View source for Rxvt

{{short description|Terminal emulator for the X Window System}}
{{lowercase}}
{{Infobox software
|name = rxvt
|screenshot = rxvt.png
|caption = [[Vanilla software|Vanilla]] rxvt displaying the rxvt [[unix manual|man page]]
|author = Rob Nation
|developer = rxvt project
|latest_release_version = 2.6.4
|latest_release_date = {{Start date and age|2001|11|01}}
|latest_preview_version = 2.7.10
|latest_preview_date = {{Start date and age|2003|03|26}}
|operating_system =
|genre = [[Terminal emulator]]
|license = [[GNU General Public License|GPL-2.0-or-later]]
|website = {{URL|rxvt.net}}
}}
'''Rxvt''' (acronym for ou'''r''' e'''x'''tended '''v'''irtual '''t'''erminal)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rxvt.sourceforge.net|title=Welcome to RXVT|accessdate=February 23, 2016}}</ref> is a [[terminal emulator]] for the [[X Window System]], and in the form of a [[Cygwin]] port, for [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]].

==History==
Rxvt was originally written by Rob Nation<ref name=LJ19971101>{{cite web|url=http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2164|title=Linux Journal Interviews Robert Nation|website=Linuxjournal.com|accessdate=7 October 2017}}</ref> and later extensively modified by Mark Olesen, who took over maintenance for several years. It is intended to be a slimmed-down alternate for [[xterm]], omitting some of its little-used features, like [[Tektronix 4014]] emulation and [[X Toolkit Intrinsics|toolkit]]-style configurability. The latter refers to the Xt resource mechanism, e.g., for binding keys. Rxvt is an extended version of the older xvt terminal emulator by John Bovey of the [[University of Kent]].

The name originally stood for "Rob's xvt" (with XVT stands for 'X Virtual Terminal'),<ref name=LJ19971101 /> but was later re-dubbed "our xvt" (pronounced like the letters r-x-v-t).

==Features==
[[File:Urxvt-vim-modemu-panda-bitstreamverasansmono.png|thumb|rxvt-unicode with translucency and a truetype mono font]]
Aside from features such as those controlled by resource files, '''rxvt''''s terminal emulation differs from [[xterm]] in two important ways:
*It emulates a [[VT100|VT102]], rather than a [[VT220]]. That means that it handles 8-bit data differently, does not implement the [[C0 and C1 control codes|C1]] controls that xterm does. '''xterm''' does implement a switch "-k8"<ref>{{cite web
   |url=http://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.log.html#xterm_175
   |title=XTERM- Change Log - Patch #175 - 2003/3/9 - XFree86 4.3.0
   |author=Thomas E. Dickey
}}</ref> to suppress that functionality; rxvt does not provide an option to emulate a VT220.
*The strings sent for function keys are different. '''xterm''' sends strings that are encoded using the same rules as the [[ANSI escape code|ANSI/ISO]] escape sequences. '''Rxvt''''s do not, though they provide comparable flexibility in this area.

Newer versions of rxvt have primitive support for [[pseudo-transparency]].

The rxvt distribution also includes an analog clock program called rclock. Very old distributions included a copy of [[vttest]], but dropped that in 1996 with version 2.18.

==Forks==
* [[aterm]] (from rxvt 2.4.8) created for use with the [[AfterStep]] window manager (no longer maintained)
* [[Eterm]] (from rxvt 2.21) created for use with [[Enlightenment (software)|Enlightenment]]
* [[mrxvt]] (from rxvt 2.7.11) created for '''m'''ultiple tabs and additional features (latest version released in 2008-09-10)
* urxvt (rxvt-unicode) (from rxvt 2.7.11)<ref name="urxvt man">[https://linux.die.net/man/1/urxvt urxvt(1) - Linux man page]</ref>
* Wterm,<ref name="wterm man">[https://web.archive.org/web/20071111233249/http://www.penguin-soft.com:80/penguin/man/1/wterm.html Wterm(1) man]</ref> designed for [[NeXTSTEP]] style [[window manager]]s such as [[Window Maker]]<ref name="home page">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070330193642/http://wterm.org:80/ Wterm - The Lightweight Feature-Rich Terminal Emulator for X]</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Free and open-source software|Linux}}
*[[List of terminal emulators]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
*{{SourceForge|rxvt|rxvt}}

{{Terminal emulators}}

[[Category:X Window programs]]
[[Category:Free terminal emulators]]