
ignored, e.g., "vt340" and "340" are the same.
If the resource value is nonzero,
xterm uses that emulation
level when initializing the drawing region and decoding
control sequences to draw graphics.
The default is "0".
decTerminalID (class
DecTerminalID)
Specifies the emulation level (100=VT100, 220=VT220, etc.),
used to determine the type of response to a DA control
sequence. Leading non-digit characters are ignored, e.g.,
"vt100" and "100" are the same. The default is "420".
defaultString (class
DefaultString)
Specify the character (or string) which
xterm will substitute
when pasted text includes a character which cannot be
represented in the current encoding. For instance, pasting
UTF-8 text into a display of ISO-8859-1 characters will only
be able to display codes 0-255, while UTF-8 text can include
Unicode values above 255. The default is "#" (a single pound
sign).
If the undisplayable text would be double-width,
xterm will
add a space after the "#" character, to give roughly the same
layout on the screen as the original text.
deleteIsDEL (class
DeleteIsDEL)
Specifies what the
Delete key on the editing keypad should
send when pressed. The resource value is a string, evaluated
as a boolean after startup.
Xterm uses it in conjunction
with the
keyboardType resource:
+o If the keyboard type is "default", or "vt220" and the
resource is either "true" or "maybe" send the VT220-style
Remove escape sequence. Otherwise, send DEL (127).
+o If the keyboard type is "legacy", and the resource is
"true" send DEL. Otherwise, send the
Remove sequence.
+o Otherwise, if the keyboard type is none of these special
cases, send DEL (127).
The default is "Maybe". The resource is allowed to be a non-
boolean "maybe" so that the popup menu
Delete is DEL entry
does not override the keyboard type.
directColor (class
DirectColor)
Specifies whether to handle direct-color control sequences
using the X server's available colors, or to approximate
those using a color map with 256 entries. A "true" value
enables the former. The default is "true".
disallowedColorOps (class
DisallowedColorOps)
Specify which features will be disabled if
allowColorOps is
false. This is a comma-separated list of names. The default
value is
SetColor,GetColor,GetAnsiColor
The names are listed below.
Xterm ignores capitalization,
but they are shown in mixed-case for clarity.
SetColor
Set a specific dynamic color.
GetColor
Report the current setting of a given dynamic color.
GetAnsiColor
Report the current setting of a given ANSI color
(actually any of the colors set via ANSI-style
controls).
disallowedFontOps (class
DisallowedFontOps)
Specify which features will be disabled if
allowFontOps is
false. This is a comma-separated list of names. The default
value is
SetFont,GetFont
The names are listed below.
Xterm ignores capitalization,
but they are shown in mixed-case for clarity.
SetFont
Set the specified font.
GetFont
Report the specified font.
disallowedMouseOps (class
DisallowedMouseOps)
Specify which features will be disabled if
allowMouseOps is
false. This is a comma-separated list of names. The default
value is "*" which matches all names. The names are listed
below.
Xterm ignores capitalization, but they are shown in
mixed-case for clarity.
X10 The original X10 mouse protocol.
Locator
DEC locator mode
VT200Click
X11 mouse-clicks only.
VT200Hilite
X11 mouse-clicks and highlighting.
AnyButton
XFree86
xterm any-button mode sends button-clicks as
well as motion events while the button is pressed.
AnyEvent
XFree86
xterm any-event mode sends button-clicks as well
as motion events whether or not a button is pressed.
FocusEvent
Send FocusIn/FocusOut events.
Extended
The first extension beyond X11 mouse protocol, this
encodes the coordinates in UTF-8. It is deprecated in
favor of
SGR, but provided for compatibility.
SGR This is the recommended extension for mouse-coordinates
URXVT
Like
Extended, this is provided for compatibility.
AlternateScroll
This overrides the
alternateScroll resource.
disallowedPasteControls (class
DisallowedPasteControls)
Use this resource to disallow pasting specific C0 control
characters when the
allowPasteControls resource is false
(i.e., the default). This resource defines the set of
control characters which cannot be pasted, converting each
into a space. Other C0 controls are pasted without change.
The resource value is a comma-separated list of names.
Xterm ignores capitalization. The default value is
BS,DEL,ENQ,EOT,ESC,NUL,STTY
The names are listed below:
C0 all ASCII control characters.
Individual C0 characters NUL, SOH, STX, ETX, EOT, ENQ, ACK, BEL, BS, HT, LF, VT,
FF, CR, SO, SI, DLE, DC1, DC2, DC3, DC4, NAK, SYN, ETB,
CAN, EM, SUB, ESC, FS, GS, RS, US
DEL ASCII delete
NL ASCII line-feed, i.e., "newline" is the same as LF.
STTY special characters which are set with
stty(1).
disallowedTcapOps (class
DisallowedTcapOps)
Specify which features will be disabled if
allowTcapOps is
false. This is a comma-separated list of names. The default
value is
SetTcap,GetTcap
The names are listed below.
Xterm ignores capitalization,
but they are shown in mixed-case for clarity.
SetTcap
(not implemented)
GetTcap
Report specified function- and other special keys.
disallowedWindowOps (class
DisallowedWindowOps)
Specify which features will be disabled if
allowWindowOps is
false. This is a comma-separated list of names, or (for the
controls adapted from
dtterm the operation number). The
default value is
20,21,SetXprop,SetSelection
(i.e., all except a few "dangerous" operations are allowed).
The names are listed below.
Xterm ignores capitalization,
but they are shown in mixed-case for clarity. Where a number
can be used as an alternative, it is given in parentheses
after the name.
GetChecksum
Report checksum of characters in a rectangular region.
GetIconTitle (20)
Report
xterm window's icon label as a string.
GetScreenSizeChars (19)
Report the size of the screen in characters as numbers.
GetSelection
Report selection data as a base64 string.
GetWinPosition (13)
Report
xterm window position as numbers.
GetWinSizeChars (18)
Report the size of the text area in characters as
numbers.
GetWinSizePixels (14)
Report
xterm window in pixels as numbers.
GetWinState (11)
Report
xterm window state as a number.
GetWinTitle (21)
Report
xterm window's title as a string.
LowerWin (6)
Lower the
xterm window to the bottom of the stacking
order.
MaximizeWin (9)
Maximize window (i.e., resize to screen size).
FullscreenWin (10)
Use full screen (i.e., resize to screen size, without
window decorations).
MinimizeWin (2)
Iconify window.
PopTitle (23)
Pop title from internal stack.
PushTitle (22)
Push title to internal stack.
RaiseWin (5)
Raise the
xterm window to the front of the stacking
order.
RefreshWin (7)
Refresh the
xterm window.
RestoreWin (1)
De-iconify window.
SetChecksum
Modify algorithm for reporting checksum of characters in
a rectangular region.
SetSelection
Set selection data.
SetWinLines
Resize to a given number of lines, at least 24.
SetWinPosition (3)
Move window to given coordinates.
SetWinSizeChars (8)
Resize the text area to given size in characters.
SetWinSizePixels (4)
Resize the
xterm window to given size in pixels.
SetXprop
Set X property on top-level window.
dynamicColors (class
DynamicColors)
Specifies whether or not escape sequences to change colors
assigned to different attributes are recognized.
eightBitControl (class
EightBitControl)
Specifies whether or not control sequences sent by the
terminal should be eight-bit characters or escape sequences.
The default is "false".
eightBitInput (class
EightBitInput)
If "true", Meta characters (a single-byte character combined
with the
Meta modifier key) input from the keyboard are
presented as a single character, modified according to the
eightBitMeta resource. If "false", Meta characters are
converted into a two-character sequence with the character
itself preceded by ESC. The default is "true".
The
metaSendsEscape and
altSendsEscape resources may override
this feature. Generally keyboards do not have a key labeled
"Meta", but "Alt" keys are common, and they are
conventionally used for "Meta". If they were synonymous, it
would have been reasonable to name this resource
"
altSendsEscape", reversing its sense. For more background
on this, see the
meta(3x) function in curses.
Note that the
Alt key is not necessarily the same as the
Meta modifier. The
xmodmap utility lists your key modifiers. X
defines modifiers for shift, (caps) lock and control, as well
as 5 additional modifiers which are generally used to
configure key modifiers.
Xterm inspects the same information
to find the modifier associated with either
Meta key (left or
right), and uses that key as the
Meta modifier. It also
looks for the NumLock key, to recognize the modifier which is
associated with that.
If your
xmodmap configuration uses the same keycodes for Alt-
and Meta-keys,
xterm will only see the Alt-key definitions,
since those are tested before Meta-keys. NumLock is tested
first. It is important to keep these keys distinct;
otherwise some of
xterm's functionality is not available.
The
eightBitInput resource is tested at startup time. If
"true", the
xterm tries to put the terminal into 8-bit mode.
If "false", on startup,
xterm tries to put the terminal into
7-bit mode. For some configurations this is unsuccessful;
failure is ignored. After startup,
xterm does not change the
terminal between 8-bit and 7-bit mode.
As originally implemented in X11, the resource value did not
change after startup. However (since patch #216 in 2006)
xterm can modify
eightBitInput after startup via a control
sequence. The corresponding terminfo capabilities
smm (set
meta mode) and
rmm (reset meta mode) have been recognized by
bash for some time. Interestingly enough,
bash's notion of
"meta mode" differs from the standard definition (in the
terminfo manual), which describes the change to the eighth
bit of a character. It happens that
bash views "meta mode"
as the ESC character that
xterm puts before a character when
a special meta key is pressed.
bash's early documentation
talks about the ESC character and ignores the eighth bit.
eightBitMeta (class
EightBitMeta)
This controls the way
xterm modifies the eighth bit of a
single-byte key when the
eightBitInput resource is set. The
default is "locale".
The resource value is a string, evaluated as a boolean after
startup.
false
The key is sent unmodified.
locale
The key is modified only if the locale uses eight-bit
encoding.
true The key is sent modified.
never
The key is always sent unmodified.
Except for the
never choice,
xterm honors the terminfo
capabilities
smm (set meta mode) and
rmm (reset meta mode),
allowing the feature to be turned on or off dynamically.
If
eightBitMeta is enabled when the locale uses UTF-8,
xterm encodes the value as UTF-8 (since patch #183 in 2003).
eightBitOutput (class
EightBitOutput)
Specifies whether or not eight-bit characters sent from the
host should be accepted as is or stripped when printed. The
default is "true", which means that they are accepted as is.
eightBitSelectTypes (class
EightBitSelectTypes)
Override
xterm's default selection target list (see
SELECT/PASTE) for selections in normal (ISO-8859-1) mode.
The default is an empty string, i.e., "", which does not
override anything.
eraseSavedLines (class
EraseSavedLines)
Specifies whether or not to allow
xterm extended ED/DECSED
control sequences to erase the saved-line buffer. The
default is "true".
faceName (class
FaceName)
Specify the pattern for scalable fonts selected from the
FreeType library if support for that library was compiled
into
xterm. There is no default value.
One or more fonts can be specified, separated by commas. If
prefixed with "x:" or "x11:" the specification applies to the
XLFD
font resource. A "xft:" prefix is accepted but
unnecessary since a missing prefix for
faceName means that it
will be used for TrueType. For example,
XTerm*faceName: x:fixed,xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono
Two TrueType fonts can be specified in this way. The first
is the primary font; the second acts as a manual override to
the
fontconfig fontset.
If no
faceName resource is specified, or if there is no match
for both TrueType normal and bold fonts,
xterm uses the XLFD
(bitmap)
font and related resources.
It is possible to select suitable bitmap fonts using a script
such as this:
#!/bin/sh
FONT=`xfontsel -print`
test -n "$FONT" && xfd -fn "$FONT"
However (even though
xfd accepts a "
-fa" option to denote
FreeType fonts),
xfontsel has not been similarly extended.
As a workaround, you may try
fc-list :scalable=true:spacing=mono: family
to find a list of scalable fixed-pitch fonts which may be
used for the
faceName resource value.
faceNameDoublesize (class
FaceNameDoublesize)
Specify a double-width scalable font for cases where an
application requires this, e.g., in CJK applications. There
is no default value.
Like the
faceName resource, this allows one or more comma-
separated font specifications to be applied to the
wide TrueType or XLFD fonts.
If the application uses double-wide characters and this
resource is not given,
xterm will use a scaled version of the
font given by
faceName.
faceSize (class
FaceSize)
Specify the pointsize for fonts selected from the FreeType
library if support for that library was compiled into
xterm.
The default is "8.0" On the
VT Fonts menu, this corresponds
to the
Default entry.
Although the default is "8.0", this may not be the same as
the pointsize for the default bitmap font, i.e., that
assigned with the
-fn option, or the
font resource. The
default value of
faceSize is chosen to match the size of the
"fixed" font, making switching between bitmap and TrueType
fonts via the font menu give comparable sizes for the window.
If your
-fn option uses a different pointsize, you might want
to adjust the
faceSize resource to match.
You can specify the pointsize for TrueType fonts selected
with the other size-related menu entries such as Medium,
Huge, etc., by using one of the following resource values.
If you do not specify a value, they default to "0.0", which
causes
xterm to use the ratio of font sizes from the
corresponding bitmap font resources to obtain a TrueType
pointsize.
If all of the
faceSize resources are set, then
xterm will use
this information to determine the next smaller/larger
TrueType font for the
larger-vt-font() and
smaller-vt-font() actions. If any are not set,
xterm will use only the areas
of the bitmap fonts.
faceSize1 (class
FaceSize1)
Specifies the pointsize of the first alternative font.
faceSize2 (class
FaceSize2)
Specifies the pointsize of the second alternative font.
faceSize3 (class
FaceSize3)
Specifies the pointsize of the third alternative font.
faceSize4 (class
FaceSize4)
Specifies the pointsize of the fourth alternative font.
faceSize5 (class
FaceSize5)
Specifies the pointsize of the fifth alternative font.
faceSize6 (class
FaceSize6)
Specifies the pointsize of the sixth alternative font.
faceSize7 (class
FaceSize7)
Specifies the pointsize of the seventh alternative font.
faintIsRelative (class
FaintIsRelative)
Faint colors are derived from the current text color, e.g.,
the ANSI colors, by scaling the red, green and blue
components. Use this resource to specify whether that is
done relative to the current background color, or as an
absolute value. The default is "false".
fastScroll (class
FastScroll)
Modifies the effect of jump scroll (
jumpScroll) by
suppressing screen refreshes for the special case when output
to the screen has completely shifted the contents off-screen.
Likewise, screen refreshes for related actions, e.g.,
carriage returns, are suppressed.
For instance,
cat'ing a large file to the screen normally
results in a large number of screen refreshes. By
suppressing the corresponding refreshes, scrolling speed
improves.
The default is "true".
font (class
Font)
Specifies the name of the normal font. The default is
"fixed".
See the discussion of the
locale resource, which describes
how this font may be overridden.
NOTE: some resource files use patterns such as
*font: fixed
which are overly broad, affecting both
xterm.vt100.font
and
xterm.vt100.utf8Fonts.font
which is probably not what you intended.
font1 (class
Font1)
Specifies the name of the first alternative font,
corresponding to "Unreadable" in the standard menu.
font2 (class
Font2)
Specifies the name of the second alternative font,
corresponding to "Tiny" in the standard menu.
font3 (class
Font3)
Specifies the name of the third alternative font,
corresponding to "Small" in the standard menu.
font4 (class
Font4)
Specifies the name of the fourth alternative font,
corresponding to "Medium" in the standard menu.
font5 (class
Font5)
Specifies the name of the fifth alternative font,
corresponding to "Large" in the standard menu.
font6 (class
Font6)
Specifies the name of the sixth alternative font,
corresponding to "Huge" in the standard menu.
font7 (class
Font7)
Specifies the name of the seventh alternative font,
corresponding to "Enormous" in the standard menu.
fontDoublesize (class
FontDoublesize)
Specifies whether
xterm should attempt to use font scaling to
draw double-sized characters. Some older font servers cannot
do this properly, will return misleading font metrics. The
default is "true". If disabled,
xterm will simulate double-
sized characters by drawing normal characters with spaces
between them.
fontWarnings (class
FontWarnings)
Specify whether
xterm should report an error if it fails to
load a font:
0 Never report an error (though the X libraries may).
1 Report an error if the font name was given as a resource
setting.
2 Always report an error on failure to load a font.
The default is "1".
forceBoxChars (class
ForceBoxChars)
Specifies whether
xterm should assume the normal and bold
fonts have VT100 line-drawing characters:
+o The fixed-pitch ISO-8859-*-encoded fonts used by
xterm normally have the VT100 line-drawing glyphs in cells
1-31. Other fixed-pitch fonts may be more attractive,
but lack these glyphs.
+o When using an ISO-10646-1 font and the
wideChars resource
is true,
xterm uses the Unicode glyphs which match the
VT100 line-drawing glyphs.
If "false",
xterm checks for missing glyphs in the font and
makes line-drawing characters directly as needed. If "true",
xterm assumes the font does not contain the line-drawing
characters, and draws them directly. The default is "false".
The VT100 line-drawing character set (also known as the
DEC Special Character and Line Drawing Set) is shown in this
table. It includes a few
special characters which are not
used for drawing lines:
Cell Unicode Description ------------------------------------------------------------
0 U+25AE black vertical rectangle
1 U+25C6 black diamond
2 U+2592 medium shade
3 U+2409 symbol for horizontal tabulation
4 U+240C symbol for form feed
5 U+240D symbol for carriage return
6 U+240A symbol for line feed
7 U+00B0 degree sign
8 U+00B1 plus-minus sign
9 U+2424 symbol for newline
10 U+240B symbol for vertical tabulation
11 U+2518 box drawings light up and left
12 U+2510 box drawings light down and left
13 U+250C box drawings light down and right
14 U+2514 box drawings light up and right
15 U+253C box drawings light vertical and horizontal
16 U+23BA box drawings scan 1
17 U+23BB box drawings scan 3
18 U+2500 box drawings light horizontal
19 U+23BC box drawings scan 7
20 U+23BD box drawings scan 9
21 U+251C box drawings light vertical and right
22 U+2524 box drawings light vertical and left
23 U+2534 box drawings light up and horizontal
24 U+252C box drawings light down and horizontal
25 U+2502 box drawings light vertical
26 U+2264 less-than or equal to
27 U+2265 greater-than or equal to
28 U+03C0 greek small letter pi
29 U+2260 not equal to
30 U+00A3 pound sign
31 U+00B7 middle dot
------------------------------------------------------------
forcePackedFont (class
ForcePackedFont)
Specifies whether
xterm should use the maximum or minimum
glyph width when displaying using a bitmap font. Use the
maximum width to help with proportional fonts. The default
is "true", denoting the minimum width.
forceXftHeight (class
ForceXftHeight)
Specifies whether
xterm should use the given font metrics for
TrueType fonts, or amend the ascent/descent to total no more
than the given font-height. This optional feature is used to
work around inconsistencies in FreeType's rounding
computation. The default is "false", denoting the given
metrics.
foreground (class
Foreground)
Specifies the color to use for displaying text in the window.
Setting the class name instead of the instance name is an
easy way to have everything that would normally appear in the
text color change color. The default is
"XtDefaultForeground".
formatOtherKeys (class
FormatOtherKeys)
Overrides the format of the escape sequence used to report
modified keys with the
modifyOtherKeys resource.
0 send modified keys as parameters for function-key 27
(default).
1 send modified keys as parameters for CSI u.
freeBoldBox (class
FreeBoldBox)
Specifies whether
xterm should assume the bounding boxes for
normal and bold fonts are compatible. If "false",
xterm compares them and will reject choices of bold fonts that do
not match the size of the normal font. The default is
"false", which means that the comparison is performed.
geometry (class
Geometry)
Specifies the preferred size and position of the VT
xxx window. There is no default for this resource.
highlightColor (class
HighlightColor)
Specifies the color to use for the background of selected
(highlighted) text. If not specified (i.e., matching the
default foreground), reverse video is used. The default is
"XtDefaultForeground".
highlightColorMode (class
HighlightColorMode)
Specifies whether
xterm should use
highlightTextColor and
highlightColor to override the reversed foreground/background
colors in a selection. The default is unspecified: at
startup,
xterm checks if those resources are set to something
other than the default foreground and background colors.
Setting this resource disables the check.
The following table shows the interaction of the highlighting
resources, abbreviated as shown to fit in this page:
HCM highlightColorMode
HR highlightReverse
HBG highlightColor
HFG highlightTextColor
HCM HR HBG HFG Highlight ------------------------------------------------
false false default default bg/fg
false false default set bg/fg
false false set default fg/HBG
false false set set fg/HBG
================================================
false true default default bg/fg
false true default set bg/fg
false true set default fg/HBG
false true set set fg/HBG
================================================
true false default default bg/fg
true false default set HFG/fg
true false set default bg/HBG
true false set set HFG/HBG
================================================
true true default default bg/fg
true true default set HFG/fg
true true set default fg/HBG
true true set set HFG/HBG
================================================
default false default default bg/fg
default false default set bg/fg
default false set default fg/HBG
default false set set HFG/HBG
================================================
default true default default bg/fg
default true default set bg/fg
default true set default fg/HBG
default true set set HFG/HBG
================================================
highlightReverse (class
HighlightReverse)
Specifies whether
xterm should reverse the selection
foreground and background colors when selecting text with
reverse-video attribute. This applies only to the
highlightColor and
highlightTextColor resources, e.g., to
match the color scheme of
xwsh. If "true",
xterm reverses
the colors, If "false",
xterm does not reverse colors, The
default is "true".
highlightSelection (class
HighlightSelection)
Tells
xterm whether to highlight all of the selected
positions, or only the selected text:
+o If "false", selecting with the mouse highlights all
positions on the screen between the beginning of the
selection and the current position.
+o If "true",
xterm highlights only the positions that
contain text that can be selected.
The default is "false".
Depending on the way your applications write to the screen,
there may be trailing blanks on a line.
Xterm stores data as
it is shown on the screen. Erasing the display changes the
internal state of each cell so it is not considered a blank
for the purpose of selection. Blanks written since the last
erase are selectable. If you do not wish to have trailing
blanks in a selection, use the
trimSelection resource.
highlightTextColor (class
HighlightTextColor)
Specifies the color to use for the foreground of selected
(highlighted) text. If not specified (i.e., matching the
default background), reverse video is used. The default is
"XtDefaultBackground".
hpLowerleftBugCompat (class
HpLowerleftBugCompat)
Specifies whether to work around a bug in HP's
xdb, which
ignores termcap and always sends ESC F to move to the lower
left corner. "true" causes
xterm to interpret ESC F as a
request to move to the lower left corner of the screen. The
default is "false".
i18nSelections (class
I18nSelections)
If false,
xterm will not request the targets
COMPOUND_TEXT or
TEXT. The default is "true". It may be set to false in
order to work around ICCCM violations by other X clients.
iconBorderColor (class
BorderColor)
Specifies the border color for the active icon window if this
feature is compiled into
xterm. Not all window managers will
make the icon border visible.
iconBorderWidth (class
BorderWidth)
Specifies the border width for the active icon window if this
feature is compiled into
xterm. The default is "2". Not all
window managers will make the border visible.
iconFont (class
IconFont)
Specifies the font for the miniature active icon window, if
this feature is compiled into
xterm. The default is "nil2".
incrementalGraphics (class
IncrementalGraphics)
When displaying SIXEL graphics, refresh the screen after
processing each cell. The default is "false".
indicatorFormat (class
IndicatorFormat)
When displaying the status line using the
indicator mode
(i.e., selecting DECSSDT line type 1), format the status
using this resource.
The default value of the resource displays the version of
xterm, the cursor position and the time/date:
"%{version%} %{position%} %{unixtime%}"
If a "%" marker does not match any of the three special
tokens used in the default resource setting,
xterm uses
strftime(3) to interpret it.
initialFont (class
InitialFont)
Specifies which of the VT100 fonts to use initially. Values
are the same as for the
set-vt-font action. The default is
"d", i.e., "default".
inputMethod (class
InputMethod)
Tells
xterm which type of input method to use. There is no
default method.
internalBorder (class
BorderWidth)
Specifies the number of pixels between the characters and the
window border. The default is "2".
italicULMode (class
ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the underline attribute
should be displayed in an italic font or as underlined
characters. It is implemented only for TrueType fonts.
jumpScroll (class
JumpScroll)
Specifies whether or not jump scroll should be used. This
corresponds to the VT102 DECSCLM private mode. The default
is "true". See
fastScroll for a variation.
keepClipboard (class
KeepClipboard)
Specifies whether
xterm will reuse the selection data which
it copied to the clipboard rather than asking the clipboard
for its current contents when told to provide the selection.
The default is "false".
If compiled into
xterm, the menu entry
Keep Clipboard allows
you to change this at runtime.
keepSelection (class
KeepSelection)
Specifies whether
xterm will keep the selection even after
the selected area was touched by some output to the terminal.
The default is "true".
The menu entry
Keep Selection allows you to change this at
runtime.
keyboardDialect (class
KeyboardDialect)
Specifies the initial keyboard dialect, as well as the
default value when the terminal is reset. The value given is
the same as the final character in the control sequences
which change character sets. The default is "B", which
corresponds to US ASCII.
limitFontsets (class
LimitFontsets)
Limits the number of TrueType fallback fonts (i.e., fontset)
which can be tested. The default is "50". No more than
"255" will be scanned.
This limits the number of fallback fonts which
xterm uses to
display characters. Because TrueType fonts typically are
small,
xterm may open several fonts for good coverage, and
may open additional fonts to obtain information. You can see
which font-files
xterm opens by setting the environment
variable
XFT_DEBUG to 3. The Xft library and
xterm write
this debugging trace to the standard output.
Set this to "0" to disable fallbacks entirely.
limitFontHeight (class
LimitFontHeight)
When scaling a TrueType font to provide the parts for a
double-high character,
xterm compares the scaled font with
the original to ensure that it is taller.
The default is "10" (percent).
limitFontWidth (class
LimitFontWidth)
When looking for fallback fonts,
xterm checks to see that the
the character to be displayed is the same width as the
primary font. If a character extends outside the font's
bounding box,
xterm will clip it, to fit.
This resource controls the amount by which the character can
extend outside its bounding box before
xterm looks further
for a better font.
This resource is also used in scaling TrueType fonts for
double-wide characters, like
limitFontHeight for double-wide
characters.
The default is "10" (percent).
limitResize (class
LimitResize)
Limits resizing of the screen via control sequence to a given
multiple of the display dimensions. The default is "1".
limitResponse (class
LimitResponse)
Limits the buffer-size used when
xterm replies to various
control sequences. The default is "1024". The minimum value
is "256".
locale (class
Locale)
Specifies how to use
luit(1), an encoding converter between
UTF-8 and locale encodings. The resource value (ignoring
case) may be:
true Xterm will use the encoding specified by the users'
LC_CTYPE locale (i.e., LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG
variables) as far as possible. This is realized by
always enabling UTF-8 mode and invoking
luit in non-UTF-8
locales.
medium Xterm will follow users' LC_CTYPE locale only for UTF-8,
east Asian, and Thai locales, where the encodings were
not supported by conventional 8bit mode with changing
fonts. For other locales,
xterm will use conventional
8bit mode.
checkfont If mini-luit is compiled-in,
xterm will check if a
Unicode font has been specified. If so, it checks if the
character encoding for the current locale is POSIX,
Latin-1 or Latin-9, uses the appropriate mapping to
support those with the Unicode font. For other
encodings,
xterm assumes that UTF-8 encoding is required.
false Xterm will use conventional 8bit mode or UTF-8 mode
according to
utf8 resource or
-u8 option.
Any other value, e.g., "UTF-8" or "ISO8859-2", is assumed to
be an encoding name;
luit will be invoked to support the
encoding. The actual list of supported encodings depends on
luit. The default is "medium".
Regardless of your locale and encoding, you need an
ISO-10646-1 font to display the result. Your configuration
may not include this font, or locale-support by
xterm may not
be needed.
At startup,
xterm uses a mechanism equivalent to the
load-vt-fonts(utf8Fonts, Utf8Fonts) action to load font name
subresources of the VT100 widget. That is, resource patterns
such as "
*vt100.utf8Fonts.font" will be loaded, and (if this
resource is enabled), override the normal fonts. If no
subresources are found, the normal fonts such as
"
*vt100.font", etc., are used.
For instance, you could have this in your resource file:
*VT100.font: 12x24
*VT100.utf8Fonts.font:9x15
When started with a UTF-8 locale,
xterm would use 9x15, but
allow you to switch to the 12x24 font using the menu entry
"
UTF-8 Fonts".
The resource files distributed with
xterm use ISO-10646-1
fonts, but do not rely on them unless you are using the
locale mechanism.
localeFilter (class
LocaleFilter)
Specifies the file name for the encoding converter from/to
locale encodings and UTF-8 which is used with the
-lc option
or
locale resource. The help message shown by "xterm -help"
lists the default value, which depends on your system
configuration.
If the encoding converter requires command-line parameters,
you can add those after the command, e.g.,
*localeFilter: xterm-filter -p
Alternatively, you may put those parameters within a shell
script to execute the converter, and set this resource to
point to the shell script.
When using a locale-filter, e.g., with the
-e option, or the
shell,
xterm first tries passing control via that filter. If
it fails,
xterm will retry without the locale-filter.
Xterm warns about the failure before retrying.
logFile (class
Logfile)
Specify the name for
xterm's log file. If no name is
specified,
xterm will generate a name when logging is
enabled, as described in the
-l option.
logInhibit (class
LogInhibit)
If "true", prevent the logging feature from being enabled,
whether by the command-line option
-l, or the menu entry
Log to File. The default is "false".
logging (class
Logging)
If "true", (and if
logInhibit is not set) enable the logging
feature. This resource is set/updated by the
-l option and
the menu entry
Log to File. The default is "false".
loginShell (class
LoginShell)
Specifies whether or not the shell to be run in the window
should be started as a login shell. The default is "false".
marginBell (class
MarginBell)
Specifies whether or not the bell should be rung when the
user types near the right margin. The default is "false".
maxGraphicSize (class
MaxGraphicSize)
If
xterm is configured to support ReGIS or SIXEL graphics,
this resource controls the maximum size of a graph which can
be displayed.
The default is "1000x1000" (given as
width by
height).
If the resource is "auto" then
xterm will use the
decGraphicsID resource (or
decTerminalID if that is not set):
Result decGraphicsID ------------------------
768x400 125
800x460 240
800x460 241
800x480 330
800x480 340
860x750 382
800x480
other maxStringParse (class
MaxStringParse)
Xterm's state parser recognizes several types of control
strings which can contain text, e.g.,
APC (Application Program Command),
DCS (Device Control String),
OSC (Operating System Command),
PM (Privacy Message), and
SOS (Start of String),
Xterm reads these strings, accumulating them into a buffer
until they are properly terminated. At that point,
xterm interprets the strings. If they happen to be
DCS commands to
draw ReGIS images, these strings may be large, in the
hundreds of kilobytes. A few
OSC commands may be as large as
10 kilobytes.
This resource sets a limit on the size of the buffer used for
these strings. The default is "600000" based on the features
which are configured for
xterm. Control strings which
require larger buffer size are ignored.
metaSendsEscape (class
MetaSendsEscape)
Tells
xterm what to do with input-characters modified by
Meta:
+o If "true", Meta characters (a character combined with the
Meta modifier key) are converted into a two-character
sequence with the character itself preceded by ESC. This
applies as well to function key control sequences, unless
xterm sees that
Meta is used in your key translations.
+o If "false", Meta characters input from the keyboard are
handled according to the
eightBitInput resource.
The default is "False".
mkSamplePass (class
MkSamplePass)
If
mkSampleSize is nonzero, and
mkWidth (and
cjkWidth) are
false, on startup
xterm compares its built-in tables to the
system's wide character width data to decide if it will use
the system's data. It tests the first
mkSampleSize character
values, and allows up to
mkSamplePass mismatches before the
test fails. The default (for the allowed number of
mismatches) is 655 (one percent of the default value for
mkSampleSize).
mkSampleSize (class
MkSampleSize)
With
mkSamplePass, this specifies a startup test used for
initializing wide character width calculations. The default
(number of characters to check) is 65536.
mkWidth (class
MkWidth)
Specifies whether
xterm should use a built-in version of the
wide character width calculation. See also the
cjkWidth resource which can override this. The default is "false".
Here is a summary of the resources which control the choice
of wide character width calculation:
cjkWidth mkWidth Action ---------------------------------------------------------------
false false use system tables subject to
mkSamplePass false true use built-in tables
true false use built-in CJK tables
true true use built-in CJK tables
To disable
mkWidth, and use the system's tables, set both
mkSampleSize and
mkSamplePass to "0". Doing that may make
xterm more consistent with applications running in
xterm, but
may omit some font glyphs whose width correctly differs from
the system's character tables.
modifyCursorKeys (class
ModifyCursorKeys)
Tells how to handle the special case where Control-, Shift-,
Alt- or Meta-modifiers are used to add a parameter to the
escape sequence returned by a cursor-key. The default is
"2":
-1 disables the feature.
0 uses the old/obsolete behavior, i.e., the modifier is
the first parameter.
1 prefixes modified sequences with CSI.
2 forces the modifier to be the second parameter if it
would otherwise be the first.
3 marks the sequence with a ">" to hint that it is
private.
modifyFunctionKeys (class
ModifyFunctionKeys)
Tells how to handle the special case where Control-, Shift-,
Alt- or Meta-modifiers are used to add a parameter to the
escape sequence returned by a (numbered) function-key. The
default is "2". The resource values are similar to
modifyCursorKeys:
-1 permits the user to use shift- and control-modifiers to
construct function-key strings using the normal encoding
scheme.
0 uses the old/obsolete behavior, i.e., the modifier is
the first parameter.
1 prefixes modified sequences with CSI.
2 forces the modifier to be the second parameter if it
would otherwise be the first.
3 marks the sequence with a ">" to hint that it is
private.
If
modifyFunctionKeys is zero,
xterm uses Control- and Shift-
modifiers to allow the user to construct numbered function-
keys beyond the set provided by the keyboard:
Control
adds the value given by the
ctrlFKeys resource.
Shift
adds twice the value given by the
ctrlFKeys resource.
Control/Shift
adds three times the value given by the
ctrlFKeys resource.
modifyKeyboard (class
ModifyKeyboard)
Normally
xterm makes a special case regarding modifiers
(shift, control, etc.) to handle special keyboard layouts
(
legacy and
vt220). This is done to provide compatible
keyboards for DEC VT220 and related terminals that implement
user-defined keys (UDK).
The bits of the resource value selectively enable
modification of the given category when these keyboards are
selected. The default is "0":
0 The legacy/vt220 keyboards interpret only the Control-
modifier when constructing numbered function-keys.
Other special keys are not modified.
1 allows modification of the numeric keypad
2 allows modification of the editing keypad
4 allows modification of function-keys, overrides use of
Shift-modifier for UDK.
8 allows modification of other special keys
modifyOtherKeys (class
ModifyOtherKeys)
Like
modifyCursorKeys, tells
xterm to construct an escape
sequence for
ordinary (i.e., "other") keys (such as "2") when
modified by Shift-, Control-, Alt- or Meta-modifiers. This
feature does not apply to
special keys, i.e., cursor-,
keypad-, function- or control-keys which are labeled on your
keyboard. Those have key symbols which XKB identifies
uniquely.
For example, this feature does not apply to
special control-
keys (e.g., Escape, Tab, Enter, Backspace) Other control keys
(e.g., Control-I, Control-M, Control-H) may send escape
sequences when this feature is enabled.
The default is "0":
0 disables this feature.
1 enables this feature for keys except for those with
well-known behavior, e.g., Tab, Backarrow and some
special control character cases which are built into the
X11 library, e.g., Control-Space to make a NUL, or
Control-3 to make an Escape character.
Except for those special cases built into the X11
library, the Shift- and Control- modifiers are treated
normally. The Alt- and Meta- modifiers do not cause
xterm to send escape sequences. Those modifier keys are
interpreted according to other resources, e.g., the
metaSendsEscape resource.
2 enables this feature for keys including the exceptions
listed.
Xterm ignores the special cases built into the
X11 library. Any shifted (modified) ordinary key sends
an escape sequence. The Alt- and Meta- modifiers cause
xterm to send escape sequences.
The
Xterm FAQ has an extended discussion of this feature,
with examples:
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/modified-keys.html
multiClickTime (class
MultiClickTime)
Specifies the maximum time in milliseconds between multi-
click select events. The default is "250" milliseconds.
multiScroll (class
MultiScroll)
Specifies whether or not scrolling should be done
asynchronously. The default is "false".
nMarginBell (class
Column)
Specifies the number of characters from the right margin at
which the margin bell should be rung, when enabled by the
marginBell resource. The default is "10".
nameKeymap (class
NameKeymap)
See the discussion of the
keymap() action.
nextEventDelay (class
NextEventDelay)
Specifies a delay time in milliseconds before checking for
new X events. The default is "1".
numColorRegisters (class
NumColorRegisters)
If
xterm is configured to support ReGIS or SIXEL graphics,
this specifies the number of color-registers which are
available.
If this resource is not specified,
xterm uses a value
determined by the
decTerminalID resource:
Result decTerminalID -----------------------
4 125
4 240
4 241
4 330
16 340
2 382
1024
other numLock (class
NumLock)
If "true",
xterm checks if NumLock is used as a modifier (see
xmodmap(1)). If so, this modifier is used to simplify the
logic when implementing special NumLock for the
sunKeyboard resource. Also (when
sunKeyboard is false), similar logic is
used to find the modifier associated with the left and right
Alt keys. The default is "true".
oldXtermFKeys (class
OldXtermFKeys)
If "true",
xterm will use old-style (X11R5) escape sequences
for function keys F1 to F4, for compatibility with X
Consortium
xterm. Otherwise, it uses the VT100 codes for PF1
to PF4. The default is "false".
Setting this resource has the same effect as setting the
keyboardType to
legacy. The
keyboardType resource is the
preferred mechanism for selecting this mode.
The old-style escape sequences resemble VT220 keys, but
appear to have been invented for
xterm in X11R4.
on2Clicks (class
On2Clicks)
on3Clicks (class
On3Clicks)
on4Clicks (class
On4Clicks)
on5Clicks (class
On5Clicks)
Specify selection behavior in response to multiple mouse
clicks. A single mouse click is always interpreted as
described in the
Selection Functions section (see
POINTER USAGE). Multiple mouse clicks (using the button which
activates the
select-start action) are interpreted according
to the resource values of
on2Clicks, etc. The resource value
can be one of these:
word Select a "word" as determined by the
charClass resource.
See the
CHARACTER CLASSES section.
If the pointer is on a "word" then
xterm searches back to
the beginning of the word, and then to the end.
If the pointer is not on a "word" then the result depends
on whether it is on whitespace (including a newline), or
past the end of the line. In the latter case
xterm may
select a "word" beginning after the newline, if there is
no additional whitespace.
line Select a line (counting wrapping).
group Select a group of adjacent lines (counting wrapping). The
selection stops on a blank line, and does not extend
outside the current page.
page Select all visible lines, i.e., the page.
all Select all lines, i.e., including the saved lines.
regex Select the best match for the POSIX extended regular
expression (ERE) which follows in the resource value:
+o
Xterm matches the regular expression against a byte
array for the entire (possibly wrapped) line. That
byte array may be UTF-8 or ISO-8859-1, depending on
the mode in which
xterm is running.
+o
Xterm steps through each byte-offset in this array,
keeping track of the best (longest) match. If more
than one match ties for the longest length, the first
is used.
Xterm does this to make it convenient to click
anywhere in the area of interest and cause the regular
expression to match the entire word, etc.
+o The "^" and "$" anchors in a regular expression denote
the ends of the entire line.
+o If the regular expression contains backslashes "\"
those should be escaped "\\" because the X libraries
interpret backslashes in resource strings.
none No selection action is associated with this resource.
Xterm interprets it as the end of the list. For example,
you may use it to disable triple (and higher) clicking by
setting
on3Clicks to "none".
The default values for
on2Clicks and
on3Clicks are "word" and
"line", respectively. There is no default value for
on4Clicks or
on5Clicks, making those inactive. On startup,
xterm determines the maximum number of clicks by the
onXClicks resource values which are set.
openIm (class
OpenIm)
Tells
xterm whether to open the input method at startup. The
default is "true".
pointerColor (class
PointerColor)
Specifies the foreground color of the pointer. The default
is "XtDefaultForeground".
pointerColorBackground (class
PointerColorBackground)
Specifies the background color of the pointer. The default
is "XtDefaultBackground".
pointerFont (class
PointerFont)
Specifies the font to be used for the pointer. The shapes
specified by
pointerShape are glyphs in this font. The
resource value default is
cursor.
pointerMode (class
PointerMode)
Specifies when the pointer may be hidden as the user types.
It will be redisplayed if the user moves the mouse, or clicks
one of its buttons.
0 never
1 the application running in
xterm has not activated mouse
mode. This is the default.
2 always.
pointerShape (class
Cursor)
Specifies the name of the shape of the pointer. The default
is "xterm".
Other shapes can be selected. Here is a list of the "core"
(i.e.,
standard) names extracted from <X11/cursorfont.h>:
X_cursor, arrow, based_arrow_down, based_arrow_up, boat,
bogosity, bottom_left_corner, bottom_right_corner,
bottom_side, bottom_tee, box_spiral, center_ptr, circle,
clock, coffee_mug, cross, cross_reverse, crosshair,
diamond_cross, dot, dotbox, double_arrow, draft_large,
draft_small, draped_box, exchange, fleur, gobbler, gumby,
hand1, hand2, heart, icon, iron_cross, left_ptr,
left_side, left_tee, leftbutton, ll_angle, lr_angle, man,
middlebutton, mouse, pencil, pirate, plus,
question_arrow, right_ptr, right_side, right_tee,
rightbutton, rtl_logo, sailboat, sb_down_arrow,
sb_h_double_arrow, sb_left_arrow, sb_right_arrow,
sb_up_arrow, sb_v_double_arrow, shuttle, sizing, spider,
spraycan, star, target, tcross, top_left_arrow,
top_left_corner, top_right_corner, top_side, top_tee,
trek, ul_angle, umbrella, ur_angle, watch, xterm
If you are using a
cursor theme, expect it to provide about a
third of those names, while adding others.
popOnBell (class
PopOnBell)
Specifies whether the window would be raised when Control-G
is received. The default is "false".
If the window is iconified, this has no effect. However, the
zIconBeep resource provides you with the ability to see which
iconified windows have sounded a bell.
precompose (class
Precompose)
Tells
xterm whether to precompose UTF-8 data into
Normalization Form C, which combines commonly-used accents
onto base characters. If it does not do this, accents are
left as separate characters. The default is "true".
preeditType (class
PreeditType)
Tells
xterm which types of preedit (preconversion) string to
display. The default is "OverTheSpot,Root".
preferLatin1 (class
PreferLatin1)
Tells
xterm whether to use DEC Supplemental Graphic, or ISO
Latin-1 for the user-preferred supplemental set (UPSS) when
initializing character sets. The former is the documented
setting for hardware terminals, but the latter is expected by
most users. The default is "true" (ISO Latin-1).
printAttributes (class
PrintAttributes)
Specifies whether to print graphic attributes along with the
text. A real DEC VT
xxx terminal will print the underline,
highlighting codes but your printer may not handle these.
+o "0" disables the attributes.
+o "1" prints the normal set of attributes (bold, underline,
inverse and blink) as VT100-style control sequences.
+o "2" prints ANSI color attributes as well.
The default is "1".
printFileImmediate (class
PrintFileImmediate)
When the
print-immediate action is invoked,
xterm prints the
screen contents directly to a file. Set this resource to the
prefix of the filename (a timestamp will be appended to the
actual name).
The default is an empty string, i.e., "", However, when the
print-immediate action is invoked, if the string is empty,
then "XTerm" is used.
printFileOnXError (class
PrintFileOnXError)
If
xterm exits with an X error, e.g., your connection is
broken when the server crashes, it can be told to write the
contents of the screen to a file. To enable the feature, set
this resource to the prefix of the filename (a timestamp will
be appended to the actual name).
The default is an empty string, i.e., "", which disables this
feature. However, when the
print-on-error action is invoked,
if the string is empty, then "XTermError" is used.
These error codes are handled: ERROR_XERROR, ERROR_XIOERROR
and ERROR_ICEERROR.
printModeImmediate (class
PrintModeImmediate)
When the
print-immediate action is invoked,
xterm prints the
screen contents directly to a file. You can use the
printModeImmediate resource to tell it to use escape
sequences to reconstruct the video attributes and colors.
This uses the same values as the
printAttributes resource.
The default is "0".
printModeOnXError (class
PrintModeOnXError)
Xterm implements the
printFileOnXError feature using the
printer feature, although the output is written directly to a
file. You can use the
printModeOnXError resource to tell it
to use escape sequences to reconstruct the video attributes
and colors. This uses the same values as the
printAttributes resource. The default is "0".
printOptsImmediate (class
PrintOptsImmediate)
Specify the range of text which is printed to a file when the
print-immediate action is invoked.
+o If zero (0), then this selects the current (visible
screen) plus the saved lines, except if the alternate
screen is being used. In that case, only the alternate
screen is selected.
+o If nonzero, the bits of this resource value (checked in
descending order) select the range:
8 selects the saved lines.
4 selects the alternate screen.
2 selects the normal screen.
1 selects the current screen, which can be either the
normal or alternate screen.
The default is "9", which selects the current visible screen
plus saved lines, with no special case for the alternated
screen.
printOptsOnXError (class
PrintOptsOnXError)
Specify the range of text which is printed to a file when the
print-on-error action is invoked. The resource value is
interpreted the same as in
printOptsImmediate.
The default is "9", which selects the current visible screen
plus saved lines, with no special case for the alternated
screen.
printRawChars (class
PrintRawChars)
If "true",
xterm allows Unicode non-characters to be printed.
printerAutoClose (class
PrinterAutoClose)
If "true",
xterm will close the printer (a pipe) when the
application switches the printer offline with a Media Copy
command. The default is "false".
printerCommand (class
PrinterCommand)
Specifies a shell command to which
xterm will open a pipe
when the first MC (Media Copy) command is initiated. The
default is an empty string, i.e., "". If the resource value
is given as an empty string, the printer is disabled.
printerControlMode (class
PrinterControlMode)
Specifies the printer control mode. A "1" selects autoprint
mode, which causes
xterm to print a line from the screen when
+o you move the cursor off that line with a line feed, form
feed or vertical tab character, or
+o an autowrap occurs.
Autoprint mode is overridden by printer controller mode (a
"2"), which causes all of the output to be directed to the
printer. The default is "0".
printerExtent (class
PrinterExtent)
Controls whether a print page function will print the entire
page (true), or only the portion within the scrolling margins
(false). The default is "false".
printerFormFeed (class
PrinterFormFeed)
Controls whether a form feed is sent to the printer at the
end of a print page function. The default is "false".
printerNewLine (class
PrinterNewLine)
Controls whether a newline is sent to the printer at the end
of a print page function. The default is "true".
privateColorRegisters (class
PrivateColorRegisters)
If
xterm is configured to support ReGIS or SIXEL graphics,
this controls whether
xterm allocates separate color
registers for each sixel device control string, e.g., for
DECGCI. If not true, color registers are allocated only
once, when the terminal is reset, and color changes in any
graphic affect all graphics. The default is "true".
quietGrab (class
QuietGrab)
Controls whether the cursor is repainted when
NotifyGrab and
NotifyUngrab event types are received during change of focus.
The default is "false".
regisDefaultFont (class
RegisDefaultFont)
If
xterm is configured to support ReGIS graphics, this
resource tells
xterm which font to use if the ReGIS data does
not specify one. No default value is specified;
xterm accepts a TrueType font specification as in the
faceName resource.
If no value is specified,
xterm draws a bitmap indicating a
missing character.
regisScreenSize (class
RegisScreenSize)
If
xterm is configured to support ReGIS graphics, this
resource tells
xterm the default size (in pixels) for these
graphics, which also sets the default coordinate space to
[0,0] (upper-left) and [
width,
height] (lower-right).
The application using ReGIS may use the "A" option of the "S"
command to adjust the coordinate space or change the
addressable portion of the screen.
Xterm accepts a special resource value "auto", which tells
xterm to use the
decGraphicsID and
decTerminalID resources to
set the default size based on the hardware terminal's limits.
Those limits are the same as for the
maxGraphicSize resource.
The default is "auto".
renderFont (class
RenderFont)
If
xterm is built with the Xft library, this controls whether
the
faceName resource is used. The default is "default".
The resource values are strings, evaluated as booleans after
startup.
false
disable the feature and use the normal (bitmap) font.
true
startup using the TrueType font specified by the
faceName and
faceSize resource settings. If there is no
value for
faceName, disable the feature and use the
normal (bitmap) font.
After startup, you can still switch to/from the bitmap
font using the "TrueType Fonts" menu entry.
default
Enable the "TrueType Fonts" menu entry to allow runtime
switching to/from TrueType fonts. The initial font used
depends upon whether the
faceName resource is set:
+o If the
faceName resource is not set, start by using
the normal (bitmap) font.
Xterm has a separate
compiled-in value for
faceName for this special
case. That is normally "mono".
+o If the
faceName resource is set, then start by using
the TrueType font rather than the bitmap font.
defaultOff
Enable the "TrueType Fonts" menu entry to allow runtime
switching to/from TrueType fonts, but allow it to be
initially unselected if no
faceName resource was given.
resizeByPixel (class
ResizeByPixel)
Set this "true" to disable hints to the window manager that
request resizing by character rather than pixels.
Most window managers provide visual feedback showing the size
of a window as you resize it, using these hints. When you
maximize
xterm, it disables those hints to allow the window
manager to make better use of fractional rows or columns.
Setting this resource disables the hints all the time.
The default is "false".
resizeGravity (class
ResizeGravity)
Affects the behavior when the window is resized to be taller
or shorter.
NorthWest specifies that the top line of text on
the screen stay fixed. If the window is made shorter, lines
are dropped from the bottom; if the window is made taller,
blank lines are added at the bottom. This is compatible with
the behavior in X11R4.
SouthWest (the default) specifies
that the bottom line of text on the screen stay fixed. If
the window is made taller, additional saved lines will be
scrolled down onto the screen; if the window is made shorter,
lines will be scrolled off the top of the screen, and the top
saved lines will be dropped.
retryInputMethod (class
RetryInputMethod)
Tells
xterm how many times to retry, in case the input-method
server is not responding. This is a different issue than
unsupported preedit type, etc. You may encounter retries if
your X configuration (and its libraries) are missing pieces.
Setting this resource to zero "0" will cancel the retrying.
The default is "3".
reverseVideo (class
ReverseVideo)
Specifies whether or not reverse video should be simulated.
The default is "false".
There are several aspects to reverse video in
xterm:
+o The command-line
-rv option tells the X libraries to
reverse the foreground and background colors.
Xterm's
command-line options set resource values. In particular,
the
X Toolkit sets the
reverseVideo resource when the
-rv option is used.
+o If the user has also used command-line options
-fg or
-bg to set the foreground and background colors,
xterm does
not see these options directly. Instead, it examines the
resource values to reconstruct the command-line options,
and determine which of the colors is the user's intended
foreground, etc. Their actual values are irrelevant to
the reverse video function; some users prefer the X
defaults (black text on a white background), others
prefer white text on a black background.
+o After startup, the user can toggle the "Enable Reverse
Video" menu entry. This exchanges the current foreground
and background colors of the VT100 widget, and repaints
the screen. Because of the X resource hierarchy, the
reverseVideo resource applies to more than the VT100
widget.
Programs running in an
xterm can also use control sequences
to enable the VT100 reverse video mode. These are
independent of the
reverseVideo resource and the menu entry.
Xterm exchanges the current foreground and background colors
when drawing text affected by these control sequences.
Other control sequences can alter the foreground and
background colors which are used:
+o Programs can also use the ANSI color control sequences to
set the foreground and background colors.
+o Extensions to the ANSI color controls (such as 16-, 88-
or 256-colors) are treated similarly to the ANSI control.
+o Using other control sequences (the "
dynamic colors"
feature), a program can change the foreground and
background colors.
reverseWrap (class
ReverseWrap)
Specifies whether or not reverse-wraparound should be
enabled. This corresponds to
xterm's private mode 45. The
default is "false".
rightScrollBar (class
RightScrollBar)
Specifies whether or not the scrollbar should be displayed on
the right rather than the left. The default is "false".
saveLines (class
SaveLines)
Specifies the number of lines to save beyond the top of the
screen when a scrollbar is turned on. The default is "1024".
scrollBar (class
ScrollBar)
Specifies whether or not the scrollbar should be displayed.
The default is "false".
scrollBarBorder (class
ScrollBarBorder)
Specifies the width of the scrollbar border. Note that this
is drawn to overlap the border of the
xterm window.
Modifying the scrollbar's border affects only the line
between the VT100 widget and the scrollbar. The default
value is 1.
scrollKey (class
ScrollCond)
Specifies whether or not pressing a key should automatically
cause the scrollbar to go to the bottom of the scrolling
region. This corresponds to
xterm's private mode 1011. The
default is "false".
scrollLines (class
ScrollLines)
Specifies the number of lines that the
scroll-back and
scroll-forw actions should use as a default. The default
value is 1.
scrollTtyOutput (class
ScrollCond)
Specifies whether or not output to the terminal should
automatically cause the scrollbar to go to the bottom of the
scrolling region. The default is "true".
selectToClipboard (class
SelectToClipboard)
Tells
xterm whether to use the
PRIMARY or
CLIPBOARD for
SELECT tokens in the selection mechanism. The
set-select action can change this at runtime, allowing the user to work
with programs that handle only one of these mechanisms. The
default is "false", which tells it to use
PRIMARY.
shiftEscape (class
ShiftEscape)
Xterm uses the
translations resource to determine how to
invoke actions for selecting and copying text using the
pointer (e.g., a mouse). It also provides a mouse protocol
which can be used by applications running in an xterm to
detect mouse button clicks.
The mouse protocol causes
xterm to send special escape
sequences which allow an application to determine if
modifiers (i.e., one or more of
shift,
control,
alt, and
meta) were used.
Xterm provides this mouse protocol by interpreting button-
and motion-events in the functions which the
translations resource calls for selecting and copying text:
insert-selection select-end select-extend select-start start-extend While the mouse protocol is active,
xterm reserves most of
the mouse button events for sending special escape sequences
to the application.
Xterm normally allows you to use the
shift-key to temporarily override this mouse protocol,
permitting the selection and copying actions to be used.
The
shiftEscape resource setting allows you to tell
xterm whether to use the
shift-key in this way (i.e., overriding
the mouse protocol).
Xterm accepts either a keyword
(ignoring case) or the number shown in parentheses:
false (0)
Mouse protocol does not send special escapes when
shift-key is used.
true (1)
Mouse protocol may send special escapes when
shift-key is
used.
At startup,
xterm analyzes the
translations to see which
buttons are used in the (mouse) button-related bindings
for selection and copying text. If the
shift-key is not
mentioned explicitly in a button's binding,
xterm allows
that button with
shift-key for overriding the mouse
protocol.
always (2)
Mouse protocol can always send special escapes when
shift-key is used.
never (3)
Mouse protocol will never send special escapes when
shift-key is used.
Xterm interprets a control sequence which can change this
setting between "true" and "false". The default is "false".
shiftFonts (class
ShiftFonts)
Specifies whether to enable the actions
larger-vt-font() and
smaller-vt-font(), which are normally bound to the shifted
KP_Add and KP_Subtract. The default is "true".
showBlinkAsBold (class
ShowBlinkAsBold)
Tells
xterm whether to display text with blink-attribute the
same as bold. If
xterm has not been configured to support
blinking text, the default is "true", which corresponds to
older versions of
xterm, otherwise the default is "false".
showMissingGlyphs (class
ShowMissingGlyphs)
Tells
xterm whether to display a box outlining places where a
character has been used that the font does not represent.
The default is "true".
showWrapMarks (class
ShowWrapMarks)
For debugging
xterm and applications that may manipulate the
wrapped-line flag by writing text at the right margin, show a
mark on the right inner-border of the window. The mark shows
which lines have the flag set.
signalInhibit (class
SignalInhibit)
Specifies whether or not the entries in the
Main Options menu
for sending signals to
xterm should be disallowed. The
default is "false".
sixelScrolling (class
SixelScrolling)
If
xterm is configured to support SIXEL graphics, this
resource tells it whether to scroll up one line at a time
when sixels would be written past the bottom line on the
window. The default is "true" which enables scrolling.
Sixel scrolling is the opposite of DEC Sixel Display Mode
(DECSDM): when one is on, the other is off.
sixelScrollsRight (class
SixelScrollsRight)
If
xterm is configured to support SIXEL graphics, this
resource tells it whether to scroll to the right as needed to
keep the current position visible rather than truncate the
plot on the on the right. The default is "false" which
disables scrolling.
tekGeometry (class
Geometry)
Specifies the preferred size and position of the Tektronix
window. There is no default for this resource.
tekInhibit (class
TekInhibit)
Specifies whether or not the escape sequence to enter
Tektronix mode should be ignored. The default is "false".
tekSmall (class
TekSmall)
Specifies whether or not the Tektronix mode window should
start in its smallest size if no explicit geometry is given.
This is useful when running
xterm on displays with small
screens. The default is "false".
tekStartup (class
TekStartup)
Specifies whether or not
xterm should start up in Tektronix
mode. The default is "false".
tiXtraScroll (class
TiXtraScroll)
Specifies whether
xterm should scroll to a new page when
processing the
ti or
te termcap strings, i.e., the private
modes 47, 1047 or 1049. This is only in effect if
titeInhibit is "true", because the intent of this option is
to provide a picture of the full-screen application's display
on the scrollback without wiping out the text that would be
shown before the application was initialized.
Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
shown in parentheses:
false (0)
nothing is added to the scrollback.
true (1)
the current screen is added to the scrollback.
trim (2)
the current screen is added to the scrollback, but
repeated blank lines are trimmed (reduced to a single
blank line).
The default for this resource is "false".
titeInhibit (class
TiteInhibit)
Originally specified whether or not
xterm should remove
ti and
te termcap entries (used to switch between alternate
screens on startup of many screen-oriented programs) from the
TERMCAP string.
TERMCAP is used rarely now, but
xterm supports the feature on
modern systems:
+o If set,
xterm also ignores the escape sequence to switch
to the alternate screen.
+o
Xterm supports terminfo in a different way, supporting
composite control sequences (also known as private modes)
1047, 1048 and 1049 which have the same effect as the
original 47 control sequence.
The default for this resource is "false".
titleModes (class
TitleModes)
Tells
xterm whether to accept or return window- and icon-
labels in ISO-8859-1 (the default) or UTF-8. Either can be
encoded in hexadecimal:
+o UTF-8 titles require special treatment, because they may
contain bytes which can be mistaken for control
characters. Hexadecimal-encoding is supported to
eliminate that possibility.
+o As an alternative, you could use the
allowC1Printable resource, which suppresses
xterm's parsing of the
relevant control characters (and as a result, treats
those bytes as data).
The default for this resource is "0".
Each bit (bit "0" is 1, bit "1" is 2, etc.) corresponds to
one of the parameters set by the title modes control
sequence:
0 Set window/icon labels using hexadecimal
1 Query window/icon labels using hexadecimal
2 Set window/icon labels using UTF-8 (gives the same
effect as the
utf8Title resource).
3 Query window/icon labels using UTF-8
translations (class
Translations)
Specifies the key and button bindings for menus, selections,
"programmed strings", etc. The
translations resource, which
provides much of
xterm's configurability, is a feature of the
X Toolkit Intrinsics library (Xt). See the
Actions section.
trimSelection (class
TrimSelection)
If you set
highlightSelection, you can see the text which is
selected, including any trailing spaces. Clearing the screen
(or a line) resets it to a state containing no spaces. Some
lines may contain trailing spaces when an application writes
them to the screen. However, you may not wish to paste lines
with trailing spaces. If this resource is true,
xterm will
trim trailing spaces from text which is selected. It does
not affect spaces which result in a wrapped line, nor will it
trim the trailing newline from your selection. The default
is "false".
underLine (class
UnderLine)
This specifies whether or not text with the underline
attribute should be underlined. It may be desirable to
disable underlining when color is being used for the
underline attribute. The default is "true".
useBorderClipping (class
UseBorderClipping)
Tell
xterm whether to apply clipping when
useClipping is
false. Unlike
useClipping, this simply limits text to keep
it within the window borders, e.g., as a refinement to the
scaleHeight workaround. The default is "false".
useClipping (class
UseClipping)
Tell
xterm whether to use clipping to keep from producing
dots outside the text drawing area. Originally used to work
around for overstriking effects, this is also needed to work
with some incorrectly-sized fonts. The default is "true".
utf8 (class
Utf8)
This specifies whether
xterm will run in UTF-8 mode. If you
set this resource,
xterm also sets the
wideChars resource as
a side-effect. The resource can be set via the menu entry
"UTF-8 Encoding". The default is "default".
Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
shown in parentheses:
false (0)
UTF-8 mode is initially off. The command-line option
+u8 sets the resource to this value. Escape sequences for
turning UTF-8 mode on/off are allowed.
true (1)
UTF-8 mode is initially on. Escape sequences for turning
UTF-8 mode on/off are allowed.
always (2)
The command-line option
-u8 sets the resource to this
value. Escape sequences for turning UTF-8 mode on/off are
ignored.
default (3)
This is the default value of the resource. It is changed
during initialization depending on whether the
locale resource was set, to false (0) or always (2). See the
locale resource for additional discussion of non-UTF-8
locales.
If you want to set the value of
utf8, it should be in this
range. Other nonzero values are treated the same as "1",
i.e., UTF-8 mode is initially on, and escape sequences for
turning UTF-8 mode on/off are allowed.
utf8Fonts (class
Utf8Fonts)
See the discussion of the
locale resource. This specifies
whether
xterm will use UTF-8 fonts specified via resource
patterns such as "
*vt100.utf8Fonts.font" or normal
(ISO-8859-1) fonts via patterns such as "
*vt100.font". The
resource can be set via the menu entry "
UTF-8 Fonts". The
default is "default".
Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
shown in parentheses:
false (0)
Use the ISO-8859-1 fonts. The menu entry is enabled,
allowing the choice of fonts to be changed at runtime.
true (1)
Use the UTF-8 fonts. The menu entry is enabled,
allowing the choice of fonts to be changed at runtime.
always (2)
Always use the UTF-8 fonts. This also disables the
menu entry.
default (3)
At startup, the resource is set to true or false,
according to the effective value of the
utf8 resource.
utf8Latin1 (class
Utf8Latin1)
If true, allow an ISO-8859-1
normal font to be combined with
an ISO-10646-1 font if the latter is given via the
-fw option
or its corresponding resource value. The default is "false".
utf8SelectTypes (class
Utf8SelectTypes)
Override
xterm's default selection target list (see
SELECT/PASTE) for selections in wide-character (UTF-8) mode.
The default is an empty string, i.e., "", which does not
override anything.
utf8Title (class
Utf8Title)
Applications can set
xterm's title by writing a control
sequence. Normally this control sequence follows the VT220
convention, which encodes the string in ISO-8859-1 and allows
for an 8-bit string terminator. If
xterm is started in a
UTF-8 locale, it translates the ISO-8859-1 string to UTF-8 to
work with the X libraries which assume the string is UTF-8.
However, some users may wish to write a title string encoded
in UTF-8. The window manager is responsible for drawing
window titles. Some window managers (not all) support UTF-8
encoding of window titles. Set this resource to "true" to
also set UTF-8 encoded title strings using the EWMH
properties.
This feature is available as a menu entry, since it is
related to the particular applications you are running within
xterm. You can also use a control sequence (see the
discussion of "Title Modes" in
Xterm Control Sequences), to
set an equivalent flag (which can also be set using the
titleModes resource).
Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
shown in parentheses:
false (0)
Set only ISO-8859-1 title strings, e.g., using the
ICCCM
WM_NAME STRING property. The menu entry is
enabled, allowing the choice of title-strings to be
changed at runtime.
true (1)
Set both the EWMH (UTF-8 strings) and the ICCCM
WM_NAME, etc. The menu entry is enabled, allowing the
choice to be changed at runtime.
always (2)
Always set both the EWMH (UTF-8 strings) and the ICCCM
WM_NAME, etc. This also disables the menu entry.
default (3)
At startup, the resource is set to true or false,
according to the effective value of the
utf8 resource.
The default is "default".
utf8Weblike (class
Utf8Weblike)
Provide an alternate error-handling scheme for ill-formed
UTF-8 as recommended in a W3C document. The Unicode standard
does not require this for conformance. Some additional
information can be found here:
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/bad-utf8/
The default is "false".
veryBoldColors (class
VeryBoldColors)
Specifies whether to combine video attributes with colors
specified by
colorBD,
colorBL,
colorIT,
colorRV, and
colorUL.
The resource value is the sum of values for each attribute:
1 for reverse,
2 for underline,
4 for bold,
8 for blink, and
512 for italic
The default is "0".
visualBell (class
VisualBell)
Specifies whether or not a visible bell (i.e., flashing)
should be used instead of an audible bell when Control-G is
received. The default is "false", which tells
xterm to use
an audible bell.
visualBellDelay (class
VisualBellDelay)
Number of milliseconds to delay when displaying a visual
bell. Default is 100. If set to zero, no visual bell is
displayed. This is useful for very slow displays, e.g., an
LCD display on a laptop.
visualBellLine (class
VisualBellLine)
Specifies whether to flash only the current line when
displaying a visual bell rather than flashing the entire
screen: The default is "false", which tells
xterm to flash
the entire screen.
vt100Graphics (class
VT100Graphics)
This specifies whether
xterm will interpret VT100 graphic
character escape sequences while in UTF-8 mode. This feature
also applies to code-pages (e.g., for VT320 and VT520) and
National Replacement Character Sets (VT220 and up), but not
US-ASCII (the initially selected character set), to avoid
conflict with UTF-8. The default is "true", to provide
support for various legacy applications.
wideBoldFont (class
WideBoldFont)
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying bold
wide text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice
as wide as the font that will be used to draw bold text. If
no double-width font is found, it will improvise, by
stretching the bold font.
wideChars (class
WideChars)
Specifies if
xterm should respond to control sequences that
process 16-bit characters. The default is "false".
wideFont (class
WideFont)
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying wide
text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice as
wide as the font that will be used to draw normal text. If
no double-width font is found, it will improvise, by
stretching the normal font.
xftMaxGlyphMemory (class
XftMaxGlyphMemory)
Set the Xft library's limit on glyph memory (typically 4Mb).
When it reaches this limit, it discards "randomly chosen"
glyphs to make room for new ones. The default is "0" to use
Xft's default value.
xftMaxUnrefFonts (class
XftMaxUnrefFonts)
Set the Xft library's limit on fonts which have been loaded
(typically 16), e.g., matching patterns for fallback
searches, but are not actually used. The default is "0" to
use Xft's default value.
xftTrackMemUsage (class
XftTrackMemUsage)
Enables glyph memory tracking (introduced in Xft 2.3.5),
which allows Xft to efficiently discard obsolete data when
running short of memory. The default is "false".
ximFont (class
XimFont)
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying the
preedit string in the "OverTheSpot" input method.
In "OverTheSpot" preedit type, the preedit (preconversion)
string is displayed at the position of the cursor. It is the
XIM server's responsibility to display the preedit string.
The XIM client must inform the XIM server of the cursor
position. For best results, the preedit string must be
displayed with a proper font. Therefore,
xterm informs the
XIM server of the proper font. The font is be supplied by a
"fontset", whose default value is "*". This matches every
font, the X library automatically chooses fonts with proper
charsets. The
ximFont resource is provided to override this
default font setting.
Tek4014 Widget Resources The following resources are specified as part of the
tek4014 widget
(class
Tek4014). These are specified by patterns such as
"
XTerm.tek4014.NAME":
font2 (class
Font)
Specifies font number 2 to use in the Tektronix window.
font3 (class
Font)
Specifies font number 3 to use in the Tektronix window.
fontLarge (class
Font)
Specifies the large font to use in the Tektronix window.
fontSmall (class
Font)
Specifies the small font to use in the Tektronix window.
ginTerminator (class
GinTerminator)
Specifies what character(s) should follow a GIN report or
status report. The possibilities are "none", which sends no
terminating characters, "CRonly", which sends CR, and
"CR&EOT", which sends both CR and EOT. The default is
"none".
height (class
Height)
Specifies the height of the Tektronix window in pixels.
initialFont (class
InitialFont)
Specifies which of the four Tektronix fonts to use initially.
Values are the same as for the
set-tek-text action. The
default is "large".
width (class
Width)
Specifies the width of the Tektronix window in pixels.
Menu Resources
The resources that may be specified for the various menus are
described in the documentation for the
Athena SimpleMenu widget. The
name and classes of the entries in each of the menus are listed
below. Resources named "
lineN" where
N is a number are separators
with class
SmeLine.
As with all X resource-based widgets, the labels mentioned are
customary defaults for the application.
The
Main Options menu (widget name
mainMenu) has the following
entries:
toolbar (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-toolbar(toggle) action.
securekbd (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
secure() action.
allowsends (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
allow-send-events(toggle) action.
redraw (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
redraw() action.
logging (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
logging(toggle) action.
print-immediate (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
print-immediate() action.
print-on-error (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
print-on-error() action.
print (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
print() action.
print-redir (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
print-redir() action.
dump-html (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
dump-html() action.
dump-svg (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
dump-svg() action.
8-bit-control (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-8-bit-control(toggle) action.
backarrow key (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-backarrow(toggle) action.
num-lock (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-num-lock(toggle) action.
alt-esc (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
alt-sends-escape(toggle) action.
meta-esc (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
meta-sends-escape(toggle) action.
delete-is-del (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
delete-is-del(toggle) action.
oldFunctionKeys (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-old-function-keys(toggle) action.
hpFunctionKeys (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-hp-function-keys(toggle) action.
scoFunctionKeys (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-sco-function-keys(toggle) action.
sunFunctionKeys (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-sun-function-keys(toggle) action.
sunKeyboard (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
sunKeyboard(toggle) action.
suspend (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
send-signal(tstp) action on systems
that support job control.
continue (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
send-signal(cont) action on systems
that support job control.
interrupt (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
send-signal(int) action.
hangup (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
send-signal(hup) action.
terminate (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
send-signal(term) action.
kill (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
send-signal(kill) action.
quit (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
quit() action.
The
VT Options menu (widget name
vtMenu) has the following entries:
scrollbar (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-scrollbar(toggle) action.
jumpscroll (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-jumpscroll(toggle) action.
reversevideo (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-reverse-video(toggle) action.
autowrap (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-autowrap(toggle) action.
reversewrap (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-reversewrap(toggle) action.
autolinefeed (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-autolinefeed(toggle) action.
appcursor (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-appcursor(toggle) action.
appkeypad (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-appkeypad(toggle) action.
scrollkey (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-scroll-on-key(toggle) action.
scrollttyoutput (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-scroll-on-tty-output(toggle) action.
allow132 (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-allow132(toggle) action.
cursesemul (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-cursesemul(toggle) action.
keepSelection (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-keep-selection(toggle) action.
selectToClipboard (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-keep-clipboard(toggle) action.
visualbell (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-visual-bell(toggle) action.
bellIsUrgent (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-bellIsUrgent(toggle) action.
poponbell (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-pop-on-bell(toggle) action.
cursorblink (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-cursorblink(toggle) action.
titeInhibit (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-titeInhibit(toggle) action.
activeicon (class
SmeBSB)
This entry toggles active icons on and off if this feature
was compiled into
xterm. It is enabled only if
xterm was
started with the command line option +ai or the
activeIcon resource is set to "true".
softreset (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
soft-reset() action.
hardreset (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
hard-reset() action.
clearsavedlines (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
clear-saved-lines() action.
tekshow (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-visibility(tek,toggle) action.
tekmode (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-terminal-type(tek) action.
vthide (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-visibility(vt,off) action.
altscreen (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-altscreen(toggle) action.
sixelScrolling (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-sixel-scrolling(toggle) action.
privateColorRegisters (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-private-colors(toggle) action.
The
VT Fonts menu (widget name
fontMenu) has the following entries:
fontdefault (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-vt-font(d) action, setting the
font using the
font (default) resource, e.g., "Default" in
the menu.
font1 (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-vt-font(1) action, setting the
font using the
font1 resource, e.g., "Unreadable" in the
menu.
font2 (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-vt-font(2) action, setting the
font using the
font2 resource, e.g., "Tiny" in the menu.
font3 (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-vt-font(3) action, setting the
font using the
font3 resource, e.g., "Small" in the menu.
font4 (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-vt-font(4) action, letting the
font using the
font4 resource, e.g., "Medium" in the menu.
font5 (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-vt-font(5) action, letting the
font using the
font5 resource, e.g., "Large" in the menu.
font6 (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-vt-font(6) action, letting the
font using the
font6 resource, e.g., "Huge" in the menu.
font7 (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-vt-font(7) action, letting the
font using the
font7 resource, e.g., "Enormous" in the menu.
fontescape (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-vt-font(e) action.
fontsel (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-vt-font(s) action.
allow-bold-fonts (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
allow-bold-fonts(toggle) action.
font-linedrawing (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-font-linedrawing(s) action.
font-packed (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-font-packed(s) action.
font-doublesize (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-font-doublesize(s) action.
render-font (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-render-font(s) action.
utf8-fonts (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-utf8-fonts(s) action.
utf8-mode (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-utf8-mode(s) action.
utf8-title (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-utf8-title(s) action.
allow-color-ops (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
allow-color-ops(toggle) action.
allow-font-ops (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
allow-font-ops(toggle) action.
allow-tcap-ops (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
allow-tcap-ops(toggle) action.
allow-title-ops (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
allow-title-ops(toggle) action.
allow-window-ops (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
allow-window-ops(toggle) action.
The
Tek Options menu (widget name
tekMenu) has the following entries:
tektextlarge (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-tek-text(large) action.
tektext2 (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-tek-text(2) action.
tektext3 (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-tek-text(3) action.
tektextsmall (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-tek-text(small) action.
tekpage (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
tek-page() action.
tekreset (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
tek-reset() action.
tekcopy (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
tek-copy() action.
vtshow (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-visibility(vt,toggle) action.
vtmode (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-terminal-type(vt) action.
tekhide (class
SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the
set-visibility(tek,toggle) action.
Scrollbar Resources
The following resources are useful when specified for the
Athena Scrollbar widget:
background (class
Background)
Specifies the color to use for the background of the
scrollbar.
foreground (class
Foreground)
Specifies the color to use for the foreground of the
scrollbar.
thickness (class
Thickness)
Specifies the width in pixels of the scrollbar (default: 14).
This may be overridden by the
width resource.
thumb (class
Thumb)
The default "thumb" pixmap used for the scrollbar is a simple
checkerboard pattern alternating pixels for foreground and
background color.
width (class
Width)
Specifies the width in pixels of the scrollbar (default: 0).
The widget checks the
width resource first, using the
thickness value if the
width is zero.
POINTER USAGE
Once the VT
xxx window is created,
xterm allows you to select text and
copy it within the same or other windows using the
pointer or the
keyboard.
A "pointer" could be a mouse, touchpad or similar device. X
applications generally do not care, since they see only
button events which have
+o position and
+o button up/down state
Xterm can see these events as long as it has
focus.
The keyboard also supplies events, but it is less flexible than the
pointer for selecting/copying text.
Events are applied to
actions using the
translations resource. See
Actions for a complete list, and
Default Key Bindings for the built-
in set of
translations resources.
Selection Functions
By default, the selection functions are invoked when the pointer
buttons are used with no modifiers, and when they are used with the
"shift" key. The "shift" key is special, because
xterm uses that to
ensure that selection functions are still available when it is
programmed to send escape sequences in one of the mouse modes (see
Xterm Control Sequences, as well as the resource
disallowedMouseOps).
At startup,
xterm inspects the
translations resource to see which
pointer buttons may be used in this way, and remembers these buttons
when deciding whether to send escape sequences or perform selection
when those buttons are used with the "shift" modifier. Other pointer
buttons, e.g., typically those sent for wheel mouse events, are not
affected.
The assignment of the functions described below to keys and buttons
may be changed through the resource database; see
Actions below.
Pointer button one (usually left)
is used to save text into the cut buffer:
~Meta <Btn1Down>:
select-start()
Move the cursor to beginning of the text, and then hold the
button down while moving the cursor to the end of the region and
releasing the button. The selected text is highlighted and is
saved in the global
cut buffer and made the selection when the
button is released:
<BtnUp>:
select-end(
SELECT,
CUT_BUFFER0) \n
Normally (but see the discussion of
on2Clicks, etc):
+o Double-clicking selects by words.
+o Triple-clicking selects by lines.
+o Quadruple-clicking goes back to characters, etc.
Multiple-click is determined by the time from button up to
button down, so you can change the selection unit in the middle
of a selection. Logical words and lines selected by double- or
triple-clicking may wrap across more than one screen line if
lines were wrapped by
xterm itself rather than by the
application running in the window. If the key/button bindings
specify that an X selection is to be made,
xterm will leave the
selected text highlighted for as long as it is the selection
owner.
Pointer button two (usually middle)
"types" (
pastes) the text from the given selection, if any,
otherwise from the cut buffer, inserting it as keyboard input:
~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn2Up>:
insert-selection(SELECT, CUT_BUFFER0) Pointer button three (usually right)
extends the current selection.
~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn3Down>:
start-extend() (Without loss of generality, you can swap "right" and "left"
everywhere in the rest of this paragraph.) If pressed while
closer to the right edge of the selection than the left, it
extends/contracts the right edge of the selection. If you
contract the selection past the left edge of the selection,
xterm assumes you really meant the left edge, restores the
original selection, then extends/contracts the left edge of the
selection. Extension starts in the selection unit mode that the
last selection or extension was performed in; you can multiple-
click to cycle through them.
By cutting and pasting pieces of text without trailing new lines, you
can take text from several places in different windows and form a
command to the shell, for example, or take output from a program and
insert it into your favorite editor. Since cut buffers are globally
shared among different applications, you may regard each as a "file"
whose contents you know. The terminal emulator and other text
programs should be treating it as if it were a text file, i.e., the
text is delimited by new lines.
Scrolling
The scroll region displays the position and amount of text currently
showing in the window (highlighted) relative to the amount of text
actually saved. As more text is saved (up to the maximum), the size
of the highlighted area decreases.
Clicking button one with the pointer in the scroll region moves the
adjacent line to the top of the display window.
Clicking button three moves the top line of the display window down
to the pointer position.
Clicking button two moves the display to a position in the saved text
that corresponds to the pointer's position in the scrollbar.
Tektronix Pointer
Unlike the VT
xxx window, the Tektronix window does not allow the
copying of text. It does allow Tektronix GIN mode, and in this mode
the cursor will change from an arrow to a cross. Pressing any key
will send that key and the current coordinate of the cross cursor.
Pressing button one, two, or three will return the letters "l", "m",
and "r", respectively. If the "shift" key is pressed when a pointer
button is pressed, the corresponding upper case letter is sent. To
distinguish a pointer button from a key, the high bit of the
character is set (but this is bit is normally stripped unless the
terminal mode is RAW; see
tty(4) for details).
SELECT/PASTE X clients provide select and paste support by responding to requests
conveyed by the X server. The X server holds data in "atoms" which
correspond to the different types of selection (
PRIMARY,
SECONDARY,
CLIPBOARD) as well as the similar cut buffer mechanism (
CUT_BUFFER0 to
CUT_BUFFER7). Those are documented in the ICCCM.
The ICCCM deals with the underlying mechanism for select/paste. It
does not mention
highlighting. The
selection is not the same as
highlighting.
Xterm (like many applications) uses highlighting to
show you the currently selected text. An X application may
own a
selection, which allows it to be the source of data copied using a
given selection atom
Xterm may continue owning a selection after it
stops highlighting (see
keepSelection).
PRIMARY
When configured to use the primary selection (the default),
xterm can
provide the selection data in ways which help to retain character
encoding information as it is pasted.
The
PRIMARY token is a standard X feature, documented in the ICCCM
(
Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual), which states
The selection named by the atom
PRIMARY is used for all commands
that take only a single argument and is the principal means of
communication between clients that use the selection mechanism.
A user "selects" text on
xterm, which highlights the selected text.
A subsequent "paste" to another client forwards a request to the
client owning the selection. If
xterm owns the primary selection, it
makes the data available in the form of one or more "selection
targets". If it does not own the primary selection, e.g., if it has
released it or another client has asserted ownership, it relies on
cut-buffers to pass the data. But cut-buffers handle only ISO-8859-1
data (officially - some clients ignore the rules).
CLIPBOARD
When configured to use the clipboard (using the
selectToClipboard resource), the problem with persistence of ownership is bypassed.
Otherwise, there is no difference regarding the data which can be
passed via selection.
The
selectToClipboard resource is a compromise, allowing
CLIPBOARD to
be treated almost like
PRIMARY, unlike the ICCCM, which describes
CLIPBOARD in different terms than
PRIMARY or
SECONDARY. Its lengthy
explanation begins with the essential points:
The selection named by the atom CLIPBOARD is used to hold data
that is being transferred between clients, that is, data that
usually is being cut and then pasted or copied and then pasted.
Whenever a client wants to transfer data to the clipboard:
+o It should assert ownership of the CLIPBOARD.
+o If it succeeds in acquiring ownership, it should be prepared
to respond to a request for the contents of the CLIPBOARD in
the usual way (retaining the data to be able to return it).
The request may be generated by the clipboard client described
below.
SELECT
However, many applications use
CLIPBOARD in imitation of other
windowing systems. The
selectToClipboard resource (and corresponding
menu entry
Select to Clipboard) introduce the
SELECT token (known
only to
xterm) which chooses between the
PRIMARY and
CLIPBOARD tokens.
Without using this feature, one can use workarounds such as the
xclip program to show the contents of the X clipboard within an
xterm window.
SECONDARY
This is used less often than
PRIMARY or
CLIPBOARD. According to the
ICCCM, it is used
+o As the second argument to commands taking two arguments (for
example, "exchange primary and secondary selections")
+o As a means of obtaining data when there is a primary selection
and the user does not want to disturb it
Selection Targets
The different types of data which are passed depend on what the
receiving client asks for. These are termed
selection targets.
When asking for the selection data,
xterm tries the following types
in this order:
UTF8_STRING
This is an XFree86 extension, which denotes that the data
is encoded in UTF-8. When
xterm is built with wide-
character support, it both accepts and provides this type.
TEXT the text is in the encoding which corresponds to your
current locale.
COMPOUND_TEXT
this is a format for multiple character set data, such as
multi-lingual text. It can store UTF-8 data as a special
case.
STRING
This is Latin 1 (ISO-8859-1) data.
The middle two (TEXT and COMPOUND_TEXT) are added if
xterm is
configured with the
i18nSelections resource set to "true".
UTF8_STRING is preferred (therefore first in the list) since
xterm stores text as Unicode data when running in wide-character mode, and
no translation is needed. On the other hand, TEXT and COMPOUND_TEXT
may require translation. If the translation is incomplete, they will
insert X's "defaultString" whose value cannot be set, and may simply
be empty.
Xterm's
defaultString resource specifies the string to use
for incomplete translations of the UTF8_STRING.
You can alter the types which
xterm tries using the
eightBitSelectTypes or
utf8SelectTypes resources. For instance, you
might have some specific locale setting which does not use UTF-8
encoding. The resource value is a comma-separated list of the
selection targets, which consist of the names shown. You can use the
special name I18N to denote the optional inclusion of TEXT and
COMPOUND_TEXT. The names are matched ignoring case, and can be
abbreviated. The default list can be expressed in several ways,
e.g.,
UTF8_STRING,I18N,STRING
utf8,i18n,string
u,i,s
Mouse Protocol
Applications can send escape sequences to
xterm to cause it to send
escape sequences back to the computer when you press a pointer
button, or even (depending on which escape sequence) send escape
sequences back to the computer as you move the pointer.
These escape sequences and the responses, called the
mouse protocol,
are documented in
XTerm Control Sequences. They do not appear in the
actions invoked by the
translations resource because the resource
does not change while you run
xterm, whereas applications can change
the mouse prototol (i.e., enable, disable, use different modes).
However, the mouse protocol is interpreted within the
actions that
are usually associated with the pointer buttons.
Xterm ignores the
mouse protocol in the
insert-selection action if the shift-key is
pressed at the same time. It also modifies a few other actions if
the shift-key is pressed, e.g., suppressing the response with the
pointer position, though not eliminating changes to the selected
text.
MENUS
Xterm has four menus, named
mainMenu,
vtMenu,
fontMenu, and
tekMenu.
Each menu pops up under the correct combinations of key and button
presses. Each menu is divided into sections, separated by a
horizontal line. Some menu entries correspond to modes that can be
altered. A check mark appears next to a mode that is currently
active. Selecting one of these modes toggles its state. Other menu
entries are commands; selecting one of these performs the indicated
function.
All of the menu entries correspond to X actions. In the list below,
the menu label is shown followed by the action's name in parenthesis.
Main Options
The
xterm mainMenu pops up when the "control" key and pointer button
one are pressed in a window. This menu contains items that apply to
both the VT
xxx and Tektronix windows. There are several sections:
Commands for managing X events:
Toolbar (resource
toolbar)
Clicking on the "Toolbar" menu entry hides the toolbar
if it is visible, and shows it if it is not.
Secure Keyboard (resource
securekbd)
The
Secure Keyboard mode is helpful when typing in
passwords or other sensitive data in an unsecure
environment (see
SECURITY below, but read the
limitations carefully).
Allow SendEvents (resource
allowsends)
Specifies whether or not synthetic key and button
events generated using the X protocol SendEvent request
should be interpreted or discarded. This corresponds
to the
allowSendEvents resource.
Redraw Window (resource
redraw)
Forces the X display to repaint; useful in some
environments.
Commands for capturing output:
Log to File (resource
logging)
Captures text sent to the screen in a log file, as in
the
-l logging option.
Print-All Immediately (resource
print-immediate)
Invokes the
print-immediate action, sending the text of
the current window directly to a file, as specified by
the
printFileImmediate,
printModeImmediate and
printOptsImmediate resources.
Print-All on Error (resource
print-on-error)
Invokes the
print-on-error action, which toggles a flag
telling
xterm that if it exits with an X error, to send
the text of the current window directly to a file, as
specified by the
printFileOnXError,
printModeOnXError and
printOptsOnXError resources.
Print Window (resource
print)
Sends the text of the current window to the program
given in the
printerCommand resource.
Redirect to Printer (resource
print-redir)
This sets the
printerControlMode to 0 or 2. You can
use this to turn the printer on as if an application
had sent the appropriate control sequence. It is also
useful for switching the printer off if an application
turns it on without resetting the print control mode.
XHTML Screen Dump (resource
dump-html)
Available only when compiled with screen dump support.
Invokes the
dump-html action. This creates an XHTML
file matching the contents of the current screen,
including the border, internal border, colors and most
attributes: bold, italic, underline, faint, strikeout,
reverse; blink is rendered as white-on-red; double
underline is rendered the same as underline since there
is no portable equivalent in CSS 2.2.
The font is whatever your browser uses for preformatted
(<pre>) elements. The XHTML file references a
cascading style sheet (CSS) named "
xterm.css" that you
can create to select a font or override properties.
The following CSS selectors are used with the expected
default behavior in the XHTML file:
.ul for underline,
.bd for bold,
.it for italic,
.st for strikeout,
.lu for strikeout combined with underline.
In addition you may use
.ev to affect even numbered lines and
.od to affect odd numbered lines.
Attributes faint, reverse and blink are implemented as
style attributes setting color properties. All colors
are specified as RGB percentages in order to support
displays with 10 bits per RGB.
The name of the file will be
xterm.yyyy.MM.dd.hh.mm.ss.xhtml
where
yyyy,
MM,
dd,
hh,
mm and
ss are the year, month,
day, hour, minute and second when the screen dump was
performed (the file is created in the directory
xterm is started in, or the home directory for a login
xterm).
The
dump-html action can also be triggered using the
Media Copy control sequence CSI 1 0 i, for example from
a shell script with
printf '\033[10i'
Only the UTF-8 encoding is supported.
SVG Screen Dump (resource
dump-svg)
Available only when compiled with screen dump support.
Invokes the
dump-svg action. This creates a Scalable
Vector Graphics (SVG) file matching the contents of the
current screen, including the border, internal border,
colors and most attributes: bold, italic, underline,
double underline, faint, strikeout, reverse; blink is
rendered as white-on-red. The font is whatever your
renderer uses for the
monospace font-family. All
colors are specified as RGB percentages in order to
support displays with 10 bits per RGB.
The name of the file will be
xterm.yyyy.MM.dd.hh.mm.ss.svg
where
yyyy,
MM,
dd,
hh,
mm and
ss are the year, month,
day, hour, minute and second when the screen dump was
performed (the file is created in the directory
xterm is started in, or the home directory for a login
xterm).
The
dump-svg action can also be triggered using the
Media Copy control sequence CSI 1 1 i, for example from
a shell script with
printf '\033[11i'
Only the UTF-8 encoding is supported.
Modes for setting keyboard style:
8-Bit Controls (resource
8-bit-control)
Enabled for VT220 emulation, this controls whether
xterm will send 8-bit control sequences rather than
using 7-bit (ASCII) controls, e.g., sending a byte in
the range 128-159 rather than the escape character
followed by a second byte.
Xterm always interprets
both 8-bit and 7-bit control sequences (see
Xterm Control Sequences). This corresponds to the
eightBitControl resource.
Backarrow Key (BS/DEL) (resource
backarrow key)
Modifies the behavior of the backarrow key, making it
transmit either a backspace (8) or delete (127)
character. This corresponds to the
backarrowKey resource.
Alt/NumLock Modifiers (resource
num-lock)
Controls the treatment of Alt- and NumLock-key
modifiers. This corresponds to the
numLock resource.
Meta Sends Escape (resource
meta-esc)
Controls whether
Meta keys are converted into a two-
character sequence with the character itself preceded
by ESC. This corresponds to the
metaSendsEscape resource.
Delete is DEL (resource
delete-is-del)
Controls whether the Delete key on the editing keypad
should send DEL (127) or the VT220-style Remove escape
sequence. This corresponds to the
deleteIsDEL resource.
Old Function-Keys (resource
oldFunctionKeys)
HP Function-Keys (resource
hpFunctionKeys)
SCO Function-Keys (resource
scoFunctionKeys)
Sun Function-Keys (resource
sunFunctionKeys)
VT220 Keyboard (resource
sunKeyboard)
These act as a radio-button, selecting one style for
the keyboard layout. The layout corresponds to more
than one resource setting:
sunKeyboard,
sunFunctionKeys,
scoFunctionKeys and
hpFunctionKeys.
Commands for process signalling:
Send STOP Signal (resource
suspend)
Send CONT Signal (resource
continue)
Send INT Signal (resource
interrupt)
Send HUP Signal (resource
hangup)
Send TERM Signal (resource
terminate)
Send KILL Signal (resource
kill)
These send the SIGTSTP, SIGCONT, SIGINT, SIGHUP,
SIGTERM and SIGKILL signals respectively, to the
process group of the process running under
xterm (usually the shell). The
SIGCONT function is
especially useful if the user has accidentally typed
CTRL-Z, suspending the process.
Quit (resource
quit)
Stop processing X events except to support the
-hold option, and then send a SIGHUP signal to the process
group of the process running under
xterm (usually the
shell).
VT Options
The
xterm vtMenu sets various modes in the VT
xxx emulation, and is
popped up when the "control" key and pointer button two are pressed
in the VT
xxx window.
VT
xxx Modes:
Enable Scrollbar (resource
scrollbar)
Enable (or disable) the scrollbar. This corresponds to
the
-sb option and the
scrollBar resource.
Enable Jump Scroll (resource
jumpscroll)
Enable (or disable) jump scrolling. This corresponds
to the
-j option and the
jumpScroll resource.
Enable Reverse Video (resource
reversevideo)
Enable (or disable) reverse-video. This corresponds to
the
-rv option and the
reverseVideo resource.
Enable Auto Wraparound (resource
autowrap)
Enable (or disable) auto-wraparound. This corresponds
to the
-aw option and the
autoWrap resource.
Enable Reverse Wraparound (resource
reversewrap)
Enable (or disable) reverse wraparound. This
corresponds to the
-rw option and the
reverseWrap resource.
Enable Auto Linefeed (resource
autolinefeed)
Enable (or disable) auto-linefeed. This is the VT102
NEL function, which causes the emulator to emit a line
feed after each carriage return. There is no
corresponding command-line option or resource setting.
Enable Application Cursor Keys (resource
appcursor)
Enable (or disable) application cursor keys. This
corresponds to the
appcursorDefault resource. There is
no corresponding command-line option.
Enable Application Keypad (resource
appkeypad)
Enable (or disable) application keypad keys. This
corresponds to the
appkeypadDefault resource. There is
no corresponding command-line option.
Scroll to Bottom on Key Press (resource
scrollkey)
Enable (or disable) scrolling to the bottom of the
scrolling region on a keypress. This corresponds to
the
-sk option and the
scrollKey resource.
As a special case, the XON / XOFF keys (control/S and
control/Q) are ignored.
Scroll to Bottom on Tty Output (resource
scrollttyoutput)
Enable (or disable) scrolling to the bottom of the
scrolling region on output to the terminal. This
corresponds to the
-si option and the
scrollTtyOutput resource.
Allow 80/132 Column Switching (resource
allow132)
Enable (or disable) switching between 80 and 132
columns. This corresponds to the
-132 option and the
c132 resource.
Keep Selection (resource
keepSelection)
Tell
xterm whether to disown the selection when it
stops highlighting it, e.g., when an application
modifies the display so that it no longer matches the
text which has been highlighted. As long as
xterm continues to own the selection for a given atom, it can
provide the corresponding text to other clients which
request the selection using that atom.
This corresponds to the
keepSelection resource. There
is no corresponding command-line option.
Telling
xterm to not disown the selection does not
prevent other applications from taking ownership of the
selection. When that happens,
xterm receives
notification that this has happened, and removes its
highlighting.
See
SELECT/PASTE for more information.
Select to Clipboard (resource
selectToClipboard)
Tell
xterm whether to use the
PRIMARY or
CLIPBOARD for
SELECT tokens in the
translations resource which maps
keyboard and mouse actions to select/paste actions.
This corresponds to the
selectToClipboard resource.
There is no corresponding command-line option.
The
keepSelection resource setting applies to
CLIPBOARD selections just as it does for
PRIMARY selections.
However some window managers treat the clipboard
specially. For instance, XQuartz's synchronization
between the OSX
pasteboard and the X11
clipboard causes
applications to lose the selection ownership for that
atom when a selection is copied to the clipboard.
See
SELECT/PASTE for more information.
Enable Visual Bell (resource
visualbell)
Enable (or disable) visible bell (i.e., flashing)
instead of an audible bell. This corresponds to the
-vb option and the
visualBell resource.
Enable Bell Urgency (resource
bellIsUrgent)
Enable (or disable) Urgency window manager hint when
Control-G is received. This corresponds to the
bellIsUrgent resource.
Enable Pop on Bell (resource
poponbell)
Enable (or disable) raising of the window when Control-
G is received. This corresponds to the
-pop option and
the
popOnBell resource.
Enable Blinking Cursor (resource
cursorblink)
Enable (or disable) the blinking-cursor feature. This
corresponds to the
-bc option and the
cursorBlink resource. There are also escape sequences (see
Xterm Control Sequences):
+o If the
cursorBlinkXOR resource is set, the menu
entry and the escape sequence states will be XOR'd:
if both are enabled, the cursor will not blink, if
only one is enabled, the cursor will blink.
+o If the
cursorBlinkXOR is not set; if either the
menu entry or the escape sequence states are set,
the cursor will blink.
In either case, the checkbox for the menu shows the
state of the
cursorBlink resource, which may not
correspond to what the cursor is actually doing.
Enable Alternate Screen Switching (resource
titeInhibit)
Enable (or disable) switching between the normal and
alternate screens. This corresponds to the
titeInhibit resource. There is no corresponding command-line
option.
Enable Active Icon (resource
activeicon)
Enable (or disable) the active-icon feature. This
corresponds to the
-ai option and the
activeIcon resource.
Sixel Scrolling (resource
sixelScrolling)
This corresponds to the
sixelScrolling resource. It
can also be turned off and on using the private mode
DECSDM (Sixel Display Mode).
+o When enabled,
xterm draws sixel graphics at the
current text cursor location, scrolling the image
vertically if it is larger than the screen, and
leaving the text cursor at the same column in the
next complete line after the image when returning
to text mode
This is the default, which corresponds to the
reset state of DECSDM.
+o When disabled,
xterm draws sixel graphics starting
at the upper left of the screen, cropping to fit
the screen, and does not alter the text cursor
location.
This corresponds to the
set state of DECSDM.
There is no corresponding command-line option.
Private Color Registers (resource
privateColorRegisters)
If
xterm is configured to support ReGIS graphics, this
controls whether a private color palette can be used.
When enabled, each graphic image uses a separate set of
color registers, so that it essentially has a private
palette (this is the default). If it is not set, all
graphics images share a common set of registers which
is how sixel and ReGIS graphics worked on actual
hardware. The default is likely a more useful mode on
modern TrueColor hardware.
This corresponds to the
privateColorRegisters resource.
There is no corresponding command-line option.
VT
xxx Commands:
Do Soft Reset (resource
softreset)
This corresponds to the VT220 DECSTR control sequence.
A soft reset leaves the contents of the window intact,
but resets modes which affect subsequent updates:
Soft reset differs from full reset in a minor detail:
+o Set the saved cursor position to the upper-left
corner of the window.
+o Exit from the status-line without erasing it.
Both soft/full resets do the following:
+o Make the cursor visible, with shape reset according
to the
cursorUnderLine and
cursorBar resources.
+o Enable or disable the cursor-blinking state
according to the
cursorBlink resource, and set the
Enable Blinking Cursor menu checkmark to match.
+o Reset video attributes, e.g., bold, italic,
underline, blink.
+o Reset the ANSI color mode to the
xterm default
foreground and background.
+o Reset the 256-color palette to its initial state.
+o Reset the selected character set, e.g., ASCII,
alternate character set. The UTF-8 modes are not
changed.
+o Reset ECMA-48 KAM.
+o Reset DECCKM and DECKPAM per resources
appcursorDefault and
appkeypadDefault.
+o Reset the key-modifier modes to the values set by
resources
formatOtherKeys,
modifyCursorKeys,
modifyFunctionKeys,
modifyKeyboard, and
modifyOtherKeys.
+o Reset origin mode (DECOM).
+o Reset all margins (i.e., top/bottom and
left/right). This can be convenient when some
program has left the scroll regions set
incorrectly.
+o Set autowrap and reverse wrapping according to the
resource values
autoWrap and
reverseWrap.
+o Reset checksum extension to the
checksumExtension resource.
Do Full Reset (resource
hardreset)
A full reset does this in addition to a soft reset:
+o Clear the window.
+o Reset tab stops to every eight columns.
+o Reset the screen to match the
reverseVideo resource.
+o Resize the screen to 80 columns if 132-column mode
was initially enabled with the
c132 resource.
+o Reset scrolling (jump versus smooth) per the
jumpScroll resource.
+o Enable linefeed mode (ECMA-48 LNM) and send/receive
mode (ECMA-48 SRM).
+o Reset DEC user-defined keys (DECUDK).
+o Disable application mode for cursor- and keypad-
keys (DECCKM, DECKPAM).
+o Reset menu entry
8-bit Controls, per resource
eightBitControl.
+o Reset interpretation of the backarrow key, per
initial resource settings.
+o Set the keyboard type according to the resources
keyboardType,
hpFunctionKeys,
scoFunctionKeys,
sunFunctionKeys,
tcapFunctionKeys,
oldXtermFKeys and
sunKeyboard.
+o Turn mouse tracking off.
+o Reset title and pointer modes per resources
titleModes and
pointerMode.
+o Reset the readline and bracketed paste modes.
+o Discard all SIXEL and ReGIS graphics data from
memory.
+o Reset
sixelScrolling and
privateColorRegisters from
initial resource values.
+o Set DECSDM if the
sixelScrolling resource is true.
Otherwise, reset DECSDM.
A full reset does this, unlike a soft reset:
+o Move the cursor to the upper-left corner of the
window, and then save that position.
+o Hide the status-line, setting its display-type to
"none".
Reset and Clear Saved Lines (resource
clearsavedlines)
Perform a full reset, and also clear the saved lines.
This corresponds to the VT102 RIS control sequence,
with a few obvious differences. For example, your
session is not disconnected as a real VT102 would do.
Commands for setting the current screen:
Show Tek Window (resource
tekshow)
When enabled, pops the Tektronix 4014 window up (makes
it visible). When disabled, hides the Tektronix 4014
window.
Switch to Tek Mode (resource
tekmode)
When enabled, pops the Tektronix 4014 window up if it
is not already visible, and switches the input stream
to that window. When disabled, hides the Tektronix
4014 window and switches input back to the VT
xxx window.
Hide VT Window (resource
vthide)
When enabled, hides the VT
xxx window, shows the
Tektronix 4014 window if it was not already visible and
switches the input stream to that window. When
disabled, shows the VT
xxx window, and switches the
input stream to that window.
Show Alternate Screen (resource
altscreen)
When enabled, shows the alternate screen. When
disabled, shows the normal screen. Note that the
normal screen may have saved lines; the alternate
screen does not.
VT Fonts
The
xterm fontMenu pops up when the "control" key and pointer button
three are pressed in a window. It sets the font used in the VT
xxx window, or modifies the way the font is specified or displayed.
There are several sections.
The first section allows you to select the font from a set of
alternatives:
Default (resource
fontdefault)
Set the font to the default, i.e., that given by the
*VT100.font resource.
Unreadable (resource
font1)
Set the font to that given by the
*VT100.font1 resource.
Tiny (resource
font2)
Set the font to that given by the
*VT100.font2 resource.
Small (resource
font3)
Set the font to that given by the
*VT100.font3 resource.
Medium (resource
font4)
Set the font to that given by the
*VT100.font4 resource.
Large (resource
font5)
Set the font to that given by the
*VT100.font5 resource.
Huge (resource
font6)
Set the font to that given by the
*VT100.font6 resource.
Enormous (resource
font7)
Set the font to that given by the
*VT100.font7 resource.
Escape Sequence (resource
fontescape)
This allows you to set the font last specified by the
Set Font escape sequence (see
Xterm Control Sequences).
Selection (resource
fontsel)
This allows you to set the font specified the current
selection as a font name (if the
PRIMARY selection is
owned).
The second section allows you to modify the way it is displayed:
Bold Fonts (resource
allow-bold-fonts)
This is normally checked (enabled). When unchecked,
xterm will not use bold fonts. The setting corresponds
to the
allowBoldFonts resource.
Line-Drawing Characters (resource
font-linedrawing)
When set, tells
xterm to draw its own line-drawing
characters. Otherwise it relies on the font containing
these. Compare to the
forceBoxChars resource.
Packed Font (resource
font-packed)
When set, tells
xterm to use the minimum glyph-width
from a font when displaying characters. Use the
maximum width (unchecked) to help display proportional
fonts. Compare to the
forcePackedFont resource.
Doublesized Characters (resource
font-doublesize)
When set,
xterm may ask the font server to produce
scaled versions of the normal font, for VT102 double-
size characters.
The third section allows you to modify the way it is specified:
TrueType Fonts (resource
render-font)
If the
renderFont and corresponding resources were set,
this is a further control whether
xterm will actually
use the Xft library calls to obtain a font.
UTF-8 Encoding (resource
utf8-mode)
This controls whether
xterm uses UTF-8 encoding of
input/output. It is useful for temporarily switching
xterm to display text from an application which does
not follow the locale settings. It corresponds to the
utf8 resource.
UTF-8 Fonts (resource
utf8-fonts)
This controls whether
xterm uses UTF-8 fonts for
display. It is useful for temporarily switching
xterm to display text from an application which does not
follow the locale settings. It combines the
utf8 and
utf8Fonts resources, subject to the
locale resource.
UTF-8 Titles (resource
utf8-title)
This controls whether
xterm accepts UTF-8 encoding for
title control sequences. It corresponds to the
utf8Fonts resource.
Initially the checkmark is set according to both the
utf8 and
utf8Fonts resource values. If the latter is
set to "always", the checkmark is disabled. Likewise,
if there are no fonts given in the
utf8Fonts subresources, then the checkmark also is disabled.
The standard
XTerm app-defaults file defines both sets
of fonts, while the
UXTerm app-defaults file defines
only one set. Assuming the standard app-defaults
files, this command will launch
xterm able to switch
between UTF-8 and ISO-8859-1 encoded fonts:
uxterm -class XTerm
The fourth section allows you to enable or disable special operations
which can be controlled by writing escape sequences to the terminal.
These are disabled if the SendEvents feature is enabled:
Allow Color Ops (resource
allow-color-ops)
This corresponds to the
allowColorOps resource. Enable
or disable control sequences that set/query the colors.
Allow Font Ops (resource
allow-font-ops)
This corresponds to the
allowFontOps resource. Enable
or disable control sequences that set/query the font.
Allow Mouse Ops (resource
allow-mouse-ops)
Enable or disable control sequences that cause the
terminal to send escape sequences on pointer-clicks and
movement. This corresponds to the
allowMouseOps resource.
Allow Tcap Ops (resource
allow-tcap-ops)
Enable or disable control sequences that query the
terminal's notion of its function-key strings, as
termcap or terminfo capabilities. This corresponds to
the
allowTcapOps resource.
Allow Title Ops (resource
allow-title-ops)
Enable or disable control sequences that modify the
window title or icon name. This corresponds to the
allowTitleOps resource.
Allow Window Ops (resource
allow-window-ops)
Enable or disable extended window control sequences (as
used in dtterm). This corresponds to the
allowWindowOps resource.
Tek Options
The
xterm tekMenu sets various modes in the Tektronix emulation, and
is popped up when the "control" key and pointer button two are
pressed in the Tektronix window. The current font size is checked in
the modes section of the menu.
Large Characters (resource
tektextlarge)
#2 Size Characters (resource
tektext2)
#3 Size Characters (resource
tektext3)
Small Characters (resource
tektextsmall)
Commands:
PAGE (resource
tekpage)
Simulates the Tektronix "PAGE" button by
+o clearing the window,
+o cancelling the graphics input-mode, and
+o moving the cursor to the
home position.
RESET (resource
tekreset)
Unlike the similarly-named Tektronix "RESET" button,
this does everything that
PAGE does as well as
resetting the line-type and font-size to their default
values.
COPY (resource
tekcopy)
Simulates the Tektronix "COPY" button (which makes a
hard-copy of the screen) by writing the information to
a text file.
Windows:
Show VT Window (resource
vtshow)
Switch to VT Mode (resource
vtmode)
Hide Tek Window (resource
tekhide)
SECURITY
X environments differ in their security consciousness.
+o Most servers, run under
xdm, are capable of using a "magic
cookie" authorization scheme that can provide a reasonable level
of security for many people. If your server is only using a
host-based mechanism to control access to the server (see
xhost(1)), then if you enable access for a host and other users
are also permitted to run clients on that same host, it is
possible that someone can run an application which uses the basic
services of the X protocol to snoop on your activities,
potentially capturing a transcript of everything you type at the
keyboard.
+o Any process which has access to your X display can manipulate it
in ways that you might not anticipate, even redirecting your
keyboard to itself and sending events to your application's
windows. This is true even with the "magic cookie" authorization
scheme. While the
allowSendEvents provides some protection
against rogue applications tampering with your programs, guarding
against a snooper is harder.
+o The X input extension for instance allows an application to
bypass all of the other (limited) authorization and security
features, including the GrabKeyboard protocol.
+o The possibility of an application spying on your keystrokes is of
particular concern when you want to type in a password or other
sensitive data. The best solution to this problem is to use a
better authorization mechanism than is provided by X.
Subject to all of these caveats, a simple mechanism exists for
protecting keyboard input in
xterm.
The
xterm menu (see
MENUS above) contains a
Secure Keyboard entry
which, when enabled, attempts to ensure that all keyboard input is
directed
only to
xterm (using the GrabKeyboard protocol request).
When an application prompts you for a password (or other sensitive
data), you can enable
Secure Keyboard using the menu, type in the
data, and then disable
Secure Keyboard using the menu again.
+o This ensures that you know which window is accepting your
keystrokes.
+o It cannot ensure that there are no processes which have access to
your X display that might be observing the keystrokes as well.
Only one X client at a time can grab the keyboard, so when you
attempt to enable
Secure Keyboard it may fail. In this case, the
bell will sound. If the
Secure Keyboard succeeds, the foreground and
background colors will be exchanged (as if you selected the
Enable Reverse Video entry in the
Modes menu); they will be exchanged again
when you exit secure mode. If the colors do
not switch, then you
should be
very suspicious that you are being spoofed. If the
application you are running displays a prompt before asking for the
password, it is safest to enter secure mode
before the prompt gets
displayed, and to make sure that the prompt gets displayed correctly
(in the new colors), to minimize the probability of spoofing. You
can also bring up the menu again and make sure that a check mark
appears next to the entry.
Secure Keyboard mode will be disabled automatically if your
xterm window becomes iconified (or otherwise unmapped), or if you start up
a reparenting window manager (that places a title bar or other
decoration around the window) while in
Secure Keyboard mode. (This
is a feature of the X protocol not easily overcome.) When this
happens, the foreground and background colors will be switched back
and the bell will sound in warning.
CHARACTER CLASSES
Clicking the left pointer button twice in rapid succession (double-
clicking) causes all characters of the same class (e.g., letters,
white space, punctuation) to be selected as a "word". Since
different people have different preferences for what should be
selected (for example, should filenames be selected as a whole or
only the separate subnames), the default mapping can be overridden
through the use of the
charClass (class
CharClass) resource.
This resource is a series of comma-separated
range:
value pairs.
+o The
range is either a single number or
low-
high in the range of 0
to 65535, corresponding to the code for the character or
characters to be set.
+o The
value is arbitrary. For example, the default table uses the
character number of the first character occurring in the set.
When not in UTF-8 mode, only the first 256 entries of this table
will be used.
The default table starts as follows -
static int charClass[256] = {
/* NUL SOH STX ETX EOT ENQ ACK BEL */
32, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* BS HT NL VT NP CR SO SI */
1, 32, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* DLE DC1 DC2 DC3 DC4 NAK SYN ETB */
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* CAN EM SUB ESC FS GS RS US */
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* SP ! " # $ % & ' */
32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39,
/* ( ) * + , - . / */
40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47,
/* 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* 8 9 : ; < = > ? */
48, 48, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63,
/* @ A B C D E F G */
64, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* H I J K L M N O */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* P Q R S T U V W */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _ */
48, 48, 48, 91, 92, 93, 94, 48,
/* ` a b c d e f g */
96, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* h i j k l m n o */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* p q r s t u v w */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* x y z { | } ~ DEL */
48, 48, 48, 123, 124, 125, 126, 1,
/* x80 x81 x82 x83 IND NEL SSA ESA */
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* HTS HTJ VTS PLD PLU RI SS2 SS3 */
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* DCS PU1 PU2 STS CCH MW SPA EPA */
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* x98 x99 x9A CSI ST OSC PM APC */
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* - i c/ L ox Y- | So */
160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167,
/* .. c0 ip << _ R0 - */
168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175,
/* o +- 2 3 ' u q| . */
176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183,
/* , 1 2 >> 1/4 1/2 3/4 ? */
184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191,
/* A` A' A^ A~ A: Ao AE C, */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* E` E' E^ E: I` I' I^ I: */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* D- N~ O` O' O^ O~ O: X */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 215,
/* O/ U` U' U^ U: Y' P B */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* a` a' a^ a~ a: ao ae c, */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* e` e' e^ e: i` i' i^ i: */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* d n~ o` o' o^ o~ o: -: */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 247,
/* o/ u` u' u^ u: y' P y: */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48};
For example, the string "33:48,37:48,45-47:48,38:48" indicates
that the exclamation mark, percent sign, dash, period, slash,
and ampersand characters should be treated the same way as
characters and numbers. This is useful for cutting and
pasting electronic mailing addresses and filenames.
KEY BINDINGS
It is possible to rebind keys (or sequences of keys) to arbitrary
strings for input, by changing the
translations resources for the
vt100 or tek4014 widgets. Changing the
translations resource for
events other than key and button events is not expected, and will
cause unpredictable behavior.
Actions
The following actions are provided for use within the
vt100 or
tek4014 translations resources:
allow-bold-fonts(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
allowBoldFonts resource and is also invoked by the
allow-bold-fonts entry in
fontMenu.
allow-color-ops(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
allowColorOps resource and is also invoked by the
allow-color-ops entry in
fontMenu.
allow-font-ops(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
allowFontOps resource
and is also invoked by the
allow-font-ops entry in
fontMenu.
allow-mouse-ops(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
allowMouseOps resource and is also invoked by the
allow-mouse-ops entry in
fontMenu.
allow-send-events(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
allowSendEvents resource and is also invoked by the
allowsends entry in
mainMenu.
allow-tcap-ops(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
allowTcapOps resource
and is also invoked by the
allow-tcap-ops entry in
fontMenu.
allow-title-ops(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
allowTitleOps resource and is also invoked by the
allow-title-ops entry in
fontMenu.
allow-window-ops(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
allowWindowOps resource and is also invoked by the
allow-window-ops entry in
fontMenu.
alt-sends-escape() This action toggles the state of the
altSendsEscape resource.
bell([percent]) This action rings the keyboard bell at the specified
percentage above or below the base volume.
clear-saved-lines() This action does
hard-reset() and also clears the history of
lines saved off the top of the screen. It is also invoked
from the
clearsavedlines entry in
vtMenu. The effect is
identical to a hardware reset (RIS) control sequence.
copy-selection(destname [, ...]) This action puts the currently selected text into all of the
selections or cutbuffers specified by
destname. Unlike
select-end, it does not send a mouse position or otherwise
modify the internal selection state.
create-menu(m/v/f/t) This action creates one of the menus used by
xterm, if it has
not been previously created. The parameter values are the
menu names:
mainMenu,
vtMenu,
fontMenu,
tekMenu,
respectively.
dabbrev-expand() Expands the word before cursor by searching in the preceding
text on the screen and in the scrollback buffer for words
starting with that abbreviation. Repeating
dabbrev-expand() several times in sequence searches for an alternative
expansion by looking farther back. Lack of more matches is
signaled by a bell. Attempts to expand an empty word (i.e.,
when cursor is preceded by a space) yield successively all
previous words. Consecutive identical expansions are
ignored. The word here is defined as a sequence of non-
whitespace characters. This feature partially emulates the
behavior of "dynamic abbreviation" expansion in Emacs (bound
there to M-/). Here is a resource setting for
xterm which
will do the same thing:
*VT100*translations: #override \n\
Meta <KeyPress> /:
dabbrev-expand()
deiconify() Changes the window state back to normal, if it was iconified.
delete-is-del() This action toggles the state of the
deleteIsDEL resource.
dired-button() Handles a button event (other than press and release) by
echoing the event's position (i.e., character line and
column) in the following format:
^X ESC G <line+" "> <col+" ">
dump-html() Invokes the
XHTML Screen Dump feature.
dump-svg() Invokes the
SVG Screen Dump feature.
exec-formatted(format, sourcename [, ...]) Execute an external command, using the current selection for
part of the command's parameters. The first parameter,
format gives the basic command. Succeeding parameters
specify the selection source as in
insert-selection.
The
format parameter allows these substitutions:
%% inserts a "%".
%P the screen-position at the beginning of the highlighted
region, as a semicolon-separated pair of integers using
the values that the CUP control sequence would use.
%p the screen-position after the beginning of the
highlighted region, using the same convention as "%P".
%S the length of the string that "%s" would insert.
%s the content of the selection, unmodified.
%T the length of the string that "%t" would insert.
%t the selection, trimmed of leading/trailing whitespace.
Embedded spaces (and newlines) are copied as is.
%R the length of the string that "%r" would insert.
%r the selection, trimmed of trailing whitespace.
%V the video attributes at the beginning of the highlighted
region, as a semicolon-separated list of integers using
the values that the SGR control sequence would use.
%v the video attributes after the end of the highlighted
region, using the same convention as "%V".
After constructing the command-string,
xterm forks a
subprocess and executes the command, which completes
independently of
xterm.
For example, this translation would invoke a new
xterm process to view a file whose name is selected while holding
the shift key down. The new process is started when the
mouse button is released:
*VT100*translations: #override Shift \
<Btn1Up>:
exec-formatted("xterm -e view '%t'",
SELECT)
exec-selectable(format, onClicks) Execute an external command, using data copied from the
screen for part of the command's parameters. The first
parameter,
format gives the basic command as in
exec-formatted. The second parameter specifies the method
for copying the data as in the
on2Clicks resource.
fullscreen(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
fullscreen resource.
hard-reset() This action resets the scrolling region, tabs, window size,
and cursor keys and clears the screen. It is also invoked
from the
hardreset entry in
vtMenu.
iconify() Iconifies the window.
ignore() This action ignores the event but checks for special pointer
position escape sequences.
insert() This action inserts the character or string associated with
the key that was pressed.
insert-eight-bit() This action inserts an eight-bit (Meta) version of the
character or string associated with the key that was pressed.
Only single-byte values are treated specially. The exact
action depends on the value of the
altSendsEscape and the
metaSendsEscape and the
eightBitInput resources. The
metaSendsEscape resource is tested first. See the
eightBitInput resource for a full discussion.
The term "eight-bit" is misleading:
xterm checks if the key
is in the range 128 to 255 (the eighth bit is set). If the
value is in that range, depending on the resource values,
xterm may then do one of the following:
+o add 128 to the value, setting its eighth bit,
+o send an ESC byte before the key, or
+o send the key unaltered.
insert-formatted(format, sourcename [, ...]) Insert the current selection or data related to it,
formatted. The first parameter,
format gives the template
for the data as in
exec-formatted. Succeeding parameters
specify the selection source as in
insert-selection.
insert-selectable(format, onClicks) Insert data copied from the screen, formatted. The first
parameter,
format gives the template for the data as in
exec-formatted. The second parameter specifies the method
for copying the data as in the
on2Clicks resource.
insert-selection(sourcename [, ...]) This action inserts the string found in the selection or
cutbuffer indicated by
sourcename. Sources are checked in
the order given (case is significant) until one is found.
Commonly-used selections include:
PRIMARY,
SECONDARY, and
CLIPBOARD. Cut buffers are typically named
CUT_BUFFER0 through
CUT_BUFFER7.
insert-seven-bit() This action is a synonym for
insert(). The term "seven-bit"
is misleading: it only implies that
xterm does not try to add
128 to the key's value as in
insert-eight-bit().
interpret(control-sequence) Interpret the given control sequence locally, i.e., without
passing it to the host. This works by inserting the control
sequence at the front of the input buffer. Use "\" to escape
octal digits in the string. Xt does not allow you to put a
null character (i.e., "\000") in the string.
keymap(name) This action dynamically defines a new translation table whose
resource name is
name with the suffix "
Keymap" (i.e.,
nameKeymap, where case is significant). The name
None restores the original translation table.
larger-vt-font() Set the font to the next larger one, based on the font
dimensions. See also
set-vt-font().
load-vt-fonts(name[,class]) Load fontnames from the given subresource name and class.
That is, load the "*VT100.
name.font", resource as
"*VT100.font" etc. If no name is given, the original set of
fontnames is restored.
Unlike
set-vt-font(), this does not affect the escape- and
select-fonts, since those are not based on resource values.
It does affect the fonts loosely organized under the
"Default" menu entry, including
font,
boldFont,
wideFont and
wideBoldFont.
maximize() Resizes the window to fill the screen.
meta-sends-escape() This action toggles the state of the
metaSendsEscape resource.
pointer-button() Use this action as a fall-back to handle button press- and
release-events for the mouse control sequence protocol when
the selection-related translations are suppressed with the
omitTranslation resource.
pointer-motion() Use this action as a fall-back to handle motion-events for
the mouse control sequence protocol when the selection-
related translations are suppressed with the
omitTranslation resource.
popup-menu(menuname) This action displays the specified popup menu. Valid names
(case is significant) include:
mainMenu,
vtMenu,
fontMenu,
and
tekMenu.
print(printer-flags) This action prints the window. It is also invoked by the
print entry in
mainMenu.
The action accepts optional parameters, which temporarily
override resource settings. The parameter values are matched
ignoring case:
noFormFeed
no form feed will be sent at the end of the last line
printed (i.e.,
printerFormFeed is "false").
FormFeed
a form feed will be sent at the end of the last line
printed (i.e.,
printerFormFeed is "true").
noNewLine
no newline will be sent at the end of the last line
printed, and wrapped lines will be combined into long
lines (i.e.,
printerNewLine is "false").
NewLine
a newline will be sent at the end of the last line
printed, and each line will be limited (by adding a
newline) to the screen width (i.e.,
printerNewLine is
"true").
noAttrs
the page is printed without attributes (i.e.,
printAttributes is "0").
monoAttrs
the page is printed with monochrome (vt220) attributes
(i.e.,
printAttributes is "1").
colorAttrs
the page is printed with ANSI color attributes (i.e.,
printAttributes is "2").
print-everything(printer-flags) This action sends the entire text history, in addition to the
text currently visible, to the program given in the
printerCommand resource. It allows the same optional
parameters as the
print action. With a suitable printer
command, the action can be used to load the text history in
an editor.
print-immediate() Sends the text of the current window directly to a file, as
specified by the
printFileImmediate,
printModeImmediate and
printOptsImmediate resources.
print-on-error() Toggles a flag telling
xterm that if it exits with an X
error, to send the text of the current window directly to a
file, as specified by the
printFileOnXError,
printModeOnXError and
printOptsOnXError resources.
print-redir() This action toggles the
printerControlMode between 0 and 2.
The corresponding popup menu entry is useful for switching
the printer off if you happen to change your mind after
deciding to print random binary files on the terminal.
quit() This action sends a SIGHUP to the subprogram and exits. It
is also invoked by the
quit entry in
mainMenu.
readline-button() Supports the optional readline feature by echoing repeated
cursor forward or backward control sequences on button
release event, to request that the host application update
its notion of the cursor's position to match the button
event.
redraw() This action redraws the window. It is also invoked by the
redraw entry in
mainMenu.
restore() Restores the window to the size before it was last maximized.
scroll-back(count [,units [,mouse] ]) This action scrolls the text window backward so that text
that had previously scrolled off the top of the screen is now
visible.
The
count argument indicates the number of
units (which may
be
page,
halfpage,
pixel, or
line) by which to scroll. If no
count parameter is given,
xterm uses the number of lines
given by the
scrollLines resource.
An adjustment can be specified for the
page or
halfpage units
by appending a "+" or "-" sign followed by a number, e.g.,
page-2 to specify 2 lines less than a page.
If the second parameter is omitted "lines" is used.
If the third parameter
mouse is given, the action is ignored
when mouse reporting is enabled.
scroll-forw(count [,units [,mouse] ]) This action is similar to
scroll-back except that it scrolls
in the other direction.
scroll-lock(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles internal state which
tells
xterm whether Scroll Lock is active, subject to the
allowScrollLock resource.
scroll-to(count) Scroll to the given line relative to the beginning of the
saved-lines. For instance, "scroll-to(0)" would scroll to
the beginning. Two special nonnumeric parameters are
recognized:
scroll-to(begin) Scroll to the beginning of the saved lines.
scroll-to(end) Scroll to the end of the saved lines, i.e., to the
currently active page.
secure() This action toggles the
Secure Keyboard mode (see
SECURITY),
and is invoked from the
securekbd entry in
mainMenu.
select-cursor-end(destname [, ...]) This action is similar to
select-end except that it should be
used with
select-cursor-start.
select-cursor-extend() This action is similar to
select-extend except that it should
be used with
select-cursor-start.
select-cursor-start() This action is similar to
select-start except that it begins
the selection at the current text cursor position.
select-end(destname [, ...]) This action puts the currently selected text into all of the
selections or cutbuffers specified by
destname. It also
sends a mouse position and updates the internal selection
state to reflect the end of the selection process.
select-extend() This action tracks the pointer and extends the selection. It
should only be bound to Motion events.
select-set() This action stores text that corresponds to the current
selection, without affecting the selection mode.
select-start() This action begins text selection at the current pointer
location. See the section on
POINTER USAGE for information
on making selections.
If
xterm is configured to support block-selection, this
action accepts a parameter "block" which initiates a block-
selection rather than the default character-oriented
selection.
send-signal(signame) This action sends the signal named by
signame to the
xterm subprocess (the shell or program specified with the
-e command line option). It is also invoked by the
suspend,
continue,
interrupt,
hangup,
terminate, and
kill entries in
mainMenu. Allowable signal names are (case is not
significant):
tstp (if supported by the operating system),
suspend (same as
tstp),
cont (if supported by the operating
system),
int,
hup,
term,
quit,
alrm,
alarm (same as
alrm) and
kill.
set-8-bit-control(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
eightBitControl resource. It is also invoked from the
8-bit-control entry in
vtMenu.
set-allow132(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
c132 resource. It is
also invoked from the
allow132 entry in
vtMenu.
set-altscreen(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles between the alternate and
current screens.
set-appcursor(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the handling Application
Cursor Key mode and is also invoked by the
appcursor entry in
vtMenu.
set-appkeypad(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the handling of
Application Keypad mode and is also invoked by the
appkeypad entry in
vtMenu.
set-autolinefeed(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles automatic insertion of
line feeds. It is also invoked by the
autolinefeed entry in
vtMenu.
set-autowrap(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles automatic wrapping of
long lines. It is also invoked by the
autowrap entry in
vtMenu.
set-backarrow(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
backarrowKey resource. It is also invoked from the
backarrow key entry in
vtMenu.
set-bellIsUrgent(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
bellIsUrgent resource. It is also invoked by the
bellIsUrgent entry in
vtMenu.
set-cursesemul(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
curses resource. It
is also invoked from the
cursesemul entry in
vtMenu.
set-cursorblink(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
cursorBlink resource.
It is also invoked from the
cursorblink entry in
vtMenu.
set-font-doublesize(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
fontDoublesize resource. It is also invoked by the
font-doublesize entry in
fontMenu.
set-font-linedrawing(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
xterm's state
regarding whether the current font has line-drawing
characters and whether it should draw them directly. It is
also invoked by the
font-linedrawing entry in
fontMenu.
set-font-packed(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
forcePackedFont resource which controls use of the font's minimum or maximum
glyph width. It is also invoked by the
font-packed entry in
fontMenu.
set-hp-function-keys(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
hpFunctionKeys resource. It is also invoked by the
hpFunctionKeys entry in
mainMenu.
set-jumpscroll(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
jumpscroll resource.
It is also invoked by the
jumpscroll entry in
vtMenu.
set-keep-clipboard(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
keepClipboard resource.
set-keep-selection(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
keepSelection resource. It is also invoked by the
keepSelection entry in
vtMenu.
set-logging(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the state of the logging
option.
set-marginbell(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
marginBell resource.
set-num-lock(on/off/toggle) This action toggles the state of the
numLock resource.
set-old-function-keys(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the state of legacy
function keys. It is also invoked by the
oldFunctionKeys entry in
mainMenu.
set-pop-on-bell(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
popOnBell resource.
It is also invoked by the
poponbell entry in
vtMenu.
set-private-colors(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
privateColorRegisters resource.
set-render-font(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
renderFont resource.
It is also invoked by the
render-font entry in
fontMenu.
set-reverse-video(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
reverseVideo resource. It is also invoked by the
reversevideo entry in
vtMenu.
set-reversewrap(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
reverseWrap resource.
It is also invoked by the
reversewrap entry in
vtMenu.
set-sco-function-keys(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
scoFunctionKeys resource. It is also invoked by the
scoFunctionKeys entry in
mainMenu.
set-scroll-on-key(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
scrollKey resource.
It is also invoked from the
scrollkey entry in
vtMenu.
set-scroll-on-tty-output(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
scrollTtyOutput resource. It is also invoked from the
scrollttyoutput entry
in
vtMenu.
set-scrollbar(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
scrollbar resource.
It is also invoked by the
scrollbar entry in
vtMenu.
set-select(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
selectToClipboard resource. It is also invoked by the
selectToClipboard entry
in
vtMenu.
set-sixel-scrolling(on/off/toggle) This action toggles between inline (sixel scrolling) and
absolute positioning. It can also be controlled via DEC
private mode 80 (DECSDM) or from the
sixelScrolling entry in
the
btMenu.
set-sun-function-keys(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
sunFunctionKeys resource. It is also invoked by the
sunFunctionKeys entry in
mainMenu.
set-sun-keyboard(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
sunKeyboard resource.
It is also invoked by the
sunKeyboard entry in
mainMenu.
set-tek-text(large/2/3/small) This action sets the font used in the Tektronix window to the
value of the selected resource according to the argument.
The argument can be either a keyword or single-letter alias,
as shown in parentheses:
large (l)
Use resource
fontLarge, same as menu entry
tektextlarge.
two (2)
Use resource
font2, same as menu entry
tektext2.
three (3)
Use resource
font3, same as menu entry
tektext3.
small (s)
Use resource
fontSmall, same as menu entry
tektextsmall.
set-terminal-type(type) This action directs output to either the
vt or
tek windows,
according to the
type string. It is also invoked by the
tekmode entry in
vtMenu and the
vtmode entry in
tekMenu.
set-titeInhibit(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
titeInhibit resource,
which controls switching between the alternate and current
screens.
set-toolbar(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the toolbar feature. It
is also invoked by the
toolbar entry in
mainMenu.
set-utf8-fonts(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
utf8Fonts resource.
It is also invoked by the
utf8-fonts entry in
fontMenu.
set-utf8-mode(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
utf8 resource. It is
also invoked by the
utf8-mode entry in
fontMenu.
set-utf8-title(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
utf8Title resource.
It is also invoked by the
utf8-title entry in
fontMenu.
set-visibility(vt/tek,on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles whether or not the
vt or
tek windows are visible. It is also invoked from the
tekshow and
vthide entries in
vtMenu and the
vtshow and
tekhide entries in
tekMenu.
set-visual-bell(on/off/toggle) This action sets, unsets or toggles the
visualBell resource.
It is also invoked by the
visualbell entry in
vtMenu.
set-vt-font(d/1/2/3/4/5/6/7/e/s [,normalfont [, boldfont]]) This action sets the font or fonts currently being used in
the VT
xxx window. The first argument is a single character
that specifies the font to be used:
d or
D indicate the default font (the font initially used
when
xterm was started),
1 through
7 indicate the fonts specified by the
font1 through
font7 resources,
e or
E indicate the normal and bold fonts that have been set
through escape codes (or specified as the second and
third action arguments, respectively), and
s or
S indicate the font selection (as made by programs such
as
xfontsel(1)) indicated by the second action
argument.
If
xterm is configured to support wide characters, an
additional two optional parameters are recognized for the
e argument: wide font and wide bold font.
smaller-vt-font() Set the font to the next smaller one, based on the font
dimensions. See also
set-vt-font().
soft-reset() This action resets the scrolling region. It is also invoked
from the
softreset entry in
vtMenu. The effect is identical
to a soft reset (DECSTR) control sequence.
spawn-new-terminal(params) Spawn a new
xterm process. This is available on systems
which have a modern version of the process filesystem, e.g.,
"/proc", which
xterm can read.
Use the "cwd" process entry, e.g., /proc/12345/cwd to obtain
the working directory of the process which is running in the
current
xterm.
On systems which have the "exe" process entry, e.g.,
/proc/12345/exe, use this to obtain the actual executable.
Otherwise, use the
$PATH variable to find
xterm.
If parameters are given in the action, pass them to the new
xterm process.
start-cursor-extend() This action is similar to
select-extend except that the
selection is extended to the current text cursor position.
start-extend() This action is similar to
select-start except that the
selection is extended to the current pointer location.
string(string) This action inserts the specified text string as if it had
been typed. Quotation is necessary if the string contains
whitespace or non-alphanumeric characters. If the string
argument begins with the characters "0x", it is interpreted
as a hex character constant.
tek-copy() This action copies the escape codes used to generate the
current window contents to a file in the current directory
beginning with the name COPY. It is also invoked from the
tekcopy entry in
tekMenu.
tek-page() This action clears the Tektronix window. It is also invoked
by the
tekpage entry in
tekMenu.
tek-reset() This action resets the Tektronix window. It is also invoked
by the
tekreset entry in
tekMenu.
vi-button() Handles a button event (other than press and release) by
echoing a control sequence computed from the event's line
number in the screen relative to the current line:
ESC ^P
or
ESC ^N
according to whether the event is before, or after the
current line, respectively. The ^N (or ^P) is repeated once
for each line that the event differs from the current line.
The control sequence is omitted altogether if the button
event is on the current line.
visual-bell() This action flashes the window quickly.
The Tektronix window also has the following action:
gin-press(l/L/m/M/r/R) This action sends the indicated graphics input code.
Default Key Bindings
The default bindings in the VT
xxx window use the
SELECT token, which
is set by the
selectToClipboard resource. These are for the
vt100 widget:
Shift <KeyPress> Prior:
scroll-back(1,halfpage) \n\
Shift <KeyPress> Next:
scroll-forw(1,halfpage) \n\
Shift <KeyPress> Select:
select-cursor-start() \
select-cursor-end(
SELECT,
CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
Shift <KeyPress> Insert:
insert-selection(
SELECT,
CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
Alt <Key>Return:
fullscreen() \n\
<KeyRelease> Scroll_Lock:
scroll-lock() \n\
Shift~Ctrl <KeyPress> KP_Add:
larger-vt-font() \n\
Shift Ctrl <KeyPress> KP_Add:
smaller-vt-font() \n\
Shift <KeyPress> KP_Subtract:
smaller-vt-font() \n\
~Meta <KeyPress>:
insert-seven-bit() \n\
Meta <KeyPress>:
insert-eight-bit() \n\
!Ctrl <Btn1Down>:
popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl <Btn1Down>:
popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn1Down>:
popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
! @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn1Down>:
popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
Meta <Btn1Down>:
select-start(block) \n\
~Meta <Btn1Down>:
select-start() \n\
~Meta <Btn1Motion>:
select-extend() \n\
!Ctrl <Btn2Down>:
popup-menu(vtMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl <Btn2Down>:
popup-menu(vtMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn2Down>:
popup-menu(vtMenu) \n\
! @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn2Down>:
popup-menu(vtMenu) \n\
~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn2Down>:
ignore() \n\
Meta <Btn2Down>:
clear-saved-lines() \n\
~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn2Up>:
insert-selection(
SELECT,
CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
!Ctrl <Btn3Down>:
popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl <Btn3Down>:
popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn3Down>:
popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
! @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn3Down>:
popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn3Down>:
start-extend() \n\
~Meta <Btn3Motion>:
select-extend() \n\
Ctrl <Btn4Down>:
scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
Lock Ctrl <Btn4Down>:
scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
Lock @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn4Down>:
scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
@Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn4Down>:
scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
<Btn4Down>:
scroll-back(5,line,m) \n\
Ctrl <Btn5Down>:
scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
Lock Ctrl <Btn5Down>:
scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
Lock @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn5Down>:
scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
@Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn5Down>:
scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
<Btn5Down>:
scroll-forw(5,line,m) \n\
<BtnUp>:
select-end(
SELECT,
CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
<BtnMotion>:
pointer-motion() \n\
<BtnDown>:
pointer-button() \n\
<BtnUp>:
pointer-button() \n\
<BtnDown>:
ignore()
The default bindings in the Tektronix window are analogous but less
extensive. These are for the
tek4014 widget:
~Meta<KeyPress>:
insert-seven-bit() \n\
Meta<KeyPress>:
insert-eight-bit() \n\
!Ctrl <Btn1Down>:
popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl <Btn1Down>:
popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn1Down>:
popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
!Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn1Down>:
popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
!Ctrl <Btn2Down>:
popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl <Btn2Down>:
popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn2Down>:
popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
!Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn2Down>:
popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
Shift ~Meta<Btn1Down>:
gin-press(L) \n\
~Meta<Btn1Down>:
gin-press(l) \n\
Shift ~Meta<Btn2Down>:
gin-press(M) \n\
~Meta<Btn2Down>:
gin-press(m) \n\
Shift ~Meta<Btn3Down>:
gin-press(R) \n\
~Meta<Btn3Down>:
gin-press(r)
Custom Key Bindings
You can modify the
translations resource by overriding parts of it,
or merging your resources with it.
Here is an example which uses shifted select/paste to copy to the
clipboard, and unshifted select/paste for the primary selection. In
each case, a (different) cut buffer is also a target or source of the
select/paste operation. It is important to remember however, that
cut buffers store data in ISO-8859-1 encoding, while selections can
store data in a variety of formats and encodings. While
xterm owns
the selection, it highlights it. When it loses the selection, it
removes the corresponding highlight. But you can still paste from
the corresponding cut buffer.
*VT100*translations: #override \n\
~Shift~Ctrl<Btn2Up>:
insert-selection(
PRIMARY,
CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
Shift~Ctrl<Btn2Up>:
insert-selection(
CLIPBOARD,
CUT_BUFFER1) \n\
~Shift <BtnUp> :
select-end(
PRIMARY,
CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
Shift <BtnUp> :
select-end(
CLIPBOARD,
CUT_BUFFER1)
In the example, the class name
VT100 is used rather than the widget
name. These are different; a class name could apply to more than one
widget. A leading "*" is used because the widget hierarchy above the
vt100 widget depends on whether the toolbar support is compiled into
xterm.
Most of the predefined translations are related to the mouse, with a
few that use some of the special keys on the keyboard. Applications
use special keys (function-keys, cursor-keys, keypad-keys) with
modifiers (shift, control, alt). If
xterm defines a translation for
a given combination of special key and modifier, that makes it
unavailable for use by applications within the terminal. For
instance, one might extend the use of
Page Up and
Page Down keys seen
here:
Shift <KeyPress> Prior :
scroll-back(1,halfpage) \n\
Shift <KeyPress> Next :
scroll-forw(1,halfpage) \n\
to the
Home and
End keys:
Shift <KeyPress> Home :
scroll-to(begin) \n\
Shift <KeyPress> End :
scroll-to(end)
but then shift-
Home and shift-
End would then be unavailable to
applications.
Not everyone finds the three-button mouse bindings easy to use. In a
wheel mouse, the middle button might be the wheel. As an
alternative, you could add a binding using shifted keys:
*VT100*translations: #override \n\
Shift <Key>Home:
copy-selection(
SELECT) \n\
Shift <Key>Insert:
copy-selection(
SELECT) \n\
Ctrl Shift <Key>C:
copy-selection(
SELECT) \n\
Ctrl Shift <Key>V:
insert-selection(
SELECT)
You would still use the left- and right-mouse buttons (typically 1
and 3) for beginning and extending selections.
Besides mouse problems, there are also keyboards with inconvenient
layouts. Some lack a numeric keypad, making it hard to use the
shifted keypad plus and minus bindings for switching between font
sizes. You can work around that by assigning the actions to more
readily accessed keys:
*VT100*translations: #override \n\
Ctrl <Key> +:
larger-vt-font() \n\
Ctrl <Key> -:
smaller-vt-font()
The keymap feature allows you to switch between sets of translations.
The sample below shows how the
keymap() action may be used to add
special keys for entering commonly-typed words:
*VT100.Translations: #override <Key>F13: keymap(dbx)
*VT100.dbxKeymap.translations: \
<Key>F14:
keymap(None) \n\
<Key>F17:
string("next") \n\
string(0x0d) \n\
<Key>F18:
string("step") \n\
string(0x0d) \n\
<Key>F19:
string("continue") \n\
string(0x0d) \n\
<Key>F20:
string("print ") \n\
insert-selection(
PRIMARY,
CUT_BUFFER0)
Default Scrollbar Bindings
Key bindings are normally associated with the
vt100 or
tek4014 widgets which act as terminal emulators.
Xterm's scrollbar (and
toolbar if it is configured) are separate widgets. Because all of
these use the
X Toolkit, they have corresponding
translations resources. Those resources are distinct, and match different
patterns, e.g., the differences in widget-name and number of levels
of widgets which they may contain.
The
scrollbar widget is a child of the
vt100 widget. It is
positioned on top of the
vt100 widget. Toggling the scrollbar on and
off causes the
vt100 widget to resize.
The default bindings for the scrollbar widget use only mouse-button
events:
<Btn5Down>: StartScroll(Forward) \n\
<Btn1Down>: StartScroll(Forward) \n\
<Btn2Down>: StartScroll(Continuous) MoveThumb() NotifyThumb() \n\
<Btn3Down>: StartScroll(Backward) \n\
<Btn4Down>: StartScroll(Backward) \n\
<Btn2Motion>: MoveThumb() NotifyThumb() \n\
<BtnUp>: NotifyScroll(Proportional) EndScroll()
Events which the
scrollbar widget does not recognize at all are lost.
However, at startup,
xterm augments these translations with the
default translations used for the
vt100 widget, together with the
resource "actions" which those translations use. Because the
scrollbar (or
menubar) widgets do not recognize these actions (but
because it has a corresponding translation), they are passed on to
the
vt100 widget.
This augmenting of the scrollbar's translations has a few
limitations:
+o
Xterm knows what the default translations are, but there is no
suitable library interface for determining what customizations a
user may have added to the
vt100 widget. All that
xterm can do
is augment the
scrollbar widget to give it the same starting
point for further customization by the user.
+o Events in the gap between the widgets may be lost.
+o Compose sequences begun in one widget cannot be completed in the
other, because the input methods for each widget do not share
context information.
Most customizations of the scrollbar translations do not concern key
bindings. Rather, users are generally more interested in changing
the bindings of the mouse buttons. For example, some people prefer
using the left pointer button for dragging the scrollbar thumb. That
can be set up by altering the translations resource, e.g.,
*VT100.scrollbar.translations: #override \n\
<Btn5Down>: StartScroll(Forward) \n\
<Btn1Down>: StartScroll(Continuous) MoveThumb() NotifyThumb() \n\
<Btn4Down>: StartScroll(Backward) \n\
<Btn1Motion>: MoveThumb() NotifyThumb() \n\
<BtnUp>: NotifyScroll(Proportional) EndScroll()
CONTROL SEQUENCES AND KEYBOARD
Applications can send sequences of characters to the terminal to
change its behavior. Often they are referred to as "ANSI escape
sequences" or just plain "escape sequences" but both terms are
misleading:
+o ANSI x3.64 (obsolete) which was replaced by ISO 6429 (ECMA-48)
gave rules for the
format of these sequences of characters.
+o While the original VT100 was claimed to be ANSI-compatible
(against x3.64), there is no freely available version of the ANSI
standard to show where the VT100 differs. Most of the documents
which mention the ANSI standard have additions not found in the
original (such as those based on
ansi.sys). So this discussion
focuses on the ISO standards.
+o The standard describes only sequences sent from the host to the
terminal. There is no standard for sequences sent by special
keys from the terminal to the host. By convention (and referring
to existing terminals), the format of those sequences usually
conforms to the host-to-terminal standard.
+o Some of
xterm's sequences do not fit into the standard scheme.
Technically those are "unspecified". As an example, DEC Screen
Alignment Test (DECALN) is this three-character sequence:
ESC # 8
+o Some sequences fit into the standard format, but are not listed
in the standard. These include the sequences used for setting up
scrolling margins and doing forward/reverse scrolling.
+o Some of the sequences (in particular, the single-character
functions such as tab and backspace) do not include the
escape character.
With all of that in mind, the standard refers to these sequences of
characters as "control sequences".
Xterm Control Sequences lists the control sequences which an
application can send
xterm to make it perform various operations.
Most of these operations are standardized, from either the DEC or
Tektronix terminals, or from more widely used standards such as
ISO-6429.
A few examples of usage are given in this section.
Window and Icon Titles
Some scripts use
echo with options
-e and
-n to tell the shell to
interpret the string "\e" as the
escape character and to suppress a
trailing newline on output. Those are not portable, nor recommended.
Instead, use
printf(1) (POSIX).
For example, to set the
window title to "Hello world!", you could use
one of these commands in a script:
printf '\033]2;Hello world!\033\\'
printf '\033]2;Hello world!\007'
printf '\033]2;%s\033\\' "Hello world!"
printf '\033]2;%s\007' "Hello world!"
The
printf(1) command interprets the octal value "\033" for
escape,
and (since it was not given in the format) omits a trailing newline
from the output.
Some programs (such as
screen(1)) set both window- and icon-titles at
the same time, using a slightly different control sequence:
printf '\033]0;Hello world!\033\\'
printf '\033]0;Hello world!\007'
printf '\033]0;%s\033\\' "Hello world!"
printf '\033]0;%s\007' "Hello world!"
The difference is the
parameter "0" in each command. Most window
managers will honor either window title or icon title. Some will
make a distinction and allow you to set just the icon title. You can
tell
xterm to ask for this with a different parameter in the control
sequence:
printf '\033]1;Hello world!\033\\'
printf '\033]1;Hello world!\007'
printf '\033]1;%s\033\\' "Hello world!"
printf '\033]1;%s\007' "Hello world!"
Special Keys
Xterm, like any VT100-compatible terminal emulator, has two modes for
the
special keys (cursor-keys, numeric keypad, and certain function-
keys):
+o
normal mode, which makes the special keys transmit "useful"
sequences such as the control sequence for cursor-up when
pressing the up-arrow, and
+o
application mode, which uses a different control sequence that
cannot be mistaken for the "useful" sequences.
The main difference between the two modes is that normal mode
sequences start with
CSI (
escape [) and application mode sequences
start with
SS3 (
escape O).
The terminal is initialized into one of these two modes (usually the
normal mode), based on the terminal description (termcap or
terminfo). The terminal description also has capabilities (strings)
defined for the keypad mode used in curses applications.
There is a problem in using the terminal description for applications
that are not intended to be full-screen curses applications: the
definitions of special keys are only correct for this keypad mode.
For example, some shells (unlike
ksh(1), which appears to be hard-
coded, not even using termcap) allow their users to customize key-
bindings, assigning shell actions to special keys.
+o
bash(1) allows
constant strings to be assigned to functions.
This is only successful if the terminal is initialized to
application mode by default, because
bash lacks flexibility in
this area. It uses a (less expressive than
bash's)
readline scripting language for setting up key bindings, which relies upon
the user to statically enumerate the possible bindings for given
values of
$TERM.
+o
zsh(1) provides an analogous feature, but it accepts runtime
expressions, as well as providing a
$terminfo array for scripts.
In particular, one can use the terminal database, transforming
when defining a key-binding. By transforming the output so that
CSI and
SS3 are equated,
zsh can use the terminal database to
obtain useful definitions for its command-line use regardless of
whether the terminal uses normal or application mode initially.
Here is an example:
[[ "$terminfo[kcuu1]" == "^[O"* ]] && \
bindkey -M viins "${terminfo[kcuu1]/O/[}" \
vi-up-line-or-history
Changing Colors
A few shell programs provide the ability for users to add color and
other video attributes to the shell prompt strings. Users can do
this by setting
$PS1 (the primary prompt string). Again,
bash and
zsh have provided features not found in
ksh. There is a problem,
however: the prompt's width on the screen will not necessarily be the
same as the number of characters. Because there is no guidance in
the POSIX standard, each shell addresses the problem in a different
way:
+o
bash treats characters within "\[" and "\]" as nonprinting (using
no width on the screen).
+o
zsh treats characters within "%{" and "%}" as nonprinting.
In addition to the difference in syntax, the shells provide different
methods for obtaining useful escape sequences:
+o As noted in
Special Keys,
zsh initializes the $terminfo array
with the terminal capabilities.
It also provides a function
echoti which works like
tput(1) to
convert a terminal capability with its parameters into a string
that can be written to the terminal.
+o Shells lacking a comparable feature (such as
bash) can always use
the program
tput(1) to do this transformation.
Hard-coded escape sequences are supported by each shell, but are not
recommended because those rely upon particular configurations and
cannot be easily moved between different user environments.
ENVIRONMENT
Xterm sets several environment variables.
System Independent
Some variables are used on every system:
DISPLAY is the display name, pointing to the X server (see
DISPLAY NAMES in X(1)).
TERM is set according to the terminfo (or termcap) entry which it is
using as a reference.
On some systems, you may encounter situations where the shell
which you use and
xterm are built using libraries with different
terminal databases. In that situation,
xterm may choose a
terminal description not known to the shell.
WINDOWID is set to the X window id number of the
xterm window.
XTERM_FILTER is set if a locale-filter is used. The value is the pathname of
the filter.
XTERM_LOCALE shows the locale which was used by
xterm on startup. Some shell
initialization scripts may set a different locale.
XTERM_SHELL is set to the pathname of the program which is invoked. Usually
that is a shell program, e.g.,
/bin/sh. Since it is not
necessarily a shell program however, it is distinct from
"SHELL".
XTERM_VERSION is set to the string displayed by the
-version option. That is
normally an identifier for the X Window libraries used to build
xterm, followed by
xterm's patch number in parenthesis. The
patch number is also part of the response to a Secondary Device
Attributes (DA) control sequence (see
Xterm Control Sequences).
System Dependent
Depending on your system configuration,
xterm may also set the
following:
COLUMNS the width of the
xterm in characters (cf: "stty columns").
When this variable is set,
curses applications (and most
terminal programs) will assume that the terminal has this many
columns.
Xterm would do this for systems which have no ability to tell
the size of the terminal. Those are very rare, none newer than
the mid 1990s when SVR4 became prevalent.
HOME when
xterm is configured (at build-time) to update utmpx.
LINES the height of the
xterm in characters (cf: "stty rows").
When this variable is set,
curses applications (and most
terminal programs) will assume that the terminal has this many
lines (rows).
Xterm would do this for systems which have no ability to tell
the size of the terminal. Those are very rare, none newer than
the mid 1990s when SVR4 became prevalent.
LOGNAME when
xterm is configured (at build-time) to update utmpx.
Your configuration may have set
LOGNAME;
xterm does not modify
that. If it is unset,
xterm will use
USER if it is set.
Finally, if neither is set,
xterm will use the
getlogin(3) function.
SHELL when
xterm is configured (at build-time) to update utmpx. It is
also set if you provide a valid shell name as the optional
parameter.
Xterm sets this to an absolute pathname. If you have set the
variable to a relative pathname,
xterm may set it to a different
shell pathname.
If you have set this to an pathname which does not correspond to
a valid shell,
xterm may unset it, to avoid confusion.
TERMCAP the contents of the termcap entry corresponding to
$TERM, with
lines and columns values substituted for the actual size window
you have created.
This feature is, like
LINES and
COLUMNS, used rarely. It
addresses the same limitation of a few older systems by
providing a way for
termcap-based applications to get the
initial screen size.
TERMINFO may be defined to a nonstandard location using the configure
script.
WINDOW PROPERTIES
In the output from
xprop(1), there are several properties.
Properties set by X Toolkit
WM_CLASS This shows the
instance name and the X resource
class, passed to
X Toolkit during initialization of
xterm, e.g.,
WM_CLASS(STRING) = "xterm", "UXTerm"
WM_CLIENT_LEADER This shows the window-id which
xterm provides with an
environment variable (
WINDOWID), e.g.,
WM_CLIENT_LEADER(WINDOW): window id # 0x800023
WM_COMMAND This shows the command-line arguments for
xterm which are passed
to
X Toolkit during initialization, e.g.,
WM_COMMAND(STRING) = { "xterm", "-class", "UXTerm", "-title", "uxterm", "-u8" }
WM_ICON_NAME This holds the icon title, which different window managers
handle in various ways. It is set via the
iconName resource.
Applications can change this using control sequences.
WM_LOCALE_NAME This shows the result from the
setlocale(3) function for the
LC_CTYPE category, e.g.,
WM_LOCALE_NAME(STRING) = "en_US.UTF-8"
WM_NAME This holds the window title, normally at the top of
xterm's
window. It is set via the
title resource. Applications can
change this using control sequences.
Properties set by Xterm
X Toolkit does not manage EWMH properties. Xterm does this directly.
_NET_WM_ICON_NAME stores the icon name.
_NET_WM_NAME stores the title string.
_NET_WM_PID stores the process identifier for
xterm's display.
Properties used by Xterm
_NET_SUPPORTED Xterm checks this property on the
supporting window to decide if
the window manager supports specific maximizing styles. That
may include other window manager hints;
xterm uses the X library
calls to manage those.
_NET_SUPPORTING_WM_CHECK Xterm checks this to ensure that it will only update the EWMH
properties for a window manager which claims EWMH compliance.
_NET_WM_STATE This tells
xterm whether its window has been maximized by the
window manager, and if so, what type of maximizing:
_NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN _NET_WM_STATE_MAXIMIZED_HORZ _NET_WM_STATE_MAXIMIZED_VERTFILES
The actual pathnames given may differ on your system.
/etc/shells contains a list of valid shell programs, used by
xterm to decide
if the "SHELL" environment variable should be set for the
process started by
xterm.
On systems which have the
getusershell function,
xterm will use
that function rather than directly reading the file, since the
file may not be present if the system uses default settings.
/etc/utmpx the system log file, which records user logins.
/etc/wtmpx the system log file, which records user logins and logouts.
/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XTerm the
xterm default application resources.
/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XTerm-color the
xterm color application resources. If your display supports
color, use this
*customization: -color
in your .Xdefaults file to automatically use this resource file
rather than
/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XTerm. If you do not do
this,
xterm uses its compiled-in default resource settings for
colors.
/usr/share/pixmaps the directory in which
xterm's pixmap icon files are installed.
ERROR MESSAGES
Most of the fatal error messages from
xterm use the following format:
xterm: Error
XXX, errno
YYY:
ZZZ The
XXX codes (which are used by
xterm as its exit-code) are listed
below, with a brief explanation.
1 ERROR_MISC
miscellaneous errors, usually accompanied by a specific message,
11 ERROR_FIONBIO
main: ioctl() failed on FIONBIO
12 ERROR_F_GETFL
main: ioctl() failed on F_GETFL
13 ERROR_F_SETFL
main: ioctl() failed on F_SETFL
14 ERROR_OPDEVTTY
spawn: open() failed on /dev/tty
15 ERROR_TIOCGETP
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCGETP
17 ERROR_PTSNAME
spawn: ptsname() failed
18 ERROR_OPPTSNAME
spawn: open() failed on ptsname
19 ERROR_PTEM
spawn: ioctl() failed on I_PUSH/"ptem"
20 ERROR_CONSEM
spawn: ioctl() failed on I_PUSH/"consem"
21 ERROR_LDTERM
spawn: ioctl() failed on I_PUSH/"ldterm"
22 ERROR_TTCOMPAT
spawn: ioctl() failed on I_PUSH/"ttcompat"
23 ERROR_TIOCSETP
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCSETP
24 ERROR_TIOCSETC
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCSETC
25 ERROR_TIOCSETD
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCSETD
26 ERROR_TIOCSLTC
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCSLTC
27 ERROR_TIOCLSET
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCLSET
28 ERROR_INIGROUPS
spawn: initgroups() failed
29 ERROR_FORK
spawn: fork() failed
30 ERROR_EXEC
spawn: exec() failed
32 ERROR_PTYS
get_pty: not enough ptys
34 ERROR_PTY_EXEC
waiting for initial map
35 ERROR_SETUID
spawn: setuid() failed
36 ERROR_INIT
spawn: can't initialize window
46 ERROR_TIOCKSET
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCKSET
47 ERROR_TIOCKSETC
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCKSETC
49 ERROR_LUMALLOC
luit: command-line malloc failed
50 ERROR_SELECT
in_put: select() failed
54 ERROR_VINIT
VTInit: can't initialize window
57 ERROR_KMMALLOC1
HandleKeymapChange: malloc failed
60 ERROR_TSELECT
Tinput: select() failed
64 ERROR_TINIT
TekInit: can't initialize window
71 ERROR_BMALLOC2
SaltTextAway: malloc() failed
80 ERROR_LOGEXEC
StartLog: exec() failed
83 ERROR_XERROR
xerror: XError event
84 ERROR_XIOERROR
xioerror: X I/O error
85 ERROR_ICEERROR
ICE I/O error
90 ERROR_SCALLOC
Alloc: calloc() failed on base
91 ERROR_SCALLOC2
Alloc: calloc() failed on rows
102 ERROR_SAVE_PTR
ScrnPointers: malloc/realloc() failed
BUGS
Large pastes do not work on some systems. This is not a bug in
xterm; it is a bug in the pseudo terminal driver of those systems.
Xterm feeds large pastes to the pty only as fast as the pty will
accept data, but some pty drivers do not return enough information to
know if the write has succeeded.
When connected to an input method, it is possible for
xterm to hang
if the XIM server is suspended or killed.
Many of the options are not resettable after
xterm starts.
This program still needs to be rewritten. It should be split into
very modular sections, with the various emulators being completely
separate widgets that do not know about each other. Ideally, you'd
like to be able to pick and choose emulator widgets and stick them
into a single control widget.
There needs to be a dialog box to allow entry of the Tek COPY file
name.
AUTHORS
Far too many people.
These contributed to the X Consortium: Loretta Guarino Reid (DEC-UEG-
WSL), Joel McCormack (DEC-UEG-WSL), Terry Weissman (DEC-UEG-WSL),
Edward Moy (Berkeley), Ralph R. Swick (MIT-Athena), Mark Vandevoorde
(MIT-Athena), Bob McNamara (DEC-MAD), Jim Gettys (MIT-Athena), Bob
Scheifler (MIT X Consortium), Doug Mink (SAO), Steve Pitschke
(Stellar), Ron Newman (MIT-Athena), Jim Fulton (MIT X Consortium),
Dave Serisky (HP), Jonathan Kamens (MIT-Athena).
Beginning with XFree86, there were far more identifiable
contributors. The
THANKS file in
xterm's source lists 243 in June
2022. Keep in mind these: Jason Bacon, Jens Schweikhardt, Ross
Combs, Stephen P. Wall, David Wexelblat, and Thomas Dickey
(invisible-island.net).
SEE ALSO
resize(1),
luit(1),
uxterm(1), X(1),
Xcursor(1),
pty(4),
tty(4) Xterm Control Sequences (this is the file ctlseqs.ms).
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.html
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/manpage/xterm.html
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/ctlseqs/ctlseqs.html
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.faq.html
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.log.html
X Toolkit Intrinsics - C Language Interface (Xt),
Joel McCormack, Paul Asente, Ralph R. Swick (1994),
Thomas E. Dickey (2019).
Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual (ICCCM),
David Rosenthal and Stuart W. Marks (version 2.0, 1994).
Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH),
X Desktop Group (version 1.3, 2005).
EWMH uses
UTF8_STRING pervasively without defining it, but does
mention the ICCCM. Version 2.0 of the ICCCM does not address UTF-8.
That is an extension added in XFree86.
+o Markus Kuhn summarized this in
UTF-8 and Unicode FAQ for Unix/Linux (2001), in the section "Is X11 ready for Unicode?"
https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html
+o Juliusz Chroboczek proposed the UTF8_STRING selection atom in
1999/2000, which became part of the ICCCM in XFree86.
https://www.irif.fr/~jch/software/UTF8_STRING/
An Xorg developer removed that part of the documentation in 2004
when incorporating other work from XFree86 into Xorg. The
feature is still supported in Xorg, though undocumented as of
2019.
Patch #397 2025-01-05 XTERM(1)
