XTERM(1) BSD XTERM(1)
NAME
xterm - terminal emulator for X
SYNOPSIS
xterm [-toolkitoption ...] [-option ...]
DESCRIPTION
The xterm program is a terminal emulator for the X Window System. It
provides DEC VT102 and Tektronix 4014 terminal emulation for programs
that can't use the window system directly.
The VT102 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 and
whose border highlights whenever the pointer is in either window. The
active window can be choosen through escape sequences, the ``Modes'' menu
in the VT102 window, and the ``Tektronix'' menu in the 4014 window.
OPTIONS
The xterm terminal emulator accepts all of the standard X Toolkit command
line options along with the additional options listed below (if the
option begins with a `+' instead of a `-', the option is restored to its
default value):
-help This causes xterm to print out a verbose message describing its
options.
-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 and borders. 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.
-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.
-cc characterclassrange:value[,...]
This sets classes indicated by the given ranges for using in
selecting by words. See the section specifying character
classes.
-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
curses(3x) cursor motion package that causes the more(1) program
to display lines that are exactly the width of the window and are
followed by a line beginning with a tab to be displayed
incorrectly (the leading tabs are not displayed).
+cu This option indicates that that xterm should not work around the
curses(3x) bug mentioned above.
-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 bold font is
``vtbold.''
-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 ``Modes'' menu can be used to turn this feature on
or off.
+j This option indicates that xterm should not do jump scrolling.
-l This option indicates that xterm should send all terminal output
to a log file as well as to the screen. This option can be
enabled or disabled using the ``xterm X11'' menu.
+l This option indicates that xterm should not do logging.
-lf filename
This option specifies the name of the file to which the output
log described above is written. If file begins with a pipe
symbol (|), the rest of the string is assumed to be a command to
be used as the endpoint of a pipe. The default filename is
``XtermLog.XXXXX'' (where XXXXX is the process id of xterm) and
is created in the directory from which xterm was started (or the
user's home directory in the case of a login window).
-ls This option indicates that the shell that is started in the xterm
window 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).
+ls This option indicates that the shell that is started should not
be a login shell (i.e. it will be 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 ``Modes'' menu.
+mb This option indicates that margin bell should not be rung.
-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.
-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 ``Modes'' 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.
-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 ``Modes'' 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
``Modes'' 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.
-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 ``Modes'' menus.
+t This option indicates that xterm should start in VT102 mode.
-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. This is ignored when -L
is given since getty resets the terminal. 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.
-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.
-ut This option indicates that xterm shouldn't write a record into
the the system log file /etc/utmp.
+ut This option indicates that xterm should write a record into the
system log file /etc/utmp.
-vb This option indicates that a visual bell is prefered 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.
-C This option indicates that this window should receive console
output. This is not supported on all systems.
-Sccn This option specifies the last two letters of the name of a
pseudoterminal to use in slave mode. 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 prefered size and position of the
Tektronix window. It is shorthand for specifying the
"*tekGeometry" resource.
#geom This option specifies the prefered 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 -reversevideo or -rv.
-w number
This option specifies the width in pixels of the border
surrounding the window. It is equivalent to -borderwidth or -bw.
-L This option indicates that xterm was started by init. In this
mode, xterm does not try to allocate a new pseudoterminal as init
has already done so. In addition, the system program getty is
run instead of the user's shell. This option has been
superceeded by the new xdm program; furthermore, this option
should never be used by users when starting terminal windows.
The following standard X Toolkit command line arguments are commonly used
with xterm:
-bg color
This option specifies the color to use for the background of the
window. The default is ``white.''
-bd color
This option specifies the color to use for the border of the
window. The default is ``black.''
-bw number
This option specifies the width in pixels of the border
surrounding the window.
-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.
-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.
-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.
-rv This option indicates that reverse video should be simulated by
swapping the foreground and background colors.
-geometry geometry
This option specifies the preferred size and position of the
VT102 window; see X(1).
tekGeometry (class Geometry)
Specifies the prefered size and position of the Tektronix window.
-display display
This option specifies the X server to contact; see X(1).
-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.
-iconic This option indicates that xterm should ask the window manager to
start it as an icon rather than as the normal window.
X DEFAULTS
The program understands all of the core X Toolkit resource names and
classes as well as:
iconGeometry (class IconGeometry)
Specifies the prefered size and position of the application when
iconified. It is not necessarily obeyed by all window managers.
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. This option is ignored
when -L is given since getty resets the terminal. 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. This is very useful for
overriding the default terminal settings without having to do an
stty every time an xterm is started.
utmpInhibit (class UtmpInhibit)
Specifies whether or not xterm should try to record the user's
terminal in /etc/utmp.
sunFunctionKeys (class SunFunctionKeys)
Specifies whether or not Sun Function Key escape codes should be
generated for function keys instead of standard escape sequences.
The following resources are specified as part of the ``vt100'' widget
(class ``VT100''):
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.
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.
font (class Font)
Specifies the name of the normal font. The default is
``vtsingle.''
boldFont (class Font)
Specifies the name of the bold font. The default is ``vtbold.''
c132 (class C132)
Specifies whether or not the VT102 DECCOLM escape sequence should
be honored. The default is ``false.''
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 curses(3x) should
be worked around. The default is ``false.''
background (class Background)
Specifies the color to use for the background of the window. The
default is ``white.''
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.''
cursorColor (class Foreground)
Specifies the color to use for the text cursor. The default is
``black.''
geometry (class Geometry)
Specifies the prefered size and position of the VT102 window.
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 ``false''.
logFile (class Logfile)
Specifies the name of the file to which a terminal session is
logged. The default is ``XtermLog.XXXXX'' (where XXXXX is the
process id of xterm).
logging (class Logging)
Specifies whether or not a terminal session should be logged.
The default is ``false.''
logInhibit (class LogInhibit)
Specifies whether or not terminal session logging should be
inhibited. The default is ``false.''
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.''
multiScroll (class MultiScroll)
Specifies whether or not asynchronous scrolling is allowed. The
default is ``false.''
nMarginBell (class Column)
Specifies the number of characters from the right margin at which
the margin bell should be run, when enabled.
pointerColor (class Foreground)
Specifies the color of the pointer. The default is ``black.''
pointerShape (class Cursor)
Specifies the name of the shape of the pointer. The default is
``xterm.''
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.''
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.''
scrollInput (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.''
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.''
signalInhibit (class SignalInhibit)
Specifies whether or not the entries in the ``xterm X11'' menu
for sending signals to xterm should be disallowed. The default
is ``false.''
tekInhibit (class TekInhibit)
Specifies whether or not Tektronix mode should be disallowed.
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 or te
termcap entries (used to switch between alternate screens on
startup of many screen-oriented programs) from the TERMCAP
string.
translations (class Translations)
Specifies the key and button bindings for menus, selections,
``programmed strings'', etc. See KEY/BUTTON BINDINGS below.
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.''
The following resources are specified as part of the ``tek4014'' widget
(class ``Tek4014''):
width (class Width)
Specifies the width of the Tektronix window in pixels.
height (class Height)
Specifies the height of the Tektronix window in pixels.
The following resources are specified as part of the ``menu'' widget:
menuBorder (class MenuBorder)
Specifies the size in pixels of the border surrounding menus.
The default is 2.
menuFont (class Font)
Specifies the name of the font to use for displaying menu items.
menuPad (class MenuPad)
Specifies the number of pixels between menu items and the menu
border. The default is 3.
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.
EMULATIONS
The VT102 emulation is fairly complete, but does not support the blinking
character attribute nor the double-wide and double-size character sets.
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.
Many of the special xterm features (like logging) 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 provides for four different font sizes and
five different lines types. 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 ``COPYyy-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).
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 KEY/BUTTON BINDINGS 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. 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, that is 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 dows 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 buton is pressed, the
corresponding upper case letter is sent. To distinquish 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 three menus, named xterm and Modes, and Tektronix. 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 modes section contains items that apply to
the VT102 and Tektronix windows. The Secure Keyboard mode should be used
when typing in passwords or other sensitive data; 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 Modes menu 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 Tektronix menu 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. The servers
provided by MIT use a host-based mechanism to control access to the
server (see xhost(1)). If you enable access for a host, and other users
are also permitted to run clients on that host, there is the possibility
that someone will run an application that will attempt to use the basic
services of the X protocol to snoop on your activities, and potentially
capture 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 for the industry to choose a
standard authorization mechanism, with the necessary operating system
support, and to incorporate this into the X protocol (which is already
designed to handle such a mechanism). In the mean time, since passwords
are most commonly typed to something running in an xterm window, 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 simply a list of range:value pairs where the range is
either a single number or low-high in the range of 0 to 127,
corresponding to the ASCII 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[128] = {
/* 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};
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 very useful for cutting and pasting electronic mailing addresses
and Unix filenames.
KEY TRANSLATIONS
It is possible to rebind keys (or sequences of keys) to arbitrary strings
for input, by changing the translations for the vt100 widget. Changing
the translations for events other than key and button events is not
expected, and will cause unpredictable behavior.
The actions available for key translations are:
secure() Toggles the Secure Keyboard mode; see SECURITY.
insert() Processes the key in the normal way; i.e. inserts the
ASCII character code corresponding to the keysym found in
the keyboard mapping table into the input stream.
string(string) Rebinds the key or key sequence to the string value; that
is, inserts the string argument into the input stream.
XTERM(1) BSD XTERM(1)
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 and the corresponding character is sent in the
normal way.
keymap(name) The keymap action takes a single string argument naming a
resource to be used to dynamically define a new
translation table; the name of the resource is obtained by
appending the string ``Keymap'' to name. The keymap name
None restores the original translation table (the very
first one; a stack is not maintained). Upper/lower case
is significant.
insert-selection(name[,name]...)
Retrieves the value of the first (left-most) named
selection that exists or cut buffer that is non-empty and
inserts the value into the input stream. Name is the name
of any selection, for example, PRIMARY or SECONDARY, or
the name of a cut buffer: CUT_BUFFER0, ..., CUT_BUFFER7.
Upper/lower case is significant.
For example, a debugging session might benefit from the following
bindings:
*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)
KEY/BUTTON BINDINGS
Within the VT100 widget the key and button bindings for selecting text,
pasting text, and activating the menus are controlled by the translation
bindings. In addition to the actions listed above under KEY
TRANSLATIONS, the following actions are available:
mode-menu() Posts one of the two mode menus, depending on which button
is pressed.
select-start() Unselects any previously selected text and begins
selecting new text.
select-extend()
Continues selecting text from the previous starting
position.
start-extend() Begins extending the selection from the farthest (left or
right) edge.
select-end(name[,name]...)
Ends the text selection. Name is the name of a selection,
or the name of a cut buffer into which the text is to be
copied. Xterm will assert ownership of all the selections
named and will copy the text into each of the cut buffers.
Upper/lower case is significant.
ignore() Quietly discards the key or button event.
bell([volume]) Rings the bell at the specified volume increment
above/below the base volume.
The default bindings are:
<KeyPress>:insert() \n\
Ctrl ~Meta <Btn1Down>:mode-menu() \n\
~Meta <Btn1Down>:select-start() \n\
~Meta <Btn1Motion>:select-extend() \n\
Ctrl ~Meta <Btn2Down>:mode-menu() \n\
~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn2Down>:ignore() \n\
~Meta <Btn2Up>:insert-selection(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0)
\n\ ~Ctrl ~Meta <Btn3Down>:start-extend() \n\
~Meta <Btn3Motion>:select-extend() \n\
~Meta <BtnUp>:select-end(PRIMARY, CUT_BUFFER0) \n\
<BtnDown>:bell(0)
STARTING XTERM FROM INIT
Warning, this feature is now obsolete and may not be supported in future
releases. Sites using this method should switch to xdm instead.
On operating systems such as 4.3bsd and Ultrix, the server and initial
login window are normally started automatically by init(8).
By convention, the pseudoterminal with the highest minor device number
(e.g. /dev/ttyqf and /dev/ptyqf) is renamed for the lowest display number
(e.g. /dev/ttyv0 and /dev/ptyv0). Machines that have more than one
display can repeat this process using ttyqe for ttyv1, and so on.
Once the pseudoterminals are in place, a line similar to the following
may be added to /etc/ttys (replacing Xqvss with the appropriate server
and putting it all on one line):
ttyv0 "/usr/bin/X11/xterm -L -geom 80x24+1+1 -display :0"
xterm on secure window="/usr/bin/X11/Xqvss :0"
Sites that used to run X10 should note that the colon in the server
display number is required.
Although the release will install both the X server and xterm in
/usr/bin/X11 by default, many sites choose to make a copy of both of
these programs on the root partition (usually in /etc) so that they may
still be used even if the partition containing /usr/bin/X11 isn't
mounted.
Some versions of init have relatively small program name buffer sizes and
treat all sharp signs as comment delimiters. Sites that wish to list
large numbers of options on the xterm line will need to write a small
shell script to exec the long xterm line. The best solution, of course,
is to use xdm.
OTHER FEATURES
Xterm automatically highlights the window border and text cursor when the
pointer enters the window (selected) and unhighlights them when the
pointer leaves the window (unselected). If the window is the focus
window, then the window 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 replace 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 restore the screen on exit.
In either VT102 or Tektronix mode, there are escape sequences to change
the name of the windows and to specify a new log file name.
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.
SEE ALSO
resize(1), X(1), pty(4), tty(4)
``Xterm Control Sequences''
BUGS
The -L option is no longer needed as the new xdm display manager system
handles logging in in a much cleaner way. No more messing around with
trying to match colors in /etc/ttys or worrying about an unwanted login
window. This option may be removed in future releases.
Xterm will hang forever if you try to paste too much text at one time.
It is both producer and consumer for the pty and can deadlock.
Variable-width fonts are not handled reasonably.
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.
The focus is considered lost if some other client (e.g., the window
manager) grabs the pointer; it is difficult to do better without an
addition to the protocol.
There needs to be a dialog box to allow entry of log file name and the
COPY file name.
Many of the options are not resettable after xterm starts.
The Tek widget does not support key/button re-binding.
This manual page is too long. There should be a separate users manual
defining all of the non-standard escape sequences.
All programs should be written to use X directly; then we could eliminate
this program.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1988, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
See X(1) for a full statement of rights and permissions. Notes about
Security are Copyright 1989, Apollo Computer Inc.
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), Brian Holt (Apollo)