~~NOTOC~~
{{ :xfce:xfce.terminalemulator.png?no link|}}
====== xfce4-terminal - Getting Started ======

  * **[[#When you first start Terminal|When you first start Terminal]]**
  * **[[#Working with multiple terminals|Working with multiple terminals]]**
  * **[[#Modifying Shortcuts|Modifying Shortcuts]]**
  * **[[#Search in the Terminal Contents|Search in the Terminal Contents]]**

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===== Starting Terminal =====

The easiest way to start //Xfce Terminal// is to use the applications menu of your desktop; for Xfce, point your mouse cursor to the desktop, press the right mouse button and choose {gui>System>Xfce Terminal}.

You can also start //xfce4-terminal// from a command line or from the Application launcher. Just hit {key>Alt+F2}, type **Xfce Terminal** and click the button {gui>Execute}.

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===== When you first start Terminal =====

When you start //Xfce Terminal// for the first time, the application opens a terminal window with default settings. 

<figure "When you first start Terminal">
{{:apps:terminal:terminal-first-time.png?nolink&|}}
</figure>

The terminal window displays a command prompt where you can type UNIX commands. The command prompt may vary depending on the configuration of your shell. The cursor is positioned at the command prompt. When you type a UNIX command and press {key>Return}, the computer executes the command. By default, Terminal will use the login shell of the user who starts the application (''/bin/bash'' in case of a default Linux installation).

Terminal sets the following environment variables for the command running inside the terminal window:

? TERM
! Set to xterm or xterm-color, you can configure the value from the [[preferences]] dialog.
? COLORTERM
! Set to ''xfce4-terminal'' by default.
? DISPLAY
! Set to the X11 display of the terminal by default.
? WINDOWID
! Set to the X11 window identifier of the terminal by default.

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===== Working with multiple terminals =====

Xfce Terminal provides a tab feature that enables you to open several terminals within a single window. Each terminal is opened in a separate tab. Click on the appropriate tab to display the terminal in the window. Each tabbed terminal in a window is separate sub-process, so you can use each terminal for a different task. 

<figure "Working with multiple terminals">
{{:apps:terminal:terminal-multiple-tabs.png?nolink&|}}
</figure>

See the section [[usage|Usage]] for information about how to open a new tabbed terminal.

You can close a terminal tab by clicking on the close button in the terminal tab header or by choosing {gui>File>Close Tab} from the menubar. 

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===== Modifying Shortcuts =====

Xfce Terminal has no special interface to change shortcuts like {key>Ctrl+Shift+T} to open a new tab. Instead it relies on customizable menu accelerators in Gtk+.

Read more about this in the general [[:faq|FAQ]] how to use editable menu accelerators.

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===== Search in the Terminal Contents =====

Open the Find dialog, by clicking {gui>Terminal>Find...}.

<figure "Search in scrollbar buffer">
{{:apps:terminal:terminal-find.png?nolink&|}}
</figure>

? Case sensitive
! Enable case sensitive matching.
? Match as regular expression
! Don't escape the search pattern, but use it directly for the regular expression.
? Match entire work only
! Add word boundary matching (\b) to the regular expression.
? Wrap around
! Jump to the beginning of the buffer, and vice versa, when the end has been reached.

If the dialog is closed, you can continue search with the {gui>Terminal>Find Previous} and {gui>Terminal>Find Next} menu actions. The search pattern will be unset when you clear the scrollbar buffer.

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[[:apps:xfce4-terminal:4.16:start:|Back to xfce4-terminal 4.16 main page]]