+<p><strong>rxvt</strong> sets and/or uses the following environment variables:</p>
+<dl>
+<dt><strong><a name="item_term"><strong>TERM</strong></a></strong><br />
+</dt>
+<dd>
+Normally set to <code>rxvt-unicode</code>, unless overwritten at configure time, via
+resources or on the commandline.
+</dd>
+<p></p>
+<dt><strong><a name="item_colorterm"><strong>COLORTERM</strong></a></strong><br />
+</dt>
+<dd>
+Either <code>rxvt</code>, <code>rxvt-xpm</code>, depending on wether rxvt was
+compiled with XPM support, and optionally with the added extension
+<code>-mono</code> to indicate that rxvt-unicode runs on a monochrome screen.
+</dd>
+<p></p>
+<dt><strong><a name="item_colorfgbg"><strong>COLORFGBG</strong></a></strong><br />
+</dt>
+<dd>
+Set to a string of the form <code>fg;bg</code> or <code>fg;xpm;bg</code>, where <code>fg</code> is
+the colour code used as default foreground/text colour (or the string
+<code>default</code> to indicate that the default-colour escape sequence is to be
+used), <code>bg</code> is the colour code used as default background colour (or the
+string <code>default</code>), and <code>xpm</code> is the string <code>default</code> if rxvt
+was compiled with XPM support. Libraries like <code>slang</code> can (and do) use
+this information to optimize screen output.
+</dd>
+<p></p>
+<dt><strong><a name="item_windowid"><strong>WINDOWID</strong></a></strong><br />
+</dt>
+<dd>
+Set to the (decimal) X Window ID of the rxvt window (the toplevel
+window, which usually has subwindows for the scrollbar, the terminal
+window and so on).
+</dd>
+<p></p>
+<dt><strong><a name="item_terminfo"><strong>TERMINFO</strong></a></strong><br />
+</dt>
+<dd>
+Set to the terminfo directory iff rxvt was configured with
+<code>--with-terminfo=PATH</code>.
+</dd>
+<p></p>
+<dt><strong><a name="item_display"><strong>DISPLAY</strong></a></strong><br />
+</dt>
+<dd>
+Used by rxvt to connect to the display and set to the correct
+display in it's child processes.
+</dd>
+<p></p>
+<dt><strong><a name="item_shell"><strong>SHELL</strong></a></strong><br />
+</dt>
+<dd>
+The shell to be used for command execution, defaults to <code>/bin/sh</code>.
+</dd>
+<p></p>
+<dt><strong><a name="item_rxvtpath"><strong>RXVTPATH</strong></a></strong><br />
+</dt>
+<dd>
+The path where rxvt looks for support files such as menu and xpm
+files.
+</dd>
+<p></p>
+<dt><strong><a name="item_path"><strong>PATH</strong></a></strong><br />
+</dt>
+<dd>
+Used in the same way as <a href="#item_rxvtpath"><code>RXVTPATH</code></a>.
+</dd>
+<p></p>
+<dt><strong><a name="item_rxvt_socket"><strong>RXVT_SOCKET</strong></a></strong><br />
+</dt>
+<dd>
+The unix domain socket path used by <code>rxvtc(1)</code> and
+rxvtd(1).
+</dd>
+<dd>
+<p>Default <code>$HOME/.rxvt-unicode-<nodename</code>.</p>
+</dd>
+<p></p>
+<dt><strong><a name="item_home"><strong>HOME</strong></a></strong><br />
+</dt>
+<dd>
+Used to locate the default directory for the unix domain socket for
+daemon communications and to locate various resource files (such as
+<code>.Xdefaults</code>)
+</dd>
+<p></p>
+<dt><strong><a name="item_xapplresdir"><strong>XAPPLRESDIR</strong></a></strong><br />
+</dt>
+<dd>
+Directory where various X resource files are being located.
+</dd>
+<p></p>
+<dt><strong><a name="item_xenvironment"><strong>XENVIRONMENT</strong></a></strong><br />
+</dt>
+<dd>
+If set and accessible, gives the name of a X resource file to be loaded by
+rxvt.
+</dd>
+<p></p></dl>