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XSET(1)			    General Commands Manual		       XSET(1)

NAME
       xset - user preference utility for X

SYNOPSIS
       xset [-display display]
       [-b] [b {on|off}] [b [volume [pitch [duration]]]]
       [-bc] [bc]
       [-c] [c {on|off}] [c [volume]]
       [+dpms] [-dpms]
	    [dpms  standby  [  suspend [ off]]]	     [dpms force {standby|sus-
       pend|off|on}]
       [fp=pathlist] [-fp=pathlist] [+fp=pathlist] [fp-pathlist] [fp+pathlist]
       [fp default] [fp	rehash]
       [-led [integer|named indicator]]	[led [integer|named indicator]]
       [led {on|off}]
       [mouse [accel_mult[/accel_div] [threshold]]] [mouse default]
       [p pixel	color]
       [-r [keycode]]  [r [keycode]] [r	{on|off}] [r rate delay	[rate]]
       [s [length [period]]]  [s  {blank|noblank}]  [s	{expose|noexpose}]  [s
       {on|off}] [s default] [s	activate] [s reset]
       [q]
       [-version]

DESCRIPTION
       This program is used to set various user	preference options of the dis-
       play.

OPTIONS
       -display	display
	       This option specifies the server	to use;	see X(7).

       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 reintro-
	       duces certain bugs into the X server, so	that many such clients
	       can  still be run.  This	mode should be used with care; new ap-
	       plication development should be done with this  mode  disabled.
	       The server must support the MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD protocol ex-
	       tension in order	for this option	to work.

       c       The c option controls key click.	 This option can take  an  op-
	       tional  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 in-
	       dicate  volume,	as  a percentage of the	maximum.  The X	server
	       will set	the volume to the nearest value	that the hardware  can
	       support.

       -dpms   The -dpms option	disables DPMS (Energy Star) features.

       +dpms   The +dpms option	enables	DPMS (Energy Star) features.

       dpms flags...
	       The  dpms option	allows the DPMS	(Energy	Star) parameters to be
	       set.  The option	can take up to three numerical values, or  the
	       `force'	flag  followed	by  a  DPMS  state.  The `force' flags
	       forces the server to immediately	switch to the DPMS state spec-
	       ified.	The  DPMS  state  can  be one of `standby', `suspend',
	       `off', or `on'.	When numerical values are given, they set  the
	       inactivity  period (in units of seconds)	before the three modes
	       are activated.  The first value	given  is  for	the  `standby'
	       mode,  the  second  is for the `suspend'	mode, and the third is
	       for the `off' mode.  Setting these  values  implicitly  enables
	       the DPMS	features.  A value of zero disables a particular mode.

       fp= path,...
	       The fp= sets the	font path to the entries given in the path ar-
	       gument.	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
	       The default argument causes the font path to be	reset  to  the
	       server's	default.

       fp rehash
	       The  rehash argument 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-
	       The  -fp	 and fp- options remove	elements from the current font
	       path.  They must	be followed by a comma-separated list  of  en-
	       tries.

       +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 entries.

       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 op-
	       tional 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 pre-
	       ceding dash.  ``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.  If the X server supports
	       the  XKEYBOARD  (XKB)  extension, leds may be referenced	by the
	       XKB indicator name by specifying	the `named'  keyword  and  the
	       indicator name.	 For example, to turn on the Scroll Lock LED:

	       xset led	named "Scroll Lock"

       mouse   The  m option controls the mouse	parameters; it may be abbrevi-
	       ated to 'm'. Of course, it applies to  most  pointing  devices,
	       not  just mice. The parameters for the pointing device are `ac-
	       celeration' and `threshold'. The	acceleration can be  specified
	       as  an  integer,	 or as a simple	fraction. Threshold is just an
	       integer.	The setting is applied to all connected	 pointing  de-
	       vices.  xinput(1)  should  be  used if you need device-specific
	       settings.

       By default the pointer (the on-screen representation  of	 the  pointing
       device)	will  go  `acceleration' times as fast when the	device travels
       more than `threshold' mickeys (i.e. would-be pixels) in 10 ms,  includ-
       ing a small transition range. This way, the pointing device 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.

       If the `threshold' parameter is provided	and 0, the `acceleration'  pa-
       rameter	will  be used in the exponent of a more	natural	and continuous
       formula,	giving precise control for slow	motion but big reach for  fast
       motion,	and  a	progressive transition for motions in between.	Recom-
       mended `acceleration' value in this case	is 3/2 to 3, but  not  limited
       to that range.

       In  the X.org X Server 1.6 and above, the behaviour described so	far is
       linked to the default profile. There are	other profiles (i.e. functions
       determining  pointer  acceleration from device velocity)	and additional
       settings, so the	above description may not apply	to non-default	cases.
       In the X.org Server 1.7,	these are available as input device properties
       (see xinput).

       p       The p option controls pixel color values.  The  parameters  are
	       the  color  map entry number in decimal,	and a color specifica-
	       tion.  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.	Invoking with "-r", or
	       "r off",	will disable autorepeat, whereas "r", or  "r on"  will
	       enable  autorepeat.   Following	the "-r" or "r"	option with an
	       integer keycode between 0 and 255 will disable  or  enable  au-
	       torepeat	 on  that key respectively, but	only if	it makes sense
	       for the particular keycode.  Keycodes below 8 are not typically
	       valid for this command.	Example: "xset -r 10" will disable au-
	       torepeat	for the	"1" key	on the top row of an IBM PC keyboard.

	       If the server supports the XFree86-Misc extension, or  the  XKB
	       extension, then a parameter of 'rate' is	accepted and should be
	       followed	by zero, one or	two numeric values. The	 first	speci-
	       fies  the  delay	before autorepeat starts and the second	speci-
	       fies the	repeat rate.  In the case that the server supports the
	       XKB  extension,	the delay is the number	of milliseconds	before
	       autorepeat starts, and the rate is the number  of  repeats  per
	       second.	 If  the rate or delay is not given, it	will be	set to
	       the default value.

       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,  an  'activate/reset' 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
	       'activate'  flag	 forces	activation of screen saver even	if the
	       screen saver had	been turned off.  The 'reset' flag forces  de-
	       activation  of  screen saver if it is active.  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.

       -version
	       The -version option prints the program version and exits	 with-
	       out doing anything else.

       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.

SEE ALSO
       X(7), Xserver(1), xmodmap(1), xrdb(1), xsetroot(1), xinput(1)

AUTHOR
       Bob Scheifler, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
       David Krikorian,	MIT Project Athena (X11	version)
       XFree86-Misc support added by David Dawes and Joe Moss
       Manpage updates added by	Mike A.	Harris <mharris@redhat.com>

X Version 11			  xset 1.2.4			       XSET(1)

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | SEE ALSO | AUTHOR

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