# &app; Manual V&manrevision;

## Introduction

&app; is a terminal emulation application that you can use to perform the following actions:

To access a UNIX shell in the GNOME environment.

- A shell is a program that interprets and executes the commands that you type at a command line prompt. When you start GNOME Terminal, the application starts the default shell that is specified in your system account. You can switch to a different shell at any time.

To run any application that is designed to run on VT102, VT220, and xterm terminals.

- &app; emulates the xterm program developed by the X Consortium. In turn, the xterm program emulates the DEC VT102 terminal and also supports the DEC VT220 escape sequences. An escape sequence is a series of characters that starts with the Esc character. &app; accepts all of the escape sequences that the VT102 and VT220 terminals use for functions such as positioning the cursor and clearing the screen.

## Getting Started

The following sections describe how to start using &app;.

### To Start &app;

You can start &app; in the following ways:

Applications menu

- Choose System Tools Terminal .

Command line

- Type `gnome-terminal`, then press Return.

  You can use command line options to modify the way in which you run &app;. To view the command line options, type `gnome-terminal --help`, then press Return.

### When You First Start &app;

When you start &app; for the first time, the application opens a terminal window with a group of default settings. The group of default settings is called the Default profile. The profile name appears in the titlebar of the &app; window.

#### Example of a Default &app; Window

&app; default window &app; default window

The terminal window displays a command prompt where you can type UNIX commands. The command prompt can be a %, #, >, $, or any other special character. The cursor is positioned at the command prompt. When you type a UNIX command and press Return, the computer executes the command. By default, &app; uses the default shell specified for the user who starts the application.

&app; also sets the following environment variables:

`TERM`

- Set to xterm by default.

`COLORTERM`

- Set to gnome-terminal by default.

`WINDOWID`

- Set to the X11 window identifier by default.

### Terminal Profiles

You can create a new profile, and apply the new profile to the terminal to modify characteristics such as font, color and effects, scrolling behavior, window title, and compatibility. You can also define the command for starting &app; in the profile.

You define each terminal profile in the Edit Profiles dialog, which you access from the Edit menu. You can define as many different profiles as you require. When you start a terminal, you can choose the profile that you want to use for the terminal or you can change the terminal profile while you are using the terminal. To specify an initial profile for a terminal when you start the application from a command line, use the following command:

`gnome-terminal --window-with-profile= `profilename``

The name of the current profile appears in the titlebar of the &app;, unless you specify a different titlebar name in the Editing profile dialog.

See gnome-terminal-manage-profiles for information about how to define and use a new terminal profile.

### Working With Multiple Terminals

&app; provides a tab feature that enables you to add additional terminals to a window. You click on the appropriate tab to open each terminal in the window. Each tabbed terminal in a window is a separate subprocess, so you can use each terminal for different work. You can apply a different profile to each tabbed terminal in the window. The titlebar of the terminal window shows either the name of the current profile, or the name specified by the current profile. gnome-terminal-tabbed shows a &app; window with four tabs. In this case, each of the four tabs has a different profile. The name of the current profile, Profile 1, appears in the titlebar.

#### Example of a Terminal Window With Tabs

&app; default window &app; default window

See gnome-terminal-windows for information about how to open a new tabbed terminal.

## Usage

### To Open and Close Terminals

To open a new terminal window:

- Choose File New Window Default .

  The new terminal starts a subprocess with the same PID as the terminal from which you start the new terminal. The subprocess is less intensive on the system resources than when you start a new &app; from a GNOME panel. The new terminal inherits the application settings and default shell from the parent terminal.

To close a terminal window:

- Choose File Close Window .

  This action closes the terminal and any subprocesses that you opened from the terminal. If you close the last terminal window, the &app; program exits.

To add a new tabbed terminal in the same window:

- Choose File New Tab Default .

To open a tabbed terminal:

- Click on the tab name of the tabbed terminal that you want to open.

To close a tabbed terminal:

- 1. Click on the tab name of the tabbed terminal that you want to close.

  2. Choose File Close Tab .

### To Manage Profiles

To add a new profile:

- 1. Choose File New Profile to display the New Profile dialog.

  2. Type the new profile name in the Profile name text box.

  3. Use the Base on drop-down list box to select the profile on which you want to base the new profile.

  4. Click Create. &app; adds the profile to the Terminal Profile submenu.

To change the profile of a tabbed terminal:

- 1. Click on the tab name of the tabbed terminal for which you want to change the profile.

  2. Choose Terminal Profile `profilename` .

To edit a profile:

- You edit profiles in the Editing profile dialog. You can access the Editing profile dialog in the following ways:

  - Choose Edit Current Profile .

  - Choose Edit Profiles , then select the profile you want to edit and click Edit.

  - Right-click in the terminal window, then choose Edit Current Profile from the popup menu.

To delete a profile:

- 1. Choose Edit Profiles .

  2. Select the name of the profile that you want to delete in the Profiles list, then click Delete.

  3. Click Delete in the Delete Profile dialog.

### To Modify a Terminal Window

To hide the menubar:

- Right-click on the terminal window, then choose Hide Menubar from the popup menu.

To show a hidden menubar:

- Right-click on the terminal window, then choose Show Menubar from the popup menu.

To change the position of the scrollbar:

- See gnome-terminal-prefs for information about the options that you can choose in the Editing profile dialog for displaying the scrollbar.

### To Work With the Contents of Terminal Windows

To scroll through previous commands and output:

- Perform one of the following actions:

  - Use the scrollbar, which is usually displayed on the right of the terminal window.

  - Press the Page Up, Page Down, Home, or End keys.

  The number of lines that you scroll back to in the terminal window is determined by the Scrollback setting in the Scrolling tabbed section of the Editing profiles dialog.

To select and copy text:

- You can select text in any of the following ways:

  - To select a character at a time, click on the first character that you want to select and drag the mouse to the last character that you want to select.

  - To select a word at a time, double-click on the first word that you want to select and drag the mouse to the last word that you want to select.

  - To select a line at a time, triple-click on the first line that you want to select and drag the mouse to the last line that you want to select.

  These actions select all text between the first and last items. For all text selections, &app; copies the selected text into the clipboard when you release the mouse button.

To paste text into a terminal:

- Perform one of the following actions:

  - Middle-click at the command prompt. If you do not have a middle mouse button, refer to the X Server documentation for information about how to emulate the middle mouse button.

  - Choose Edit Paste to paste text into a terminal. This function only works if you choose Edit Copy to copy the selected text to the clipboard.

To drag a file name into a terminal window:

- You can drag a file from another application such as a file manager to a terminal. The terminal displays the path and the full name of the file.

To access a link:

- To access a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that is displayed in a terminal, perform the following steps:

  1. Move the mouse over the URL until the URL is underlined and the mouse pointer changes to a hand.

  2. Right-click on the URL to open a popup menu.

  3. Choose Open Link to start a link application and display the file located at the URL.

### To View the Keyboard Shortcut Settings

To view the keyboard shortcut settings that are defined for &app;, choose Edit Keyboard Shortcuts . The Keyboard Shortcuts Editor dialog contains the following items:

Disable all menu access keys

- Select this check box to disable the access keys that are defined to enable you to use the keyboard instead of the mouse to select a menu item. Each access key is identified by an underlined letter on a menu or dialog option. In some cases, you must press the Alt key in combination with the access key to perform the action.

Disable menu shortcut key

- Select this check box to disable the shortcut key that is defined to enable you to access the &app; menus. The default shortcut key for accessing the menus is F10.

Shortcut Keys

- The Shortcut Keys section of the dialog lists the shortcut keys that are defined for each menu item. The shortcut keys enable you to use the keyboard to choose a menu item rather than using the mouse. The shortcut key is usually a combination of keys that you press simultaneously.

### To Recover Your Terminal

The following sections provide some advice if you have problems with terminals.

To reset the state of the terminal:

- Choose Terminal Reset .

To reset the terminal and clear the screen:

- Choose Terminal Reset and Clear .

## Preferences

To configure &app;, choose Edit Current Profile . To configure another profile that you set up choose Edit Profiles , select the profile you want to edit, then click Edit.

The Editing profile "`profile name`" dialog contains the following tabbed sections that you can use to configure &app;:

- gnome-terminal-prefs-general

- gnome-terminal-prefs-title

- gnome-terminal-prefs-colors

- gnome-terminal-prefs-effects

- gnome-terminal-prefs-scrolling

- gnome-terminal-prefs-compatibility

### General

Profile name

- Use this text box to specify the name of the current profile.

Use the system terminal font

- Select this option to use the standard application font that is specified in the Font preference tool.

Font

- Click on this button to select a default font type and font size for the terminal. This button is only available if the Use the same font as other applications option is unselected.

Profile icon

- Click on this button to select an icon to represent the current profile.

Allow bold text

- Select this option to enable the terminal to display bold text.

Cursor blinks

- Select this option to display a blinking cursor.

Show menubar by default in new terminals

- Select this option to show the menubar on new terminal windows.

Terminal bell

- Select this option to disable the terminal bell.

Select-by-word-characters

- Use this text box to specify characters or groups of characters that &app; considers to be words when you select text by word. See gnome-terminal-contents for more information about how to select text by word.

### Title and Command

Initial title

- Use this text box to specify the initial title of the profile. New terminals that are started from the current terminal have the new initial title.

Dynamically-set title

- Use this drop-down list to set the title for the terminal window to the current working directory.

Run command as a login shell

- Select this option to make the command running inside the terminal to be run as a login shell. If the command is not a shell, then the setting has no effect.

Update utmp/wtmp records when command is launched

- Select this option to insert a new entry in the utmp and wtmp records when a new shell is opened.

Run a custom command instead of my shell

- Select this option to run a command in the terminal other than the normal shell. Specify the custom command in the Custom command text box.

When command exits

- Use this drop-down list to choose a command to run when the terminal exits.

### Colors

Use colors from system theme

- Select this option to use the colors that are specified in the GNOME theme that is selected in the Theme preference tool.

Built-in schemes - Foreground and Background

- Use the drop-down list box to specify the foreground and background colors for the terminal. &app; supports the following foreground and background color combinations:

  - Black on light yellow

  - Black on white

  - Gray on black

  - Green on black

  - White on black

  - Custom

    This option enables you to select colors that are not in the selected color scheme.

  The actual display of the foreground and background colors can vary depending on the color scheme that you choose. For example, if you choose White on black and the Linux console color scheme, the application displays the foreground and background colors as light gray on black.

Text color

- Click on the Text color button to display the Choose terminal text color dialog. Choose the color that you want to use as the foreground color from the color palette. This button is only available if you specify the Custom colors option on the Built-in schemes drop-down list box in the Foreground and Background group box.

Background color

- Click on the Background color button to display the Choose terminal background color dialog. Choose the color that you want to use as the background color from the color palette. This button is only available if you specify the Custom colors option on the Built-in schemes drop-down list box in the Foreground and Background group box.

Built-in schemes - Palette

- A color scheme is a palette of 16 colors. Use the drop-down list box to choose the color scheme that you want to use. &app; supports the following color schemes:

  - Linux console

  - Xterm

  - Rxvt

  - Custom

  Each color scheme is slightly different. For example, Linux console uses light gray instead of white. The Custom color scheme enables you to create a customized color palette.

Color palette

- Use the Color palette to customize the 16 default colors in the custom color palette. To customize a color, click on the color to display the Palette entry dialog. Use the color wheel or the sliders to customize the color, then click OK.

### Effects

Background

- Select a background display option for the terminal window. The options are as follows:

  - None (use solid color)

    Select this option to use the background color that is specified in the Colors tabbed section as the background color for the terminal.

  - Background image

    Select this option to use an image file as the background for the terminal. Use the Image file drop-down combination box to specify the location and name of the image file. Alternatively, click Browse to search for and select the image file.

  - Transparent background

    Select this option to use a transparent background for the terminal.

Background image scrolls

- Select this option to enable the background image to scroll with the text when you scroll through the terminal. If you do not select this option, the background image remains fixed on the terminal background and only the text scrolls. This option is only available if you select the Background image option.

Shade transparent or image backgrounds

- Use this slider to shade or dim the background of the terminal. This option is only available if you select the Background image or Transparent background options.

### Scrolling

Scrollbar is

- Use this drop-down list box to specify the position of the scrollbar on the terminal window.

Scrollback ... lines

- Use this spin box to specify the number of lines that you can scroll back through using the scrollbar. For example, if you specify 100 you can scroll back through the last 100 lines displayed in the terminal.

Scrollback ... kilobytes

- Use this spin box to specify the number of kilobytes that you can scroll back through using the scrollbar. For example, if you specify 94 you can scroll back through the last 94 kilobytes displayed in the terminal.

Scroll on output

- Select this option to enable you to scroll through the output on the terminal while the terminal continues to display more output from a command.

Scroll on keystroke

- Select this option to enable you to press any key on the keyboard to scroll down the terminal window to the command prompt. This action only applies if you scrolled up the terminal window and you want to return to the command prompt.

### Compatibility

Backspace key generates

- Use the drop-down list to select the function that you want the Backspace key to perform.

Delete key generates

- Use the drop-down list to select the function that you want the Delete key to perform.

Reset compatibility options to defaults

- Click on this button to reset the options on the Compatibility tabbed section to the default settings.