By default, Pidgin uses Shift+Enter to jump to the new line (unlike the Ctrl+Enter in Yahoo Messenger), and this may be cumbersome when you’re used to YM or when you’re a fast typer.
Now, to change the actual behaviour of the Enter and Ctrl+Enter keystrokes, we’ll need to paste the following piece of text in the ensuing (pdigin specific) gtkrc-2.0 file:
binding "my-bindings"
{
bind "<shift>Return" { "message_send" () }
bind "<ctrl>Return" { "insert-at-cursor" ("\n") }
}
widget "*pidgin_conv_entry" binding "my-bindings"
What’s the gtkrc-2.0?
The windowing toolkit that Pidgin uses, GTK+, is configurable via a text file.
- There is a global file:
- On Windows, it is found in the etc\gtk-2.0 directory your GTK+ Runtime install directory (<Pidgin Installation Directory>\Gtk, by default).
- On Linux and other *nixes, it is found in /etc/gtk/.
- There is also a per-user file (named .gtkrc-2.0) in your user’s home directory, the location of this varies according to the OS you’re using and the configuration.
- For Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7, entering %USERPROFILE% in your Windows Explorer address bar will take you to the right directory (probably something like C:\Documents and Settings\username).
- For Windows 98/ME it will be something like C:\Windows\Profiles\username.
- For Unix-like platforms, it is /home/username.
- If you have the HOME environment variable set, it will override the default per-user file location on all platforms.
Note that Windows Explorer will not allow you create a file that starts with a period; you’ll need to use a text editor or rename the file in a cmd shell.
- There is also a pidgin-specific file that is located in the configuration directory.
- %APPDATA%\.purple\gtkrc-2.0 on Windows
- ~/.purple/gtkrc-2.0 on Unix-like platforms
It is recommended that you edit your per-user file or the pidgin-specific file instead of the global file as the global file will be replaced when GTK+ is upgraded.