-FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
+RXVT-UNICODE/URXVT FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Meta, Features & Commandline Issues
My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?
Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: "irc.freenode.net", channel
"#rxvt-unicode" has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be
interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :).
+ I use Gentoo, and I have a problem...
+ There are three big problems with Gentoo Linux: first of all, most if
+ not all Gentoo systems are completely broken (missing or mismatched
+ header files, broken compiler etc. are just the tip of the iceberg);
+ secondly, the Gentoo maintainer thinks it is a good idea to add broken
+ patches to the code; and lastly, it should be called Gentoo GNU/Linux.
+
+ For these reasons, it is impossible to support rxvt-unicode on Gentoo.
+ Problems appearing on Gentoo systems will usually simply be ignored
+ unless they can be reproduced on non-Gentoo systems.
+
Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
Beginning with version 7.3, there is a perl extension that implements a
simple tabbed terminal. It is installed by default, so any of these
Try "urxvtd -f -o", which tells urxvtd to open the display, create the
listening socket and then fork.
- 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 whether
- or not to use color.
+ How can I start urxvtd automatically when I run urxvtc?
+ If you want to start urxvtd automatically whenever you run urxvtc and
+ the daemon isn't running yet, use this script:
+
+ #!/bin/sh
+ urxvtc "$@"
+ if [ $? -eq 2 ]; then
+ urxvtd -q -o -f
+ urxvtc "$@"
+ fi
+
+ This tries to create a new terminal, and if fails with exit status 2,
+ meaning it couldn't connect to the daemon, it will start the daemon and
+ re-run the command. Subsequent invocations of the script will re-use the
+ existing daemon.
+
+ How do I distinguish whether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm? I need this to decide about setting colors etc.
+ The original 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 whether or not to use color.
How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?
If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled
How do I compile the manual pages on my own?
You need to have a recent version of perl installed as /usr/bin/perl,
- one that comes with pod2man, pod2text and pod2html. Then go to the doc
- subdirectory and enter "make alldoc".
+ one that comes with pod2man, pod2text and pod2xhtml (from Pod::Xhtml).
+ Then go to the doc subdirectory and enter "make alldoc".
Isn't rxvt-unicode supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?
I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra
98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything
188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything
- When you "--enable-everything" (which _is_ unfair, as this involves xft
+ When you "--enable-everything" (which *is* unfair, as this involves xft
and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my
- libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so.
+ libc), the two diverge, but not unreasonably so.
text data bss drs rss filename
163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything
libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000)
- libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000)
- libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000)
- /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
+ libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000)
+ libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000)
+ /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically),
except maybe libX11 :)
Rendering, Font & Look and Feel Issues
I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?
- First of all, transparency isn't officially supported in rxvt-unicode,
- so you are mostly on your own. Do not bug the author about it (but you
- may bug everybody else). Also, if you can't get it working consider it a
- rite of passage: ... and you failed.
+ First of all, please address all transparency related issues to Sasha
+ Vasko at sasha@aftercode.net and do not bug the author about it. Also,
+ if you can't get it working consider it a rite of passage: ... and you
+ failed.
Here are four ways to get transparency. Do read the manpage and option
descriptions for the programs mentioned and rxvt-unicode. Really, do it!
- 1. Use inheritPixmap:
+ 1. Use transparent mode:
Esetroot wallpaper.jpg
- urxvt -ip -tint red -sh 40
+ urxvt -tr -tint red -sh 40
That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack transparency and tinting
support, or you are unable to read.
to use effects other than tinting and shading: Just shade/tint/whatever
your picture with gimp or any other tool:
- convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.xpm
- urxvt -pixmap background.xpm -pe automove-background
+ convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.jpg
+ urxvt -pixmap "background.jpg;:root"
- That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack XPM and Perl support, or
- you are unable to read.
+ That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack AfterImage support, or you
+ are unable to read.
3. Use an ARGB visual:
This requires XFT support, and the support of your X-server. If that
doesn't work for you, blame Xorg and Keith Packard. ARGB visuals aren't
there yet, no matter what they claim. Rxvt-Unicode contains the
- neccessary bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work,
- but that doesn't mean that your WM has the required kludges in place.
+ necessary bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work, but
+ that doesn't mean that your WM has the required kludges in place.
4. Use xcompmgr and let it do the job:
by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and
your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces.
- 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/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 list as a
- preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
- first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
-
- 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
character size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal
way is to ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is
wrong in these cases).
- It's not clear (to me at least), wether this is a bug in Xft, freetype,
+ It's not clear (to me at least), whether this is a bug in Xft, freetype,
or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try
using the "-lsp" option to give the font more height. If that doesn't
work, you might be forced to use a different font.
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"
+ printf '\33]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a
japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where
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 might be to
+ Mono" completely fails in its italic face. A workaround might be to
enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:
URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?
Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to
- fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core
- fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has
+ fall back to its default font search list it will prefer X11 core fonts,
+ because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has
antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they
look best that way.
standard foreground colour.
For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the text
- blink when compiled with "--enable-blinking". with standard colours.
- Without "--enable-blinking", the blink attribute will be ignored.
+ blink when compiled with "--enable-text-blink". Without
+ "--enable-text-blink", the blink attribute will be ignored.
On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity
foreground/background colors.
URxvt.color14: #00FFFF
URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF
- And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors described (not by
- me) as "pretty girly".
+ And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors.
URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1
URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1
URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
+ They have been described (not by me) as "pretty girly".
+
Why do some characters look so much different than others?
See next entry.
e.g.:
urxvt -fn basefont,font2,font3...
-
+
When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base font.
If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the next
font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
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/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 list as a
+ preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
+ first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
+
+ 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).
+
+ How can I make mplayer display video correctly?
+ We are working on it, in the meantime, as a workaround, use something
+ like:
+
+ urxvt -b 600 -geometry 20x1 -e sh -c 'mplayer -wid $WINDOWID file...'
+
Keyboard, Mouse & User Interaction
The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?
If you want to select e.g. alphanumeric words, you can use the following
URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\\\\]^`{|})]+)
- Please also note that the *LeftClick Shift-LeftClik* combination also
+ Please also note that the *LeftClick Shift-LeftClick* combination also
selects words like the old code.
I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?
but when running a program that doesn't parse cursor movements or in
some cases during rlogin sessions, it fails to detect this properly.
- You can permamently switch this feature off by disabling the "readline"
+ You can permanently switch this feature off by disabling the "readline"
extension:
URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline
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
+ caused by the wrong "TERM" setting, although the details of whether 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.
In this case either do not specify a preeditStyle or specify more than
one pre-edit style, such as OverTheSpot,Root,None.
+ If it still doesn't work, then maybe your input method doesn't support
+ compose sequences - to fall back to the built-in one, make sure you
+ don't specify an input method via "-im" or "XMODIFIERS".
+
I cannot type "Ctrl-Shift-2" to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
Either try "Ctrl-2" alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
depressed.
What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
- Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the BackSpace
+ Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the Backspace
keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following question) there are
two standard values that can be used for Backspace: "^H" and "^?".
Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the
- debian policy of using "^?" when unsure, because it's the one only only
+ debian policy of using "^?" when unsure, because it's the one and only
correct choice :).
Rxvt-unicode tries to inherit the current stty settings and uses the
keys as required for your particular machine.
Terminal Configuration
+ Can I see a typical configuration?
+ The default configuration tries to be xterm-like, which I don't like
+ that much, but it's least surprise to regular users.
+
+ As a rxvt or rxvt-unicode user, you are practically supposed to invest
+ time into customising your terminal. To get you started, here is the
+ author's .Xdefaults entries, with comments on what they do. It's
+ certainly not *typical*, but what's typical...
+
+ URxvt.cutchars: "()*,<>[]{}|'
+ URxvt.print-pipe: cat >/tmp/xxx
+
+ These are just for testing stuff.
+
+ URxvt.imLocale: ja_JP.UTF-8
+ URxvt.preeditType: OnTheSpot,None
+
+ This tells rxvt-unicode to use a special locale when communicating with
+ the X Input Method, and also tells it to only use the OnTheSpot pre-edit
+ type, which requires the "xim-onthespot" perl extension but rewards me
+ with correct-looking fonts.
+
+ URxvt.perl-lib: /root/lib/urxvt
+ URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,selection-autotransform,selection-pastebin,xim-onthespot,remote-clipboard
+ URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ( at .*? line \\d+)
+ URxvt.selection.pattern-1: ^(/[^:]+):\
+ URxvt.selection-autotransform.0: s/^([^:[:space:]]+):(\\d+):?$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/
+ URxvt.selection-autotransform.1: s/^ at (.*?) line (\\d+)$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/
+
+ This is my perl configuration. The first two set the perl library
+ directory and also tells urxvt to use a large number of extensions. I
+ develop for myself mostly, so I actually use most of the extensions I
+ write.
+
+ The selection stuff mainly makes the selection perl-error-message aware
+ and tells it to convert perl error messages into vi-commands to load the
+ relevant file and go tot he error line number.
+
+ URxvt.scrollstyle: plain
+ URxvt.secondaryScroll: true
+
+ As the documentation says: plain is the preferred scrollbar for the
+ author. The "secondaryScroll" configures urxvt to scroll in full-screen
+ apps, like screen, so lines scrolled out of screen end up in urxvt's
+ scrollback buffer.
+
+ URxvt.background: #000000
+ URxvt.foreground: gray90
+ URxvt.color7: gray90
+ URxvt.colorBD: #ffffff
+ URxvt.cursorColor: #e0e080
+ URxvt.throughColor: #8080f0
+ URxvt.highlightColor: #f0f0f0
+
+ Some colours. Not sure which ones are being used or even non-defaults,
+ but these are in my .Xdefaults. Most notably, they set
+ foreground/background to light gray/black, and also make sure that the
+ colour 7 matches the default foreground colour.
+
+ URxvt.underlineColor: yellow
+
+ Another colour, makes underline lines look different. Sometimes hurts,
+ but is mostly a nice effect.
+
+ URxvt.geometry: 154x36
+ URxvt.loginShell: false
+ URxvt.meta: ignore
+ URxvt.utmpInhibit: true
+
+ Uh, well, should be mostly self-explanatory. By specifying some defaults
+ manually, I can quickly switch them for testing.
+
+ URxvt.saveLines: 8192
+
+ A large scrollback buffer is essential. Really.
+
+ URxvt.mapAlert: true
+
+ The only case I use it is for my IRC window, which I like to keep
+ iconified till people msg me (which beeps).
+
+ URxvt.visualBell: true
+
+ The audible bell is often annoying, especially when in a crowd.
+
+ URxvt.insecure: true
+
+ Please don't hack my mutt! Ooops...
+
+ URxvt.pastableTabs: false
+
+ I once thought this is a great idea.
+
+ urxvt.font: 9x15bold,\
+ -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1,\
+ -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1, \
+ [codeset=JISX0208]xft:Kochi Gothic, \
+ xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:autohint=true, \
+ xft:Code2000:antialias=false
+ urxvt.boldFont: -xos4-terminus-bold-r-normal--14-140-72-72-c-80-iso8859-15
+ urxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
+ urxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
+
+ I wrote rxvt-unicode to be able to specify fonts exactly. So don't be
+ overwhelmed. A special note: the "9x15bold" mentioned above is actually
+ the version from XFree-3.3, as XFree-4 replaced it by a totally
+ different font (different glyphs for ";" and many other harmless
+ characters), while the second font is actually the "9x15bold" from
+ XFree4/XOrg. The bold version has less chars than the medium version, so
+ I use it for rare characters, too. When editing sources with vim, I use
+ italic for comments and other stuff, which looks quite good with
+ Bitstream Vera anti-aliased.
+
+ Terminus is a quite bad font (many very wrong glyphs), but for most of
+ my purposes, it works, and gives a different look, as my normal
+ (Non-bold) font is already bold, and I want to see a difference between
+ bold and normal fonts.
+
+ Please note that I used the "urxvt" instance name and not the "URxvt"
+ class name. Thats because I use different configs for different
+ purposes, for example, my IRC window is started with "-name IRC", and
+ uses these defaults:
+
+ IRC*title: IRC
+ IRC*geometry: 87x12+535+542
+ IRC*saveLines: 0
+ IRC*mapAlert: true
+ IRC*font: suxuseuro
+ IRC*boldFont: suxuseuro
+ IRC*colorBD: white
+ IRC*keysym.M-C-1: command:\033]710;suxuseuro\007\033]711;suxuseuro\007
+ IRC*keysym.M-C-2: command:\033]710;9x15bold\007\033]711;9x15bold\007
+
+ "Alt-Ctrl-1" and "Alt-Ctrl-2" switch between two different font sizes.
+ "suxuseuro" allows me to keep an eye (and actually read) stuff while
+ keeping a very small window. If somebody pastes something complicated
+ (e.g. japanese), I temporarily switch to a larger font.
+
+ The above is all in my ".Xdefaults" (I don't use ".Xresources" nor
+ "xrdb"). I also have some resources in a separate ".Xdefaults-hostname"
+ file for different hosts, for example, on ym main desktop, I use:
+
+ URxvt.keysym.C-M-q: command:\033[3;5;5t
+ URxvt.keysym.C-M-y: command:\033[3;5;606t
+ URxvt.keysym.C-M-e: command:\033[3;1605;5t
+ URxvt.keysym.C-M-c: command:\033[3;1605;606t
+ URxvt.keysym.C-M-p: perl:test
+
+ The first for keysym definitions allow me to quickly bring some windows
+ in the layout I like most. Ion users might start laughing but will stop
+ immediately when I tell them that I use my own Fvwm2 module for much the
+ same effect as Ion provides, and I only very rarely use the above key
+ combinations :->
+
Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?
Well, why, indeed? It does, in a way very similar to other X
applications. Most importantly, this means that if you or your OS loads
URxvt.resource: value
If you want to use another form (there are lots of different ways of
- specifying resources), make sure you understand wether and why it works.
- If unsure, use the form above.
+ specifying resources), make sure you understand whether and why it
+ works. If unsure, use the form above.
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 available
arises).
The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this
- can be done like this (with ncurses' infocmp):
+ can be done by simply installing rxvt-unicode on the remote system as
+ well (in case you have a nice package manager ready), or you can install
+ the terminfo database manually like this (with ncurses infocmp. works as
+ user and root):
REMOTE=remotesystem.domain
- infocmp rxvt-unicode | ssh $REMOTE "cat >/tmp/ti && tic /tmp/ti"
+ infocmp rxvt-unicode | ssh $REMOTE "mkdir -p .terminfo && cat >/tmp/ti && tic /tmp/ti"
- ... or by installing rxvt-unicode normally on the remote system,
+ One some systems you might need to set $TERMINFO to the full path of
+ $HOME/.terminfo for this to work.
If you cannot or do not want to do this, then you can simply set
"TERM=rxvt" or even "TERM=xterm", and live with the small number of
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.
+ the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one and use "TERM=rxvt".
+
+ nano fails with "Error opening terminal: rxvt-unicode"
+ This exceptionally confusing and useless error message is printed by
+ nano when it can't find the terminfo database. Nothing is wrong with
+ your terminal, read the previous answer for a solution.
"tic" outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
Most likely it's the empty definition for "enacs=". Just replace it by
library (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:
+ You could use rxvt's termcap entry with reasonable 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 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:\
- :co#80:it#8:li#24:lm#0:\
- :AL=\E[%dL:DC=\E[%dP:DL=\E[%dM:DO=\E[%dB:IC=\E[%d@:\
- :K1=\EOw:K2=\EOu:K3=\EOy:K4=\EOq:K5=\EOs:LE=\E[%dD:\
- :RI=\E[%dC:SF=\E[%dS:SR=\E[%dT:UP=\E[%dA:ae=\E(B:al=\E[L:\
- :as=\E(0:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[2J:\
- :cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:ct=\E[3g:dc=\E[P:\
- :dl=\E[M:do=^J:ec=\E[%dX:ei=\E[4l:ho=\E[H:\
- :i1=\E[?47l\E=\E[?1l:ic=\E[@:im=\E[4h:\
- :is=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l:\
- :k1=\E[11~:k2=\E[12~:k3=\E[13~:k4=\E[14~:k5=\E[15~:\
- :k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:kD=\E[3~:\
- :kI=\E[2~:kN=\E[6~:kP=\E[5~:kb=\177:kd=\EOB:ke=\E[?1l\E>:\
- :kh=\E[7~:kl=\EOD:kr=\EOC:ks=\E[?1h\E=:ku=\EOA:le=^H:\
- :mb=\E[5m:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m\017:mr=\E[7m:nd=\E[C:rc=\E8:\
- :sc=\E7:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:\
- :te=\E[r\E[?1049l:ti=\E[?1049h:ue=\E[24m:up=\E[A:\
- :us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
- :vs=\E[?25h:
+ Or you could use the termcap entry in doc/etc/rxvt-unicode.termcap,
+ generated by the command above.
Why does "ls" no longer have coloured output?
The "ls" in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to
- decide wether a terminal has colour, but uses it's own configuration
- file. Needless to say, "rxvt-unicode" is not in it's default file (among
+ decide whether a terminal has colour, but uses its own configuration
+ file. Needless to say, "rxvt-unicode" is not in its default file (among
with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add:
TERM rxvt-unicode
is subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings.
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 something else, e.g. "en_GB.UTF-8". Needless to say, this is not
- going to work.
+ programs running in it. Often rxvt-unicode is started in the "C" locale,
+ while the login script running within the rxvt-unicode window changes
+ the locale to something else, e.g. "en_GB.UTF-8". Needless to say, this
+ is not going to work, and is the most common cause for problems.
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 your
.profile.
- printf '\e]701;%s\007' "$LC_CTYPE"
+ printf '\33]701;%s\007' "$LC_CTYPE" # $LANG or $LC_ALL are worth a try, too
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
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,
+ "xterm" gets the width of characters wrong as it uses its own,
locale-independent table under all locales).
Rxvt-unicode uses the "LC_CTYPE" locale category to select encoding. All
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
+ printf '\33]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
See also the previous answer.
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
+ printf '\33]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS
xjdic -js
- printf '\e]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8
+ printf '\33]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.
+ I have problems getting my input method working.
+ Try a search engine, as this is slightly different for every input
+ method server.
+
+ Here is a checklist:
+
+ - Make sure your locale *and* the imLocale are supported on your OS.
+ Try "locale -a" or check the documentation for your OS.
+
+ - Make sure your locale or imLocale matches a locale supported by your
+ XIM.
+ For example, kinput2 does not support UTF-8 locales, you should use
+ "ja_JP.EUC-JP" or equivalent.
+
+ - Make sure your XIM server is actually running.
+ - Make sure the "XMODIFIERS" environment variable is set correctly when
+ *starting* rxvt-unicode.
+ When you want to use e.g. kinput2, it must be set to "@im=kinput2".
+ For scim, use "@im=SCIM". You can see what input method servers are
+ running with this command:
+
+ xprop -root XIM_SERVERS
+
+
+
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 of
the terminal, using the resource "imlocale":
URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
Now you can start your terminal with "LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8" and still
- use your input method. Please note, however, that you will not be able
- to input characters outside "EUC-JP" in a normal way then, as your input
- method limits you.
+ use your input method. Please note, however, that, depending on your
+ Xlib version, you may not be able to input characters outside "EUC-JP"
+ in a normal way then, as your input method limits you.
Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation?
You should build one binary with the default options. configure now
enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
- runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling
+ runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enabling
them, except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter
should be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely
more in the future) depends on it.
main(), or things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should
result in very little risk.
- On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide.
- Seems to be a known bug, read
- <http://nixdoc.net/files/forum/about34198.html>. Some people use the
- following ugly workaround to get non-double-wide-characters working:
-
- #define wcwidth(x) wcwidth(x) > 1 ? 1 : wcwidth(x)
-
I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.
Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol "__STDC_ISO_10646__" to be defined in
your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it,
- wether it defines the symbol or not. "__STDC_ISO_10646__" requires that
+ whether it defines the symbol or not. "__STDC_ISO_10646__" requires that
wchar_t is represented as unicode.
- 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
+ As you might have guessed, FreeBSD does neither define this symbol nor
+ does it support it. Instead, it uses its own internal representation of
wchar_t. This is, of course, completely fine with respect to standards.
However, that means rxvt-unicode only works in "POSIX", "ISO-8859-1" and
- "UTF-8" locales under FreeBSD (which all use Unicode as wchar_t.
+ "UTF-8" locales under FreeBSD (which all use Unicode as wchar_t).
"__STDC_ISO_10646__" is the only sane way to support multi-language apps
in an OS, as using a locale-dependent (and non-standardized)
system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry
complete replacements for them :)
- I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc.
- Try the diff in doc/solaris9.patch as a base. It fixes the worst
- problems with "wcwidth" and a compile problem.
-
How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using the
X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no longer
multi-byte encodings (you might try "LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8"), so you are
likely limited to 8-bit encodings.
+ Character widths are not correct.
+ urxvt uses the system wcwidth function to know the information about the
+ width of characters, so on systems with incorrect locale data you will
+ likely get bad results. Two notorious examples are Solaris 9, where
+ single-width characters like U+2514 are reported as double-width, and
+ Darwin 8, where combining chars are reported having width 1.
+
+ The solution is to upgrade your system or switch to a better one. A
+ possibly working workaround is to use a wcwidth implementation like
+
+ http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/wcwidth.c
+
+ I want 256 colors
+ Are you sure you need 256 colors? 88 colors should be enough for most
+ purposes. If you really need more, there is an unsupported patch for it
+ in the doc directory, but please do not ask for it to be applied.
+
projects / dana / urxvt.git / blobdiff