xset(1) manual page
Table of Contents
xset - user preference utility for X
xset [-display display]
[-b] [b on/off] [b [volume [pitch [duration]]] [[-]bc] [-c] [c on/off] [c
[volume]] [[-+]fp[-+=] path[,path[,...]]] [fp default] [fp rehash] [[-]led [integer]]
[led on/off] [m[ouse] [accel_mult[/accel_div] [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]
This program
is used to set various user preference options of the display.
- -display
display
- This option specifies the server to use; see X(1)
.
- b
- The b option
controls bell volume, pitch and duration. This option accepts up to three
numerical parameters, a preceding dash(-), or a ’on/off’ flag. If no parameters
are given, or the ’on’ flag is used, the system defaults will be used. 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 will set the characteristics of the bell as closely as it
can to the user’s specifications.
- bc
- The bc option controls bug compatibility
mode in the server, if possible; a preceding dash(-) disables the mode,
otherwise the mode is enabled. Various pre-R4 clients pass illegal values
in some protocol requests, and pre-R4 servers did not correctly generate
errors in these cases. Such clients, when run against an R4 server, will
terminate abnormally or otherwise fail to operate correctly. Bug compatibility
mode explicitly reintroduces certain bugs into the X server, so that many
such clients can still be run. This mode should be used with care; new
application development should be done with this mode disabled. The server
must support the MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD protocol extension in order for this
option to work.
- c
- The c option controls key click. This option 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. If the dash or ’off’
flag is used, keyclick 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
will set the volume to the nearest value that the hardware can support.
- fp= path,...
- The fp= 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 will be ignored by the server.
- fp default
- The default
argument causes the font path to be reset to the server’s default.
- fp rehash
- The rehash argument causes the server to reread the font databases in the
current font path. This is generally only used when adding new fonts to
a font directory (after running mkfontdir to recreate the font database).
- -fp or fp-
- The -fp and fp- options remove elements from the current font path.
They must be followed by a comma-separated list of directories.
- +fp or fp+
- This +fp and fp+ options prepend and append elements to the current font
path, respectively. They must be followed by a comma-separated list of
directories.
- led
- The led option controls the keyboard LEDs. This 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 flag ’off’
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 which can be controlled is the ‘‘Caps Lock’’ LED. ‘‘xset led
4’’ would turn led #4 on. ‘‘xset -led 4’’ would turn it off. The particular LED
values may refer to different LEDs on different hardware.
- m
- The m option
controls the mouse parameters. The parameters for the mouse are ‘acceleration’
and ‘threshold’. The acceleration can be specified as an integer, or as a
simple fraction. The mouse, 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 will be set.
- p
- The p option 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
- The r option 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
- The
s option lets you set the screen saver parameters. This option 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 determines how
long the server must be inactive for screen saving to activate, and the
period to change the background pattern to avoid burn in. The arguments
are specified in seconds. If only one numerical parameter is given, it will
be used for the length.
- q
- The q option gives you information on the current
settings.
These settings will be reset to default values when you log out.
Note that not all X implementations are guaranteed to honor all of these
options.
X11(7)
Xserver(1)
, xmodmap(1)
, xrdb(1)
, xsetroot(1)
Copyright
1988, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
See X11(7)
for a full statement of rights and permissions.
Bob Scheifler,
MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
David Krikorian, MIT Project Athena (X11 version)
Table of Contents
![[Go to CFHT Home Page]](/images/cfht-icon.gif){kind=icon}
Man Pages 
Back to Software Index 
Manpage Top Level