xterm(1) xterm(1)
NAME
xterm - terminal emulator for X
SYNOPSIS
xterm [-toolkitoption . . .] [-option . . .]
DESCRIPTION
xterm is the UnixWare Desktop terminal emulator. It can be
invoked with the Terminal icon in the Applications folder of
the UnixWare Desktop. xterm also supports most of the DEC
VT102 escape sequences. When running on a color console,
xterm honors the ANSI standard color escape sequences. Thus,
curses-based color applications can run under xterm.
Each invocation of xterm produces a separate X window, in
which terminal emulation is performed. This emulation allows
non-X applications to be run from within the X environment.
Although more than one X window may be displayed concurrently,
only one X window may accept keyboard input at a time. The
window which is currently accepting keyboard input is known as
the ``active'' window.
By invoking xterm with the -ml option, you can use mouseless
operations to access the xterm menu and to operate the
scrollbar. You can also use mnemonics for all xterm menu
options. However, mouseless operations will not work for text
selection.
Options
xterm accepts all of the following options:
-b inner_border_width
specify the size of the inner border (the distance
between the outer edge of the characters and the
window border) in pixels. It can range between 3
and 40. The default is 3.
-cr color specify the color to use for text cursor (default is
black)
-C This option allows console logging for System V
Release 4 systems only. When xterm is invoked with
the -C option, xterm displays all console messages
written to the log driver. Messages written
directly to /dev/console will not be picked up.
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Note that the -C option does not constitute a
general console window facility. Only messages
written to /dev/console will be picked up [see
syslog(3G) and syslogd(1M)].
-e program [arguments . . .]
specify the program (and its command line arguments)
to be run in the xterm window. The default is the
user's shell. This must be the last option on the
command line. program must be a character-based
application or an X-based application that performs
character-based output (usually printf style).
xterm returns 0.
-E program [arguments . . .]
identical to the -e option, except xterm returns the
exit status of program.
-fb font specify a font to be used when displaying bold text.
There is no default.
It is the user's responsibility to select a bold
font with 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.
-j use jump scrolling (default)
+j do not use jump scrolling
-l send all terminal output to a log file as well as to
the screen. This option can be enabled or disabled
using the xterm property window. The default is no
logging. This option can be turned on and off from
the property window.
+l do not do logging
-lf filename
specify 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.nnnnn"
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(where nnnnn is a string that makes the log filename
unique) 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 start the shell in the xterm window as a login
shell, that is, the first character of argv[0] will
be a dash, indicating to a shell that it should read
the user's .login or .profile.
-mb ring margin bell when the user types near the right
end of a line. This option can be turned on and off
from the xterm property window. The default is +mb.
+mb do not ring margin bell
-ml recognize mouseless keyboard sequences to bring up
the menu, request help, and scroll. Without this
option, xterm forwards all keyboard input to the
shell.
+ml forward all keyboard input to the child shell. This
is the default.
-ms color specify the color of the mouse pointer (default is
black)
-n string specify the icon name for xterm's windows. (default
is xterm)
-nb positive integer
specify the number of characters from the right end
of a line at which the margin bell, if enabled, will
ring. The default is 10.
-r simulate reverse video. It is equivalent to -rv and
the default is no reverse video.
-rs user can resize an xterm window while a curses-based
application is running (see cursesResize resource)
+rs user cannot resize an xterm window while a curses-
based application is running (see cursesResize
resource). This is the default.
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-rw allow reverse-wraparound. This allows the cursor to
back up from the leftmost column of one line to the
rightmost column of the previous line. This option
can be turned on and off from the xterm property
window. The default is off. Wraparound must be
enabled for reverse wraparound to work.
+rw do not allow reverse-wraparound
-sb bring xterm up with a scrollbar
+sb bring xterm up without a scrollbar The default is
with scrollbar.
-sl positive integer
specify the number of scrolled off the top of the
screen lines to save. The default is 64; the
maximum allowed is 256.
-T string equivalent to the title resource (default is xterm,
except when xterm is invoked with the Terminal icon,
when it is set to Terminal)
-vb use visual bell. Instead of ringing the terminal
bell whenever a CTRL-G is received, the window will
be flashed. The default is audible.
+vb do not use visual bell
The following command line arguments are provided for
compatibility reasons. They may not be supported in the next
release as the X Toolkit provides standard options that
accomplish the same task.
-w positive integer
specify the width in pixels of the border
surrounding the window. It is equivalent to -bw.
It can range between 1 and 40. The default width is
one pixel.
The following standard X Toolkit command line arguments are
commonly used with xterm:
-bd color specify the color to use for the border of the
window. The default is ``black.''
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-bg color specify the color to use for the background of the
window. The default is ``white.''
-bw positive integer
specify the width in pixels of the border
surrounding the window. It is equivalent to -w.
The default width is one pixel.
-display display
specify the X server to contact; the default is
unix:0 and specify the console device [see X(1)]
-fg color specify the color to use for displaying text. The
default is ``black.''
-fn font specify the font to be used for displaying normal
text. The default font is LucidaTypewriter Medium.
An appropriate size will be chosen at startup based
on screen resolution, to give a 12-point font.
Applications that require alternate character set
(line drawing characters) should specify one of the
following fonts: fixed, 6x10, 8x13, 8x13bold. Use
xlsfonts to see what font are available on the
server.
-geometry geometry
specify the preferred size and position of the xterm
window in characters.
geometry is specified as -geometry WxH_X_Y, with W =
width in columnar characters and H = number of rows.
X and Y are always measured in pixels with the upper
left corner X pixels to the right and Y pixels below
the upper left corner of the screen (origin (0,0)).
The maximum H is 128 and maximum W is 200. The
default H is 25 and default W is 80.
Note that if the window is larger than the screen,
xterm will automatically reduce its size to the size
of the screen. Also note that the window manager
may modify geometry requests if the resulting window
is totally off-screen.
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WxH can be omitted to obtain the default application
size, or +X+Y can be omitted to obtain the default
application position (which is usually then left up
to the window manager or user to choose). The X and
Y values may be negative to position the window off
the screen. In addition, if minus signs are used
instead of plus signs (for example, WxH-X-Y), then
(X,Y) represents the location of the lower right
hand corner of the window relative to the lower
right hand corner of the screen.
-i ask the Window Manager to start it as an icon rather
than as the normal window
-name name
specify the application name under which resources
are to be obtained, rather than the default
executable file name.
-rv reverse video will be affected by swapping the
foreground and background colors The default is no
reverse video.
-xrm resourcestring
specify a resource string to be used. This is
especially useful for setting resources that do not
have separate command line options.
Resources
xterm has the following resource names and classes as well as:
name (class Name)
specify the application name under which resources
are to be obtained, rather than the default
executable file name
title (class Title)
specify a string that will be displayed in the
header of the window, if the window manager is
running
allowSendEvents (class AllowSendEvents)
specify whether or not synthetic key and button
events (generated using the X protocol SendEvent
request) should be interpreted (TRUE) or discarded
(FALSE). The default is discard. Note that
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allowing such events creates a very large security
gap.
background (class TextBackground)
specify the color to use for the background of the
window. The default is ``white.'' The background
will be the same color as the ``Text Background''
color specified on the desktop Color Property Sheet.
If the background is not specified in the .Xdefaults
file, different values for Background and Text
Background will cause xterm menus and text windows
to have different background colors.
boldFont (class Font)
specify the name of the bold font. There is no
default.
borderColor (class BorderColor)
specify the color of the border surrounding the
xterm text window. The default is ``black.''
console (class Console)
turn on console logging. When xterm is invoked with
the -C option, xterm displays all console messages
written to the log driver. Messages written
directly to /dev/console will not be picked up. See
the information under the -C option.
cursesResize (class CursesResize)
specify is users may resize the window while a
curses-based application is running. When ``true,''
a user may resize the window. When ``false,'' a
user may not resize the window. The default is
``false.''
font (class Font)
specify the name of the normal font. See -fn for
other supported fonts and more information.
fontColor (class TextFontColor)
specify 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.''
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fontGroup (class FontGroup)
specify several fonts used for drawing non-English
characters. The fontGroup specified must match a
valid name. fontGroup names are specified via the
fontGroupDef application resource.
geometry (class Geometry)
specify the preferred size and position of the xterm
window.
iconName (classIconName)
specify the icon name for xterm window. Default
xterm.
inputFocusColor (class Foreground)
specify the color to use for the text cursor. The
default is ``black.''
internalBorder (class BorderWidth)
specify the number of pixels between the characters
and the window border. The default is 3.
jumpScroll (class JumpScroll)
specify if jump scrolling should be used. The
default is ``true.''
logFile (class Logfile)
specify the name of the file to which a terminal
session is logged. The default is "xtermLog.nnnnn"
(where nnnnn is sequence of characters that make the
log file name unique).
logging (class Logging)
specify whether or not a terminal session should be
logged. The default is ``false.'' Note that
logging can be done in only one window at a time.
logInhibit (class LogInhibit)
specify whether or not terminal session logging
should be inhibited. The default is ``false.''
loginShell (class LoginShell)
specify whether or not the shell to be run in the
window should be started as a login shell. The
default is ``false.''
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marginBell (class MarginBell)
specify whether or not the bell should be run when
the user types near the right margin. The default
is ``false.''
mouseless recognize ``mouseless'' keyboard sequenced to bring
up the menu, request help, and scroll. The default
is ``false.'' With the default, all keyboard input
received by xterm is sent to the program running
under xterm.
nMarginBell (class Column)
specify the number of characters from the right
margin at which the margin bell should be run, when
enabled. The default is 10 characters from the end
of the line.
pointerColor (class Foreground)
specify the color of the pointer. The default is
``black.''
reverseVideo (class ReverseVideo)
specify whether or not reverse video should be
affected. The default is ``false.''
reverseWrap (class ReverseWrap)
specify whether or not reverse-wraparound should be
enabled. The default is ``false.''
saveLines (class SaveLines)
specify the number of lines to save beyond the top
of the screen when a scrollbar is turned on. The
maximum is 256. The default is 64.
scrollBar (class ScrollBar)
specify whether or not the scrollbar should be
displayed. The default is ``true.''
signalInhibit (class SignalInhibit)
specify whether or not the entries in the ``xterm''
menu for sending signals to xterm should be
disallowed. The default is ``false.''
ttyModes (class TtyModes)
specify stty values. Valid keywords include dsusp,
eof, eol, erase, flush, intr, kill, lnext quit,
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rprnt, start, stop susp, swtch, and weras. The
format of this resource, for example, is
xterm*ttyModes: erase ^H kill ^K intr ^C
visualBell (class VisualBell)
specify whether or not a visible bell (for example,
flashing) should be used instead of an audible bell
when Control-G is received. The default is ``off.''
Environment
The following environment variables are used or affected by
xterm.
CONSEM setting this environment variable to ``yes'' and
exporting it allows xterm to use the CONSOLE emulation
streams module. Using this streams module results in
xterm providing additional console emulation, but also
results in some performance degradation. By default,
this is set to ``no.''
DISPLAY
Use this environment variable to specify the bitmap
display terminal.
TERM xterm sets this environment variable properly for the
type of display and font you are using. By default,
TERM=xterm on color displays and TERM=xtermm on
monochrome displays. If xterm uses a font which has
alternate character set characters defined,
TERM=xterm-acs on color displays and TERM=xtermm-acs on
monochrome displays.
WINDOWID
xterm sets this environment variable to the X window ID
number of the xterm window.
USAGE
Fonts
The default font for xterm does not support alternate
character sets. To obtain a font with alternate character
sets, use one of the following fonts: fixed, 6x10, 8x13, 8x13
bold, or any other font that has ACS defined.
Terminal Emulation
xterm VT102 emulation is fairly complete but does not support
the blinking character attribute nor the double-wide and
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double-size character sets.
Scrollbar
The scrollbar represents the position and amount of text
currently displayed in the window relative to the amount of
text actually saved. As more text is saved (up to the
maximum), the elevator moves to the bottom of the scrollbar.
Pressing the SELECT pointer button on the middle portion of
the elevator and moving the mouse cursor up or down results in
scrolling up or down through the scrolling region.
Clicking SELECT on the up or down arrow (at each end of the
elevator) moves the visible text region up or down one line.
Pressing SELECT on the up or down arrow scrolls the visible
text region one line at the time until the SELECT is released
or the margin of the text buffer is reached.
Clicking SELECT in the scroll region above or below the
elevator moves the visible region one page up or down.
Clicking ADJUST in the scroll region above or below the
elevator moves the visible region to the top or bottom of the
buffer. Clicking PASTE in the scroll region will move the
elevator directly to the position of the mouse pointer.
Menus
xterm's menu can be accessed by pressing or clicking the MENU
button while on the xterm window pane. The menu contains
commands which perform individual xterm functions. Choosing a
button to select any of the entries on the menus activates the
indicated functions. Notable entries in the command sections
of the menus are the Interrupt, Hangup, Terminate and Kill,
which send the SIGINT, SIGHUP, SIGTERM and SIGKILL signals,
respectively, to the process group of the process running
under xterm (usually the shell). The Properties entry on the
xterm menu causes a property window to display. This property
window sets various modes in the xterm emulation, among them
auto wraparound, auto linefeed, and reverse wrap.
Applications
Some applications supply a private terminfo file, causing
applications to exhibit unexpected behavior. Rather than
keeping private terminfo files, overwrite the private file
with the system xterm terminfo file [see terminfo(4)].
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To resize xterm while curses applications are running, set the
cursesResize resource.
xterm passes Help key events to the application when the Help
key is depressed and the mouse pointer is over the xterm
window. If the mouse pointer is not over the xterm window,
the Help key is interpreted by the window manager and is not
passed to the application.
Miscellaneous
Selecting ``paste'' on the 3-button mouse menu causes xterm to
paste text from the PRIMARY selection, inserting it as
keyboard input.
If a user invokes the exec(2) command from an xterm window,
the xterm process will disappear. This is correct behavior
but is probably not what a user expects [see sh(1)].
Applications which close stdin, stdout, and/or stderr may
produce unpredictable results and should be avoided.
If the display is monochrome and options in an .Xdefaults file
or on a command line specify background and foreground colors
that would produce black on black or white on white, xterm
provides a default of black on white.
xterm responds dynamically to changes in text foreground, text
background, and input focus color; these values can be changed
via the UnixWare Desktop Color Preferences folder.
If the stty settings you use are not those used by xterm, you
may need to import your stty environment to xterm; for
example, interrupt, erase, and kill characters. This could be
done via the ttyModes resource.
If you exec an application that creates its own window (such
as MS-DOS) and then try to change the input focus to the xterm
window which exec-ed the application, the next attempt to
input to that window will cause the xterm window and the
exec-ed process to die. This is due to the nature of exec
[see exec(2)]. The recommendation is not to exec programs
like MS-DOS.
xterm may hang if you try to paste too much text at one time.
It is both producer and consumer for the pty and can deadlock.
Should xterm hang, the RETURN CTRL-Z RETURN sequence will
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return the prompt.
REFERENCES
dtm(1), exec(2), terminfo(4)
NOTICES
Variable-width fonts are not handled well.
The -w, -bd and -bw options and the borderColor and
signalInhibit resources are not available.
xterm will not start if the CONSEM environment variable is not
set and the system does not have the ACP package installed.
Try setting CONSEM=no; export CONSEM and then run xterm again.
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