Provided by: rxvt_2.7.10-6_amd64 
NAME
rxvt_(ouR_XVT) - a VT102 emulator for the X window system
SYNOPSIS
rxvt [options] [-e command [ args ]]
DESCRIPTION
rxvt, version 2.7.10, is a colour vt102 terminal emulator intended as an xterm(1) replacement for users who do not require features such as Tektronix 4014 emulation and toolkit-style configurability. As a result, rxvt uses much less swap space -- a significant advantage on a machine serving many X sessions.
OPTIONS
The rxvt options (mostly a subset of xterm's) are listed below. In keeping with the smaller-is-better
philosophy, options may be eliminated or default values chosen at compile-time, so options and defaults
listed may not accurately reflect the version installed on your system. “rxvt -h” gives a list of major
compile-time options on the Options line. Option descriptions may be prefixed with which compile option
each is dependent upon. e.g. “Compile XIM:” requires XIM on the Options line. Note: “rxvt -help” gives
a list of all command-line options compiled into your version.
Note that rxvt permits the resource name to be used as a long-option (--/++ option) so the potential
command-line options are far greater than those listed. For example: “rxvt --loginShell --color1
Orange”.
Also note that if you do not explicitly specify a font (-fn and -fm) or a multichar encoding method
(-km), rxvt will select a font for the preferable encoding according to your locale. Supported encodings
are: ISO-8859-n (n=1...15), KOI8-R, KOI8-U, EUC-JP, Shift_JIS, EUC-KR, EUC-CN (aka GB), and Big5.
The following options are available:
-help, --help
Print out a message describing available options.
-display displayname
Attempt to open a window on the named X display (-d still respected). In the absence of this
option, the display specified by the DISPLAY environment variable is used.
-geometry geom
Window geometry (-g still respected); resource geometry.
-rv|+rv
Turn on/off simulated reverse video; resource reverseVideo.
-j|+j Turn on/off jump scrolling; resource jumpScroll.
-ip|+ip
Turn on/off inheriting parent window's pixmap. Alternative form is -tr; resource inheritPixmap.
-bg colour
Window background colour; resource background.
-fg colour
Window foreground colour; resource foreground.
-pixmap: file[;geom]
Compile XPM: Specify XPM file for the background and also optionally specify its scaling with a
geometry string. Note you may need to add quotes to avoid special shell interpretation of the “;”
in the command-line; resource backgroundPixmap.
-cr colour
The cursor colour; resource cursorColor.
-pr colour
The mouse pointer colour; resource pointerColor.
-bd colour
The colour of the border between the xterm scrollbar and the text; resource borderColor.
-fn fontname
Main normal text font; resource font.
-fb fontname
Main bold text font; resource boldFont.
-fm fontname
Main multicharacter font; resource mfont.
-km mode
Compile multichar_languages: Multiple-character font-set encoding mode; eucj: EUC Japanese
encoding. sjis: Shift JIS encoding. big5: BIG5 encoding. gb: GB encoding. kr: EUC Korean
encoding. noenc: no encoding; resource multichar_encoding.
-grk mode
Compile Greek: Greek keyboard translation; iso: ISO-8859 mapping. ibm: IBM-437 mapping; resource
greek_keyboard.
-name name
Specify the application name under which resources are to be obtained, rather than the default
executable file name. Name should not contain “.” or “*” characters. Also sets the icon and
title name.
-ls|+ls
Start as a login-shell/sub-shell; resource loginShell.
-ut|+ut
Compile utmp: Inhibit/enable writing a utmp entry; resource utmpInhibit.
-vb|+vb
Turn on/off visual bell on receipt of a bell character; resource visualBell.
-sb|+sb
Turn on/off scrollbar; resource scrollBar.
-si|+si
Turn on/off scroll-to-bottom on TTY output inhibit; resource scrollTtyOutput has opposite effect.
-sk|+sk
Turn on/off scroll-to-bottom on keypress; resource scrollTtyKeypress.
-sw|+sw
Turn on/off scrolling with the scrollback buffer as new lines appear. This only takes effect if
-si is also given; resource scrollWithBuffer.
-sr|+sr
Put scrollbar on right/left; resource scrollBar_right.
-st|+st
Display normal (non XTerm/NeXT) scrollbar without/with a trough; resource scrollBar_floating.
-mcc|+mcc
Compile multichar_languages: treat multibyte glyphs as single character for backspace, delete and
cursor movement keys; resource multibyte_cursor.
-iconic
Start iconified, if the window manager supports that option. Alternative form is -ic.
-sl number
Save number lines in the scrollback buffer. See resource entry for limits; resource saveLines.
-b number
Compile frills: Internal border of number pixels. See resource entry for limits; resource
internalBorder.
-w number
Compile frills: External border of number pixels. Also, -bw and -borderwidth. See resource entry
for limits; resource externalBorder.
-lsp number
Compile linespace: Lines (pixel height) to insert between each row of the display; resource
linespace.
-tn termname
This option specifies the name of the terminal type to be set in the TERM environment variable.
This terminal type must exist in the termcap(5) database and should have li# and co# entries;
resource termName.
-im method
This option specifies the input method to use; resource inputMethod.
-e command [arguments]
Run the command with its command-line arguments in the rxvt window; also sets the window title and
icon name to be the basename of the program being executed if neither -title (-T) nor -n are given
on the command line. If this option is used, it must be the last on the command-line. If there
is no -e option then the default is to run the program specified by the SHELL environment variable
or, failing that, sh(1).
-title text
Window title (-T still respected); the default title is the basename of the program specified
after the -e option, if any, otherwise the application name; resource title.
-n text
Icon name; the default name is the basename of the program specified after the -e option, if any,
otherwise the application name; resource iconName.
-C Capture system console messages.
-pt style
Compile XIM: input style for input method; OverTheSpot, OffTheSpot, Root; resource preeditType.
-im text
Compile XIM: input method name. resource inputMethod.
-mod modifier
Override detection of Meta modifier with specified key: alt, meta, hyper, super, mod1, mod2, mod3,
mod4, mod5; resource modifier.
-xrm resourcestring
No effect on rxvt. Simply passes through an argument to be made available in the instance's
argument list. Appears in WM_COMMAND in some window managers.
RESOURCES (available also as long-options)
Note: “rxvt --help” gives a list of all resources (long options) compiled into your version. If compiled
with internal Xresources support (i.e. rxvt -h lists .Xdefaults) then rxvt accepts application defaults
set in XAPPLOADDIR/Rxvt (compile-time defined: usually /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/Rxvt) and resources set
in ~/.Xdefaults, or ~/.Xresources if ~/.Xdefaults does not exist. Note that when reading X resources,
rxvt recognizes two class names: XTerm and Rxvt. The class name XTerm allows resources common to both
rxvt and xterm to be easily configured, while the class name Rxvt allows resources unique to rxvt,
notably colours and key-handling, to be shared between different rxvt configurations. If no resources
are specified, suitable defaults will be used. Command-line arguments can be used to override resource
settings. The following resources are allowed:
geometry: geom
Create the window with the specified X window geometry [default 80x24]; option -geometry.
background: colour
Use the specified colour as the window's background colour [default White]; option -bg.
foreground: colour
Use the specified colour as the window's foreground colour [default Black]; option -fg.
colorn: colour
Use the specified colour for the colour value n, where 0-7 corresponds to low-intensity (normal)
colours and 8-15 corresponds to high-intensity (bold = bright foreground, blink = bright
background) colours. The canonical names are as follows: 0=black, 1=red, 2=green, 3=yellow,
4=blue, 5=magenta, 6=cyan, 7=white, but the actual colour names used are listed in the COLORS AND
GRAPHICS section.
colorBD: colour
Use the specified colour to display bold characters when the foreground colour is the default.
colorUL: colour
Use the specified colour to display underlined characters when the foreground colour is the
default.
colorRV: colour
Use the specified colour as the background for reverse video characters.
cursorColor: colour
Use the specified colour for the cursor. The default is to use the foreground colour; option -cr.
cursorColor2: colour
Use the specified colour for the colour of the cursor text. For this to take effect, cursorColor
must also be specified. The default is to use the background colour.
reverseVideo: boolean
True: simulate reverse video by foreground and background colours; option -rv. False: regular
screen colours [default]; option +rv. See note in COLORS AND GRAPHICS section.
jumpScroll: boolean
True: specify that jump scrolling should be used. When scrolling quickly, fewer screen updates
are performed [default]; option -j. False: specify that smooth scrolling should be used; option
+j.
inheritPixmap: boolean
True: make the background inherit the parent windows' pixmap, giving artificial transparency.
False: do not inherit the parent windows' pixmap.
scrollColor: colour
Use the specified colour for the scrollbar [default #B2B2B2].
troughColor: colour
Use the specified colour for the scrollbar's trough area [default #969696]. Only relevant for
normal (non XTerm/NeXT) scrollbar.
backgroundPixmap: file[;geom]
Use the specified XPM file (note the “.xpm” extension is optional) for the background and also
optionally specify its scaling with a geometry string WxH+X+Y, in which “W” / “H” specify the
horizontal/vertical scale (percent) and “X” / “Y” locate the image centre (percent). A scale of 0
displays the image with tiling. A scale of 1 displays the image without any scaling. A scale of
2 to 9 specifies an integer number of images in that direction. No image will be magnified beyond
10 times its original size. The maximum permitted scale is 1000. [default 0x0+50+50]
menu: file[;tag]
Read in the specified menu file (note the “.menu” extension is optional) and also optionally
specify a starting tag to find. See the reference documentation for details on the syntax for the
menuBar.
path: path
Specify the colon-delimited search path for finding files (XPM and menus), in addition to the
paths specified by the RXVTPATH and PATH environment variables.
font: fontname
Select the main text font used [default 7x14]; option -fn.
fontn: fontname
Specify the alternative font n. The default font values:
font: 7x14
font1: 6x10
font2: 6x13
font3: 8x13
font4: 9x15
boldFont: fontname
Specify the name of the bold font to use if colorBD has not been specified and it is not possible
to map the default foreground colour to colour 8-15 [default NONE]. This font must be the same
height and width as the normal font; option -fb.
mfont: fontname
Select the main multiple-character text font used [default k14]; option -fk.
mfontn: fontname
Specify the alternative multiple-character font n. If compiled for multiple-character fonts, the
Roman and multiple-character font sizes should match.
multichar_encoding: mode
Set the encoding mode to be used when multicharacter encoding is received; eucj: EUC Japanese
encoding [default for Kanji]. sjis: Shift JIS encoding. big5: BIG5 encoding. gb: GB encoding.
kr: EUC Korean encoding. noenc: no encoding; option -km.
greek_keyboard: mode
Set the Greek keyboard translation mode to be used; iso: ISO-8859 mapping (elot-928) [default].
ibm: IBM-437 mapping (DOS codepage 737); option -grk.
greektoggle_key: keysym
Set the key to toggle keyboard input between no translation and Greek translation [default
Mode_switch]. For more details, see the distributed file README.greek.
selectstyle: mode
Set mouse selection style to old which is 2.20, oldword which is xterm style with 2.20 old word
selection, or anything else which gives xterm style selection.
scrollstyle: mode
Set scrollbar style to rxvt, next or xterm (only supported by the rxvt-xpm binary)
title: string
Set window title string, the default title is the command-line specified after the -e option, if
any, otherwise the application name; option -title.
iconName: string
Set the name used to label the window's icon or displayed in an icon manager window, it also sets
the window's title unless it is explicitly set; option -n.
mapAlert: boolean
True: de-iconify (map) on receipt of a bell character. False: no de-iconify (map) on receipt of a
bell character [default].
visualBell: boolean
True: use visual bell on receipt of a bell character; option -vb. False: no visual bell
[default]; option +vb.
loginShell: boolean
True: start as a login shell by prepending a “-” to argv[0] of the shell; option -ls. False:
start as a normal sub-shell [default]; option +ls.
utmpInhibit: boolean
True: inhibit writing record into the system log file utmp; option -ut. False: write record into
the system log file utmp [default]; option +ut.
print-pipe: string
Specify a command pipe for vt100 printer [default lpr(1)]. Use Print to initiate a screen dump to
the printer and Ctrl-Print or Shift-Print to include the scrollback as well.
scrollBar: boolean
True: enable the scrollbar [default]; option -sb. False: disable the scrollbar; option +sb.
scrollBar_right: boolean
True: place the scrollbar on the right of the window; option -sr. False: place the scrollbar on
the left of the window; option +sr.
scrollBar_floating: boolean
True: display an rxvt scrollbar without a trough; option -st. False: display an rxvt scrollbar
with a trough; option +st.
scrollBar_align: mode
Align the top, bottom or centre [default] of the scrollbar thumb with the pointer on middle button
press/drag.
scrollTtyOutput: boolean
True: scroll to bottom when tty receives output; option(+si). False: do not scroll to bottom when
tty receives output; option(-si).
scrollWithBuffer: boolean
True: scroll with scrollback buffer when tty recieves new lines (and scrollTtyOutput is False);
option(+sw). False: do not scroll with scrollback buffer when tty recieves new lines;
option(-sw).
scrollTtyKeypress: boolean
True: scroll to bottom when a non-special key is pressed. Special keys are those which are
intercepted by rxvt for special handling and are not passed onto the shell; option(-sk). False:
do not scroll to bottom when a non-special key is pressed; option(+sk).
smallfont_key: keysym
If enabled, use Alt-keysym to toggle to a smaller font [default Alt-<]
bigfont_key: keysym
If enabled, use Alt-keysym to toggle to a bigger font [default Alt->]
saveLines: number
Save number lines in the scrollback buffer [default 64]. This resource is limited on most
machines to 65535; option -sl.
internalBorder: number
Internal border of number pixels. This resource is limited to 100; option -b.
externalBorder: number
External border of number pixels. This resource is limited to 100; option -w, -bw, -borderwidth.
termName: termname
Specifies the terminal type name to be set in the TERM environment variable; option -tn.
linespace: number
Specifies number of lines (pixel height) to insert between each row of the display [default 0];
option -lsp.
meta8: boolean
True: handle Meta (Alt) + keypress to set the 8th bit. False: handle Meta (Alt) + keypress as an
escape prefix [default].
mouseWheelScrollPage: boolean
True: the mouse wheel scrolls a page full. False: the mouse wheel scrolls five lines [default].
multibyte_cursor: boolean
True: consider multibyte glyphs as single character for backspace, delete and cursor movement
keys; option -mcc. False: move through all components of all glyphs; option +mcc.
backspacekey: string
The string to send when the backspace key is pressed. If set to DEC or unset it will send Delete
(code 127) or, if shifted, Backspace (code 8) - which can be reversed with the appropriate DEC
private mode escape sequence.
deletekey: string
The string to send when the delete key (not the keypad delete key) is pressed. If unset it will
send the sequence traditionally associated with the Execute key.
cutchars: string
The characters used as delimiters for double-click word selection. The built-in default:
"&'()*,;<=>?@[\]^`{|}~
preeditType: style
OverTheSpot, OffTheSpot, Root; option -pt.
inputMethod: name
name of inputMethod to use; option -im.
modifier: modifier
Set the key to be interpreted as the Meta key to: alt, meta, hyper, super, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4,
mod5; option -mod.
answerbackString: string
Specify the reply rxvt sends to the shell when an ENQ (control-E) character is passed through. It
may contain escape values as described in the entry on keysym following.
keysym.sym: string
Associate string with keysym sym (0xFF00 - 0xFFFF). It may contain escape values (\a: bell, \b:
backspace, \e, \E: escape, \n: newline, \r: return, \t: tab, \000: octal number) or control
characters (^?: delete, ^@: null, ^A ...) and may enclosed with double quotes so that it can start
or end with whitespace. The intervening resource name keysym. cannot be omitted. This resource
is only available when compiled with KEYSYM_RESOURCE.
THE SCROLLBAR
Lines of text that scroll off the top of the rxvt window (resource: saveLines) and can be scrolled back
using the scrollbar or by keystrokes. The normal rxvt scrollbar has arrows and its behaviour is fairly
intuitive. The xterm-scrollbar is without arrows and its behaviour mimics that of xterm
Scroll down with Button1 (xterm-scrollbar) or Shift-Next. Scroll up with Button3 (xterm-scrollbar) or
Shift-Prior. Continuous scroll with Button2.
MOUSE REPORTING
To temporarily override mouse reporting, for either the scrollbar or the normal text selection/insertion,
hold either the Shift or the Meta (Alt) key while performing the desired mouse action.
If mouse reporting mode is active, the normal scrollbar actions are disabled -- on the assumption that we
are using a fullscreen application. Instead, pressing Button1 and Button3 sends ESC[6~ (Next) and ESC[5~
(Prior), respectively. Similarly, clicking on the up and down arrows sends ESC[A (Up) and ESC[B (Down),
respectively.
TEXT SELECTION AND INSERTION
The behaviour of text selection and insertion mechanism is similar to xterm(1). Selection: Left click at the beginning of the region, drag to the end of the region and release; Right click to extend the marked region; Left double-click to select a word; Left triple-click to select the entire line. Insertion: Pressing and releasing the Middle mouse button (or Shift-Insert) in an rxvt window causes the current text selection to be inserted as if it had been typed on the keyboard.
CHANGING FONTS
You can change fonts on-the-fly, which is to say cycle through the default font and others of various
sizes, by using Shift-KP_Add and Shift-KP_Subtract. Or, alternatively (if enabled) with Alt-> and Alt-<,
where the actual key can be selected using resources smallfont_key/bigfont_key.
LOGIN STAMP
rxvt tries to write an entry into the utmp(5) file so that it can be seen via the who(1) command, and can accept messages. To allow this feature, rxvt must be installed setuid root on some systems.
COLORS AND GRAPHICS
If graphics support was enabled at compile-time, rxvt can be queried with ANSI escape sequences and can
address individual pixels instead of text characters. Note the graphics support is still considered beta
code.
In addition to the default foreground and background colours, rxvt can display up to 16 colours (8 ANSI
colours plus high-intensity bold/blink versions of the same). Here is a list of the colours with their
rgb.txt names.
color0 (black) = Black
color1 (red) = Red3
color2 (green) = Green3
color3 (yellow) = Yellow3
color4 (blue) = Blue3
color5 (magenta) = Magenta3
color6 (cyan) = Cyan3
color7 (white) = AntiqueWhite
color8 (bright black) = Grey25
color9 (bright red) = Red
color10 (bright green) = Green
color11 (bright yellow) = Yellow
color12 (bright blue) = Blue
color13 (bright magenta) = Magenta
color14 (bright cyan) = Cyan
color15 (bright white) = White
foreground = Black
background = White
It is also possible to specify the colour values of foreground, background, cursorColor, cursorColor2,
colorBD, colorUL as a number 0-15, as a convenient shorthand to reference the colour name of
color0-color15.
Note that -rv (“reverseVideo: True”) simulates reverse video by always swapping the foreground/background
colours. This is in contrast to xterm(1) where the colours are only swapped if they have not otherwise
been specified. For example,
rxvt -fg Black -bg White -rv
would yield White on Black, while on xterm(1) it would yield Black on White.
ENVIRONMENT
rxvt sets the environment variables TERM, COLORTERM and COLORFGBG. The environment variable WINDOWID is
set to the X window id number of the rxvt window and it also uses and sets the environment variable
DISPLAY to specify which display terminal to use. rxvt uses the environment variables RXVTPATH and PATH
to find XPM files.
FILES
/etc/utmp
System file for login records.
/usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt
Color names.
DEBIAN NOTES
The standard Debian rxvt package provides two versions of the rxvt binary:
rxvt-xterm
This version is compiled with no XPM support. It has been configured to be a smaller, more
efficient xterm substitute.
rxvt-xpm
This version is compiled with XPM and menu support.
SEE ALSO
xterm(1), sh(1), resize(1), X(1), pty(4), tty(4), utmp(5) See rxvtRef.html rxvtRef.txt for detailed information on recognized escape sequences and menuBar syntax, etc.
BUGS
Check the BUGS file for an up-to-date list.
Cursor change support is not yet implemented.
Click-and-drag doesn't work with X11 mouse report overriding.
Graphics support is fairly crude.
FTP LOCATION
rxvt-2.7.10.tar.gz can be found at the following ftp sites ftp://ftp.rxvt.org/pub/rxvt
CURRENT PROJECT COORDINATOR
Project Coordinator
Geoff Wing <gcw@rxvt.org>
Web page maintainter
Oezguer Kesim <oec@rxvt.org>
<http://www.rxvt.org/>
Mailing list
The Rxvt Workers <rxvt-workers@rxvt.org> mailing list has also been established for rxvt
development, to subscribe, email to <rxvt-workers-subscribe@rxvt.org>. There is also a mailing
list for announcements of new releases of rxvt. To subscribe, email to <rxvt-announce-
subscribe@rxvt.org>.
AUTHORS
John Bovey
University of Kent, 1992, wrote the original Xvt.
Rob Nation <nation@rocket.sanders.lockheed.com>
very heavily modified Xvt and came up with Rxvt
Angelo Haritsis <ah@doc.ic.ac.uk>
wrote the Greek Keyboard Input
mj olesen <olesen@me.QueensU.CA>
Wrote the menu system.
Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.11 to 2.21)
Oezguer Kesim <kesim@math.fu-berlin.de>
Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.21a to 2.4.5)
Geoff Wing <gcw@pobox.com>
Rewrote screen display and text selection routines.
Project Coordinator (changes.txt 2.4.6 - )