xterm
The long-running terminal emulator for the X Window System, with DEC VT and Tektronix compatibility.
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1 more ways to get xterm
Package managers
- Homebrew
brew install xterm
About xterm
xterm is the terminal emulator for the X Window System. It was first written in the mid-1980s to give programs a DEC VT102 and Tektronix 4014 compatible terminal. Thomas E. Dickey has maintained it since 1995.
It implements ISO/ANSI colors and most VT220 control sequences, along with selected features from the VT320, VT420 and VT520. Each window runs as its own process and can display over the X protocol from a remote machine. Its thorough emulation makes it a common reference point for checking terminal behavior.
Strengths
- Very thorough DEC VT and Tektronix emulation
- Maintained continuously for decades
- Detailed FAQ and changelog
- Available in almost every Unix distribution
Limitations
- Configured through X resources, which is dated and awkward
- No tabs or split panes
- X11 only
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree to download as source or from distribution packages.
- License
- Open source, license not stated
- Developer
- Thomas E. Dickey
- Platforms
- Linux
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Unix users who need precise, standard terminal emulation on X11
- Categories
- Terminals
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to xterm
Compare allSoftware that can replace xterm for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
st
The suckless simple terminal, a minimal X terminal emulator configured by editing its source code.
st is the suckless minimal X11 terminal with true color and UTF-8, configured by editing C source and recompiling, with scrollback needing third-party patches.
GNOME Terminal
The long-standing VTE-based terminal emulator for the GNOME desktop on Linux.
GNOME Terminal is a VTE-based terminal integrated with the GNOME desktop, adding a modern interface but not xterm's Tektronix emulation.
Konsole
KDE's terminal emulator for running a command shell, with tabs, profiles, bookmarks and output search.
Konsole adds tabs, profiles, bookmarks and output search, is designed around KDE Plasma, and has builds beyond Linux for macOS and Windows.
Xfce Terminal
The lightweight terminal emulator of the Xfce desktop, with tabs and a drop-down window mode.
Xfce Terminal is a lightweight terminal with tabs, a drop-down mode and a shortcut editor, configured through preferences instead of X resources.
Alacritty
A deliberately minimal OpenGL terminal that leaves multiplexing and tabs to other programs and just draws text fast.
Alacritty is a minimal OpenGL terminal for Linux, BSD, macOS and Windows with Vi mode and scrollback search, configured by file rather than X resources.
foot
A fast, lightweight and minimalistic terminal emulator built for Wayland on Linux and FreeBSD.
foot is a fast, minimal terminal for Wayland rather than X11, so moving to it also means running a Wayland desktop on Linux or FreeBSD.
kitty
GPU-accelerated terminal with tabs, splits, graphics and a kitten scripting system.
kitty is a GPU-accelerated terminal for macOS and Linux with tabs, splits, inline images and kittens, configured through a plain text file.
LXTerminal
A lightweight VTE-based terminal emulator from the LXDE project with tab support.
LXTerminal is a lightweight VTE terminal from LXDE with tabs and low memory use, without xterm's Tektronix emulation.
xterm as an alternative
Listings that name xterm as an alternative.
cool-retro-term
A terminal emulator that imitates the look of old cathode-ray tube screens.
xterm offers precise DEC VT and Tektronix emulation on X11 without visual effects, configured through X resources.
Terminology
A terminal emulator for Linux and BSD built on the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries, with inline media previews.
xterm offers very thorough DEC VT and Tektronix emulation on X11, configured through X resources, with no tabs, split panes or Wayland support.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
tmux
Keeps terminal sessions alive on a server after you disconnect, and splits one window into many.
GNU Screen
A terminal multiplexer that runs several shell sessions in one window and keeps them alive after disconnecting.
Mintty
A terminal emulator for Cygwin, MSYS2 and WSL on Windows with thorough xterm compatibility.
Nerd Fonts
A collection of programming fonts patched with thousands of icons, plus a patcher for adding them to other fonts.
