XTERM(1) XTERM(1)
Xfree86 Xterm
NAME [Toc] [Back]
xterm - terminal emulator for X
SYNOPSIS [Toc] [Back]
xterm [-toolkitoption ...] [-option ...]
DESCRIPTION [Toc] [Back]
The xterm program is a terminal emulator for the X Window System. It
provides DEC VT102/VT220 (VTxxx) and Tektronix 4014 compatible
terminals for programs that cannot use the window system directly. If
the underlying operating system supports terminal resizing
capabilities (for example, the SIGWINCH signal in systems derived from
4.3bsd), xterm will use the facilities to notify programs running in
the window whenever it is resized.
The VTxxx and Tektronix 4014 terminals each have their own window so
that you can edit text in one and look at graphics in the other at the
same time. To maintain the correct aspect ratio (height/width),
Tektronix graphics will be restricted to the largest box with a 4014's
aspect ratio that will fit in the window. This box is located in the
upper left area of the window.
Although both windows may be displayed at the same time, one of them
is considered the ``active'' window for receiving keyboard input and
terminal output. This is the window that contains the text cursor.
The active window can be chosen through escape sequences, the ``VT
Options'' menu in the VTxxx window, and the ``Tek Options'' menu in
the 4014 window.
EMULATIONS [Toc] [Back]
The VT102 emulation is fairly complete, but does not support
autorepeat. 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 appearance 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
control through a set of escape sequences different from the standard
VT102 escape sequences. (See the Xterm Control Sequences document.)
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The Tektronix 4014 emulation is also fairly good. It 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
available in this version of xterm. Some (e.g., the non-VT220
extensions) are available only if they were compiled in, though the
most commonly-used are in the default configuration.
OTHER FEATURES [Toc] [Back]
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 alternate screen for editing and to restore the screen
on exit. A popup menu entry makes it simple to switch between the
normal and alternate screens for cut and paste.
In either VT102 or Tektronix mode, there are escape sequences to
change the name of the windows. Additionally, in VT102 mode, xterm
implements the window-manipulation control sequences from dtterm, such
as resizing the window, setting its location on the screen.
Xterm allows character-based applications to receive mouse events
(currently button-press and release events, and button-motion events)
as keyboard control sequences. See Xterm Control Sequences for
details.
OPTIONS [Toc] [Back]
The xterm terminal emulator accepts all of the standard X Toolkit
command 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
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scripts:
-version
This causes xterm to print a version number to the standard
output.
-help This causes xterm to print out a verbose message describing
its options. The message is written to the standard error.
The other options are used to control the appearance and behavior.
Not all options are necessarily configured into your copy of xterm.
-132 Normally, the VT102 DECCOLM escape sequence that switches
between 80 and 132 column mode is ignored. This option causes
the DECCOLM escape sequence to be recognized, and the xterm
window will resize appropriately.
-ah This option indicates that xterm should always highlight the
text cursor. By default, xterm will display a hollow text
cursor whenever the focus is lost or the pointer leaves the
window.
+ah This option indicates that xterm should do text cursor
highlighting based on focus.
-ai This option disables active icon support if that feature was
compiled into xterm. This is equivalent to setting the vt100
resource activeIcon to FALSE.
+ai This option enables active icon support if that feature was
compiled into xterm. This is equivalent to setting the vt100
resource activeIcon to TRUE.
-aw This option indicates that auto-wraparound should be allowed.
This allows the cursor to automatically wrap to the beginning
of the next line when when it is at the rightmost position of
a line and text is output.
+aw This option indicates that auto-wraparound should not be
allowed.
-b number
This option specifies the size of the inner border (the
distance between the outer edge of the 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.
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-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
display of characters with bold attribute as color
+bdc Set the vt100 resource colorBDMode to TRUE, enabling the
display of characters with bold attribute as color rather than
bold
-cb Set the vt100 resource cutToBeginningOfLine to FALSE.
+cb Set the vt100 resource cutToBeginningOfLine to TRUE.
-cc characterclassrange:value[,...]
This sets classes indicated by the given ranges for using in
selecting by words. See the section specifying character
classes.
-cjk_width
Set the cjkWidth resource to ``true''. When turned on,
characters with East Asian Ambiguous (A) category in UTR 11
have a column width of 2. Othrwise, they have a column width
of 1. This may be useful for some legacy CJK text terminalbased
programs 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.
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+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
colors: the vt100 foreground and background colors, the text
cursor 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
colors.
-e program [ arguments ... ]
This option specifies the program (and its command line
arguments) to be run in the xterm window. It also sets the
window title and icon name to be the basename of the program
being executed if neither -T nor -n are given on the command
line. This must be the last option on the command line.
-en encoding
This 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
normal font. If only one of the normal or bold fonts is
specified, it will be used as the normal font and the bold
font will be produced by overstriking this font. The default
is to do overstriking of the normal font. See also the
discussion of boldFont and boldMode resources.
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-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
doublewidth font is found, it will improvise, by stretching
the normal font. This corresponds to the wideFont resource.
-fwb font
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying bold
wide text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice as
wide as the font that will be used to draw bold text. If no
doublewidth font is found, it will improvise, by stretching
the bold font. This corresponds to the wideBoldFont resource.
-fx font
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying the
preedit string in the "OverTheSpot" input method. See also
the discussion of the ximFont resource.
-hc color
This option specifies the color to use for the background of
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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
window, or if you use the menu entries that send a signal,
e.g., HUP or KILL.
+hold Turn off the hold resource, i.e., xterm will immediately
destroy its window when the shell command completes.
-ie Turn on the ptyInitialErase resource, i.e., use the pseudoterminal'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
reference, if available.
-im Turn on the useInsertMode resource.
+im Turn off the useInsertMode resource.
-into windowId
Given an X window identifier (a decimal integer), xterm will
reparent its top-level shell widget to that window. This is
used to embed xterm within other applications.
-j This option indicates that xterm should do jump scrolling.
Normally, text is scrolled one line at a time; this option
allows xterm to move multiple lines at a time so that it does
not fall as far behind. Its use is strongly recommended since
it makes xterm much faster when scanning through large amounts
of text. The VT100 escape sequences for 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
control characters (code 128-159) to treat them as printable.
+k8 This option resets the allowC1Printable resource.
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-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
variables. This is achieved by turning on UTF-8 mode and by
invoking luit for conversion between locale encodings and
UTF-8. (luit is not invoked in UTF-8 locales.) 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
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shell after all. Also, xterm -e is supposed to provide a
consistent functionality for other applications that need to
start text-mode programs in a window, and if loginShell were
not ignored, the result of ~/.profile might interfere with
that.
If you do want the effect of -ls and -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
cursor. The default is to use the foreground color.
-nb number
This option specifies the number of characters from the right
end of a line at which the margin bell, if enabled, will ring.
The default is 10.
-nul This option disables the display of underlining.
+nul This option enables the display of underlining.
-pc This option enables the PC-style use of bold colors (see
boldColors resource).
+pc This option disables the PC-style use of bold colors.
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-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.
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-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
automatically reposition the screen to the bottom of the
scrolling region. This option can be turned on and off from
the ``VT Options'' menu.
+si This option indicates that output to a window should cause it
to scroll to the bottom.
-sk This option indicates that pressing a key while using the
scrollbar to review previous lines of text should cause the
window to be repositioned automatically in the normal position
at the bottom of the scroll region.
+sk This option indicates that pressing a key while using the
scrollbar should not cause the window to be repositioned.
-sl number
This option specifies the number of lines to save that have
been scrolled off the top of the screen. The default is 64.
-sm This option, corresponding to the sessionMgt resource,
indicates that xterm should set up session manager callbacks.
+sm This option indicates that xterm should not set up session
manager callbacks.
-sp This option indicates that Sun/PC keyboard should be assumed,
providing mapping for keypad `+' to `,', and CTRL-F1 to F13,
CTRL-F2 to F14, etc.
+sp This option indicates that the standard escape codes should be
generated for keypad and function keys.
-t This option indicates that xterm should start in Tektronix
mode, rather than in VT102 mode. Switching between the two
windows is done using the ``Options'' menus. Termcap(5)
entries that work with xterm ``tek4014,'' ``tek4015,''
``tek4012'', ``tek4013'' and ``tek4010,'' and ``dumb.'' xterm
automatically searches the termcap file in this order for
these entries and then sets the ``TERM'' and the ``TERMCAP''
environment variables.
+t This option indicates that xterm should start in VT102 mode.
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-ti term_id
Specify the name used by xterm to select the correct response
to terminal ID queries. It also specifies the emulation
level, used to determine the type of response to a DA control
sequence. Valid values include vt52, vt100, vt101, vt102, and
vt220 (the "vt" is optional). The default is vt100. The
term_id argument specifies the terminal ID to use. (This is
the same as the decTerminalID resource).
-tm string
This option specifies a series of terminal setting keywords
followed by the characters that should be bound to those
functions, similar to the stty 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
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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
immediately, showing you which window has the output. (A
similar feature was in x10 xterm.)
-C This option indicates that this window should receive console
output. This is not supported on all systems. To obtain
console output, you must be the owner of the console device,
and you must have read and write permission for it. If you
are running X under xdm on the console screen you may need to
have the session startup and reset programs explicitly change
the ownership of the console device in order to get this
option to work.
-Sccn This option allows xterm to be used as an input and output
channel for an existing program and is sometimes used in
specialized applications. The option value specifies the last
few letters of the name of a pseudo-terminal to use in slave
mode, plus the number of the inherited file descriptor. If
the option contains a ``/'' character, that delimits the
characters used for the pseudo-terminal name from the file
descriptor. Otherwise, exactly two characters are used from
the option for the pseudo-terminal name, the remainder is the
file descriptor. Examples:
-S123/45
-Sab34
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The following command line arguments are provided for compatibility
with older versions. They may not be supported in the next release as
the X Toolkit provides standard options that accomplish the same task.
%geom This option specifies the preferred size and position of the
Tektronix window. It is shorthand for specifying the
``*tekGeometry'' resource.
#geom This option specifies the preferred position of the icon
window. It is shorthand for specifying the ``*iconGeometry''
resource.
-T string
This option specifies the title for xterm's windows. It is
equivalent to -title.
-n string
This option specifies the icon name for xterm's windows. It
is shorthand for specifying the ``*iconName'' resource. Note
that this is not the same as the 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
equivalent to -rv.
-w number
This option specifies the width in pixels of the border
surrounding the window. It is equivalent to -borderwidth or
-bw.
The following standard X Toolkit command line arguments are commonly
used with xterm:
-bd color
This option specifies the color to use for the border of the
window. The default is ``black.''
-bg color
This option specifies the color to use for the background of
the window. The default is ``white.''
-bw number
This option specifies the width in pixels of the border
surrounding the window.
-display display
This option specifies the X server to contact; see
X(__miscmansuffix__).
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-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
executable file name. Name should not contain ``.'' or ``*''
characters.
-rv This option indicates that reverse video should be simulated
by swapping the foreground and background colors.
+rv Disable the simulation of reverse video by swapping foreground
and background colors.
-title string
This option specifies the window title string, which may be
displayed by window managers if the user so chooses. The
default title is the command line specified after the -e
option, if any, otherwise the application name.
-xrm resourcestring
This option specifies a resource string to be used. This is
especially useful for setting resources that do not have
separate command line options.
RESOURCES [Toc] [Back]
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
feature.
hold (class Hold)
If true, xterm will not immediately destroy its window when
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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
initially. See mesg(1). The default is ``true''.
ptyHandshake (classPtyHandshake)
If ``true'', xterm will perform handshaking during
initialization to ensure that the parent and child processes
update the utmp and stty state. Platforms with newer pseudoterminal
interfaces do not require this feature; normally it
is not configured. The default is ``true''.
ptyInitialErase (class PtyInitialErase)
If ``true'', xterm will use the pseudo-terminal's sense of the
stty erase value. If ``false'', xterm will set the stty erase
value to match its own 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
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session manager callbacks for XtNdieCallback and
XtNsaveCallback. The default is ``true''.
sunFunctionKeys (class SunFunctionKeys)
Specifies whether or not Sun Function Key escape codes should
be generated for function keys instead of standard escape
sequences.
sunKeyboard (class SunKeyboard)
Specifies whether or not Sun/PC keyboard layout 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
sunKeyboard 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
environment variable.
title (class Title)
Specifies a string that may be used by the window manager when
displaying this application.
ttyModes (class TtyModes)
Specifies a string containing terminal setting 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.
Control characters may be specified as ^char (e.g., ^c or ^u)
and ^? may be used to indicate delete (127). Use ^- to denote
undef. Use \034 to represent ^\, since a literal backslash in
an X resource escapes the next character.
This is very useful for overriding the default terminal
settings without having to 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
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window map before starting the subprocess. The default is
``false.''
zIconBeep (class ZIconBeep)
Same as -ziconbeep command line argument. If the value of
this resource is non-zero, xterms that produce output while
iconified will cause an XBell sound at the given volume and
have "***" prepended to their icon titles. Most window
managers will detect this change immediately, showing you
which window has the output. (A similar feature was in x10
xterm.)
The 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 application icon windows. Some window managers will
allow you to enter keystrokes into the active icon window.
The default is ``false.''
allowC1Printable (class AllowC1Printable)
If true, overrides the mapping of C1 controls (codes 128-159)
to make them be treated as if they were printable characters.
Although this corresponds to no particular standard, some
users insist it is a VT100. The default is ``false.''
allowSendEvents (class AllowSendEvents)
Specifies whether or not synthetic key and button events
(generated using the X protocol SendEvent request) should be
interpreted or discarded. The default is ``false'' meaning
they are discarded. Note that allowing such events 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
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highlighted text cursor. By default, a hollow text cursor is
displayed whenever the pointer moves out of the window or the
window 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
timeout to await input (i.e., to support the Xaw3d arrow
scrollbar). The default is ``false.''
backarrowKey (class BackarrowKey)
Specifies whether the backarrow key transmits a backspace (8)
or delete (127) character. This corresponds to the DECBKM
control sequence. 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.''
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boldFont (class BoldFont)
Specifies the name of the bold font to use instead of
overstriking.
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
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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
corresponding 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
disables all colors, including this.
colorULMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the underline attribute
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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)
color
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