XTERM(1) manual page

Synopsis

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

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 can't 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.

Emulations

The VT102 emulation is fairly complete, but does not support autorepeat. Double-size characters are displayed properly if your font server supports scalable fonts. Blinking characters are partially implemented; the emulation is functional but does not have the appearance of a real VT102. The VT220 emulation does not support soft fonts, it is otherwise complete. Termcap(5) entries that work with xterm include ``xterm,'' ``vt102,'' ``vt100'' and ``ansi,'' and 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.

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 yy, 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.

Other Features

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.

Options

The xterm terminal emulator accepts all of the standard X Toolkit command line options as well as the following (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. The message is written to the standard error.

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 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. 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: time text cursor is off when blinking
-bcn milliseconds: time text cursor is on when blinking
-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.
-cm: This option disables recognition of ANSI color-change escape sequences.
+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.
+cn: This option indicates that newlines should be cut in line-mode selections.
-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.
-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, the text cursor color, the mouse cursor foreground and background colors, the Tektronix emulator foreground and background colors, and highlight color.
+dc: This option enables the escape sequence to change dynamic colors.
-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.
-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.
-fi: This option sets the font for active icons if that feature was compiled into xterm.
-hc color: This option specifies the color to use for the background of selected or otherwise highlighted text. If not specified, reverse video is used.
-hf: This option indicates that HP Function Key escape codes should be generated for function keys.
+hf: This option indicates that HP Function Key escape codes should not be generated for function keys.
-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.
+im: Turn off the useInsertMode resource.
-j: This option indicates that xterm should do jump scrolling. Normally, text is scrolled one line at a time; this option allows xterm to move multiple lines at a time so that it doesn't fall as far behind. Its use is strongly recommended since it make 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.
-leftbar: Force scrollbar to the left side of VT100 screen. This is the default, unless you have set the rightScrollBar resource.
-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).
Note that this is incompatible with -e, since the login program does not provide a way to specify the command to run in the new shell. If you specify both, xterm uses -ls.
+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.
-ms color: This option specifies the color to be used for the pointer cursor. The default is to use the foreground color.
-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 enables the display of underlining.
+nul: This option disables 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.
-rightbar: Force scrollbar to the right side of VT100 screen.
-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: Doesn't send title and icon name change requests when the request would have no effect: the name isn't 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.
-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. The default is 64.
-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.
+t: This option indicates that xterm should start in VT102 mode.
-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. Allowable keywords include: intr, quit, erase, kill, eof, eol, swtch, start, stop, brk, susp, dsusp, rprnt, flush, weras, and lnext. Control characters may be specified as ^char (e.g., ^c or ^u) and ^? may be used to indicate delete (127).
-tn name: This option specifies the name of the terminal type to be set in the TERM environment variable. This terminal type must exist in the termcap(5) database and should have li# and co# entries.
-u8: This option sets the utf8 resource. When utf8 is set, xterm interprets incoming data as UTF-8. This sets wideChars as a side-effect.
+u8: This option resets the utf8 resource.
-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.
-ut: This option indicates that xterm shouldn't 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.
+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 show 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 specifies the last two letters of the name of a pseudo-terminal to use in slave mode, plus the number of the inherited file descriptor. The option is parsed ``%c%c%d''. This allows xterm to be used as an input and output channel for an existing program and is sometimes used in specialized applications.

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. The default is ``black.''
-bg color: This option specifies the color to use for the background of the window. The default is ``white.''
-bw number: This option specifies the width in pixels of the border surrounding the window.
-display display: This option specifies the X server to contact; see X(1) .
-fg color: This option specifies the color to use for displaying text. The default is ``black.''
-fn font: This option specifies the font to be used for displaying normal text. The default is fixed.
-geometry geometry: This option specifies the preferred size and position of the VT102 window; see X(1) .
-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.
-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.

Resources

The program understands all of the core X Toolkit resource names and classes as well as:

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.
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.
messages (class Messages): Specifies whether write access to the terminal is allowed initially. See mesg(1) . 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. The default is ``false''.
sameName (class SameName): If the value of this resource is ``true'', xterm doesn't send title and icon name change requests when the request would have no effect: the name isn't 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''.
sunFunctionKeys (class SunFunctionKeys): Specifies whether or not Sun Function Key escape codes should be generated for function keys instead of standard escape sequences.
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 to F13, CTRL-F2 to F14, etc., 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.
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.
ttyModes (class TtyModes): Specifies a string containing terminal setting keywords and the characters to which they may be bound. Allowable keywords include: intr, quit, erase, kill, eof, eol, swtch, start, stop, brk, susp, dsusp, rprnt, flush, weras, lnext and status. 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 builtin.
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.''
utmpInhibit (class UtmpInhibit): Specifies whether or not xterm should try to record the user's terminal in the system utmp log file.
waitForMap (class WaitForMap): Specifies whether or not xterm should wait for the initial window map before starting the subprocess. 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 following resources are specified as part of the vt100 widget (class VT100):

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.''
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.
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.
alwaysHighlight (class AlwaysHighlight): Specifies whether or not xterm should always display a highlighted text cursor. By default, a hollow text cursor is displayed whenever the pointer moves out of the window or the window loses the input focus.
appcursorDefault (class AppcursorDefault): If ``true,'' the cursor keys are initially in application 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. 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 ``white.''
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.
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.
c132 (class C132): Specifies whether or not the VT102 DECCOLM escape sequence should be honored. The default is ``false.''
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.''
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.''
cacheDoublesize (class CacheDoublesize): Specifies the maximum number of double-sized fonts which are cached by xterm. The default (8) may be too large for some X terminals with limited memory. Set this to zero to disable doublesize 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 section on specifying character classes.
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.''
colorAttrMode (class ColorMode): Specifies whether ``colorBD'', ``colorBL'' 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.''
colorMode (class ColorMode): Specifies whether or not recognition of ANSI (ISO 6429) color change escape sequences should be enabled. The default is ``true.''
colorBDMode (class ColorMode): 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.
colorBLMode (class ColorMode): Specifies whether characters with the blink attribute should be displayed in color. Note that setting ``colorMode'' off disables all colors, including this.
colorULMode (class ColorMode): 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.
color0 (class Foreground)
color1 (class Foreground)
color2 (class Foreground)
color3 (class Foreground)
color4 (class Foreground)
color5 (class Foreground)
color6 (class Foreground)
color7 (class Foreground): These specify the colors for the ISO 6429 extension. The defaults are, respectively, black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white.
color8 (class Foreground)
color9 (class Foreground)
color10 (class Foreground)
color11 (class Foreground)
color12 (class Foreground)
color13 (class Foreground)
color14 (class Foreground)
color15 (class Foreground): These specify the colors for the ISO 6429 extension if the bold attribute is also enabled. The defaults are, respectively, black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white.
color16 (class Foreground)
through
color255 class Foreground): These specify the colors for the 256-color extension. The defaults for are for colors 16 through 231 to make a 6x6x6 color cube, and colors 232 through 255 to make a grayscale ramp.
colorBD (class Foreground): This specifies the color to use to display bold characters if the ``colorBDMode'' resource is enabled.
colorBL (class Foreground): This specifies the color to use to display blink characters if the ``colorBLMode'' resource is enabled.
colorUL (class Foreground): This specifies the color to use to display underlined characters if the ``colorULMode'' resource is enabled.
cursorBlink (class CursorBlink): Specifies whether to make the cursor blink. The default is ``false.''
cursorColor (class Foreground): Specifies the color to use for the text cursor. The default is ``black.''
cursorOffTime (class CursorOffTime): Specifies the duration of the "off" part of the cursor blink cycle-time in milliseconds. The default is 300.
cursorOnTime (class CursorOnTime): Specifies the duration of the "on" part of the cursor blink cycle-time, in milliseconds. The default is 600.
highlightColor (class Foreground): Specifies the color to use for the background of selected or otherwise highlighted text. If not specified, reverse video is used.
decTerminalID (class DecTerminalID): Specifies the emulation level (100=VT100, 220=VT220, etc.), used to determine the type of response to a DA control sequence. The default is 100.
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.
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 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. The terminal is put into 7-bit mode. The metaSendsEscape resource may override this. The default is ``true.''
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.
font (class Font): Specifies the name of the normal font. The default is ``fixed.''
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 doublesize characters. Some older font servers cannot do this properly, will return misleading font metrics. The default is ``true''. If disabled, xterm will simulate doublesize characters by drawing normal characters with spaces between them.
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 ``black.''
geometry (class Geometry): Specifies the preferred size and position of the VT102 window.
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.

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.''
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 0 (no border). 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".
internalBorder (class BorderWidth): Specifies the number of pixels between the characters and the window border. The default is 2.
jumpScroll (class JumpScroll): Specifies whether or not jump scroll should be used. 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.
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 run when the user types near the right margin. The default is ``false.''
metaSendsEscape (class MetaSendsEscape): If ``true'', Meta characters 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.''
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.
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.''
pointerColor (class Foreground): Specifies the foreground color of the pointer. The default is ``XtDefaultForeground.''
pointerColorBackground (class Background): Specifies the background color of the pointer. The default is ``XtDefaultBackground.''
pointerShape (class Cursor): Specifies the name of the shape of the pointer. The default is ``xterm.''
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 ``lpr.''
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.''
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.
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. 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.''
scrollKey (class ScrollCond): Specifies whether or not pressing a key should automatically cause the scrollbar to go to the bottom of the scrolling region. 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.''
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.
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.''
titeInhibit (class TiteInhibit): Specifies whether or not xterm should remove 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.
translations (class Translations): Specifies the key and button bindings for menus, selections, ``programmed strings,'' etc. See ACTIONS below.
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.
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. When set via a resource, xterm cannot be switched via control sequences out of UTF-8 mode. The default is ``0'' (off). Any other value will turn on UTF-8 mode.
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.''
wideChars (class WideChars): Specifies if xterm should respond to control sequences that process 16-bit characters.

The following resources are specified as part of the tek4014 widget (class Tek4014):

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.

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.

The mainMenu has the following entries:

securekbd (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the secure() action.
allowsends (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the allow-send-events(toggle) action.
logging (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the logging(toggle) action.
print (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the print() action.
redraw (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the redraw() action.
line1 (class SmeLine): This is a separator.
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.
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.
old function-keys (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the old function-keys(toggle) action.
hp function-keys (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the hp function-keys(toggle) action.
sco function-keys (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the sco function-keys(toggle) action.
sun function-keys (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the sun function-keys(toggle) action.
sun keyboard (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the sun keyboard(toggle) action.
line2 (class SmeLine): This is a separator.
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.
line3 (class SmeLine): This is a separator.
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.
marginbell (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the set-marginbell(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.''
line1 (class SmeLine): This is a separator.
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.
line2 (class SmeLine): This is a separator.
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.
line1 (class SmeLine): This is a separator.
font-linedrawing (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the set-font-linedrawing(s) action.
font-doublesize (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the set-font-doublesize(s) action.

The tekMenu has the following entries:

tektextlarge (class SmeBSB): This entry invokes the set-tek-text(l) 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(s) action.
line1 (class SmeLine): This is a separator.
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.
line2 (class SmeLine): This is a separator.
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.

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.

Pointer Usage

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

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. 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 the cut buffer is globally shared among different applications, you should regard it 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.

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.

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).

Menus

Xterm has four menus, named mainMenu, vtMenu, fontMenu, and tekMenu. Each menu pops up under the correct combinations of key and button presses. Most menus are divided into two section, separated by a horizontal line. The top portion contains various modes that can be altered. A check mark appears next to a mode that is currently active. Selecting one of these modes toggles its state. The bottom portion of the menu are command entries; selecting one of these performs the indicated function.

The xterm menu pops up when the ``control'' key and pointer button one are pressed in a window. The mainMenu contains items that apply to both the VT102 and Tektronix windows. The Secure Keyboard mode is be used when typing in passwords or other sensitive data in an unsecure environment; see SECURITY below. Notable entries in the command section of the menu are the Continue, Suspend, Interrupt, Hangup, Terminate and Kill which sends the SIGCONT, SIGTSTP, SIGINT, SIGHUP, SIGTERM and SIGKILL signals, respectively, to the process group of the process running under xterm (usually the shell). The Continue function is especially useful if the user has accidentally typed CTRL-Z, suspending the process.

The vtMenu sets various modes in the VT102 emulation, and is popped up when the ``control'' key and pointer button two are pressed in the VT102 window. In the command section of this menu, the soft reset entry will reset scroll regions. This can be convenient when some program has left the scroll regions set incorrectly (often a problem when using VMS or TOPS-20). The full reset entry will clear the screen, reset tabs to every eight columns, and reset the terminal modes (such as wrap and smooth scroll) to their initial states just after xterm has finished processing the command line options.

The fontMenu sets the font used in the VT102 window. In addition to the default font and a number of alternatives that are set with resources, the menu offers the font last specified by the Set Font escape sequence (see the document Xterm Control Sequences) and the current selection as a font name (if the PRIMARY selection is owned).

The tekMenu sets various modes in the Tektronix emulation, and is popped up when the ``control'' key and pointer button two are pressed in the Tektronix window. The current font size is checked in the modes section of the menu. The PAGE entry in the command section clears the Tektronix window.

Security

X environments differ in their security consciousness. Most servers, run under xdm, are capable of using a ``magic cookie'' authorization scheme that can provide a reasonable level of security for many people. If your server is only using a host-based mechanism to control access to the server (see xhost(1) ), then if you enable access for a host and other users are also permitted to run clients on that same host, there is every possibility that someone can run an application that will use the basic services of the X protocol to snoop on your activities, potentially capturing a transcript of everything you type at the keyboard. This is of particular concern when you want to type in a password or other sensitive data. The best solution to this problem is to use a better authorization mechanism that host-based control, but a simple mechanism exists for protecting keyboard input in xterm.

The xterm menu (see MENUS above) contains a Secure Keyboard entry which, when enabled, ensures that all keyboard input is directed only to xterm (using the GrabKeyboard protocol request). When an application prompts you for a password (or other sensitive data), you can enable Secure Keyboard using the menu, type in the data, and then disable Secure Keyboard using the menu again. Only one X client at a time can secure the keyboard, so when you attempt to enable Secure Keyboard it may fail. In this case, the bell will sound. If the Secure Keyboard succeeds, the foreground and background colors will be exchanged (as if you selected the Reverse Video entry in the Modes menu); they will be exchanged again when you exit secure mode. If the colors do not switch, then you should be very suspicious that you are being spoofed. If the application you are running displays a prompt before asking for the password, it is safest to enter secure mode before the prompt gets displayed, and to make sure that the prompt gets displayed correctly (in the new colors), to minimize the probability of spoofing. You can also bring up the menu again and make sure that a check mark appears next to the entry.

Secure Keyboard mode will be disabled automatically if your xterm window becomes iconified (or otherwise unmapped), or if you start up a reparenting window manager (that places a title bar or other decoration around the window) while in Secure Keyboard mode. (This is a feature of the X protocol not easily overcome.) When this happens, the foreground and background colors will be switched back and the bell will sound in warning.

Character Classes

Clicking the middle mouse button twice in rapid succession will cause all characters of the same class (e.g. letters, white space, punctuation) to be selected. Since different people have different preferences for what should be selected (for example, should filenames be selected as a whole or only the separate subnames), the default mapping can be overridden through the use of the charClass (class CharClass) resource.

This resource is a series of comma-separated of range:value pairs. The range is either a single number or low-high in the range of 0 to 255, corresponding to the 8-bit code for the character or characters to be set. The value is arbitrary, although the default table uses the character number of the first character occurring in the set.

The default table is

static int charClass[256] = {
/* NUL  SOH  STX  ETX  EOT  ENQ  ACK  BEL */
    32,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,
/*  BS   HT   NL   VT   NP   CR   SO   SI */
     1,  32,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,
/* DLE  DC1  DC2  DC3  DC4  NAK  SYN  ETB */
     1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,
/* CAN   EM  SUB  ESC   FS   GS   RS   US */
     1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,
/*  SP    !    "    #    $    %    &    ' */
    32,  33,  34,  35,  36,  37,  38,  39,
/*   (    )    *    +    ,    -    .    / */
    40,  41,  42,  43,  44,  45,  46,  47,
/*   0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7 */
    48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,
/*   8    9    :    ;    <    =    >    ? */
    48,  48,  58,  59,  60,  61,  62,  63,
/*   @    A    B    C    D    E    F    G */
    64,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,
/*   H    I    J    K    L    M    N    O */
    48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,
/*   P    Q    R    S    T    U    V    W */
    48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,
/*   X    Y    Z    [    \    ]    ^    _ */
    48,  48,  48,  91,  92,  93,  94,  48,
/*   `    a    b    c    d    e    f    g */
    96,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,
/*   h    i    j    k    l    m    n    o */
    48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,
/*   p    q    r    s    t    u    v    w */
    48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,
/*   x    y    z    {    |    }    ~  DEL */
    48,  48,  48, 123, 124, 125, 126,   1,
/* x80  x81  x82  x83  IND  NEL  SSA  ESA */
     1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,
/* HTS  HTJ  VTS  PLD  PLU   RI  SS2  SS3 */
     1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,
/* DCS  PU1  PU2  STS  CCH   MW  SPA  EPA */
     1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,
/* x98  x99  x9A  CSI   ST  OSC   PM  APC */
     1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,   1,
/*   -    i   c/    L   ox   Y-    |   So */
   160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167,
/*  ..   c0   ip   <<    _        R0    - */
   168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175,
/*   o   +-    2    3    '    u   q|    . */
   176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183,
/*   ,    1    2   >>  1/4  1/2  3/4    ? */
   184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191,
/*  A`   A'   A^   A~   A:   Ao   AE   C, */
    48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,
/*  E`   E'   E^   E:   I`   I'   I^   I: */
    48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,
/*  D-   N~   O`   O'   O^   O~   O:    X */
    48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48, 216,
/*  O/   U`   U'   U^   U:   Y'    P    B */
    48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,
/*  a`   a'   a^   a~   a:   ao   ae   c, */
    48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,
/*  e`   e'   e^   e:    i`  i'   i^   i: */
    48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,
/*   d   n~   o`   o'   o^   o~   o:   -: */
    48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  248,
/*  o/   u`   u'   u^   u:   y'    P   y: */
    48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48,  48};

For example, the string ``33:48,37:48,45-47:48,64:48'' indicates that the exclamation mark, percent sign, dash, period, slash, and ampersand characters should be treated the same way as characters and numbers. This is useful for cutting and pasting electronic mailing addresses and filenames.

Actions

It is possible to rebind keys (or sequences of keys) to arbitrary strings for input, by changing the translations for the vt100 or tek4014 widgets. Changing the translations for events other than key and button events is not expected, and will cause unpredictable behavior. The following actions are provided for using within the vt100 or tek4014 translations resources:

allow-send-events(on/off/toggle)

This action set or toggles the allowSendEvents resource and is also invoked by the allowsends entry in mainMenu.

bell([percent])

This action rings the keyboard bell at the specified percentage above or below the base volume.

clear-saved-lines()

This action does hard-reset() (see above) and also clears the history of lines saved off the top of the screen. It is also invoked from the clearsavedlines entry in vtMenu.

create-menu(m/v/f/t)

This action creates one of the menus used by xterm, if it has not been previously created. The parameter values are the menu names: mainMenu, vtMenu, fontMenu, tekMenu, respectively.

deiconify()

Changes the window state back to normal, if it was iconified.

delete-is-del()

This action toggles the state of the deleteIsDEL resource.

dired-button()

Handles a button event (other than press and release) by echoing the event's position (i.e., character line and column) in the following format:

^X ESC G <line+' '> <col+' '>

iconify()

Iconifies the window.

hard-reset()

This action resets the scrolling region, tabs, window size, and cursor keys and clears the screen. It is also invoked from the hardreset entry in vtMenu.

ignore()

This action ignores the event but checks for special pointer position escape sequences.

insert()

This action inserts the character or string associated with the key that was pressed.

insert-eight-bit()

This action inserts an eight-bit (Meta) version of the character or string associated with the key that was pressed. The exact action depends on the value of the metaSendsEscape and the eightBitInput resources.

insert-selection(sourcename [, ...])

This action inserts the string found in the selection or cutbuffer indicated by sourcename. Sources are checked in the order given (case is significant) until one is found. Commonly-used selections include: PRIMARY, SECONDARY, and CLIPBOARD. Cut buffers are typically named CUT_BUFFER0 through CUT_BUFFER7.

insert-seven-bit()

This action is a synonym for insert()

interpret(control-sequence)

Interpret the given control sequence locally, i.e., without passing it to the host. This works by inserting the control sequence at the front of the input buffer. Use "\" to escape octal digits in the string. Xt does not allow you to put a null character (i.e., "\000") in the string.

keymap(name)

This action dynamically defines a new translation table whose resource name is name with the suffix Keymap (case is significant). The name None restores the original translation table.

maximize()

Resizes the window to fill the screen.

meta-sends-escape()

This action toggles the state of the metaSendsEscape resource.

popup-menu(menuname)

This action displays the specified popup menu. Valid names (case is significant) include: mainMenu, vtMenu, fontMenu, and tekMenu.

print()

This action prints the window and is also invoked by the print entry in mainMenu.

quit()

This action sends a SIGHUP to the subprogram and exits. It is also invoked by the quit entry in mainMenu.

redraw()

This action redraws the window and is also invoked by the redraw entry in mainMenu.

restore()

Restores the window to the size before it was last maximized.

scroll-back(count [,units [,mouse] ])

This action scrolls the text window backward so that text that had previously scrolled off the top of the screen is now visible. The count argument indicates the number of units (which may be page, halfpage, pixel, or line) by which to scroll. If the third parameter mouse is given, the action is ignored when mouse reporting is enabled.

scroll-forw(count [,units [,mouse] ])

This action scrolls is similar to scroll-back except that it scrolls the other direction.

secure()

This action toggles the Secure Keyboard mode described in the section named SECURITY, and is invoked from the securekbd entry in mainMenu.

select-cursor-end(destname [, ...])

This action is similar to select-end except that it should be used with select-cursor-start.

select-cursor-start()

This action is similar to select-start except that it begins the selection at the current text cursor position.

select-end(destname [, ...])

This action puts the currently selected text into all of the selections or cutbuffers specified by destname.

select-extend()

This action tracks the pointer and extends the selection. It should only be bound to Motion events.

select-set()

This action stores text that corresponds to the current selection, without affecting the selection mode.

select-start()

This action begins text selection at the current pointer location. See the section on POINTER USAGE for information on making selections.

send-signal(signame)

This action sends the signal named by signame to the xterm subprocess (the shell or program specified with the -e command line option) and is also invoked by the suspend, continue, interrupt, hangup, terminate, and kill entries in mainMenu. Allowable signal names are (case is not significant): tstp (if supported by the operating system), suspend (same as tstp), cont (if supported by the operating system), int, hup, term, quit, alrm, alarm (same as alrm) and kill.

set-allow132(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the c132 resource and is also invoked from the allow132 entry in vtMenu.

set-altscreen(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles between the alternate and current screens.

set-appcursor(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the handling Application Cursor Key mode and is also invoked by the appcursor entry in vtMenu.

set-appkeypad(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the handling of Application Keypad mode and is also invoked by the appkeypad entry in vtMenu.

set-autolinefeed(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles automatic insertion of linefeeds and is also invoked by the autolinefeed entry in vtMenu.

set-autowrap(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles automatic wrapping of long lines and is also invoked by the autowrap entry in vtMenu.

set-backarrow(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the backarrowKey resource and is also invoked from the backarrow key entry in vtMenu.

set-cursorblink(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the cursorBlink resource and is also invoked from the cursorblink entry in vtMenu.

set-cursesemul(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the curses resource and is also invoked from the cursesemul entry in vtMenu.

set-font-doublesize(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the fontDoublesize resource and is also invoked by the font-doublesize entry in fontMenu.

set-hp-function-keys(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the hpFunctionKeys resource and is also invoked by the hp function-keys entry in mainMenu.

set-jumpscroll(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the jumpscroll resource and is also invoked by the jumpscroll entry in vtMenu.

set-font-linedrawing(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the xterm's state regarding whether the current font has line-drawing characters and whether it should draw them directly. It is also invoked by the font-linedrawing entry in fontMenu.

set-logging()

This action toggles the state of the logging option.

set-old-function-keys(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the state of legacy function keys and is also invoked by the old function-keys entry in mainMenu.

set-marginbell(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the marginBell resource and is also invoked from the marginbell entry in vtMenu.

set-num-lock()

This action toggles the state of the numLock resource.

set-reverse-video(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the reverseVideo resource and is also invoked by the reversevideo entry in vtMenu.

set-reversewrap(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the reverseWrap resource and is also invoked by the reversewrap entry in vtMenu.

set-scroll-on-key(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the scrollKey resource and is also invoked from the scrollkey entry in vtMenu.

set-scroll-on-tty-output(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the scrollTtyOutput resource and is also invoked from the scrollttyoutput entry in vtMenu.

set-scrollbar(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the scrollbar resource and is also invoked by the scrollbar entry in vtMenu.

set-sco-function-keys(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the scoFunctionKeys resource and is also invoked by the sco function-keys entry in mainMenu.

set-sun-function-keys(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the sunFunctionKeys resource and is also invoked by the sun function-keys entry in mainMenu.

set-sun-keyboard(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the sunKeyboard resource and is also invoked by the sun keyboard entry in mainMenu.

set-tek-text(large/2/3/small)

This action sets font used in the Tektronix window to the value of the resources tektextlarge, tektext2, tektext3, and tektextsmall according to the argument. It is also by the entries of the same names as the resources in tekMenu.

set-terminal-type(type)

This action directs output to either the vt or tek windows, according to the type string. It is also invoked by the tekmode entry in vtMenu and the vtmode entry in tekMenu.

set-titeInhibit(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the titeInhibit resource, which controls switching between the alternate and current screens.

set-visibility(vt/tek,on/off/toggle)

This action controls whether or not the vt or tek windows are visible. It is also invoked from the tekshow and vthide entries in vtMenu and the vtshow and tekhide entries in tekMenu.

set-visual-bell(on/off/toggle)

This action toggles the visualBell resource and is also invoked by the visualbell entry in vtMenu.

set-vt-font(d/1/2/3/4/5/6/e/s [,normalfont [, boldfont]])

This action sets the font or fonts currently being used in the VT102 window. The first argument is a single character that specifies the font to be used: d or D indicate the default font (the font initially used when xterm was started), 1 through 6 indicate the fonts specified by the font1 through font6 resources, e or E indicate the normal and bold fonts that have been set through escape codes (or specified as the second and third action arguments, respectively), and s or S indicate the font selection (as made by programs such as xfontsel(1) ) indicated by the second action argument.

soft-reset()

This action resets the scrolling region and is also invoked from the softreset entry in vtMenu.

start-extend()

This action is similar to select-start except that the selection is extended to the current pointer location.

start-cursor-extend()

This action is similar to select-extend except that the selection is extended to the current text cursor position.

string(string)

This action inserts the specified text string as if it had been typed. Quotation is necessary if the string contains whitespace or non-alphanumeric characters. If the string argument begins with the characters ``0x'', it is interpreted as a hex character constant.

tek-copy()

This action copies the escape codes used to generate the current window contents to a file in the current directory beginning with the name COPY. It is also invoked from the tekcopy entry in tekMenu.

tek-page()

This action clears the Tektronix window and is also invoked by the tekpage entry in tekMenu.

tek-reset()

This action resets the Tektronix window and is also invoked by the tekreset entry in tekMenu.

vi-button()

Handles a button event (other than press and release) by echoing a control sequence computed from the event's line number in the screen relative to the current line:

ESC ^P or ESC ^N

according to whether the event is before, or after the current line, respectively. The ^N (or ^P) is repeated once for each line that the event differs from the current line. The control sequence is omitted altogether if the button event is on the current line.

visual-bell()

This action flashes the window quickly.

The Tektronix window also has the following action:

gin-press(l/L/m/M/r/R): This action sends the indicated graphics input code.

The default bindings in the VT102 window are:

          Shift <KeyPress> Prior:scroll-back(1,halfpage) \n\
           Shift <KeyPress> Next:scroll-forw(1,halfpage) \n\
         Shift <KeyPress> Select:select-cursor-start() \
                                 select-cursor-end(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0)
\n\
         Shift <KeyPress> Insert:insert-selection(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
                ~Meta <KeyPress>:insert-seven-bit() \n\
                 Meta <KeyPress>:insert-eight-bit() \n\
                !Ctrl <Btn1Down>:popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
           !Lock Ctrl <Btn1Down>:popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
 !Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn1Down>:popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
     ! @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn1Down>:popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
                ~Meta <Btn1Down>:select-start() \n\
              ~Meta <Btn1Motion>:select-extend() \n\
                !Ctrl <Btn2Down>:popup-menu(vtMenu) \n\
           !Lock Ctrl <Btn2Down>:popup-menu(vtMenu) \n\
 !Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn2Down>:popup-menu(vtMenu) \n\
     ! @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn2Down>:popup-menu(vtMenu) \n\
          ~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn2Down>:ignore() \n\
                 Meta <Btn2Down>:clear-saved-lines() \n\
            ~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn2Up>:insert-selection(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
                !Ctrl <Btn3Down>:popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
           !Lock Ctrl <Btn3Down>:popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
 !Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn3Down>:popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
     ! @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn3Down>:popup-menu(fontMenu) \n\
          ~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn3Down>:start-extend() \n\
              ~Meta <Btn3Motion>:select-extend() \n\
                 Ctrl <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
            Lock Ctrl <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
  Lock @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
       @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(1,halfpage,m) \n\
                      <Btn4Down>:scroll-back(5,line,m)     \n\
                 Ctrl <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
            Lock Ctrl <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
  Lock @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
       @Num_Lock Ctrl <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(1,halfpage,m) \n\
                      <Btn5Down>:scroll-forw(5,line,m)     \n\
                         <BtnUp>:select-end(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
                       <BtnDown>:bell(0)

The default bindings in the Tektronix window are:

                ~Meta<KeyPress>:     insert-seven-bit() \n\
                 Meta<KeyPress>:     insert-eight-bit() \n\
               !Ctrl <Btn1Down>:     popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
          !Lock Ctrl <Btn1Down>:     popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn1Down>:    popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
     !Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn1Down>:    popup-menu(mainMenu) \n\
               !Ctrl <Btn2Down>:     popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
          !Lock Ctrl <Btn2Down>:     popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
!Lock Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn2Down>:    popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
     !Ctrl @Num_Lock <Btn2Down>:    popup-menu(tekMenu) \n\
          Shift ~Meta<Btn1Down>:    gin-press(L) \n\
                ~Meta<Btn1Down>:    gin-press(l) \n\
          Shift ~Meta<Btn2Down>:    gin-press(M) \n\
                ~Meta<Btn2Down>:    gin-press(m) \n\
          Shift ~Meta<Btn3Down>:    gin-press(R) \n\
                ~Meta<Btn3Down>:    gin-press(r)

Below is a sample how of the keymap() action is used to add special keys for entering commonly-typed works:

*VT100.Translations: #override <Key>F13: keymap(dbx)
*VT100.dbxKeymap.translations: \
    <Key>F14:    keymap(None) \n\
    <Key>F17:    string("next") string(0x0d) \n\
    <Key>F18:    string("step") string(0x0d) \n\
    <Key>F19:    string("continue") string(0x0d) \n\
    <Key>F20:    string("print ") insert-selection(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0)

Control Sequences and Keyboard

The Xterm Control Sequences document lists the control sequences which an application can send xterm to make it perform various operations. Most of these operations are standardized, from either the DEC or Tektronix terminals, or from more widely used standards such as ISO 6429.

Environment

Xterm sets the environment variables ``TERM'' and ``TERMCAP'' properly for the size window you have created. It also uses and sets the environment variable ``DISPLAY'' to specify which bit map display terminal to use. The environment variable ``WINDOWID'' is set to the X window id number of the xterm window.

Files

The actual pathnames given may differ on your system.

/etc/utmp: the system logfile, which records user logins.
/etc/wtmp: the system logfile, which records user logins and logouts.
/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XTerm: the xterm default application resources.
/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XTerm-color: the xterm color application resources. If your display supports color, use this *customization: -color in your .Xdefaults file to automatically turn on color in xterm and similar applications.

Bugs

Large pastes do not work on some systems. This is not a bug in xterm; it is a bug in the pseudo terminal driver of those systems. xterm feeds large pastes to the pty only as fast as the pty will accept data, but some pty drivers do not return enough information to know if the write has succeeded.

Many of the options are not resettable after xterm starts.

This program still needs to be rewritten. It should be split into very modular sections, with the various emulators being completely separate widgets that don't know about each other. Ideally, you'd like to be able to pick and choose emulator widgets and stick them into a single control widget.

There needs to be a dialog box to allow entry of the Tek COPY file name.

Authors

Far too many people, including:

Loretta Guarino Reid (DEC-UEG-WSL), Joel McCormack (DEC-UEG-WSL), Terry Weissman (DEC-UEG-WSL), Edward Moy (Berkeley), Ralph R. Swick (MIT-Athena), Mark Vandevoorde (MIT-Athena), Bob McNamara (DEC-MAD), Jim Gettys (MIT-Athena), Bob Scheifler (MIT X Consortium), Doug Mink (SAO), Steve Pitschke (Stellar), Ron Newman (MIT-Athena), Jim Fulton (MIT X Consortium), Dave Serisky (HP), Jonathan Kamens (MIT-Athena), Jason Bacon <acadix@execpc.com>, Stephen P. Wall <swall@redcom.com>, David Wexelblat, and Thomas Dickey (XFree86 Project).

Table of Contents

Name
Synopsis
Description
Emulations
Other Features
Options
Resources
Pointer Usage
Menus
Security
Character Classes
Actions
Control Sequences and Keyboard
Environment
Files
See Also
Bugs
Authors