XRDB(1)                              BSD                               XRDB(1)



NAME
     xrdb - X server resource database utility

SYNOPSIS
     xrdb [-option ...] [filename]

DESCRIPTION
     Xrdb is used to get or set the contents of the RESOURCE_MANAGER property
     on the root window of screen 0.  You would normally run this program from
     your X startup file.

     The resource manager (used by the Xlib routine XGetDefault(3X) and the X
     Toolkit) uses the RESOURCE_MANAGER property to get user preferences about
     color, fonts, and so on for applications.  Having this information in the
     server (where it is available to all clients) instead of on disk, solves
     the problem in previous versions of X that required you to maintain
     defaults files on every machine that you might use.  It also allows for
     dynamic changing of defaults without editting files.

     For compatibility, if there is no RESOURCE_MANAGER property defined
     (either because xrdb was not run or if the property was removed), the
     resource manager will look for a file called .Xdefaults in your home
     directory.

     The filename (or the standard input if - or no input file is given) is
     optionally passed through the C preprocessor with the following symbols
     defined, based on the capabilities of the server being used:

     HOST=hostname
             the hostname portion of the display to which you are connected.

     WIDTH=num
             the width of the screen in pixels.

     HEIGHT=num
             the height of the screen in pixels.

     X_RESOLUTION=num
             the x resolution of the screen in pixels per meter.

     Y_RESOLUTION=num
             the y resolution of the screen in pixels per meter.

     PLANES=num
             the number of bit planes for the default visual.

     BITS_PER_RGB=num
             the number of significant bits in an RGB color specification.
             This is the log base 2 of the number of distinct shades of each
             primary that the hardware can generate.  Note that it is not
             related to the number of planes, which the log base 2 of the size
             of the colormap.

     CLASS=visualclass
             one of StaticGray, GrayScale, StaticColor, PseudoColor,
             TrueColor, DirectColor.

     COLOR   only defined if the default visual's type is one of the color
             options.

     Lines that begin with an exclamation mark (!) are ignored and may be used

     as comments.

OPTIONS
     xrdb program accepts the following options:

     -help   This option (or any unsupported option) will cause a brief
             description of the allowable options and parameters to be
             printed.

     -display display
             This option specifies the X server to be used; see X(1).

     -cpp filename
             This option specifies the pathname of the C preprocessor program
             to be used.  Although xrdb was designed to use CPP, any program
             that acts as a filter and accepts the -D, -I, and -U options may
             be used.

     -nocpp  This option indicates that xrdb should not run the input file
             through a preprocessor before loading it into the
             RESOURCE_MANAGER property.

     -symbols
             This option indicates that the symbols that are defined for the
             preprocessor should be printed onto the standard output.  It can
             be used in conjunction with -query, but not with the options that
             change the RESOURCE_MANAGER property.

     -query  This option indicates that the current contents of the
             RESOURCE_MANAGER property should be printed onto the standard
             output.  Note that since preprocessor commands in the input
             resource file are part of the input file, not part of the
             property, they won't appear in the output from this option.  The
             -edit option can be used to merge the contents of the property
             back into the input resource file without damaging preprocessor
             commands.

     -load   This option indicates that the input should be loaded as the new
             value of the RESOURCE_MANAGER property, replacing whatever what
             there (i.e.  the old contents are removed).  This is the default
             action.

     -merge  This option indicates that the input should be merged with,
             instead of replacing, the current contents of the
             RESOURCE_MANAGER property.  Since xrdb can read the standard
             input, this option can be used to the change the contents of the
             RESOURCE_MANAGER property directly from a terminal or from a
             shell script.

     -remove This option indicates that the RESOURCE_MANAGER property should
             be removed from its window.

     -edit filename
             This option indicates that the contents of the RESOURCE_MANAGER
             property should be edited into the given file, replacing any
             values already listed there.  This allows you to put changes that
             you have made to your defaults back into your resource file,
             preserving any comments or preprocessor lines.

     -backup string
             This option specifies a suffix to be appended to the filename
             used with -edit to generate a backup file.

     -Dname[=value]
             This option is passed through to the preprocessor and is used to
             define symbols for use with conditionals such as #ifdef.

     -Uname  This option is passed through to the preprocessor and is used to
             remove any definitions of this symbol.

     -Idirectory
             This option is passed through to the preprocessor and is used to
             specify a directory to search for files that are referenced with
             #include.

FILES
     Generalizes ~/.Xdefaults files.

SEE ALSO
     X(1), XGetDefault(3X), Xlib Resource Manager documentation

ENVIRONMENT
     DISPLAY to figure out which display to use.

BUGS
     The default for no arguments should be to query, not to overwrite, so
     that it is consistent with other programs.

COPYRIGHT
     Copyright 1988, Digital Equipment Corporation.

AUTHORS
     Phil Karlton, rewritten from the original by Jim Gettys