— Command: abort

This is a pretty useless command. By default, it is bound to C-t g and its purpose is to abort the current chain of keystrokes (just like C-g in `Emacs').

— Command: alias name command

Allows you to name a ratpoison command something else. For instance, if you frequently open emacs you may want to make an alias called `emacs' that loads emacs. You would do it like this:

          alias emacs exec emacs
     

An alias is treated exactly like a colon command in that you can call it from the colon prompt, bind it to a key, and call it non-interactively with ratpoison -c.

— Command: banish

Banish the mouse to the lower right corner of the screen.

— Command: banishrel

Banish the rat cursor to the lower right corner of the curren window. If there isn't a window in the current frame, it banishes the rat cursor to the lower right corner of the frame.

— Command: chdir

Change the current directory for ratpoison.

— Command: colon command

Run a ratpoison command.

— Command: set padding left top right bottom

Set the padding around the edge of the screen.

When called with no arguments, the current setting is returned.

— Command: set waitcursor n

Set whether the rat cursor should change into a square when waiting for a key. A non-zero number means change the cursor. Zero means don't change the cursor.

When called with no arguments, the current setting is returned.

— Command: set historysize n

Set how many lines of history should be recorded.

When called with no arguments, the current setting is returned.

— Command: set historcompaction bool

Set whether to remove multiple equal lines from history, even if not adjacent.

When called with no arguments, the current setting is returned.

— Command: set historexpansion bool

Set whether to expand ! using readline's libhistory in input.

When called with no arguments, the current setting is returned.

— Command: escape key

Set the prefix to key. For example `escape C-b' sets the prefix key to <C-b>.

— Command: exchangedown

Exchange the current frame with the one below it.

— Command: exchangeleft

Exchange the current frame with the one to the left of it.

— Command: exchangeright

Exchange the current frame with the one to the right of it.

— Command: exchangeup

Exchange the current frame with the one above it.

— Command: exec command

Execute a shell command. By default, C-t ! does this.

— Command: execa command

Execute a shell command but don't record which frame it was executed from. The client's windows will pop up in whatever frame is current.

— Command: execf frame command

Execute a shell command and choose which frame the client's first window will open in. The client must be netwm compliant for this to work.

— Command: getenv env

Display the value of the environment variable env.

— Command: getsel

Return the contents of the X11 selection.

— Command: help

Display a help screen that lists all bound keystrokes.

— Command: license

Display ratpoison's license. By default, this is bound to C-t V.

— Command: meta key

key is an optional argument. When key is omitted, send a C-t to the current window. Otherwise, send the key described by key to the current window. Note that some applications by default ignore the synthetic key that is sent using this command as it is considered a security hole. xterm is one such application.

For example, if your `Emacs' window is focused,

          meta M-x
     

Would cause emacs to prompt for an extended command.

— Command: prompt prompt

This command is only useful when called non-interactively. prompt prompts the user for input using prompt and returns the input.

— Command: putsel text

Make text the X11 selection.

— Command: quit

Quit ratpoison.

— Command: ratinfo

Display the x y coordinates of the rat cursor relative to the screen.

— Command: ratrelinfo

Display the x y coordinates of the rat cursor relative to the current window or current frame if no window is focused.

— Command: ratrelwarp x y

Warp the rat to the specified location relative to the current rat position.

— Command: ratwarp x y

Warp the rat to the specified absolute location.

— Command: ratclick button

click the rat. button is either 1, 2, or 3. button defaults to button 1.

— Command: rathold state button

click the rat button down if state is `down' or release the button if state is `up'.

— Command: redisplay

Extend the current window to the whole size of its current frame and redisplay it. This can be used to:

• redisplay normal windows or bring transient windows to the full size of the frame as only normal windows are maximized by ratpoison.
• fix xterms that didn't catch ratpoison's initial maximize event.

— Command: restart

Restart ratpoison.

— Command: set var value

Set the value of a ratpoison variable.

Here is a list of variables that can be set:

• framesels
• winliststyle
• barpadding
• bgcolor
• fgcolor
• winname
• winfmt
• waitcursor
• inputwidth
• barborder
• border
• padding
• font
• bargravity
• maxsizegravity
• transgravity
• wingravity
• maxundos
• resizeunit
• historysize
• historycompaction
• historyexpansion
• msgwait
• framemsgwait
• startupmessage
• warp

— Command: setenv env value

Set the environment variable env to value

— Command: source file

Read a text file containing ratpoison commands.

— Command: swap destination-frame source-frame

When called interactively prompt for a frame and swap its window with the window in the current frame. An optional second argument allows swapping of windows between arbitrary frames.

— Command: time

Show current time in the status bar.

— Command: unalias name

Remove name from the list of defined aliases.

— Command: unsetenv env

Clear the value of the environment variable, env.

— Command: verbexec command

Verbosely exec the shell command command. Raptoison displays a message saying command was executed.

— Command: version

Print ratpoison version. By default, this is bound to C-t v.