=head1 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
-=head2 The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?
+=head2 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
-setting:
+Yes. For example, if you want to select alphanumeric words, you can use
+the following resource:
URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+)
Please also note that the I<LeftClick Shift-LeftClik> combination also
selects words like the old code.
-=head2 I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?
+=over 4
+
+=item I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I
+change/disable it?
You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the
B<perl-ext-common> resource to the empty string, which also keeps
URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s
-=head2 The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off?
-
-See next entry.
+=item The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how
+do I switch this off?
-=head2 During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?
+=item During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor
+outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?
These are caused by the C<readline> perl extension. Under normal
circumstances, it will move your cursor around when you click into the
URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline
-=head2 Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?
+=item 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
specifying resources), make sure you understand wether and why it
works. If unsure, use the form above.
-=head2 I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?
+=item 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
by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and
your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces.
-=head2 Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?
+=item Isn't rxvt 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
bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see
startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits out), it fares
extremely well *g*.
-=head2 Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?
+=item Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?
Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I had
to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a fraction
No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically),
except maybe libX11 :)
-=head2 Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
+=item 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 should
the upcoming C<Gtk2::URxvt> perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt
(murxvt) terminal as an example embedding application.
-=head2 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
+=item How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape
sequence C<ESC [ 8 n> sets the window title to the version number. When
using the @@RXVT_NAME@@c client, the version displayed is that of the
daemon.
-=head2 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...
+=item I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...
The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large
patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode (but
bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for other users that
might encounter the same issue.
-=head2 I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation?
+=item I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any
+recommendation?
You should build one binary with the default options. F<configure>
now enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
C<--enable-everything> (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of
encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used).
-=head2 I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe?
+=item I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe?
It should be, starting with release 7.1. You are encouraged to properly
install urxvt with privileges necessary for your OS now.
things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should result in very
little risk.
-=head2 When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?
+=item 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
as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often arises).
If you don't plan to use B<rxvt> (quite common...) you could also replace
the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one.
-=head2 C<tic> outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
+=item C<tic> outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
Most likely it's the empty definition for C<enacs=>. Just replace it by
C<enacs=\E[0@> and try again.
-=head2 C<bash>'s readline does not work correctly under @@RXVT_NAME@@.
+=item C<bash>'s readline does not work correctly under @@RXVT_NAME@@.
-See next entry.
-
-=head2 I need a termcap file entry.
+=item 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
:us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
:vs=\E[?25h:
-=head2 Why does C<ls> no longer have coloured output?
+=item Why does C<ls> no longer have coloured output?
The C<ls> in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to
decide wether a terminal has colour, but uses it's own configuration
to your C<.profile> or C<.bashrc>.
-=head2 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?
-
-See next entry.
-
-=head2 Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?
+=item Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?
-See next entry.
+=item Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?
-=head2 Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?
+=item Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?
Make sure you are using C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>. Some pre-packaged
distributions (most notably Debian GNU/Linux) break rxvt-unicode
I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?> on
how to do this).
-=head2 My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?
+=item 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
keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please report if that
helped.
-=head2 Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?
+=item Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?
-See next entry.
-
-=head2 Unicode does not seem to work?
+=item Unicode does not seem to work?
If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but
getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output is
you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't
support locales :(
-=head2 Why do some characters look so much different than others?
-
-See next entry.
+=item Why do some characters look so much different than others?
-=head2 How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?
+=item How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?
Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is
fine. Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of
font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size, which
must be the same due to the way terminals work.
-=head2 Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?
+=item 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,
Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see L<Can
I switch the fonts at runtime?> later in this document).
-=head2 Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?
+=item 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 use might
All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their bounding
box data is correct.
-=head2 On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide.
+=item On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide.
Seems to be a known bug, read
L<http://nixdoc.net/files/forum/about34198.html>. Some people use the
#define wcwidth(x) wcwidth(x) > 1 ? 1 : wcwidth(x)
-=head2 My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
+=item My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
correctly, or you specified a B<preeditStyle> that is not supported by
In this case either do not specify a B<preeditStyle> or specify more than
one pre-edit style, such as B<OverTheSpot,Root,None>.
-=head2 I cannot type C<Ctrl-Shift-2> to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
+=item I cannot type C<Ctrl-Shift-2> to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755
Either try C<Ctrl-2> alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on
international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your
codes, too, such as C<Ctrl-Shift-1-d> to type the default telnet escape
character and so on.
-=head2 How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?
+=item How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?
First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings
(C<TERM=rxvt-unicode>), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then
URxvt.colorBD: white
URxvt.colorIT: green
-=head2 Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?
+=item Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?
For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird
colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the standard
definition to only claim 8 colour support or use C<TERM=rxvt>, which will
fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features.
-=head2 I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.
+=item I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.
Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol C<__STDC_ISO_10646__> to be defined
in your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it,
system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry
complete replacements for them :)
-=head2 I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc.
+=item I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc.
Try the diff in F<doc/solaris9.patch> as a base. It fixes the worst
problems with C<wcwidth> and a compile problem.
-=head2 How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
+=item 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
encodings (you might try C<LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8>), so you are likely limited
to 8-bit encodings.
-=head2 How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
-
-See next entry.
+=item How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
-=head2 Is there an option to switch encodings?
+=item Is there an option to switch encodings?
Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know about
If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
rxvt-unicode with the correct C<LC_CTYPE> category.
-=head2 Can I switch locales at runtime?
+=item Can I switch locales at runtime?
Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
rxvt-unicode's idea of C<LC_CTYPE>.
for some locales where character width differs between program- and
rxvt-unicode-locales.
-=head2 Can I switch the fonts at runtime?
+=item Can I switch the fonts at runtime?
Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the same
effect as using the C<-fn> switch, and takes effect immediately:
You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching.
-=head2 Why do italic characters look as if clipped?
+=item 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 C<xft:Bitstream Vera Sans
URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
-=head2 My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?
+=item 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 C<imlocale>:
input characters outside C<EUC-JP> in a normal way then, as your input
method limits you.
-=head2 Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
+=item Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
-=head2 Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
+=item Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
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
use 10 Megabytes of memory. With C<--enable-unicode3> it gets worse, as
rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
-=head2 Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?
+=item Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?
Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as
it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable
antialiasing (by appending C<:antialias=false>), which saves lots of
memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
-=head2 Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?
+=item 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
If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually.
-=head2 Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
+=item Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing
some editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode. I've
quick check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are
depressed.
-=head2 What's with this bold/blink stuff?
+=item What's with this bold/blink stuff?
If no bold colour is set via C<colorBD:>, bold will invert text using the
standard foreground colour.
color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colors.
-=head2 I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them?
+=item I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them?
You can change the screen colors at run-time using F<~/.Xdefaults>
resources (or as long-options).
URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
-=head2 How can I start @@RXVT_NAME@@d in a race-free way?
+=item How can I start @@RXVT_NAME@@d in a race-free way?
Try C<@@RXVT_NAME@@d -f -o>, which tells @@RXVT_NAME@@d to open the
display, create the listening socket and then fork.
-=head2 What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
+=item 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
Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.
-=head2 I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?
+=item I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?
There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless
you have run "configure" with the C<--disable-resources> option you can
See some more examples in the documentation for the B<keysym> resource.
-=head2 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 following mappings that rxvt-unicode doesn't recognize.
+=item 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 following mappings that rxvt-unicode doesn't recognize.
KP_Insert == Insert
F22 == Print
keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the keys as
required for your particular machine.
-=head2 How do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm? I need this to decide about setting colors etc.
+=item 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.
-=head2 How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?
+=item 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
insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script
fi
fi
-=head2 How do I compile the manual pages for myself?
+=item How do I compile the manual pages for myself?
You need to have a recent version of perl installed as F</usr/bin/perl>,
one that comes with F<pod2man>, F<pod2text> and F<pod2html>. Then go to
the doc subdirectory and enter C<make alldoc>.
-=head2 My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?
+=item My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?
Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: C<irc.freenode.net>,
channel C<#rxvt-unicode> has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be
interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :).
+=back
+
=head1 RXVT TECHNICAL REFERENCE
=head1 DESCRIPTION
projects / dana / urxvt.git / commitdiff