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
               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.

       -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
               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
               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
               entries.

       +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
               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 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
               `acceleration' and `threshold'. The acceleration can be  speci-
               fied  as an integer, or as a simple fraction. Threshold is just
               an integer. The setting is applied to  all  connected  pointing
               devices.  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'
       parameter 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
               autorepeat 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
               autorepeat for the "1" key on the top row of  an  IBM  PC  key-
               board.

               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
               deactivation 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 1.2.3                           XSET(1)
