[SOLVED] urxvt doesn't display correctly some special characters

mwm · 2013-11-12 17:08:28

Hello everyone,

I have a weird issue with urxvt. For some reason it doesn't display correctly some special character.

Here is a comparison between xfce4-terminal and rxvt-unicode (I used theses characters as exemple):

xfce4-terminal :

urxvt :

And here is my .XDefaults file (without the color and the plugin part, since it's unrelevant):

    !Font

    URxvt.font: xft:PragmataPro:pixelsize=11:antialias=false

    !General

    URxvt.scrollBar: false
    URxvt*imLocale: fr_CH.UTF-8
    URxvt.saveLines: 5000
    URxvt.geometry: 95x26+50+50

Has someone an idea what the problem could be?

Thank's in advance.

Last edited by mwm (2013-11-13 13:15:48)

circleface · 2013-11-12 22:26:04

Are you using the same font on both terminals? Maybe the PragmataPro font doesn't support those characters.

mwm · 2013-11-12 22:30:54

Yes I use the same font.

I've also tried other fonts (Monospace, Terminus) on both terminal. But for some reason, special characters only work on xfce4-terminal

karol · 2013-11-12 22:35:19

What's the output of 'echo $TERM' for urxvt?

orschiro · 2013-11-13 07:09:10

Do you have the same issues when you use another .Xdefaults-capable terminal such as Xterm?

thisoldman · 2013-11-13 09:58:33

This is what I think is happpening.

PragmataPro may not contain those glyphs. It appears to have a wide array of glyphs but it is not unicode complete.

Xfce-terminal is a vte terminal. When a glyph cannot be found in the desired font, it will find the glyph in the 'closest' font. Urxvt will only use the glyphs in the font or fonts specified. If PragmataPro does not contain the glyphs, urxvt will display boxes.

You can give urxvt a series of fonts to search. It will search for a glyph through the listed fonts in the order you specify. Here's an example from my urxvt configs:

urxvt*font: xft:DejaVu Sans Mono:style=Book:antialias=false:size=8, \
            xft:WenQuanYi Bitmap Song:size=8, \
            xft:FreeSerif:style=Regular, \
            xft:unifont:style=Medium:antialias=false

I couldn't use FreeSerif or unifont as a main font, but for an occasional glyph, it works for me. This file, http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/exam … 8-demo.txt, can be displayed in urxvt correctly, with only a few unknow glyphs showing as boxes in the Amharic section.

mwm · 2013-11-13 13:15:07

@orschiro : No the font works in xterm.

@thisoldman : You are absolutely right! And your solution worked. Thank's a lot

pablox · 2013-11-19 04:44:22

I am having the same issue (but I'm using Source Code Pro), and it kind of works, but I'm still running into some weird characters. Maybe I am missing some of those fonts? Can you point where did you get them?

thisoldman · 2013-11-19 08:52:09

WenQuanYi Bitmap Song is from community/wqy-bitmapfont
FreeSerif is from community/ttf-freefont
unifont is from the AUR, ttf-unifont

Arch Linux

#1 2013-11-12 17:08:28

[SOLVED] urxvt doesn't display correctly some special characters

#2 2013-11-12 22:26:04

Re: [SOLVED] urxvt doesn't display correctly some special characters

#3 2013-11-12 22:30:54

Re: [SOLVED] urxvt doesn't display correctly some special characters

#4 2013-11-12 22:35:19

Re: [SOLVED] urxvt doesn't display correctly some special characters

#5 2013-11-13 07:09:10

Re: [SOLVED] urxvt doesn't display correctly some special characters

#6 2013-11-13 09:58:33

Re: [SOLVED] urxvt doesn't display correctly some special characters

#7 2013-11-13 13:15:07

Re: [SOLVED] urxvt doesn't display correctly some special characters

#8 2013-11-19 04:44:22

Re: [SOLVED] urxvt doesn't display correctly some special characters

#9 2013-11-19 08:52:09

Re: [SOLVED] urxvt doesn't display correctly some special characters

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