xset(X)

Syntax

Description

Options

-display display

specifies the server to use; see X(X) for more information.

b

controls bell volume, pitch, and duration. This option 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. 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.

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NOTE: 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.

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bc

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 X11R5 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

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, 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 will set the volume to the nearest value that the hardware can support.

fp=path

sets the font path to the entries given in the path argument. The entries are interpreted by the server, not by the client. Typically they are directory names or font server names, but the interpretation is server-dependent.

fp default

causes the font path to be reset to the server's default.

fp rehash

resets the font path to its current value, causing 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-

removes elements from the current font path. They must be followed by a comma-separated list of entries.

+fp or fp+

prepends and appends elements to the current font path, respectively. They must be followed by a comma-separated list of entries and you must specify valid font directories.

led

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 that can be controlled is the <Caps Lock> LED. xset led 3 would turn led #3 on. xset -led 3 would 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. 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 with 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

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. If a specific keycode is specified as a parameter, autorepeat for that keycode is enabled or disabled.

s

sets 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). 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 length.

q

displays information on the current settings.

Notes

See also