XTERM

xterm − terminal emulator for X

xterm [-toolkitoption ...] [-option ...] [shell]

The xterm program is a terminal emulator for the X Window System. It provides DEC VT102/VT220 (VTxxx) and Tektronix 4014 compatible terminals for programs that cannot use the window system directly. If the underlying operating system supports terminal resizing capabilities (for example, the SIGWINCH signal in systems derived from 4.3bsd), xterm will use the facilities to notify programs running in the window whenever it is resized.

The VTxxx and Tektronix 4014 terminals each have their own window so that you can edit text in one and look at graphics in the other at the same time. To maintain the correct aspect ratio (height/width), Tektronix graphics will be restricted to the largest box with a 4014’s aspect ratio that will fit in the window. This box is located in the upper left area of the window.

Although both windows may be displayed at the same time, one of them is considered the “active” window for receiving keyboard input and terminal output. This is the window that contains the text cursor. The active window can be chosen through escape sequences, the “VT Options” menu in the VTxxx window, and the “Tek Options” menu in the 4014 window.

The VT102 emulation is fairly complete, but does not support autorepeat. Double-size characters are displayed properly if your font server supports scalable fonts. The VT220 emulation does not support soft fonts, it is otherwise complete. Termcap(5) entries that work with xterm include an optional platform-specific entry, “xterm,” “vt102,” “vt100,” “ansi” and “dumb.” xterm automatically searches the termcap file in this order for these entries and then sets the “TERM” and the “TERMCAP” environment variables. You may also use “vt220,” but must set the terminal emulation level with the decTerminalID resource. (The “TERMCAP” environment variable is not set if xterm is linked against a terminfo library, since the requisite information is not provided by the termcap emulation of terminfo libraries).

Many of the special xterm features may be modified under program control through a set of escape sequences different from the standard VT102 escape sequences. (See the Xterm Control Sequences document.)

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.

Xterm automatically highlights the text cursor when the pointer enters the window (selected) and unhighlights it when the pointer leaves the window (unselected). If the window is the focus window, then the text cursor is highlighted no matter where the pointer is.

In VT102 mode, there are escape sequences to activate and deactivate an alternate screen buffer, which is the same size as the display area of the window. When activated, the current screen is saved and replaced with the alternate screen. Saving of lines scrolled off the top of the window is disabled until the normal screen is restored. The termcap(5) entry for xterm allows the visual editor vi(1) to switch to the alternate screen for editing and to restore the screen on exit. A popup menu entry makes it simple to switch between the normal and alternate screens for cut and paste.

In either VT102 or Tektronix mode, there are escape sequences to change the name of the windows. Additionally, in VT102 mode, xterm implements the window-manipulation control sequences from dtterm, such as resizing the window, setting its location on the screen.

Xterm allows character-based applications to receive mouse events (currently button-press and release events, and button-motion events) as keyboard control sequences. See Xterm Control Sequences for details.

The xterm terminal emulator accepts the standard X Toolkit command line options as well as many application-specific options. If the option begins with a ‘+’ instead of a ‘-’, the option is restored to its default value. The -version and -help options are interpreted even if xterm cannot open the display, and are useful for testing and configuration scripts:

-version

This causes xterm to print a version number to the standard output.

-help

This causes xterm to print out a verbose message describing its options, one per line. The message is written to the standard output. 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.

One parameter (after all options) may be given. That overrides xterm’s built-in choice of shell program. Normally xterm checks the SHELL variable. If that is not set, xterm tries to use the shell program specified in the password file. If that is not set, xterm uses /bin/sh. If the parameter names an executable file, xterm uses that instead. The parameter must be an absolute path, or name a file found on the user’s PATH (and thereby construct an absolute path). The -e option cannot be used with this parameter since it uses all parameters following the option.

The other options are used to control the appearance and behavior. Not all options are necessarily configured into your copy of xterm:

-132

Normally, the VT102 DECCOLM escape sequence that switches between 80 and 132 column mode is ignored. This option causes the DECCOLM escape sequence to be recognized, and the xterm window will resize appropriately.

-ah

This option indicates that xterm should always highlight the text cursor. By default, xterm will display a hollow text cursor whenever the focus is lost or the pointer leaves the window.

+ah

This option indicates that xterm should do text cursor highlighting based on focus.

-ai

This option disables active icon support if that feature was compiled into xterm. This is equivalent to setting the vt100 resource activeIcon to “false”.

+ai

This option enables active icon support if that feature was compiled into xterm. This is equivalent to setting the vt100 resource activeIcon to “true”.

-aw

This option indicates that auto-wraparound should be allowed. This allows the cursor to automatically wrap to the beginning of the next line when it is at the rightmost position of a line and text is output.

+aw

This option indicates that auto-wraparound should not be allowed.

-b number

This option specifies the size of the inner border (the distance between the outer edge of the characters and the window border) in pixels. That is the vt100 internalBorder resource. The default is 2.

+bc

turn off text cursor blinking. This overrides the cursorBlink resource.

-bc

turn on text cursor blinking. This overrides the cursorBlink resource.

-bcf milliseconds

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 cursorOffTime 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 the section specifying character classes. and discussion of 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. Normally it is “XTerm”, but can be set to another class such as “UXTerm” to override selected resources.

-cm

This option disables recognition of ANSI color-change escape sequences. 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 arguments) to be run in the xterm window. It also sets the window title and icon name to be the basename of the program being executed if neither -T nor -n are given on the command line. This must be the last option on the command line.

-en encoding

This option determines the encoding on which xterm 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.

-fb font

This option specifies a font to be used when displaying bold text. This font must be the same height and width as the normal font. If only one of the normal or bold fonts is specified, it will be used as the normal font and the bold font will be produced by overstriking this font. The default is to do overstriking of the normal font. See also the discussion of boldFont, boldMode and alwaysBoldMode resources.

-fa pattern

This option sets the pattern for fonts selected from the FreeType library if support for that library was compiled into xterm. This corresponds to the faceName resource. When a CJK double-width font is specified, you also need to turn on the cjkWidth resource. See also the renderFont resource, which combines with this to determine whether FreeType fonts are initially active.

-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 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”.

-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.

-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 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 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.

+im

Turn off the useInsertMode resource.

-into windowId

Given an X window identifier (a decimal integer), xterm will reparent its top-level shell widget to that window. This is used to embed xterm within other applications.

-j

This option indicates that xterm should do jump scrolling. 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.

-k8

This option sets the allowC1Printable resource. When allowC1Printable is set, xterm overrides the mapping of C1 control characters (code 128-159) to treat them as printable.

+k8

This option resets the allowC1Printable resource.

-kt keyboardtype

This option sets the keyboardType resource. Possible values include: “unknown”, “default”, “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 and sunKeyboard, using the Sun/PC keyboard layout.

-l

Turn logging on. Normally logging is not supported, due to security concerns. Some versions of xterm may have logging enabled. The logfile is written to the directory from which xterm is invoked. The filename is generated, of the form

XtermLog.XXXXXX

or

Xterm.log.hostname.yyyy.mm.dd.hh.mm.ss.XXXXXX

depending on how xterm was built.

+l

Turn logging off.

-lc

Turn on support of various encodings according to 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. 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

xterm -e /bin/bash -l -c "my command here"

Finally, -ls is not completely ignored, because xterm -ls -e does write a /var/log/wtmp entry (if configured to do so), whereas xterm -e does not.

-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 maximize its layout on startup.

+ls

This option indicates that the shell that is started should not be a login shell (i.e., it will be a normal “subshell”).

-mb

This option indicates that xterm should ring a margin bell when the user types near the right end of a line. This option can be turned on and off from the “VT Options” menu.

+mb

This option indicates that margin bell should not be rung.

-mc milliseconds

This option specifies the maximum time between multi-click selections.

-mesg

Turn off the messages resource, i.e., disallow write access to the terminal.

+mesg

Turn on the messages resource, i.e., allow write access to the terminal.

-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.

-nb number

This option specifies the number of characters from the right end of a line at which the margin bell, if enabled, will ring. The default is 10.

-nul

This option disables the display of underlining.

+nul

This option enables the display of underlining.

-pc

This option enables the PC-style use of bold colors (see boldColors resource).

+pc

This option disables the PC-style use of bold colors.

-pob

This option indicates that the window should be raised whenever a Control-G is received.

+pob

This option indicates that the window should not be raised whenever a Control-G is received.

-rightbar

Force scrollbar to the right side of VT100 screen.

-rvc

This option disables the display of characters with reverse attribute as color.

+rvc

This option enables the display of characters with reverse attribute as color.

-rw

This option indicates that reverse-wraparound should be allowed. This allows the cursor to back up from the leftmost column of one line to the rightmost column of the previous line. This is very useful for editing long shell command lines and is encouraged. This option can be turned on and off from the “VT Options” menu.

+rw

This option indicates that reverse-wraparound should not be allowed.

-s

This option indicates that xterm may scroll asynchronously, meaning that the screen does not have to be kept completely up to date while scrolling. This allows xterm to run faster when network latencies are very high and is typically useful when running across a very large internet or many gateways.

+s

This option indicates that xterm should scroll synchronously.

-samename

Does not send title and icon name change requests when the request would have no effect: the name is not changed. This has the advantage of preventing flicker and the disadvantage of requiring an extra round trip to the server to find out the previous value. In practice this should never be a problem.

+samename

Always send title and icon name change requests.

-sb

This option indicates that some number of lines that are scrolled off the top of the window should be saved and that a scrollbar should be displayed so that those lines can be viewed. This option may be turned on and off from the “VT Options” menu.

+sb

This option indicates that a scrollbar should not be displayed.

-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.

-si

This option indicates that output to a window should not automatically reposition the screen to the bottom of the scrolling region. This option can be turned on and off from the “VT Options” menu.

+si

This option indicates that output to a window should cause it to scroll to the bottom.

-sk

This option indicates that pressing a key while using the scrollbar to review previous lines of text should cause the window to be repositioned automatically in the normal position at the bottom of the scroll region.

+sk

This option indicates that pressing a key while using the scrollbar should not cause the window to be repositioned.

-sl number

This option specifies the number of lines to save that have been scrolled off the top of the screen. This corresponds to the saveLines resource. The default is 64.

-sm

This option, corresponding to the sessionMgt resource, indicates that xterm should set up session manager callbacks.

+sm

This option indicates that xterm should not set up session manager callbacks.

-sp

This option indicates that Sun/PC keyboard should be assumed, providing mapping for keypad “+’ to “,’, and CTRL-F1 to F13, CTRL-F2 to F14, etc.

+sp

This option indicates that the standard escape codes should be generated for keypad and function keys.

-t

This option indicates that xterm should start in Tektronix mode, rather than in VT102 mode. Switching between the two windows is done using the “Options” menus. Termcap(5) entries that work with xterm “tek4014,” “tek4015,” “tek4012,” “tek4013,” “tek4010,” and “dumb.” xterm automatically searches the termcap file in this order for these entries and then sets the “TERM” and the “TERMCAP” environment variables.

+t

This option indicates that xterm should start in VT102 mode.

-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

Specify the name used by xterm to select the correct response to terminal ID queries. It also specifies the emulation level, used to determine the type of response to a DA control sequence. Valid values include vt52, vt100, vt101, vt102, and vt220 (the "vt" is optional). The default is vt100. The term_id argument specifies the terminal ID to use. (This is the same as the decTerminalID resource).

-tm string

This option specifies a series of terminal setting keywords followed by the characters that should be bound to those functions, similar to the stty program. The keywords and their values are described in detail in the ttyModes resource.

-tn name

This option specifies the name of the terminal type to be set in the TERM environment variable. It corresponds to the termName resource. This terminal type must exist in the terminal database (termcap or terminfo, depending on how xterm is built) and should have li# and co# entries. If the terminal type is not found, xterm uses the built-in list “xterm”, “vt102”, etc.

-u8

This option sets the utf8 resource. When utf8 is set, xterm interprets incoming data as UTF-8. This sets the wideChars resource as a side-effect, but the UTF-8 mode set by this option prevents it from being turned off. If you must turn it on and off, use the wideChars resource.

This option and the utf8 resource are overridden by the -lc and -en options and locale resource. That is, if xterm has been compiled to support luit, and the locale resource is not “false” this option is ignored. We recommend using the -lc option or the “locale: true” resource in UTF-8 locales when your operating system supports locale, or -en UTF-8 option or the “locale: UTF-8” resource when your operating system does not support locale.

+u8

This option resets the utf8 resource.

-uc

This option makes the cursor underlined instead of a box.

+uc

This option makes the cursor a box instead of underlined.

-ulc

This option disables the display of characters with underline attribute as color rather than with underlining.

+ulc

This option enables the display of characters with underline attribute as color rather than with underlining.

-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 the system utmp log file.

+ut

This option indicates that xterm should write a record into the system utmp log file.

-vb

This option indicates that a visual bell is preferred over an audible one. Instead of ringing the terminal bell whenever a Control-G is received, the window will be flashed.

+vb

This option indicates that a visual bell should not be used.

-wc

This option sets the wideChars resource. When wideChars is set, xterm maintains internal structures for 16-bit characters. If you do not set this resource to “true”, xterm will ignore the escape sequence which turns UTF-8 mode on and off. The default is “false”.

+wc

This option resets the wideChars resource.

-wf

This option indicates that xterm should wait for the window to be mapped the first time before starting the subprocess so that the initial terminal size settings and environment variables are correct. It is the application’s responsibility to catch subsequent terminal size changes.

+wf

This option indicates that xterm should not wait before starting the subprocess.

-ziconbeep percent

Same as zIconBeep resource. If percent is non-zero, xterms that produce output while iconified will cause an XBell sound at the given volume and have "***" prepended to their icon titles. Most window managers will detect this change immediately, showing you which window has the output. (A similar feature was in x10 xterm.)

-C

This option indicates that this window should receive console output. This is not supported on all systems. To obtain console output, you must be the owner of the console device, and you must have read and write permission for it. If you are running X under xdm on the console screen you may need to have the session startup and reset programs explicitly change the ownership of the console device in order to get this option to work.

-Sccn

This option allows xterm to be used as an input and output channel for an existing program and is sometimes used in specialized applications. The option value specifies the last few letters of the name of a pseudo-terminal to use in slave mode, plus the number of the inherited file descriptor. If the option contains a “/” character, that delimits the characters used for the pseudo-terminal name from the file descriptor. Otherwise, exactly two characters are used from the option for the pseudo-terminal name, the remainder is the file descriptor. Examples:

-S123/45
-Sab34

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.

The following command line arguments are provided for compatibility with older versions. They may not be supported in the next release as the X Toolkit provides standard options that accomplish the same task.

%geom

This option specifies the preferred size and position of the Tektronix window. It is shorthand for specifying the “*tekGeometry” resource.

#geom

This option specifies the preferred position of the icon window. It is shorthand for specifying the “*iconGeometry” resource.

-T string

This option specifies the title for xterm’s windows. It is equivalent to -title.

-n string

This option specifies the icon name for xterm’s windows. It is shorthand for specifying the “*iconName” resource. Note that this is not the same as the toolkit option -name (see below). The default icon name is the application name.

-r

This option indicates that reverse video should be simulated by swapping the foreground and background colors. It is equivalent to -rv.

-w number

This option specifies the width in pixels of the border surrounding the window. It is equivalent to -borderwidth or -bw.

The following standard X Toolkit command line arguments are commonly used with xterm:

-bd color

This option specifies the color to use for the border of the window. xterm uses the X Toolkit default, which is “XtDefaultForeground”.

-bg color

This option specifies the color to use for the background of the window. The default is “XtDefaultBackground.”

-bw number

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(7).

-fg color

This option specifies the color to use for displaying text. The default is “XtDefaultForeground.”

-fn font

This option specifies the font to be used for displaying normal text. The default is fixed.

-font font

This is the same as -fn.

-geometry geometry

This option specifies the preferred size and position of the VT102 window; see X(7).

-iconic

This option indicates that xterm should ask the window manager to start it as an icon rather than as the normal window.

-name name

This option specifies the application name under which resources are to be obtained, rather than the default executable file name. Name should not contain “.” or “*” characters.

-rv

This option indicates that reverse video should be simulated by swapping the foreground and background colors.

+rv

Disable the simulation of reverse video by swapping foreground and background colors.

-title string

This option specifies the window title string, which may be displayed by window managers if the user so chooses. The default title is the command line specified after the -e option, if any, otherwise the application name.

-xrm resourcestring

This option specifies a resource string to be used. This is especially useful for setting resources that do not have separate command line options.

The program understands all of the core X Toolkit resource names and classes. Application specific resources (e.g., "XTerm.NAME") follow:

backarrowKeyIsErase (class BackarrowKeyIsErase)

Tie the VTxxx backarrowKey and ptyInitialErase resources together by setting the DECBKM state according to whether the initial value of stty erase is a backspace (8) or delete (127) character. The default is “false”, which disables this feature.

hold (class Hold)

If true, xterm will not immediately destroy its window when the shell command completes. It will wait until you use the window manager to destroy/kill the window, or if you use the menu entries that send a signal, e.g., HUP or KILL. You may scroll back, select text, etc., to perform most graphical operations. Resizing the display will lose data, however, since this involves interaction with the shell which is no longer running.

hpFunctionKeys (class HpFunctionKeys)

Specifies whether or not HP Function Key escape codes should be generated for function keys instead of standard escape sequences. See also the keyboardType resource.

iconGeometry (class IconGeometry)

Specifies the preferred size and position of the application when iconified. It is not necessarily obeyed by all window managers.

iconName (class IconName)

Specifies the icon name. The default is the application name.

keyboardType (class KeyboardType)

Enables one (or none) of the various keyboard-type resources: hpFunctionKeys, scoFunctionKeys, sunFunctionKeys, tcapFunctionKeys and sunKeyboard. The resource’s value should be one of the corresponding strings “hp”, “sco”, “sun”, “tcap” or “vt220”. The individual resources are provided for legacy support; this resource is simpler to use.

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.”

messages (class Messages)

Specifies whether write access to the terminal is allowed initially. See mesg(1). The default is “true”.

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 an empty string, which uses the current locale setting.

Set it to “C” to achieve the best performance using the default menu resource settings. If you happen to be using localized menu resources, set the resource accordingly.

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.

ptyHandshake (class PtyHandshake)

If “true”, xterm will perform handshaking during initialization to ensure that the parent and child processes update the utmp and stty 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. See also the ttyModes resource, which may modify this. The default is “false”.

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 intial 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 OS X systems, “true” otherwise.

sameName (class SameName)

If the value of this resource is “true”, xterm does not send title and icon name change requests when the request would have no effect: the name is not changed. This has the advantage of preventing flicker and the disadvantage of requiring an extra round trip to the server to find out the previous value. In practice this should never be a problem. The default is “true”.

scoFunctionKeys (class ScoFunctionKeys)

Specifies whether or not SCP Function Key escape codes should be generated for function keys instead of standard escape sequences. See also the keyboardType resource.

sessionMgt (class SessionMgt)

If the value of this resource is “true”, xterm sets up session manager callbacks for XtNdieCallback and XtNsaveCallback. The default is “true”.

sunFunctionKeys (class SunFunctionKeys)

Specifies whether or not Sun Function Key escape codes should be generated for function keys instead of standard escape sequences. See also the keyboardType resource.

sunKeyboard (class SunKeyboard)

Specifies whether or not Sun/PC keyboard layout should be assumed rather than DEC VT220. This causes the keypad “+’ to be mapped to “,’. and CTRL F1-F12 to F11-F20, depending on the setting of the ctrlFKeys resource. so xterm emulates a DEC VT220 more accurately. Otherwise (the default, with sunKeyboard set to “false”), xterm uses PC-style bindings for the function keys and keypad.

PC-style bindings use the Shift, Alt, Control and Meta keys as modifiers for function-keys and keypad (see the document Xterm Control Sequences for details). The PC-style bindings are analogous to PCTerm, but not the same thing. Normally these 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 should be generated for function keys instead of standard escape sequences. See also the keyboardType resource.

termName (class TermName)

Specifies the terminal type name to be set in the TERM environment variable.

title (class Title)

Specifies a string that may be used by the window manager when displaying this application.

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 and the characters to which they may be bound. Allowable keywords include: brk, dsusp, eof, eol, eol2, erase, erase2, flush, intr, kill, lnext, quit, rprnt, start, status, stop, susp, swtch and weras. Control characters may be specified as ^char (e.g., ^c or ^u) and ^? may be used to indicate delete (127). Use ^- to denote undef. Use \034 to represent ^\, since a literal backslash in an X resource escapes the next character.

This is very useful for overriding the default terminal settings without having to do an stty every time an xterm is started. Note, however, that the stty program on a given host may use different keywords; xterm’s table is built-in.

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.

useInsertMode (class UseInsertMode)

Force use of insert mode by adding appropriate entries to the TERMCAP environment variable. This is useful if the system termcap is broken. The default is “false.”

utmpDisplayId (class UtmpDisplayId)

Specifies whether or not xterm should try to record the display identifier (display number and screen number) as well as the hostname in the system utmp log file. The default is “true.”

utmpInhibit (class UtmpInhibit)

Specifies whether or not xterm should try to record the user’s terminal in the system utmp log file. If true, xterm will not try. The default is “false.”

waitForMap (class WaitForMap)

Specifies whether or not xterm should wait for the initial window map before starting the subprocess. 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., according to the window manager. Otherwise, it uses the size as given in resource values or command-line option -geom. 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.”

VT100 Widget Resources

The following resources are specified as part of the vt100 widget (class VT100). They are specified by patterns such as "XTerm.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 "XTerm" and the "vt100" widget makes the resource settings work for either, e.g., "XTerm*vt100.NAME".

activeIcon (class ActiveIcon)

Specifies whether or not active icon windows are to be used when the xterm window is iconified, if this feature is compiled into xterm. The active icon is a miniature representation of the content of the window and will update as the content changes. Not all window managers necessarily support application icon windows. Some window managers will allow you to enter keystrokes into the active icon window. The default is “false.”

allowC1Printable (class AllowC1Printable)

If true, overrides the mapping of C1 controls (codes 128-159) to make them be treated as if they were printable characters. Although this corresponds to no particular standard, some users insist it is a VT100. The default is “false.”

allowFontOps (class AllowFontOps)

Specifies whether control sequences that set/query the font should be allowed. The default is “true.”

allowSendEvents (class AllowSendEvents)

Specifies whether or not synthetic key and button events (generated using the X protocol SendEvent request) should be interpreted or discarded. The default is “false” meaning they are discarded. Note that allowing such events creates a very large security hole, and 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 “false.”

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. 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 “false.”

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.”

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. 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.”

autoWrap (class AutoWrap)

Specifies whether or not auto-wraparound should be enabled. This is the same as the VT102 DECAWM. The default is “true.”

awaitInput (class AwaitInput)

Specifies whether or not the xterm uses a 50 millisecond timeout to await input (i.e., to support the Xaw3d arrow scrollbar). The default is “false.”

backarrowKey (class BackarrowKey)

Specifies whether the backarrow key transmits a backspace (8) or delete (127) character. This corresponds to the DECBKM control sequence. The default (backspace) is “true.” Pressing the control key toggles this behavior.

background (class Background)

Specifies the color to use for the background of the window. The default is “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 the IBM PC, i.e., map colors 0 through 7 to colors 8 through 15. These normally are the brighter versions of the first 8 colors, hence bold. The default is “true.”

boldFont (class BoldFont)

Specifies the name of the bold font to use instead of overstriking. There is no default for this resource.

boldMode (class BoldMode)

This specifies whether or not text with the bold attribute should be overstruck to simulate bold fonts if the resolved bold font is the same as the normal font. It may be desirable to disable bold fonts when color is being used for the bold 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 font6). 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 provides a feature which can be used to suppress the scaling. In the X server’s configuration file (e.g., /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/share/X11/fonts"

would become
FontPath "/usr/share/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.”

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.

charClass (class CharClass)

Specifies comma-separated lists of character class bindings of the form [low-]high:value. These are used in determining which sets of characters should be treated the same when doing cut and paste. See the CHARACTER CLASSES section.

cjkWidth (class CjkWidth)

Specifies whether xterm should follow the 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 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)

color5 (class Color5)

color6 (class Color6)

color7 (class Color7)

These specify the colors for the ISO-6429 extension. The defaults are, respectively, black, red3, green3, yellow3, a customizable dark blue, magenta3, cyan3, and gray90. The default shades of color are chosen to allow the colors 8-15 to be used as brighter versions.

color8 (class Color8)

color9 (class Color9)

color10 (class Color10)

color11 (class Color11)

color12 (class Color12)

color13 (class Color13)

color14 (class Color14)

color15 (class Color15)

These specify the colors for the ISO-6429 extension if the bold attribute is also enabled. The default resource values are respectively, gray30, red, green, yellow, a customizable 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 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.”

colorBDMode (class ColorAttrMode)

Specifies whether characters with the bold attribute should be displayed in color or as bold characters. Note that setting colorMode off disables all colors, including bold. The default is “false.”

colorBL (class ColorBL)

This specifies the color to use to display blink characters if the “colorBLMode” resource is enabled. The default is “XtDefaultForeground.”

colorBLMode (class ColorAttrMode)

Specifies whether characters with the blink attribute should be displayed in color. Note that setting colorMode off disables all colors, including this. The default is “false.”

colorMode (class ColorMode)

Specifies whether or not recognition of ANSI (ISO-6429) color change escape sequences should be enabled. The default is “true.”

colorRV (class ColorRV)

This specifies the color to use to display reverse characters if the “colorRVMode” resource is enabled. The default is “XtDefaultForeground.”

colorRVMode (class ColorAttrMode)

Specifies whether characters with the reverse 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.”

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 4. 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.”

cursorBlink (class CursorBlink)

Specifies whether to make the cursor blink. The default is “false.”

cursorColor (class CursorColor)

Specifies the color to use for the text cursor. The default is “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.

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.”

cursorUnderLine (class CursorUnderLine)

Specifies whether to make the cursor underlined or a box. The default is “false.”

cutToBeginningOfLine (class CutToBeginningOfLine)

If “false”, triple clicking to select a line selects only from the current word forward. If “true”, the entire line is selected. The default is “true.”

decTerminalID (class DecTerminalID)

Specifies the emulation level (100=VT100, 220=VT220, etc.), used to determine the type of response to a DA control sequence. Leading non-digit characters are ignored, e.g., "vt100" and "100" are the same. The default is 100.

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 0-255, 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 whether the Delete key on the editing keypad should send DEL (127) or the VT220-style Remove escape sequence. The default is “false,” for the latter.

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

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.

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).

MinimizeWin (2)

Iconify window.

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.

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 with the Meta modifier key) input from the keyboard are presented as a single character with the eighth bit turned on. The terminal is put into 8-bit mode. If “false”, Meta characters are converted into a two-character sequence with the character itself preceded by ESC. On startup, xterm tries to put the terminal into 7-bit mode. The metaSendsEscape and altSendsEscape resources may override this. The default is “true.”

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 function in curses.

Note that the Alt key is not necessarily the same as the Meta modifier. xmodmap lists your key modifiers. X defines modifiers for shift, (caps) lock and 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.

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, which does not override anything.

faceName (class FaceName)

Specify the pattern for fonts selected from the FreeType library if support for that library was compiled into xterm. There is no default. If not specified, or if there is no match for both normal and bold fonts, xterm uses the font and related resources.

faceNameDoublesize (class FaceNameDoublesize)

Specify an double-width font for cases where an application requires this, e.g., in CJK applications. There is no default. If the application uses double-wide characters and this resource is not given, xterm will use a scaled version of the font given by faceName.

faceSize (class FaceSize)

Specify the pointsize for fonts selected from the FreeType library if support for that library was compiled into xterm. The default is “14.” On the VT Fonts menu, this corresponds to the Default entry.

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.

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.

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. For instance, cat’ing a large file to the screen does this.

font1 (class Font1)

Specifies the name of the first alternative font.

font2 (class Font2)

Specifies the name of the second alternative font.

font3 (class Font3)

Specifies the name of the third alternative font.

font4 (class Font4)

Specifies the name of the fourth alternative font.

font5 (class Font5)

Specifies the name of the fifth alternative font.

font6 (class Font6)

Specifies the name of the sixth alternative font.

fontDoublesize (class FontDoublesize)

Specifies whether xterm should attempt to use font scaling to draw 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.

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 1-31. 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 characters, and draws them directly. The default is “false.”

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.

foreground (class Foreground)

Specifies the color to use for displaying text in the window. Setting the class name instead of the instance name is an easy way to have everything that would normally appear in the text color change color. The default is “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 VT102 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

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)

If “false”, selecting with the mouse highlights all positions on the screen between the beginning of the selection and the current position. If “true”, xterm highlights only the positions that contain text that can be selected. The default is “false.”

Depending on the way your applications write to the screen, there may be trailing blanks on a line. Xterm stores data as it is shown on the screen. Erasing the display changes the internal state of each cell so it is not considered a blank for the purpose of selection. Blanks written since the last erase are selectable. If you do not wish to have trailing blanks in a selection, use the 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".

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 XtCInputMethod)

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.

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”.

keyboardDialect (class KeyboardDialect)

Specifies the initial keyboard dialect, as well as the default value when the terminal is reset. The value given is the same as the final character in the control sequences which change character sets. The default is “B”, which corresponds to US ASCII.

nameKeymap (class NameKeymap)

See the discussion of the keymap() action.

limitResize (class LimitResize)

Limits resizing of the screen via control sequence to a given multiple of the display dimensions. The default is “1”.

locale (class Locale)

Specifies how to use luit, an encoding converter between UTF-8 and locale encodings. The resource value (ignoring case) may be:

true

xterm will use the encoding specified by the users’ LC_CTYPE locale (i.e., LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG variables) as far as possible. This is realized by always enabling UTF-8 mode and invoking luit in non-UTF-8 locales.

medium

xterm will follow users’ LC_CTYPE locale only for UTF-8, east Asian, and Thai locales, where the encodings were not supported by conventional 8bit mode with changing fonts. For other 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. 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 should put those within a shell script to execute the converter, and set this resource to point to the shell script.

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.”

metaSendsEscape (class MetaSendsEscape)

If “true”, Meta characters (a character combined with the Meta modifier key) are converted into a two-character sequence with the character itself preceded by ESC. This applies as well to function key control sequences, unless xterm sees that Meta is used in your key translations. If “false”, Meta characters input from the keyboard are handled according to the eightBitInput resource. The default is “false.”

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 256.

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 1024.

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:

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”:

Set it to -1 to disable it.
Set it to 0 to use the old/obsolete behavior.
Set it to 1 to prefix modified sequences with CSI.
Set it to 2 to force the modifier to be the second parameter if it would otherwise be the first.
Set it to 3 to mark 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:

Set it to -1 to permit the user to use shift- and control-modifiers to construct function-key strings using the normal encoding scheme.
Set it to 0 to use the old/obsolete behavior.
Set it to 1 to prefix modified sequences with CSI.
Set it to 2 to force the modifier to be the second parameter if it would otherwise be the first.
Set it to 3 to mark 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.

As a special case, legacy (when oldFunctionKeys is true) or vt220 (when sunKeyboard is true) keyboards interpret only the Control-modifier when constructing numbered function-keys. This is done to provide compatible keyboards for DEC VT220 and related terminals that implement user-defined keys (UDK).

modifyOtherKeys (class ModifyOtherKeys)

Like modifyCursorKeys, tells xterm to construct an escape sequence for other keys (such as "2") when modified by Control-, Alt- or Meta-modifiers. This feature does not apply to function keys and well-defined keys such as ESC or the control keys. 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, e.g., Control-Space to make a NUL.

2

enables this feature for keys including the exceptions listed.

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.

numLock (class NumLock)

If “true”, xterm checks if NumLock is used as a modifier (see xmodmap(1)). If so, this modifier is used to simplify the logic when implementing special NumLock for the sunKeyboard resource. Also (when sunKeyboard is false), similar logic is used to find the modifier associated with the left and right Alt keys. The default is “true.”

oldXtermFKeys (class OldXtermFKeys)

If “true”, xterm will use old-style control sequences for function keys F1 to F4, for compatibility with X Consortium xterm. Otherwise, it uses the VT100-style codes for PF1 to PF4. The default is “false.”

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 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.

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.

page

Select all visible lines, i.e., the page.

all

Select all lines, i.e., including the saved lines.

regex

Select a “word” as determined by the regular expression which follows in the resource value.

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 XtCOpenIm)

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 “XtDefaultForeground.”

pointerColorBackground (class PointerColorBackground)

Specifies the background color of the pointer. The default is “XtDefaultBackground.”

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.”

popOnBell (class PopOnBell)

Specifies whether the window would be raised when Control-G is received. The default is “false.”

preeditType (class XtCPreeditType)

Tells xterm which types of preedit (preconversion) string to display. The default is “OverTheSpot,Root”.

printAttributes (class PrintAttributes)

Specifies whether to print graphic attributes along with the text. A real DEC VTxxx terminal will print the underline, highlighting codes but your printer may not handle these. A “0” disables the attributes. A “1” prints the normal set of attributes (bold, underline, inverse and blink) as VT100-style control sequences. A “2” prints ANSI color attributes as well. The default is “1.”

printerAutoClose (class PrinterAutoClose)

If “true”, xterm will close the printer (a pipe) when the application switches the printer offline with a Media Copy 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 a blank string. If the resource value is given as a blank string, the printer is disabled.

printerControlMode (class PrinterControlMode)

Specifies the printer control mode. A “1” selects autoprint mode, which causes xterm to print a line from the screen when you move the cursor off that line with a line feed, form feed or vertical tab character, or an autowrap occurs. Autoprint mode is overridden by printer controller mode (a “2”), which causes all of the output to be directed to the printer. The default is “0.”

printerExtent (class PrinterExtent)

Controls whether a print page function will print the entire page (true), or only the the portion within the scrolling margins (false). The default is “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)

Controls whether a newline is sent to the printer at the end of a print page function. 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.”

renderFont (class RenderFont)

If xterm is built with the Xft library, this controls whether the faceName resource is used. The default is “true.”

resizeGravity (class ResizeGravity)

Affects the behavior when the window is resized to be taller or shorter. NorthWest specifies that the top line of text on the screen stay fixed. If the window is made shorter, lines are dropped from the bottom; if the window is made taller, blank lines are added at the bottom. This is compatible with the behavior in R4. SouthWest (the default) specifies that the bottom line of text on the screen stay fixed. If the window is made taller, additional saved lines will be scrolled down onto the screen; if the window is made shorter, lines will be scrolled off the top of the screen, and the top saved lines will be dropped.

retryInputMethod (class XtCRetryInputMethod)

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.”

reverseWrap (class ReverseWrap)

Specifies whether or not reverse-wraparound should be enabled. This corresponds to xterm’s private mode 45. The default is “false.”

rightScrollBar (class RightScrollBar)

Specifies whether or not the scrollbar should be displayed on the right rather than the left. The default is “false.”

saveLines (class SaveLines)

Specifies the number of lines to save beyond the top of the screen when a scrollbar is turned on. The default is 64.

scrollBar (class ScrollBar)

Specifies whether or not the scrollbar should be displayed. The default is “false.”

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 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.

shiftFonts (class ShiftFonts)

Specifies whether to enable the actions larger-vt-font() and smaller-vt-font(), which are normally bound to the shifted KP_Add and KP_Subtract. The default is “true.”

showBlinkAsBold (class ShowBlinkAsBold)

Tells xterm whether to display text with blink-attribute the same as bold. If xterm has not been configured to support blinking text, the default is “true.”, which corresponds to older versions of xterm, otherwise the default is “false.”

showMissingGlyphs (class ShowMissingGlyphs)

Tells xterm whether to display a box outlining places where a character has been used that the font does not represent. The default is “false.”

signalInhibit (class SignalInhibit)

Specifies whether or not the entries in the “Main Options” menu for sending signals to xterm should be disallowed. The default is “false.”

tekGeometry (class Geometry)

Specifies the preferred size and position of the Tektronix window. There is no default for this resource.

tekInhibit (class TekInhibit)

Specifies whether or not the escape sequence to enter Tektronix mode should be ignored. The default is “false.”

tekSmall (class TekSmall)

Specifies whether or not the Tektronix mode window should start in its smallest size if no explicit geometry is given. This is useful when running xterm on displays with small screens. The default is “false.”

tekStartup (class TekStartup)

Specifies whether or not xterm should start up in Tektronix mode. The default is “false.”

tiXtraScroll (class TiXtraScroll)

Specifies whether xterm should scroll to a new page when processing the ti termcap entry, i.e., the private modes 47, 1047 or 1049. This is only in effect if titeInhibit is “true”, because the intent of this option is to provide a picture of the full-screen application’s display on the scrollback without wiping out the text that would be shown before the application was initialized. The default for this resource is “false.”

titeInhibit (class TiteInhibit)

Specifies whether or not xterm should remove ti and te termcap entries (used to switch between alternate screens on startup of many screen-oriented programs) from the TERMCAP string. If set, xterm also ignores the escape sequence to switch to the alternate screen. Xterm supports terminfo in a different way, supporting composite control sequences (also known as private modes) 1047, 1048 and 1049 which have the same effect as the original 47 control sequence. The default for this resource is “false.”

translations (class Translations)

Specifies the key and button bindings for menus, selections, “programmed strings,” etc. The 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.”

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 is an integer, expected to range from 0 to 3:

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.

1

UTF-8 mode is initially on. Escape sequences for turning UTF-8 mode on/off are allowed.

2

The command-line option -u8 sets the resource to this value. Escape sequences for turning UTF-8 mode on/off are ignored.

3

This is the default value of the resource. It is changed during initialization depending on whether the locale resource was set, to 0 or 2. See the locale resource for additional 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.

utf8Latin1 (class Utf8Latin1)

If true, allow an ISO-8859-1 normal font to be combined with an ISO-10646 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, 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. Set this resource to “true” to allow UTF-8 encoded title strings. That cancels the translation to UTF-8, allowing UTF-8 strings to be displayed as is.

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 the control sequences document), to set an equivalent flag.

The default is “false.”

veryBoldColors (class VeryBoldColors)

Specifies whether to combine video attributes with colors specified by colorBD, colorBL, colorRV and colorUL. The resource value is the sum of values for each attribute:

1 for reverse,
2 for underline,
4 for bold and
8 for blink.

The default is “0.”

visualBell (class VisualBell)

Specifies whether or not a visible bell (i.e., flashing) should be used instead of an audible bell when Control-G is received. The default is “false.”

visualBellDelay (class VisualBellDelay)

Number of milliseconds to delay when displaying a visual bell. Default is 100. If set to zero, no visual bell is displayed. This is useful for very slow displays, e.g., an LCD display on a laptop.

vt100Graphics (class VT100Graphics)

This specifies whether xterm will interpret VT100 graphic character escape sequences while in UTF-8 mode. The default is “true”, to provide support for various legacy applications.

wideBoldFont (class WideBoldFont)

This option specifies the font to be used for displaying bold wide text. By default, it will attempt to use a font twice as wide as the font that will be used to draw bold text. If no 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.

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 "XTerm.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.

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.

The mainMenu has the following entries:

toolbar (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-toolbar(toggle) action.

securekbd (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the secure() action.

allowsends (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the allow-send-events(toggle) action.

redraw (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the redraw() action.

logging (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the logging(toggle) action.

print (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the print() action.

print-redir (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the print-redir() action.

8-bit-control (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-8-bit-control(toggle) action.

backarrow key (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-backarrow(toggle) action.

num-lock (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-num-lock(toggle) action.

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 old-function-keys(toggle) action.

hpFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the hp-function-keys(toggle) action.

scoFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the sco-function-keys(toggle) action.

sunFunctionKeys (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the sun-function-keys(toggle) action.

sunKeyboard (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the sunKeyboard(toggle) action.

suspend (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the send-signal(tstp) action on systems that support job control.

continue (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the send-signal(cont) action on systems that support job control.

interrupt (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the send-signal(int) action.

hangup (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the send-signal(hup) action.

terminate (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the send-signal(term) action.

kill (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the send-signal(kill) action.

quit (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the quit() action.

The vtMenu has the following entries:

scrollbar (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-scrollbar(toggle) action.

jumpscroll (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-jumpscroll(toggle) action.

reversevideo (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-reverse-video(toggle) action.

autowrap (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-autowrap(toggle) action.

reversewrap (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-reversewrap(toggle) action.

autolinefeed (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-autolinefeed(toggle) action.

appcursor (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-appcursor(toggle) action.

appkeypad (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-appkeypad(toggle) action.

scrollkey (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-scroll-on-key(toggle) action.

scrollttyoutput (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-scroll-on-tty-output(toggle) action.

allow132 (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-allow132(toggle) action.

cursesemul (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-cursesemul(toggle) action.

visualbell (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-visualbell(toggle) action.

bellIsUrgent (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-bellIsUrgent(toggle) action.

poponbell (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-poponbell(toggle) action.

cursorblink (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-cursorblink(toggle) action.

titeInhibit (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-titeInhibit(toggle) action.

activeicon (class SmeBSB)

This entry toggles active icons on and off if this feature was compiled into xterm. It is enabled only if xterm was started with the command line option +ai or the activeIcon resource is set to “true.”

softreset (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the soft-reset() action.

hardreset (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the hard-reset() action.

clearsavedlines (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the clear-saved-lines() action.

tekshow (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-visibility(tek,toggle) action.

tekmode (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-terminal-type(tek) action.

vthide (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-visibility(vt,off) action.

altscreen (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-altscreen(toggle) action.

The fontMenu has the following entries:

fontdefault (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-vt-font(d) action.

font1 (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-vt-font(1) action.

font2 (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-vt-font(2) action.

font3 (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-vt-font(3) action.

font4 (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-vt-font(4) action.

font5 (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-vt-font(5) action.

font6 (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-vt-font(6) action.

fontescape (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-vt-font(e) action.

fontsel (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-vt-font(s) action.

font-linedrawing (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-font-linedrawing(s) action.

font-packed (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-font-packed(s) action.

font-doublesize (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-font-doublesize(s) action.

render-font (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-render-font(s) action.

utf8-mode (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-utf8-mode(s) action.

utf8-title (class SmeBSB)

This entry invokes the set-utf8-title(s) action.

The 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.

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:

thickness (class Thickness)

Specifies the width in pixels of the scrollbar.

background (class Background)

Specifies the color to use for the background of the scrollbar.

foreground (class Foreground)

Specifies the color to use for the foreground of the scrollbar. The “thumb” of the scrollbar is a simple checkerboard pattern alternating pixels for foreground and background color.

Once the VT102 window is created, xterm allows you to select text and copy it within the same or other windows.

SELECTION

The selection functions are invoked when the pointer buttons are used with no modifiers, and when they are used with the “shift” key. The assignment of the functions described below to keys and buttons may be changed through the resource database; see ACTIONS below.

Pointer button one (usually left) is used to save text into the cut buffer. Move the cursor to beginning of the text, and then hold the button down while moving the cursor to the end of the region and releasing the button. The selected text is highlighted and is saved in the global cut buffer and made the PRIMARY selection when the button is released. Normally (but see the discussion of on2Clicks, etc):

-

Double-clicking selects by words.

-

Triple-clicking selects by lines.

-

Quadruple-clicking goes back to characters, etc.

Multiple-click is determined by the time from button up to button down, so you can change the selection unit in the middle of a selection. Logical words and lines selected by double- or triple-clicking may wrap across more than one screen line if lines were wrapped by xterm itself rather than by the application running in the window. If the key/button bindings specify that an X selection is to be made, xterm will leave the selected text highlighted for as long as it is the selection owner.

Pointer button two (usually middle) “types” (pastes) the text from the PRIMARY selection, if any, otherwise from the cut buffer, inserting it as keyboard input.

Pointer button three (usually right) extends the current selection. (Without loss of generality, you can swap “right” and “left” everywhere in the rest of this 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 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 VT102 window, the Tektronix window does not allow the copying of text. It does allow Tektronix GIN mode, and in this mode the cursor will change from an arrow to a cross. Pressing any key will send that key and the current coordinate of the cross cursor. Pressing button one, two, or three will return the letters “l”, “m”, and “r”, 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).

X clients provide select and paste support by responding to requests conveyed by the server.

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.

A user "selects" text on xterm, which highlights the selected text. A subsequent "paste" to another client forwards a request to the client 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 (see resource selectToClipboard), the problem with persistence of ownership is bypassed. Otherwise, there is no difference regarding the data which can be passed via selection.

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.