XTERM(1)XTERM(1)NAMExterm - terminal emulator for X
SYNOPSISxterm [-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 termi‐
nals 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), Tek‐
tronix graphics will be restricted to the largest box with a 4014's
aspect ratio that will fit in the window. This box is located in the
upper left area of the window.
Although both windows may be displayed at the same time, one of them is
considered the ``active'' window for receiving keyboard input and ter‐
minal 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 window.
EMULATIONS
The VT102 emulation is fairly complete, but does not support autore‐
peat. Double-size characters are displayed properly if your font
server supports scalable fonts. Blinking characters are partially
implemented; the emulation is functional but does not have the appear‐
ance of a real VT102. The VT220 emulation 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 con‐
trol through a set of escape sequences different from the standard
VT102 escape sequences. (See the Xterm Control Sequences document.)
The Tektronix 4014 emulation is also fairly good. It supports 12-bit
graphics addressing, scaled to the window size. Four different font
sizes and five different lines types are supported. There is no write-
through or defocused mode support. The Tektronix text and graphics
commands are recorded internally by xterm and may be written to a file
by sending the COPY escape sequence (or through the Tektronix menu; see
below). The name of the file will be ``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 necessarily avail‐
able in this version of xterm. Some (e.g., the non-VT220 extensions)
are available only if they were compiled in, though the most commonly-
used are in the default configuration.
OTHER FEATURES
Xterm automatically highlights the text cursor when the pointer enters
the window (selected) and unhighlights it when the pointer leaves the
window (unselected). If the window is the focus window, then the text
cursor is highlighted no matter where the pointer is.
In 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 alter‐
nate 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 control sequences from dtterm, such as resizing
the window, setting its location on the screen.
Xterm allows character-based applications to receive mouse events (cur‐
rently 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 com‐
mand line options as well as the following (if 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 cur‐
sor whenever the focus is lost or the pointer leaves the win‐
dow.
+ah This option indicates that xterm should do text cursor high‐
lighting 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 dis‐
tance between the outer edge of the 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, disabling the dis‐
play of characters with bold attribute as color
+bdc Set the vt100 resource colorBDMode to TRUE, enabling the dis‐
play 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 specifying character
classes.
-cjk_width
Set the cjkWidth resource to ``true''. When turned on, charac‐
ters with East Asian Ambiguous (A) category in UTR 11 have a
column width of 2. Othrwise, 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 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 cursor. 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 col‐
ors: the vt100 foreground and background colors, the text cur‐
sor color, the mouse cursor foreground and background colors,
the Tektronix emulator foreground and background colors, and
highlight color.
+dc This option enables the escape sequence to change dynamic col‐
ors.
-e program [ arguments ... ]
This option specifies the program (and its command line argu‐
ments) 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 options determines the encoding on which xterm runs.
Encodings other than UTF-8 are supported by using luit. The
-lc option should be used instead of -en for systems with
locale support. This corresponds to the locale resource.
-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 nor‐
mal font. If only one of the normal or bold fonts is speci‐
fied, 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 normal 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.
-fi font
This option sets the font for active icons if that feature was
compiled into xterm. See also the discussion of the iconFont
resource.
-fs size
This option sets the pointsize for fonts selected from the
FreeType library if support for that library was compiled into
xterm. This corresponds to the faceSize resource.
-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 dou‐
blewidth 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 background 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 command completes. It will
wait until you use the window manager to destroy/kill the win‐
dow, or if you use the menu entries that send a signal, e.g.,
HUP or KILL.
+hold Turn off the hold resource, i.e., xterm will immediately
destroy its window when the shell command completes.
-ie Turn on the ptyInitialErase resource, i.e., use the pseudo-ter‐
minal's sense of the stty erase value.
+ie Turn off the ptyInitialErase resource, i.e., set the stty erase
value using the kb string from the termcap entry as a refer‐
ence, 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 enabling and disabling
smooth scroll as well as the ``VT Options'' menu can be used to
turn this feature on or off.
+j This option indicates that xterm should not do jump scrolling.
-k8 This option sets the allowC1Printable resource. When
allowC1Printable is set, xterm overrides the mapping of C1 con‐
trol 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 users'
LC_CTYPE locale setting, i.e., LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG vari‐
ables. This is achieved by turning on UTF-8 mode and by invok‐
ing luit for conversion between locale encodings and UTF-8.
(luit is not invoked in UTF-8 locales.) All you need is an
iso10646-1 font regardless of your locale and encoding. 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.
+lc Turn off support of automatic selection of locale encodings.
Conventional 8bit mode or, in UTF-8 locales or with -u8 option,
UTF-8 mode will be used.
-lcc path
File name for the encoding converter from/to locale encodings
and UTF-8 which is used with -lc option or locale resource.
This corresponds to the localeFilter resource.
-leftbar
Force scrollbar to the left side of VT100 screen. This is the
default, unless you have set the rightScrollBar resource.
-lf filename
Specify the log-filename. See the -l option.
-ls This option indicates that the shell that is started in the
xterm window will be a login shell (i.e., the first character
of argv[0] will be a dash, indicating to the shell that it
should read the user's .login or .profile).
The -ls flag and the loginShell resource are ignored if -e is
also given, because xterm does not know how to make the shell
start the given command after whatever it does when it is a
login shell - the user's shell of choice need not be a Bourne
shell after all. Also, xterm-e is supposed to provide a con‐
sistent functionality for other applications that need to start
text-mode programs in a window, and if loginShell were not
ignored, the result of ~/.profile might interfere with that.
If you do want the effect of -ls and -a simultaneously, you may
get away with something like
xterm-e /bin/bash -l -c "my command here"
Finally, -ls is not completely ignored, because xterm-ls -e
does write a /etc/wtmp entry (if configured to do so), whereas
xterm-e does not.
+ls This option indicates that the shell that is started should not
be a login shell (i.e., it will be a normal ``subshell'').
-mb This option indicates that xterm should ring a margin 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 cur‐
sor. 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 bold‐
Colors 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
Force scrollbar to the right side of VT100 screen.
-rvc This option disables the display of characters with reverse
attribute as color.
+rvc This option enables the display of characters with reverse
attribute as color.
-rw This option indicates that reverse-wraparound should be
allowed. This allows the cursor to back up from the leftmost
column of one line to the rightmost column of the previous
line. This is very useful for editing long shell command lines
and is encouraged. This option can be turned on and off from
the ``VT Options'' menu.
+rw This option indicates that reverse-wraparound should not be
allowed.
-s This option indicates that xterm may scroll asynchronously,
meaning that the screen does not have to be kept completely up
to date while scrolling. This allows xterm to run faster when
network latencies are very high and is typically useful when
running across a very large internet or many gateways.
+s This option indicates that xterm should scroll synchronously.
-samename
Does not send title and icon name change requests when the
request would have no effect: the name is not changed. This
has the advantage of preventing flicker and the disadvantage of
requiring an extra round trip to the server to find out the
previous value. In practice this should never be a problem.
+samename
Always send title and icon name change requests.
-sb This option indicates that some number of lines that are
scrolled off the top of the window should be saved and that a
scrollbar should be displayed so that those lines can be
viewed. This option may be turned on and off from the ``VT
Options'' menu.
+sb This option indicates that a scrollbar should not be displayed.
-sf This option indicates that Sun Function Key escape codes should
be generated for function keys.
+sf This option indicates that the standard escape codes should be
generated for function keys.
-si This option indicates that output to a window should not auto‐
matically reposition the screen to the bottom of the scrolling
region. This option can be turned on and off from the ``VT
Options'' menu.
+si This option indicates that output to a window should cause it
to scroll to the bottom.
-sk This option indicates that pressing a key while using the
scrollbar to review previous lines of text should cause the
window to be repositioned automatically in the normal position
at the bottom of the scroll region.
+sk This option indicates that pressing a key while using the
scrollbar should not cause the window to be repositioned.
-sl number
This option specifies the number of lines to save that have
been scrolled off the top of the screen. The default is 64.
-sm This option, corresponding to the sessionMgt resource, indi‐
cates that xterm should set up session manager callbacks.
+sm This option indicates that xterm should not set up session man‐
ager 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'' environ‐
ment variables.
+t This option indicates that xterm should start in 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 func‐
tions, similar to the stty program. Allowable keywords
include: intr, quit, erase, kill, eof, eol, swtch, start, stop,
brk, susp, dsusp, rprnt, flush, weras, and lnext. Control
characters may be specified as ^char (e.g., ^c or ^u) and ^?
may be used to indicate delete (127).
-tn name
This option specifies the name of the terminal type to be set
in the TERM environment variable. This terminal type must
exist in the termcap(5) database and should have li# and co#
entries.
-u8 This option sets the utf8 resource. When utf8 is set, xterm
interprets incoming data as UTF-8. This sets wideChars as a
side-effect, but 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. Note this option and the utf8 resource are
overridden by the -lc and -en options and locale resource.
Instead, please use ``-lc'' option or ``locale: true'' resource
in UTF-8 locales when your operating system supports locale, or
``-en UTF-8'' option or ``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 underlining.
+ulc This option enables the display of characters with underline
attribute as color rather than with underlining.
-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 preferred over an
audible one. Instead of ringing the terminal bell whenever a
Control-G is received, the window will be flashed.
+vb This option indicates that a visual bell should not be used.
-wc This option sets the wideChars resource. When wideChars is
set, xterm maintains internal structures for 16-bit characters.
If 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
subsequent 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 immedi‐
ately, showing you which window has the output. (A similar
feature was in x10 xterm.)
-C This option indicates that this window should receive console
output. This is not supported on all systems. To obtain con‐
sole output, you must be the owner of the console device, and
you must have read and write permission for it. If you are
running X under xdm on the console screen you may need to have
the session startup and reset programs explicitly change the
ownership of the console device in order to get this option to
work.
-Sccn This option allows xterm to be used as an input and output
channel for an existing program and is sometimes used in spe‐
cialized applications. The option value specifies the last few
letters of the name of a pseudo-terminal to use in slave mode,
plus the number of the inherited file descriptor. If the
option contains a ``/'' character, that delimits the characters
used for the pseudo-terminal name from the file descriptor.
Otherwise, exactly two characters are used from the option for
the pseudo-terminal name, the remainder is the file descriptor.
Examples:
-S123/45
-Sab34
The following command line arguments are provided for compatibility
with older versions. They may not be supported in the next release as
the X Toolkit provides standard options that accomplish the same task.
%geom This option specifies the preferred size and position of the
Tektronix window. It is shorthand for specifying the ``*tekGe‐
ometry'' resource.
#geom This option specifies the preferred position of the icon win‐
dow. It is shorthand for specifying the ``*iconGeometry''
resource.
-T string
This option specifies the title for xterm's windows. It is
equivalent to -title.
-n string
This option specifies the icon name for xterm's windows. It is
shorthand for specifying the ``*iconName'' resource. Note that
this is not the same as the 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 colors. It is equiva‐
lent to -rv.
-w number
This option specifies the width in pixels of the border sur‐
rounding 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 background of
the window. The default is ``white.''
-bw number
This option specifies the width in pixels of the border sur‐
rounding the window.
-display display
This option specifies the X server to contact; see X(__miscman‐
suffix__).
-fg color
This option specifies the color to use for displaying text.
The default is ``black.''
-fn font
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying normal
text. The default is fixed.
-geometry geometry
This option specifies the preferred size and position of the
VT102 window; see X(__miscmansuffix__).
-iconic This option indicates that xterm should ask the window 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 exe‐
cutable file name. Name should not contain ``.'' or ``*''
characters.
-rv This option indicates that reverse video should be simulated by
swapping the foreground and background colors.
+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 sepa‐
rate command line options.
RESOURCES
The program understands all of the core X Toolkit resource names and
classes as well as:
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 fea‐
ture.
hold (class Hold)
If true, xterm will not immediately destroy its window when the
shell command completes. It will wait until you use the window
manager to destroy/kill the window, or if you use the menu
entries that send a signal, e.g., HUP or KILL. You may scroll
back, select text, etc., to perform most graphical operations.
Resizing the display will lose data, however, since this
involves interaction with the shell which is no longer running.
hpFunctionKeys (class HpFunctionKeys)
Specifies whether or not HP Function Key escape codes should be
generated for function keys 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)
Specifies the icon name. The default is the application name.
messages (class Messages)
Specifies whether write access to the terminal is allowed ini‐
tially. See mesg(1). The default is ``true''.
ptyHandshake (classPtyHandshake)
If ``true'', xterm will perform handshaking during initializa‐
tion 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 con‐
figured. The default is ``true''.
ptyInitialErase (class PtyInitialErase)
If ``true'', xterm will use the pseudo-terminal's sense of the
stty erase value. If ``false'', xterm will set the stty erase
value to match its own configuration, using the kb string from
the termcap entry as a reference, if available. In either
case, the result is applied to the TERMCAP variable which xterm
sets. 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''.
sessionMgt (class SessionMgt)
If the value of this resource is ``true'', xterm sets up ses‐
sion 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 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 sunKey‐
board set to ``false''), xterm uses PC-style bindings for the
function keys and keypad.
termName (class TermName)
Specifies the terminal type name to be set in the TERM environ‐
ment 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 keywords and the
characters to which they may be bound. Allowable keywords
include: intr, quit, erase, kill, eof, eol, swtch, start, stop,
brk, susp, dsusp, rprnt, flush, weras, lnext and status. Con‐
trol characters may be specified as ^char (e.g., ^c or ^u) and
^? may be used to indicate delete (127). Use ^- to denote
undef. Use \034 to represent ^\, since a literal backslash in
an X resource escapes the next character.
This is very useful for overriding the default terminal set‐
tings 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 keywords; xterm's table is builtin.
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.''
utmpInhibit (class UtmpInhibit)
Specifies whether or not xterm should try to record the user's
terminal in the system utmp log file.
waitForMap (class WaitForMap)
Specifies whether or not xterm should wait for the initial win‐
dow 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 produce output while iconi‐
fied 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 following resources are specified as part of the vt100 widget
(class VT100):
activeIcon (class ActiveIcon)
Specifies whether or not active icon windows are to be used
when the xterm window is iconified, if this feature is compiled
into xterm. The active icon is a miniature representation of
the content of the window and will update as the content
changes. Not all window managers necessarily support applica‐
tion 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.''
allowSendEvents (class AllowSendEvents)
Specifies whether or not synthetic key and button events (gen‐
erated using the X protocol SendEvent request) should be inter‐
preted or discarded. The default is ``false'' meaning they are
discarded. Note that allowing such events creates a very large
security hole.
allowWindowOps (class AllowWindowOps)
Specifies whether extended window control sequences (as used in
dtterm) for should be allowed.
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.
alwaysHighlight (class AlwaysHighlight)
Specifies whether or not xterm should always display a high‐
lighted text cursor. By default, a hollow text cursor is dis‐
played whenever the pointer moves out of the window or the win‐
dow loses the input focus.
alwaysUseMods (class AlwaysUseMods)
Override the numLock resource, telling xterm to use the Alt and
Meta modifiers as to construct parameters for function key
sequences even if those modifiers appear in the translations
resource.
appcursorDefault (class AppcursorDefault)
If ``true,'' the cursor keys are initially in application mode.
The default is ``false.''
appkeypadDefault (class AppkeypadDefault)
If ``true,'' the keypad keys are initially in application mode.
The default is ``false.''
autoWrap (class AutoWrap)
Specifies whether or not auto-wraparound should be enabled.
The default is ``true.''
awaitInput (class AwaitInput)
Specifies whether or not the xterm uses a 50 millisecond time‐
out to await input (i.e., to support the Xaw3d arrow scroll‐
bar). The default is ``false.''
backarrowKey (class BackarrowKey)
Specifies whether the backarrow key transmits a backspace (8)
or delete (127) character. This corresponds to the DECBKM con‐
trol sequence. The default (backspace) is ``true.'' Pressing
the control key toggles this behavior.
background (class Background)
Specifies the color to use for the background of the window.
The default is ``white.''
bellSuppressTime (class BellSuppressTime)
Number of milliseconds after a bell command is sent during
which additional bells will be suppressed. Default is 200. If
set non-zero, additional bells will also be suppressed until
the server reports that processing of the first bell has been
completed; this feature is most useful with the visible bell.
boldColors (class ColorMode)
Specifies whether to combine bold attribute with colors like
the IBM PC, i.e., map colors 0 through 7 to colors 8 through
15. These normally are the brighter versions of the first 8
colors, hence bold. The default is ``true.''
boldFont (class BoldFont)
Specifies the name of the bold font to use instead of over‐
striking.
boldMode (class BoldMode)
This specifies whether or not text with the bold attribute
should be overstruck to simulate bold fonts if the resolved
bold font is the same as the normal font. It may be desirable
to disable bold fonts when color is being used for the bold
attribute. Note that xterm has one bold font which you may set
explicitly. 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.
brokenLinuxOSC (class BrokenLinuxOSC)
If true, xterm applies a workaround to ignore malformed control
sequences that a Linux script might send. Compare the palette
control sequences documented in console_codes with ECMA-48.
brokenSelections (class BrokenSelections)
If true, xterm in 8-bit mode will interpret STRING selections
as carrying text in the current locale's encoding. Normally
STRING selections carry ISO-8859-1 encoded text. Setting this
resource to ``true'' violates the ICCCM; it may, however, be
useful for interacting with some broken X clients. The default
is ``false.''
brokenStringTerm (class BrokenStringTerm)
provides a work-around for some ISDN routers which start an
application control string without completing it. Set this to
``true'' if xterm appears to freeze when connecting. The
default is ``false.''
c132 (class C132)
Specifies whether or not the VT102 DECCOLM escape sequence
should be honored. The default is ``false.''
cutNewline (class CutNewline)
If ``false'', triple clicking to select a line does not include
the Newline at the end of the line. If ``true'', the Newline
is selected. The default is ``true.''
cutToBeginningOfLine (class CutToBeginningOfLine)
If ``false'', triple clicking to select a line selects only
from the current word forward. If ``true'', the entire line is
selected. The default is ``true.''
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 altogether.
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 section on specifying character classes.
cjkWidth (class CjkWidth)
Specifies whether xterm should follow the traditional East
Asian width convention. When turned on, characters with East
Asian Ambiguous (A) category in UTR 11 have a column width of
2. You may have to set this option to ``true'' if you have
some old East Asian terminal based programs that assume that
line-drawing characters have a column width of 2.
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.''
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 corre‐
sponding position. 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.''
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.
colorBLMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the blink attribute should be
displayed in color. Note that setting colorMode off disables
all colors, including this.
colorRVMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the reverse attribute should
be displayed in color. Note that setting colorMode off dis‐
ables all colors, including this.
colorULMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the underline attribute
should be displayed in color or as underlined characters. Note
that setting colorMode off disables all colors, including
underlining.
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,
blue3, magenta3, cyan3, and gray90. The default shades of
color are chosen to allow the colors 8-15 to be used as
brighter versions.
color8 (class Color8)
color9 (class Color9)
color10 (class Color10)
color11 (class Color11)
color12 (class Color12)
color13 (class Color13)
color14 (class Color14)
color15 (class Color15)
These specify the colors for the ISO 6429 extension if the bold
attribute is also enabled. The default resource values are,
respectively, gray30, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan,
and white.
color16 (class Color16)
through
color255 (class Color255)
These specify the colors for the 256-color extension. The
default resource values are for colors 16 through 231 to make a
6x6x6 color cube, and colors 232 through 255 to make a
grayscale ramp.
colorBD (class ColorBD)
This specifies the color to use to display bold characters if
the ``colorBDMode'' resource is enabled.
colorBL (class ColorBL)
This specifies the color to use to display blink characters if
the ``colorBLMode'' resource is enabled.
colorRV (class ColorRV)
This specifies the color to use to display reverse characters
if the ``colorRVMode'' resource is enabled.
colorUL (class ColorUL)
This specifies the color to use to display underlined charac‐
ters if the ``colorULMode'' resource is enabled.
ctrlFKeys (class CtrlFKeys)
In VT220 keyboard mode (see sunKeyboard resource), specifies
the amount by which to shift F1-F12 given a control modifier
(CTRL). This allows you to generate key symbols for F10-F20 on
a Sun/PC keyboard. The default is ``10'', which means that
CTRL F1 generates the key symbol for F11.
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 cursor blink
cycle-time in milliseconds. The default is 300.
cursorOnTime (class CursorOnTime)
Specifies the duration of the "on" part of the cursor blink
cycle-time, in milliseconds. The default is 600.
highlightColor (class HighlightColor)
Specifies the color to use for the background of selected or
otherwise highlighted text. If not specified, reverse video is
used.
decTerminalID (class DecTerminalID)
Specifies the emulation level (100=VT100, 220=VT220, etc.),
used to determine the type of response to a DA control
sequence. 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 recognized.
eightBitControl (class EightBitControl)
Specifies whether or not control sequences sent by the terminal
should be eight-bit characters or escape sequences. The
default is ``false.''
eightBitInput (class EightBitInput)
If ``true'', Meta characters input from the keyboard are pre‐
sented as a single character with the eighth bit turned on.
The terminal is put into 8-bit mode. If ``false'', Meta char‐
acters 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.''
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.
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.''
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 double‐
size characters by drawing normal characters with spaces
between them.
forceBoxChars (class Boolean)
Specifies whether xterm should assume the normal and bold fonts
have VT100 line-drawing characters. If ``false'', xterm will
check for missing characters in the 1-31 cells and make line-
drawing characters directly. 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 Boolean)
Specifies whether xterm should assume the bounding boxes for
normal and bold fonts are compatible. If ``false'', xterm com‐
pares 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.
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 posi‐
tions that contain text that can be selected. The default is
``false.''
Depending on the way your applications write to the screen,
there may be trailing blanks on a line. Xterm stores data as
it is shown on the screen. Erasing the display changes the
internal state of each cell so it is not considered a blank for
the purpose of selection. Blanks written since the last erase
are selectable. If you do not wish to have trailing blanks in
a selection, use the trimSelection resource.
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 window if this
feature is compiled into xterm. Not all window managers will
make the icon border visible.
iconBorderWidth (class BorderWidth)
Specifies the border width for the active icon window if this
feature is compiled into xterm. The default is 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 characters and the
window border. The default is 2.
jumpScroll (class JumpScroll)
Specifies whether or not jump scroll should be used. 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.
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. If this is ``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 real‐
ized by always enabling UTF-8 mode and invoking luit in non-
UTF-8 locales. If this is ``medium'', xterm will follow users'
LC_CTYPE locale only for UTF-8, east Asian, and Thai locales,
where the encodings were not supported by conventional 8bit
mode with changing fonts. For other locales, xterm will use
conventional 8bit mode. If this is ``no'', xterm will use con‐
ventional 8bit mode or UTF-8 mode according to utf8 resource or
-u8 option. Any other value such as ``UTF-8'' and
``ISO8859-2'' will be assumed to be an encoding name; luit will
be invoked to support the encoding. The actual list of sup‐
ported encodings depends on luit. The default is ``medium''.
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 configu‐
ration.
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 run when the user
types near the right margin. The default is ``false.''
metaSendsEscape (class MetaSendsEscape)
If ``true'', Meta characters 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 milliseconds.
multiScroll (class MultiScroll)
Specifies whether or not scrolling should be done asyn‐
chronously. 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 compatibility with X Consortium
xterm. Otherwise, it uses the VT100-style codes for PF1 to
PF4. The default is ``false.''
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 attributes. A ``1'' prints the normal set
of attributes (bold, underline, inverse and blink) as
VT100-style control sequences. A ``2'' prints ANSI color
attributes 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 com‐
mand. The default is ``false.''
printerCommand (class PrinterCommand)
Specifies a shell command to which xterm will open a pipe when
the first MC (Media Copy) command is initiated. The default is
``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 mar‐
gins (false). The default is ``false.''
printerFormFeed (class PrinterFormFeed)
Controls whether a form feed is sent to the printer at the end
of a print page function. The default is ``false.''
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.
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 automatically
cause the scrollbar to go to the bottom of the scrolling
region. 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 automat‐
ically 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.''
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 win‐
dow.
tekInhibit (class TekInhibit)
Specifies whether or not the escape sequence to enter Tektronix
mode should be ignored. The default is ``false.''
tekSmall (class TekSmall)
Specifies whether or not the Tektronix mode window should start
in its smallest size if no explicit geometry is given. This is
useful when running xterm on displays with small screens. The
default is ``false.''
tekStartup (class TekStartup)
Specifies whether or not xterm should start up in Tektronix
mode. The default is ``false.''
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.
tiXtraScroll (class TiXtraScroll)
Specifies whether xterm should scroll to a new page when pro‐
cessing 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.''
translations (class Translations)
Specifies the key and button bindings for menus, selections,
``programmed strings,'' etc. See ACTIONS below.
trimSelection (class TrimSelection)
If you set highlightSelection, you can see the text which is
selected, including any trailing spaces. Clearing the screen
(or a line) resets it to a state containing no spaces. Some
lines may contain trailing spaces when an application writes
them to the screen. However, you may not wish to paste lines
with trailing spaces. If this resource is true, xterm will
trim trailing spaces from text which is selected. It does not
affect spaces which result in a wrapped line, nor will it trim
the trailing newline from your selection. The default is
``false.''
underLine (class UnderLine)
This specifies whether or not text with the underline attribute
should be underlined. It may be desirable to disable underlin‐
ing when color is being used for the underline attribute.
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. When set via a resource, xterm cannot be switched
via control sequences out of UTF-8 mode. The default is ``0''
(off). Any other value will turn on UTF-8 mode. See the
locale resource for non-UTF-8 locales.
veryBoldColors (class VeryBoldColors)
Specifies whether to combine video attributes with colors spec‐
ified 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 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 char‐
acter 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.
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 dou‐
blewidth 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):
font2 (class Font)
Specifies font number 2 to use in the Tektronix window.
font3 (class Font)
Specifies font number 3 to use in the Tektronix window.
fontLarge (class Font)
Specifies the large font to use in the Tektronix window.
fontSmall (class Font)
Specifies the small font to use in the Tektronix window.
ginTerminator (class GinTerminator)
Specifies what character(s) should follow a GIN report or sta‐
tus report. The possibilities are ``none,'' which sends no
terminating characters, ``CRonly,'' which sends CR, and
``CR&EOT,'' which sends both CR and EOT. The default is
``none.''
height (class Height)
Specifies the height of the Tektronix window in pixels.
initialFont (class InitialFont)
Specifies which of the four Tektronix fonts to use initially.
Values are the same as for the set-tek-text action. The
default is ``large.''
width (class Width)
Specifies the width of the Tektronix window in pixels.
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:
securekbd (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the secure() action.
allowsends (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the allow-send-events(toggle) action.
redraw (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the redraw() action.
logging (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the logging(toggle) action.
print (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 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)
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.
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.
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 simple checkerboard pattern
alternating pixels for foreground and background color.
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 bind‐
ings 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'' every‐
where in the rest of this paragraph.) If pressed while closer to the
right edge of the selection than the left, it extends/contracts the
right edge of the selection. If you contract the selection past the
left edge of the selection, xterm assumes you really meant the left
edge, restores the original selection, then extends/contracts the left
edge of the selection. Extension starts in the selection unit mode
that the last selection or extension was performed in; you can multi‐
ple-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 com‐
mand to the shell, for example, or take output from a program and
insert it into your favorite editor. Since the cut buffer is globally
shared among different applications, you should regard it as a `file'
whose contents you know. The terminal emulator and other text programs
should be treating it as if it were a text file, i.e., the text is
delimited by new lines.
The scroll region displays the position and amount of text currently
showing in the window (highlighted) relative to the amount of text
actually saved. As more text is saved (up to the maximum), the size of
the highlighted area decreases.
Clicking button one with the pointer in the scroll region moves the
adjacent line to the top of the display window.
Clicking button three moves the top line of the display window down to
the pointer position.
Clicking button two moves the display to a position in the saved text
that corresponds to the pointer's position in the scrollbar.
Unlike the VT102 window, the Tektronix window does not allow the copy‐
ing of text. It does allow Tektronix GIN mode, and in this mode the
cursor will change from an arrow to a cross. Pressing any key will
send that key and the current coordinate of the cross cursor. Pressing
button one, two, or three will return the letters `l', `m', and `r',
respectively. If the `shift' key is pressed when a pointer button is
pressed, the corresponding upper case letter is sent. To distinguish a
pointer button from a key, the high bit of the character is set (but
this is bit is normally stripped unless the terminal mode is RAW; see
tty(4) for details).
MENUS
Xterm has four menus, named mainMenu, vtMenu, fontMenu, and tekMenu.
Each menu pops up under the correct combinations of key and button
presses. Most menus are divided into two section, separated by a hori‐
zontal line. The top portion contains various 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. The bottom portion of
the menu are command entries; selecting one of these performs the indi‐
cated function.
The xterm menu pops up when the ``control'' key and pointer button one
are pressed in a window. The mainMenu contains items that apply to
both the VT102 and Tektronix windows. The Secure Keyboard mode is be
used when typing in passwords or other sensitive data in an unsecure
environment; see SECURITY below. Notable entries in the command sec‐
tion of the menu are the Continue, Suspend, Interrupt, Hangup, Termi‐
nate and Kill which sends the SIGCONT, SIGTSTP, SIGINT, SIGHUP, SIGTERM
and SIGKILL signals, respectively, to the process group of the process
running under xterm (usually the shell). The Continue function is
especially useful if the user has accidentally typed CTRL-Z, suspending
the process.
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. In the command section of this menu, the soft reset
entry will reset scroll regions. This can be convenient when some pro‐
gram has left the scroll regions set incorrectly (often a problem when
using VMS or TOPS-20). The full reset entry will clear the screen,
reset tabs to every eight columns, and reset the terminal modes (such
as wrap and smooth scroll) to their initial states just after xterm has
finished processing the command line options.
The fontMenu sets the font used in the VT102 window. In addition to
the default font and a number of alternatives that are set with
resources, the menu offers the font last specified by the Set Font
escape sequence (see the document Xterm Control Sequences) and the cur‐
rent selection as a font name (if the PRIMARY selection is owned).
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. The PAGE entry in the command section clears the
Tektronix window.
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, there
is every possibility that someone can run an application that will use
the basic services of the X protocol to snoop on your activities,
potentially capturing a transcript of everything you type at the key‐
board. This is of particular concern when you want to type in a pass‐
word or other sensitive data. The best solution to this problem is to
use a better authorization mechanism that host-based control, but a
simple mechanism exists for protecting keyboard input in xterm.
The xterm menu (see MENUS above) contains a Secure Keyboard entry
which, when enabled, ensures that all keyboard input is directed only
to xterm (using the GrabKeyboard protocol request). When an applica‐
tion prompts you for a password (or other sensitive data), you can
enable Secure Keyboard using the menu, type in the data, and then dis‐
able Secure Keyboard using the menu again. Only one X client at a time
can secure the keyboard, so when you attempt to enable Secure Keyboard
it may fail. In this case, the bell will sound. If the Secure Key‐
board 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 running displays a prompt before
asking for the password, it is safest to enter secure mode before the
prompt gets displayed, and to make sure that the prompt gets displayed
correctly (in the new colors), to minimize the probability of spoofing.
You can also bring up the menu again and make sure that a check mark
appears next to the entry.
Secure Keyboard mode will be disabled automatically if your xterm win‐
dow 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 fore‐
ground and background colors will be switched back and the bell will
sound in warning.
CHARACTER CLASSES
Clicking the middle mouse button twice in rapid succession will cause
all characters of the same class (e.g., letters, white space, punctua‐
tion) to be selected. Since different people have different prefer‐
ences 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 */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* P Q R S T U V W */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _ */
48, 48, 48, 91, 92, 93, 94, 48,
/* ` a b c d e f g */
96, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* h i j k l m n o */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* p q r s t u v w */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* x y z { | } ~ DEL */
48, 48, 48, 123, 124, 125, 126, 1,
/* x80 x81 x82 x83 IND NEL SSA ESA */
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* HTS HTJ VTS PLD PLU RI SS2 SS3 */
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* DCS PU1 PU2 STS CCH MW SPA EPA */
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* x98 x99 x9A CSI ST OSC PM APC */
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* - i c/ L ox Y- | So */
160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167,
/* .. c0 ip << _ R0 - */
168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175,
/* o +- 2 3 ' u q| . */
176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183,
/* , 1 2 >> 1/4 1/2 3/4 ? */
184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191,
/* A` A' A^ A~ A: Ao AE C, */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* E` E' E^ E: I` I' I^ I: */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* D- N~ O` O' O^ O~ O: X */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 215,
/* O/ U` U' U^ U: Y' P B */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* a` a' a^ a~ a: ao ae c, */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* e` e' e^ e: i` i' i^ i: */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* d n~ o` o' o^ o~ o: -: */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 247,
/* o/ u` u' u^ u: y' P y: */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48};
For example, the string ``33:48,37:48,45-47:48,38:48'' indicates that
the exclamation mark, percent sign, dash, period, slash, and ampersand
characters should be treated the same way as characters and numbers.
This is useful for cutting and pasting electronic mailing addresses and
filenames.
ACTIONS
It is possible to rebind keys (or sequences of keys) to arbitrary
strings for input, by changing the translations for the vt100 or
tek4014 widgets. Changing the translations for events other than key
and button events is not expected, and will cause unpredictable behav‐
ior. The following actions are provided for using 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.
deiconify()
Changes the window state back to normal, if it was iconified.
delete-is-del()
This action toggles the state of the deleteIsDEL resource.
dired-button()
Handles a button event (other than press and release) by echo‐
ing 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, window 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 associated with the
key that was pressed.
insert-eight-bit()
This action inserts an eight-bit (Meta) version of the charac‐
ter 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 selection or cut‐
buffer indicated by sourcename. Sources are checked in the
order given (case is significant) until one is found. Com‐
monly-used selections include: PRIMARY, SECONDARY, and CLIP‐
BOARD. 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 character (i.e., "\000") in the string.
keymap(name)
This action dynamically defines a new translation table whose
resource name is name with the suffix Keymap (case is signifi‐
cant). The name None restores the original translation table.
larger-vt-font()
Set the font to the next larger one, based on the font dimen‐
sions. See also set-vt-font().
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 mainMenu.
redraw()
This action redraws the window and is also invoked by the
redraw entry in mainMenu.
restore()
Restores the window to the size before it was last maximized.
scroll-back(count [,units [,mouse] ])
This action scrolls the text window backward so that text that
had previously scrolled off the top of the screen is now visi‐
ble.
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 scrolls is similar to scroll-back except that it
scrolls 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 selec‐
tion, without affecting the selection mode.
select-start()
This action begins text selection at the current pointer loca‐
tion. See the section on POINTER USAGE for information on mak‐
ing selections.
send-signal(signame)
This action sends the signal named by signame to the xterm sub‐
process (the shell or program specified with the -e command
line option) and is also invoked by the suspend, continue,
interrupt, hangup, terminate, and kill entries in mainMenu.
Allowable signal names are (case is not significant): tstp (if
supported by the operating system), suspend (same as tstp),
cont (if supported by the operating system), int, hup, term,
quit, alrm, alarm (same as alrm) and kill.
set-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.
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 mainMenu.
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-reverse-video(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the reverseVideo resource and is also
invoked by the reversevideo entry in vtMenu.
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, tektext2, tektext3, and tek‐
textsmall 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 tek‐
mode 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-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 tek‐
Menu.
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, bold and wide fonts that
have been set through escape codes (or specified as the second,
third and fourth action arguments, respectively), and s or S
indicate the font selection (as made by programs such as
xfontsel(1)) indicated by the second action argument.
smaller-vt-font()
Set the font to the next smaller one, based on the font dimen‐
sions. 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 selec‐
tion is extended to the current pointer location.
start-cursor-extend()
This action is similar to select-extend except that the selec‐
tion 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 white‐
space or non-alphanumeric characters. If the string argument
begins with the characters ``0x'', it is interpreted as a hex
character constant.
tek-copy()
This action copies the escape codes used to generate the cur‐
rent window contents to a file in the current directory begin‐
ning 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 echo‐
ing a control sequence computed from the event's line number in
the screen relative to the current line:
ESC ^P
or
ESC ^N
according to whether the event is before, or after the current
line, respectively. The ^N (or ^P) is repeated once for each
line that the event differs from the current line. The control
sequence is omitted altogether if the button event is on the
current line.
visual-bell()
This action flashes the window quickly.
The Tektronix window also has the following action:
gin-press(l/L/m/M/r/R)
This action sends the indicated graphics input code.
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>:bell(0)
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\
!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)
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 Tek‐
tronix terminals, or from more widely used standards such as ISO 6429.
ENVIRONMENT
Xterm sets the environment variables ``TERM'' for the window you have
created. It also uses and sets the environment variable ``DISPLAY'' to
specify which bit map display terminal to use. The environment vari‐
able ``WINDOWID'' is set to the X window id number of the xterm window.
Depending on your system configuration, xterm may also set the follow‐
ing:
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 configure 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.
__apploaddir__/XTerm
the xterm default application resources.
__apploaddir__/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.
ERROR MESSAGES
Most of the fatal error messages from xterm use the following format:
xterm: Error XXX, errno YYY: ZZZ
The XXX codes (which are used by xterm as its exit-code) are listed
below, with a brief explanation.
1 is used for miscellaneous errors, usually accompanied by a spe‐
cific message,
11 ERROR_FIONBIO
main: ioctl() failed on FIONBIO
12 ERROR_F_GETFL
main: ioctl() failed on F_GETFL
13 ERROR_F_SETFL
main: ioctl() failed on F_SETFL
14 ERROR_OPDEVTTY
spawn: open() failed on /dev/tty
15 ERROR_TIOCGETP
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCGETP
17 ERROR_PTSNAME
spawn: ptsname() failed
18 ERROR_OPPTSNAME
spawn: open() failed on ptsname
19 ERROR_PTEM
spawn: ioctl() failed on I_PUSH/"ptem"
20 ERROR_CONSEM
spawn: ioctl() failed on I_PUSH/"consem"
21 ERROR_LDTERM
spawn: ioctl() failed on I_PUSH/"ldterm"
22 ERROR_TTCOMPAT
spawn: ioctl() failed on I_PUSH/"ttcompat"
23 ERROR_TIOCSETP
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCSETP
24 ERROR_TIOCSETC
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCSETC
25 ERROR_TIOCSETD
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCSETD
26 ERROR_TIOCSLTC
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCSLTC
27 ERROR_TIOCLSET
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCLSET
28 ERROR_INIGROUPS
spawn: initgroups() failed
29 ERROR_FORK
spawn: fork() failed
30 ERROR_EXEC
spawn: exec() failed
32 ERROR_PTYS
get_pty: not enough ptys
34 ERROR_PTY_EXEC
waiting for initial map
35 ERROR_SETUID
spawn: setuid() failed
36 ERROR_INIT
spawn: can't initialize window
46 ERROR_TIOCKSET
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCKSET
47 ERROR_TIOCKSETC
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCKSETC
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
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 widget.
There needs to be a dialog box to allow entry of the Tek COPY file
name.
SEE ALSOresize(1), luit(1), X(__miscmansuffix__), 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 (Berkeley), Ralph R. Swick (MIT-
Athena), Mark Vandevoorde (MIT-Athena), Bob McNamara (DEC-MAD), Jim
Gettys (MIT-Athena), Bob Scheifler (MIT X Consortium), Doug Mink (SAO),
Steve Pitschke (Stellar), Ron Newman (MIT-Athena), Jim Fulton (MIT X
Consortium), Dave Serisky (HP), Jonathan Kamens (MIT-Athena), Jason
Bacon, Stephen P. Wall, David Wexelblat, and Thomas Dickey (XFree86
Project).
Xfree86 Xterm XTERM(1)
