XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
NAME
xterm - terminal emulator for X
SYNOPSIS
xterm [-toolkitoption ...] [-option ...] [shell]
DESCRIPTION
The xterm program is a terminal emulator for the X Window System. It
provides DEC VT102/VT220 and selected features from higher-level
terminals such as VT320/VT420/VT520 (VTxxx). It also provides
Tektronix 4014 emulation for programs that cannot use the window
system directly. If the underlying operating system supports terminal
resizing capabilities (for example, the SIGWINCH signal in systems
derived from 4.3BSD), xterm will use the facilities to notify programs
running in the window whenever it is resized.
The 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
Xterm provides usable emulations of related DEC terminals:
+ VT52 emulation is complete.
+ VT102 emulation is fairly complete, but does not support
autorepeat (because that would affect the keyboard used by other X
clients).
Double-size characters are displayed properly if your font server
supports scalable bitmap fonts.
+ VT220 emulation does not support soft fonts, it is otherwise
complete.
+ VT420 emulation (the default) supports controls for manipulating
rectangles of characters as well as left/right margins.
Xterm does not support some other features which are not suitable
- 1 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
for emulation, e.g., two-sessions.
Terminal database (terminfo (5) or termcap (5)) entries that work with
xterm include
an optional platform-specific entry ("__default_termname__"),
"xterm",
"vt102",
"vt100",
"ansi" and
"dumb"
Xterm automatically searches the terminal database in this order for
these entries and then sets the "TERM" variable (and the "TERMCAP"
environment variable on a few older systems). The alternatives after
"xterm" are very old, from the late 1980s.
VT100 and VT102 emulations are commonly equated, though they actually
differ. The VT102 provided controls for inserting and deleting lines.
Similarly, "ansi" and "vt100" are often equated. These are not really
the same. For instance, they use different controls for scrolling
(but xterm supports both). These features differ in an "ansi"
terminal description from xterm:
acsc
Pseudo-graphics (line-drawing) uses a different mapping.
xenl
Xterm wraps text at the right margin using the VT100 "newline
glitch" behavior.
Because of the wrapping behavior, you would occasionally have to
repaint the screen when using a text editor with the "ansi"
description.
You may also use descriptions corresponding to the various supported
emulations such as "vt220" or "vt420", but should set the terminal
emulation level with the decTerminalID resource.
On most systems, xterm will use the terminfo database. Some older
systems use termcap. (The "TERMCAP" environment variable is not set
if xterm is linked against a terminfo library, since the requisite
information is not provided by the termcap emulation of terminfo
libraries).
Many of the special xterm features may be modified under program
control through a set of escape sequences different from the standard
VTxxx escape sequences (see Xterm Control Sequences).
- 2 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
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
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 VTxxx mode, there are escape sequences to activate and deactivate
an alternate screen buffer, which is the same size as the display area
of the window. When activated, the current screen is saved and
replaced with the alternate screen. Saving of lines scrolled off the
top of the window is disabled until the normal screen is restored.
The usual terminal description for xterm allows the visual editor
vi(1) to switch to the alternate screen for editing and to restore the
screen on exit. A popup menu entry makes it simple to switch between
the normal and alternate screens for cut and paste.
In either VTxxx or Tektronix mode, there are escape sequences to
change the name of the windows. Additionally, in VTxxx mode, xterm
implements the window-manipulation control sequences from dtterm, such
as resizing the window, setting its location on the screen.
Xterm allows character-based applications to receive mouse events
(currently button-press and release events, and button-motion events)
as keyboard control sequences. See Xterm Control Sequences for
details.
OPTIONS
Because xterm uses the X Toolkit library, it accepts the standard X
Toolkit command line options. Xterm also accepts many application-
- 3 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
specific options.
By convention, if an option begins with a "+" instead of a "-", the
option is restored to its default value.
Most of the xterm options are actually parsed by the X Toolkit, which
sets resource values, and overrides corresponding resource-settings in
your X resource files. Xterm provides the X Toolkit with a table of
options. A few of these are marked, telling the X Toolkit to ignore
them (-help, -version, -class, -e, and -into). After the X Toolkit
has parsed the command-line parameters, it removes those which it
handles, leaving the specially-marked parameters for xterm to handle.
These options do not set a resource value, and are handled specially:
-version
This causes xterm to print a version number to the standard
output, and then exit.
-help This causes xterm to print out a verbose message describing
its options, one per line. The message is written to the
standard output. After printing the message, xterm exits.
Xterm generates this message, sorting it and noting whether a
"-option" or a "+option" turns the feature on or off, since
some features historically have been one or the other. Xterm
generates a concise help message (multiple options per line)
when an unknown option is used, e.g.,
xterm -z
If the logic for a particular option such as logging is not
compiled into xterm, the help text for that option also is not
displayed by the -help option.
The -version and -help options are interpreted even if xterm cannot
open the display, and are useful for testing and configuration
scripts. Along with -class, they are checked before other options.
To do this, xterm has its own (much simpler) argument parser, along
with a table of the X Toolkit's built-in list of options.
Relying upon the X Toolkit to parse the options and associated values
has the advantages of simplicity and good integration with the X
resource mechanism. There are a few drawbacks
+ Xterm cannot tell easily whether a resource value was set by one
of the external resource- or application-defaults files, whether
it was set using xrdb(1), or if it was set through the -xrm option
or via some directly relevant command-line option. Xterm sees
only the end-result: a value supplied when creating its widgets.
- 4 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
+ Xterm does not know the order in which particular options and
items in resource files are evaluated. Rather, it sees all of the
values for a given widget at the same time. In the design of
these options, some are deemed more important, and can override
other options.
The X Toolkit uses patterns (constants and wildcards) to match
resources. Once a particular pattern has been used, it will not
modify it. To override a given setting, a more-specific pattern
must be used, e.g., replacing "*" with ".". Some poorly-designed
resource files are too specific to allow the command-line options
to affect the relevant widget values.
+ In a few cases, the X Toolkit combines its standard options in
ways which do not work well with xterm. This happens with the
color (-fg, -bg) and reverse (-rv) options. Xterm makes a special
case of these and adjusts its sense of "reverse" to lessen user
surprise.
One parameter (after all options) may be given. That overrides
xterm's built-in choice of shell program:
+ If the parameter is not a relative path, i.e., beginning with "./"
or "../", xterm looks for the file in the user's PATH. In either
case, this check fails if xterm cannot construct an absolute path.
+ If that check fails (or if no such parameter is given), xterm next
checks the "SHELL" variable. If that specifies an executable
file, xterm will attempt to start that. However, xterm
additionally checks if it is a valid shell, and will unset "SHELL"
if it is not.
+ If "SHELL" is not set to an executable file, xterm tries to use
the shell program specified in the user's password file entry. As
before, xterm verifies if this is a valid shell.
+ Finally, if the password file entry does not specify a valid
shell, xterm uses /bin/sh.
The -e option cannot be used with this parameter since it uses all
parameters following the option.
Xterm validates shell programs by finding their pathname in the text
file /etc/shells. It treats the environment variable "SHELL"
specially because (like "TERM"), xterm both reads and updates the
variable, and because the program started by xterm is not necessarily
a shell.
The other options are used to control the appearance and behavior.
- 5 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Not all options are necessarily configured into your copy of xterm:
-132 Normally, the VT102 DECCOLM escape sequence that switches
between 80 and 132 column mode is ignored. This option causes
the DECCOLM escape sequence to be recognized, and the xterm
window will resize appropriately.
-ah This option indicates that xterm should always highlight the
text cursor. By default, xterm will display a hollow text
cursor whenever the focus is lost or the pointer leaves the
window.
+ah This option indicates that xterm should do text cursor
highlighting based on focus.
-ai This option disables active icon support if that feature was
compiled into xterm. This is equivalent to setting the vt100
resource activeIcon to "false".
+ai This option enables active icon support if that feature was
compiled into xterm. This is equivalent to setting the vt100
resource activeIcon to "true".
-aw This option indicates that auto-wraparound should be allowed,
and is equivalent to setting the vt100 resource autoWrap to
"true".
Auto-wraparound allows the cursor to automatically wrap to the
beginning of the next line when it is at the rightmost
position of a line and text is output.
+aw This option indicates that auto-wraparound should not be
allowed, and is equivalent to setting the vt100 resource
autoWrap to "false".
-b number
This option specifies the size of the inner border (the
distance between the outer edge of the characters and the
window border) in pixels. That is the vt100 internalBorder
resource. The default is "2".
-barc This option, corresponding to the cursorBar resource, makes
the cursor a bar instead of a box.
+barc This option, corresponding to the cursorBar resource, makes
the cursor a box instead of a bar.
-baudrate number
Set the line-speed, used to test the behavior of applications
- 6 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
that use the line-speed when optimizing their output to the
screen. The default is "38400".
-bc turn on text cursor blinking. This overrides the cursorBlink
resource.
+bc turn off text cursor blinking. This overrides the cursorBlink
resource.
-bcf milliseconds
set the amount of time text cursor is off when blinking via
the cursorOffTime resource.
-bcn milliseconds
set the amount of time text cursor is on when blinking via the
cursorOnTime resource.
-bdc Set the vt100 resource colorBDMode to "false", disabling the
display of characters with bold attribute as color.
+bdc Set the vt100 resource colorBDMode to "true", enabling the
display of characters with bold attribute as color rather than
bold.
-cb Set the vt100 resource cutToBeginningOfLine to "false".
+cb Set the vt100 resource cutToBeginningOfLine to "true".
-cc characterclassrange:value[, ...]
This sets classes indicated by the given ranges for using in
selecting by words (see CHARACTER CLASSES and the charClass
resource).
-cjk_width
Set the cjkWidth resource to "true". When turned on,
characters with East Asian Ambiguous (A) category in UTR 11
have a column width of 2. Otherwise, they have a column width
of 1. This may be useful for some legacy CJK text terminal-
based programs assuming box drawings and others to have a
column width of 2. It also should be turned on when you
specify a TrueType CJK double-width (bi-width/monospace) font
either with -fa at the command line or faceName resource. The
default is "false"
+cjk_width
Reset the cjkWidth resource.
-class string
This option allows you to override xterm's resource class.
- 7 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Normally it is "__default_class__", but can be set to another
class such as "U__default_class__" to override selected
resources.
X Toolkit sets the WM_CLASS property using the instance name
and this class value.
-cm This option disables recognition of ANSI color-change escape
sequences. It sets the colorMode resource to "false".
+cm This option enables recognition of ANSI color-change escape
sequences. This is the same as the vt100 resource colorMode.
-cn This option indicates that newlines should not be cut in
line-mode selections. It sets the cutNewline resource to
"false".
+cn This option indicates that newlines should be cut in line-mode
selections. It sets the cutNewline resource to "true".
-cr color
This option specifies the color to use for text cursor. The
default is to use the same foreground color that is used for
text. It sets the cursorColor resource according to the
parameter.
-cu This option indicates that xterm should work around a bug in
the more(1) program that causes it to incorrectly display
lines that are exactly the width of the window and are
followed by a line beginning with a tab (the leading tabs are
not displayed). This option is so named because it was
originally thought to be a bug in the curses(3x) cursor motion
package.
+cu This option indicates that xterm should not work around the
more(1) bug mentioned above.
-dc This option disables the escape sequence to change dynamic
colors: the vt100 foreground and background colors, its text
cursor color, the pointer cursor foreground and background
colors, the Tektronix emulator foreground and background
colors, its text cursor color and highlight color. The option
sets the dynamicColors option to "false".
+dc This option enables the escape sequence to change dynamic
colors. The option sets the dynamicColors option to "true".
-e program [ arguments ... ]
This option specifies the program (and its command line
- 8 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
arguments) to be run in the xterm window. It also sets the
window title and icon name to be the basename of the program
being executed if neither -T nor -n are given on the command
line.
NOTE: This must be the last option on the command line.
-en encoding
This option determines the encoding on which xterm runs. It
sets the locale resource. Encodings other than UTF-8 are
supported by using luit. The -lc option should be used
instead of -en for systems with locale support.
-fa pattern
This option sets the pattern for fonts selected from the
FreeType library if support for that library was compiled into
xterm. This corresponds to the faceName resource. When a CJK
double-width font is specified, you also need to turn on the
cjkWidth resource.
If you specify both -fa and the X Toolkit option -fn, the -fa
setting overrides the latter.
See also the renderFont resource, which combines with this to
determine whether FreeType fonts are initially active.
-fb font
This option specifies a font to be used when displaying bold
text. It sets the boldFont resource.
This font must be the same height and width as the normal
font, otherwise it is ignored. If only one of the normal or
bold fonts is specified, it will be used as the normal font
and the bold font will be produced by overstriking this font.
See also the discussion of boldMode and alwaysBoldMode
resources.
-fbb This option indicates that xterm should compare normal and
bold fonts bounding boxes to ensure they are compatible. It
sets the freeBoldBox resource to "false".
+fbb This option indicates that xterm should not compare normal and
bold fonts bounding boxes to ensure they are compatible. It
sets the freeBoldBox resource to "true".
-fbx This option indicates that xterm should not assume that the
normal and bold fonts have VT100 line-drawing characters. If
any are missing, xterm will draw the characters directly. It
- 9 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
sets the forceBoxChars resource to "false".
+fbx This option indicates that xterm should assume that the normal
and bold fonts have VT100 line-drawing characters. It sets
the forceBoxChars resource to "true".
-fc fontchoice
Specify the initial font chosen from the font menu. The
option value corresponds to the initialFont resource.
-fd pattern
This option sets the pattern for double-width fonts selected
from the FreeType library if support for that library was
compiled into xterm. This corresponds to the
faceNameDoublesize resource.
-fi font
This option sets the font for active icons if that feature was
compiled into xterm.
See also the discussion of the iconFont resource.
-fs size
This option sets the pointsize for fonts selected from the
FreeType library if support for that library was compiled into
xterm. This corresponds to the faceSize resource.
-fullscreen
This option indicates that xterm should ask the window manager
to let it use the full-screen for display, e.g., without
window decorations. It sets the fullscreen resource to
"true".
+fullscreen
This option indicates that xterm should not ask the window
manager to let it use the full-screen for display. It sets
the fullscreen resource to "false".
-fw font
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying wide
text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice as wide
as the font that will be used to draw normal text. If no
double-width font is found, it will improvise, by stretching
the normal font. This corresponds to the wideFont resource.
-fwb font
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying bold
wide text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice as
wide as the font that will be used to draw bold text. If no
- 10 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
double-width font is found, it will improvise, by stretching
the bold font. This corresponds to the wideBoldFont resource.
-fx font
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying the
preedit string in the "OverTheSpot" input method.
See also the discussion of the ximFont resource.
-hc color
(see -selbg).
-hf This option indicates that HP function key escape codes should
be generated for function keys. It sets the hpFunctionKeys
resource to "true".
+hf This option indicates that HP function key escape codes should
not be generated for function keys. It sets the
hpFunctionKeys resource to "false".
-hm Tells xterm to use highlightTextColor and highlightColor to
override the reversed foreground/background colors in a
selection. It sets the highlightColorMode resource to "true".
+hm Tells xterm not to use highlightTextColor and highlightColor
to override the reversed foreground/background colors in a
selection. It sets the highlightColorMode resource to
"false".
-hold Turn on the hold resource, i.e., xterm will not immediately
destroy its window when the shell command completes. It will
wait until you use the window manager to destroy/kill the
window, or if you use the menu entries that send a signal,
e.g., HUP or KILL.
+hold Turn off the hold resource, i.e., xterm will immediately
destroy its window when the shell command completes.
-ie Turn on the ptyInitialErase resource, i.e., use the pseudo-
terminal's sense of the stty(1) erase value.
+ie Turn off the ptyInitialErase resource, i.e., set the stty
erase value using the kb string from the termcap entry as a
reference, if available.
-im Turn on the useInsertMode resource, which forces use of insert
mode by adding appropriate entries to the TERMCAP environment
variable. (This option is ignored on most systems, because
TERMCAP is not used).
- 11 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
+im Turn off the useInsertMode resource.
-into windowId
Given an X window identifier (an integer, which can be
hexadecimal, octal or decimal according to whether it begins
with "0x", "0" or neither), xterm will reparent its top-level
shell widget to that window. This is used to embed xterm
within other applications.
For instance, there are scripts for Tcl/Tk and Gtk which can
be used to demonstrate the feature. When using Gtk, there is
a limitation of that toolkit which requires that xterm's
allowSendEvents resource is enabled.
-itc Set the vt100 resource colorITMode to "false", disabling the
display of characters with italic attribute as color.
+itc Set the vt100 resource colorITMode to "true", enabling the
display of characters with italic attribute as color rather
than italic.
-j This option indicates that xterm should do jump scrolling. It
corresponds to the jumpScroll resource. Normally, text is
scrolled one line at a time; this option allows xterm to move
multiple lines at a time so that it does not fall as far
behind. Its use is strongly recommended since it makes xterm
much faster when scanning through large amounts of text. The
VT100 escape sequences for enabling and disabling smooth
scroll as well as the VT Options menu can be used to turn this
feature on or off.
+j This option indicates that xterm should not do jump scrolling.
-jf When doing jump-scrolling or related indexing, e.g., carriage
returns, xterm will defer flushing screen-updates, to improve
speed. This corresponds to the fastScroll resource.
+jf When doing jump-scrolling or related indexing, e.g., carriage
returns, xterm will not defer flushing screen-updates, to
improve speed. This corresponds to the fastScroll resource.
-k8 This option sets the allowC1Printable resource. When
allowC1Printable is set, xterm overrides the mapping of C1
control characters (code 128159) to treat them as printable.
+k8 This option resets the allowC1Printable resource.
-kt keyboardtype
This option sets the keyboardType resource. Possible values
- 12 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
include: "unknown", "default", "legacy", "hp", "sco", "sun",
"tcap" and "vt220".
The value "unknown", causes the corresponding resource to be
ignored.
The value "default", suppresses the associated resources
hpFunctionKeys,
scoFunctionKeys,
sunFunctionKeys,
tcapFunctionKeys,
oldXtermFKeys and
sunKeyboard,
using the Sun/PC keyboard layout.
-l Turn logging on, unless disabled by the logInhibit resource.
Some versions of xterm may have logging enabled. However,
normally logging is not supported, due to security concerns in
the early 1990s. That was a problem in X11R4 xterm (1989)
which was addressed by a patch to X11R5 late in 1993. X11R6
included these fixes. The older version (when running with
root privilege) would create the log file using root
privilege. The reason why xterm ran with root privileges was
to open pseudo-terminals. Those privileges are now needed
only on very old systems: Unix98 pseudo-terminals made the BSD
scheme unnecessary.
Unless overridden by the -lf option or the logFile resource:
+ If the filename is "-", then logging is sent to the
standard output.
+ Otherwise a filename is generated, and the log file is
written to the directory from which xterm is invoked.
+ The generated filename is of the form
XtermLog.XXXXXX
or
Xterm.log.hostname.yyyy.mm.dd.hh.mm.ss.XXXXXX
depending on how xterm was built.
+l Turn logging off.
- 13 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
-lc Turn on support of various encodings according to the users'
locale setting, i.e., LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG environment
variables. This is achieved by turning on UTF-8 mode and by
invoking luit for conversion between locale encodings and
UTF-8. (luit is not invoked in UTF-8 locales.) This
corresponds to the locale resource.
The actual list of encodings which are supported is determined
by luit. Consult the luit manual page for further details.
See also the discussion of the -u8 option which supports UTF-8
locales.
+lc Turn off support of automatic selection of locale encodings.
Conventional 8bit mode or, in UTF-8 locales or with -u8
option, UTF-8 mode will be used.
-lcc path
File name for the encoding converter from/to locale encodings
and UTF-8 which is used with -lc option or locale resource.
This corresponds to the localeFilter resource.
-leftbar
Force scrollbar to the left side of VT100 screen. This is the
default, unless you have set the rightScrollBar resource.
-lf filename
Specify the log filename. This sets the logFile resource. If
set to "-", xterm writes its log to the standard output. See
the -l option.
-ls This option indicates that the shell that is started in the
xterm window will be a login shell (i.e., the first character
of argv[0] will be a dash, indicating to the shell that it
should read the user's .login or .profile).
The -ls flag and the loginShell resource are ignored if -e is
also given, because xterm does not know how to make the shell
start the given command after whatever it does when it is a
login shell - the user's shell of choice need not be a Bourne
shell after all. Also, xterm -e is supposed to provide a
consistent functionality for other applications that need to
start text-mode programs in a window, and if loginShell were
not ignored, the result of ~/.profile might interfere with
that.
If you do want the effect of -ls and -e simultaneously, you
may get away with something like
- 14 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
xterm -e /bin/bash -l -c "my command here"
Finally, -ls is not completely ignored, because xterm -ls -e
does write a __wtmp_name__ entry (if configured to do so),
whereas xterm -e does not.
+ls This option indicates that the shell that is started should
not be a login shell (i.e., it will be a normal "subshell").
-maximized
This option indicates that xterm should ask the window manager
to maximize its layout on startup. This corresponds to the
maximized resource.
Maximizing is not the reverse of iconifying; it is possible to
do both with certain window managers.
+maximized
This option indicates that xterm should ask the window manager
to not maximize its layout on startup.
-mb This option indicates that xterm should ring a margin bell
when the user types near the right end of a line.
+mb This option indicates that margin bell should not be rung.
-mc milliseconds
This option specifies the maximum time between multi-click
selections.
-mesg Turn off the messages resource, i.e., disallow write access to
the terminal.
+mesg Turn on the messages resource, i.e., allow write access to the
terminal.
-mk_width
Set the mkWidth resource to "true". This makes xterm use a
built-in version of the wide-character width calculation. The
default is "false"
+mk_width
Reset the mkWidth resource.
-ms color
This option specifies the color to be used for the pointer
cursor. The default is to use the foreground color. This
sets the pointerColor resource.
- 15 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
-nb number
This option specifies the number of characters from the right
end of a line at which the margin bell, if enabled, will ring.
The default is "10".
-nomap This option disables the initial mapping of the terminal
window. Mapping an X window makes it visible if it is
managed. The default is "false" because xterm's window is
normally displayed on startup.
After startup, an unmapped xterm window can be mapped by
identifying its window-id, e.g., using xwininfo(1) or
xlsclients(1), and then employing another program such as
xdotool(1) to ask the window manager to make it visible.
If the xterm window is visible (i.e., mapped), xterm's menus
and actions (i.e., set-visibility) allow one to select whether
the VT100 or Tek4014 windows should be displayed.
+nomap This option enables the initial mapping of the terminal
window. This is the default behavior.
-nul This option disables the display of underlining.
+nul This option enables the display of underlining.
-pc This option enables the PC-style use of bold colors (see
boldColors resource).
+pc This option disables the PC-style use of bold colors.
-pf font
This option specifies the font to be used for the pointer.
The corresponding resource name is pointerFont. The resource
value default is cursor.
-pob This option indicates that the window should be raised
whenever a Control-G is received.
+pob This option indicates that the window should not be raised
whenever a Control-G is received.
-report-charclass
Print a report to the standard output showing information
about the character-classes which can be altered using the
charClass resource.
-report-colors
Print a report to the standard output showing information
- 16 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
about colors as xterm allocates them. This corresponds to the
reportColors resource.
-report-fonts
Print a report to the standard output showing information
about fonts which are loaded. This corresponds to the
reportFonts resource.
-report-icons
Print a report to the standard output showing information
about pixmap-icons which are loaded. This corresponds to the
reportIcons resource.
-report-xres
Print a report to the standard output showing the values of
boolean, numeric or string X resources for the VT100 widget
when initialization is complete. This corresponds to the
reportXRes resource.
-rightbar
Force scrollbar to the right side of VT100 screen.
-rvc This option disables the display of characters with reverse
attribute as color.
+rvc This option enables the display of characters with reverse
attribute as color.
-rw This option indicates that reverse-wraparound should be
allowed. This allows the cursor to back up from the leftmost
column of one line to the rightmost column of the previous
line. This is very useful for editing long shell command
lines and is encouraged. This option can be turned on and off
from the VT Options menu.
+rw This option indicates that reverse-wraparound should not be
allowed.
-s This option indicates that xterm may scroll asynchronously,
meaning that the screen does not have to be kept completely up
to date while scrolling. This allows xterm to run faster when
network latencies are very high and is typically useful when
running across a very large internet or many gateways.
+s This option indicates that xterm should scroll synchronously.
-samename
Does not send title and icon name change requests when the
request would have no effect: the name is not changed. This
- 17 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
has the advantage of preventing flicker and the disadvantage
of requiring an extra round trip to the server to find out the
previous value. In practice this should never be a problem.
+samename
Always send title and icon name change requests.
-sb This option indicates that some number of lines that are
scrolled off the top of the window should be saved and that a
scrollbar should be displayed so that those lines can be
viewed. This option may be turned on and off from the VT
Options menu.
+sb This option indicates that a scrollbar should not be
displayed.
-selbg color
This option specifies the color to use for the background of
selected text. If not specified, reverse video is used. See
the discussion of the highlightColor resource.
-selfg color
This option specifies the color to use for selected text. If
not specified, reverse video is used. See the discussion of
the highlightTextColor resource.
-sf This option indicates that Sun function key escape codes
should be generated for function keys.
+sf This option indicates that the standard escape codes should be
generated for function keys.
-sh number
scale line-height values by the given number. See the
discussion of the scaleHeight resource.
-si This option indicates that output to a window should not
automatically reposition the screen to the bottom of the
scrolling region. This option can be turned on and off from
the VT Options menu.
+si This option indicates that output to a window should cause it
to scroll to the bottom.
-sk This option indicates that pressing a key while using the
scrollbar to review previous lines of text should cause the
window to be repositioned automatically in the normal position
at the bottom of the scroll region.
- 18 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
+sk This option indicates that pressing a key while using the
scrollbar should not cause the window to be repositioned.
-sl number
This option specifies the number of lines to save that have
been scrolled off the top of the screen. This corresponds to
the saveLines resource. The default is "1024".
-sm This option, corresponding to the sessionMgt resource,
indicates that xterm should set up session manager callbacks.
+sm This option indicates that xterm should not set up session
manager callbacks.
-sp This option indicates that Sun/PC keyboard should be assumed,
providing mapping for keypad "+" to ",", and CTRL-F1 to F13,
CTRL-F2 to F14, etc.
+sp This option indicates that the standard escape codes should be
generated for keypad and function keys.
-t This option indicates that xterm should start in Tektronix
mode, rather than in VTxxx mode. Switching between the two
windows is done using the "Options" menus.
Terminal database (terminfo (5) or termcap (5)) entries that
work with xterm are:
"tek4014",
"tek4015",
"tek4012",
"tek4013",
"tek4010", and
"dumb".
Xterm automatically searches the terminal database in this
order for these entries and then sets the "TERM" variable (and
the "TERMCAP" environment variable, if relevant).
+t This option indicates that xterm should start in VTxxx mode.
-tb This option, corresponding to the toolBar resource, indicates
that xterm should display a toolbar (or menubar) at the top of
its window. The buttons in the toolbar correspond to the
popup menus, e.g., control/left/mouse for Main Options.
+tb This option indicates that xterm should not set up a toolbar.
-ti term_id
- 19 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Specify the name used by xterm to select the correct response
to terminal ID queries. It also specifies the emulation
level, used to determine the type of response to a DA control
sequence. Valid values include vt52, vt100, vt101, vt102,
vt220, and vt240 (the "vt" is optional). The default is
"vt__default_termid__". The term_id argument specifies the
terminal ID to use. (This is the same as the decTerminalID
resource).
-tm string
This option specifies a series of terminal setting keywords
followed by the characters that should be bound to those
functions, similar to the stty(1) program. The keywords and
their values are described in detail in the ttyModes resource.
-tn name
This option specifies the name of the terminal type to be set
in the TERM environment variable. It corresponds to the
termName resource. This terminal type must exist in the
terminal database (termcap or terminfo, depending on how xterm
is built) and should have li# and co# entries. If the
terminal type is not found, xterm uses the built-in list
"xterm", "vt102", etc.
-u8 This option sets the utf8 resource. When utf8 is set, xterm
interprets incoming data as UTF-8. This sets the wideChars
resource as a side-effect, but the UTF-8 mode set by this
option prevents it from being turned off. If you must turn
UTF-8 encoding on and off, use the -wc option or the
corresponding wideChars resource, rather than the -u8 option.
This option and the utf8 resource are overridden by the -lc
and -en options and locale resource. That is, if xterm has
been compiled to support luit, and the locale resource is not
"false" this option is ignored. We recommend using the -lc
option or the "locale: true" resource in UTF-8 locales when
your operating system supports locale, or -en UTF-8 option or
the "locale: UTF-8" resource when your operating system does
not support locale.
+u8 This option resets the utf8 resource.
-uc This option, corresponding to the cursorUnderLine resource,
makes the cursor underlined instead of a box.
+uc This option m, corresponding to the cursorUnderLine resource,
akes the cursor a box instead of underlined.
-ulc This option disables the display of characters with underline
- 20 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
attribute as color rather than with underlining.
+ulc This option enables the display of characters with underline
attribute as color rather than with underlining.
-ulit This option, corresponding to the italicULMode resource,
disables the display of characters with underline attribute as
italics rather than with underlining.
+ulit This option, corresponding to the italicULMode resource,
enables the display of characters with underline attribute as
italics rather than with underlining.
-ut This option indicates that xterm should not write a record
into the system __utmp_name__ log file.
+ut This option indicates that xterm should write a record into
the system __utmp_name__ log file.
-vb This option indicates that a visual bell is preferred over an
audible one. Instead of ringing the terminal bell whenever a
Control-G is received, the window will be flashed.
+vb This option indicates that a visual bell should not be used.
-wc This option sets the wideChars resource.
When wideChars is set, xterm maintains internal structures for
16-bit characters. If xterm is not started in UTF-8 mode (or
if this resource is not set), initially it maintains those
structures to support 8-bit characters. Xterm can later be
switched, using a menu entry or control sequence, causing it
to reallocate those structures to support 16-bit characters.
The default is "false".
+wc This option resets the wideChars resource.
-wf This option indicates that xterm should wait for the window to
be mapped the first time before starting the subprocess so
that the initial terminal size settings and environment
variables are correct. It is the application's responsibility
to catch subsequent terminal size changes.
+wf This option indicates that xterm should not wait before
starting the subprocess.
-ziconbeep percent
Same as zIconBeep resource. If percent is non-zero, xterms
- 21 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
that produce output while iconified will cause an XBell sound
at the given volume and have "***" prepended to their icon
titles. Most window managers will detect this change
immediately, showing you which window has the output. (A
similar feature was in x10 xterm.)
-C This option indicates that this window should receive console
output. This is not supported on all systems. To obtain
console output, you must be the owner of the console device,
and you must have read and write permission for it. If you
are running X under xdm on the console screen you may need to
have the session startup and reset programs explicitly change
the ownership of the console device in order to get this
option to work.
-Sccn This option allows xterm to be used as an input and output
channel for an existing program and is sometimes used in
specialized applications. The option value specifies the last
few letters of the name of a pseudo-terminal to use in slave
mode, plus the number of the inherited file descriptor. If
the option contains a "/" character, that delimits the
characters used for the pseudo-terminal name from the file
descriptor. Otherwise, exactly two characters are used from
the option for the pseudo-terminal name, the remainder is the
file descriptor. Examples (the first two are equivalent since
the descriptor follows the last "/"):
-S/dev/pts/123/45
-S123/45
-Sab34
Note that xterm does not close any file descriptor which it
did not open for its own use. It is possible (though probably
not portable) to have an application which passes an open file
descriptor down to xterm past the initialization or the -S
option to a process running in the xterm.
Old Options
The following command line arguments are provided for compatibility
with older versions. They may not be supported in the next release as
the X Toolkit provides standard options that accomplish the same task.
%geom This option specifies the preferred size and position of the
Tektronix window. It is shorthand for specifying the
"tekGeometry" resource.
#geom This option specifies the preferred position of the icon
window. It is shorthand for specifying the "iconGeometry"
resource.
- 22 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
-T string
This option specifies the title for xterm's windows. It is
equivalent to -title.
-n string
This option specifies the icon name for xterm's windows. It
is shorthand for specifying the "iconName" resource. Note
that this is not the same as the X Toolkit option -name. The
default icon name is the application name.
If no suitable icon is found, xterm provides a compiled-in
pixmap.
X Toolkit sets the WM_ICON_NAME property using this value.
-r This option indicates that reverse video should be simulated
by swapping the foreground and background colors. It is
equivalent to -rv.
-w number
This option specifies the width in pixels of the border
surrounding the window. It is equivalent to -borderwidth or
-bw.
X Toolkit Options
The following standard X Toolkit command line arguments are commonly
used with xterm:
-bd color
This option specifies the color to use for the border of the
window. The corresponding resource name is borderColor.
Xterm uses the X Toolkit default, which is
"XtDefaultForeground".
Xterm's VT100 window has two borders: the inner border
internalBorder and the outer border borderWidth, managed by
the X Toolkit.
Normally xterm fills the inner border using the VT100 window's
background color. If the colorInnerBorder resource is
enabled, then xterm may fill the inner border using the
borderColor resource.
-bg color
This option specifies the color to use for the background of
the window. The corresponding resource name is background.
The default is "XtDefaultBackground".
-bw number
- 23 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
This option specifies the width in pixels of the border
surrounding the window.
This appears to be a legacy of older X releases. It sets the
borderWidth resource of the shell widget, and may provide
advice to your window manager to set the thickness of the
window frame. Most window managers do not use this
information. See the -b option, which controls the inner
border of the xterm window.
-display display
This option specifies the X server to contact; see
X(__miscmansuffix__).
-fg color
This option specifies the color to use for displaying text.
The corresponding resource name is foreground. The default is
"XtDefaultForeground".
-fn font
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying
normal text. The corresponding resource name is font. The
resource value default is fixed.
Xterm's -fn option accepts a comma-separated list like -fa,
for the VT100 widget, using the first bitmap font (and
discarding additional fonts). However, other widgets (such as
the toolbar) will be confused by this and give a warning.
-font font
This is the same as -fn.
-geometry geometry
This option specifies the preferred size and position of the
VTxxx window; see X(__miscmansuffix__).
The normal geometry specification can be suffixed with @
followed by a Xinerama screen specification; it can be either
g for the global screen (default), c for the current screen or
a screen number.
-iconic
This option indicates that xterm should ask the window manager
to start it as an icon rather than as the normal window. The
corresponding resource name is iconic.
-name name
This option specifies the application name under which
resources are to be obtained, rather than the default
- 24 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
executable file name. Name should not contain "." or "*"
characters.
-rv This option indicates that reverse video should be simulated
by swapping the foreground and background colors. The
corresponding resource name is reverseVideo.
+rv Disable the simulation of reverse video by swapping foreground
and background colors.
-title string
This option specifies the window title string, which may be
displayed by window managers if the user so chooses. It is
shorthand for specifying the "title" resource. The default
title is the command line specified after the -e option, if
any, otherwise the application name.
X Toolkit sets the WM_NAME property using this value.
-xrm resourcestring
This option specifies a resource string to be used. This is
especially useful for setting resources that do not have
separate command line options.
X Toolkit accepts alternate names for a few of these options, e.g.,
+ "-background" for "-bg"
+ "-font" for "-fn"
+ "-foreground" for "-fg"
Abbreviated options also are supported, e.g., "-v" for "-version."
RESOURCES
Xterm understands all of the core X Toolkit resource names and
classes. It also uses the X Toolkit resource types (such as booleans,
colors, fonts, integers, and strings) along with their respective
converters. Those resource types are not always sufficient:
+ Xterm's resource values may be lists of names. X Toolkit resource
types do not include lists. Xterm uses a string for the resource,
and parses it.
Comma-separated lists of names ignore case.
+ Xterm may defer processing a resource until it is needed. For
example, font2 through font7 are loaded as needed, to start
faster. Again, the actual resource type is a string, parsed and
- 25 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
used when needed.
Application specific resources (e.g., "__default_class__.NAME")
follow:
Application Resources
backarrowKeyIsErase (class BackarrowKeyIsErase)
Tie the VTxxx backarrowKey and ptyInitialErase resources
together by setting the DECBKM state according to whether the
initial erase character is a backspace (8) or delete (127)
character. A "false" value disables this feature. The
default is "__backarrow_is_erase__".
Here are tables showing how the initial settings for
+ backarrowKeyIsErase (BKIE),
+ backarrowKey (BK), and
+ ptyInitialErase (PIE), along with the
+ stty erase character (^H for backspace, ^? for delete)
will affect DECBKM. First, xterm obtains the initial erase
character:
+ xterm's internal value is ^H
+ xterm asks the operating system for the value which
stty(1) shows
+ the ttyModes resource may override erase
+ if ptyInitialErase is false, xterm will look in the
terminal database
Summarizing that as a table: l l l l _ _ _ _ l c c c.
PIE stty termcap erase false ^H ^H ^H
false ^H ^? ^? false ^? ^H ^H
false ^? ^? ^? true ^H ^H ^H true ^H ^? ^H
true ^? ^H ^? true ^? ^? ^?
Using that erase character, xterm allows further choices:
+ if backarrowKeyIsErase is true, xterm uses the erase
character for the initial state of DECBKM
+ if backarrowKeyIsErase is false, xterm sets DECBKM to 2
(internal). This ties together backarrowKey and the
- 26 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
control sequence for DECBKM.
+ applications can send a control sequence to set/reset
DECBKM control set
+ the "Backarrow Key (BS/DEL)" menu entry toggles DECBKM
Summarizing the initialization details: l l l l l _ _ _ _ _ c
l l c c. erase BKIE BK DECBKM result
^? false false 2 ^H ^? false true 2 ^?
^? true false 0 ^? ^? true true 1 ^?
^H false false 2 ^H ^H false true 2 ^?
^H true false 0 ^H ^H true true 1 ^H
buffered (class Buffered)
Normally xterm is built with double-buffer support. This
resource can be used to turn it on or off. Setting the
resource to "true" turns double-buffering on. The default
value is "__double_buffer__".
bufferedFPS (class BufferedFPS)
When xterm is built with double-buffer support, this gives the
maximum number of frames/second. The default is "40" and is
limited to the range 1 through 100.
cursorTheme (class CursorTheme)
The Xcursor(__miscmansuffix__) library provides a way to
change the pointer shape and size. The X11 library uses this
library to extend the font- and glyph-cursor calls used by
applications such as xterm to substitute external files for
the built-in "core" cursors provided by X.
Xterm uses the pointerShape resource to select the X cursor
shape. Most of the available sets of cursor themes provide an
incomplete set of "core" cursors (while possibly adding other
cursors). Because of this limitation, xterm disables the
feature by default.
The cursor theme feature can be useful because X cursors are
not scalable and on a high-resolution display, the cursors are
hard to find. Some of the cursor themes include larger
cursors to work around this limitation:
+ The default core cursors are 8x8 pixels;
+ Some cursor themes include cursors up to the X server
limit of 64x64 pixels.
At startup, xterm sets the XCURSOR_THEME environment variable
- 27 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
to enable or disable the cursor theme feature. The default
value is "none". Other values (including "default") are
passed to the Xcursor library to select a cursor theme.
fullscreen (class Fullscreen)
Specifies whether or not xterm should ask the window manager
to use a fullscreen layout on startup. Xterm accepts either a
keyword (ignoring case) or the number shown in parentheses:
false (0)
Fullscreen layout is not used initially, but may be later
via menu-selection or control sequence.
true (1)
Fullscreen layout is used initially, but may be disabled
later via menu-selection or control sequence.
always (2)
Fullscreen layout is used initially, and cannot be disabled
later via menu-selection or control sequence.
never (3)
Fullscreen layout is not used, and cannot be enabled later
via menu-selection or control sequence.
The default is "false".
hold (class Hold)
If true, xterm will not immediately destroy its window when
the shell command completes. It will wait until you use the
window manager to destroy/kill the window, or if you use the
menu entries that send a signal, e.g., HUP or KILL. You may
scroll back, select text, etc., to perform most graphical
operations. Resizing the display will lose data, however,
since this involves interaction with the shell which is no
longer running.
hpFunctionKeys (class HpFunctionKeys)
Specifies whether or not HP function key escape codes should
be generated for function keys. The default is "false", i.e.,
this feature is disabled.
The keyboardType resource is the preferred mechanism for
selecting this mode.
iconGeometry (class IconGeometry)
Specifies the preferred size and position of the application
when iconified. It is not necessarily obeyed by all window
managers.
- 28 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
iconHint (class IconHint)
Specifies an icon which will be added to the window manager
hints. Xterm provides no default value.
Set this resource to "none" to omit the hint entirely, using
whatever the window manager may decide.
If the iconHint resource is given (or is set via the -n
option) xterm searches for a pixmap file with that name, in
the current directory as well as in __pixmapsdir__. if the
resource does not specify an absolute pathname. In each case,
xterm adds "_48x48" and/or ".xpm" to the filename after trying
without those suffixes. If it is able to load the file, xterm
sets the window manager hint for the icon-pixmap. These
pixmaps are distributed with xterm, and can optionally be
compiled-in:
+ mini.xterm_16x16, mini.xterm_32x32, mini.xterm_48x48
+ filled-xterm_16x16, filled-xterm_32x32, filled-xterm_48x48
+ xterm_16x16, xterm_32x32, xterm_48x48
+ xterm-color_16x16, xterm-color_32x32, xterm-color_48x48
In either case, xterm allows for adding a "_48x48" to specify
the largest of the pixmaps as a default. That is,
"mini.xterm" is the same as "mini.xterm_48x48".
If no explicit iconHint resource is given (or if none of the
compiled-in names matches), xterm uses "mini.xterm" (which is
always compiled-in).
The iconHint resource has no effect on "desktop" files,
including "panel" and "menu". Those are typically set via a
".desktop" file; xterm provides samples for itself (and the
uxterm script). The more capable desktop systems allow
changing the icon on a per-user basis.
iconName (class IconName)
Specifies a label for xterm when iconified. Xterm provides no
default value; some window managers may assume the application
name, e.g., "xterm".
Setting the iconName resource sets the icon label unless
overridden by zIconBeep or the control sequences which change
the window and icon labels.
keyboardType (class KeyboardType)
- 29 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Enables one (or none) of the various keyboard-type resources:
hpFunctionKeys, scoFunctionKeys, sunFunctionKeys,
tcapFunctionKeys, oldXtermFKeys and sunKeyboard.
The resource's value should be one of the corresponding
strings "hp", "sco", "sun", "tcap", "legacy" or "vt220",
respectively.
The individual resources are provided for legacy support; this
resource is simpler to use. Xterm will use only one
keyboard-type, but if multiple resources are set, it warns and
uses the last one it checks.
The default is "unknown", i.e., none of the associated
resources are set via this resource.
maxBufSize (class MaxBufSize)
Specify the maximum size of the input buffer. The default is
"32768". You cannot set this to a value less than the
minBufSize resource. It will be increased as needed to make
that value evenly divide this one.
On some systems you may want to increase one or both of the
maxBufSize and minBufSize resource values to achieve better
performance if the operating system prefers larger buffer
sizes.
maximized (class Maximized)
Specifies whether or not xterm should ask the window manager
to maximize its layout on startup. The default is "false".
menuHeight (class MenuHeight)
Specifies the height of the toolbar, which may be increased by
the X Toolkit Layout widget depending upon the fontsize used.
The default is "25".
menuLocale (class MenuLocale)
Specify the locale used for character-set computations when
loading the popup menus. Use this to improve initialization
performance of the Athena popup menus, which may load
unnecessary (and very large) fonts, e.g., in a locale having
UTF-8 encoding. The default is "C" (POSIX).
To use the current locale (only useful if you have localized
the resource settings for the menu entries), set the resource
to an empty string.
messages (class Messages)
Specifies whether write access to the terminal is allowed
- 30 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
initially. See mesg(1). The default is "true".
minBufSize (class MinBufSize)
Specify the minimum size of the input buffer, i.e., the amount
of data that xterm requests on each read. The default is
"4096". You cannot set this to a value less than 64.
omitTranslation (class OmitTranslation)
Selectively omit one or more parts of xterm's default
translations at startup. The resource value is a comma-
separated list of keywords, which may be abbreviated:
default
ignore (mouse) button-down events which were not handled
by other translations
fullscreen
assigns a key-binding to the fullscreen() action.
keypress
assigns keypresses by default to the insert-seven-bit()
and insert-eight-bit() actions.
paging
assigns key bindings to the scroll-back() and
scroll-forw() actions.
pointer
assigns pointer motion and button events to the
pointer-motion() and pointer-button() actions
respectively.
popup-menu
assigns mouse-buttons with the control modifier to the
popup-menus.
reset
assigns mouse-button 2 with the meta modifier to the
clear-saved-lines action.
scroll-lock
assigns a key-binding to the scroll-lock() action.
select
assigns mouse- and keypress-combinations to actions which
manipulate the selection.
Xterm also uses these actions to capture mouse button and
motion events which can be manipulated with the mouse
- 31 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
protocol control sequences. If the select translations
are omitted, then the pointer-motion and pointer-button
handle these mouse protocol control sequences instead.
shift-fonts
assigns key-bindings to larger-vt-font() and
smaller-vt-font() actions.
wheel-mouse
assigns buttons 4 and 5 with different modifiers to the
scroll-back() and scroll-forw() actions.
ptyHandshake (class PtyHandshake)
If "true", xterm will perform handshaking during
initialization to ensure that the parent and child processes
update the __utmp_name__ and stty(1) state.
See also waitForMap which waits for the pseudo-terminal's
notion of the screen size, and ptySttySize which resets the
screen size after other terminal initialization is complete.
The default is "true".
ptyInitialErase (class PtyInitialErase)
If "true", xterm will use the pseudo-terminal's sense of the
stty erase value. If "false", xterm will set the stty erase
value to match its own configuration, using the kb string from
the termcap entry as a reference, if available.
In either case, the result is applied to the TERMCAP variable
which xterm sets, if the system uses TERMCAP.
See also the ttyModes resource, which may override this. The
default is "__initial_erase__".
ptySttySize (class PtySttySize)
If "true", xterm will reset the screen size after terminal
initialization is complete. This is needed for some systems
whose pseudo-terminals cannot propagate terminal
characteristics. Where it is not needed, it can interfere
with other methods for setting the initial screen size, e.g.,
via window manager interaction.
See also waitForMap which waits for a handshake-message giving
the pseudo-terminal's notion of the screen size. The default
is "false" on Linux and macOS systems, "true" otherwise.
reportColors (class ReportColors)
If true, xterm will print to the standard output a summary of
colors as it allocates them. The default is "false".
- 32 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
reportFonts (class ReportFonts)
If true, xterm will print to the standard output a summary of
each font's metrics (size, number of glyphs, etc.), as it
loads them. The default is "false".
reportIcons (class ReportIcons)
If true, xterm will print to the standard output a summary of
each pixmap icon as it loads them. The default is "false".
reportXRes (class ReportXRes)
If true, xterm will print to the standard output a list of the
boolean, numeric and string X resources for the VT100 widget
after initialization. The default is "false".
sameName (class SameName)
If the value of this resource is "true", xterm does not send
title and icon name change requests when the request would
have no effect: the name is not changed. This has the
advantage of preventing flicker and the disadvantage of
requiring an extra round trip to the server to find out the
previous value. In practice this should never be a problem.
The default is "true".
scaleHeight (class ScaleHeight)
Scale line-height values by the resource value, which is
limited to "0.9" to "1.5". The default value is "1.0",
While this resource applies to either bitmap or TrueType
fonts, its main purpose is to help work around incompatible
changes in the Xft library's font metrics. Xterm checks the
font metrics to find what the library claims are the bounding
boxes for each glyph (character). However, some of Xft's
features (such as the autohinter) can cause the glyphs to be
scaled larger than the bounding boxes, and be partly
overwritten by the next row.
See useClipping for a related resource.
scoFunctionKeys (class ScoFunctionKeys)
Specifies whether or not SCO function key escape codes should
be generated for function keys. The default is "false", i.e.,
this feature is disabled.
The keyboardType resource is the preferred mechanism for
selecting this mode.
sessionMgt (class SessionMgt)
If the value of this resource is "true", xterm sets up session
manager callbacks for XtNdieCallback and XtNsaveCallback. The
- 33 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
default is "true".
sunFunctionKeys (class SunFunctionKeys)
Specifies whether or not Sun function key escape codes should
be generated for function keys. The default is "false", i.e.,
this feature is disabled.
The keyboardType resource is the preferred mechanism for
selecting this mode.
sunKeyboard (class SunKeyboard)
Xterm translates certain key symbols based on its assumptions
about your keyboard. This resource specifies whether or not
Sun/PC keyboard layout (i.e., the PC keyboard's numeric keypad
together with 12 function keys) should be assumed rather than
DEC VT220. This causes the keypad "+" to be mapped to ",".
and CTRL F1-F10 to F11-F20, depending on the setting of the
ctrlFKeys resource, so xterm emulates a DEC VT220 more
accurately. Otherwise (the default, with sunKeyboard set to
"false"), xterm uses PC-style bindings for the function keys
and keypad.
PC-style bindings use the Shift, Alt, Control and Meta keys as
modifiers for function-keys and keypad (see Xterm Control
Sequences for details). The PC-style bindings are analogous
to PCTerm, but not the same thing. Normally these bindings do
not conflict with the use of the Meta key as described for the
eightBitInput resource. If they do, note that the PC-style
bindings are evaluated first.
See also the keyboardType resource.
tcapFunctionKeys (class TcapFunctionKeys)
Specifies whether or not function key escape codes read from
the termcap/terminfo entry corresponding to the TERM
environment variable should be generated for function keys
instead of those configured using sunKeyboard and
keyboardType. The default is "false", i.e., this feature is
disabled.
The keyboardType resource is the preferred mechanism for
selecting this mode.
termName (class TermName)
Specifies the terminal type name to be set in the TERM
environment variable.
title (class Title)
Specifies a string that may be used by the window manager when
- 34 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
displaying this application.
toolBar (class ToolBar)
Specifies whether or not the toolbar should be displayed. The
default is "true".
ttyModes (class TtyModes)
Specifies a string containing terminal setting keywords.
Except where noted, they may be bound to characters. Other
keywords set modes. Not all keywords are supported on a given
system. Allowable keywords include: l l l _ _ _ l l l.
Keyword POSIX? Notes brk no T{ CHAR may send an
"interrupt" signal, as well as ending the input-line. T}
dsusp no T{ CHAR will send a terminal "stop" signal
after input is flushed. T} eof yes T{ CHAR will terminate
input (i.e., an end of file). T} eol yes CHAR will end the
line. eol2 no alternate CHAR for ending the line.
erase yes CHAR will erase the last character typed.
erase2 no T{ alternate CHAR for erasing the last input-
character. T} flush no T{ CHAR will cause output to be
discarded until another flush character is typed. T}
intr yes CHAR will send an "interrupt" signal.
kill yes CHAR will erase the current line.
lnext no CHAR will enter the next character quoted.
quit yes CHAR will send a "quit" signal. rprnt no CHAR
will redraw the current line. start yes T{ CHAR will
restart the output after stopping it. T} status no T{
CHAR will cause a system-generated status line to be printed.
T} stop yes CHAR will stop the output. susp yes CHAR will
send a terminal "stop" signal swtch no CHAR will switch
to a different shell layer. tabs yes Mode disables tab-
expansion. -tabs yes Mode enables tab-expansion.
weras no CHAR will erase the last word typed.
Control characters may be specified as ^char (e.g., ^c or ^u)
and ^? may be used to indicate delete (127). Use ^- to denote
undef. Use \034 to represent ^\, since a literal backslash in
an X resource escapes the next character.
This is very useful for overriding the default terminal
settings without having to run stty(1) every time an xterm is
started. Note, however, that the stty program on a given host
may use different keywords; xterm's table is built in. The
POSIX column in the table indicates which keywords are
supported by a standard stty program.
If the ttyModes resource specifies a value for erase, that
overrides the ptyInitialErase resource setting, i.e., xterm
initializes the terminal to match that value.
- 35 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
useInsertMode (class UseInsertMode)
Force use of insert mode by adding appropriate entries to the
TERMCAP environment variable. This is useful if the system
termcap is broken. (This resource is ignored on most systems,
because TERMCAP is not used). The default is "false".
utmpDisplayId (class UtmpDisplayId)
Specifies whether or not xterm should try to record the
display identifier (display number and screen number) as well
as the hostname in the system __utmp_name__ log file. The
default is "true".
utmpInhibit (class UtmpInhibit)
Specifies whether or not xterm should try to record the user's
terminal in the system __utmp_name__ log file. If true, xterm
will not try. The default is "false".
validShells (class ValidShells)
Augment (add to) the system's /etc/shells, when determining
whether to set the "SHELL" environment variable when running a
given program.
The resource value is a list of lines (separated by newlines).
Each line holds one pathname. Xterm ignores any line
beginning with "#" after trimming leading/trailing whitespace
from each line.
The default is an empty string.
waitForMap (class WaitForMap)
Specifies whether or not xterm should wait for the initial
window map before starting the subprocess. This is part of
the ptyHandshake logic. When xterm is directed to wait in
this fashion, it passes the terminal size from the display end
of the pseudo-terminal to the terminal I/O connection, e.g.,
using the size according to the window manager. Otherwise, it
uses the size as given in resource values or command-line
option -geometry. The default is "false".
zIconBeep (class ZIconBeep)
Same as -ziconbeep command line argument. If the value of
this resource is non-zero, xterms that produce output while
iconified will cause an XBell sound at the given volume and
have "*** " prepended to their icon titles. Most window
managers will detect this change immediately, showing you
which window has the output. (A similar feature was in x10
xterm.) The default is "false".
zIconTitleFormat (class ZIconTitleFormat)
- 36 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Allow customization of the string used in the zIconBeep
feature. The default value is "*** %s".
If the resource value contains a "%s", then xterm inserts the
icon title at that point rather than prepending the string to
the icon title. (Only the first "%s" is used).
VT100 Widget Resources
The following resources are specified as part of the vt100 widget
(class VT100). They are specified by patterns such as
"__default_class__.vt100.NAME".
If your xterm is configured to support the "toolbar", then those
patterns need an extra level for the form-widget which holds the
toolbar and vt100 widget. A wildcard between the top-level
"__default_class__" and the "vt100" widget makes the resource settings
work for either, e.g., "__default_class__*vt100.NAME".
activeIcon (class ActiveIcon)
Specifies whether or not active icon windows are to be used
when the xterm window is iconified, if this feature is
compiled into xterm. The active icon is a miniature
representation of the content of the window and will update as
the content changes. Not all window managers necessarily
support application icon windows. Some window managers will
allow you to enter keystrokes into the active icon window.
The default is "default".
Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
shown in parentheses:
false (0)
No active icon is shown.
true (1)
The active icon is shown. If you are using twm, use this
setting to enable active-icons.
default (2)
Xterm checks at startup, and shows an active icon only
for window managers which it can identify and which are
known to support the feature. These are fvwm (full
support), and window maker (limited). A few other window
managers (such as twm and ctwm) support active icons, but
do not support the extensions which allow xterm to
identify the window manager.
allowBoldFonts (class AllowBoldFonts)
When set to "false", xterm will not use bold fonts. This
- 37 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
overrides both the alwaysBoldMode and the boldMode resources.
allowC1Printable (class AllowC1Printable)
If true, overrides the mapping of C1 controls (codes 128159)
to make them be treated as if they were printable characters.
Although this corresponds to no particular standard, some
users insist it is a VT100. The default is "false".
allowColorOps (class AllowColorOps)
Specifies whether control sequences that set/query the dynamic
colors should be allowed. ANSI colors are unaffected by this
resource setting. The default is "true".
allowFontOps (class AllowFontOps)
Specifies whether control sequences that set/query the font
should be allowed. The default is "true".
allowMouseOps (class AllowMouseOps)
Specifies whether control sequences that enable xterm to send
escape sequences to the host on mouse-clicks and movement.
The default is "true".
allowPasteControls (class AllowPasteControls)
If true, allow control characters such as BEL and CAN to be
pasted. Formatting characters (tab, newline) are normally
allowed, unless suppressed via the disallowedPasteControls
resource. Other C0 control characters are suppressed unless
this resource is enabled. The exact set of control characters
(C0 and C1) depends upon whether UTF-8 encoding is used, as
well as the allowC1Printable and disallowedPasteControls
resources. The default is "false".
allowScrollLock (class AllowScrollLock)
Specifies whether control sequences that set/query the Scroll
Lock key should be allowed, as well as whether the Scroll Lock
key responds to user's keypress. The default is "false".
When this feature is enabled, xterm will sense the state of
the Scroll Lock key each time it acquires focus. Pressing the
Scroll Lock key toggles xterm's internal state, as well as
toggling the associated LED. While the Scroll Lock is active,
xterm attempts to keep a viewport on the same set of lines.
If the current viewport is scrolled past the limit set by the
saveLines resource, then Scroll Lock has no further effect.
The reason for setting the default to "false" is to avoid user
surprise. This key is generally unused in keyboard
configurations, and has not acquired a standard meaning even
when it is used in that manner. Consequently, users have
- 38 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
assigned it for ad hoc purposes.
See also the autoScrollLock resource.
allowSendEvents (class AllowSendEvents)
Specifies whether or not synthetic key and button events
(generated using the X protocol SendEvent request) should be
interpreted or discarded. The default is "false" meaning they
are discarded. Note that allowing such events would create a
very large security hole, therefore enabling this resource
forcefully disables the allowXXXOps resources. The default is
"false".
allowTcapOps (class AllowTcapOps)
Specifies whether control sequences that query the terminal's
notion of its function-key strings, as termcap or terminfo
capabilities should be allowed. The default is "true".
A few programs, e.g., vim, use this feature to get an accurate
description of the terminal's capabilities, independent of the
termcap/terminfo setting:
+ Xterm can tell the querying program how many colors it
supports. This is a constant, depending on how it is
compiled, typically 16. It does not change if you alter
resource settings, e.g., the boldColors resource.
+ Xterm can tell the querying program what strings are sent
by modified (shift-, control-, alt-) function- and
keypad-keys. Reporting control- and alt-modifiers is a
feature that relies on the ncurses extended naming.
allowTitleOps (class AllowTitleOps)
Specifies whether control sequences that modify the window
title or icon name should be allowed. The default is "true".
allowWindowOps (class AllowWindowOps)
Specifies whether extended window control sequences (as used
in dtterm) should be allowed. These include several control
sequences which manipulate the window size or position, as
well as reporting these values and the title or icon name.
Each of these can be abused in a script; curiously enough most
terminal emulators that implement these restrict only a small
part of the repertoire. For fine-tuning, see
disallowedWindowOps. The default is "false".
altIsNotMeta (class AltIsNotMeta)
If "true", treat the Alt-key as if it were the Meta-key. Your
keyboard may happen to be configured so they are the same.
- 39 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
But if they are not, this allows you to use the same prefix-
and shifting operations with the Alt-key as with the Meta-key.
See altSendsEscape and metaSendsEscape. The default is
"false".
altSendsEscape (class AltSendsEscape)
This is an additional keyboard operation that may be processed
after the logic for metaSendsEscape. It is only available if
the altIsNotMeta resource is set.
+ If "true", Alt characters (a character combined with the
modifier associated with left/right Alt-keys) are
converted into a two-character sequence with the character
itself preceded by ESC. This applies as well to function
key control sequences, unless xterm sees that Alt is used
in your key translations.
+ If "false", Alt characters input from the keyboard cause a
shift to 8-bit characters (just like metaSendsEscape). By
combining the Alt- and Meta-modifiers, you can create
corresponding combinations of ESC-prefix and 8-bit
characters.
The default is "__alt_sends_esc__". Xterm provides a menu
option for toggling this resource.
alternateScroll (class ScrollCond)
If "true", the scroll-back and scroll-forw actions send
cursor-up and -down keys when xterm is displaying the
alternate screen. The default is "false".
The alternateScroll state can also be set using a control
sequence.
alwaysBoldMode (class AlwaysBoldMode)
Specifies whether xterm should check if the normal and bold
fonts are distinct before deciding whether to use overstriking
to simulate bold fonts. If this resource is true, xterm does
not make the check for distinct fonts when deciding how to
handle the boldMode resource. The default is "false". l l l
l _ _ _ _ l l l l.
boldMode alwaysBoldMode Comparison Action
false false ignored use font
false true ignored use font
true false same overstrike true false different use
font true true ignored overstrike
This resource is used only for bitmap fonts:
+ When using bitmap fonts, it is possible that the font
- 40 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
server will approximate the bold font by rescaling it from
a different font size than expected. The alwaysBoldMode
resource allows the user to override the (sometimes poor)
resulting bold font with overstriking (which is at least
consistent).
+ The problem does not occur with TrueType fonts (though
there can be other unnecessary issues such as different
coverage of the normal and bold fonts).
As an alternative, setting the allowBoldFonts resource to
false overrides both the alwaysBoldMode and the boldMode
resources.
alwaysHighlight (class AlwaysHighlight)
Specifies whether or not xterm should always display a
highlighted text cursor. By default (if this resource is
false), a hollow text cursor is displayed whenever the pointer
moves out of the window or the window loses the input focus.
The default is "false".
alwaysUseMods (class AlwaysUseMods)
Override the numLock resource, telling xterm to use the Alt
and Meta modifiers to construct parameters for function key
sequences even if those modifiers appear in the translations
resource. Normally xterm checks if Alt or Meta is used in a
translation that would conflict with function key modifiers,
and will ignore these modifiers in that special case. The
default is "false".
answerbackString (class AnswerbackString)
Specifies the string that xterm sends in response to an ENQ
(control/E) character from the host. The default is a blank
string, i.e., "". A hardware VT100 implements this feature as
a setup option.
appcursorDefault (class AppcursorDefault)
If "true", the cursor keys are initially in application mode.
This is the same as the VT102 private DECCKM mode, The default
is "false".
appkeypadDefault (class AppkeypadDefault)
If "true", the keypad keys are initially in application mode.
The default is "false".
assumeAllChars (class AssumeAllChars)
If "true", this enables a special case in bitmap fonts to
allow the font server to choose how to display missing glyphs.
The default is "true".
- 41 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
The reason for this resource is to help with certain quasi-
automatically generated fonts (such as the ISO-10646-1
encoding of Terminus) which have incorrect font-metrics.
autoScrollLock (class AutoScrollLock)
If "true", xterm will maintain its viewport of displayed lines
whenever displaying scrollback, as if allowScrollLock were
enabled and the Scroll Lock key had been pressed. The default
is "false". This feature is only useful if the
scrollTtyOutput resource is set to "false".
autoWrap (class AutoWrap)
Specifies whether or not auto-wraparound should be enabled.
This is the same as the VT102 DECAWM. The default is "true".
awaitInput (class AwaitInput)
Specifies whether or not xterm uses a 50 millisecond timeout
to await input (i.e., to support the Xaw3d arrow scrollbar).
The default is "false".
backarrowKey (class BackarrowKey)
Specifies whether the backarrow key transmits a backspace (8)
or delete (127) character. This corresponds to the DECBKM
control sequence. A "true" value specifies backspace. The
default is "__backarrow_is_bs__". Pressing the control key
toggles this behavior.
background (class Background)
Specifies the color to use for the background of the window.
The default is "XtDefaultBackground".
bellIsUrgent (class BellIsUrgent)
Specifies whether to set the Urgency hint for the window
manager when making a bell sound. The default is "false".
bellOnReset (class BellOnReset)
Specifies whether to sound a bell when doing a hard reset.
The default is "true".
bellSuppressTime (class BellSuppressTime)
Number of milliseconds after a bell command is sent during
which additional bells will be suppressed. Default is 200.
If set non-zero, additional bells will also be suppressed
until the server reports that processing of the first bell has
been completed; this feature is most useful with the visible
bell.
boldColors (class ColorMode)
Specifies whether to combine bold attribute with colors like
- 42 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
the IBM PC, i.e., map colors 0 through 7 to colors 8 through
15. These normally are the brighter versions of the first 8
colors, hence bold. The default is "true".
boldFont (class BoldFont)
Specifies the name of the bold font to use instead of
overstriking. There is no default for this resource.
This font must be the same height and width as the normal
font, otherwise it is ignored. If only one of the normal or
bold fonts is specified, it will be used as the normal font
and the bold font will be produced by overstriking this font.
See also the discussion of boldMode and alwaysBoldMode
resources.
boldMode (class BoldMode)
This specifies whether or not text with the bold attribute
should be overstruck to simulate bold fonts if the resolved
bold font is the same as the normal font. It may be desirable
to disable bold fonts when color is being used for the bold
attribute.
Note that xterm has one bold font which you may set
explicitly. Xterm attempts to derive a bold font for the
other font selections (font1 through font7). If it cannot
find a bold font, it will use the normal font. In each case
(whether the explicit resource or the derived font), if the
normal and bold fonts are distinct, this resource has no
effect. The default is "true".
See the alwaysBoldMode resource which can modify the behavior
of this resource.
Although xterm attempts to derive a bold font for other font
selections, the font server may not cooperate. Since X11R6,
bitmap fonts have been scaled. The font server claims to
provide the bold font that xterm requests, but the result is
not always readable. XFree86 introduced a feature which can
be used to suppress the scaling. In the X server's
configuration file (e.g., "/etc/X11/XFree86" or
"/etc/X11/xorg.conf"), you can add ":unscaled" to the end of
the directory specification for the "misc" fonts, which
comprise the fixed-pitch fonts that are used by xterm. For
example
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
would become
- 43 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/:unscaled"
Depending on your configuration, the font server may have its
own configuration file. The same ":unscaled" can be added to
its configuration file at the end of the directory
specification for "misc".
The bitmap scaling feature is also used by xterm to implement
VT102 double-width and double-height characters.
brokenLinuxOSC (class BrokenLinuxOSC)
If true, xterm applies a workaround to ignore malformed
control sequences that a Linux script might send. Compare the
palette control sequences documented in console_codes with
ECMA-48. The default is "true".
brokenSelections (class BrokenSelections)
If true, xterm in 8-bit mode will interpret STRING selections
as carrying text in the current locale's encoding. Normally
STRING selections carry ISO-8859-1 encoded text. Setting this
resource to "true" violates the ICCCM; it may, however, be
useful for interacting with some broken X clients. The
default is "false".
brokenStringTerm (class BrokenStringTerm)
provides a work-around for some ISDN routers which start an
application control string without completing it. Set this to
"true" if xterm appears to freeze when connecting. The
default is "false".
Xterm's state parser recognizes several types of control
strings which can contain text, e.g.,
APC (Application Program Command),
DCS (Device Control String),
OSC (Operating System Command),
PM (Privacy Message), and
SOS (Start of String),
Each should end with a string-terminator (a special character
which cannot appear in these strings). Ordinary control
characters found within the string are not ignored; they are
processed without interfering with the process of accumulating
the control string's content. Xterm recognizes these controls
in all modes, although some of the functions may be suppressed
after parsing the control.
When enabled, this feature allows the user to exit from an
unterminated control string when any of these ordinary control
- 44 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
characters are found:
control/D (used as an end of file in many shells),
control/H (backspace),
control/I (tab-feed),
control/J (line feed aka newline),
control/K (vertical tab),
control/L (form feed),
control/M (carriage return),
control/N (shift-out),
control/O (shift-in),
control/Q (XOFF),
control/X (cancel)
c132 (class C132)
Specifies whether or not the VT102 DECCOLM escape sequence,
used to switch between 80 and 132 columns, should be honored.
The default is "false".
cacheDoublesize (class CacheDoublesize)
Tells whether to cache double-sized fonts by xterm. Set this
to zero to disable double-sized fonts altogether.
cdXtraScroll (class CdXtraScroll)
Specifies whether xterm should scroll to a new page when
clearing the whole screen. Like tiXtraScroll, the intent of
this option is to provide a picture of the full-screen
application's display on the scrollback before wiping out the
text.
Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
shown in parentheses:
false (0)
nothing is added to the scrollback.
true (1)
the current screen is added to the scrollback.
trim (2)
the current screen is added to the scrollback, but
repeated blank lines are trimmed (reduced to a single
blank line).
The default for this resource is "false".
charClass (class CharClass)
Specifies comma-separated lists of character class bindings of
the form
- 45 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
low[-high][:value].
These are used in determining which sets of characters should
be treated the same when doing cut and paste. See the
CHARACTER CLASSES section.
checksumExtension (class ChecksumExtension)
DEC VT420 and up support a control sequence DECRQCRA which
reports the checksum of the characters in a rectangle. Xterm
supports this, with extensions that can be configured with
bits of the checksumExtension:
0 do not negate the result.
1 do not report the VT100 video attributes.
2 do not omit checksum for blanks.
3 omit checksum for cells not explicitly initialized.
4 do not mask cell value to 8 bits or ignore combining
characters.
5 do not mask cell value to 7 bits.
With the default value (0), xterm matches the behavior of
DEC's terminals. To use all extensions, set all bits, "-1"
for example.
cjkWidth (class CjkWidth)
Specifies whether xterm should follow the traditional East
Asian width convention. When turned on, characters with East
Asian Ambiguous (A) category in UTR 11 have a column width of
2. You may have to set this option to "true" if you have some
old East Asian terminal based programs that assume that line-
drawing characters have a column width of 2. If this resource
is false, the mkWidth resource controls the choice between the
system's wcwidth(3) and xterm's built-in tables. The default
is "false".
color0 (class Color0)
color1 (class Color1)
color2 (class Color2)
color3 (class Color3)
color4 (class Color4)
- 46 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
color5 (class Color5)
color6 (class Color6)
color7 (class Color7)
These specify the colors for the ISO-6429 extension. The
defaults are, respectively, black, red3, green3, yellow3, a
customizable dark blue, magenta3, cyan3, and gray90. The
default shades of color are chosen to allow the colors 815 to
be used as brighter versions.
color8 (class Color8)
color9 (class Color9)
color10 (class Color10)
color11 (class Color11)
color12 (class Color12)
color13 (class Color13)
color14 (class Color14)
color15 (class Color15)
These specify the colors for the ISO-6429 extension if the
bold attribute is also enabled. The default resource values
are respectively, gray50, red, green, yellow, a customized
light blue, magenta, cyan, and white.
color16 (class Color16)
through
color255 (class Color255)
These specify the colors for the 256-color extension. The
default resource values are for
+ colors 16 through 231 to make a 6x6x6 color cube, and
+ colors 232 through 255 to make a grayscale ramp.
Resources past color15 are available as a compile-time option.
Due to a hardcoded limit in the X libraries on the total
number of resources (to 400), the resources for 256-colors are
omitted when wide-character support and luit are enabled.
Besides inconsistent behavior if only part of the resources
were allowed, determining the exact cutoff is difficult, and
- 47 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
the X libraries tend to crash if the number of resources
exceeds the limit. The color palette is still initialized to
the same default values, and can be modified via control
sequences.
On the other hand, the resource limit does permit including
the entire range for 88-colors.
colorAttrMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether colorBD, colorBL, colorRV, and colorUL
should override ANSI colors. If not, these are displayed only
when no ANSI colors have been set for the corresponding
position. The default is "false".
colorBD (class ColorBD)
This specifies the color to use to display bold characters if
the "colorBDMode" resource is enabled. The default is
"XtDefaultForeground".
See also the veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
bold and color.
colorBDMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the bold attribute should be
displayed in color or as bold characters. Note that setting
colorMode off disables all colors, including bold. The
default is "false".
colorBL (class ColorBL)
This specifies the color to use to display blink characters if
the "colorBLMode" resource is enabled. The default is
"XtDefaultForeground".
See also the veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
underline and color.
colorBLMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the blink attribute should
be displayed in color. Note that setting colorMode off
disables all colors, including this. The default is "false".
colorIT (class ColorIT)
This specifies the color to use to display italic characters
if the "colorITMode" resource is enabled. The default is
"XtDefaultForeground".
See also the veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
attributes and color.
- 48 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
colorITMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the italic attribute should
be displayed in color or as italic characters. The default is
"false".
Note that:
+ Setting colorMode off disables all colors, including
italic.
+ The italicULMode resource overrides colorITMode.
colorInnerBorder (class ColorInnerBorder)
Normally, xterm fills the VT100 window's inner border using
the background color.
If the colorInnerBorder resource is enabled, at startup xterm
will compare the borderColor and the window's background
color. If those are different, xterm will use the borderColor
resource to fill the inner border. Otherwise, it will use the
window's background color.
The default is "false".
colorMode (class ColorMode)
Specifies whether or not recognition of ANSI (ISO-6429) color
change escape sequences should be enabled. The default is
"true".
colorRV (class ColorRV)
This specifies the color to use to display reverse characters
if the "colorRVMode" resource is enabled. The default is
"XtDefaultForeground".
See also the veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
reverse and color.
colorRVMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the reverse attribute should
be displayed in color. Note that setting colorMode off
disables all colors, including this. The default is "false".
colorUL (class ColorUL)
This specifies the color to use to display underlined
characters if the "colorULMode" resource is enabled. The
default is "XtDefaultForeground".
See also the veryBoldColors resource which allows combining
underline and color.
- 49 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
colorULMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the underline attribute
should be displayed in color or as underlined characters.
Note that setting colorMode off disables all colors, including
underlining. The default is "false".
combiningChars (class CombiningChars)
Specifies the number of wide-characters which can be stored in
a cell to overstrike (combine) with the base character of the
cell. This can be set to values in the range 0 to 5. The
default is "2".
ctrlFKeys (class CtrlFKeys)
In VT220 keyboard mode (see sunKeyboard resource), specifies
the amount by which to shift F1-F12 given a control modifier
(CTRL). This allows you to generate key symbols for F10-F20
on a Sun/PC keyboard. The default is "10", which means that
CTRL F1 generates the key symbol for F11.
curses (class Curses)
Specifies whether or not the last column bug in more(1) should
be worked around. See the -cu option for details. The
default is "false".
cursorBar (class CursorBar)
Specifies whether to make the cursor a left-bar or a box,
unless the cursorUnderLine resource is set. The default is
"false".
cursorBlink (class CursorBlink)
Specifies whether to make the cursor blink. Xterm accepts
either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number shown in
parentheses:
false (0)
The cursor will not blink, but may be combined with escape
sequences according to the cursorBlinkXOR resource.
true (1)
The cursor will blink, but may be combined with escape
sequences according to the cursorBlinkXOR resource.
always (2)
The cursor will always blink, ignoring escape sequences.
The menu entry will be disabled.
never (3)
The cursor will never blink, ignoring escape sequences.
The menu entry will be disabled.
- 50 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
The default is "false".
cursorBlinkXOR (class CursorBlinkXOR)
Xterm uses two inputs to determine whether the cursor blinks:
+ The cursorBlink resource (which can be altered with a menu
entry).
+ Control sequences (private mode 12 and DECSCUSR).
The cursorBlinkXOR resource determines how those inputs are
combined:
false
Xterm uses the logical-OR of the two variables. If
either is set, xterm makes the cursor blink.
true
Xterm uses the logical-XOR of the two variables. If only
one is set, xterm makes the cursor blink.
The default is "true".
cursorColor (class CursorColor)
Specifies the color to use for the text cursor. The default
is "XtDefaultForeground". By default, xterm attempts to keep
this color from being the same as the background color, since
it draws the cursor by filling the background of a text cell.
The same restriction applies to control sequences which may
change this color.
Setting this resource overrides most of xterm's adjustments to
cursor color. It will still use reverse-video to disallow
some cases, such as a black cursor on a black background.
cursorOffTime (class CursorOffTime)
Specifies the duration of the "off" part of the cursor blink
cycle-time in milliseconds. The same timer is used for text
blinking. The default is "300".
cursorOnTime (class CursorOnTime)
Specifies the duration of the "on" part of the cursor blink
cycle-time, in milliseconds. The same timer is used for text
blinking. The default is "600".
cursorUnderLine (class CursorUnderLine)
Specifies whether to make the cursor underlined or a box. If
unset (false), the cursorBar resource may set the cursor
shape. The default is "false".
- 51 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
cutNewline (class CutNewline)
If "false", triple clicking to select a line does not include
the newline at the end of the line. If "true", the Newline is
selected. The default is "true".
cutToBeginningOfLine (class CutToBeginningOfLine)
If "false", triple clicking to select a line selects only from
the current word forward. If "true", the entire line is
selected. The default is "true".
decGraphicsID (class DecGraphicsID)
Allows a way to combine the graphics feature from certain DEC
terminals (125, 240, 241, 330, 340 or 382) with other
emulation levels which did not provide the graphics feature.
As in decTerminalID, leading non-digit characters are ignored,
e.g., "vt340" and "340" are the same.
If the resource value is nonzero, xterm uses that emulation
level when initializing the drawing region and decoding
control sequences to draw graphics.
The default is "0".
decTerminalID (class DecTerminalID)
Specifies the emulation level (100=VT100, 220=VT220, etc.),
used to determine the type of response to a DA control
sequence. Leading non-digit characters are ignored, e.g.,
"vt100" and "100" are the same. The default is
"__default_termid__".
defaultString (class DefaultString)
Specify the character (or string) which xterm will substitute
when pasted text includes a character which cannot be
represented in the current encoding. For instance, pasting
UTF-8 text into a display of ISO-8859-1 characters will only
be able to display codes 0255, while UTF-8 text can include
Unicode values above 255. The default is "#" (a single pound
sign).
If the undisplayable text would be double-width, xterm will
add a space after the "#" character, to give roughly the same
layout on the screen as the original text.
deleteIsDEL (class DeleteIsDEL)
Specifies what the Delete key on the editing keypad should
send when pressed. The resource value is a string, evaluated
as a boolean after startup. Xterm uses it in conjunction with
the keyboardType resource:
- 52 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
+ If the keyboard type is "default", or "vt220" and the
resource is either "true" or "maybe" send the VT220-style
Remove escape sequence. Otherwise, send DEL (127).
+ If the keyboard type is "legacy", and the resource is
"true" send DEL. Otherwise, send the Remove sequence.
+ Otherwise, if the keyboard type is none of these special
cases, send DEL (127).
The default is "__delete_is_del__". The resource is allowed
to be a non-boolean "maybe" so that the popup menu Delete is
DEL entry does not override the keyboard type.
directColor (class DirectColor)
Specifies whether to handle direct-color control sequences
using the X server's available colors, or to approximate those
using a color map with 256 entries. A "true" value enables
the former. The default is "true".
disallowedColorOps (class DisallowedColorOps)
Specify which features will be disabled if allowColorOps is
false. This is a comma-separated list of names. The default
value is
SetColor,GetColor,GetAnsiColor
The names are listed below. Xterm ignores capitalization, but
they are shown in mixed-case for clarity.
SetColor
Set a specific dynamic color.
GetColor
Report the current setting of a given dynamic color.
GetAnsiColor
Report the current setting of a given ANSI color
(actually any of the colors set via ANSI-style controls).
disallowedFontOps (class DisallowedFontOps)
Specify which features will be disabled if allowFontOps is
false. This is a comma-separated list of names. The default
value is
SetFont,GetFont
The names are listed below. Xterm ignores capitalization, but
they are shown in mixed-case for clarity.
- 53 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
SetFont
Set the specified font.
GetFont
Report the specified font.
disallowedMouseOps (class DisallowedMouseOps)
Specify which features will be disabled if allowMouseOps is
false. This is a comma-separated list of names. The default
value is "*" which matches all names. The names are listed
below. Xterm ignores capitalization, but they are shown in
mixed-case for clarity.
X10 The original X10 mouse protocol.
Locator
DEC locator mode
VT200Click
X11 mouse-clicks only.
VT200Hilite
X11 mouse-clicks and highlighting.
AnyButton
XFree86 xterm any-button mode sends button-clicks as well
as motion events while the button is pressed.
AnyEvent
XFree86 xterm any-event mode sends button-clicks as well
as motion events whether or not a button is pressed.
FocusEvent
Send FocusIn/FocusOut events.
Extended
The first extension beyond X11 mouse protocol, this
encodes the coordinates in UTF-8. It is deprecated in
favor of SGR, but provided for compatibility.
SGR This is the recommended extension for mouse-coordinates
URXVT
Like Extended, this is provided for compatibility.
AlternateScroll
This overrides the alternateScroll resource.
disallowedPasteControls (class DisallowedPasteControls)
- 54 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Use this resource to disallow pasting specific C0 control
characters when the allowPasteControls resource is false
(i.e., the default). This resource defines the set of control
characters which cannot be pasted, converting each into a
space. Other C0 controls are pasted without change.
The resource value is a comma-separated list of names. Xterm
ignores capitalization. The default value is
BS,DEL,ENQ,EOT,ESC,NUL,STTY
The names are listed below:
C0 all ASCII control characters.
Individual C0 characters
NUL, SOH, STX, ETX, EOT, ENQ, ACK, BEL, BS, HT, LF, VT,
FF, CR, SO, SI, DLE, DC1, DC2, DC3, DC4, NAK, SYN, ETB,
CAN, EM, SUB, ESC, FS, GS, RS, US
DEL ASCII delete
NL ASCII line-feed, i.e., "newline" is the same as LF.
STTY special characters which are set with stty(1).
disallowedTcapOps (class DisallowedTcapOps)
Specify which features will be disabled if allowTcapOps is
false. This is a comma-separated list of names. The default
value is
SetTcap,GetTcap
The names are listed below. Xterm ignores capitalization, but
they are shown in mixed-case for clarity.
SetTcap
(not implemented)
GetTcap
Report specified function- and other special keys.
disallowedWindowOps (class DisallowedWindowOps)
Specify which features will be disabled if allowWindowOps is
false. This is a comma-separated list of names, or (for the
controls adapted from dtterm the operation number). The
default value is
20,21,SetXprop,SetSelection
- 55 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
(i.e., all except a few "dangerous" operations are allowed).
The names are listed below. Xterm ignores capitalization, but
they are shown in mixed-case for clarity. Where a number can
be used as an alternative, it is given in parentheses after
the name.
GetChecksum
Report checksum of characters in a rectangular region.
GetIconTitle (20)
Report xterm window's icon label as a string.
GetScreenSizeChars (19)
Report the size of the screen in characters as numbers.
GetSelection
Report selection data as a base64 string.
GetWinPosition (13)
Report xterm window position as numbers.
GetWinSizeChars (18)
Report the size of the text area in characters as
numbers.
GetWinSizePixels (14)
Report xterm window in pixels as numbers.
GetWinState (11)
Report xterm window state as a number.
GetWinTitle (21)
Report xterm window's title as a string.
LowerWin (6)
Lower the xterm window to the bottom of the stacking
order.
MaximizeWin (9)
Maximize window (i.e., resize to screen size).
FullscreenWin (10)
Use full screen (i.e., resize to screen size, without
window decorations).
MinimizeWin (2)
Iconify window.
- 56 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
PopTitle (23)
Pop title from internal stack.
PushTitle (22)
Push title to internal stack.
RaiseWin (5)
Raise the xterm window to the front of the stacking
order.
RefreshWin (7)
Refresh the xterm window.
RestoreWin (1)
De-iconify window.
SetChecksum
Modify algorithm for reporting checksum of characters in
a rectangular region.
SetSelection
Set selection data.
SetWinLines
Resize to a given number of lines, at least 24.
SetWinPosition (3)
Move window to given coordinates.
SetWinSizeChars (8)
Resize the text area to given size in characters.
SetWinSizePixels (4)
Resize the xterm window to given size in pixels.
SetXprop
Set X property on top-level window.
dynamicColors (class DynamicColors)
Specifies whether or not escape sequences to change colors
assigned to different attributes are recognized.
eightBitControl (class EightBitControl)
Specifies whether or not control sequences sent by the
terminal should be eight-bit characters or escape sequences.
The default is "false".
eightBitInput (class EightBitInput)
If "true", Meta characters (a single-byte character combined
- 57 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
with the Meta modifier key) input from the keyboard are
presented as a single character, modified according to the
eightBitMeta resource. If "false", Meta characters are
converted into a two-character sequence with the character
itself preceded by ESC. The default is "true".
The metaSendsEscape and altSendsEscape resources may override
this feature. Generally keyboards do not have a key labeled
"Meta", but "Alt" keys are common, and they are conventionally
used for "Meta". If they were synonymous, it would have been
reasonable to name this resource "altSendsEscape", reversing
its sense. For more background on this, see the meta(3x)
function in curses.
Note that the Alt key is not necessarily the same as the Meta
modifier. The xmodmap utility lists your key modifiers. X
defines modifiers for shift, (caps) lock and control, as well
as 5 additional modifiers which are generally used to
configure key modifiers. Xterm inspects the same information
to find the modifier associated with either Meta key (left or
right), and uses that key as the Meta modifier. It also looks
for the NumLock key, to recognize the modifier which is
associated with that.
If your xmodmap configuration uses the same keycodes for Alt-
and Meta-keys, xterm will only see the Alt-key definitions,
since those are tested before Meta-keys. NumLock is tested
first. It is important to keep these keys distinct; otherwise
some of xterm's functionality is not available.
The eightBitInput resource is tested at startup time. If
"true", the xterm tries to put the terminal into 8-bit mode.
If "false", on startup, xterm tries to put the terminal into
7-bit mode. For some configurations this is unsuccessful;
failure is ignored. After startup, xterm does not change the
terminal between 8-bit and 7-bit mode.
As originally implemented in X11, the resource value did not
change after startup. However (since patch #216 in 2006)
xterm can modify eightBitInput after startup via a control
sequence. The corresponding terminfo capabilities smm (set
meta mode) and rmm (reset meta mode) have been recognized by
bash for some time. Interestingly enough, bash's notion of
"meta mode" differs from the standard definition (in the
terminfo manual), which describes the change to the eighth bit
of a character. It happens that bash views "meta mode" as the
ESC character that xterm puts before a character when a
special meta key is pressed. bash's early documentation talks
about the ESC character and ignores the eighth bit.
- 58 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
eightBitMeta (class EightBitMeta)
This controls the way xterm modifies the eighth bit of a
single-byte key when the eightBitInput resource is set. The
default is "locale".
The resource value is a string, evaluated as a boolean after
startup.
false
The key is sent unmodified.
locale
The key is modified only if the locale uses eight-bit
encoding.
true The key is sent modified.
never
The key is always sent unmodified.
Except for the never choice, xterm honors the terminfo
capabilities smm (set meta mode) and rmm (reset meta mode),
allowing the feature to be turned on or off dynamically.
If eightBitMeta is enabled when the locale uses UTF-8, xterm
encodes the value as UTF-8 (since patch #183 in 2003).
eightBitOutput (class EightBitOutput)
Specifies whether or not eight-bit characters sent from the
host should be accepted as is or stripped when printed. The
default is "true", which means that they are accepted as is.
eightBitSelectTypes (class EightBitSelectTypes)
Override xterm's default selection target list (see
SELECT/PASTE) for selections in normal (ISO-8859-1) mode. The
default is an empty string, i.e., "", which does not override
anything.
eraseSavedLines (class EraseSavedLines)
Specifies whether or not to allow xterm extended ED/DECSED
control sequences to erase the saved-line buffer. The default
is "true".
faceName (class FaceName)
Specify the pattern for scalable fonts selected from the
FreeType library if support for that library was compiled into
xterm. There is no default value.
One or more fonts can be specified, separated by commas. If
- 59 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
prefixed with "x:" or "x11:" the specification applies to the
XLFD font resource. A "xft:" prefix is accepted but
unnecessary since a missing prefix for faceName means that it
will be used for TrueType. For example,
XTerm*faceName: x:fixed,xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono
Two TrueType fonts can be specified in this way. The first is
the primary font; the second acts as a manual override to the
fontconfig fontset.
If no faceName resource is specified, or if there is no match
for both TrueType normal and bold fonts, xterm uses the XLFD
(bitmap) font and related resources.
It is possible to select suitable bitmap fonts using a script
such as this:
#!/bin/sh
FONT=`xfontsel -print`
test -n "$FONT" && xfd -fn "$FONT"
However (even though xfd accepts a "-fa" option to denote
FreeType fonts), xfontsel has not been similarly extended. As
a workaround, you may try
fc-list :scalable=true:spacing=mono: family
to find a list of scalable fixed-pitch fonts which may be used
for the faceName resource value.
faceNameDoublesize (class FaceNameDoublesize)
Specify a double-width scalable font for cases where an
application requires this, e.g., in CJK applications. There
is no default value.
Like the faceName resource, this allows one or more comma-
separated font specifications to be applied to the wide
TrueType or XLFD fonts.
If the application uses double-wide characters and this
resource is not given, xterm will use a scaled version of the
font given by faceName.
faceSize (class FaceSize)
Specify the pointsize for fonts selected from the FreeType
library if support for that library was compiled into xterm.
The default is "8.0" On the VT Fonts menu, this corresponds to
the Default entry.
- 60 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Although the default is "8.0", this may not be the same as the
pointsize for the default bitmap font, i.e., that assigned
with the -fn option, or the font resource. The default value
of faceSize is chosen to match the size of the "fixed" font,
making switching between bitmap and TrueType fonts via the
font menu give comparable sizes for the window. If your -fn
option uses a different pointsize, you might want to adjust
the faceSize resource to match.
You can specify the pointsize for TrueType fonts selected with
the other size-related menu entries such as Medium, Huge,
etc., by using one of the following resource values. If you
do not specify a value, they default to "0.0", which causes
xterm to use the ratio of font sizes from the corresponding
bitmap font resources to obtain a TrueType pointsize.
If all of the faceSize resources are set, then xterm will use
this information to determine the next smaller/larger TrueType
font for the larger-vt-font() and smaller-vt-font() actions.
If any are not set, xterm will use only the areas of the
bitmap fonts.
faceSize1 (class FaceSize1)
Specifies the pointsize of the first alternative font.
faceSize2 (class FaceSize2)
Specifies the pointsize of the second alternative font.
faceSize3 (class FaceSize3)
Specifies the pointsize of the third alternative font.
faceSize4 (class FaceSize4)
Specifies the pointsize of the fourth alternative font.
faceSize5 (class FaceSize5)
Specifies the pointsize of the fifth alternative font.
faceSize6 (class FaceSize6)
Specifies the pointsize of the sixth alternative font.
faceSize7 (class FaceSize7)
Specifies the pointsize of the seventh alternative font.
faintIsRelative (class FaintIsRelative)
Faint colors are derived from the current text color, e.g.,
the ANSI colors, by scaling the red, green and blue
components. Use this resource to specify whether that is done
relative to the current background color, or as an absolute
value. The default is "false".
- 61 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
fastScroll (class FastScroll)
Modifies the effect of jump scroll (jumpScroll) by suppressing
screen refreshes for the special case when output to the
screen has completely shifted the contents off-screen.
Likewise, screen refreshes for related actions, e.g., carriage
returns, are suppressed.
For instance, cat'ing a large file to the screen normally
results in a large number of screen refreshes. By suppressing
the corresponding refreshes, scrolling speed improves.
The default is "true".
font (class Font)
Specifies the name of the normal font. The default is
"fixed".
See the discussion of the locale resource, which describes how
this font may be overridden.
NOTE: some resource files use patterns such as
*font: fixed
which are overly broad, affecting both
xterm.vt100.font
and
xterm.vt100.utf8Fonts.font
which is probably not what you intended.
font1 (class Font1)
Specifies the name of the first alternative font,
corresponding to "Unreadable" in the standard menu.
font2 (class Font2)
Specifies the name of the second alternative font,
corresponding to "Tiny" in the standard menu.
font3 (class Font3)
Specifies the name of the third alternative font,
corresponding to "Small" in the standard menu.
font4 (class Font4)
Specifies the name of the fourth alternative font,
corresponding to "Medium" in the standard menu.
- 62 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
font5 (class Font5)
Specifies the name of the fifth alternative font,
corresponding to "Large" in the standard menu.
font6 (class Font6)
Specifies the name of the sixth alternative font,
corresponding to "Huge" in the standard menu.
font7 (class Font7)
Specifies the name of the seventh alternative font,
corresponding to "Enormous" in the standard menu.
fontDoublesize (class FontDoublesize)
Specifies whether xterm should attempt to use font scaling to
draw double-sized characters. Some older font servers cannot
do this properly, will return misleading font metrics. The
default is "true". If disabled, xterm will simulate double-
sized characters by drawing normal characters with spaces
between them.
fontWarnings (class FontWarnings)
Specify whether xterm should report an error if it fails to
load a font:
0 Never report an error (though the X libraries may).
1 Report an error if the font name was given as a resource
setting.
2 Always report an error on failure to load a font.
The default is "1".
forceBoxChars (class ForceBoxChars)
Specifies whether xterm should assume the normal and bold
fonts have VT100 line-drawing characters:
+ The fixed-pitch ISO-8859-*-encoded fonts used by xterm
normally have the VT100 line-drawing glyphs in cells 131.
Other fixed-pitch fonts may be more attractive, but lack
these glyphs.
+ When using an ISO-10646-1 font and the wideChars resource
is true, xterm uses the Unicode glyphs which match the
VT100 line-drawing glyphs.
If "false", xterm checks for missing glyphs in the font and
makes line-drawing characters directly as needed. If "true",
xterm assumes the font does not contain the line-drawing
- 63 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
characters, and draws them directly. The default is "false".
The VT100 line-drawing character set (also known as the DEC
Special Character and Line Drawing Set) is shown in this
table. It includes a few special characters which are not
used for drawing lines: l l l _ _ _ l l l.
Cell Unicode Description 0 U+25AE black vertical
rectangle 1 U+25C6 black diamond 2 U+2592 medium
shade 3 U+2409 symbol for horizontal tabulation
4 U+240C symbol for form feed 5 U+240D symbol for
carriage return 6 U+240A symbol for line feed
7 U+00B0 degree sign 8 U+00B1 plus-minus sign
9 U+2424 symbol for newline 10 U+240B symbol for
vertical tabulation 11 U+2518 box drawings light up and
left 12 U+2510 box drawings light down and left
13 U+250C box drawings light down and right
14 U+2514 box drawings light up and right
15 U+253C box drawings light vertical and horizontal
16 U+23BA box drawings scan 1 17 U+23BB box drawings
scan 3 18 U+2500 box drawings light horizontal
19 U+23BC box drawings scan 7 20 U+23BD box drawings
scan 9 21 U+251C box drawings light vertical and right
22 U+2524 box drawings light vertical and left
23 U+2534 box drawings light up and horizontal
24 U+252C box drawings light down and horizontal
25 U+2502 box drawings light vertical
26 U+2264 less-than or equal to 27 U+2265 greater-
than or equal to 28 U+03C0 greek small letter pi
29 U+2260 not equal to 30 U+00A3 pound sign
31 U+00B7 middle dot _
forcePackedFont (class ForcePackedFont)
Specifies whether xterm should use the maximum or minimum
glyph width when displaying using a bitmap font. Use the
maximum width to help with proportional fonts. The default is
"true", denoting the minimum width.
forceXftHeight (class ForceXftHeight)
Specifies whether xterm should use the given font metrics for
TrueType fonts, or amend the ascent/descent to total no more
than the given font-height. This optional feature is used to
work around inconsistencies in FreeType's rounding
computation. The default is "false", denoting the given
metrics.
foreground (class Foreground)
Specifies the color to use for displaying text in the window.
Setting the class name instead of the instance name is an easy
way to have everything that would normally appear in the text
- 64 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
color change color. The default is "XtDefaultForeground".
formatOtherKeys (class FormatOtherKeys)
Overrides the format of the escape sequence used to report
modified keys with the modifyOtherKeys resource.
0 send modified keys as parameters for function-key 27
(default).
1 send modified keys as parameters for CSI u.
freeBoldBox (class FreeBoldBox)
Specifies whether xterm should assume the bounding boxes for
normal and bold fonts are compatible. If "false", xterm
compares them and will reject choices of bold fonts that do
not match the size of the normal font. The default is
"false", which means that the comparison is performed.
geometry (class Geometry)
Specifies the preferred size and position of the VTxxx window.
There is no default for this resource.
highlightColor (class HighlightColor)
Specifies the color to use for the background of selected
(highlighted) text. If not specified (i.e., matching the
default foreground), reverse video is used. The default is
"XtDefaultForeground".
highlightColorMode (class HighlightColorMode)
Specifies whether xterm should use highlightTextColor and
highlightColor to override the reversed foreground/background
colors in a selection. The default is unspecified: at
startup, xterm checks if those resources are set to something
other than the default foreground and background colors.
Setting this resource disables the check.
The following table shows the interaction of the highlighting
resources, abbreviated as shown to fit in this page:
HCM
highlightColorMode
HR highlightReverse
HBG
highlightColor
HFG
highlightTextColor
- 65 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
l l l l l _ _ _ _ _ l l l l l. HCM HR HBG HFG Highlight
false false default default bg/fg
false false default set bg/fg
false false set default fg/HBG
false false set set fg/HBG =
false true default default bg/fg
false true default set bg/fg
false true set default fg/HBG
false true set set fg/HBG =
true false default default bg/fg
true false default set HFG/fg
true false set default bg/HBG
true false set set HFG/HBG =
true true default default bg/fg
true true default set HFG/fg
true true set default fg/HBG true true set set HFG/HBG =
default false default default bg/fg
default false default set bg/fg
default false set default fg/HBG
default false set set HFG/HBG =
default true default default bg/fg
default true default set bg/fg
default true set default fg/HBG
default true set set HFG/HBG =
highlightReverse (class HighlightReverse)
Specifies whether xterm should reverse the selection
foreground and background colors when selecting text with
reverse-video attribute. This applies only to the
highlightColor and highlightTextColor resources, e.g., to
match the color scheme of xwsh. If "true", xterm reverses the
colors, If "false", xterm does not reverse colors, The default
is "true".
highlightSelection (class HighlightSelection)
Tells xterm whether to highlight all of the selected
positions, or only the selected text:
+ If "false", selecting with the mouse highlights all
positions on the screen between the beginning of the
selection and the current position.
+ If "true", xterm highlights only the positions that
contain text that can be selected.
The default is "false".
Depending on the way your applications write to the screen,
there may be trailing blanks on a line. Xterm stores data as
- 66 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
it is shown on the screen. Erasing the display changes the
internal state of each cell so it is not considered a blank
for the purpose of selection. Blanks written since the last
erase are selectable. If you do not wish to have trailing
blanks in a selection, use the trimSelection resource.
highlightTextColor (class HighlightTextColor)
Specifies the color to use for the foreground of selected
(highlighted) text. If not specified (i.e., matching the
default background), reverse video is used. The default is
"XtDefaultBackground".
hpLowerleftBugCompat (class HpLowerleftBugCompat)
Specifies whether to work around a bug in HP's xdb, which
ignores termcap and always sends ESC F to move to the lower
left corner. "true" causes xterm to interpret ESC F as a
request to move to the lower left corner of the screen. The
default is "false".
i18nSelections (class I18nSelections)
If false, xterm will not request the targets COMPOUND_TEXT or
TEXT. The default is "true". It may be set to false in order
to work around ICCCM violations by other X clients.
iconBorderColor (class BorderColor)
Specifies the border color for the active icon window if this
feature is compiled into xterm. Not all window managers will
make the icon border visible.
iconBorderWidth (class BorderWidth)
Specifies the border width for the active icon window if this
feature is compiled into xterm. The default is "2". Not all
window managers will make the border visible.
iconFont (class IconFont)
Specifies the font for the miniature active icon window, if
this feature is compiled into xterm. The default is "nil2".
incrementalGraphics (class IncrementalGraphics)
When displaying SIXEL graphics, refresh the screen after
processing each cell. The default is "false".
indicatorFormat (class IndicatorFormat)
When displaying the status line using the indicator mode
(i.e., selecting DECSSDT line type 1), format the status using
this resource.
The default value of the resource displays the version of
xterm, the cursor position and the time/date:
- 67 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
"%{version%} %{position%} %{unixtime%}"
If a "%" marker does not match any of the three special tokens
used in the default resource setting, xterm uses strftime(3)
to interpret it.
initialFont (class InitialFont)
Specifies which of the VT100 fonts to use initially. Values
are the same as for the set-vt-font action. The default is
"d", i.e., "default".
inputMethod (class InputMethod)
Tells xterm which type of input method to use. There is no
default method.
internalBorder (class BorderWidth)
Specifies the number of pixels between the characters and the
window border. The default is "2".
italicULMode (class ColorAttrMode)
Specifies whether characters with the underline attribute
should be displayed in an italic font or as underlined
characters. It is implemented only for TrueType fonts.
jumpScroll (class JumpScroll)
Specifies whether or not jump scroll should be used. This
corresponds to the VT102 DECSCLM private mode. The default is
"true". See fastScroll for a variation.
keepClipboard (class KeepClipboard)
Specifies whether xterm will reuse the selection data which it
copied to the clipboard rather than asking the clipboard for
its current contents when told to provide the selection. The
default is "false".
If compiled into xterm, the menu entry Keep Clipboard allows
you to change this at runtime.
keepSelection (class KeepSelection)
Specifies whether xterm will keep the selection even after the
selected area was touched by some output to the terminal. The
default is "true".
The menu entry Keep Selection allows you to change this at
runtime.
keyboardDialect (class KeyboardDialect)
Specifies the initial keyboard dialect, as well as the default
value when the terminal is reset. The value given is the same
- 68 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
as the final character in the control sequences which change
character sets. The default is "B", which corresponds to US
ASCII.
limitFontsets (class LimitFontsets)
Limits the number of TrueType fallback fonts (i.e., fontset)
which can be tested. The default is "50". No more than "255"
will be scanned.
This limits the number of fallback fonts which xterm uses to
display characters. Because TrueType fonts typically are
small, xterm may open several fonts for good coverage, and may
open additional fonts to obtain information. You can see
which font-files xterm opens by setting the environment
variable XFT_DEBUG to 3. The Xft library and xterm write this
debugging trace to the standard output.
Set this to "0" to disable fallbacks entirely.
limitFontHeight (class LimitFontHeight)
When scaling a TrueType font to provide the parts for a
double-high character, xterm compares the scaled font with the
original to ensure that it is taller.
The default is "10" (percent).
limitFontWidth (class LimitFontWidth)
When looking for fallback fonts, xterm checks to see that the
the character to be displayed is the same width as the primary
font. If a character extends outside the font's bounding box,
xterm will clip it, to fit.
This resource controls the amount by which the character can
extend outside its bounding box before xterm looks further for
a better font.
This resource is also used in scaling TrueType fonts for
double-wide characters, like limitFontHeight for double-wide
characters.
The default is "10" (percent).
limitResize (class LimitResize)
Limits resizing of the screen via control sequence to a given
multiple of the display dimensions. The default is "1".
limitResponse (class LimitResponse)
Limits the buffer-size used when xterm replies to various
control sequences. The default is "1024". The minimum value
- 69 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
is "256".
locale (class Locale)
Specifies how to use luit(1), an encoding converter between
UTF-8 and locale encodings. The resource value (ignoring
case) may be:
true
Xterm will use the encoding specified by the users'
LC_CTYPE locale (i.e., LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG
variables) as far as possible. This is realized by always
enabling UTF-8 mode and invoking luit in non-UTF-8
locales.
medium
Xterm will follow users' LC_CTYPE locale only for UTF-8,
east Asian, and Thai locales, where the encodings were not
supported by conventional 8bit mode with changing fonts.
For other locales, xterm will use conventional 8bit mode.
checkfont
If mini-luit is compiled-in, xterm will check if a Unicode
font has been specified. If so, it checks if the
character encoding for the current locale is POSIX,
Latin-1 or Latin-9, uses the appropriate mapping to
support those with the Unicode font. For other encodings,
xterm assumes that UTF-8 encoding is required.
false
Xterm will use conventional 8bit mode or UTF-8 mode
according to utf8 resource or -u8 option.
Any other value, e.g., "UTF-8" or "ISO8859-2", is assumed to
be an encoding name; luit will be invoked to support the
encoding. The actual list of supported encodings depends on
luit. The default is "medium".
Regardless of your locale and encoding, you need an ISO-
10646-1 font to display the result. Your configuration may
not include this font, or locale-support by xterm may not be
needed.
At startup, xterm uses a mechanism equivalent to the
load-vt-fonts(utf8Fonts, Utf8Fonts) action to load font name
subresources of the VT100 widget. That is, resource patterns
such as "*vt100.utf8Fonts.font" will be loaded, and (if this
resource is enabled), override the normal fonts. If no
subresources are found, the normal fonts such as
"*vt100.font", etc., are used.
- 70 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
For instance, you could have this in your resource file:
*VT100.font: 12x24
*VT100.utf8Fonts.font:9x15
When started with a UTF-8 locale, xterm would use 9x15, but
allow you to switch to the 12x24 font using the menu entry
"UTF-8 Fonts".
The resource files distributed with xterm use ISO-10646-1
fonts, but do not rely on them unless you are using the locale
mechanism.
localeFilter (class LocaleFilter)
Specifies the file name for the encoding converter from/to
locale encodings and UTF-8 which is used with the -lc option
or locale resource. The help message shown by "xterm -help"
lists the default value, which depends on your system
configuration.
If the encoding converter requires command-line parameters,
you can add those after the command, e.g.,
*localeFilter: xterm-filter -p
Alternatively, you may put those parameters within a shell
script to execute the converter, and set this resource to
point to the shell script.
When using a locale-filter, e.g., with the -e option, or the
shell, xterm first tries passing control via that filter. If
it fails, xterm will retry without the locale-filter. Xterm
warns about the failure before retrying.
logFile (class Logfile)
Specify the name for xterm's log file. If no name is
specified, xterm will generate a name when logging is enabled,
as described in the -l option.
logInhibit (class LogInhibit)
If "true", prevent the logging feature from being enabled,
whether by the command-line option -l, or the menu entry Log
to File. The default is "false".
logging (class Logging)
If "true", (and if logInhibit is not set) enable the logging
feature. This resource is set/updated by the -l option and
the menu entry Log to File. The default is "false".
- 71 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
loginShell (class LoginShell)
Specifies whether or not the shell to be run in the window
should be started as a login shell. The default is "false".
marginBell (class MarginBell)
Specifies whether or not the bell should be rung when the user
types near the right margin. The default is "false".
maxGraphicSize (class MaxGraphicSize)
If xterm is configured to support ReGIS or SIXEL graphics,
this resource controls the maximum size of a graph which can
be displayed.
The default is "1000x1000" (given as width by height).
If the resource is "auto" then xterm will use the
decGraphicsID resource (or decTerminalID if that is not set):
l l _ _ r r. Result decGraphicsID 768x400 125
800x460 240 800x460 241 800x480 330 800x480 340
860x750 382 800x480 other
maxStringParse (class MaxStringParse)
Xterm's state parser recognizes several types of control
strings which can contain text, e.g.,
APC (Application Program Command),
DCS (Device Control String),
OSC (Operating System Command),
PM (Privacy Message), and
SOS (Start of String),
Xterm reads these strings, accumulating them into a buffer
until they are properly terminated. At that point, xterm
interprets the strings. If they happen to be DCS commands to
draw ReGIS images, these strings may be large, in the hundreds
of kilobytes. A few OSC commands may be as large as 10
kilobytes.
This resource sets a limit on the size of the buffer used for
these strings. The default is "__strings_max__" based on the
features which are configured for xterm. Control strings
which require larger buffer size are ignored.
metaSendsEscape (class MetaSendsEscape)
Tells xterm what to do with input-characters modified by Meta:
+ If "true", Meta characters (a character combined with the
Meta modifier key) are converted into a two-character
sequence with the character itself preceded by ESC. This
- 72 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
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 "__meta_sends_esc__".
mkSamplePass (class MkSamplePass)
If mkSampleSize is nonzero, and mkWidth (and cjkWidth) are
false, on startup xterm compares its built-in tables to the
system's wide character width data to decide if it will use
the system's data. It tests the first mkSampleSize character
values, and allows up to mkSamplePass mismatches before the
test fails. The default (for the allowed number of
mismatches) is 655 (one percent of the default value for
mkSampleSize).
mkSampleSize (class MkSampleSize)
With mkSamplePass, this specifies a startup test used for
initializing wide character width calculations. The default
(number of characters to check) is 65536.
mkWidth (class MkWidth)
Specifies whether xterm should use a built-in version of the
wide character width calculation. See also the cjkWidth
resource which can override this. The default is "false".
Here is a summary of the resources which control the choice of
wide character width calculation: l l l _ _ _ l l l.
cjkWidth mkWidth Action false false use system
tables subject to mkSamplePass false true use built-in
tables true false use built-in CJK tables true true use
built-in CJK tables
To disable mkWidth, and use the system's tables, set both
mkSampleSize and mkSamplePass to "0". Doing that may make
xterm more consistent with applications running in xterm, but
may omit some font glyphs whose width correctly differs from
the system's character tables.
modifyCursorKeys (class ModifyCursorKeys)
Tells how to handle the special case where Control-, Shift-,
Alt- or Meta-modifiers are used to add a parameter to the
escape sequence returned by a cursor-key. The default is "2":
-1 disables the feature.
0 uses the old/obsolete behavior, i.e., the modifier is the
- 73 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
first parameter.
1 prefixes modified sequences with CSI.
2 forces the modifier to be the second parameter if it
would otherwise be the first.
3 marks the sequence with a ">" to hint that it is private.
modifyFunctionKeys (class ModifyFunctionKeys)
Tells how to handle the special case where Control-, Shift-,
Alt- or Meta-modifiers are used to add a parameter to the
escape sequence returned by a (numbered) function-key. The
default is "2". The resource values are similar to
modifyCursorKeys:
-1 permits the user to use shift- and control-modifiers to
construct function-key strings using the normal encoding
scheme.
0 uses the old/obsolete behavior, i.e., the modifier is the
first parameter.
1 prefixes modified sequences with CSI.
2 forces the modifier to be the second parameter if it
would otherwise be the first.
3 marks the sequence with a ">" to hint that it is private.
If modifyFunctionKeys is zero, xterm uses Control- and Shift-
modifiers to allow the user to construct numbered function-
keys beyond the set provided by the keyboard:
Control
adds the value given by the ctrlFKeys resource.
Shift
adds twice the value given by the ctrlFKeys resource.
Control/Shift
adds three times the value given by the ctrlFKeys
resource.
modifyKeyboard (class ModifyKeyboard)
Normally xterm makes a special case regarding modifiers
(shift, control, etc.) to handle special keyboard layouts
(legacy and vt220). This is done to provide compatible
keyboards for DEC VT220 and related terminals that implement
- 74 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
user-defined keys (UDK).
The bits of the resource value selectively enable modification
of the given category when these keyboards are selected. The
default is "0":
0 The legacy/vt220 keyboards interpret only the Control-
modifier when constructing numbered function-keys. Other
special keys are not modified.
1 allows modification of the numeric keypad
2 allows modification of the editing keypad
4 allows modification of function-keys, overrides use of
Shift-modifier for UDK.
8 allows modification of other special keys
modifyOtherKeys (class ModifyOtherKeys)
Like modifyCursorKeys, tells xterm to construct an escape
sequence for ordinary (i.e., "other") keys (such as "2") when
modified by Shift-, Control-, Alt- or Meta-modifiers. This
feature does not apply to special keys, i.e., cursor-,
keypad-, function- or control-keys which are labeled on your
keyboard. Those have key symbols which XKB identifies
uniquely.
For example, this feature does not apply to special control-
keys (e.g., Escape, Tab, Enter, Backspace) Other control keys
(e.g., Control-I, Control-M, Control-H) may send escape
sequences when this feature is enabled.
The default is "0":
0 disables this feature.
1 enables this feature for keys except for those with
well-known behavior, e.g., Tab, Backarrow and some
special control character cases which are built into the
X11 library, e.g., Control-Space to make a NUL, or
Control-3 to make an Escape character.
Except for those special cases built into the X11
library, the Shift- and Control- modifiers are treated
normally. The Alt- and Meta- modifiers do not cause
xterm to send escape sequences. Those modifier keys are
interpreted according to other resources, e.g., the
metaSendsEscape resource.
- 75 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
2 enables this feature for keys including the exceptions
listed. Xterm ignores the special cases built into the
X11 library. Any shifted (modified) ordinary key sends
an escape sequence. The Alt- and Meta- modifiers cause
xterm to send escape sequences.
The Xterm FAQ has an extended discussion of this feature, with
examples:
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/modified-keys.html
multiClickTime (class MultiClickTime)
Specifies the maximum time in milliseconds between multi-click
select events. The default is "250" milliseconds.
multiScroll (class MultiScroll)
Specifies whether or not scrolling should be done
asynchronously. The default is "false".
nMarginBell (class Column)
Specifies the number of characters from the right margin at
which the margin bell should be rung, when enabled by the
marginBell resource. The default is "10".
nameKeymap (class NameKeymap)
See the discussion of the keymap() action.
nextEventDelay (class NextEventDelay)
Specifies a delay time in milliseconds before checking for new
X events. The default is "1".
numColorRegisters (class NumColorRegisters)
If xterm is configured to support ReGIS or SIXEL graphics,
this specifies the number of color-registers which are
available.
If this resource is not specified, xterm uses a value
determined by the decTerminalID resource: l l _ _ r r.
Result decTerminalID 4 125 4 240 4 241 4 330
16 340 2 382 1024 other
numLock (class NumLock)
If "true", xterm checks if NumLock is used as a modifier (see
xmodmap(__mansuffix__)). 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".
- 76 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
oldXtermFKeys (class OldXtermFKeys)
If "true", xterm will use old-style (X11R5) escape sequences
for function keys F1 to F4, for compatibility with X
Consortium xterm. Otherwise, it uses the VT100 codes for PF1
to PF4. The default is "false".
Setting this resource has the same effect as setting the
keyboardType to legacy. The keyboardType resource is the
preferred mechanism for selecting this mode.
The old-style escape sequences resemble VT220 keys, but appear
to have been invented for xterm in X11R4.
on2Clicks (class On2Clicks)
on3Clicks (class On3Clicks)
on4Clicks (class On4Clicks)
on5Clicks (class On5Clicks)
Specify selection behavior in response to multiple mouse
clicks. A single mouse click is always interpreted as
described in the Selection Functions section (see POINTER
USAGE). Multiple mouse clicks (using the button which
activates the select-start action) are interpreted according
to the resource values of on2Clicks, etc. The resource value
can be one of these:
word
Select a "word" as determined by the charClass resource.
See the CHARACTER CLASSES section.
If the pointer is on a "word" then xterm searches back to
the beginning of the word, and then to the end.
If the pointer is not on a "word" then the result depends
on whether it is on whitespace (including a newline), or
past the end of the line. In the latter case xterm may
select a "word" beginning after the newline, if there is no
additional whitespace.
line
Select a line (counting wrapping).
group
Select a group of adjacent lines (counting wrapping). The
selection stops on a blank line, and does not extend
outside the current page.
- 77 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
page
Select all visible lines, i.e., the page.
all
Select all lines, i.e., including the saved lines.
regex
Select the best match for the POSIX extended regular
expression (ERE) which follows in the resource value:
+ Xterm matches the regular expression against a byte
array for the entire (possibly wrapped) line. That
byte array may be UTF-8 or ISO-8859-1, depending on the
mode in which xterm is running.
+ Xterm steps through each byte-offset in this array,
keeping track of the best (longest) match. If more
than one match ties for the longest length, the first
is used.
Xterm does this to make it convenient to click anywhere
in the area of interest and cause the regular
expression to match the entire word, etc.
+ The "^" and "$" anchors in a regular expression denote
the ends of the entire line.
+ If the regular expression contains backslashes "\"
those should be escaped "\\" because the X libraries
interpret backslashes in resource strings.
none
No selection action is associated with this resource.
Xterm interprets it as the end of the list. For example,
you may use it to disable triple (and higher) clicking by
setting on3Clicks to "none".
The default values for on2Clicks and on3Clicks are "word" and
"line", respectively. There is no default value for on4Clicks
or on5Clicks, making those inactive. On startup, xterm
determines the maximum number of clicks by the onXClicks
resource values which are set.
openIm (class OpenIm)
Tells xterm whether to open the input method at startup. The
default is "true".
pointerColor (class PointerColor)
Specifies the foreground color of the pointer. The default is
- 78 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
"XtDefaultForeground".
pointerColorBackground (class PointerColorBackground)
Specifies the background color of the pointer. The default is
"XtDefaultBackground".
pointerFont (class PointerFont)
Specifies the font to be used for the pointer. The shapes
specified by pointerShape are glyphs in this font. The
resource value default is cursor.
pointerMode (class PointerMode)
Specifies when the pointer may be hidden as the user types.
It will be redisplayed if the user moves the mouse, or clicks
one of its buttons.
0 never
1 the application running in xterm has not activated mouse
mode. This is the default.
2 always.
pointerShape (class Cursor)
Specifies the name of the shape of the pointer. The default
is "xterm".
Other shapes can be selected. Here is a list of the "core"
(i.e., standard) names extracted from <X11/cursorfont.h>:
X_cursor, arrow, based_arrow_down, based_arrow_up, boat,
bogosity, bottom_left_corner, bottom_right_corner,
bottom_side, bottom_tee, box_spiral, center_ptr, circle,
clock, coffee_mug, cross, cross_reverse, crosshair,
diamond_cross, dot, dotbox, double_arrow, draft_large,
draft_small, draped_box, exchange, fleur, gobbler, gumby,
hand1, hand2, heart, icon, iron_cross, left_ptr, left_side,
left_tee, leftbutton, ll_angle, lr_angle, man, middlebutton,
mouse, pencil, pirate, plus, question_arrow, right_ptr,
right_side, right_tee, rightbutton, rtl_logo, sailboat,
sb_down_arrow, sb_h_double_arrow, sb_left_arrow,
sb_right_arrow, sb_up_arrow, sb_v_double_arrow, shuttle,
sizing, spider, spraycan, star, target, tcross,
top_left_arrow, top_left_corner, top_right_corner, top_side,
top_tee, trek, ul_angle, umbrella, ur_angle, watch, xterm
If you are using a cursor theme, expect it to provide about a
third of those names, while adding others.
- 79 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
popOnBell (class PopOnBell)
Specifies whether the window would be raised when Control-G is
received. The default is "false".
If the window is iconified, this has no effect. However, the
zIconBeep resource provides you with the ability to see which
iconified windows have sounded a bell.
precompose (class Precompose)
Tells xterm whether to precompose UTF-8 data into
Normalization Form C, which combines commonly-used accents
onto base characters. If it does not do this, accents are
left as separate characters. The default is "true".
preeditType (class PreeditType)
Tells xterm which types of preedit (preconversion) string to
display. The default is "OverTheSpot,Root".
preferLatin1 (class PreferLatin1)
Tells xterm whether to use DEC Supplemental Graphic, or ISO
Latin-1 for the user-preferred supplemental set (UPSS) when
initializing character sets. The former is the documented
setting for hardware terminals, but the latter is expected by
most users. The default is "true" (ISO Latin-1).
printAttributes (class PrintAttributes)
Specifies whether to print graphic attributes along with the
text. A real DEC VTxxx terminal will print the underline,
highlighting codes but your printer may not handle these.
+ "0" disables the attributes.
+ "1" prints the normal set of attributes (bold, underline,
inverse and blink) as VT100-style control sequences.
+ "2" prints ANSI color attributes as well.
The default is "1".
printFileImmediate (class PrintFileImmediate)
When the print-immediate action is invoked, xterm prints the
screen contents directly to a file. Set this resource to the
prefix of the filename (a timestamp will be appended to the
actual name).
The default is an empty string, i.e., "", However, when the
print-immediate action is invoked, if the string is empty,
then "__default_class__" is used.
- 80 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
printFileOnXError (class PrintFileOnXError)
If xterm exits with an X error, e.g., your connection is
broken when the server crashes, it can be told to write the
contents of the screen to a file. To enable the feature, set
this resource to the prefix of the filename (a timestamp will
be appended to the actual name).
The default is an empty string, i.e., "", which disables this
feature. However, when the print-on-error action is invoked,
if the string is empty, then "XTermError" is used.
These error codes are handled: ERROR_XERROR, ERROR_XIOERROR
and ERROR_ICEERROR.
printModeImmediate (class PrintModeImmediate)
When the print-immediate action is invoked, xterm prints the
screen contents directly to a file. You can use the
printModeImmediate resource to tell it to use escape sequences
to reconstruct the video attributes and colors. This uses the
same values as the printAttributes resource. The default is
"0".
printModeOnXError (class PrintModeOnXError)
Xterm implements the printFileOnXError feature using the
printer feature, although the output is written directly to a
file. You can use the printModeOnXError resource to tell it
to use escape sequences to reconstruct the video attributes
and colors. This uses the same values as the printAttributes
resource. The default is "0".
printOptsImmediate (class PrintOptsImmediate)
Specify the range of text which is printed to a file when the
print-immediate action is invoked.
+ If zero (0), then this selects the current (visible
screen) plus the saved lines, except if the alternate
screen is being used. In that case, only the alternate
screen is selected.
+ If nonzero, the bits of this resource value (checked in
descending order) select the range:
8 selects the saved lines.
4 selects the alternate screen.
2 selects the normal screen.
1 selects the current screen, which can be either the
- 81 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
normal or alternate screen.
The default is "9", which selects the current visible screen
plus saved lines, with no special case for the alternated
screen.
printOptsOnXError (class PrintOptsOnXError)
Specify the range of text which is printed to a file when the
print-on-error action is invoked. The resource value is
interpreted the same as in printOptsImmediate.
The default is "9", which selects the current visible screen
plus saved lines, with no special case for the alternated
screen.
printerAutoClose (class PrinterAutoClose)
If "true", xterm will close the printer (a pipe) when the
application switches the printer offline with a Media Copy
command. The default is "false".
printerCommand (class PrinterCommand)
Specifies a shell command to which xterm will open a pipe when
the first MC (Media Copy) command is initiated. The default
is an empty string, i.e., "". If the resource value is given
as an empty string, the printer is disabled.
printerControlMode (class PrinterControlMode)
Specifies the printer control mode. A "1" selects autoprint
mode, which causes xterm to print a line from the screen when
+ 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 portion within the scrolling margins
(false). The default is "false".
printerFormFeed (class PrinterFormFeed)
Controls whether a form feed is sent to the printer at the end
of a print page function. The default is "false".
printerNewLine (class PrinterNewLine)
- 82 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Controls whether a newline is sent to the printer at the end
of a print page function. The default is "true".
privateColorRegisters (class PrivateColorRegisters)
If xterm is configured to support ReGIS or SIXEL graphics,
this controls whether xterm allocates separate color registers
for each sixel device control string, e.g., for DECGCI. If
not true, color registers are allocated only once, when the
terminal is reset, and color changes in any graphic affect
all graphics. The default is "true".
quietGrab (class QuietGrab)
Controls whether the cursor is repainted when NotifyGrab and
NotifyUngrab event types are received during change of focus.
The default is "false".
regisDefaultFont (class RegisDefaultFont)
If xterm is configured to support ReGIS graphics, this
resource tells xterm which font to use if the ReGIS data does
not specify one. No default value is specified; xterm accepts
a TrueType font specification as in the faceName resource.
If no value is specified, xterm draws a bitmap indicating a
missing character.
regisScreenSize (class RegisScreenSize)
If xterm is configured to support ReGIS graphics, this
resource tells xterm the default size (in pixels) for these
graphics, which also sets the default coordinate space to
[0,0] (upper-left) and [width,height] (lower-right).
The application using ReGIS may use the "A" option of the "S"
command to adjust the coordinate space or change the
addressable portion of the screen.
Xterm accepts a special resource value "auto", which tells
xterm to use the decGraphicsID and decTerminalID resources to
set the default size based on the hardware terminal's limits.
Those limits are the same as for the maxGraphicSize resource.
The default is "auto".
renderFont (class RenderFont)
If xterm is built with the Xft library, this controls whether
the faceName resource is used. The default is "default".
The resource values are strings, evaluated as booleans after
startup.
- 83 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
false
disable the feature and use the normal (bitmap) font.
true
startup using the TrueType font specified by the faceName
and faceSize resource settings. If there is no value for
faceName, disable the feature and use the normal (bitmap)
font.
After startup, you can still switch to/from the bitmap
font using the "TrueType Fonts" menu entry.
default
Enable the "TrueType Fonts" menu entry to allow runtime
switching to/from TrueType fonts. The initial font used
depends upon whether the faceName resource is set:
+ If the faceName resource is not set, start by using
the normal (bitmap) font. Xterm has a separate
compiled-in value for faceName for this special case.
That is normally "mono".
+ If the faceName resource is set, then start by using
the TrueType font rather than the bitmap font.
defaultOff
Enable the "TrueType Fonts" menu entry to allow runtime
switching to/from TrueType fonts, but allow it to be
initially unselected if no faceName resource was given.
resizeByPixel (class ResizeByPixel)
Set this "true" to disable hints to the window manager that
request resizing by character rather than pixels.
Most window managers provide visual feedback showing the size
of a window as you resize it, using these hints. When you
maximize xterm, it disables those hints to allow the window
manager to make better use of fractional rows or columns.
Setting this resource disables the hints all the time.
The default is "false".
resizeGravity (class ResizeGravity)
Affects the behavior when the window is resized to be taller
or shorter. NorthWest specifies that the top line of text on
the screen stay fixed. If the window is made shorter, lines
are dropped from the bottom; if the window is made taller,
blank lines are added at the bottom. This is compatible with
the behavior in X11R4. SouthWest (the default) specifies that
- 84 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
the bottom line of text on the screen stay fixed. If the
window is made taller, additional saved lines will be scrolled
down onto the screen; if the window is made shorter, lines
will be scrolled off the top of the screen, and the top saved
lines will be dropped.
retryInputMethod (class RetryInputMethod)
Tells xterm how many times to retry, in case the input-method
server is not responding. This is a different issue than
unsupported preedit type, etc. You may encounter retries if
your X configuration (and its libraries) are missing pieces.
Setting this resource to zero "0" will cancel the retrying.
The default is "3".
reverseVideo (class ReverseVideo)
Specifies whether or not reverse video should be simulated.
The default is "false".
There are several aspects to reverse video in xterm:
+ The command-line -rv option tells the X libraries to
reverse the foreground and background colors. Xterm's
command-line options set resource values. In particular,
the X Toolkit sets the reverseVideo resource when the -rv
option is used.
+ If the user has also used command-line options -fg or -bg
to set the foreground and background colors, xterm does
not see these options directly. Instead, it examines the
resource values to reconstruct the command-line options,
and determine which of the colors is the user's intended
foreground, etc. Their actual values are irrelevant to
the reverse video function; some users prefer the X
defaults (black text on a white background), others prefer
white text on a black background.
+ After startup, the user can toggle the "Enable Reverse
Video" menu entry. This exchanges the current foreground
and background colors of the VT100 widget, and repaints
the screen. Because of the X resource hierarchy, the
reverseVideo resource applies to more than the VT100
widget.
Programs running in an xterm can also use control sequences to
enable the VT100 reverse video mode. These are independent of
the reverseVideo resource and the menu entry. Xterm exchanges
the current foreground and background colors when drawing text
affected by these control sequences.
- 85 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Other control sequences can alter the foreground and
background colors which are used:
+ Programs can also use the ANSI color control sequences to
set the foreground and background colors.
+ Extensions to the ANSI color controls (such as 16-, 88- or
256-colors) are treated similarly to the ANSI control.
+ Using other control sequences (the "dynamic colors"
feature), a program can change the foreground and
background colors.
reverseWrap (class ReverseWrap)
Specifies whether or not reverse-wraparound should be enabled.
This corresponds to xterm's private mode 45. The default is
"false".
rightScrollBar (class RightScrollBar)
Specifies whether or not the scrollbar should be displayed on
the right rather than the left. The default is "false".
saveLines (class SaveLines)
Specifies the number of lines to save beyond the top of the
screen when a scrollbar is turned on. The default is "1024".
scrollBar (class ScrollBar)
Specifies whether or not the scrollbar should be displayed.
The default is "false".
scrollBarBorder (class ScrollBarBorder)
Specifies the width of the scrollbar border. Note that this
is drawn to overlap the border of the xterm window. Modifying
the scrollbar's border affects only the line between the VT100
widget and the scrollbar. The default value is 1.
scrollKey (class ScrollCond)
Specifies whether or not pressing a key should automatically
cause the scrollbar to go to the bottom of the scrolling
region. This corresponds to xterm's private mode 1011. The
default is "false".
scrollLines (class ScrollLines)
Specifies the number of lines that the scroll-back and
scroll-forw actions should use as a default. The default
value is 1.
scrollTtyOutput (class ScrollCond)
Specifies whether or not output to the terminal should
- 86 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
automatically cause the scrollbar to go to the bottom of the
scrolling region. The default is "true".
selectToClipboard (class SelectToClipboard)
Tells xterm whether to use the PRIMARY or CLIPBOARD for SELECT
tokens in the selection mechanism. The set-select action can
change this at runtime, allowing the user to work with
programs that handle only one of these mechanisms. The
default is "false", which tells it to use PRIMARY.
shiftEscape (class ShiftEscape)
Xterm uses the translations resource to determine how to
invoke actions for selecting and copying text using the
pointer (e.g., a mouse). It also provides a mouse protocol
which can be used by applications running in an xterm to
detect mouse button clicks.
The mouse protocol causes xterm to send special escape
sequences which allow an application to determine if modifiers
(i.e., one or more of shift, control, alt, and meta) were
used.
Xterm provides this mouse protocol by interpreting button- and
motion-events in the functions which the translations resource
calls for selecting and copying text:
insert-selection
select-end
select-extend
select-start
start-extend
While the mouse protocol is active, xterm reserves most of the
mouse button events for sending special escape sequences to
the application. Xterm normally allows you to use the shift-
key to temporarily override this mouse protocol, permitting
the selection and copying actions to be used.
The shiftEscape resource setting allows you to tell xterm
whether to use the shift-key in this way (i.e., overriding the
mouse protocol). Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring
case) or the number shown in parentheses:
false (0)
Mouse protocol does not send special escapes when shift-key
is used.
true (1)
- 87 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Mouse protocol may send special escapes when shift-key is
used.
At startup, xterm analyzes the translations to see which
buttons are used in the (mouse) button-related bindings for
selection and copying text. If the shift-key is not
mentioned explicitly in a button's binding, xterm allows
that button with shift-key for overriding the mouse
protocol.
always (2)
Mouse protocol can always send special escapes when shift-
key is used.
never (3)
Mouse protocol will never send special escapes when shift-
key is used.
Xterm interprets a control sequence which can change this
setting between "true" and "false". The default is "false".
shiftFonts (class ShiftFonts)
Specifies whether to enable the actions larger-vt-font() and
smaller-vt-font(), which are normally bound to the shifted
KP_Add and KP_Subtract. The default is "true".
showBlinkAsBold (class ShowBlinkAsBold)
Tells xterm whether to display text with blink-attribute the
same as bold. If xterm has not been configured to support
blinking text, the default is "true", which corresponds to
older versions of xterm, otherwise the default is "false".
showMissingGlyphs (class ShowMissingGlyphs)
Tells xterm whether to display a box outlining places where a
character has been used that the font does not represent. The
default is "true".
showWrapMarks (class ShowWrapMarks)
For debugging xterm and applications that may manipulate the
wrapped-line flag by writing text at the right margin, show a
mark on the right inner-border of the window. The mark shows
which lines have the flag set.
signalInhibit (class SignalInhibit)
Specifies whether or not the entries in the Main Options menu
for sending signals to xterm should be disallowed. The
default is "false".
sixelScrolling (class SixelScrolling)
- 88 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
If xterm is configured to support SIXEL graphics, this
resource tells it whether to scroll up one line at a time when
sixels would be written past the bottom line on the window.
The default is "true" which enables scrolling.
Sixel scrolling is the opposite of DEC Sixel Display Mode
(DECSDM): when one is on, the other is off.
sixelScrollsRight (class SixelScrollsRight)
If xterm is configured to support SIXEL graphics, this
resource tells it whether to scroll to the right as needed to
keep the current position visible rather than truncate the
plot on the on the right. The default is "false" which
disables scrolling.
tekGeometry (class Geometry)
Specifies the preferred size and position of the Tektronix
window. There is no default for this resource.
tekInhibit (class TekInhibit)
Specifies whether or not the escape sequence to enter
Tektronix mode should be ignored. The default is "false".
tekSmall (class TekSmall)
Specifies whether or not the Tektronix mode window should
start in its smallest size if no explicit geometry is given.
This is useful when running xterm on displays with small
screens. The default is "false".
tekStartup (class TekStartup)
Specifies whether or not xterm should start up in Tektronix
mode. The default is "false".
tiXtraScroll (class TiXtraScroll)
Specifies whether xterm should scroll to a new page when
processing the ti or te termcap strings, i.e., the private
modes 47, 1047 or 1049. This is only in effect if titeInhibit
is "true", because the intent of this option is to provide a
picture of the full-screen application's display on the
scrollback without wiping out the text that would be shown
before the application was initialized.
Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
shown in parentheses:
false (0)
nothing is added to the scrollback.
true (1)
- 89 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
the current screen is added to the scrollback.
trim (2)
the current screen is added to the scrollback, but
repeated blank lines are trimmed (reduced to a single
blank line).
The default for this resource is "false".
titeInhibit (class TiteInhibit)
Originally specified whether or not xterm should remove ti and
te termcap entries (used to switch between alternate screens
on startup of many screen-oriented programs) from the TERMCAP
string.
TERMCAP is used rarely now, but xterm supports the feature on
modern systems:
+ If set, xterm also ignores the escape sequence to switch
to the alternate screen.
+ Xterm supports terminfo in a different way, supporting
composite control sequences (also known as private modes)
1047, 1048 and 1049 which have the same effect as the
original 47 control sequence.
The default for this resource is "false".
titleModes (class TitleModes)
Tells xterm whether to accept or return window- and icon-
labels in ISO-8859-1 (the default) or UTF-8. Either can be
encoded in hexadecimal:
+ UTF-8 titles require special treatment, because they may
contain bytes which can be mistaken for control
characters. Hexadecimal-encoding is supported to
eliminate that possibility.
+ As an alternative, you could use the allowC1Printable
resource, which suppresses xterm's parsing of the relevant
control characters (and as a result, treats those bytes as
data).
The default for this resource is "0".
Each bit (bit "0" is 1, bit "1" is 2, etc.) corresponds to one
of the parameters set by the title modes control sequence:
0 Set window/icon labels using hexadecimal
- 90 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
1 Query window/icon labels using hexadecimal
2 Set window/icon labels using UTF-8 (gives the same effect
as the utf8Title resource).
3 Query window/icon labels using UTF-8
translations (class Translations)
Specifies the key and button bindings for menus, selections,
"programmed strings", etc. The translations resource, which
provides much of xterm's configurability, is a feature of the
X Toolkit Intrinsics library (Xt). See the Actions section.
trimSelection (class TrimSelection)
If you set highlightSelection, you can see the text which is
selected, including any trailing spaces. Clearing the screen
(or a line) resets it to a state containing no spaces. Some
lines may contain trailing spaces when an application writes
them to the screen. However, you may not wish to paste lines
with trailing spaces. If this resource is true, xterm will
trim trailing spaces from text which is selected. It does not
affect spaces which result in a wrapped line, nor will it trim
the trailing newline from your selection. The default is
"false".
underLine (class UnderLine)
This specifies whether or not text with the underline
attribute should be underlined. It may be desirable to
disable underlining when color is being used for the underline
attribute. The default is "true".
useBorderClipping (class UseBorderClipping)
Tell xterm whether to apply clipping when useClipping is
false. Unlike useClipping, this simply limits text to keep it
within the window borders, e.g., as a refinement to the
scaleHeight workaround. The default is "false".
useClipping (class UseClipping)
Tell xterm whether to use clipping to keep from producing dots
outside the text drawing area. Originally used to work around
for overstriking effects, this is also needed to work with
some incorrectly-sized fonts. The default is "true".
utf8 (class Utf8)
This specifies whether xterm will run in UTF-8 mode. If you
set this resource, xterm also sets the wideChars resource as a
side-effect. The resource can be set via the menu entry
"UTF-8 Encoding". The default is "default".
- 91 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
shown in parentheses:
false (0)
UTF-8 mode is initially off. The command-line option +u8
sets the resource to this value. Escape sequences for
turning UTF-8 mode on/off are allowed.
true (1)
UTF-8 mode is initially on. Escape sequences for turning
UTF-8 mode on/off are allowed.
always (2)
The command-line option -u8 sets the resource to this
value. Escape sequences for turning UTF-8 mode on/off are
ignored.
default (3)
This is the default value of the resource. It is changed
during initialization depending on whether the locale
resource was set, to false (0) or always (2). See the
locale resource for additional discussion of non-UTF-8
locales.
If you want to set the value of utf8, it should be in this
range. Other nonzero values are treated the same as "1",
i.e., UTF-8 mode is initially on, and escape sequences for
turning UTF-8 mode on/off are allowed.
utf8Fonts (class Utf8Fonts)
See the discussion of the locale resource. This specifies
whether xterm will use UTF-8 fonts specified via resource
patterns such as "*vt100.utf8Fonts.font" or normal (ISO-8859-
1) fonts via patterns such as "*vt100.font". The resource can
be set via the menu entry "UTF-8 Fonts". The default is
"default".
Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
shown in parentheses:
false (0)
Use the ISO-8859-1 fonts. The menu entry is enabled,
allowing the choice of fonts to be changed at runtime.
true (1)
Use the UTF-8 fonts. The menu entry is enabled, allowing
the choice of fonts to be changed at runtime.
always (2)
- 92 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Always use the UTF-8 fonts. This also disables the menu
entry.
default (3)
At startup, the resource is set to true or false,
according to the effective value of the utf8 resource.
utf8Latin1 (class Utf8Latin1)
If true, allow an ISO-8859-1 normal font to be combined with
an ISO-10646-1 font if the latter is given via the -fw option
or its corresponding resource value. The default is "false".
utf8SelectTypes (class Utf8SelectTypes)
Override xterm's default selection target list (see
SELECT/PASTE) for selections in wide-character (UTF-8) mode.
The default is an empty string, i.e., "", which does not
override anything.
utf8Title (class Utf8Title)
Applications can set xterm's title by writing a control
sequence. Normally this control sequence follows the VT220
convention, which encodes the string in ISO-8859-1 and allows
for an 8-bit string terminator. If xterm is started in a
UTF-8 locale, it translates the ISO-8859-1 string to UTF-8 to
work with the X libraries which assume the string is UTF-8.
However, some users may wish to write a title string encoded
in UTF-8. The window manager is responsible for drawing
window titles. Some window managers (not all) support UTF-8
encoding of window titles. Set this resource to "true" to
also set UTF-8 encoded title strings using the EWMH
properties.
This feature is available as a menu entry, since it is related
to the particular applications you are running within xterm.
You can also use a control sequence (see the discussion of
"Title Modes" in Xterm Control Sequences), to set an
equivalent flag (which can also be set using the titleModes
resource).
Xterm accepts either a keyword (ignoring case) or the number
shown in parentheses:
false (0)
Set only ISO-8859-1 title strings, e.g., using the ICCCM
WM_NAME STRING property. The menu entry is enabled,
allowing the choice of title-strings to be changed at
runtime.
- 93 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
true (1)
Set both the EWMH (UTF-8 strings) and the ICCCM WM_NAME,
etc. The menu entry is enabled, allowing the choice to
be changed at runtime.
always (2)
Always set both the EWMH (UTF-8 strings) and the ICCCM
WM_NAME, etc. This also disables the menu entry.
default (3)
At startup, the resource is set to true or false,
according to the effective value of the utf8 resource.
The default is "default".
utf8Weblike (class Utf8Weblike)
Provide an alternate error-handling scheme for ill-formed
UTF-8 as recommended in a W3C document. The Unicode standard
does not require this for conformance. Some additional
information can be found here:
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/bad-utf8/
The default is "false".
veryBoldColors (class VeryBoldColors)
Specifies whether to combine video attributes with colors
specified by colorBD, colorBL, colorIT, colorRV, and colorUL.
The resource value is the sum of values for each attribute:
1 for reverse,
2 for underline,
4 for bold,
8 for blink, and
512 for italic
The default is "0".
visualBell (class VisualBell)
Specifies whether or not a visible bell (i.e., flashing)
should be used instead of an audible bell when Control-G is
received. The default is "false", which tells xterm to use an
audible bell.
visualBellDelay (class VisualBellDelay)
Number of milliseconds to delay when displaying a visual bell.
Default is 100. If set to zero, no visual bell is displayed.
This is useful for very slow displays, e.g., an LCD display on
a laptop.
- 94 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
visualBellLine (class VisualBellLine)
Specifies whether to flash only the current line when
displaying a visual bell rather than flashing the entire
screen: The default is "false", which tells xterm to flash the
entire screen.
vt100Graphics (class VT100Graphics)
This specifies whether xterm will interpret VT100 graphic
character escape sequences while in UTF-8 mode. This feature
also applies to code-pages (e.g., for VT320 and VT520) and
National Replacement Character Sets (VT220 and up), but not
US-ASCII (the initially selected character set), to avoid
conflict with UTF-8. The default is "true", to provide
support for various legacy applications.
wideBoldFont (class WideBoldFont)
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying bold
wide text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice as
wide as the font that will be used to draw bold text. If no
double-width font is found, it will improvise, by stretching
the bold font.
wideChars (class WideChars)
Specifies if xterm should respond to control sequences that
process 16-bit characters. The default is "false".
wideFont (class WideFont)
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying wide
text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice as wide
as the font that will be used to draw normal text. If no
double-width font is found, it will improvise, by stretching
the normal font.
xftMaxGlyphMemory (class XftMaxGlyphMemory)
Set the Xft library's limit on glyph memory (typically 4Mb).
When it reaches this limit, it discards "randomly chosen"
glyphs to make room for new ones. The default is "0" to use
Xft's default value.
xftMaxUnrefFonts (class XftMaxUnrefFonts)
Set the Xft library's limit on fonts which have been loaded
(typically 16), e.g., matching patterns for fallback searches,
but are not actually used. The default is "0" to use Xft's
default value.
xftTrackMemUsage (class XftTrackMemUsage)
Enables glyph memory tracking (introduced in Xft 2.3.5), which
allows Xft to efficiently discard obsolete data when running
short of memory. The default is "false".
- 95 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
ximFont (class XimFont)
This option specifies the font to be used for displaying the
preedit string in the "OverTheSpot" input method.
In "OverTheSpot" preedit type, the preedit (preconversion)
string is displayed at the position of the cursor. It is the
XIM server's responsibility to display the preedit string.
The XIM client must inform the XIM server of the cursor
position. For best results, the preedit string must be
displayed with a proper font. Therefore, xterm informs the
XIM server of the proper font. The font is be supplied by a
"fontset", whose default value is "*". This matches every
font, the X library automatically chooses fonts with proper
charsets. The ximFont resource is provided to override this
default font setting.
Tek4014 Widget Resources
The following resources are specified as part of the tek4014 widget
(class Tek4014). These are specified by patterns such as
"__default_class__.tek4014.NAME":
font2 (class Font)
Specifies font number 2 to use in the Tektronix window.
font3 (class Font)
Specifies font number 3 to use in the Tektronix window.
fontLarge (class Font)
Specifies the large font to use in the Tektronix window.
fontSmall (class Font)
Specifies the small font to use in the Tektronix window.
ginTerminator (class GinTerminator)
Specifies what character(s) should follow a GIN report or
status report. The possibilities are "none", which sends no
terminating characters, "CRonly", which sends CR, and
"CR&EOT", which sends both CR and EOT. The default is "none".
height (class Height)
Specifies the height of the Tektronix window in pixels.
initialFont (class InitialFont)
Specifies which of the four Tektronix fonts to use initially.
Values are the same as for the set-tek-text action. The
default is "large".
width (class Width)
Specifies the width of the Tektronix window in pixels.
- 96 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Menu Resources
The resources that may be specified for the various menus are
described in the documentation for the Athena SimpleMenu widget. The
name and classes of the entries in each of the menus are listed below.
Resources named "lineN" where N is a number are separators with class
SmeLine.
As with all X resource-based widgets, the labels mentioned are
customary defaults for the application.
The Main Options menu (widget name mainMenu) has the following
entries:
toolbar (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-toolbar(toggle) action.
securekbd (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the secure() action.
allowsends (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the allow-send-events(toggle) action.
redraw (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the redraw() action.
logging (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the logging(toggle) action.
print-immediate (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the print-immediate() action.
print-on-error (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the print-on-error() action.
print (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the print() action.
print-redir (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the print-redir() action.
dump-html (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the dump-html() action.
dump-svg (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the dump-svg() action.
8-bit-control (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-8-bit-control(toggle) action.
- 97 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
backarrow key (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-backarrow(toggle) action.
num-lock (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-num-lock(toggle) action.
alt-esc (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the alt-sends-escape(toggle) action.
meta-esc (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the meta-sends-escape(toggle) action.
delete-is-del (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the delete-is-del(toggle) action.
oldFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-old-function-keys(toggle) action.
hpFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-hp-function-keys(toggle) action.
scoFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-sco-function-keys(toggle) action.
sunFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-sun-function-keys(toggle) action.
sunKeyboard (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the sunKeyboard(toggle) action.
suspend (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the send-signal(tstp) action on systems
that support job control.
continue (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the send-signal(cont) action on systems
that support job control.
interrupt (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the send-signal(int) action.
hangup (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the send-signal(hup) action.
terminate (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the send-signal(term) action.
kill (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the send-signal(kill) action.
- 98 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
quit (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the quit() action.
The VT Options menu (widget name vtMenu) has the following entries:
scrollbar (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-scrollbar(toggle) action.
jumpscroll (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-jumpscroll(toggle) action.
reversevideo (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-reverse-video(toggle) action.
autowrap (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-autowrap(toggle) action.
reversewrap (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-reversewrap(toggle) action.
autolinefeed (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-autolinefeed(toggle) action.
appcursor (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-appcursor(toggle) action.
appkeypad (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-appkeypad(toggle) action.
scrollkey (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-scroll-on-key(toggle) action.
scrollttyoutput (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-scroll-on-tty-output(toggle)
action.
allow132 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-allow132(toggle) action.
cursesemul (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-cursesemul(toggle) action.
keepSelection (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-keep-selection(toggle) action.
selectToClipboard (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-keep-clipboard(toggle) action.
visualbell (class SmeBSB)
- 99 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
This entry invokes the set-visual-bell(toggle) action.
bellIsUrgent (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-bellIsUrgent(toggle) action.
poponbell (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-pop-on-bell(toggle) action.
cursorblink (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-cursorblink(toggle) action.
titeInhibit (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-titeInhibit(toggle) action.
activeicon (class SmeBSB)
This entry toggles active icons on and off if this feature was
compiled into xterm. It is enabled only if xterm was started
with the command line option +ai or the activeIcon resource is
set to "true".
softreset (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the soft-reset() action.
hardreset (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the hard-reset() action.
clearsavedlines (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the clear-saved-lines() action.
tekshow (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-visibility(tek,toggle) action.
tekmode (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-terminal-type(tek) action.
vthide (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-visibility(vt,off) action.
altscreen (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-altscreen(toggle) action.
sixelScrolling (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-sixel-scrolling(toggle) action.
privateColorRegisters (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-private-colors(toggle) action.
The VT Fonts menu (widget name fontMenu) has the following entries:
- 100 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
fontdefault (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(d) action, setting the font
using the font (default) resource, e.g., "Default" in the
menu.
font1 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(1) action, setting the font
using the font1 resource, e.g., "Unreadable" in the menu.
font2 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(2) action, setting the font
using the font2 resource, e.g., "Tiny" in the menu.
font3 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(3) action, setting the font
using the font3 resource, e.g., "Small" in the menu.
font4 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(4) action, letting the font
using the font4 resource, e.g., "Medium" in the menu.
font5 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(5) action, letting the font
using the font5 resource, e.g., "Large" in the menu.
font6 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(6) action, letting the font
using the font6 resource, e.g., "Huge" in the menu.
font7 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(7) action, letting the font
using the font7 resource, e.g., "Enormous" in the menu.
fontescape (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(e) action.
fontsel (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-vt-font(s) action.
allow-bold-fonts (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the allow-bold-fonts(toggle) action.
font-linedrawing (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-font-linedrawing(s) action.
font-packed (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-font-packed(s) action.
font-doublesize (class SmeBSB)
- 101 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
This entry invokes the set-font-doublesize(s) action.
render-font (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-render-font(s) action.
utf8-fonts (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-utf8-fonts(s) action.
utf8-mode (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-utf8-mode(s) action.
utf8-title (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-utf8-title(s) action.
allow-color-ops (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the allow-color-ops(toggle) action.
allow-font-ops (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the allow-font-ops(toggle) action.
allow-tcap-ops (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the allow-tcap-ops(toggle) action.
allow-title-ops (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the allow-title-ops(toggle) action.
allow-window-ops (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the allow-window-ops(toggle) action.
The Tek Options menu (widget name tekMenu) has the following entries:
tektextlarge (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-tek-text(large) action.
tektext2 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-tek-text(2) action.
tektext3 (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-tek-text(3) action.
tektextsmall (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-tek-text(small) action.
tekpage (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the tek-page() action.
tekreset (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the tek-reset() action.
- 102 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
tekcopy (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the tek-copy() action.
vtshow (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-visibility(vt,toggle) action.
vtmode (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-terminal-type(vt) action.
tekhide (class SmeBSB)
This entry invokes the set-visibility(tek,toggle) action.
Scrollbar Resources
The following resources are useful when specified for the Athena
Scrollbar widget:
background (class Background)
Specifies the color to use for the background of the
scrollbar.
foreground (class Foreground)
Specifies the color to use for the foreground of the
scrollbar.
thickness (class Thickness)
Specifies the width in pixels of the scrollbar (default: 14).
This may be overridden by the width resource.
thumb (class Thumb)
The default "thumb" pixmap used for the scrollbar is a simple
checkerboard pattern alternating pixels for foreground and
background color.
width (class Width)
Specifies the width in pixels of the scrollbar (default: 0).
The widget checks the width resource first, using the
thickness value if the width is zero.
POINTER USAGE
Once the VTxxx window is created, xterm allows you to select text and
copy it within the same or other windows using the pointer or the
keyboard.
A "pointer" could be a mouse, touchpad or similar device. X
applications generally do not care, since they see only button events
which have
- 103 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
+ position and
+ button up/down state
Xterm can see these events as long as it has focus.
The keyboard also supplies events, but it is less flexible than the
pointer for selecting/copying text.
Events are applied to actions using the translations resource. See
Actions for a complete list, and Default Key Bindings for the built-in
set of translations resources.
Selection Functions
By default, the selection functions are invoked when the pointer
buttons are used with no modifiers, and when they are used with the
"shift" key. The "shift" key is special, because xterm uses that to
ensure that selection functions are still available when it is
programmed to send escape sequences in one of the mouse modes (see
Xterm Control Sequences, as well as the resource disallowedMouseOps).
At startup, xterm inspects the translations resource to see which
pointer buttons may be used in this way, and remembers these buttons
when deciding whether to send escape sequences or perform selection
when those buttons are used with the "shift" modifier. Other pointer
buttons, e.g., typically those sent for wheel mouse events, are not
affected.
The assignment of the functions described below to keys and buttons
may be changed through the resource database; see Actions below.
Pointer button one (usually left)
is used to save text into the cut buffer:
~Meta <Btn1Down>:select-start()
Move the cursor to beginning of the text, and then hold the
button down while moving the cursor to the end of the region and
releasing the button. The selected text is highlighted and is
saved in the global cut buffer and made the selection when the
button is released:
<BtnUp>:select-end(SELECT, CUT_BUFFER0) \n
Normally (but see the discussion of on2Clicks, etc):
+ Double-clicking selects by words.
+ Triple-clicking selects by lines.
- 104 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
+ Quadruple-clicking goes back to characters, etc.
Multiple-click is determined by the time from button up to button
down, so you can change the selection unit in the middle of a
selection. Logical words and lines selected by double- or
triple-clicking may wrap across more than one screen line if
lines were wrapped by xterm itself rather than by the application
running in the window. If the key/button bindings specify that
an X selection is to be made, xterm will leave the selected text
highlighted for as long as it is the selection owner.
Pointer button two (usually middle)
"types" (pastes) the text from the given selection, if any,
otherwise from the cut buffer, inserting it as keyboard input:
~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn2Up>:insert-selection(SELECT, CUT_BUFFER0)
Pointer button three (usually right)
extends the current selection.
~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn3Down>:start-extend()
(Without loss of generality, you can swap "right" and "left"
everywhere in the rest of this paragraph.) If pressed while
closer to the right edge of the selection than the left, it
extends/contracts the right edge of the selection. If you
contract the selection past the left edge of the selection, xterm
assumes you really meant the left edge, restores the original
selection, then extends/contracts the left edge of the selection.
Extension starts in the selection unit mode that the last
selection or extension was performed in; you can multiple-click
to cycle through them.
By cutting and pasting pieces of text without trailing new lines, you
can take text from several places in different windows and form a
command to the shell, for example, or take output from a program and
insert it into your favorite editor. Since cut buffers are globally
shared among different applications, you may regard each as a "file"
whose contents you know. The terminal emulator and other text
programs should be treating it as if it were a text file, i.e., the
text is delimited by new lines.
Scrolling
The scroll region displays the position and amount of text currently
showing in the window (highlighted) relative to the amount of text
actually saved. As more text is saved (up to the maximum), the size
of the highlighted area decreases.
Clicking button one with the pointer in the scroll region moves the
- 105 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
adjacent line to the top of the display window.
Clicking button three moves the top line of the display window down to
the pointer position.
Clicking button two moves the display to a position in the saved text
that corresponds to the pointer's position in the scrollbar.
Tektronix Pointer
Unlike the VTxxx window, the Tektronix window does not allow the
copying of text. It does allow Tektronix GIN mode, and in this mode
the cursor will change from an arrow to a cross. Pressing any key
will send that key and the current coordinate of the cross cursor.
Pressing button one, two, or three will return the letters "l", "m",
and "r", respectively. If the "shift" key is pressed when a pointer
button is pressed, the corresponding upper case letter is sent. To
distinguish a pointer button from a key, the high bit of the character
is set (but this is bit is normally stripped unless the terminal mode
is RAW; see tty(4) for details).
SELECT/PASTE
X clients provide select and paste support by responding to requests
conveyed by the X server. The X server holds data in "atoms" which
correspond to the different types of selection (PRIMARY, SECONDARY,
CLIPBOARD) as well as the similar cut buffer mechanism (CUT_BUFFER0 to
CUT_BUFFER7). Those are documented in the ICCCM.
The ICCCM deals with the underlying mechanism for select/paste. It
does not mention highlighting. The selection is not the same as
highlighting. Xterm (like many applications) uses highlighting to
show you the currently selected text. An X application may own a
selection, which allows it to be the source of data copied using a
given selection atom Xterm may continue owning a selection after it
stops highlighting (see keepSelection).
PRIMARY
When configured to use the primary selection (the default), xterm can
provide the selection data in ways which help to retain character
encoding information as it is pasted.
The PRIMARY token is a standard X feature, documented in the ICCCM
(Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual), which states
The selection named by the atom PRIMARY is used for all commands
that take only a single argument and is the principal means of
communication between clients that use the selection mechanism.
A user "selects" text on xterm, which highlights the selected text. A
subsequent "paste" to another client forwards a request to the client
- 106 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
owning the selection. If xterm owns the primary selection, it makes
the data available in the form of one or more "selection targets". If
it does not own the primary selection, e.g., if it has released it or
another client has asserted ownership, it relies on cut-buffers to
pass the data. But cut-buffers handle only ISO-8859-1 data
(officially - some clients ignore the rules).
CLIPBOARD
When configured to use the clipboard (using the selectToClipboard
resource), the problem with persistence of ownership is bypassed.
Otherwise, there is no difference regarding the data which can be
passed via selection.
The selectToClipboard resource is a compromise, allowing CLIPBOARD to
be treated almost like PRIMARY, unlike the ICCCM, which describes
CLIPBOARD in different terms than PRIMARY or SECONDARY. Its lengthy
explanation begins with the essential points:
The selection named by the atom CLIPBOARD is used to hold data that
is being transferred between clients, that is, data that usually is
being cut and then pasted or copied and then pasted. Whenever a
client wants to transfer data to the clipboard:
+ It should assert ownership of the CLIPBOARD.
+ If it succeeds in acquiring ownership, it should be prepared to
respond to a request for the contents of the CLIPBOARD in the
usual way (retaining the data to be able to return it). The
request may be generated by the clipboard client described
below.
SELECT
However, many applications use CLIPBOARD in imitation of other
windowing systems. The selectToClipboard resource (and corresponding
menu entry Select to Clipboard) introduce the SELECT token (known only
to xterm) which chooses between the PRIMARY and CLIPBOARD tokens.
Without using this feature, one can use workarounds such as the xclip
program to show the contents of the X clipboard within an xterm
window.
SECONDARY
This is used less often than PRIMARY or CLIPBOARD. According to the
ICCCM, it is used
+ As the second argument to commands taking two arguments (for
example, "exchange primary and secondary selections")
+ As a means of obtaining data when there is a primary selection and
- 107 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
the user does not want to disturb it
Selection Targets
The different types of data which are passed depend on what the
receiving client asks for. These are termed selection targets.
When asking for the selection data, xterm tries the following types in
this order:
UTF8_STRING
This is an XFree86 extension, which denotes that the data is
encoded in UTF-8. When xterm is built with wide-character
support, it both accepts and provides this type.
TEXT the text is in the encoding which corresponds to your
current locale.
COMPOUND_TEXT
this is a format for multiple character set data, such as
multi-lingual text. It can store UTF-8 data as a special
case.
STRING
This is Latin 1 (ISO-8859-1) data.
The middle two (TEXT and COMPOUND_TEXT) are added if xterm is
configured with the i18nSelections resource set to "true".
UTF8_STRING is preferred (therefore first in the list) since xterm
stores text as Unicode data when running in wide-character mode, and
no translation is needed. On the other hand, TEXT and COMPOUND_TEXT
may require translation. If the translation is incomplete, they will
insert X's "defaultString" whose value cannot be set, and may simply
be empty. Xterm's defaultString resource specifies the string to use
for incomplete translations of the UTF8_STRING.
You can alter the types which xterm tries using the
eightBitSelectTypes or utf8SelectTypes resources. For instance, you
might have some specific locale setting which does not use UTF-8
encoding. The resource value is a comma-separated list of the
selection targets, which consist of the names shown. You can use the
special name I18N to denote the optional inclusion of TEXT and
COMPOUND_TEXT. The names are matched ignoring case, and can be
abbreviated. The default list can be expressed in several ways, e.g.,
UTF8_STRING,I18N,STRING
utf8,i18n,string
u,i,s
- 108 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Mouse Protocol
Applications can send escape sequences to xterm to cause it to send
escape sequences back to the computer when you press a pointer button,
or even (depending on which escape sequence) send escape sequences
back to the computer as you move the pointer.
These escape sequences and the responses, called the mouse protocol,
are documented in XTerm Control Sequences. They do not appear in the
actions invoked by the translations resource because the resource does
not change while you run xterm, whereas applications can change the
mouse prototol (i.e., enable, disable, use different modes).
However, the mouse protocol is interpreted within the actions that are
usually associated with the pointer buttons. Xterm ignores the mouse
protocol in the insert-selection action if the shift-key is pressed at
the same time. It also modifies a few other actions if the shift-key
is pressed, e.g., suppressing the response with the pointer position,
though not eliminating changes to the selected text.
MENUS
Xterm has four menus, named mainMenu, vtMenu, fontMenu, and tekMenu.
Each menu pops up under the correct combinations of key and button
presses. Each menu is divided into sections, separated by a
horizontal line. Some menu entries correspond to modes that can be
altered. A check mark appears next to a mode that is currently
active. Selecting one of these modes toggles its state. Other menu
entries are commands; selecting one of these performs the indicated
function.
All of the menu entries correspond to X actions. In the list below,
the menu label is shown followed by the action's name in parenthesis.
Main Options
The xterm mainMenu pops up when the "control" key and pointer button
one are pressed in a window. This menu contains items that apply to
both the VTxxx and Tektronix windows. There are several sections:
Commands for managing X events:
Toolbar (resource toolbar)
Clicking on the "Toolbar" menu entry hides the toolbar if it
is visible, and shows it if it is not.
Secure Keyboard (resource securekbd)
The Secure Keyboard mode is helpful when typing in passwords
or other sensitive data in an unsecure environment (see
SECURITY below, but read the limitations carefully).
Allow SendEvents (resource allowsends)
- 109 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Specifies whether or not synthetic key and button events
generated using the X protocol SendEvent request should be
interpreted or discarded. This corresponds to the
allowSendEvents resource.
Redraw Window (resource redraw)
Forces the X display to repaint; useful in some
environments.
Commands for capturing output:
Log to File (resource logging)
Captures text sent to the screen in a log file, as in the -l
logging option.
Print-All Immediately (resource print-immediate)
Invokes the print-immediate action, sending the text of the
current window directly to a file, as specified by the
printFileImmediate, printModeImmediate and
printOptsImmediate resources.
Print-All on Error (resource print-on-error)
Invokes the print-on-error action, which toggles a flag
telling xterm that if it exits with an X error, to send the
text of the current window directly to a file, as specified
by the printFileOnXError, printModeOnXError and
printOptsOnXError resources.
Print Window (resource print)
Sends the text of the current window to the program given in
the printerCommand resource.
Redirect to Printer (resource print-redir)
This sets the printerControlMode to 0 or 2. You can use
this to turn the printer on as if an application had sent
the appropriate control sequence. It is also useful for
switching the printer off if an application turns it on
without resetting the print control mode.
XHTML Screen Dump (resource dump-html)
Available only when compiled with screen dump support.
Invokes the dump-html action. This creates an XHTML file
matching the contents of the current screen, including the
border, internal border, colors and most attributes: bold,
italic, underline, faint, strikeout, reverse; blink is
rendered as white-on-red; double underline is rendered the
same as underline since there is no portable equivalent in
CSS 2.2.
- 110 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
The font is whatever your browser uses for preformatted
(<pre>) elements. The XHTML file references a cascading
style sheet (CSS) named "xterm.css" that you can create to
select a font or override properties.
The following CSS selectors are used with the expected
default behavior in the XHTML file:
In addition you may use
Attributes faint, reverse and blink are implemented as style
attributes setting color properties. All colors are
specified as RGB percentages in order to support displays
with 10 bits per RGB.
The name of the file will be
xterm.yyyy.MM.dd.hh.mm.ss.xhtml
where yyyy, MM, dd, hh, mm and ss are the year, month, day,
hour, minute and second when the screen dump was performed
(the file is created in the directory xterm is started in,
or the home directory for a login xterm).
The dump-html action can also be triggered using the Media
Copy control sequence CSI 1 0 i, for example from a shell
script with
printf '\033[10i'
Only the UTF-8 encoding is supported.
SVG Screen Dump (resource dump-svg)
Available only when compiled with screen dump support.
Invokes the dump-svg action. This creates a Scalable Vector
Graphics (SVG) file matching the contents of the current
screen, including the border, internal border, colors and
most attributes: bold, italic, underline, double underline,
faint, strikeout, reverse; blink is rendered as white-on-
red. The font is whatever your renderer uses for the
monospace font-family. All colors are specified as RGB
percentages in order to support displays with 10 bits per
RGB.
The name of the file will be
xterm.yyyy.MM.dd.hh.mm.ss.svg
where yyyy, MM, dd, hh, mm and ss are the year, month, day,
- 111 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
hour, minute and second when the screen dump was performed
(the file is created in the directory xterm is started in,
or the home directory for a login xterm).
The dump-svg action can also be triggered using the Media
Copy control sequence CSI 1 1 i, for example from a shell
script with
printf '\033[11i'
Only the UTF-8 encoding is supported.
Modes for setting keyboard style:
8-Bit Controls (resource 8-bit-control)
Enabled for VT220 emulation, this controls whether xterm
will send 8-bit control sequences rather than using 7-bit
(ASCII) controls, e.g., sending a byte in the range 128159
rather than the escape character followed by a second byte.
Xterm always interprets both 8-bit and 7-bit control
sequences (see Xterm Control Sequences). This corresponds
to the eightBitControl resource.
Backarrow Key (BS/DEL) (resource backarrow key)
Modifies the behavior of the backarrow key, making it
transmit either a backspace (8) or delete (127) character.
This corresponds to the backarrowKey resource.
Alt/NumLock Modifiers (resource num-lock)
Controls the treatment of Alt- and NumLock-key modifiers.
This corresponds to the numLock resource.
Meta Sends Escape (resource meta-esc)
Controls whether Meta keys are converted into a two-
character sequence with the character itself preceded by
ESC. This corresponds to the metaSendsEscape resource.
Delete is DEL (resource delete-is-del)
Controls whether the Delete key on the editing keypad should
send DEL (127) or the VT220-style Remove escape sequence.
This corresponds to the deleteIsDEL resource.
Old Function-Keys (resource oldFunctionKeys)
HP Function-Keys (resource hpFunctionKeys)
SCO Function-Keys (resource scoFunctionKeys)
Sun Function-Keys (resource sunFunctionKeys)
- 112 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
VT220 Keyboard (resource sunKeyboard)
These act as a radio-button, selecting one style for the
keyboard layout. The layout corresponds to more than one
resource setting: sunKeyboard, sunFunctionKeys,
scoFunctionKeys and hpFunctionKeys.
Commands for process signalling:
Send STOP Signal (resource suspend)
Send CONT Signal (resource continue)
Send INT Signal (resource interrupt)
Send HUP Signal (resource hangup)
Send TERM Signal (resource terminate)
Send KILL Signal (resource kill)
These send the SIGTSTP, SIGCONT, SIGINT, SIGHUP, SIGTERM and
SIGKILL signals respectively, to the process group of the
process running under xterm (usually the shell). The
SIGCONT function is especially useful if the user has
accidentally typed CTRL-Z, suspending the process.
Quit (resource quit)
Stop processing X events except to support the -hold option,
and then send a SIGHUP signal to the process group of the
process running under xterm (usually the shell).
VT Options
The xterm vtMenu sets various modes in the VTxxx emulation, and is
popped up when the "control" key and pointer button two are pressed in
the VTxxx window.
VTxxx Modes:
Enable Scrollbar (resource scrollbar)
Enable (or disable) the scrollbar. This corresponds to the
-sb option and the scrollBar resource.
Enable Jump Scroll (resource jumpscroll)
Enable (or disable) jump scrolling. This corresponds to the
-j option and the jumpScroll resource.
Enable Reverse Video (resource reversevideo)
Enable (or disable) reverse-video. This corresponds to the
-rv option and the reverseVideo resource.
- 113 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Enable Auto Wraparound (resource autowrap)
Enable (or disable) auto-wraparound. This corresponds to
the -aw option and the autoWrap resource.
Enable Reverse Wraparound (resource reversewrap)
Enable (or disable) reverse wraparound. This corresponds to
the -rw option and the reverseWrap resource.
Enable Auto Linefeed (resource autolinefeed)
Enable (or disable) auto-linefeed. This is the VT102 NEL
function, which causes the emulator to emit a line feed
after each carriage return. There is no corresponding
command-line option or resource setting.
Enable Application Cursor Keys (resource appcursor)
Enable (or disable) application cursor keys. This
corresponds to the appcursorDefault resource. There is no
corresponding command-line option.
Enable Application Keypad (resource appkeypad)
Enable (or disable) application keypad keys. This
corresponds to the appkeypadDefault resource. There is no
corresponding command-line option.
Scroll to Bottom on Key Press
Enable (or disable) scrolling to the bottom of the scrolling
region on a keypress. This corresponds to the -sk option
and the scrollKey resource.
As a special case, the XON / XOFF keys (control/S and
control/Q) are ignored.
Scroll to Bottom on Tty Output
Enable (or disable) scrolling to the bottom of the scrolling
region on output to the terminal. This corresponds to the
-si option and the scrollTtyOutput resource.
Allow 80/132 Column Switching (resource allow132)
Enable (or disable) switching between 80 and 132 columns.
This corresponds to the -132 option and the c132 resource.
Keep Selection (resource keepSelection)
Tell xterm whether to disown the selection when it stops
highlighting it, e.g., when an application modifies the
display so that it no longer matches the text which has been
highlighted. As long as xterm continues to own the
selection for a given atom, it can provide the corresponding
text to other clients which request the selection using that
atom.
- 114 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
This corresponds to the keepSelection resource. There is no
corresponding command-line option.
Telling xterm to not disown the selection does not prevent
other applications from taking ownership of the selection.
When that happens, xterm receives notification that this has
happened, and removes its highlighting.
See SELECT/PASTE for more information.
Select to Clipboard (resource selectToClipboard)
Tell xterm whether to use the PRIMARY or CLIPBOARD for
SELECT tokens in the translations resource which maps
keyboard and mouse actions to select/paste actions.
This corresponds to the selectToClipboard resource. There
is no corresponding command-line option.
The keepSelection resource setting applies to CLIPBOARD
selections just as it does for PRIMARY selections. However
some window managers treat the clipboard specially. For
instance, XQuartz's synchronization between the OSX
pasteboard and the X11 clipboard causes applications to lose
the selection ownership for that atom when a selection is
copied to the clipboard.
See SELECT/PASTE for more information.
Enable Visual Bell (resource visualbell)
Enable (or disable) visible bell (i.e., flashing) instead of
an audible bell. This corresponds to the -vb option and the
visualBell resource.
Enable Bell Urgency (resource bellIsUrgent)
Enable (or disable) Urgency window manager hint when
Control-G is received. This corresponds to the bellIsUrgent
resource.
Enable Pop on Bell (resource poponbell)
Enable (or disable) raising of the window when Control-G is
received. This corresponds to the -pop option and the
popOnBell resource.
Enable Blinking Cursor (resource cursorblink)
Enable (or disable) the blinking-cursor feature. This
corresponds to the -bc option and the cursorBlink resource.
There are also escape sequences (see Xterm Control
Sequences):
- 115 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
+ If the cursorBlinkXOR resource is set, the menu entry
and the escape sequence states will be XOR'd: if both
are enabled, the cursor will not blink, if only one is
enabled, the cursor will blink.
+ If the cursorBlinkXOR is not set; if either the menu
entry or the escape sequence states are set, the cursor
will blink.
In either case, the checkbox for the menu shows the state of
the cursorBlink resource, which may not correspond to what
the cursor is actually doing.
Enable Alternate Screen Switching (resource titeInhibit)
Enable (or disable) switching between the normal and
alternate screens. This corresponds to the titeInhibit
resource. There is no corresponding command-line option.
Enable Active Icon (resource activeicon)
Enable (or disable) the active-icon feature. This
corresponds to the -ai option and the activeIcon resource.
Sixel Scrolling (resource sixelScrolling)
This corresponds to the sixelScrolling resource. It can
also be turned off and on using the private mode DECSDM
(Sixel Display Mode).
+ When enabled, xterm draws sixel graphics at the current
text cursor location, scrolling the image vertically if
it is larger than the screen, and leaving the text
cursor at the same column in the next complete line
after the image when returning to text mode
This is the default, which corresponds to the reset
state of DECSDM.
+ When disabled, xterm draws sixel graphics starting at
the upper left of the screen, cropping to fit the
screen, and does not alter the text cursor location.
This corresponds to the set state of DECSDM.
There is no corresponding command-line option.
Private Color Registers (resource privateColorRegisters)
If xterm is configured to support ReGIS graphics, this
controls whether a private color palette can be used.
When enabled, each graphic image uses a separate set of
- 116 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
color registers, so that it essentially has a private
palette (this is the default). If it is not set, all
graphics images share a common set of registers which is how
sixel and ReGIS graphics worked on actual hardware. The
default is likely a more useful mode on modern TrueColor
hardware.
This corresponds to the privateColorRegisters resource.
There is no corresponding command-line option.
VTxxx Commands:
Do Soft Reset (resource softreset)
This corresponds to the VT220 DECSTR control sequence. A
soft reset leaves the contents of the window intact, but
resets modes which affect subsequent updates:
Soft reset differs from full reset in a minor detail:
+ Set the saved cursor position to the upper-left corner
of the window.
+ Exit from the status-line without erasing it.
Both soft/full resets do the following:
+ Make the cursor visible, with shape reset according to
the cursorUnderLine and cursorBar resources.
+ Enable or disable the cursor-blinking state according to
the cursorBlink resource, and set the Enable Blinking
Cursor menu checkmark to match.
+ Reset video attributes, e.g., bold, italic, underline,
blink.
+ Reset the ANSI color mode to the xterm default
foreground and background.
+ Reset the 256-color palette to its initial state.
+ Reset the selected character set, e.g., ASCII, alternate
character set. The UTF-8 modes are not changed.
+ Reset ECMA-48 KAM.
+ Reset DECCKM and DECKPAM per resources appcursorDefault
and appkeypadDefault.
- 117 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
+ Reset the key-modifier modes to the values set by
resources formatOtherKeys, modifyCursorKeys,
modifyFunctionKeys, modifyKeyboard, and modifyOtherKeys.
+ Reset origin mode (DECOM).
+ Reset all margins (i.e., top/bottom and left/right).
This can be convenient when some program has left the
scroll regions set incorrectly.
+ Set autowrap and reverse wrapping according to the
resource values autoWrap and reverseWrap.
+ Reset checksum extension to the checksumExtension
resource.
Do Full Reset (resource hardreset)
A full reset does this in addition to a soft reset:
+ Clear the window.
+ Reset tab stops to every eight columns.
+ Reset the screen to match the reverseVideo resource.
+ Resize the screen to 80 columns if 132-column mode was
initially enabled with the c132 resource.
+ Reset scrolling (jump versus smooth) per the jumpScroll
resource.
+ Enable linefeed mode (ECMA-48 LNM) and send/receive mode
(ECMA-48 SRM).
+ Reset DEC user-defined keys (DECUDK).
+ Disable application mode for cursor- and keypad-keys
(DECCKM, DECKPAM).
+ Reset menu entry 8-bit Controls, per resource
eightBitControl.
+ Reset interpretation of the backarrow key, per initial
resource settings.
+ Set the keyboard type according to the resources
keyboardType, hpFunctionKeys, scoFunctionKeys,
sunFunctionKeys, tcapFunctionKeys, oldXtermFKeys and
sunKeyboard.
- 118 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
+ Turn mouse tracking off.
+ Reset title and pointer modes per resources titleModes
and pointerMode.
+ Reset the readline and bracketed paste modes.
+ Discard all SIXEL and ReGIS graphics data from memory.
+ Reset sixelScrolling and privateColorRegisters from
initial resource values.
+ Set DECSDM if the sixelScrolling resource is true.
Otherwise, reset DECSDM.
A full reset does this, unlike a soft reset:
+ Move the cursor to the upper-left corner of the window,
and then save that position.
+ Hide the status-line, setting its display-type to
"none".
Reset and Clear Saved Lines (resource
Perform a full reset, and also clear the saved lines.
This corresponds to the VT102 RIS control sequence, with a
few obvious differences. For example, your session is not
disconnected as a real VT102 would do.
Commands for setting the current screen:
Show Tek Window (resource tekshow)
When enabled, pops the Tektronix 4014 window up (makes it
visible). When disabled, hides the Tektronix 4014 window.
Switch to Tek Mode (resource tekmode)
When enabled, pops the Tektronix 4014 window up if it is not
already visible, and switches the input stream to that
window. When disabled, hides the Tektronix 4014 window and
switches input back to the VTxxx window.
Hide VT Window (resource vthide)
When enabled, hides the VTxxx window, shows the Tektronix
4014 window if it was not already visible and switches the
input stream to that window. When disabled, shows the VTxxx
window, and switches the input stream to that window.
Show Alternate Screen (resource altscreen)
- 119 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
When enabled, shows the alternate screen. When disabled,
shows the normal screen. Note that the normal screen may
have saved lines; the alternate screen does not.
VT Fonts
The xterm fontMenu pops up when the "control" key and pointer button
three are pressed in a window. It sets the font used in the VTxxx
window, or modifies the way the font is specified or displayed. There
are several sections.
The first section allows you to select the font from a set of
alternatives:
Default (resource fontdefault)
Set the font to the default, i.e., that given by the
*VT100.font resource.
Unreadable (resource font1)
Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font1 resource.
Tiny (resource font2)
Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font2 resource.
Small (resource font3)
Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font3 resource.
Medium (resource font4)
Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font4 resource.
Large (resource font5)
Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font5 resource.
Huge (resource font6)
Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font6 resource.
Enormous (resource font7)
Set the font to that given by the *VT100.font7 resource.
Escape Sequence (resource fontescape)
This allows you to set the font last specified by the Set
Font escape sequence (see Xterm Control Sequences).
Selection (resource fontsel)
This allows you to set the font specified the current
selection as a font name (if the PRIMARY selection is
owned).
The second section allows you to modify the way it is displayed:
- 120 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Bold Fonts (resource allow-bold-fonts)
This is normally checked (enabled). When unchecked, xterm
will not use bold fonts. The setting corresponds to the
allowBoldFonts resource.
Line-Drawing Characters (resource font-linedrawing)
When set, tells xterm to draw its own line-drawing
characters. Otherwise it relies on the font containing
these. Compare to the forceBoxChars resource.
Packed Font (resource font-packed)
When set, tells xterm to use the minimum glyph-width from a
font when displaying characters. Use the maximum width
(unchecked) to help display proportional fonts. Compare to
the forcePackedFont resource.
Doublesized Characters (resource font-doublesize)
When set, xterm may ask the font server to produce scaled
versions of the normal font, for VT102 double-size
characters.
The third section allows you to modify the way it is specified:
TrueType Fonts (resource render-font)
If the renderFont and corresponding resources were set, this
is a further control whether xterm will actually use the Xft
library calls to obtain a font.
UTF-8 Encoding (resource utf8-mode)
This controls whether xterm uses UTF-8 encoding of
input/output. It is useful for temporarily switching xterm
to display text from an application which does not follow
the locale settings. It corresponds to the utf8 resource.
UTF-8 Fonts (resource utf8-fonts)
This controls whether xterm uses UTF-8 fonts for display.
It is useful for temporarily switching xterm to display text
from an application which does not follow the locale
settings. It combines the utf8 and utf8Fonts resources,
subject to the locale resource.
UTF-8 Titles (resource utf8-title)
This controls whether xterm accepts UTF-8 encoding for title
control sequences. It corresponds to the utf8Fonts
resource.
Initially the checkmark is set according to both the utf8
and utf8Fonts resource values. If the latter is set to
"always", the checkmark is disabled. Likewise, if there are
- 121 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
no fonts given in the utf8Fonts subresources, then the
checkmark also is disabled.
The standard __default_class__ app-defaults file defines
both sets of fonts, while the U__default_class__ app-
defaults file defines only one set. Assuming the standard
app-defaults files, this command will launch xterm able to
switch between UTF-8 and ISO-8859-1 encoded fonts:
uxterm -class __default_class__
The fourth section allows you to enable or disable special operations
which can be controlled by writing escape sequences to the terminal.
These are disabled if the SendEvents feature is enabled:
Allow Color Ops (resource allow-color-ops)
This corresponds to the allowColorOps resource. Enable or
disable control sequences that set/query the colors.
Allow Font Ops (resource allow-font-ops)
This corresponds to the allowFontOps resource. Enable or
disable control sequences that set/query the font.
Allow Mouse Ops (resource allow-mouse-ops)
Enable or disable control sequences that cause the terminal
to send escape sequences on pointer-clicks and movement.
This corresponds to the allowMouseOps resource.
Allow Tcap Ops (resource allow-tcap-ops)
Enable or disable control sequences that query the
terminal's notion of its function-key strings, as termcap or
terminfo capabilities. This corresponds to the allowTcapOps
resource.
Allow Title Ops (resource allow-title-ops)
Enable or disable control sequences that modify the window
title or icon name. This corresponds to the allowTitleOps
resource.
Allow Window Ops (resource allow-window-ops)
Enable or disable extended window control sequences (as used
in dtterm). This corresponds to the allowWindowOps
resource.
Tek Options
The xterm tekMenu sets various modes in the Tektronix emulation, and
is popped up when the "control" key and pointer button two are pressed
in the Tektronix window. The current font size is checked in the
modes section of the menu.
- 122 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Large Characters (resource tektextlarge)
#2 Size Characters (resource tektext2)
#3 Size Characters (resource tektext3)
Small Characters (resource tektextsmall)
Commands:
PAGE (resource tekpage)
Simulates the Tektronix "PAGE" button by
+ clearing the window,
+ cancelling the graphics input-mode, and
+ moving the cursor to the home position.
RESET (resource tekreset)
Unlike the similarly-named Tektronix "RESET" button, this
does everything that PAGE does as well as resetting the
line-type and font-size to their default values.
COPY (resource tekcopy)
Simulates the Tektronix "COPY" button (which makes a hard-
copy of the screen) by writing the information to a text
file.
Windows:
Show VT Window (resource vtshow)
Switch to VT Mode (resource vtmode)
Hide Tek Window (resource tekhide)
SECURITY
X environments differ in their security consciousness.
+ 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(__mansuffix__)), then if you enable access for a host and
other users are also permitted to run clients on that same host,
it is possible that someone can run an application which uses the
basic services of the X protocol to snoop on your activities,
potentially capturing a transcript of everything you type at the
- 123 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
keyboard.
+ Any process which has access to your X display can manipulate it
in ways that you might not anticipate, even redirecting your
keyboard to itself and sending events to your application's
windows. This is true even with the "magic cookie" authorization
scheme. While the allowSendEvents provides some protection
against rogue applications tampering with your programs, guarding
against a snooper is harder.
+ The X input extension for instance allows an application to bypass
all of the other (limited) authorization and security features,
including the GrabKeyboard protocol.
+ The possibility of an application spying on your keystrokes is of
particular concern when you want to type in a password or other
sensitive data. The best solution to this problem is to use a
better authorization mechanism than is provided by X.
Subject to all of these caveats, a simple mechanism exists for
protecting keyboard input in xterm.
The xterm menu (see MENUS above) contains a Secure Keyboard entry
which, when enabled, attempts to ensure that all keyboard input is
directed only to xterm (using the GrabKeyboard protocol request).
When an application prompts you for a password (or other sensitive
data), you can enable Secure Keyboard using the menu, type in the
data, and then disable Secure Keyboard using the menu again.
+ This ensures that you know which window is accepting your
keystrokes.
+ It cannot ensure that there are no processes which have access to
your X display that might be observing the keystrokes as well.
Only one X client at a time can grab the keyboard, so when you attempt
to enable Secure Keyboard it may fail. In this case, the bell will
sound. If the Secure Keyboard succeeds, the foreground and background
colors will be exchanged (as if you selected the Enable Reverse Video
entry in the Modes menu); they will be exchanged again when you exit
secure mode. If the colors do not switch, then you should be very
suspicious that you are being spoofed. If the application you are
running displays a prompt before asking for the password, it is safest
to enter secure mode before the prompt gets displayed, and to make
sure that the prompt gets displayed correctly (in the new colors), to
minimize the probability of spoofing. You can also bring up the menu
again and make sure that a check mark appears next to the entry.
Secure Keyboard mode will be disabled automatically if your xterm
- 124 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
window becomes iconified (or otherwise unmapped), or if you start up a
reparenting window manager (that places a title bar or other
decoration around the window) while in Secure Keyboard mode. (This is
a feature of the X protocol not easily overcome.) When this happens,
the foreground and background colors will be switched back and the
bell will sound in warning.
CHARACTER CLASSES
Clicking the left pointer button twice in rapid succession (double-
clicking) causes all characters of the same class (e.g., letters,
white space, punctuation) to be selected as a "word". Since different
people have different preferences for what should be selected (for
example, should filenames be selected as a whole or only the separate
subnames), the default mapping can be overridden through the use of
the charClass (class CharClass) resource.
This resource is a series of comma-separated range:value pairs.
+ 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. For example, the default table uses the
character number of the first character occurring in the set.
When not in UTF-8 mode, only the first 256 entries of this table
will be used.
The default table starts as follows -
static int charClass[256] = {
/* NUL SOH STX ETX EOT ENQ ACK BEL */
32, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* BS HT NL VT NP CR SO SI */
1, 32, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* DLE DC1 DC2 DC3 DC4 NAK SYN ETB */
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* CAN EM SUB ESC FS GS RS US */
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
/* SP ! " # $ % & ' */
32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39,
/* ( ) * + , - . / */
40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47,
/* 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 */
48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* 8 9 : ; < = > ? */
48, 48, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63,
/* @ A B C D E F G */
64, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48, 48,
/* H I J K L M N O */
- 125 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
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
- 126 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
and numbers. This is useful for cutting and pasting electronic
mailing addresses and filenames.
KEY BINDINGS
It is possible to rebind keys (or sequences of keys) to arbitrary
strings for input, by changing the translations resources for the
vt100 or tek4014 widgets. Changing the translations resource for
events other than key and button events is not expected, and will
cause unpredictable behavior.
Actions
The following actions are provided for use within the vt100 or tek4014
translations resources:
allow-bold-fonts(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowBoldFonts
resource and is also invoked by the allow-bold-fonts entry in
fontMenu.
allow-color-ops(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowColorOps resource
and is also invoked by the allow-color-ops entry in fontMenu.
allow-font-ops(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowFontOps resource
and is also invoked by the allow-font-ops entry in fontMenu.
allow-mouse-ops(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowMouseOps resource
and is also invoked by the allow-mouse-ops entry in fontMenu.
allow-send-events(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowSendEvents
resource and is also invoked by the allowsends entry in
mainMenu.
allow-tcap-ops(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowTcapOps resource
and is also invoked by the allow-tcap-ops entry in fontMenu.
allow-title-ops(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowTitleOps resource
and is also invoked by the allow-title-ops entry in fontMenu.
allow-window-ops(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the allowWindowOps
resource and is also invoked by the allow-window-ops entry in
fontMenu.
- 127 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
alt-sends-escape()
This action toggles the state of the altSendsEscape resource.
bell([percent])
This action rings the keyboard bell at the specified
percentage above or below the base volume.
clear-saved-lines()
This action does hard-reset() and also clears the history of
lines saved off the top of the screen. It is also invoked
from the clearsavedlines entry in vtMenu. The effect is
identical to a hardware reset (RIS) control sequence.
copy-selection(destname [, ...])
This action puts the currently selected text into all of the
selections or cutbuffers specified by destname. Unlike
select-end, it does not send a mouse position or otherwise
modify the internal selection state.
create-menu(m/v/f/t)
This action creates one of the menus used by xterm, if it has
not been previously created. The parameter values are the
menu names: mainMenu, vtMenu, fontMenu, tekMenu, respectively.
dabbrev-expand()
Expands the word before cursor by searching in the preceding
text on the screen and in the scrollback buffer for words
starting with that abbreviation. Repeating dabbrev-expand()
several times in sequence searches for an alternative
expansion by looking farther back. Lack of more matches is
signaled by a bell. Attempts to expand an empty word (i.e.,
when cursor is preceded by a space) yield successively all
previous words. Consecutive identical expansions are ignored.
The word here is defined as a sequence of non-whitespace
characters. This feature partially emulates the behavior of
"dynamic abbreviation" expansion in Emacs (bound there to
M-/). Here is a resource setting for xterm which will do the
same thing:
*VT100*translations: #override \n\
Meta <KeyPress> /:dabbrev-expand()
deiconify()
Changes the window state back to normal, if it was iconified.
delete-is-del()
This action toggles the state of the deleteIsDEL resource.
dired-button()
- 128 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
Handles a button event (other than press and release) by
echoing the event's position (i.e., character line and column)
in the following format:
^X ESC G <line+" "> <col+" ">
dump-html()
Invokes the XHTML Screen Dump feature.
dump-svg()
Invokes the SVG Screen Dump feature.
exec-formatted(format, sourcename [, ...])
Execute an external command, using the current selection for
part of the command's parameters. The first parameter, format
gives the basic command. Succeeding parameters specify the
selection source as in insert-selection.
The format parameter allows these substitutions:
%% inserts a "%".
%P the screen-position at the beginning of the highlighted
region, as a semicolon-separated pair of integers using
the values that the CUP control sequence would use.
%p the screen-position after the beginning of the
highlighted region, using the same convention as "%P".
%S the length of the string that "%s" would insert.
%s the content of the selection, unmodified.
%T the length of the string that "%t" would insert.
%t the selection, trimmed of leading/trailing whitespace.
Embedded spaces (and newlines) are copied as is.
%R the length of the string that "%r" would insert.
%r the selection, trimmed of trailing whitespace.
%V the video attributes at the beginning of the highlighted
region, as a semicolon-separated list of integers using
the values that the SGR control sequence would use.
%v the video attributes after the end of the highlighted
region, using the same convention as "%V".
- 129 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
After constructing the command-string, xterm forks a
subprocess and executes the command, which completes
independently of xterm.
For example, this translation would invoke a new xterm process
to view a file whose name is selected while holding the shift
key down. The new process is started when the mouse button is
released:
*VT100*translations: #override Shift \
<Btn1Up>:exec-formatted("xterm -e view '%t'", SELECT)
exec-selectable(format, onClicks)
Execute an external command, using data copied from the screen
for part of the command's parameters. The first parameter,
format gives the basic command as in exec-formatted. The
second parameter specifies the method for copying the data as
in the on2Clicks resource.
fullscreen(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the fullscreen resource.
hard-reset()
This action resets the scrolling region, tabs, window size,
and cursor keys and clears the screen. It is also invoked
from the hardreset entry in vtMenu.
iconify()
Iconifies the window.
ignore()
This action ignores the event but checks for special pointer
position escape sequences.
insert()
This action inserts the character or string associated with
the key that was pressed.
insert-eight-bit()
This action inserts an eight-bit (Meta) version of the
character or string associated with the key that was pressed.
Only single-byte values are treated specially. The exact
action depends on the value of the altSendsEscape and the
metaSendsEscape and the eightBitInput resources. The
metaSendsEscape resource is tested first. See the
eightBitInput resource for a full discussion.
The term "eight-bit" is misleading: xterm checks if the key is
in the range 128 to 255 (the eighth bit is set). If the value
- 130 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
is in that range, depending on the resource values, xterm may
then do one of the following:
+ add 128 to the value, setting its eighth bit,
+ send an ESC byte before the key, or
+ send the key unaltered.
insert-formatted(format, sourcename [, ...])
Insert the current selection or data related to it, formatted.
The first parameter, format gives the template for the data as
in exec-formatted. Succeeding parameters specify the
selection source as in insert-selection.
insert-selectable(format, onClicks)
Insert data copied from the screen, formatted. The first
parameter, format gives the template for the data as in
exec-formatted. The second parameter specifies the method for
copying the data as in the on2Clicks resource.
insert-selection(sourcename [, ...])
This action inserts the string found in the selection or
cutbuffer indicated by sourcename. Sources are checked in the
order given (case is significant) until one is found.
Commonly-used selections include: PRIMARY, SECONDARY, and
CLIPBOARD. Cut buffers are typically named CUT_BUFFER0
through CUT_BUFFER7.
insert-seven-bit()
This action is a synonym for insert(). The term "seven-bit"
is misleading: it only implies that xterm does not try to add
128 to the key's value as in insert-eight-bit().
interpret(control-sequence)
Interpret the given control sequence locally, i.e., without
passing it to the host. This works by inserting the control
sequence at the front of the input buffer. Use "\" to escape
octal digits in the string. Xt does not allow you to put a
null character (i.e., "\000") in the string.
keymap(name)
This action dynamically defines a new translation table whose
resource name is name with the suffix "Keymap" (i.e.,
nameKeymap, where case is significant). The name None
restores the original translation table.
larger-vt-font()
Set the font to the next larger one, based on the font
- 131 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
dimensions. See also set-vt-font().
load-vt-fonts(name[,class])
Load fontnames from the given subresource name and class.
That is, load the "*VT100.name.font", resource as
"*VT100.font" etc. If no name is given, the original set of
fontnames is restored.
Unlike set-vt-font(), this does not affect the escape- and
select-fonts, since those are not based on resource values.
It does affect the fonts loosely organized under the "Default"
menu entry, including font, boldFont, wideFont and
wideBoldFont.
maximize()
Resizes the window to fill the screen.
meta-sends-escape()
This action toggles the state of the metaSendsEscape resource.
pointer-button()
Use this action as a fall-back to handle button press- and
release-events for the mouse control sequence protocol when
the selection-related translations are suppressed with the
omitTranslation resource.
pointer-motion()
Use this action as a fall-back to handle motion-events for the
mouse control sequence protocol when the selection-related
translations are suppressed with the omitTranslation resource.
popup-menu(menuname)
This action displays the specified popup menu. Valid names
(case is significant) include: mainMenu, vtMenu, fontMenu,
and tekMenu.
print(printer-flags)
This action prints the window. It is also invoked by the
print entry in mainMenu.
The action accepts optional parameters, which temporarily
override resource settings. The parameter values are matched
ignoring case:
noFormFeed
no form feed will be sent at the end of the last line
printed (i.e., printerFormFeed is "false").
FormFeed
- 132 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
a form feed will be sent at the end of the last line
printed (i.e., printerFormFeed is "true").
noNewLine
no newline will be sent at the end of the last line
printed, and wrapped lines will be combined into long
lines (i.e., printerNewLine is "false").
NewLine
a newline will be sent at the end of the last line
printed, and each line will be limited (by adding a
newline) to the screen width (i.e., printerNewLine is
"true").
noAttrs
the page is printed without attributes (i.e.,
printAttributes is "0").
monoAttrs
the page is printed with monochrome (vt220) attributes
(i.e., printAttributes is "1").
colorAttrs
the page is printed with ANSI color attributes (i.e.,
printAttributes is "2").
print-everything(printer-flags)
This action sends the entire text history, in addition to the
text currently visible, to the program given in the
printerCommand resource. It allows the same optional
parameters as the print action. With a suitable printer
command, the action can be used to load the text history in an
editor.
print-immediate()
Sends the text of the current window directly to a file, as
specified by the printFileImmediate, printModeImmediate and
printOptsImmediate resources.
print-on-error()
Toggles a flag telling xterm that if it exits with an X error,
to send the text of the current window directly to a file, as
specified by the printFileOnXError, printModeOnXError and
printOptsOnXError resources.
print-redir()
This action toggles the printerControlMode between 0 and 2.
The corresponding popup menu entry is useful for switching the
printer off if you happen to change your mind after deciding
- 133 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
to print random binary files on the terminal.
quit()
This action sends a SIGHUP to the subprogram and exits. It is
also invoked by the quit entry in mainMenu.
readline-button()
Supports the optional readline feature by echoing repeated
cursor forward or backward control sequences on button release
event, to request that the host application update its notion
of the cursor's position to match the button event.
redraw()
This action redraws the window. It is also invoked by the
redraw entry in mainMenu.
restore()
Restores the window to the size before it was last maximized.
scroll-back(count [,units [,mouse] ])
This action scrolls the text window backward so that text that
had previously scrolled off the top of the screen is now
visible.
The count argument indicates the number of units (which may be
page, halfpage, pixel, or line) by which to scroll. If no
count parameter is given, xterm uses the number of lines given
by the scrollLines resource.
An adjustment can be specified for the page or halfpage units
by appending a "+" or "-" sign followed by a number, e.g.,
page-2 to specify 2 lines less than a page.
If the second parameter is omitted "lines" is used.
If the third parameter mouse is given, the action is ignored
when mouse reporting is enabled.
scroll-forw(count [,units [,mouse] ])
This action is similar to scroll-back except that it scrolls
in the other direction.
scroll-lock(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles internal state which tells
xterm whether Scroll Lock is active, subject to the
allowScrollLock resource.
scroll-to(count)
Scroll to the given line relative to the beginning of the
- 134 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
saved-lines. For instance, "scroll-to(0)" would scroll to the
beginning. Two special nonnumeric parameters are recognized:
scroll-to(begin)
Scroll to the beginning of the saved lines.
scroll-to(end)
Scroll to the end of the saved lines, i.e., to the
currently active page.
secure()
This action toggles the Secure Keyboard mode (see SECURITY),
and is invoked from the securekbd entry in mainMenu.
select-cursor-end(destname [, ...])
This action is similar to select-end except that it should be
used with select-cursor-start.
select-cursor-extend()
This action is similar to select-extend except that it should
be used with select-cursor-start.
select-cursor-start()
This action is similar to select-start except that it begins
the selection at the current text cursor position.
select-end(destname [, ...])
This action puts the currently selected text into all of the
selections or cutbuffers specified by destname. It also sends
a mouse position and updates the internal selection state to
reflect the end of the selection process.
select-extend()
This action tracks the pointer and extends the selection. It
should only be bound to Motion events.
select-set()
This action stores text that corresponds to the current
selection, without affecting the selection mode.
select-start()
This action begins text selection at the current pointer
location. See the section on POINTER USAGE for information on
making selections.
send-signal(signame)
This action sends the signal named by signame to the xterm
subprocess (the shell or program specified with the -e command
line option). It is also invoked by the suspend, continue,
- 135 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
interrupt, hangup, terminate, and kill entries in mainMenu.
Allowable signal names are (case is not significant): tstp (if
supported by the operating system), suspend (same as tstp),
cont (if supported by the operating system), int, hup, term,
quit, alrm, alarm (same as alrm) and kill.
set-8-bit-control(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the eightBitControl
resource. It is also invoked from the 8-bit-control entry in
vtMenu.
set-allow132(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the c132 resource. It is
also invoked from the allow132 entry in vtMenu.
set-altscreen(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles between the alternate and
current screens.
set-appcursor(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the handling Application
Cursor Key mode and is also invoked by the appcursor entry in
vtMenu.
set-appkeypad(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the handling of
Application Keypad mode and is also invoked by the appkeypad
entry in vtMenu.
set-autolinefeed(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles automatic insertion of
line feeds. It is also invoked by the autolinefeed entry in
vtMenu.
set-autowrap(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles automatic wrapping of long
lines. It is also invoked by the autowrap entry in vtMenu.
set-backarrow(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the backarrowKey resource.
It is also invoked from the backarrow key entry in vtMenu.
set-bellIsUrgent(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the bellIsUrgent resource.
It is also invoked by the bellIsUrgent entry in vtMenu.
set-cursesemul(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the curses resource. It
is also invoked from the cursesemul entry in vtMenu.
- 136 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
set-cursorblink(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the cursorBlink resource.
It is also invoked from the cursorblink entry in vtMenu.
set-font-doublesize(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the fontDoublesize
resource. It is also invoked by the font-doublesize entry in
fontMenu.
set-font-linedrawing(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the xterm's state
regarding whether the current font has line-drawing characters
and whether it should draw them directly. It is also invoked
by the font-linedrawing entry in fontMenu.
set-font-packed(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the forcePackedFont
resource which controls use of the font's minimum or maximum
glyph width. It is also invoked by the font-packed entry in
fontMenu.
set-hp-function-keys(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the hpFunctionKeys
resource. It is also invoked by the hpFunctionKeys entry in
mainMenu.
set-jumpscroll(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the jumpscroll resource.
It is also invoked by the jumpscroll entry in vtMenu.
set-keep-clipboard(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the keepClipboard
resource.
set-keep-selection(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the keepSelection
resource. It is also invoked by the keepSelection entry in
vtMenu.
set-logging(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the state of the logging
option.
set-marginbell(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the marginBell resource.
set-num-lock(on/off/toggle)
This action toggles the state of the numLock resource.
- 137 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
set-old-function-keys(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the state of legacy
function keys. It is also invoked by the oldFunctionKeys
entry in mainMenu.
set-pop-on-bell(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the popOnBell resource.
It is also invoked by the poponbell entry in vtMenu.
set-private-colors(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the privateColorRegisters
resource.
set-render-font(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the renderFont resource.
It is also invoked by the render-font entry in fontMenu.
set-reverse-video(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the reverseVideo resource.
It is also invoked by the reversevideo entry in vtMenu.
set-reversewrap(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the reverseWrap resource.
It is also invoked by the reversewrap entry in vtMenu.
set-sco-function-keys(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the scoFunctionKeys
resource. It is also invoked by the scoFunctionKeys entry in
mainMenu.
set-scroll-on-key(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the scrollKey resource.
It is also invoked from the scrollkey entry in vtMenu.
set-scroll-on-tty-output(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the scrollTtyOutput
resource. It is also invoked from the scrollttyoutput entry
in vtMenu.
set-scrollbar(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the scrollbar resource.
It is also invoked by the scrollbar entry in vtMenu.
set-select(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the selectToClipboard
resource. It is also invoked by the selectToClipboard entry
in vtMenu.
set-sixel-scrolling(on/off/toggle)
- 138 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
This action toggles between inline (sixel scrolling) and
absolute positioning. It can also be controlled via DEC
private mode 80 (DECSDM) or from the sixelScrolling entry in
the btMenu.
set-sun-function-keys(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the sunFunctionKeys
resource. It is also invoked by the sunFunctionKeys entry in
mainMenu.
set-sun-keyboard(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the sunKeyboard resource.
It is also invoked by the sunKeyboard entry in mainMenu.
set-tek-text(large/2/3/small)
This action sets the font used in the Tektronix window to the
value of the selected resource according to the argument. The
argument can be either a keyword or single-letter alias, as
shown in parentheses:
large (l)
Use resource fontLarge, same as menu entry tektextlarge.
two (2)
Use resource font2, same as menu entry tektext2.
three (3)
Use resource font3, same as menu entry tektext3.
small (s)
Use resource fontSmall, same as menu entry tektextsmall.
set-terminal-type(type)
This action directs output to either the vt or tek windows,
according to the type string. It is also invoked by the
tekmode entry in vtMenu and the vtmode entry in tekMenu.
set-titeInhibit(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the titeInhibit resource,
which controls switching between the alternate and current
screens.
set-toolbar(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the toolbar feature. It
is also invoked by the toolbar entry in mainMenu.
set-utf8-fonts(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the utf8Fonts resource.
It is also invoked by the utf8-fonts entry in fontMenu.
- 139 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
set-utf8-mode(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the utf8 resource. It is
also invoked by the utf8-mode entry in fontMenu.
set-utf8-title(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the utf8Title resource.
It is also invoked by the utf8-title entry in fontMenu.
set-visibility(vt/tek,on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles whether or not the vt or
tek windows are visible. It is also invoked from the tekshow
and vthide entries in vtMenu and the vtshow and tekhide
entries in tekMenu.
set-visual-bell(on/off/toggle)
This action sets, unsets or toggles the visualBell resource.
It is also invoked by the visualbell entry in vtMenu.
set-vt-font(d/1/2/3/4/5/6/7/e/s [,normalfont [, boldfont]])
This action sets the font or fonts currently being used in the
VTxxx window. The first argument is a single character that
specifies the font to be used:
d or D indicate the default font (the font initially used when
xterm was started),
1 through 7 indicate the fonts specified by the font1 through
font7 resources,
e or E indicate the normal and bold fonts that have been set
through escape codes (or specified as the second and
third action arguments, respectively), and
s or S indicate the font selection (as made by programs such
as xfontsel(__mansuffix__)) indicated by the second
action argument.
If xterm is configured to support wide characters, an
additional two optional parameters are recognized for the e
argument: wide font and wide bold font.
smaller-vt-font()
Set the font to the next smaller one, based on the font
dimensions. See also set-vt-font().
soft-reset()
This action resets the scrolling region. It is also invoked
from the softreset entry in vtMenu. The effect is identical
to a soft reset (DECSTR) control sequence.
- 140 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
spawn-new-terminal(params)
Spawn a new xterm process. This is available on systems which
have a modern version of the process filesystem, e.g.,
"/proc", which xterm can read.
Use the "cwd" process entry, e.g., /proc/12345/cwd to obtain
the working directory of the process which is running in the
current xterm.
On systems which have the "exe" process entry, e.g.,
/proc/12345/exe, use this to obtain the actual executable.
Otherwise, use the $PATH variable to find xterm.
If parameters are given in the action, pass them to the new
xterm process.
start-cursor-extend()
This action is similar to select-extend except that the
selection is extended to the current text cursor position.
start-extend()
This action is similar to select-start except that the
selection is extended to the current pointer location.
string(string)
This action inserts the specified text string as if it had
been typed. Quotation is necessary if the string contains
whitespace or non-alphanumeric characters. If the string
argument begins with the characters "0x", it is interpreted as
a hex character constant.
tek-copy()
This action copies the escape codes used to generate the
current window contents to a file in the current directory
beginning with the name COPY. It is also invoked from the
tekcopy entry in tekMenu.
tek-page()
This action clears the Tektronix window. It is also invoked
by the tekpage entry in tekMenu.
tek-reset()
This action resets the Tektronix window. It is also invoked
by the tekreset entry in tekMenu.
vi-button()
Handles a button event (other than press and release) by
echoing a control sequence computed from the event's line
number in the screen relative to the current line:
- 141 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
ESC ^P
or
ESC ^N
according to whether the event is before, or after the current
line, respectively. The ^N (or ^P) is repeated once for each
line that the event differs from the current line. The
control sequence is omitted altogether if the button event is
on the current line.
visual-bell()
This action flashes the window quickly.
The Tektronix window also has the following action:
gin-press(l/L/m/M/r/R)
This action sends the indicated graphics input code.
Default Key Bindings
The default bindings in the VTxxx window use the SELECT token, which
is set by the selectToClipboard resource. These are for the vt100
widget:
Shift <KeyPress> Prior:scroll-back(1,halfpage) \n\
Shift <KeyPress> Next:scroll-forw(1,halfpage) \n\
Shift <KeyPress> Select:select-cursor-start() \
select-cursor-end(SELECT, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
Shift <KeyPress> Insert:insert-selection(SELECT, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
Alt <Key>Return:fullscreen() \n\
<KeyRelease> Scroll_Lock:scroll-lock() \n\
Shift~Ctrl <KeyPress> KP_Add:larger-vt-font() \n\
Shift Ctrl <KeyPress> KP_Add:smaller-vt-font() \n\
Shift <KeyPress> KP_Subtract:smaller-vt-font() \n\
~Meta <KeyPress>:insert-seven-bit() \n\
Meta <KeyPress>:insert-eight-bit() \n\
!Ctrl <Btn1Down>:popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl <Btn1Down>:popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn1Down>:popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
! @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn1Down>:popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
~Meta <Btn1Down>:select-start() \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\
- 142 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn2Up>:insert-selection(SELECT, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
!Ctrl <Btn3Down>:popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl <Btn3Down>:popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn3Down>:popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
! @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn3Down>:popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn3Down>:start-extend() \n\
~Meta <Btn3Motion>:select-extend() \n\
Ctrl <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
Lock Ctrl <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
Lock @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
@Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
<Btn4Down>:scroll-back(5,line,m) \n\
Ctrl <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
Lock Ctrl <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
Lock @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
@Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
<Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(5,line,m) \n\
<BtnUp>:select-end(SELECT, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
<BtnMotion>:pointer-motion() \n\
<BtnDown>:pointer-button() \n\
<BtnUp>:pointer-button() \n\
<BtnDown>:ignore()
The default bindings in the Tektronix window are analogous but less
extensive. These are for the tek4014 widget:
~Meta<KeyPress>: insert-seven-bit() \n\
Meta<KeyPress>: insert-eight-bit() \n\
!Ctrl <Btn1Down>: popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl <Btn1Down>: popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn1Down>: popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
!Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn1Down>: popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
!Ctrl <Btn2Down>: popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl <Btn2Down>: popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn2Down>: popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
!Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn2Down>: popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
Shift ~Meta<Btn1Down>: gin-press(L) \n\
~Meta<Btn1Down>: gin-press(l) \n\
Shift ~Meta<Btn2Down>: gin-press(M) \n\
~Meta<Btn2Down>: gin-press(m) \n\
Shift ~Meta<Btn3Down>: gin-press(R) \n\
~Meta<Btn3Down>: gin-press(r)
Custom Key Bindings
You can modify the translations resource by overriding parts of it, or
merging your resources with it.
Here is an example which uses shifted select/paste to copy to the
clipboard, and unshifted select/paste for the primary selection. In
- 143 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
each case, a (different) cut buffer is also a target or source of the
select/paste operation. It is important to remember however, that cut
buffers store data in ISO-8859-1 encoding, while selections can store
data in a variety of formats and encodings. While xterm owns the
selection, it highlights it. When it loses the selection, it removes
the corresponding highlight. But you can still paste from the
corresponding cut buffer.
*VT100*translations: #override \n\
~Shift~Ctrl<Btn2Up>: insert-selection(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
Shift~Ctrl<Btn2Up>: insert-selection(CLIPBOARD, CUT_BUFFER1) \n\
~Shift <BtnUp> : select-end(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
Shift <BtnUp> : select-end(CLIPBOARD, CUT_BUFFER1)
In the example, the class name VT100 is used rather than the widget
name. These are different; a class name could apply to more than one
widget. A leading "*" is used because the widget hierarchy above the
vt100 widget depends on whether the toolbar support is compiled into
xterm.
Most of the predefined translations are related to the mouse, with a
few that use some of the special keys on the keyboard. Applications
use special keys (function-keys, cursor-keys, keypad-keys) with
modifiers (shift, control, alt). If xterm defines a translation for a
given combination of special key and modifier, that makes it
unavailable for use by applications within the terminal. For
instance, one might extend the use of Page Up and Page Down keys seen
here:
Shift <KeyPress> Prior : scroll-back(1,halfpage) \n\
Shift <KeyPress> Next : scroll-forw(1,halfpage) \n\
to the Home and End keys:
Shift <KeyPress> Home : scroll-to(begin) \n\
Shift <KeyPress> End : scroll-to(end)
but then shift-Home and shift-End would then be unavailable to
applications.
Not everyone finds the three-button mouse bindings easy to use. In a
wheel mouse, the middle button might be the wheel. As an alternative,
you could add a binding using shifted keys:
*VT100*translations: #override \n\
Shift <Key>Home: copy-selection(SELECT) \n\
Shift <Key>Insert: copy-selection(SELECT) \n\
Ctrl Shift <Key>C: copy-selection(SELECT) \n\
Ctrl Shift <Key>V: insert-selection(SELECT)
- 144 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
You would still use the left- and right-mouse buttons (typically 1 and
3) for beginning and extending selections.
Besides mouse problems, there are also keyboards with inconvenient
layouts. Some lack a numeric keypad, making it hard to use the
shifted keypad plus and minus bindings for switching between font
sizes. You can work around that by assigning the actions to more
readily accessed keys:
*VT100*translations: #override \n\
Ctrl <Key> +: larger-vt-font() \n\
Ctrl <Key> -: smaller-vt-font()
The keymap feature allows you to switch between sets of translations.
The sample below shows how the keymap() action may be used to add
special keys for entering commonly-typed words:
*VT100.Translations: #override <Key>F13: keymap(dbx)
*VT100.dbxKeymap.translations: \
<Key>F14: keymap(None) \n\
<Key>F17: string("next") \n\
string(0x0d) \n\
<Key>F18: string("step") \n\
string(0x0d) \n\
<Key>F19: string("continue") \n\
string(0x0d) \n\
<Key>F20: string("print ") \n\
insert-selection(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0)
Default Scrollbar Bindings
Key bindings are normally associated with the vt100 or tek4014 widgets
which act as terminal emulators. Xterm's scrollbar (and toolbar if it
is configured) are separate widgets. Because all of these use the X
Toolkit, they have corresponding translations resources. Those
resources are distinct, and match different patterns, e.g., the
differences in widget-name and number of levels of widgets which they
may contain.
The scrollbar widget is a child of the vt100 widget. It is positioned
on top of the vt100 widget. Toggling the scrollbar on and off causes
the vt100 widget to resize.
The default bindings for the scrollbar widget use only mouse-button
events:
<Btn5Down>: StartScroll(Forward) \n\
<Btn1Down>: StartScroll(Forward) \n\
<Btn2Down>: StartScroll(Continuous) MoveThumb() NotifyThumb() \n\
<Btn3Down>: StartScroll(Backward) \n\
- 145 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
<Btn4Down>: StartScroll(Backward) \n\
<Btn2Motion>: MoveThumb() NotifyThumb() \n\
<BtnUp>: NotifyScroll(Proportional) EndScroll()
Events which the scrollbar widget does not recognize at all are lost.
However, at startup, xterm augments these translations with the
default translations used for the vt100 widget, together with the
resource "actions" which those translations use. Because the
scrollbar (or menubar) widgets do not recognize these actions (but
because it has a corresponding translation), they are passed on to the
vt100 widget.
This augmenting of the scrollbar's translations has a few limitations:
+ Xterm knows what the default translations are, but there is no
suitable library interface for determining what customizations a
user may have added to the vt100 widget. All that xterm can do is
augment the scrollbar widget to give it the same starting point
for further customization by the user.
+ Events in the gap between the widgets may be lost.
+ Compose sequences begun in one widget cannot be completed in the
other, because the input methods for each widget do not share
context information.
Most customizations of the scrollbar translations do not concern key
bindings. Rather, users are generally more interested in changing the
bindings of the mouse buttons. For example, some people prefer using
the left pointer button for dragging the scrollbar thumb. That can be
set up by altering the translations resource, e.g.,
*VT100.scrollbar.translations: #override \n\
<Btn5Down>: StartScroll(Forward) \n\
<Btn1Down>: StartScroll(Continuous) MoveThumb() NotifyThumb() \n\
<Btn4Down>: StartScroll(Backward) \n\
<Btn1Motion>: MoveThumb() NotifyThumb() \n\
<BtnUp>: NotifyScroll(Proportional) EndScroll()
CONTROL SEQUENCES AND KEYBOARD
Applications can send sequences of characters to the terminal to
change its behavior. Often they are referred to as "ANSI escape
sequences" or just plain "escape sequences" but both terms are
misleading:
+ ANSI x3.64 (obsolete) which was replaced by ISO 6429 (ECMA-48)
gave rules for the format of these sequences of characters.
- 146 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
+ While the original VT100 was claimed to be ANSI-compatible
(against x3.64), there is no freely available version of the ANSI
standard to show where the VT100 differs. Most of the documents
which mention the ANSI standard have additions not found in the
original (such as those based on ansi.sys). So this discussion
focuses on the ISO standards.
+ The standard describes only sequences sent from the host to the
terminal. There is no standard for sequences sent by special keys
from the terminal to the host. By convention (and referring to
existing terminals), the format of those sequences usually
conforms to the host-to-terminal standard.
+ Some of xterm's sequences do not fit into the standard scheme.
Technically those are "unspecified". As an example, DEC Screen
Alignment Test (DECALN) is this three-character sequence:
ESC # 8
+ Some sequences fit into the standard format, but are not listed in
the standard. These include the sequences used for setting up
scrolling margins and doing forward/reverse scrolling.
+ Some of the sequences (in particular, the single-character
functions such as tab and backspace) do not include the escape
character.
With all of that in mind, the standard refers to these sequences of
characters as "control sequences".
Xterm Control Sequences lists the control sequences which an
application can send xterm to make it perform various operations.
Most of these operations are standardized, from either the DEC or
Tektronix terminals, or from more widely used standards such as ISO-
6429.
A few examples of usage are given in this section.
Window and Icon Titles
Some scripts use echo with options -e and -n to tell the shell to
interpret the string "\e" as the escape character and to suppress a
trailing newline on output. Those are not portable, nor recommended.
Instead, use printf(1) (POSIX).
For example, to set the window title to "Hello world!", you could use
one of these commands in a script:
printf '\033]2;Hello world!\033\\'
printf '\033]2;Hello world!\007'
- 147 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
printf '\033]2;%s\033\\' "Hello world!"
printf '\033]2;%s\007' "Hello world!"
The printf(1) command interprets the octal value "\033" for escape,
and (since it was not given in the format) omits a trailing newline
from the output.
Some programs (such as screen(1)) set both window- and icon-titles at
the same time, using a slightly different control sequence:
printf '\033]0;Hello world!\033\\'
printf '\033]0;Hello world!\007'
printf '\033]0;%s\033\\' "Hello world!"
printf '\033]0;%s\007' "Hello world!"
The difference is the parameter "0" in each command. Most window
managers will honor either window title or icon title. Some will make
a distinction and allow you to set just the icon title. You can tell
xterm to ask for this with a different parameter in the control
sequence:
printf '\033]1;Hello world!\033\\'
printf '\033]1;Hello world!\007'
printf '\033]1;%s\033\\' "Hello world!"
printf '\033]1;%s\007' "Hello world!"
Special Keys
Xterm, like any VT100-compatible terminal emulator, has two modes for
the special keys (cursor-keys, numeric keypad, and certain function-
keys):
+ normal mode, which makes the special keys transmit "useful"
sequences such as the control sequence for cursor-up when pressing
the up-arrow, and
+ application mode, which uses a different control sequence that
cannot be mistaken for the "useful" sequences.
The main difference between the two modes is that normal mode
sequences start with CSI (escape [) and application mode sequences
start with SS3 (escape O).
The terminal is initialized into one of these two modes (usually the
normal mode), based on the terminal description (termcap or terminfo).
The terminal description also has capabilities (strings) defined for
the keypad mode used in curses applications.
There is a problem in using the terminal description for applications
that are not intended to be full-screen curses applications: the
- 148 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
definitions of special keys are only correct for this keypad mode.
For example, some shells (unlike ksh(1), which appears to be hard-
coded, not even using termcap) allow their users to customize key-
bindings, assigning shell actions to special keys.
+ bash(1) allows constant strings to be assigned to functions. This
is only successful if the terminal is initialized to application
mode by default, because bash lacks flexibility in this area. It
uses a (less expressive than bash's) readline scripting language
for setting up key bindings, which relies upon the user to
statically enumerate the possible bindings for given values of
$TERM.
+ zsh(1) provides an analogous feature, but it accepts runtime
expressions, as well as providing a $terminfo array for scripts.
In particular, one can use the terminal database, transforming
when defining a key-binding. By transforming the output so that
CSI and SS3 are equated, zsh can use the terminal database to
obtain useful definitions for its command-line use regardless of
whether the terminal uses normal or application mode initially.
Here is an example:
[[ "$terminfo[kcuu1]" == "^[O"* ]] && \
bindkey -M viins "${terminfo[kcuu1]/O/[}" \
vi-up-line-or-history
Changing Colors
A few shell programs provide the ability for users to add color and
other video attributes to the shell prompt strings. Users can do this
by setting $PS1 (the primary prompt string). Again, bash and zsh have
provided features not found in ksh. There is a problem, however: the
prompt's width on the screen will not necessarily be the same as the
number of characters. Because there is no guidance in the POSIX
standard, each shell addresses the problem in a different way:
+ bash treats characters within "\[" and "\]" as nonprinting (using
no width on the screen).
+ zsh treats characters within "%{" and "%}" as nonprinting.
In addition to the difference in syntax, the shells provide different
methods for obtaining useful escape sequences:
+ As noted in Special Keys, zsh initializes the $terminfo array with
the terminal capabilities.
It also provides a function echoti which works like tput(1) to
convert a terminal capability with its parameters into a string
that can be written to the terminal.
- 149 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
+ Shells lacking a comparable feature (such as bash) can always use
the program tput(1) to do this transformation.
Hard-coded escape sequences are supported by each shell, but are not
recommended because those rely upon particular configurations and
cannot be easily moved between different user environments.
ENVIRONMENT
Xterm sets several environment variables.
System Independent
Some variables are used on every system:
DISPLAY
is the display name, pointing to the X server (see DISPLAY NAMES
in X(__miscmansuffix__)).
TERM
is set according to the terminfo (or termcap) entry which it is
using as a reference.
On some systems, you may encounter situations where the shell
which you use and xterm are built using libraries with different
terminal databases. In that situation, xterm may choose a
terminal description not known to the shell.
WINDOWID
is set to the X window id number of the xterm window.
XTERM_FILTER
is set if a locale-filter is used. The value is the pathname of
the filter.
XTERM_LOCALE
shows the locale which was used by xterm on startup. Some shell
initialization scripts may set a different locale.
XTERM_SHELL
is set to the pathname of the program which is invoked. Usually
that is a shell program, e.g., /bin/sh. Since it is not
necessarily a shell program however, it is distinct from "SHELL".
XTERM_VERSION
is set to the string displayed by the -version option. That is
normally an identifier for the X Window libraries used to build
xterm, followed by xterm's patch number in parenthesis. The
patch number is also part of the response to a Secondary Device
Attributes (DA) control sequence (see Xterm Control Sequences).
- 150 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
System Dependent
Depending on your system configuration, xterm may also set the
following:
COLUMNS
the width of the xterm in characters (cf: "stty columns").
When this variable is set, curses applications (and most terminal
programs) will assume that the terminal has this many columns.
Xterm would do this for systems which have no ability to tell the
size of the terminal. Those are very rare, none newer than the
mid 1990s when SVR4 became prevalent.
HOME
when xterm is configured (at build-time) to update __utmp_name__.
LINES
the height of the xterm in characters (cf: "stty rows").
When this variable is set, curses applications (and most terminal
programs) will assume that the terminal has this many lines
(rows).
Xterm would do this for systems which have no ability to tell the
size of the terminal. Those are very rare, none newer than the
mid 1990s when SVR4 became prevalent.
LOGNAME
when xterm is configured (at build-time) to update __utmp_name__.
Your configuration may have set LOGNAME; xterm does not modify
that. If it is unset, xterm will use USER if it is set.
Finally, if neither is set, xterm will use the getlogin(3)
function.
SHELL
when xterm is configured (at build-time) to update __utmp_name__.
It is also set if you provide a valid shell name as the optional
parameter.
Xterm sets this to an absolute pathname. If you have set the
variable to a relative pathname, xterm may set it to a different
shell pathname.
If you have set this to an pathname which does not correspond to
a valid shell, xterm may unset it, to avoid confusion.
TERMCAP
- 151 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
the contents of the termcap entry corresponding to $TERM, with
lines and columns values substituted for the actual size window
you have created.
This feature is, like LINES and COLUMNS, used rarely. It
addresses the same limitation of a few older systems by providing
a way for termcap-based applications to get the initial screen
size.
TERMINFO
may be defined to a nonstandard location using the configure
script.
WINDOW PROPERTIES
In the output from xprop(1), there are several properties.
Properties set by X Toolkit
WM_CLASS
This shows the instance name and the X resource class, passed to
X Toolkit during initialization of xterm, e.g.,
WM_CLASS(STRING) = "xterm", "UXTerm"
WM_CLIENT_LEADER
This shows the window-id which xterm provides with an environment
variable (WINDOWID), e.g.,
WM_CLIENT_LEADER(WINDOW): window id # 0x800023
WM_COMMAND
This shows the command-line arguments for xterm which are passed
to X Toolkit during initialization, e.g.,
WM_COMMAND(STRING) = { "xterm", "-class", "UXTerm", "-title", "uxterm", "-u8" }
WM_ICON_NAME
This holds the icon title, which different window managers handle
in various ways. It is set via the iconName resource.
Applications can change this using control sequences.
WM_LOCALE_NAME
This shows the result from the setlocale(3) function for the
LC_CTYPE category, e.g.,
WM_LOCALE_NAME(STRING) = "en_US.UTF-8"
WM_NAME
This holds the window title, normally at the top of xterm's
window. It is set via the title resource. Applications can
- 152 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
change this using control sequences.
Properties set by Xterm
X Toolkit does not manage EWMH properties. Xterm does this directly.
_NET_WM_ICON_NAME
stores the icon name.
_NET_WM_NAME
stores the title string.
_NET_WM_PID
stores the process identifier for xterm's display.
Properties used by Xterm
_NET_SUPPORTED
Xterm checks this property on the supporting window to decide if
the window manager supports specific maximizing styles. That may
include other window manager hints; xterm uses the X library
calls to manage those.
_NET_SUPPORTING_WM_CHECK
Xterm checks this to ensure that it will only update the EWMH
properties for a window manager which claims EWMH compliance.
_NET_WM_STATE
This tells xterm whether its window has been maximized by the
window manager, and if so, what type of maximizing:
_NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN
_NET_WM_STATE_MAXIMIZED_HORZ
_NET_WM_STATE_MAXIMIZED_VERT
FILES
The actual pathnames given may differ on your system.
/etc/shells
contains a list of valid shell programs, used by xterm to decide
if the "SHELL" environment variable should be set for the process
started by xterm.
On systems which have the getusershell function, xterm will use
that function rather than directly reading the file, since the
file may not be present if the system uses default settings.
__utmp_path__
the system log file, which records user logins.
- 153 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
__wtmp_path__
the system log file, which records user logins and logouts.
__apploaddir__/__default_class__
the xterm default application resources.
__apploaddir__/__default_class__-color
the xterm color application resources. If your display supports
color, use this
*customization: -color
in your .Xdefaults file to automatically use this resource file
rather than __apploaddir__/__default_class__. If you do not do
this, xterm uses its compiled-in default resource settings for
colors.
__pixmapsdir__
the directory in which xterm's pixmap icon files are installed.
ERROR MESSAGES
Most of the fatal error messages from xterm use the following format:
xterm: Error XXX, errno YYY: ZZZ
The XXX codes (which are used by xterm as its exit-code) are listed
below, with a brief explanation.
1 ERROR_MISC
miscellaneous errors, usually accompanied by a specific message,
11 ERROR_FIONBIO
main: ioctl() failed on FIONBIO
12 ERROR_F_GETFL
main: ioctl() failed on F_GETFL
13 ERROR_F_SETFL
main: ioctl() failed on F_SETFL
14 ERROR_OPDEVTTY
spawn: open() failed on /dev/tty
15 ERROR_TIOCGETP
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCGETP
17 ERROR_PTSNAME
spawn: ptsname() failed
- 154 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
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
- 155 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
spawn: can't initialize window
46 ERROR_TIOCKSET
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCKSET
47 ERROR_TIOCKSETC
spawn: ioctl() failed on TIOCKSETC
49 ERROR_LUMALLOC
luit: command-line malloc failed
50 ERROR_SELECT
in_put: select() failed
54 ERROR_VINIT
VTInit: can't initialize window
57 ERROR_KMMALLOC1
HandleKeymapChange: malloc failed
60 ERROR_TSELECT
Tinput: select() failed
64 ERROR_TINIT
TekInit: can't initialize window
71 ERROR_BMALLOC2
SaltTextAway: malloc() failed
80 ERROR_LOGEXEC
StartLog: exec() failed
83 ERROR_XERROR
xerror: XError event
84 ERROR_XIOERROR
xioerror: X I/O error
85 ERROR_ICEERROR
ICE I/O error
90 ERROR_SCALLOC
Alloc: calloc() failed on base
91 ERROR_SCALLOC2
Alloc: calloc() failed on rows
102 ERROR_SAVE_PTR
ScrnPointers: malloc/realloc() failed
- 156 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
BUGS
Large pastes do not work on some systems. This is not a bug in xterm;
it is a bug in the pseudo terminal driver of those systems. Xterm
feeds large pastes to the pty only as fast as the pty will accept
data, but some pty drivers do not return enough information to know if
the write has succeeded.
When connected to an input method, it is possible for xterm to hang if
the XIM server is suspended or killed.
Many of the options are not resettable after xterm starts.
This program still needs to be rewritten. It should be split into
very modular sections, with the various emulators being completely
separate widgets that do not know about each other. Ideally, you'd
like to be able to pick and choose emulator widgets and stick them
into a single control widget.
There needs to be a dialog box to allow entry of the Tek COPY file
name.
AUTHORS
Far too many people.
These contributed to the X Consortium: Loretta Guarino Reid (DEC-UEG-
WSL), Joel McCormack (DEC-UEG-WSL), Terry Weissman (DEC-UEG-WSL),
Edward Moy (Berkeley), Ralph R. Swick (MIT-Athena), Mark Vandevoorde
(MIT-Athena), Bob McNamara (DEC-MAD), Jim Gettys (MIT-Athena), Bob
Scheifler (MIT X Consortium), Doug Mink (SAO), Steve Pitschke
(Stellar), Ron Newman (MIT-Athena), Jim Fulton (MIT X Consortium),
Dave Serisky (HP), Jonathan Kamens (MIT-Athena).
Beginning with XFree86, there were far more identifiable contributors.
The THANKS file in xterm's source lists 243 in June 2022. Keep in
mind these: Jason Bacon, Jens Schweikhardt, Ross Combs, Stephen P.
Wall, David Wexelblat, and Thomas Dickey (invisible-island.net).
SEE ALSO
resize(__mansuffix__), luit(__mansuffix__), uxterm(__mansuffix__),
X(__miscmansuffix__), Xcursor(__miscmansuffix__), pty(4), tty(4)
Xterm Control Sequences (this is the file ctlseqs.ms).
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.html
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/manpage/xterm.html
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/ctlseqs/ctlseqs.html
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.faq.html
https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.log.html
- 157 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
XTERM(1) __app_version__ XTERM(1)
X Window System X Window System
__app_date__
X Toolkit Intrinsics C Language Interface (Xt),
Joel McCormack, Paul Asente, Ralph R. Swick (1994),
Thomas E. Dickey (2019).
Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual (ICCCM),
David Rosenthal and Stuart W. Marks (version 2.0, 1994).
Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH),
X Desktop Group (version 1.3, 2005).
EWMH uses UTF8_STRING pervasively without defining it, but does
mention the ICCCM. Version 2.0 of the ICCCM does not address UTF-8.
That is an extension added in XFree86.
+ Markus Kuhn summarized this in UTF-8 and Unicode FAQ for
Unix/Linux (2001), in the section "Is X11 ready for Unicode?"
https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html
+ Juliusz Chroboczek proposed the UTF8_STRING selection atom in
1999/2000, which became part of the ICCCM in XFree86.
https://www.irif.fr/~jch/software/UTF8_STRING/
An Xorg developer removed that part of the documentation in 2004
when incorporating other work from XFree86 into Xorg. The feature
is still supported in Xorg, though undocumented as of 2019.
- 158 - Formatted: November 2, 2024
