Changing font size in xterm

[J65nko]

Several years ago, on what used to be my workstation, I wrote a small script to create some xterms with a different and larger font size then the default. Yes, older age comes with diminishing eyesight for me

This proved to be handy when creating complex regular expressions for grep or friends. Being too lazy to go to the garage through the cold, to unpack that box, connect a keyboard and monitor to it, I decided to google for 'xterm font size unix'.
The most helpful was http://invisible-island.net/xterm/xt....html#how_do_i

How do I change the font size?
Xterm uses fonts given as resource settings. You can switch between these fonts at runtime, using a menu. This is documented in the manpage, in the MENUS section.

X Consortium xterm provides popup menus, by pressing the control key together with the mouse button. Control right mouse button pops up the VT FONTS menu, from which you can select fonts that are specified in xterm's resources. Usually these are in increasing order of size.

Modern xterm provides the menu, plus a feature adapted from rxvt: pressing the shifted keypad plus or minus keys steps through the font menu selections, in order of their size.

Xterm's manpage does not document the syntax for X resources; it is done in the X documentation. If you are instead asking about a problem displaying a given font, it may be due to a problem with your resource settings.

In my case the "shifted keypad plus or minus keys" only made the fonts smaller, not larger, so my quest for a larger font size continued.

The xterm man page is quite long but this site also has a nice version of the xterm man page : http://invisible-island.net/xterm/manpage/xterm.html

The MENU section : http://invisible-island.net/xterm/manpage/xterm.html

If you use 'less' as pager for the man pages .....

 $ grep PAGER .profile      
export PAGER=/usr/bin/less

then you can move that section of xterm(1) with a simple /MENUS

MENUS
       Xterm  has  four  menus, named mainMenu, vtMenu, fontMenu,
       and tekMenu.  Each menu pops up under the correct combina-
       tions  of  key  and  button presses.  Each menu is divided
       into sections, separated by a horizontal line.  Some  menu
       entries  correspond to modes that can be altered.  A check
       mark appears next to a  mode  that  is  currently  active.
       Selecting  one  of  these  modes toggles its state.  Other
       menu entries are commands; selecting one of these performs
       the indicated function.

       All  of  the menu entries correspond to X actions.  In the
       list below, the  menu  label  is  shown  followed  by  the
       action's name in parenthesis.

A summary of these CONTROL:key and mouse button presses:

1.  Main Options
       The  xterm  mainMenu  pops  up  when the "control" key and
          pointer button one are pressed in  a  window.   This  menu
          contains  items that apply to both the VT102 and Tektronix
          windows.  There are several sections: ........

2.    VT Options
          The vtMenu sets various modes in the VT102 emulation,  and
          is popped up when the "control" key and pointer button two
          are pressed in the VT102 window.

3.    VT Fonts
          The  fontMenu  pops  up  when  when  the "control" key and
          pointer button three are pressed in a window.  It sets the
          font  used  in  the  VT102 window, or modifies the way the
          font is specified or displayed.  There  are  several  sec-
          tions.

4.    TEK Options
          The tekMenu sets various modes in the Tektronix emulation,
          and is popped up when the "control" key and pointer button
          two are pressed in the Tektronix window.  The current font
          size is checked in the modes section of the menu.

So to change the the font size: press the CONTROL key with one hand, and click the right mouse button. A menu appears, with the following font alternatives:

              Default (fontdefault)
                     Set the font  to  the  default,  i.e.,  that
                     given by the *VT100.font resource.

              Unreadable (font1)
                     Set   the   font   to   that  given  by  the
                     *VT100.font1 resource.

              Tiny (font2)
                     Set  the  font  to   that   given   by   the
                     *VT100.font2 resource.

              Small (font3)
                     Set   the   font   to   that  given  by  the
                     *VT100.font3 resource.

              Medium (font4)
                     Set  the  font  to   that   given   by   the
                     *VT100.font4 resource.

              Large (font5)
                     Set   the   font   to   that  given  by  the
                     *VT100.font5 resource. 

             Huge (font6)
                     Set  the  font  to   that   given   by   the
                     *VT100.font6 resource.

Problem solved