4 pterm \- yet another X terminal emulator
6 \fBpterm\fP [ \fIoptions\fP ]
8 \fIpterm\fP is a terminal emulator for X. It is based on a port of
9 the terminal emulation engine in the Windows SSH client PuTTY.
11 The command-line options supported by \fIpterm\fP are:
12 .IP "\fB-e\fP \fIcommand\fP [ \fIarguments\fP ]"
13 Specify a command to be executed in the new terminal. Everything on
14 the command line after this option will be passed straight to the
15 \fIexecvp\fP system call; so if you need the command to redirect its
16 input or output, you will have to use \fIsh\fP:
18 pterm -e sh -c 'mycommand < inputfile'
19 .IP "\fB--display\fP \fIdisplay-name\fP"
20 Specify the X display on which to open \fIpterm\fP. (Note this
21 option has a double minus sign, even though none of the others do.
22 This is because this option is supplied automatically by GTK.
24 .IP "\fB-name\fP \fIfont-name\fP"
25 Specify the name under which \fIpterm\fP looks up X resources.
26 Normally it will look them up as (for example) \fBpterm.Font\fP. If
27 you specify "-name xyz", it will look them up as \fBxyz.Font\fP
28 instead. This allows you to set up several different sets of
29 defaults and choose between them.
30 .IP "\fB-fn\fP \fIfont-name\fP"
31 Specify the font to use for normal text displayed in the terminal.
32 .IP "\fB-fb\fP \fIfont-name\fP"
33 Specify the font to use for bold text displayed in the terminal. If
34 the \fIBoldAsColour\fP resource is set to 1 (the default), bold text
35 will be displayed in different colours instead of a different font,
36 so this option will be ignored. If \fIBoldAsColour\fP is set to 0
37 and you do not specify a bold font, \fIpterm\fP will overprint the
38 normal font to make it look bolder.
39 .IP "\fB-geometry\fP \fIwidth\fPx\fIheight\fP"
40 Specify the size of the terminal, in rows and columns of text.
41 Unfortunately \fIpterm\fP does not currently support specifying the
42 initial position of the window.
43 .IP "\fB-sl\fP \fIlines\fP"
44 Specify the number of lines of scrollback to save off the top of the
46 .IP "\fB-fg\fP \fIcolour\fP"
47 Specify the foreground colour to use for normal text.
48 .IP "\fB-bg\fP \fIcolour\fP"
49 Specify the background colour to use for normal text.
50 .IP "\fB-bfg\fP \fIcolour\fP"
51 Specify the foreground colour to use for bold text, if the
52 \fIBoldAsColour\fP resource is set to 1 (the default).
53 .IP "\fB-bbg\fP \fIcolour\fP"
54 Specify the foreground colour to use for bold reverse-video text, if
55 the \fIBoldAsColour\fP resource is set to 1 (the default). (This
56 colour is best thought of as the bold version of the background
57 colour; so it only appears when text is displayed \fIin\fP the
59 .IP "\fB-cfg\fP \fIcolour\fP"
60 Specify the foreground colour to use for text covered by the cursor.
61 .IP "\fB-cbg\fP \fIcolour\fP"
62 Specify the background colour to use for text covered by the cursor.
63 In other words, this is the main colour of the cursor.
64 .IP "\fB-T\fP \fItitle\fP"
65 Specify the initial title of the terminal window. (This can be
66 changed under control of the server.)
67 .IP "\fB-ut-\fP or \fB+ut\fP"
68 Tells \fIpterm\fP not to record your login in the \fIutmp\fP,
69 \fIwtmp\fP and \fIlastlog\fP system log files; so you will not show
70 up on \fIfinger\fP or \fIwho\fP listings, for example.
72 Tells \fIpterm\fP to record your login in \fIutmp\fP, \fIwtmp\fP and
73 \fIlastlog\fP: this is the opposite of \fI-ut-\fP. This is the
74 default option: you will probably only need to specify it explicitly
75 if you have changed the default using the \fIStampUtmp\fP resource.
76 .IP "\fB-ls-\fP or \fB+ls\fP"
77 Tells \fIpterm\fP not to execute your shell as a login shell.
79 Tells \fIpterm\fP to execute your shell as a login shell: this is
80 the opposite of \fI-ls-\fP. This is the default option: you will
81 probably only need to specify it explicitly if you have changed the
82 default using the \fILoginShell\fP resource.
83 .IP "\fB-sb-\fP or \fB+sb\fP"
84 Tells \fIpterm\fP not to display a scroll bar.
86 Tells \fIpterm\fP to display a scroll bar: this is the opposite of
87 \fI-sb-\fP. This is the default option: you will probably only need
88 to specify it explicitly if you have changed the default using the
89 \fIScrollBar\fP resource.
90 .IP "\fB-log\fP \fIfilename\fP"
91 This option makes \fIpterm\fP log all the terminal output to a file
92 as well as displaying it in the terminal.
94 Tells \fIpterm\fP to enable NetHack keypad mode, in which the
95 numeric keypad generates the NetHack "hjklyubn" direction keys. This
96 enables you to play NetHack with the numeric keypad without having
97 to use the NetHack "number_pad" option (which requires you to press
98 "n" before any repeat count). So you can move with the numeric
99 keypad, and enter repeat counts with the normal number keys.
100 .IP "\fB-xrm\fP \fIresource-string\fP"
101 This option specifies an X resource string. Useful for setting
102 resources which do not have their own command-line options. For
105 pterm -xrm 'ScrollbarOnLeft: 1'
107 \fIpterm\fP can be more completely configured by means of X
108 resources. All of these resources are of the form \fIpterm.FOO\fP
109 for some FOO; you can make \fIpterm\fP look them up under another
110 name, such as \fIxyz.FOO\fP, by specifying the command-line option
112 .IP "\fBpterm.CloseOnExit\fP"
113 This option should be set to 0, 1 or 2; the default is 2. It
114 controls what \fIpterm\fP does when the process running inside it
115 terminates. When set to 2 (the default), \fIpterm\fP will close its
116 window as soon as the process inside it terminates. When set to 0,
117 \fIpterm\fP will print the process's exit status, and the window
118 will remain present until a key is pressed (allowing you to inspect
119 the scrollback, and copy and paste text out of it).
121 When this setting is set to 1, \fIpterm\fP will close
122 immediately if the process exits cleanly (with an exit status of
123 zero), but the window will stay around if the process exits with a
124 non-zero code or on a signal. This enables you to see what went
125 wrong if the process suffers an error, but not to have to bother
126 closing the window in normal circumstances.
127 .IP "\fBpterm.TerminalType\fP"
128 This controls the value set in the TERM environment variable inside
129 the new terminal. The default is "xterm".
130 .IP "\fBpterm.BackspaceIsDelete\fP"
131 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 1. When
132 set to 0, the ordinary Backspace key generates the Backspace
133 character (^H); when set to 1, it generates the Delete character
134 (^?). Whichever one you set, the terminal device inside \fIpterm\fP
135 will be set up to expect it.
136 .IP "\fBpterm.RXVTHomeEnd\fP"
137 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
138 it is set to 1, the Home and End keys generate the control sequences
139 they would generate in the \fIrxvt\fP terminal emulator, instead of
140 the more usual ones generated by other emulators.
141 .IP "\fBpterm.LinuxFunctionKeys\fP"
142 This option can be set to any number between 0 and 5 inclusive; the
143 default is 0. The modes vary the control sequences sent by the
144 function keys; for more complete documentation, it is probably
145 simplest to try each option in "pterm -e cat", and press the keys to
146 see what they generate.
147 .IP "\fBpterm.NoApplicationKeys\fP"
148 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
149 set to 1, it stops the server from ever switching the numeric keypad
150 into application mode (where the keys send function-key-like
151 sequences instead of numbers or arrow keys). You probably only need
152 this if some application is making a nuisance of itself.
153 .IP "\fBpterm.NoApplicationCursors\fP"
154 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
155 set to 1, it stops the server from ever switching the cursor keys
156 into application mode (where the keys send slightly different
157 sequences). You probably only need this if some application is
158 making a nuisance of itself.
159 .IP "\fBpterm.NoMouseReporting\fP"
160 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
161 set to 1, it stops the server from ever enabling mouse reporting
162 mode (where mouse clicks are sent to the application instead of
163 controlling cut and paste).
164 .IP "\fBpterm.NoRemoteResize\fP"
165 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
166 set to 1, it stops the server from being able to remotely control
167 the size of the \fIpterm\fP window.
168 .IP "\fBpterm.NoAltScreen\fP"
169 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
170 set to 1, it stops the server from using the "alternate screen"
171 terminal feature, which lets full-screen applications leave the
172 screen exactly the way they found it.
173 .IP "\fBpterm.NoRemoteWinTitle\fP"
174 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
175 set to 1, it stops the server from remotely controlling the title of
176 the \fIpterm\fP window.
177 .IP "\fBpterm.NoDBackspace\fP"
178 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
179 set to 1, it disables the normal action of the Delete (^?) character
180 when sent from the server to the terminal, which is to move the
181 cursor left by one space and erase the character now under it.
182 .IP "\fBpterm.ApplicationCursorKeys\fP"
183 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
184 set to 1, the default initial state of the cursor keys are
185 application mode (where the keys send function-key-like sequences
186 instead of numbers or arrow keys). When set to 0, the default state
188 .IP "\fBpterm.ApplicationKeypad\fP"
189 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
190 set to 1, the default initial state of the numeric keypad is
191 application mode (where the keys send function-key-like sequences
192 instead of numbers or arrow keys). When set to 0, the default state
194 .IP "\fBpterm.NetHackKeypad\fP"
195 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
196 set to 1, the numeric keypad operates in NetHack mode. This is
197 equivalent to the \fI-nethack\fP command-line option.
198 .IP "\fBpterm.Answerback\fP"
199 This option controls the string which the terminal sends in response
200 to receiving the ^E character ("tell me about yourself"). By default
201 this string is "PuTTY".
202 .IP "\fBpterm.HideMousePtr\fP"
203 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
204 it is set to 1, the mouse pointer will disappear if it is over the
205 \fIpterm\fP window and you press a key. It will reappear as soon as
207 .IP "\fBpterm.WindowBorder\fP"
208 This option controls the number of pixels of space between the text
209 in the \fIpterm\fP window and the window frame. The default is 1.
210 You can increase this value, but decreasing it to 0 is not
211 recommended because it can cause the window manager's size hints to
213 .IP "\fBpterm.CurType\fP"
214 This option should be set to either 0, 1 or 2; the default is 0.
215 When set to 0, the text cursor displayed in the window is a
216 rectangular block. When set to 1, the cursor is an underline; when
217 set to 2, it is a vertical line.
218 .IP "\fBpterm.BlinkCur\fP"
219 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
220 it is set to 1, the text cursor will blink when the window is active.
221 .IP "\fBpterm.Beep\fP"
222 This option should be set to either 0 or 2 (yes, 2); the default is
223 0. When it is set to 2, \fIpterm\fP will respond to a bell character
224 (^G) by flashing the window instead of beeping.
225 .IP "\fBpterm.BellOverload\fP"
226 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
227 it is set to 1, \fIpterm\fP will watch out for large numbers of
228 bells arriving in a short time and will temporarily disable the bell
229 until they stop. The idea is that if you \fIcat\fP a binary file,
230 the frantic beeping will mostly be silenced by this feature and will
233 The bell overload mode is activated by receiving N bells in time T;
234 after a further time S without any bells, overload mode will turn
237 Bell overload mode is always deactivated by any keypress in the
238 terminal. This means it can respond to large unexpected streams of
239 data, but does not interfere with ordinary command-line activities
240 that generate beeps (such as filename completion).
241 .IP "\fBpterm.BellOverloadN\fP"
242 This option counts the number of bell characters which will activate
243 bell overload if they are received within a length of time T. The
245 .IP "\fBpterm.BellOverloadT\fP"
246 This option specifies the time period in which receiving N or more
247 bells will activate bell overload mode. It is measured in
248 microseconds, so (for example) set it to 1000000 for one second. The
249 default is 2000000 (two seconds).
250 .IP "\fBpterm.BellOverloadS\fP"
251 This option specifies the time period of silence required to turn
252 off bell overload mode. It is measured in microseconds, so (for
253 example) set it to 1000000 for one second. The default is 5000000
254 (five seconds of silence).
255 .IP "\fBpterm.ScrollbackLines\fP"
256 This option specifies how many lines of scrollback to save above the
257 visible terminal screen. The default is 200. This resource is
258 equivalent to the \fI-sl\fP command-line option.
259 .IP "\fBpterm.DECOriginMode\fP"
260 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. It
261 specifies the default state of DEC Origin Mode. (If you don't know
262 what that means, you probably don't need to mess with it.)
263 .IP "\fBpterm.AutoWrapMode\fP"
264 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 1. It
265 specifies the default state of auto wrap mode. When set to 1, very
266 long lines will wrap over to the next line on the terminal; when set
267 to 0, long lines will be squashed against the right-hand edge of the
269 .IP "\fBpterm.LFImpliesCR\fP"
270 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
271 set to 1, the terminal will return the cursor to the left side of
272 the screen when it receives a line feed character.
273 .IP "\fBpterm.WinTitle\fP"
274 This resource is the same as the \fI-T\fP command-line option: it
275 controls the initial title of the window. The default is "pterm".
276 .IP "\fBpterm.TermWidth\fP"
277 This resource is the same as the width part of the \fI-geometry\fP
278 command-line option: it controls the number of columns of text in
279 the window. The default is 80.
280 .IP "\fBpterm.TermHeight\fP"
281 This resource is the same as the width part of the \fI-geometry\fP
282 command-line option: it controls the number of columns of text in
283 the window. The defaults is 24.
284 .IP "\fBpterm.Font\fP"
285 This resource is the same as the \fI-fn\fP command-line option: it
286 controls the font used to display normal text. The default is
288 .IP "\fBpterm.BoldFont\fP"
289 This resource is the same as the \fI-fb\fP command-line option: it
290 controls the font used to display bold text when \fIBoldAsColour\fP
291 is turned off. The default is unset (the font will be bolded by
292 printing it twice at a one-pixel offset).
293 .IP "\fBpterm.ShadowBoldOffset\fP"
294 This resource can be set to an integer; the default is -1. It
295 specifies the offset at which text is overprinted when using "shadow
296 bold" mode. The default (-1) means that the text will be printed in
297 the normal place, and also one character to the left; this seems to
298 work well for most X bitmap fonts, which have a blank line of pixels
299 down the left-hand side. For some fonts, you may need to set this to
300 +1, so that the text is overprinted one pixel to the right; for
301 really large fonts, you may want to set it even higher.
302 .IP "\fBpterm.BoldAsColour\fP"
303 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 1. It
304 specifies the default state of auto wrap mode. When set to 1, bold
305 text is shown by displaying it in a brighter colour; when set to 0,
306 bold text is shown by displaying it in a heavier font.
307 .IP "\fBpterm.Colour0\fP, \fBpterm.Colour1\fP, ..., \fBpterm.Colour21\fP"
308 These options control the various colours used to display text in
309 the \fIpterm\fP window. Each one should be specified as a triple of
310 decimal numbers giving red, green and blue values: so that black is
311 "0,0,0", white is "255,255,255", red is "255,0,0" and so on.
313 Colours 0 and 1 specify the foreground colour and its bold
314 equivalent (the \fI-fg\fP and \fI-bfg\fP command-line options).
315 Colours 2 and 3 specify the background colour and its bold
316 equivalent (the \fI-bg\fP and \fI-bbg\fP command-line options).
317 Colours 4 and 5 specify the text and block colours used for the
318 cursor (the \fI-cfg\fP and \fI-cbg\fP command-line options). Each
319 even number from 6 to 20 inclusive specifies the colour to be used
320 for one of the ANSI primary colour specifications (black, red,
321 green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, in that order); the odd
322 numbers from 7 to 21 inclusive specify the bold version of each
323 colour, in the same order. The defaults are:
326 pterm.Colour0: 187,187,187
327 pterm.Colour1: 255,255,255
329 pterm.Colour3: 85,85,85
331 pterm.Colour5: 0,255,0
333 pterm.Colour7: 85,85,85
334 pterm.Colour8: 187,0,0
335 pterm.Colour9: 255,85,85
336 pterm.Colour10: 0,187,0
337 pterm.Colour11: 85,255,85
338 pterm.Colour12: 187,187,0
339 pterm.Colour13: 255,255,85
340 pterm.Colour14: 0,0,187
341 pterm.Colour15: 85,85,255
342 pterm.Colour16: 187,0,187
343 pterm.Colour17: 255,85,255
344 pterm.Colour18: 0,187,187
345 pterm.Colour19: 85,255,255
346 pterm.Colour20: 187,187,187
347 pterm.Colour21: 255,255,255
349 .IP "\fBpterm.RectSelect\fP"
350 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
351 set to 0, dragging the mouse over several lines selects to the end
352 of each line and from the beginning of the next; when set to 1,
353 dragging the mouse over several lines selects a rectangular region.
354 In each case, holding down Alt while dragging gives the other
356 .IP "\fBpterm.MouseOverride\fP"
357 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 1. When
358 set to 1, if the application requests mouse tracking (so that mouse
359 clicks are sent to it instead of doing selection), holding down
360 Shift will revert the mouse to normal selection. When set to 0,
361 mouse tracking completely disables selection.
362 .IP "\fBpterm.Printer\fP"
363 This option is unset by default. If you set it, then
364 server-controlled printing is enabled: the server can send control
365 sequences to request data to be sent to a printer. That data will be
366 piped into the command you specify here; so you might want to set it
367 to "lpr", for example, or "lpr -Pmyprinter".
368 .IP "\fBpterm.ScrollBar\fP"
369 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 1. When
370 set to 0, the scrollbar is hidden (although Shift-PageUp and
371 Shift-PageDown still work). This is the same as the \fI-sb\fP
373 .IP "\fBpterm.ScrollbarOnLeft\fP"
374 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
375 set to 1, the scrollbar will be displayed on the left of the
376 terminal instead of on the right.
377 .IP "\fBpterm.ScrollOnKey\fP"
378 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
379 set to 1, any keypress causes the position of the scrollback to be
380 reset to the very bottom.
381 .IP "\fBpterm.ScrollOnDisp\fP"
382 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 1. When
383 set to 1, any activity in the display causes the position of the
384 scrollback to be reset to the very bottom.
385 .IP "\fBpterm.BCE\fP"
386 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 1. When
387 set to 1, the various control sequences that erase parts of the
388 terminal display will erase in whatever the current background
389 colour is; when set to 0, they will erase in black always.
390 .IP "\fBpterm.BlinkText\fP"
391 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 0. When
392 set to 1, text specified as blinking by the server will actually
393 blink on and off; when set to 0, \fIpterm\fP will use the less
394 distracting approach of making the text's background colour bold.
395 .IP "\fBpterm.StampUtmp\fP"
396 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 1. When
397 set to 1, \fIpterm\fP will log the login in the various system log
398 files. This resource is equivalent to the \fI-ut\fP command-line
400 .IP "\fBpterm.LoginShell\fP"
401 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 1. When
402 set to 1, \fIpterm\fP will execute your shell as a login shell. This
403 resource is equivalent to the \fI-ls\fP command-line option.
405 Most of the X resources have silly names. (Historical reasons from
408 Character-set switching and Unicode are not yet supported.
projects / u / mdw / putty / blob