xset

NAME

xset - user preference utility for X

SYNOPSIS

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]

DESCRIPTION

This program is used to set various user preference options of the display.

OPTIONS

-display display
This option specifies the server to use; see X(5).
-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, key click will be disabled. A value from 0 to 100 can be given 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(1) 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 usually used only when adding new fonts to a font directory (after running mkfontdir(1) to recreate the font database).
-fp
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+
The +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 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
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 computer 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, but can also be set to travel across the screen in a flick of the wrist. 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 are used, 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 can 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 can 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 are used, or the 'on' flag is used, autorepeat will be enabled.
s
You can use the s option to 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 are used, 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; '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 the screen saver unless the server can regenerate the screens without causing exposure events. The length and period parameters for the screen saver function determine how long the server must be inactive for screen saving to activate, and the period to change the background pattern to prevent 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.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 1988, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
See X(5) for a full statement of rights and permissions.

AUTHOR

Bob Scheifler, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
David Krikorian, MIT Project Athena (X11 version)

SEE ALSO

X(5)

xmodmap(1)

xrdb(1)

xsetroot(1)

Xserver