.TH rxvt "" "" "X Application"
.PC "VT100 emulator for the X Window System"
\fBrxvt [ \fIoptions\fB ]\fR
.PP
.B rxvt
is a VT100 terminal emulator for X.
It is intended as a replacement for
.B xterm
for users who do not need that application's more esoteric features.
Specifically,
.B rxvt
does not implement the Tektronix 4014 emulation, session logging,
and toolkit-style configurability.
As a result,
.B rxvt
uses much less memory than does \fBxterm\fR \(em a significant
advantage on a machine serving many X sessions.
.SH "Command-line Options"
.B rxvt
recognizes the following command-line options:
.IP "\fB\-e \fIcommand\fB [ \fIarguments\fB ]\fR"
Invoke
.I command
with 
.I arguments
in the
.B rxvt
window.
This option must be the last on the command line.
By default,
.B rxvt
runs the program named in the environment variable
.BR SHELL ;
or, failing that, the Bourne shell
.BR /bin/sh .
.IP "\fB\-display \fIdisplay\fR"
Open the
.B rxvt
window on
.IR display .
By default,
.BR rxvt
displays its window on the display named in the environmental variable
.BR DISPLAY .
.IP "\fB\-geometry \fIgeometry\fR"
Create a window with the size and position specified by
.IR geometry .
.IP "\fB\-bg \fIcolor\fR"
Use
.I color
as the window's background color.
.IP "\fB\-fg \fIcolor\fR"
Use
.I color
as the window's foreground color.
.IP "\fB\-font \fIfont\fR"
Use
.I font
as the window's main font.
.IP "\fB\-T \fItext\fR"
Display
.I text
in the window's title bar.
.IP "\fB\-n \fItext\fR"
Display
.I text
on
.BR rxvt 's
icon.
This option also sets the window's title unless you set it explicitly.
.IP "\fB\-C\fR"
Capture system-console messages.
.IP "\fB\-7\fR"
Run in seven-bit mode:
strip the eighth bit from every character typed on the keyboard.
.IP "\fB\-8\fR"
Run in eight-bit-clean mode:
pass to the application the eighth bit of each character typed at the keyboard.
.IP "\fB-ls\fP
Prefix a `\-' to
.B argv[0]
of the shell that is initiated for the window.
This causes it to be a login shell.
.IP "\fB\-ls\-\fR"
Do not prefix a `\-' to
.B argv[0]
of the shell which is initiated for the window.
This forces it to be a regular shell.
Use this only to override a resource setting.
.IP "\fB\-ic\fR"
Begin iconified, if the window manager supports that option.
.IP " \fB\-fat\fR"
Use an \fBxterm\fR-style fat scrollbar instead of
\fBrxvt\fR's usual thin scrollbar.
.IP " \fB\-thin\fR"
Use \fBrxvt\fR's usual thin scrollbar, no matter what the resources say.
.IP "\fB\-smallfont \fIkeysym\fR"
Make
.B rxvt
use key \fBalt-\fIkeysym\fR instead of
.B "<alt-< >"
to toggle to a smaller font.
.IP "\fB\-bigfont \fIkeysym\fR"
Make
.B rxvt
use key \fBalt-\fIkeysym\fR instead of
.B "<alt-> >"
to toggle to a larger font.
.IP "\fB-pageup \fIkeysym\fR"
Make
.B rxvt
use key
\fBalt-\fIkeysym\fR instead of
.B <alt-Prev_Page>
to scroll up a page.
.IP "\fB\-pagedown \fIkeysym\fR"
Make
.B rxvt
use key \fBalt-\fIkeysym\fR instead of
.B <alt-Next_Page>
to scroll down a page.
.IP "\fB\-secure \fIkeysym\fR"
Make
.B rxvt
use key \fBalt-\fIkeysym\fR instead of
.B <alt-S>
to toggle to a bigger font.
.IP "\fB\-sl \fInumber\fR"
Make
.B rxvt
keep
.I number
lines in the scroll-back buffer instead of the default 64.
.IP " \fB\-meta \fIstring\fR"
Make
.B rxvt
alter its handling of \fBmeta\fR (\fBalt\fR) + keypress.
By default,
.B rxvt
sends an escape prefix when it receives a
.B meta
keypress.
You can specify either
.BR escape ,
.BR 8thbit ,
or
.B ignore
for
.IR string .
.B 8thbit
causes the eighth bit to be set in the received character. 
.SH "X Resources"
.B rxvt
accepts resources set in each user's
.BR .Xdefaults .
If no resources are specified, it uses suitable defaults.
Command-line arguments override resources settings.
.PP
.B rxvt
recognizes the following resources:
.IP "\fBrxvt.command: \fIcommand\fB [ \fIarguments\fB ]\fR"
Same as command-line argument
.BR \-e .
.IP "\fBrxvt.geometry: \fIwindow-geometry\fR"
The same as command-line argument
.BR \-geometry .
.IP "\fBrxvt.background: \fIcolor\fR"
The same as command-line argument
.BR \-bg .
.IP "\fBrxvt.foreground: \fIcolor\fR"
The same as command-line argument
.BR \-fg .
.IP "\fBrxvt.font: \fIfontname\fR"
The same as command-line argument
.BR \-font .
.IP "\fBrxvt.title: \fItext\fR"
The same as command-line argument
.BR \-T .
.IP "\fBrxvt.icon_name: \fItext\fR"
The same as command-line argument
.BR \-n .
.IP "\fBrxvt.bits: \fItext\fR"
\fItext\fP must be `7' or `8'.
The former is the same as command-line option
.BR \-7 ,
and the latter is the same as
.BR \-8 .
.IP "\fBrxvt.login_shell: \fItext\fR"
\fItext\fP must be
.B True
or
.BR False .
The former is the same as
.BR \-ls ,
and the latter is the same as
.BR \-ls\- .
.IP "\fBrxvt.scrollbar: \fItext\fR"
\fItext\fP must be
.B Fat
or
.BR Thin .
The former is the same as
.BR \-fat ,
and the latter is the  same as
.BR \-thin .
.IP "\fBrxvt.smaller_font_key: \fIkeysym\fR"
Use key \fBalt-\fIkeysym\fR instead of
.B <alt-<>
to toggle into a smaller font.
.IP "\fBrxvt.bigger_font_key: \fIkeysym\fR"
Use key \fBalt-\fIkeysym\fR instead of
.B <alt->> to toggle into a bigger font.
.IP " \fBrxvt.page_up_key: \fIkeysym\fR
Use key \fBalt-\fIkeysym\fR instead of
.B <alt-Prev_Page>
to toggle into a bigger font.
.IP " \fBrxvt.page_down_key: \fIkeysym\fR"
Use key \fBalt-\fIkeysymFr instead of
.B <alt-Next_Page>
to toggle into a bigger font.
.IP " \fBrxvt.secure_key \fIkeysym\fR"
Use key \fBalt-\fIkeysym\fR instead of
.B <alt-S>
to toggle into a bigger font.
.IP " \fBrxvt.saveLines \fInumber\fR"
Save
.I number
lines in the scroll back buffer instead of the default 64.
.IP " \fBrxvt.meta \fIstring\fR"
See the description given above for the command-line option
.BR \-meta .
.SH "Titles and Icon Names"
One occasionally confusing aspect of
.B rxvt
and other X applications is the collection
of names that an application window can have and the relationship
between the names and the command-line options used to set them.
This section attempts to make the situation a bit clearer.
.PP
In fact, each terminal window has two names:
its title and its icon name.
These names are distinct and have different functions,
although they usually have the same value.
The title is the text that is displayed in
the title bar, if there is one; and the icon name is the name that
appears in the window's icon or represents it in the icon manager
window.
.SH "The Scroll Bar"
.B rxvt
automatically saves all text that scroll off the top of its
window, up to a preset maximum number.
You can use the scroll bar to scroll them back into view.
.PP
Clicking the arrow that is at the top or bottom of the
scroll bar cause the window to scroll up or down, respectively,
by almost a full screen.
The same effect can be achieved by typing
.B <alt-NextPage>
or
.BR <alt-PrevPage> .
To change these hot keys, modify the resources described above.
.PP
If you use the command-line option
.BR \-fat ,
.B rxvt
displays an \fBxterm\fR-style scroll bar.
This scroll bar is noticeably thicker than the one that
.B rxvt
uses by default.
.PP
To scroll the contents of the text buffer continuously, move the
mouse cursor to the scroll bar; then press the center-mouse button
and drag the mouse.
.PP
Clicking the left-mouse button
moves the line adjacent to the pointer to the top of the display window.
Clicking the center-mouse button moves the line at the top of the display
window to a position adjacent to the pointer.
.SH "Text Selection and Insertion"
.B rxvt
uses a method for cutting and pasting text that resembles what is used by
.BR xterm .
To cut text, use either the left- or the right-mouse button.
Simply press either button at the beginning of the text you wish to cut,
then drag the mouse to the end of the text you wish to cut and release the
button.
.PP
To paste text that you have cut, move the mouse cursor into the
.B rxvt
window and click the center-mouse button.
The text will be copied into the window, just as it you had typed it from
the keyboard.
.PP
Some terminal programs
let you cut a word or a line of text by double-clicking on it;
however,
.B rxvt
does not support this feature.
.SH "Securing the Keyboard"
To enter or exit the secure-keyboard mode, type
.BR <alt-S> .
This is typically a good thing to do when you are typing a password.
.PP
To change the hot key with which you invoke this feature, modify the
resources, as described above.
.SH "Changing Fonts"
You can change fonts on the fly by typing
.B <alt->>
or
.B <alt-<>
This cycles through your default font and four others of various sizes.
.PP
You can change the hot keys that trigger this feature by modify
.BR rxvt 's
resources, as described above.
.SH "See Also"
.B
X applications,
xterm
.R
.SH Notes
.II "Bovey, John"
.II "Nation, Rob"
.B rxvt
was written by Rob Nation (nation@rocket.sanders.lockheed.com).
It is based on
.BR xvt ,
which was written by John Bovey of the University of Kent.

