FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape
- sequence "ESC[8n" sets the window title to the version number.
+ sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number.
+
+ I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...
+ The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode contains large patches
+ that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode. Before
+ reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please download
+ and install the genuine version
+ (<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>) and try to reproduce the
+ problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific
+ to Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the
+ Debian Bug Tracking System (use "reportbug" to report the bug).
+
+ For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and
+ probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's
+ also a bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for
+ other users that might encounter the same issue.
When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?
The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely
applications. It's a nice quick-and-dirty workaround for rare cases,
though.
- If you always want to do this you can either recompile rxvt-unicode
- with the desired TERM value or use a resource to set it:
+ If you always want to do this (and are fine with the consequences)
+ you can either recompile rxvt-unicode with the desired TERM value or
+ use a resource to set it:
URxvt.termName: rxvt
If you don't plan to use rxvt (quite common...) you could also
replace the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one.
+ "bash"'s readline does not work correctly under rxvt.
I need a termcap file entry.
+ One reason you might want this is that some distributions or
+ operating systems still compile some programs using the
+ long-obsoleted termcap (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely
+ on a termcap entry for "rxvt-unicode".
+
You could use rxvt's termcap entry with resonable results in many
cases. You can also create a termcap entry by using terminfo's
infocmp program like this:
infocmp -C rxvt-unicode
- OR you could this termcap entry:
+ Or you could use this termcap entry, generated by the command above:
rxvt-unicode|rxvt-unicode terminal (X Window System):\
:am:bw:eo:km:mi:ms:xn:xo:\
log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? on
how to do this).
+ My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?
+ Some Debian GNUL/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no
+ specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is
+ caused by the wrong "TERM" setting, although the details of wether
+ and how this can happen are unknown, as "TERM=rxvt" should offer a
+ compatible keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and
+ please report if that helped.
+
Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?
Unicode does not seem to work?
If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character
Rxvt-unicode must be started with the same "LC_CTYPE" setting as the
programs. Often rxvt-unicode is started in the "C" locale, while the
login script running within the rxvt-unicode window changes the
- locale to sth. else, e.h. "en_GB.UTF-8". Needless to say, this is
- not going to work.
+ locale to something else, e.g. "en_GB.UTF-8". Needless to say, this
+ is not going to work.
The best thing is to fix your startup environment, as you will
likely run into other problems. If nothing works you can try this in
If this doesn't work, then maybe you use a "LC_CTYPE" specification
not supported on your systems. Some systems have a "locale" command
- which displays this. If it displays sth. like:
+ which displays this (also, "perl -e0" can be used to check locale
+ settings, as it will complain loudly if it cannot set the locale).
+ If it displays something like:
locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: ...
want to display.
rxvt-unicode makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement font.
- Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks bad.
- Many fonts have totally strange characters that don't resemble the
- correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial
- intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to
- believe the font that the characters it contains indeed look
- correct.
+ Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks
+ bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that
+ don't resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the
+ artificial intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it
+ has to believe the font that the characters it claims to contain
+ indeed look correct.
In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font
list, e.g.:
up this search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the
X-server.
- The only limitation is that all the fonts must not be larger than
- the base font, as the base font defines the principal cell size,
- which must be the same due to the way terminals work.
+ The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the
+ base font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell
+ size, which must be the same due to the way terminals work.
Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
This is because there is a difference between script and language --
rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output
is, as it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode
- first sees a japanese character, it might choose a japanese font for
- it. Subsequent japanese characters will take that font. Now, many
- chinese characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the
- first non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a
- chinese font -- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the
- japanese font for japanese characters that are also chinese.
+ first sees a japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese
+ font for display. Subsequent japanese characters will use that font.
+ Now, many chinese characters aren't represented in japanese fonts,
+ so when the first non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will
+ look for a chinese font -- unfortunately at this point, it will
+ still use the japanese font for chinese characters that are also in
+ the japanese font.
The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your
font list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font
japanese font first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font
first.
- In the future it might be possible to switch preferences at runtime
- (the internal data structure has no problem with using different
- fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for
- this has been designed yet).
+ In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
+ runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using
+ different fonts for the same character at the same time, but no
+ interface for this has been designed yet).
+
+ Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see
+ "Can I switch the fonts at runtime?" later in this document).
Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?
Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that
telnet escape character and so on.
How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?
- First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminfo
- ("urxvt"), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then make
- sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise
- rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect:
+ First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal
+ settings ("TERM=rxvt-unicode"), which will get rid of most of these
+ effects. Then make sure you have specified colours for italic and
+ bold, as otherwise rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate
+ the effect:
- URxvt*colorBD: white
- URxvt*colorIT: green
+ URxvt.colorBD: white
+ URxvt.colorIT: green
Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how
can I fix that?
- For some unexplainable reason, some programs (i.e. irssi) assume a
- very weird colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more
- than the standard 8 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right
- fix is, of course, to fix these programs not to assume non-ISO
- colours without very good reasons.
+ For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very
+ weird colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than
+ the standard 8 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is,
+ of course, to fix these programs not to assume non-ISO colours
+ without very good reasons.
- In the meantime, you can either edit your "urxvt" terminfo
+ In the meantime, you can either edit your "rxvt-unicode" terminfo
definition to only claim 8 colour support or use "TERM=rxvt", which
will fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode
features.
As you might have guessed, FreeBSD does neither define this symobl
nor does it support it. Instead, it uses it's own internal
- representation of wchar_t. This is, of course, completely legal.
+ representation of wchar_t. This is, of course, completely fine with
+ respect to standards.
However, "__STDC_ISO_10646__" is the only sane way to support
multi-language apps in an OS, as using a locale-dependent (and
The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in
the system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app
- to carry complete replacements.
+ to carry complete replacements for them :)
How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
Is there an option to switch encodings?
selecting the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating
this to all applications so everybody agrees on character properties
such as width and code number. This mechanism is the *locale*.
+ Applications not using that info will have problems (for example,
+ "xterm" gets the width of characters wrong as it uses it's own,
+ locale-independent table under all locales).
Rxvt-unicode uses the "LC_CTYPE" locale category to select encoding.
All programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree
Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for the
encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings, i.e.
- "de_DE.UTF-8" and "ja_JP.UTF-8" are the same for rxvt-unicode.
+ "de_DE.UTF-8" and "ja_JP.UTF-8" are the normally same to
+ rxvt-unicode.
If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you
start rxvt-unicode with the correct "LC_CTYPE" category.
Can I switch locales at runtime?
- Yes, using an escape sequence. Try sth. like this, which sets
+ Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
rxvt-unicode's idea of "LC_CTYPE".
printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
- See also the previous question.
+ See also the previous answer.
Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in
- one locale (e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8") but some programs don't support
- UTF-8. For example, I use this script to start "xjdic", which first
- switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
+ one locale (e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8") but some programs don't support it
+ (e.g. UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start "xjdic", which
+ first switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
printf '\e]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
xjdic -js
printf '\e]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8
+ You can also use xterm's "luit" program, which usually works fine,
+ except for some locales where character width differs between
+ program- and rxvt-unicode-locales.
+
Can I switch the fonts at runtime?
- Yes, using an escape sequence. Try sth. like this, which has the
- same effect as using the "-fn" switch, and takes effect immediately:
+ Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has
+ the same effect as using the "-fn" switch, and takes effect
+ immediately:
printf '\e]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
Why do italic characters look as if clipped?
Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For
example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font "xft:Bitstream Vera
- Sans Mono" completely fails in it's italic face. A workaround is to
- enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:
+ Sans Mono" completely fails in it's italic face. A workaround might
+ be to enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:
- URxvt*italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
- URxvt*boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
+ URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
+ URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?
You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest
as your input method limits you.
Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
- Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for sth. you
- don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings
- that you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by
- design, when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be
- loaded accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your
- characters.
+ Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for
+ something you don't use. One thing you should try is to configure
+ out all settings that you don't need, for example, Xft support is a
+ resource hog by design, when used. Compiling it out ensures that no
+ Xft font will be loaded accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find
+ a font for your characters.
Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
scrollback buffers: Without "--enable-unicode3", rxvt-unicode will
Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen,
including the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow:
- URxvt*color0: #000000
- URxvt*color1: #A80000
- URxvt*color2: #00A800
- URxvt*color3: #A8A800
- URxvt*color4: #0000A8
- URxvt*color5: #A800A8
- URxvt*color6: #00A8A8
- URxvt*color7: #A8A8A8
-
- URxvt*color8: #000054
- URxvt*color9: #FF0054
- URxvt*color10: #00FF54
- URxvt*color11: #FFFF54
- URxvt*color12: #0000FF
- URxvt*color13: #FF00FF
- URxvt*color14: #00FFFF
- URxvt*color15: #FFFFFF
-
- And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors described as
- "pretty girly":
+ URxvt.color0: #000000
+ URxvt.color1: #A80000
+ URxvt.color2: #00A800
+ URxvt.color3: #A8A800
+ URxvt.color4: #0000A8
+ URxvt.color5: #A800A8
+ URxvt.color6: #00A8A8
+ URxvt.color7: #A8A8A8
+
+ URxvt.color8: #000054
+ URxvt.color9: #FF0054
+ URxvt.color10: #00FF54
+ URxvt.color11: #FFFF54
+ URxvt.color12: #0000FF
+ URxvt.color13: #FF00FF
+ URxvt.color14: #00FFFF
+ URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF
+
+ And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors described
+ (not by me) as "pretty girly".
URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1
URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1
URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
+ How can I start rxvtd in a race-free way?
+ Despite it's name, rxvtd is not a real daemon, but more like a
+ server that answers rxvtc's requests, so it doesn't background
+ itself.
+
+ To ensure rxvtd is listening on it's socket, you can use the
+ following method to wait for the startup message before continuing:
+
+ { rxvtd & } | read
+
What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the
BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following
$ stty erase ^?
$ rxvt
- Toggle with "ESC[36h" / "ESC[36l" as documented in rxvt(7).
+ Toggle with "ESC [ 36 h" / "ESC [ 36 l" as documented in rxvt(7).
For an existing rxvt-unicode:
The Delete key is a another casualty of the ill-defined Backspace
problem. To avoid confusion between the Backspace and Delete keys,
the Delete key has been assigned an escape sequence to match the
- vt100 for Execute (ESC[3~) and is in the supplied termcap/terminfo.
+ vt100 for Execute ("ESC [ 3 ~") and is in the supplied
+ termcap/terminfo.
Some other Backspace problems:
There are some compile-time selections available via configure.
Unless you have run "configure" with the "--disable-resources"
option you can use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings
- associated with keysym 0xFF00 - 0xFFFF (function, cursor keys, etc).
-
- Here's an example for a tn3270 session started using `rxvt -name
- tn3270'
-
- !# ----- special uses ------:
- ! tn3270 login, remap function and arrow keys.
- tn3270*font: *clean-bold-*-*--15-*
-
- ! keysym - used by rxvt only
- ! Delete - ^D
- tn3270*keysym.0xFFFF: \004
-
- ! Home - ^A
- tn3270*keysym.0xFF50: \001
- ! Left - ^B
- tn3270*keysym.0xFF51: \002
- ! Up - ^P
- tn3270*keysym.0xFF52: \020
- ! Right - ^F
- tn3270*keysym.0xFF53: \006
- ! Down - ^N
- tn3270*keysym.0xFF54: \016
- ! End - ^E
- tn3270*keysym.0xFF57: \005
-
- ! F1 - F12
- tn3270*keysym.0xFFBE: \e1
- tn3270*keysym.0xFFBF: \e2
- tn3270*keysym.0xFFC0: \e3
- tn3270*keysym.0xFFC1: \e4
- tn3270*keysym.0xFFC2: \e5
- tn3270*keysym.0xFFC3: \e6
- tn3270*keysym.0xFFC4: \e7
- tn3270*keysym.0xFFC5: \e8
- tn3270*keysym.0xFFC6: \e9
- tn3270*keysym.0xFFC7: \e0
- tn3270*keysym.0xFFC8: \e-
- tn3270*keysym.0xFFC9: \e=
-
- ! map Prior/Next to F7/F8
- tn3270*keysym.0xFF55: \e7
- tn3270*keysym.0xFF56: \e8
+ associated with keysyms.
+
+ Here's an example for a URxvt session started using "rxvt -name
+ URxvt"
+
+ URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[1~
+ URxvt.keysym.End: \033[4~
+ URxvt.keysym.C-apostrophe: \033<C-'>
+ URxvt.keysym.C-slash: \033<C-/>
+ URxvt.keysym.C-semicolon: \033<C-;>
+ URxvt.keysym.C-grave: \033<C-`>
+ URxvt.keysym.C-comma: \033<C-,>
+ URxvt.keysym.C-period: \033<C-.>
+ URxvt.keysym.C-0x60: \033<C-`>
+ URxvt.keysym.C-Tab: \033<C-Tab>
+ URxvt.keysym.C-Return: \033<C-Return>
+ URxvt.keysym.S-Return: \033<S-Return>
+ URxvt.keysym.S-space: \033<S-Space>
+ URxvt.keysym.M-Up: \033<M-Up>
+ URxvt.keysym.M-Down: \033<M-Down>
+ URxvt.keysym.M-Left: \033<M-Left>
+ URxvt.keysym.M-Right: \033<M-Right>
+ URxvt.keysym.M-C-0: list \033<M-C- 0123456789 >
+ URxvt.keysym.M-C-a: list \033<M-C- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz >
+ URxvt.keysym.F12: command:\033]701;zh_CN.GBK\007
+
+ See some more examples in the documentation for the keysym resource.
I'm using keyboard model XXX that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys. How
do I make use of them? For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4 has the
possible keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap
the keys as required for your particular machine.
- How do I distinguish if I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm? I
- need this to decide about setting colors etc.
+ How do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm?
+ I need this to decide about setting colors etc.
rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable "COLORTERM", so you
can check and see if that is set. Note that several programs, JED,
slrn, Midnight Commander automatically check this variable to decide
projects / dana / urxvt.git / blobdiff