XTERM(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual XTERM(1)
NAME
xterm - terminal emulator for X
SYNOPSIS
xterm [-toolkitoption ...] [-option ...]
DESCRIPTION
The xterm program is a terminal emulator for the X Window
System. It provides DEC VT102/VT220 (VTxxx) and Tektronix
4014 compatible terminals 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 VTxxx 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 res-
tricted 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
VTxxx window, and the ``Tek Options'' menu in the 4014 win-
dow.
EMULATIONS
The VT102 emulation is fairly complete, but does not support
autorepeat. Double-size characters are displayed properly if
your font server supports scalable fonts. The VT220 emula-
tion does not support soft fonts, it is otherwise complete.
Termcap(5) entries that work with xterm include an optional
platform-specific entry, ``xterm,'' ``vt102,'' ``vt100'' and
``ansi,'' and ``dumb.'' xterm automatically searches the
termcap file in this order for these entries and then sets
the ``TERM'' and the ``TERMCAP'' environment variables. You
may also use ``vt220,'' but must set the terminal emulation
level with the decTerminalID resource. (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 VT102 escape sequences. (See the Xterm
Control Sequences document.)
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The Tektronix 4014 emulation is also fairly good. It sup-
ports 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 sup-
port. 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 ``COPYyyyy-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 neces-
sarily available in this version of xterm. Some (e.g., the
non-VT220 extensions) are available only if they were com-
piled 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 win-
dow is the focus window, then the text cursor is highlighted
no matter where the pointer is.
In VT102 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
termcap(5) entry 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 VT102 or Tektronix mode, there are escape
sequences to change the name of the windows. Additionally,
in VT102 mode, xterm implements the window-manipulation con-
trol 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
The xterm terminal emulator accepts all of the standard X
Toolkit command line options as well as the following. If
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the option begins with a `+' instead of a `-', the option is
restored to its default value. The -version and -help
options are interpreted even if xterm cannot open the
display, and are useful for testing and configuration
scripts:
-version
This causes xterm to print a version number to the
standard output.
-help This causes xterm to print out a verbose message
describing its options. The message is written to
the standard error.
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 cur-
sor 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. This allows the cursor to automatically
wrap to the beginning of the next line when 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.
-b number
This option specifies the size of the inner border
(the distance between the outer edge of the
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characters and the window border) in pixels. The
default is 2.
+bc turn off text cursor blinking. This overrides the
cursorBlink resource.
-bc turn on text cursor blinking. This overrides the
cursorBlink resource.
-bcf milliseconds
time text cursor is off when blinking
-bcn milliseconds
time text cursor is on when blinking
-bdc Set the vt100 resource colorBDMode to FALSE, disa-
bling 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 the section speci-
fying character classes.
-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. Othr-
wise, they have a column width of 1. This may be
useful for some legacy CJK text terminal-based pro-
grams assuming box drawings and others to have a
column width of 2. It also has to 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
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selected resources.
-cm This option disables recognition of ANSI color-
change escape sequences.
+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.
+cn This option indicates that newlines should be cut in
line-mode selections.
-cr color
This option specifies the color to use for text cur-
sor. The default is to use the same foreground color
that is used for text.
-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 emu-
lator foreground and background colors, its text
cursor color and highlight color.
+dc This option enables the escape sequence to change
dynamic colors.
-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. This must be
the last option on the command line.
-en encoding
This option determines the encoding on which xterm
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runs. It corresponds to the locale resource. Encod-
ings other than UTF-8 are supported by using luit.
The -lc option should be used instead of -en for
systems with locale support.
-fb font
This option specifies a font to be used when
displaying bold text. This font must be the same
height and width as the normal font. 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. The default is
to do overstriking of the normal font. See also the
discussion of boldFont and boldMode resources.
-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.
-fbb This option indicates that xterm should compare nor-
mal and bold fonts bounding boxes to ensure they are
compatible.
+fbb This option indicates that xterm should not compare
normal and bold fonts bounding boxes to ensure they
are compatible.
-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.
+fbx This option indicates that xterm should assume that
the normal and bold fonts have VT100 line-drawing
characters.
-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 dis-
cussion of the iconFont resource.
-fs size
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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.
-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 doublewidth 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 doublewidth
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
This option specifies the color to use for the back-
ground of selected or otherwise highlighted text. If
not specified, reverse video is used.
-hf This option indicates that HP Function Key escape
codes should be generated for function keys.
+hf This option indicates that HP Function Key escape
codes should not be generated for function keys.
-hold Turn on the hold resource, i.e., xterm will not
immediately destroy its window when the shell com-
mand completes. It will wait until you use the win-
dow 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 immedi-
ately destroy its window when the shell command com-
pletes.
-ie Turn on the ptyInitialErase resource, i.e., use the
pseudo-terminal's sense of the stty erase value.
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+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.
+im Turn off the useInsertMode resource.
-into windowId
Given an X window identifier (a decimal integer),
xterm will reparent its top-level shell widget to
that window. This is used to embed xterm within
other applications.
-j This option indicates that xterm should do jump
scrolling. 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 ena-
bling 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.
-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.
-l Turn logging on. Normally logging is not supported,
due to security concerns. Some versions of xterm may
have logging enabled. The logfile is written to the
directory from which xterm is invoked. The filename
is generated, 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
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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 locale-
Filter 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. 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, indicat-
ing 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 ~/.pro-
file might interfere with that.
If you do want the effect of -ls and -a simultane-
ously, you may get away with something like
xterm -e /bin/bash -l -c "my command here"
Finally, -ls is not completely ignored, because
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xterm -ls -e does write a /etc/wtmp entry (if con-
figured 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 nor-
mal ``subshell'').
-mb This option indicates that xterm should ring a mar-
gin bell when the user types near the right end of a
line. This option can be turned on and off from the
``VT Options'' menu.
+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.
-ms color
This option specifies the color to be used for the
pointer cursor. The default is to use the foreground
color.
-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.
-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.
-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.
-rightbar
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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 asyn-
chronously, 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 syn-
chronously.
-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.
-sf This option indicates that Sun Function Key escape
codes should be generated for function keys.
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+sf This option indicates that the standard escape codes
should be generated for function keys.
-si This option indicates that output to a window should
not automatically reposition the screen to the bot-
tom 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 automati-
cally 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 64.
-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 VT102 mode. Switching
between the two windows is done using the
``Options'' menus. Termcap(5) entries that work with
xterm ``tek4014,'' ``tek4015,'' ``tek4012'',
``tek4013'' and ``tek4010,'' and ``dumb.'' xterm
automatically searches the termcap file in this
order for these entries and then sets the ``TERM''
and the ``TERMCAP'' environment variables.
+t This option indicates that xterm should start in
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VT102 mode.
-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, and vt220 (the
"vt" is optional). The default is vt100. 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 pro-
gram. 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 it on and off,
use the wideChars resource.
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.
-ulc This option disables the display of characters with
underline attribute as color rather than with under-
lining.
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+ulc This option enables the display of characters with
underline attribute as color rather than with under-
lining.
-ut This option indicates that xterm should not write a
record into the the system utmp log file.
+ut This option indicates that xterm should write a
record into the system utmp log file.
-vb This option indicates that a visual bell is pre-
ferred 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 struc-
tures for 16-bit characters. If you do not set this
resource to ``true'', xterm will ignore the escape
sequence which turns UTF-8 mode on and off. 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 subse-
quent terminal size changes.
+wf This option indicates that xterm show 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, show-
ing 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
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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 some-
times 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 charac-
ters are used from the option for the pseudo-
terminal name, the remainder is the file descriptor.
Examples:
-S123/45
-Sab34
Note that xterm does not close any file descriptor
which it did not open for its own use. It is possi-
ble (though probably not portable) to have an appli-
cation which passes an open file descriptor down to
xterm past the initialization or the -S option to a
process running in the xterm.
The following command line arguments are provided for compa-
tibility 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 posi-
tion 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 win-
dows. It is shorthand for specifying the ``*icon-
Name'' resource. Note that this is not the same as
the toolkit option -name (see below). The default
icon name is the application name.
-r This option indicates that reverse video should be
simulated by swapping the foreground and background
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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.
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 default is ``black.''
-bg color
This option specifies the color to use for the back-
ground of the window. The default is ``white.''
-bw number
This option specifies the width in pixels of the
border surrounding the window.
-display display
This option specifies the X server to contact; see
X(7).
-fg color
This option specifies the color to use for display-
ing text. The default is ``black.''
-fn font
This option specifies the font to be used for
displaying normal text. The default is fixed.
-font font
This is the same as -fn.
-geometry geometry
This option specifies the preferred size and posi-
tion of the VT102 window; see X(7).
-iconic This option indicates that xterm should ask the win-
dow manager to start it as an icon rather than as
the normal window.
-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 con-
tain ``.'' or ``*'' characters.
-rv This option indicates that reverse video should be
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simulated by swapping the foreground and background
colors.
+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. The default title is the command line
specified after the -e option, if any, otherwise the
application name.
-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.
RESOURCES
The program understands all of the core X Toolkit resource
names and classes. Application specific resources (e.g.,
"XTerm.NAME") follow:
backarrowKeyIsErase (class BackarrowKeyIsErase)
Tie the VTxxx backarrowKey and ptyInitialErase
resources together by setting the DECBKM state
according to whether the initial value of stty erase
is a backspace (8) or delete (127) character. The
default is ``false'', which disables this feature.
hold (class Hold)
If true, xterm will not immediately destroy its win-
dow 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 opera-
tions. 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 instead
of standard escape sequences.
iconGeometry (class IconGeometry)
Specifies the preferred size and position of the
application when iconified. It is not necessarily
obeyed by all window managers.
iconName (class IconName)
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Specifies the icon name. The default is the applica-
tion name.
messages (class Messages)
Specifies whether write access to the terminal is
allowed initially. See mesg(1). The default is
``true''.
ptyHandshake (classPtyHandshake)
If ``true'', xterm will perform handshaking during
initialization to ensure that the parent and child
processes update the utmp and stty state. Platforms
with newer pseudo-terminal interfaces do not require
this feature; normally it is not configured. 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 con-
figuration, 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. 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''.
scoFunctionKeys (class ScoFunctionKeys)
Specifies whether or not SCP Function Key escape
codes should be generated for function keys instead
of standard escape sequences.
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 instead
of standard escape sequences.
sunKeyboard (class SunKeyboard)
Specifies whether or not Sun/PC keyboard layout
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should be assumed rather than DEC VT220. This causes
the keypad `+' to be mapped to `,'. and CTRL F1-F12
to F11-F20, depending on the setting of the
ctrlFKeys resource. so xterm emulates a DEC VT220
more accurately. Otherwise (the default, with sun-
Keyboard 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 the document Xterm Control Sequences for
details). The PC-style bindings are analogous to
PCTerm, but not the same thing. Normally these bind-
ings 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.
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.
ttyModes (class TtyModes)
Specifies a string containing terminal setting key-
words and the characters to which they may be bound.
Allowable keywords include: brk, dsusp, eof, eol,
eol2, erase, erase2, flush, intr, kill, lnext, quit,
rprnt, start, status, stop, susp, swtch and weras.
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 ter-
minal settings without having to do an stty every
time an xterm is started. Note, however, that the
stty program on a given host may use different key-
words; xterm's table is built-in.
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. The default
is ``false.''
utmpDisplayId (class UtmpDisplayId)
Specifies whether or not xterm should try to record
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the display identifier (display number and screen
number) as well as the hostname in the system utmp
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 utmp log file. If
true, xterm will not try. The default is ``false.''
waitForMap (class WaitForMap)
Specifies whether or not xterm should wait for the
initial window map before starting the subprocess.
The default is ``false.''
zIconBeep (class ZIconBeep)
Same as -ziconbeep command line argument. If the
value of this resource is non-zero, xterms that pro-
duce 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.''
The following resources are specified as part of the vt100
widget (class VT100): These are specified by patterns such
as "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 win-
dow 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 ``false.''
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.''
allowFontOps (class AllowFontOps)
Specifies whether control sequences that set/query
the font should be allowed. The default is
``false.''
allowSendEvents (class AllowSendEvents)
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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 creates a very large
security hole. The default is ``false.''
allowWindowOps (class AllowWindowOps)
Specifies whether extended window control sequences
(as used in dtterm) for should be allowed. The
default is ``false.''
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 win-
dow 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. 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 appli-
cation 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 appli-
cation mode. The default is ``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 the xterm uses a 50 mil-
lisecond timeout to await input (i.e., to support
the Xaw3d arrow scrollbar). The default is
``false.''
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backarrowKey (class BackarrowKey)
Specifies whether the backarrow key transmits a
backspace (8) or delete (127) character. This
corresponds to the DECBKM control sequence. The
default (backspace) is ``true.'' Pressing the con-
trol key toggles this behavior.
background (class Background)
Specifies the color to use for the background of the
window. The default is ``white.''
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 com-
pleted; 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.
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 attri-
bute. Note that xterm has one bold font which you
may set explicitly. It attempts to match a bold font
for the other font selections (font1 through font6).
If the normal and bold fonts are distinct, this
resource has no effect. The default is ``true.''
Although xterm attempts to match 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
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font that xterm requests, but the result is not
always readable. XFree86 provides a feature which
can be used to suppress the scaling. In the X
server's configuration file (e.g.,
"/etc/X11/XFree86"), 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 ":uns-
caled" can be added to its configuration file at the
end of the directory specification for "misc".
brokenLinuxOSC (class BrokenLinuxOSC)
If true, xterm applies a workaround to ignore mal-
formed control sequences that a Linux script might
send. Compare the palette control sequences docu-
mented 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 complet-
ing it. Set this to ``true'' if xterm appears to
freeze when connecting. The default is ``false.''
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)
Specifies the maximum number of double-sized fonts
which are cached by xterm. The default (8) may be
too large for some X terminals with limited memory.
Set this to zero to disable doublesize fonts alto-
gether.
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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.
cjkWidth (class CjkWidth)
Specifies whether xterm should follow the tradi-
tional 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.
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 ver-
sions.
color8 (class Color8)
color9 (class Color9)
color10 (class Color10)
color11 (class Color11)
color12 (class Color12)
color13 (class Color13)
color14 (class Color14)
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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, gray30, red,
green, yellow, a customizable light blue, magenta,
cyan, and white.
color16 (class Color16)
through
color255 (class Color255)
These specify the colors for the 256-color exten-
sion. The default resource values are for colors 16
through 231 to make a 6x6x6 color cube, and colors
232 through 255 to make a grayscale ramp.
colorAttrMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether ``colorBD'', ``colorBL'',
``colorUL'', and ``colorRV'' 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.''
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.''
colorBLMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the blink attri-
bute should be displayed in color. Note that setting
colorMode off disables all colors, including this.
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)
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This specifies the color to use to display reverse
characters if the ``colorRVMode'' resource is
enabled. The default is ``XtDefaultForeground.''
colorRVMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the reverse attri-
bute 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 under-
lined characters if the ``colorULMode'' resource is
enabled. The default is ``XtDefaultForeground.''
colorULMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the underline
attribute should be displayed in color or as under-
lined characters. Note that setting colorMode off
disables all colors, including underlining. The
default is ``false.''
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 gen-
erate key symbols for F10-F20 on a Sun/PC keyboard.
The default is ``10'', which means that CTRL F1 gen-
erates 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.''
cursorBlink (class CursorBlink)
Specifies whether to make the cursor blink. The
default is ``false.''
cursorColor (class CursorColor)
Specifies the color to use for the text cursor. The
default is ``black.''
cursorOffTime (class CursorOffTime)
Specifies the duration of the "off" part of the cur-
sor 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 cur-
sor blink cycle-time, in milliseconds. The same
timer is used for text blinking. The default is 600.
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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.''
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 100.
deleteIsDEL (class DeleteIsDEL)
Specifies whether the Delete key on the editing
keypad should send DEL (127) or the VT220-style
Remove escape sequence. The default is ``false,''
for the latter.
dynamicColors (class DynamicColors)
Specifies whether or not escape sequences to change
colors assigned to different attributes are recog-
nized.
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 character combined
with the keys modifier key) input from the keyboard
are presented as a single character with the eighth
bit turned on. The terminal is put into 8-bit mode.
If ``false'', Meta characters are converted into a
two-character sequence with the character itself
preceded by ESC. The terminal is put into 7-bit
mode. The metaSendsEscape resource may override
this. The default is ``true.''
Note that the Alt key is not necessarily the same as
the Meta modifier. xmodmap lists your key modifiers.
X defines modifiers for shift, (caps) lock and con-
trol, as well as 5 additional modifiers which are
generally used to configure key modifiers. xterm
inspects the same information to find the modifier
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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.
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.
faceName (class FaceName)
Specify the pattern for fonts selected from the
FreeType library if support for that library was
compiled into xterm. There is no default. If not
specified, or if there is no match for both normal
and bold fonts, xterm uses the font and related
resources.
faceNameDoublesize (class FaceNameDoublesize)
Specify an double-width font for cases where an
application requires this, e.g., in CJK applica-
tions. There is no default. 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 ``14.''
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
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and
xterm.vt100..utf8fonts.font
which is probably not what you intended.
font1 (class Font1)
Specifies the name of the first alternative font.
font2 (class Font2)
Specifies the name of the second alternative font.
font3 (class Font3)
Specifies the name of the third alternative font.
font4 (class Font4)
Specifies the name of the fourth alternative font.
font5 (class Font5)
Specifies the name of the fifth alternative font.
font6 (class Font6)
Specifies the name of the sixth alternative font.
fontDoublesize (class FontDoublesize)
Specifies whether xterm should attempt to use font
scaling to draw doublesize characters. Some older
font servers cannot do this properly, will return
misleading font metrics. The default is ``true''. If
disabled, xterm will simulate doublesize characters
by drawing normal characters with spaces between
them.
forceBoxChars (class ForceBoxChars)
Specifies whether xterm should assume the normal and
bold fonts have VT100 line-drawing characters. The
fixed-pitch 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. If ``false'', xterm will check for
missing glyphs in cells 1-31 and make line-drawing
characters directly. If ``true'', xterm uses what-
ever is in cells 1-31 without checking. The default
is ``false.''
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 ``black.''
freeBoldBox (class freeBoldBox)
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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
VT102 window. There is no default for this resource.
highlightColor (class HighlightColor)
Specifies the color to use for the background of
selected or otherwise highlighted text. If not
specified, reverse video is used. The default is
``XtDefaultForeground.''
highlightSelection (class HighlightSelection)
If ``false'', selecting with the mouse highlights
all positions on the screen between the beginning of
the selection and the current position. 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 trimSelec-
tion resource.
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 never 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 win-
dow if this feature is compiled into xterm. Not all
window managers will make the icon border visible.
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iconBorderWidth (class BorderWidth)
Specifies the border width for the active icon win-
dow if this feature is compiled into xterm. The
default is 0 (no border). 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".
internalBorder (class BorderWidth)
Specifies the number of pixels between the charac-
ters and the window border. The default is 2.
jumpScroll (class JumpScroll)
Specifies whether or not jump scroll should be used.
This corresponds to the VT102 DECSCLM private mode.
The default is ``true.''
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.
nameKeymap (class NameKeymap)
See the discussion of the keymap() action.
limitResize (class LimitResize)
Limits resizing of the screen via control sequence
to a given multiple of the display dimensions. The
default is ``1''.
locale (class Locale)
Specifies how to use luit, 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
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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 confi-
guration 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.
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.
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.''
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metaSendsEscape (class MetaSendsEscape)
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. If ``false'', Meta
characters input from the keyboard are handled
according to the eightBitInput resource. The default
is ``false.''
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. Set it to 0 to use the old/obsolete
behavior. Set it to 1 to prefix modified sequences
with CSI. Set it to 2 to force the modifier to be
the second parameter. Set it to 3 to mark the
sequence with a '>' to hint that it is private. The
default is ``2''.
multiClickTime (class MultiClickTime)
Specifies the maximum time in milliseconds between
multi-click select events. The default is 250 mil-
liseconds.
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.
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 control
sequences for function keys F1 to F4, for compati-
bility with X Consortium xterm. Otherwise, it uses
the VT100-style codes for PF1 to PF4. The default is
``false.''
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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.''
pointerShape (class Cursor)
Specifies the name of the shape of the pointer. The
default is ``xterm.''
popOnBell (class PopOnBell)
Specifies whether the window whould be raised when
Control-G is received. The default is ``false.''
printAttributes (class PrintAttributes)
Specifies whether to print graphic attributes along
with the text. A real DEC VTxxx terminal will print
the underline, highlighting codes but your printer
may not handle these. A ``0'' disables the attri-
butes. A ``1'' prints the normal set of attributes
(bold, underline, inverse and blink) as VT100-style
control sequences. A ``2'' prints ANSI color attri-
butes as well. The default is ``1.''
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 ini-
tiated. The default is ``lpr.'' If the resource
value is given as a blank 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 you move the cursor off that
line with a line feed, form feed or vertical tab
character, or 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 the portion
within the scrolling margins (false). The default is
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``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.''
renderFont (class RenderFont)
If xterm is built with the Xft library, this con-
trols whether the faceName resource is used. The
default is ``true.''
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 R4. 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.
reverseVideo (class ReverseVideo)
Specifies whether or not reverse video should be
simulated. The default is ``false.''
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 64.
scrollBar (class ScrollBar)
Specifies whether or not the scrollbar should be
displayed. The default is ``false.''
scrollKey (class ScrollCond)
Specifies whether or not pressing a key should
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automatically cause the scrollbar to go to the bot-
tom 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.''
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 ``false.''
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.''
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
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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 termcap entry, 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. The default
for this resource is ``false.''
titeInhibit (class TiteInhibit)
Specifies 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. If set, xterm also ignores
the escape sequence to switch to the alternate
screen. 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.''
translations (class Translations)
Specifies the key and button bindings for menus,
selections, ``programmed strings,'' etc. The trans-
lations 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 trail-
ing 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 new-
line from your selection. The default is ``false.''
underLine (class UnderLine)
This specifies whether or not text with the
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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.''
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 is
an integer, expected to range from 0 to 3:
0 UTF-8 mode is initially off. Escape sequences
for turning UTF-8 mode on/off are allowed.
1 UTF-8 mode is initially on. Escape sequences
for turning UTF-8 mode on/off are allowed.
2 The command-line option -u8 sets the resource
to this value. Escape sequences for turning
UTF-8 mode on/off are ignored.
3 This is the default value of the resource. It
is changed during initialization depending on
whether the locale resource was set, to 0 or 2.
See the locale resource for additional discus-
sion 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 a ``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.
veryBoldColors (class VeryBoldColors)
Specifies whether to combine video attributes with
colors specified by colorBD, colorBL and colorUL.
The resource value is the sum of values for each
attribute: 2 for underline, 4 for bold and 8 for
blink. 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.''
visualBellDelay (class VisualBellDelay)
Number of milliseconds to delay when displaying a
visual bell. Default is 100. If set to zero, no
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visual bell is displayed. This is useful for very
slow displays, e.g., an LCD display on a laptop.
vt100Graphics (class VT100Graphics)
This specifies whether xterm will interpret VT100
graphic character escape sequences while in UTF-8
mode. 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 doublewidth
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 doublewidth font is
found, it will improvise, by stretching the normal
font.
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.
The following resources are specified as part of the tek4014
widget (class Tek4014). These are specified by patterns such
as "XTerm.tek4014.NAME":
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font2 (class Font)
Specifies font number 2 to use in the Tektronix win-
dow.
font3 (class Font)
Specifies font number 3 to use in the Tektronix win-
dow.
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 pix-
els.
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 pix-
els.
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.
The 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)
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action.
redraw (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the redraw() action.
logging (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the logging(toggle) action.
print (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the print() action.
print-redir (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the print-redir() 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.
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 old-function-keys(toggle)
action.
hpFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the hp-function-keys(toggle)
action.
scoFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the sco-function-keys(toggle)
action.
sunFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the 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
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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 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)
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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.
visualbell (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-visualbell(toggle)
action.
poponbell (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-poponbell(toggle) action.
marginbell (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-marginbell(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.
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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.
The fontMenu has the following entries:
fontdefault (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(d) action.
font1 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(1) action.
font2 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(2) action.
font3 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(3) action.
font4 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(4) action.
font5 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(5) action.
font6 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(6) action.
fontescape (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(e) action.
fontsel (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(s) action.
font-linedrawing (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-font-linedrawing(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-mode (class SmeBSB)
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This entry invokes the set-utf8-mode(s) action.
The tekMenu has the following entries:
tektextlarge (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-tek-text(l) 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(s) 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.
The following resources are useful when specified for the
Athena Scrollbar widget:
thickness (class Thickness)
Specifies the width in pixels of the scrollbar.
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. The ``thumb'' of the scrollbar is a sim-
ple checkerboard pattern alternating pixels for
foreground and background color.
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POINTER USAGE
Once the VT102 window is created, xterm allows you to select
text and copy it within the same or other windows.
The selection functions are invoked when the pointer buttons
are used with no modifiers, and when they are used with the
``shift'' key. 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. 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 PRIMARY selection when the button is released.
Double-clicking selects by words. Triple-clicking selects by
lines. 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 PRIMARY selection, if any, otherwise from the
cut buffer, inserting it as keyboard input.
Pointer button three (usually right) extends the current
selection. (Without loss of generality, you can swap
``right'' and ``left'' everywhere in the rest of this para-
graph.) 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 dif-
ferent applications, you may regard each as a `file' whose
contents you know. The terminal emulator and other text
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programs should be treating it as if it were a text file,
i.e., the text is delimited by new lines.
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 win-
dow 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.
Unlike the VT102 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', respec-
tively. 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).
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; select-
ing 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.
The xterm mainMenu pops up when the ``control'' key and
pointer button one are pressed in a window. This menu con-
tains items that apply to both the VT102 and Tektronix win-
dows. There are several sections:
Commands for managing X events:
Secure Keyboard (securekbd)
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The Secure Keyboard mode is helpful when typing in
passwords or other sensitive data in an unsecure
environment; see SECURITY below (but read the lim-
itations carefully).
Allow SendEvents (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 (redraw)
Forces the X display to repaint; useful in some
environments.
Commands for capturing output:
Log to File (logging)
Captures text sent to the screen in a logfile, as
in the -l logging option.
Print Window (print)
Sends the text of the current window to the pro-
gram given in the printerCommand resource.
Redirect to Printer (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.
Modes for setting keyboard style:
8-Bit Controls (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 the document Xterm Control Sequences). This
corresponds to the eightBitControl resource.
Backarrow Key (BS/DEL) (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 (num-lock)
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Controls the treatment of Alt- and NumLock-key
modifiers. This corresponds to the numLock
resource.
Meta Sends Escape (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 (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 (oldFunctionKeys)
HP Function-Keys (hpFunctionKeys)
SCO Function-Keys (scoFunctionKeys)
Sun Function-Keys (sunFunctionKeys)
VT220 Keyboard (sunKeyboard)
These act as a radio-button, selecting one style
for the keyboard layout. It corresponds to more
than one resource setting: sunKeyboard, sunFunc-
tionKeys, scoFunctionKeys and hpFunctionKeys .
Commands for process signalling:
Send STOP Signal (suspend)
Send CONT Signal (continue)
Send INT Signal (interrupt)
Send HUP Signal (hangup)
Send TERM Signal (terminate)
Send KILL Signal (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 espe-
cially useful if the user has accidentally typed
CTRL-Z, suspending the process.
Quit (quit)
Stop processing X events except to support the
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-hold option, and then send a SIGHUP signal to the
the process group of the process running under
xterm (usually the shell).
The vtMenu sets various modes in the VT102 emulation, and is
popped up when the ``control'' key and pointer button two
are pressed in the VT102 window.
VT102/VT220 Modes:
Enable Scrollbar (scrollbar)
Enable (or disable) the scrollbar. This
corresponds to the -sb option and the scrollBar
resource.
Enable Jump Scroll (jumpscroll)
Enable (or disable) jump scrolling. This
corresponds to the -j option and the jumpScroll
resource.
Enable Reverse Video (reversevideo)
Enable (or disable) reverse-video. This
corresponds to the -rv option and the reverseVideo
resource.
Enable Auto Wraparound (autowrap)
Enable (or disable) auto-wraparound. This
corresponds to the -aw option and the autoWrap
resource.
Enable Reverse Wraparound (reversewrap)
Enable (or disable) reverse wraparound. This
corresponds to the -rw option and the reverseWrap
resource.
Enable Auto Linefeed (autolinefeed)
Enable (or disable) auto-linefeed. This is the
VT102 NEL function, which causes the emulator to
emit a linefeed after each carriage return. There
is no corresponding command-line option or
resource setting.
Enable Application Cursor Keys (appcursor)
Enable (or disable) application cursor keys. This
corresponds to the appcursorDefault resource.
There is no corresponding command-line option.
Enable Application Keypad (appkeypad)
Enable (or disable) application keypad keys. This
corresponds to the appkeypadDefault resource.
There is no corresponding command-line option.
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Scroll to Bottom on Key Press (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.
Scroll to Bottom on Tty Output (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 scrollT-
tyOutput resource.
Allow 80/132 Column Switching (allow132)
Enable (or disable) switching between 80 and 132
columns. This corresponds to the -132 option and
the c132 resource.
Enable Curses Emulation (cursesemul)
Enable (or disable) a workaround for the so-called
"curses bug". This corresponds to the -cu option
and the curses resource.
Enable Visual Bell (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 Pop on Bell (poponbell)
Enable (or disable) raising of the window when
Control-G is received. This corresponds to the -
pop option and the popOnBell resource.
Enable Margin Bell (marginbell)
Enable (or disable) a bell when the user types
near the right margin. This corresponds to the -mb
option and the marginBell resource.
Enable Blinking Cursor (cursorblink)
Enable (or disable) the blinking-cursor feature.
This corresponds to the -bc option and the cursor-
Blink resource. There is also an escape sequence
(see the document Xterm Control Sequences). The
menu entry and the escape sequence states are
XOR'd: if both are enabled, the cursor will not
blink, if only one is enabled, the cursor will
blink.
Enable Alternate Screen Switching (titeInhibit)
Enable (or disable) switching between the normal
and alternate screens. This corresponds to the
titeInhibit resource. There is no corresponding
command-line option.
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Enable Active Icon (activeicon)
Enable (or disable) the active-icon feature. This
corresponds to the -ai option and the activeIcon
resource.
VT102/VT220 Commands:
Do Soft Reset (softreset)
Reset scroll regions. This can be convenient when
some program has left the scroll regions set
incorrectly (often a problem when using VMS or
TOPS-20). This corresponds to the VT220 DECSTR
control sequence.
Do Full Reset (hardreset)
The full reset entry will clear the screen, reset
tabs to every eight columns, and reset the termi-
nal modes (such as wrap and smooth scroll) to
their initial states just after xterm has finished
processing the command line options. 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.
Reset and Clear Saved Lines (clearsavedlines)
Perform a full reset, and also clear the saved
lines.
Commands for setting the current screen:
Show Tek Window (tekshow)
When enabled, pops the Tektronix 4014 window up
(makes it visible). When disabled, hides the Tek-
tronix 4014 window.
Switch to Tek Mode (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 VTxxx window.
Hide VT Window (vthide)
When enabled, hides the VTxxx window, shows the
Tektronix 4014 window if it was not already visi-
ble and switches the input stream to that window.
When disabled, shows the VTxxx window, and
switches the input stream to that window.
Show Alternate Screen (altscreen)
When enabled, shows the alternate screen. When
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disabled, shows the normal screen. Note that the
normal screen may have saved lines; the alternate
screen does not.
The fontMenu sets the font used in the VT102 window, or
modifies the way the font is specified or displayed. There
are three sections.
The first section allows you to select the font from a set
of alternatives:
Default (fontdefault)
Set the font to the default, i.e., that given by
the *VT100.font resource.
Unreadable (font1)
Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font1
resource.
Tiny (font2)
Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font2
resource.
Small (font3)
Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font3
resource.
Medium (font4)
Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font4
resource.
Large (font5)
Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font5
resource.
Huge (font6)
Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font6
resource.
Escape Sequence
This allows you to set the font last specified by
the Set Font escape sequence (see the document
Xterm Control Sequences).
Selection (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:
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Line-Drawing Characters (font-linedrawing)
When set, tells xterm to draw its own line-drawing
characters. Otherwise it relies on the font con-
taining these.
Doublesized Characters (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 speci-
fied:
TrueType Fonts (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 (utf8-mode)
This controls whether xterm uses UTF-8 encoding of
input/output. It is useful for temporarily switch-
ing xterm to display text from an application
which does not follow the locale settings.
The 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 (tektextlarge)
#2 Size Characters (tektext2)
#3 Size Characters (tektext3)
Small Characters (tektextsmall)
Commands:
PAGE (tekpage)
Clear the Tektronix window.
RESET (tekreset)
COPY (tekcopy)
Windows:
Show VT Window (vtshow)
Switch to VT Mode (vtmode)
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Hide Tek Window (tekhide)
SECURITY
X environments differ in their security consciousness. 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. 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.
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. Given 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 key-
board input is directed only to xterm (using the GrabKey-
board 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. This ensures that you
know which window is accepting your keystrokes. 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 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 run-
ning 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
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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 mouse button twice in rapid succession
will cause all characters of the same class (e.g., letters,
white space, punctuation) to be selected. 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 of range:value
pairs. 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. The value is arbitrary,
although 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 bytes 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 */
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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'' indi-
cates 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.
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ACTIONS
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. The following actions are provided for use within
the vt100 or tek4014 translations resources:
allow-send-events(on/off/toggle)
This action set or toggles the allowSendEvents
resource and is also invoked by the allowsends entry
in mainMenu.
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() (see below) 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.
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. By
default bound to Meta /. Repeating dabbrev-expand()
several times in sequence searches for an alterna-
tive expansion by looking farther back. Lack of more
matches is signaled by a beep(). Attempts to expand
an empty word (i.e., when cursor is preceded by a
space) yield successively all previous words. Con-
secutive 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 (also bound there to M-/).
deiconify()
Changes the window state back to normal, if it was
iconified.
delete-is-del()
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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+' '>
iconify()
Iconifies the window.
hard-reset()
This action resets the scrolling region, tabs, win-
dow size, and cursor keys and clears the screen. It
is also invoked from the hardreset entry in vtMenu.
ignore()
This action ignores the event but checks for special
pointer position escape sequences.
insert()
This action inserts the character or string associ-
ated 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. The exact action depends on the value
of the metaSendsEscape and the eightBitInput
resources.
insert-selection(sourcename [, ...])
This action inserts the string found in the selec-
tion 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()
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 charac-
ter (i.e., "\000") in the string.
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keymap(name)
This action dynamically defines a new translation
table whose resource name is name with the suffix
Keymap (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: 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.
popup-menu(menuname)
This action displays the specified popup menu. Valid
names (case is significant) include: mainMenu,
vtMenu, fontMenu, and tekMenu.
print() This action prints the window and is also invoked by
the print entry in mainMenu.
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 main-
Menu.
redraw()
This action redraws the window and is also invoked
by the redraw entry in mainMenu.
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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.
An adjustment can be specified for these values by
appending a "+" or "-" sign followed by a number,
e.g., page-2 to specify 2 lines less than a page.
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.
secure()
This action toggles the Secure Keyboard mode
described in the section named 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-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.
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.
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select-start()
This action begins text selection at the current
pointer location. See the section on POINTER USAGE
for information on making selections.
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) and is also invoked
by the suspend, continue, interrupt, hangup, ter-
minate, and kill entries in mainMenu. Allowable sig-
nal 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-allow132(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the c132 resource and is also
invoked from the allow132 entry in vtMenu.
set-altscreen(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles between the alternate and
current screens.
set-appcursor(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the handling Application Cursor
Key mode and is also invoked by the appcursor entry
in vtMenu.
set-appkeypad(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the handling of Application
Keypad mode and is also invoked by the appkeypad
entry in vtMenu.
set-autolinefeed(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles automatic insertion of linefeeds
and is also invoked by the autolinefeed entry in
vtMenu.
set-autowrap(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles automatic wrapping of long lines
and is also invoked by the autowrap entry in vtMenu.
set-backarrow(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the backarrowKey resource and is
also invoked from the backarrow key entry in vtMenu.
set-cursorblink(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the cursorBlink resource and is
also invoked from the cursorblink entry in vtMenu.
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set-cursesemul(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the curses resource and is also
invoked from the cursesemul entry in vtMenu.
set-font-doublesize(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the fontDoublesize resource and
is also invoked by the font-doublesize entry in
fontMenu.
set-hp-function-keys(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the hpFunctionKeys resource and
is also invoked by the hpFunctionKeys entry in main-
Menu.
set-jumpscroll(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the jumpscroll resource and is
also invoked by the jumpscroll entry in vtMenu.
set-font-linedrawing(on/off/toggle)
This action 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-logging()
This action toggles the state of the logging option.
set-old-function-keys(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the state of legacy function
keys and is also invoked by the oldFunctionKeys
entry in mainMenu.
set-marginbell(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the marginBell resource and is
also invoked from the marginbell entry in vtMenu.
set-num-lock()
This action toggles the state of the numLock
resource.
set-pop-on-bell(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the popOnBell resource and is
also invoked by the poponbell entry in vtMenu.
set-render-font(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the renderFont resource and is
also invoked by the render-font entry in fontMenu.
set-reverse-video(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the reverseVideo resource and is
also invoked by the reversevideo entry in vtMenu.
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set-reversewrap(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the reverseWrap resource and is
also invoked by the reversewrap entry in vtMenu.
set-scroll-on-key(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the scrollKey resource and is
also invoked from the scrollkey entry in vtMenu.
set-scroll-on-tty-output(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the scrollTtyOutput resource and
is also invoked from the scrollttyoutput entry in
vtMenu.
set-scrollbar(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the scrollbar resource and is
also invoked by the scrollbar entry in vtMenu.
set-sco-function-keys(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the scoFunctionKeys resource and
is also invoked by the scoFunctionKeys entry in
mainMenu.
set-sun-function-keys(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the sunFunctionKeys resource and
is also invoked by the sunFunctionKeys entry in
mainMenu.
set-sun-keyboard(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the sunKeyboard resource and is
also invoked by the sunKeyboard entry in mainMenu.
set-tek-text(large/2/3/small)
This action sets font used in the Tektronix window
to the value of the resources tektextlarge, tek-
text2, tektext3, and tektextsmall according to the
argument. It is also by the entries of the same
names as the resources in tekMenu.
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 toggles the titeInhibit resource, which
controls switching between the alternate and current
screens.
set-toolbar(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the toolbar feature and is also
invoked by the toolbar entry in mainMenu.
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set-utf8-mode(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the utf8 resource and is also
invoked by the utf8-mode entry in fontMenu.
set-visibility(vt/tek,on/off/toggle)
This action controls 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 toggles the visualBell resource and is
also invoked by the visualbell entry in vtMenu.
set-vt-font(d/1/2/3/4/5/6/e/s [,normalfont [, boldfont]])
This action sets the font or fonts currently being
used in the VT102 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 6 indicate the fonts specified by the
font1 through font6 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, respec-
tively), and
s or S indicate the font selection (as made by pro-
grams 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 and is also
invoked from the softreset entry in vtMenu. The
effect is identical to a soft reset (DECSTR) control
sequence.
start-extend()
This action is similar to select-start except that
the selection is extended to the current pointer
location.
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start-cursor-extend()
This action is similar to select-extend except that
the selection is extended to the current text cursor
position.
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 char-
acters. If the string argument begins with the char-
acters ``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 and is also
invoked by the tekpage entry in tekMenu.
tek-reset()
This action resets the Tektronix window and 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 omit-
ted 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.
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The default bindings in the VT102 window are:
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(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
Shift <KeyPress> Insert:insert-selection(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0) \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() \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(PRIMARY, 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(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
<BtnDown>:ignore()
The default bindings in the Tektronix window are:
~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\
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!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)
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 impor-
tant 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)
Below is a sample how of the keymap() action is used to add
special keys for entering commonly-typed works:
*VT100.Translations: #override <Key>F13: keymap(dbx)
*VT100.dbxKeymap.translations: \
<Key>F14: keymap(None) \n\
<Key>F17: string("next") string(0x0d) \n\
<Key>F18: string("step") string(0x0d) \n\
<Key>F19: string("continue") string(0x0d) \n\
<Key>F20: string("print ") insert-selection(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0)
CONTROL SEQUENCES AND KEYBOARD
The Xterm Control Sequences document 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.
ENVIRONMENT
Xterm sets the environment variables ``TERM'' for the window
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you have created. It also uses and sets the environment
variable ``DISPLAY'' to specify which bit map display termi-
nal to use. The environment variable ``WINDOWID'' is set to
the X window id number of the xterm window.
Depending on your system configuration, xterm may also set
the following:
COLUMNS
the width of the xterm in characters (cf: "stty
columns").
HOME when xterm is configured to update utmp.
LINES
the height of the xterm in characters (cf: "stty
rows").
LOGNAME
when xterm is configured to update utmp.
SHELL
when xterm is configured to update utmp.
TERMCAP
the contents of the termcap entry corresponding to
$TERM, with lines and columns values substituted for
the actual size window you have created.
TERMINFO
may be defined to a nonstandard location in the config-
ure script.
FILES
The actual pathnames given may differ on your system.
/etc/utmp
the system logfile, which records user logins.
/etc/wtmp
the system logfile, which records user logins and
logouts.
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/XTerm
the xterm default application resources.
/usr/X11R6/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 turn on color
in xterm and similar applications.
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ERROR MESSAGES
Most of the fatal error messages from xterm use the follow-
ing 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 is used for 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
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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
48 ERROR_SPREALLOC
spawn: realloc of ttydev failed
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
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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
90 ERROR_SCALLOC
Alloc: calloc() failed on base
91 ERROR_SCALLOC2
Alloc: calloc() failed on rows
92 ERROR_SREALLOC
ScreenResize: realloc() failed on alt base
96 ERROR_RESIZE
ScreenResize: malloc() or realloc() failed
102 ERROR_SAVE_PTR
ScrnPointers: malloc/realloc() failed
110 ERROR_SBRALLOC
ScrollBarOn: realloc() failed on base
111 ERROR_SBRALLOC2
ScrollBarOn: realloc() failed on rows
121 ERROR_MMALLOC
my_memmove: 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.
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
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widget.
There needs to be a dialog box to allow entry of the Tek
COPY file name.
SEE ALSO
resize(1), luit(1), X(7), pty(4), tty(4)
Xterm Control Sequences (this is the file ctlseqs.ms).
http://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.html
AUTHORS
Far too many people, including:
Loretta Guarino Reid (DEC-UEG-WSL), Joel McCormack (DEC-
UEG-WSL), Terry Weissman (DEC-UEG-WSL), Edward Moy (Berke-
ley), 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), Jason Bacon, Stephen P. Wall, David Wexelblat, and
Thomas Dickey (XFree86 Project).
OPENBSD SPECIFICS
On OpenBSD and MirOS, the following resources have different
default values:
deleteIsDEL: true
The Delete key generates ^?.
ptyInitialErase: true
The erase character for the tty is inherited from
the parent process setting, generally ^?.
backarrowKeyIsErase: true
The back arrow key is set to return the erase char-
acter defined in the tty, generally ^?.
Moreover, on OpenBSD and MirOS the termcap(5) entry for
xterm defines the kb capability as ^?
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