Rxvt-unicode

rxvt-unicode, also known simply as urxvt, is a fast and lightweight terminal emulator with xft and unicode support.

Emerge
Install :

Daemon
It is possible to operate urxvt as a daemon, which will lead to lower resource usage and quicker startup for new terminals. It is a good idea to start the daemon at the beginning of the X session.

The following command will start the daemon and fork it into the background.

After this, new clients can be opened on the single daemon process, rather than spawning new processes for each terminal. To do this, simply run `urxvtc' in place of the usual `urxvt' command. Keep in mind that if for any reason the daemon is terminated, any subsequent `urxvtc' calls as well all client instances will be closed.

Environment variable can be used to specify different location for the daemon listening socket.

Configuration
Configuration for urxvt is done mainly through the X resources system, though command line equivalents are also available in most cases. A full list of these options can be found in the urxvt manpage. Some common configuration options are listed below.

.xinitrc
If you are using, it is possible will not be read. To fix this, add the following to

Font
Rxvt-unicode's font can be configured using either XLFD notation or, provided the package was compiled with the xft USE flag, Xft fonts.

Fonts can be modified while rxvt-unicode is running by assigning actions to keys:

Rendering settings can be tweaked for Xft fonts as well. Note that this is not specific to urxvt.

Scrollbar
The look of the scrollbar can changed, or the scrollbar can be removed entirely.

Printing
By default, rxvt-unicode will print out a screen dump, via lpr, when is pressed. Using + or - will include the terminal's scroll back in the printout as well. This behavior can be changed, or disabled entirely, based on personal preference and need.

Copy/Paste and URL handling
The default urxvt perl extensions can be used for copy and paste actions as well for URL handling capabilities. In order to use Perl extensions in urxvt, the package must have been compiled with the "perl" USE flag. The package provides several extensions not included by default. The package sources code can be found in muennich's GitHub repository or an ebuild for example. It is possible to get other Perl extensions.

Here is an example of a. The following lines could also be added to, though is preferred.

The default selection-to-clipboard extension will put the selected text into the clipboard automatically. To add pasting functionality we have to create a simple extension:

Menu icon
This adds menu entry and menu icon for urxvt. If urxvt doesn't have a .desktop file, create one.

Application icon
For setting application icon urxvt has to be compiled with pixbuf USE flag.

Using rxvt-unicode with Powerline fonts
Unfortunately current default rxvt-unicode configuration in Gentoo breaks support for Powerline characters. Overview of the problem: some fonts provide incorrect values for character width, which breaks their appearance in urxvt in various ways. The Powerline symbols are extra unicode characters, which can be added to a font by "patching" it, or they can be added to the system without patching, using fontconfig settings. These fonts often contain wrong width set for the Powerline characters. Some other terminals workaround that, but not urxvt.

To get Powerline symbols to work correctly, you need the following USE flags to :
 * (which automatically disables the equally problematic )

For (from the raiagent overlay), enable USE flag:
 * , which will pull in

For (also from the raiagent overlay), enable one or more USE flags for the fonts you care about, e.g..

Finally, in your file, set a Powerline font for urxvt (This example assumes the   USE flag, but the main point is to enable the for Powerline font.

See also the following thread on the urxvt mailing list: http://lists.schmorp.de/pipermail/rxvt-unicode/2016q1/002204.html