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]

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.

       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 1.2.2			       XSET(1)