XSET(1) XSET(1)
NAME
xset - user preference utility for X
SYNOPSIS
xset [-display display] [-b] [b on/off] [b [volume
[pitch [duration]]] [-c]
[c on/off] [c [volume]] [[-+]fp[-+=] path[,path[,...]]]
[fp default]
[fp rehash] [[-]led [integer]] [led on/off] [m[ouse]
[acceleration
[threshold]]] [m[ouse] default] [p pixel color] [[-]r]
[r on/off] [s [length
[period]]] [s blank/noblank] [s expose/noexpose] [s
on/off] [s default] [q]
DESCRIPTION
This program is used to set various user preference
options of the display.
OPTIONS
-display display
specifies the server to use.
b
controls bell volume, pitch and duration. Accepts up
to three numerical parameters, a preceding dash (-),
or an on/off flag. If no parameters are given or the
on flag is used, the system defaults will be used.
This means that if the system default is set to off,
the command xset b on has the effect of turning the
bell off.
To turn the bell on, specify an appropriate value for
volume. If the dash or off are given, the bell will
be turned off. If only one numerical parameter is
given, the bell volume will be set to that value as a
percentage of its maximum. Likewise, the second
numerical parameter specifies the bell pitch, in
hertz, and the third numerical parameter specifies
the duration in milliseconds. Note that not all
hardware can vary the bell characteristics. The X
server sets the characteristics of the bell as
closely as it can to the user's specifications.
c
Controls key click. Can take an optional value, a
preceding dash (-), or an on/off flag. If no
parameter or the on flag is given, the system
defaults will be used. This means that if the system
default is set to off, the command xset c on has the
effect of turning the key click off. To turn the key
click on, specify an appropriate value for volume.
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XSET(1) XSET(1)
If the dash or off flag is used, key click will be
disabled. If a value from 0 to 100 is given, it is
used to indicate volume as a percentage of the
maximum. The X server sets the volume to the nearest
value that the hardware can support.
fp= path,...
Sets the font path to the directories given in the
path argument. The directories are interpreted by
the server, not by the client, and are server-
dependent. Directories that do not contain font
databases created by mkfontdir are ignored by the
server.
fp default
Causes the font path to be reset to the server's
default.
fp rehash
Causes the server to reread the font databases in the
current font path. This is generally used when
adding new fonts to a font directory (after running
mkfontdir to recreate the font database).
-fp or fp-
Remove elements from the current font path. Either
option must be followed by a comma-separated list of
directories.
+fp or fp+
Prepend and append elements to the current font path,
respectively. Either option must be followed by a
comma-separated list of directories.
led
Controls the turning on or off of one or all of the
LEDs. It accepts an optional integer, a preceding
dash (-) or an on/off flag. If no parameter or the
on flag is given, all LEDs are turned on. If a
preceding dash or the off flag is given, all LEDs are
turned off. If a value between 1 and 32 is given,
that LED will be turned on or off depending on the
existence of a preceding dash.
A common LED that can be controlled is the Caps LOCK
LED. xset led 3 will turn LED #3 on. xset -led 3
will turn it off. The particular LED values may
refer to different LEDs on different hardware.
m
Controls the mouse parameters. The parameters for
the mouse are acceleration and threshold. The mouse,
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XSET(1) XSET(1)
or whatever pointer the machine is connected to, will
go acceleration times as fast when it travels more
than threshold pixels in a short time. This way, the
mouse can be used for precise alignment when it is
moved slowly, yet it can be set to travel across the
screen in a flick of the wrist when desired. One or
both parameters for the m option can be omitted, but
if only one is given, it will be interpreted as the
acceleration. If no parameters or the flag default
is used, the system defaults are set.
p
Controls pixel color values. The parameters are the
color map entry number in decimal and a color
specification. The root background colors may be
changed on some servers by altering the entries for
BlackPixel and WhitePixel. Although these are often
0 and 1, they need not be. Also, a server may choose
to allocate those colors privately, in which case an
error will be generated. The map entry must not be a
read-only color, or an error will result.
r
Controls the autorepeat. If a preceding dash or the
off flag is used, autorepeat will be disabled. If no
parameters or the on flag is used, autorepeat will be
enabled.
s
Lets you set the screen-saver parameters. Accepts up
to two numerical parameters, a blank/noblank flag, an
expose/noexpose flag, an on/off flag, or the default
flag. If no parameters or the default flag is used,
the system will be set to its default screen saver
characteristics.
The on/off flags simply turn the screen saver
functions on or off. The blank flag sets the
preference to blank the video (if the hardware can do
so) rather than display a background pattern, while
noblank sets the preference to display a pattern
rather than blank the video. The expose flag sets
the preference to allow window exposures (the server
can freely discard window contents), while noexpose
sets the preference to disable screen saver unless
the server can regenerate the screens without causing
exposure events.
The length and period parameters for the screen saver
function determine how long the server must be
inactive for screen saving to activate and the period
to change the background pattern to avoid burn in.
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The arguments are specified in seconds. If only one
numerical parameter is given, it is used for the
length.
q
Gives you information on the current settings.
These settings are reset to default values when you log
out.
Note that not all X implementations are guaranteed to
honor all of these options.
SEE ALSO
xmodmap(1), xrdb(1), xsetroot(1)
AUTHOR
Bob Scheifler, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
David Krikorian, MIT Project Athena (X11 version)
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