A Guide to the Mazes of Menace

(Guidebook for NetHack)

Original version - Eric S. Raymond

(Edited and expanded for 3.6 by Mike Stephenson and others)

February 3, 2023

1. Introduction

Recently, you have begun to find yourself unfulfilled and

distant in your daily occupation. Strange dreams of prospecting,
stealing, crusading, and combat have haunted you in your sleep
for many months, but you aren't sure of the reason. You wonder
whether you have in fact been having those dreams all your life,
and somehow managed to forget about them until now. Some nights
you awaken suddenly and cry out, terrified at the vivid recollec-
tion of the strange and powerful creatures that seem to be lurk-
ing behind every corner of the dungeon in your dream. Could
these details haunting your dreams be real? As each night pass-
es, you feel the desire to enter the mysterious caverns near the
ruins grow stronger. Each morning, however, you quickly put the
idea out of your head as you recall the tales of those who en-
tered the caverns before you and did not return. Eventually you
can resist the yearning to seek out the fantastic place in your
dreams no longer. After all, when other adventurers came back
this way after spending time in the caverns, they usually seemed
better off than when they passed through the first time. And who
was to say that all of those who did not return had not just kept
going?

Asking around, you hear about a bauble, called the Amulet of

Yendor by some, which, if you can find it, will bring you great
wealth. One legend you were told even mentioned that the one who
finds the amulet will be granted immortality by the gods. The
amulet is rumored to be somewhere beyond the Valley of Gehennom,
deep within the Mazes of Menace. Upon hearing the legends, you
immediately realize that there is some profound and undiscovered
reason that you are to descend into the caverns and seek out that
amulet of which they spoke. Even if the rumors of the amulet's
powers are untrue, you decide that you should at least be able to
sell the tales of your adventures to the local minstrels for a
tidy sum, especially if you encounter any of the terrifying and
magical creatures of your dreams along the way. You spend one
last night fortifying yourself at the local inn, becoming more
and more depressed as you watch the odds of your success being
posted on the inn's walls getting lower and lower.

NetHack Guidebook 1

NetHack Guidebook 2

In the morning you awake, collect your belongings, and set

off for the dungeon. After several days of uneventful travel,
you see the ancient ruins that mark the entrance to the Mazes of
Menace. It is late at night, so you make camp at the entrance
and spend the night sleeping under the open skies. In the morn-
ing, you gather your gear, eat what may be your last meal out-
side, and enter the dungeon...

2. What is going on here?

You have just begun a game of NetHack. Your goal is to grab

as much treasure as you can, retrieve the Amulet of Yendor, and
escape the Mazes of Menace alive.

Your abilities and strengths for dealing with the hazards of

adventure will vary with your background and training:

Archeologists understand dungeons pretty well; this enables

them to move quickly and sneak up on the local nasties. They
start equipped with the tools for a proper scientific expedition.

Barbarians are warriors out of the hinterland, hardened to

battle. They begin their quests with naught but uncommon
strength, a trusty hauberk, and a great two-handed sword.

Cavemen and Cavewomen start with exceptional strength but,

unfortunately, with neolithic weapons.

Healers are wise in medicine and apothecary. They know the

herbs and simples that can restore vitality, ease pain, anes-
thetize, and neutralize poisons; and with their instruments, they
can divine a being's state of health or sickness. Their medical
practice earns them quite reasonable amounts of money, with which
they enter the dungeon.

Knights are distinguished from the common skirmisher by

their devotion to the ideals of chivalry and by the surpassing
excellence of their armor.

Monks are ascetics, who by rigorous practice of physical and

mental disciplines have become capable of fighting as effectively
without weapons as with. They wear no armor but make up for it
with increased mobility.

Priests and Priestesses are clerics militant, crusaders ad-

vancing the cause of righteousness with arms, armor, and arts
thaumaturgic. Their ability to commune with deities via prayer
occasionally extricates them from peril, but can also put them in
it.

Rangers are most at home in the woods, and some say slightly
out of place in a dungeon. They are, however, experts in archery
as well as tracking and stealthy movement.

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NetHack Guidebook 3

Rogues are agile and stealthy thieves, with knowledge of

locks, traps, and poisons. Their advantage lies in surprise,
which they employ to great advantage.

Samurai are the elite warriors of feudal Nippon. They are

lightly armored and quick, and wear the dai-sho, two swords of
the deadliest keenness.

Tourists start out with lots of gold (suitable for shopping

with), a credit card, lots of food, some maps, and an expensive
camera. Most monsters don't like being photographed.

Valkyries are hardy warrior women. Their upbringing in the

harsh Northlands makes them strong, inures them to extremes of
cold, and instills in them stealth and cunning.

Wizards start out with a knowledge of magic, a selection of

magical items, and a particular affinity for dweomercraft. Al-
though seemingly weak and easy to overcome at first sight, an ex-
perienced Wizard is a deadly foe.

You may also choose the race of your character (within lim-
its; most roles have restrictions on which races are eligible for
them):

Dwarves are smaller than humans or elves, but are stocky and
solid individuals. Dwarves' most notable trait is their great
expertise in mining and metalwork. Dwarvish armor is said to be
second in quality not even to the mithril armor of the Elves.

Elves are agile, quick, and perceptive; very little of what

goes on will escape an Elf. The quality of Elven craftsmanship
often gives them an advantage in arms and armor.

Gnomes are smaller than but generally similar to dwarves.

Gnomes are known to be expert miners, and it is known that a se-
cret underground mine complex built by this race exists within
the Mazes of Menace, filled with both riches and danger.
 Humans are by far the most common race of the surface world,
and are thus the norm to which other races are often compared.
Although they have no special abilities, they can succeed in any
role.

Orcs are a cruel and barbaric race that hate every living
thing (including other orcs). Above all others, Orcs hate Elves
with a passion unequalled, and will go out of their way to kill
one at any opportunity. The armor and weapons fashioned by the
Orcs are typically of inferior quality.

3. What do all those things on the screen mean?

On the screen is kept a map of where you have been and what
you have seen on the current dungeon level; as you explore more

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NetHack Guidebook 4

of the level, it appears on the screen in front of you.

When NetHack's ancestor rogue first appeared, its screen

orientation was almost unique among computer fantasy games.
Since then, screen orientation has become the norm rather than
the exception; NetHack continues this fine tradition. Unlike
text adventure games that accept commands in pseudo-English sen-
tences and explain the results in words, NetHack commands are all
one or two keystrokes and the results are displayed graphically
on the screen. A minimum screen size of 24 lines by 80 columns
is recommended; if the screen is larger, only a 21x80 section
will be used for the map.

NetHack can even be played by blind players, with the assis-

tance of Braille readers or speech synthesisers. Instructions
for configuring NetHack for the blind are included later in this
document.

NetHack generates a new dungeon every time you play it; even
the authors still find it an entertaining and exciting game de-
spite having won several times.

NetHack offers a variety of display options. The options

available to you will vary from port to port, depending on the
capabilities of your hardware and software, and whether various
compile-time options were enabled when your executable was creat-
ed. The three possible display options are: a monochrome charac-
ter interface, a color character interface, and a graphical in-
terface using small pictures called tiles. The two character in-
terfaces allow fonts with other characters to be substituted, but
the default assignments use standard ASCII characters to repre-
sent everything. There is no difference between the various dis-
play options with respect to game play. Because we cannot repro-
duce the tiles or colors in the Guidebook, and because it is com-
mon to all ports, we will use the default ASCII characters from
the monochrome character display when referring to things you
might see on the screen during your game.

In order to understand what is going on in NetHack, first

you must understand what NetHack is doing with the screen. The
NetHack screen replaces the "You see ..." descriptions of text
adventure games. Figure 1 is a sample of what a NetHack screen
might look like. The way the screen looks for you depends on
your platform.

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NetHack Guidebook 5

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
|The bat bites! |
| |
| ------ |
| |....| ---------- |
| |.<..|####...@...$.| |
| |....-# |...B....+ |
| |....| |.d......| |
| ------ -------|-- |
| |
| |
| |
|Player the Rambler St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15 Neutral |
|Dlvl:1 $:0 HP:9(12) Pw:3(3) AC:10 Exp:1/19 T:257 Weak |
+---------------------------Figure-1-----------------------------+

3.1. The status lines (bottom)

The bottom two lines of the screen contain several cryptic

pieces of information describing your current status. If either
status line becomes longer than the width of the screen, you
might not see all of it. Here are explanations of what the vari-
ous status items mean (though your configuration may not have all
the status items listed below):
Rank
Your character's name and professional ranking (based on the
experience level, see below).

Strength
A measure of your character's strength; one of your six ba-
sic attributes. A human character's attributes can range
from 3 to 18 inclusive; non-humans may exceed these limits
(occasionally you may get super-strengths of the form 18/xx,
and magic can also cause attributes to exceed the normal
limits). The higher your strength, the stronger you are.
Strength affects how successfully you perform physical
tasks, how much damage you do in combat, and how much loot
you can carry.

Dexterity
Dexterity affects your chances to hit in combat, to avoid
traps, and do other tasks requiring agility or manipulation
of objects.

Constitution
Constitution affects your ability to recover from injuries
and other strains on your stamina. When strength is low or
modest, constitution also affects how much you can carry.
With sufficiently high strength, the contribution to carry-
ing capacity from your constitution no longer matters.

Intelligence
Intelligence affects your ability to cast spells and read

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NetHack Guidebook 6

spellbooks.

Wisdom
Wisdom comes from your practical experience (especially when
dealing with magic). It affects your magical energy.

Charisma
Charisma affects how certain creatures react toward you. In
particular, it can affect the prices shopkeepers offer you.

Alignment
Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic. Often, Lawful is taken as good
and Chaotic as evil, but legal and ethical do not always co-
incide. Your alignment influences how other monsters react
toward you. Monsters of a like alignment are more likely to
be non-aggressive, while those of an opposing alignment are
more likely to be seriously offended at your presence.
Dungeon Level
How deep you are in the dungeon. You start at level one and
the number increases as you go deeper into the dungeon.
Some levels are special, and are identified by a name and
not a number. The Amulet of Yendor is reputed to be some-
where beneath the twentieth level.

Gold
The number of gold pieces you are openly carrying. Gold
which you have concealed in containers is not counted.

Hit Points
Your current and maximum hit points. Hit points indicate
how much damage you can take before you die. The more you
get hit in a fight, the lower they get. You can regain hit
points by resting, or by using certain magical items or
spells. The number in parentheses is the maximum number
your hit points can reach.

Power
Spell points. This tells you how much mystic energy (mana)
you have available for spell casting. Again, resting will
regenerate the amount available.

Armor Class
A measure of how effectively your armor stops blows from un-
friendly creatures. The lower this number is, the more ef-
fective the armor; it is quite possible to have negative ar-
mor class.

Experience
Your current experience level and experience points. As you
adventure, you gain experience points. At certain experi-
ence point totals, you gain an experience level. The more
experienced you are, the better you fight and withstand mag-
ical attacks. Many dungeons show only your experience level

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NetHack Guidebook 7

here.

Time
The number of turns elapsed so far, displayed if you have
the time option set.

Status
Hunger: your current hunger status. Values are Satiated,
Not Hungry (or Normal), Hungry, Weak, and Fainting. Not
shown when Normal.
 Encumbrance: an indication of how what you are carrying af-
fects your ability to move. Values are Unencumbered, Encum-
bered, Stressed, Strained, Overtaxed, and Overloaded. Not
shown when Unencumbered.

Fatal conditions: Stone (aka Petrifying, turning to stone),

Slime (turning into green slime), Strngl (being strangled),
FoodPois (suffering from acute food poisoning), TermIll
(suffering from a terminal illness).

Non-fatal conditions: Blind (can't see), Deaf (can't hear),

Stun (stunned), Conf (confused), Hallu (hallucinating).

Movement modifiers: Lev (levitating), Fly (flying), Ride

(riding).

Other conditions and modifiers exist, but there isn't enough

room to display them with the other status fields. The `^X'
command shows all relevant status conditions.

3.2. The message line (top)

The top line of the screen is reserved for messages that de-
scribe things that are impossible to represent visually. If you
see a "--More--" on the top line, this means that NetHack has an-
other message to display on the screen, but it wants to make cer-
tain that you've read the one that is there first. To read the
next message, just press the space bar.

To change how and what messages are shown on the message

line, see "Configuring Message Types" and the verbose option.

3.3. The map (rest of the screen)

The rest of the screen is the map of the level as you have
explored it so far. Each symbol on the screen represents some-
thing. You can set various graphics options to change some of
the symbols the game uses; otherwise, the game will use default
symbols. Here is a list of what the default symbols mean:

- and |
The walls of a room, or an open door. Or a grave (|).

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NetHack Guidebook 8

. The floor of a room, ice, or a doorless doorway.

# A corridor, or iron bars, or a tree, or possibly a kitchen

sink (if your dungeon has sinks), or a drawbridge.
> Stairs down: a way to the next level.

< Stairs up: a way to the previous level.

+ A closed door, or a spellbook containing a spell you may be

able to learn.

@ Your character or a human.

$ A pile of gold.

^ A trap (once you have detected it).

) A weapon.

[ A suit or piece of armor.

% Something edible (not necessarily healthy).

? A scroll.

/ A wand.

= A ring.

! A potion.

( A useful item (pick-axe, key, lamp...).

" An amulet or a spider web.

* A gem or rock (possibly valuable, possibly worthless).

` A boulder or statue.

0 An iron ball.

_ An altar, or an iron chain.

{ A fountain.

} A pool of water or moat or a pool of lava.

\ An opulent throne.

a-zA-Z and other symbols

Letters and certain other symbols represent the various in-
habitants of the Mazes of Menace. Watch out, they can be
nasty and vicious. Sometimes, however, they can be helpful.

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I This marks the last known location of an invisible or other-
wise unseen monster. Note that the monster could have
moved. The `F' and `m' commands may be useful here.

You need not memorize all these symbols; you can ask the
game what any symbol represents with the `/' command (see the
next section for more info).

4. Commands

Commands can be initiated by typing one or two characters to

which the command is bound to, or typing the command name in the
extended commands entry. Some commands, like "search", do not
require that any more information be collected by NetHack. Other
commands might require additional information, for example a di-
rection, or an object to be used. For those commands that re-
quire additional information, NetHack will present you with ei-
ther a menu of choices or with a command line prompt requesting
information. Which you are presented with will depend chiefly on
how you have set the menustyle option.

For example, a common question, in the form "What do you

want to use? [a-zA-Z ?*]", asks you to choose an object you are
carrying. Here, "a-zA-Z" are the inventory letters of your pos-
sible choices. Typing `?' gives you an inventory list of these
items, so you can see what each letter refers to. In this exam-
ple, there is also a `*' indicating that you may choose an object
not on the list, if you wanted to use something unexpected. Typ-
ing a `*' lists your entire inventory, so you can see the inven-
tory letters of every object you're carrying. Finally, if you
change your mind and decide you don't want to do this command af-
ter all, you can press the ESC key to abort the command.

You can put a number before some commands to repeat them

that many times; for example, "10s" will search ten times. If
you have the number_pad option set, you must type `n' to prefix a
count, so the example above would be typed "n10s" instead. Com-
mands for which counts make no sense ignore them. In addition,
movement commands can be prefixed for greater control (see be-
low). To cancel a count or a prefix, press the ESC key.

The list of commands is rather long, but it can be read at

any time during the game through the `?' command, which accesses
a menu of helpful texts. Here are the default key bindings for
your reference:

? Help menu: display one of several help texts available.

/ The "whatis" command, to tell what a symbol represents. You

may choose to specify a location or type a symbol (or even a
whole word) to explain. Specifying a location is done by
moving the cursor to a particular spot on the map and then
pressing one of `.', `,', `;', or `:'. `.' will explain the
symbol at the chosen location, conditionally check for "More
NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 10

info?" depending upon whether the help option is on, and

then you will be asked to pick another location; `,' will
explain the symbol but skip any additional information, then
let you pick another location; `;' will skip additional info
and also not bother asking you to choose another location to
examine; `:' will show additional info, if any, without ask-
ing for confirmation. When picking a location, pressing the
ESC key will terminate this command, or pressing `?' will
give a brief reminder about how it works.

If the autodescribe option is on, a short description of

what you see at each location is shown as you move the cur-
sor. Typing `#' while picking a location will toggle that
option on or off. The whatis_coord option controls whether
the short description includes map coordinates.

Specifying a name rather than a location always gives any

additional information available about that name.

You may also request a description of nearby monsters, all

monsters currently displayed, nearby objects, or all ob-
jects. The whatis_coord option controls which format of map
coordinate is included with their descriptions.

& Tell what a command does.

< Go up to the previous level (if you are on a staircase or

ladder).

> Go down to the next level (if you are on a staircase or lad-
der).

[yuhjklbn]
Go one step in the direction indicated (see Figure 2). If
you sense or remember a monster there, you will fight the
monster instead. Only these one-step movement commands
cause you to fight monsters; the others (below) are "safe."

y k u 7 8 9
\ | / \ | /
h- . -l 4- . -6
/ | \ / | \
b j n 1 2 3
(if number_pad is set)

Figure 2

[YUHJKLBN]
Go in that direction until you hit a wall or run into some-
 thing.

m[yuhjklbn]
Prefix: move without picking up objects or fighting (even
if you remember a monster there).

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NetHack Guidebook 11

A few non-movement commands use the `m' prefix to request

operating via menu (to temporarily override the
menustyle:Traditional option). Primarily useful for `,'
(pickup) when there is only one class of objects present
(where there won't be any "what kinds of objects?" prompt,
so no opportunity to answer `m' at that prompt).

A few other commands (eat food, offer sacrifice, apply tin-

ning-kit) use the `m' prefix to skip checking for applicable
objects on the floor and go straight to checking inventory,
or (for "#loot" to remove a saddle), skip containers and go
straight to adjacent monsters. The prefix will make "#trav-
el" command show a menu of interesting targets in sight. In
debug mode (aka "wizard mode"), the `m' prefix may also be
used with the "#teleport" and "#wizlevelport" commands.

F[yuhjklbn]
Prefix: fight a monster (even if you only guess one is
there).

M[yuhjklbn]
Prefix: move far, no pickup.

g[yuhjklbn]
Prefix: move until something interesting is found.

G[yuhjklbn] or <CONTROL->[yuhjklbn]
Prefix: same as `g', but forking of corridors is not con-
sidered interesting.

_ Travel to a map location via a shortest-path algorithm.

The shortest path is computed over map locations the hero

knows about (e.g. seen or previously traversed). If there
is no known path, a guess is made instead. Stops on most of
the same conditions as the `G' command, but without picking
up objects, similar to the `M' command. For ports with
mouse support, the command is also invoked when a mouse-
click takes place on a location other than the current posi-
tion.

. Wait or rest, do nothing for one turn.

a Apply (use) a tool (pick-axe, key, lamp...).

If used on a wand, that wand will be broken, releasing its

magic in the process. Confirmation is required.

A Remove one or more worn items, such as armor.

Use `T' (take off) to take off only one piece of armor or
`R' (remove) to take off only one accessory.

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NetHack Guidebook 12

^A Redo the previous command.

c Close a door.

C Call (name) a monster, an individual object, or a type of

object.

Same as extended command "#name".

^C Panic button. Quit the game.

d Drop something.

For example "d7a" means drop seven items of object a.

D Drop several things.

In answer to the question

"What kinds of things do you want to drop? [!%= BUCXaium]"

you should type zero or more object symbols possibly fol-

lowed by `a' and/or `i' and/or `u' and/or `m'. In addition,
one or more of the blessed/uncursed/cursed groups may be
typed.

DB - drop all objects known to be blessed.

DU - drop all objects known to be uncursed.
DC - drop all objects known to be cursed.
DX - drop all objects of unknown B/U/C status.
Da - drop all objects, without asking for confirmation.
Di - examine your inventory before dropping anything.
Du - drop only unpaid objects (when in a shop).
Dm - use a menu to pick which object(s) to drop.
D%u - drop only unpaid food.
 The last example shows a combination. There are three cate-
gories of object filtering: class (`!' for potions, `?' for
scrolls, and so on), shop status (`u' for unpaid, in other
words, owned by the shop), and bless/curse state (`B', `U',
`C', and `X' as shown above). If you specify more than one
value in a category (such as "!?" for potions and scrolls or
"BU" for blessed and uncursed), an inventory object will
meet the criteria if it matches any of the specified values
(so "!?" means `!' or `?'). If you specify more than one
category, an inventory object must meet each of the category
criteria (so "%u" means class `%' and unpaid `u'). Lastly,
you may specify multiple values within multiple categories:
"!?BU" will select all potions and scrolls which are known
to be blessed or uncursed. (In versions prior to 3.6, fil-
ter combinations behaved differently.)

^D Kick something (usually a door).

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NetHack Guidebook 13

e Eat food.

Normally checks for edible item(s) on the floor, then if

none are found or none are chosen, checks for edible item(s)
in inventory. Precede `e' with the `m' prefix to bypass at-
tempting to eat anything off the floor.

If you attempt to eat while already satiated, you might

choke to death. If you risk it, you will be asked whether
to "continue eating?" if you survive the first bite. You
can set the paranoid_confirmation:eating option to require a
response of yes instead of just y.

E Engrave a message on the floor.

E- - write in the dust with your fingers.

Engraving the word "Elbereth" will cause most monsters to

not attack you hand-to-hand (but if you attack, you will rub
it out); this is often useful to give yourself a breather.

f Fire (shoot or throw) one of the objects placed in your

quiver (or quiver sack, or that you have at the ready). You
may select ammunition with a previous `Q' command, or let
the computer pick something appropriate if autoquiver is
true.

See also `t' (throw) for more general throwing and shooting.
i List your inventory (everything you're carrying).

I List selected parts of your inventory, usually be specifying

the character for a particular set of objects, like `[' for
armor or `!' for potions.

I* - list all gems in inventory;

Iu - list all unpaid items;
Ix - list all used up items that are on your shopping bill;
IB - list all items known to be blessed;
IU - list all items known to be uncursed;
IC - list all items known to be cursed;
IX - list all items whose bless/curse status is unknown;
I$ - count your money.

o Open a door.

O Set options.

A menu showing the current option values will be displayed.

You can change most values simply by selecting the menu en-
try for the given option (ie, by typing its letter or click-
ing upon it, depending on your user interface). For the
non-boolean choices, a further menu or prompt will appear
once you've closed this menu. The available options are

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 14

listed later in this Guidebook. Options are usually set be-

fore the game rather than with the `O' command; see the sec-
tion on options below.

^O Show overview.

Shortcut for "#overview": list interesting dungeon levels

visited.

(Prior to 3.6.0, `^O' was a debug mode command which listed

the placement of all special levels. Use "#wizwhere" to run
that command.)

p Pay your shopping bill.

P Put on an accessory (ring, amulet, or blindfold).

This command may also be used to wear armor. The prompt for
which inventory item to use will only list accessories, but
choosing an unlisted item of armor will attempt to wear it.
(See the `W' command below. It lists armor as the inventory
 choices but will accept an accessory and attempt to put that
on.)

^P Repeat previous message.

Subsequent `^P's repeat earlier messages. For some inter-

faces, the behavior can be varied via the msg_window option.

q Quaff (drink) something (potion, water, etc).

Q Select an object for your quiver, quiver sack, or just gen-

erally at the ready (only one of these is available at a
time). You can then throw this (or one of these) using the
`f' command.

(In versions prior to 3.3 this was the command to quit the
game, which has been moved to "#quit".)

r Read a scroll or spellbook.

R Remove a worn accessory (ring, amulet, or blindfold).

If you're wearing more than one, you'll be prompted for

which one to remove. When you're only wearing one, then by
default it will be removed without asking, but you can set
the paranoid_confirmation option to require a prompt.

This command may also be used to take off armor. The prompt
for which inventory item to remove only lists worn acces-
sories, but an item of worn armor can be chosen. (See the
`T' command below. It lists armor as the inventory choices
but will accept an accessory and attempt to remove it.)

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NetHack Guidebook 15

^R Redraw the screen.

s Search for secret doors and traps around you. It usually

takes several tries to find something.

Can also be used to figure out whether there is still a mon-

ster at an adjacent "remembered, unseen monster" marker.

S Save the game (which suspends play and exits the program).
The saved game will be restored automatically the next time
you play using the same character name.

In normal play, once a saved game is restored the file used

to hold the saved data is deleted. In explore mode, once
 restoration is accomplished you are asked whether to keep or
delete the file. Keeping the file makes it feasible to play
for a while then quit without saving and later restore
again.

There is no "save current game state and keep playing" com-

mand, not even in explore mode where saved game files can be
kept and re-used.

t Throw an object or shoot a projectile.

There's no separate "shoot" command. If you throw an arrow

while wielding a bow, you are shooting that arrow and any
weapon skill bonus or penalty for bow applies. If you throw
an arrow while not wielding a bow, you are throwing it by
hand and it will generally be less effective than when shot.

See also `f' (fire) for throwing or shooting an item pre-se-

lected via the `Q' (quiver) command.

T Take off armor.

If you're wearing more than one piece, you'll be prompted

for which one to take off. (Note that this treats a cloak
covering a suit and/or a shirt, or a suit covering a shirt,
as if the underlying items weren't there.) When you're only
wearing one, then by default it will be taken off without
asking, but you can set the paranoid_confirmation option to
require a prompt.

This command may also be used to remove accessories. The

prompt for which inventory item to take off only lists worn
armor, but a worn accessory can be chosen. (See the `R'
command above. It lists accessories as the inventory choic-
es but will accept an item of armor and attempt to take it
off.)

^T Teleport, if you have the ability.

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 16

v Display version number.

V Display the game history.

w Wield weapon.

w- - wield nothing, use your bare (or gloved) hands.

 Some characters can wield two weapons at once; use the `X'
command (or the "#twoweapon" extended command) to do so.

W Wear armor.

This command may also be used to put on an accessory (ring,

amulet, or blindfold). The prompt for which inventory item
to use will only list armor, but choosing an unlisted acces-
sory will attempt to put it on. (See the `P' command above.
It lists accessories as the inventory choices but will ac-
cept an item of armor and attempt to wear it.)

x Exchange your wielded weapon with the item in your alternate

weapon slot.

The latter is used as your secondary weapon when engaging in

two-weapon combat. Note that if one of these slots is emp-
ty, the exchange still takes place.

X Toggle two-weapon combat, if your character can do it. Also

available via the "#twoweapon" extended command.

(In versions prior to 3.6 this was the command to switch

from normal play to "explore mode", also known as "discovery
mode", which has now been moved to "#exploremode".)

^X Display basic information about your character.

Displays name, role, race, gender (unless role name makes

that redundant, such as Caveman or Priestess), and align-
ment, along with your patron deity and his or her opposi-
tion. It also shows most of the various items of informa-
tion from the status line(s) in a less terse form, including
several additional things which don't appear in the normal
status display due to space considerations.

In normal play, that's all that `^X' displays. In explore

mode, the role and status feedback is augmented by the in-
formation provided by enlightenment magic.

z Zap a wand.

z. - to aim at yourself, use `.' for the direction.

Z Zap (cast) a spell.

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 17
 Z. - to cast at yourself, use `.' for the direction.

^Z Suspend the game (UNIX(R) versions with job control only).

: Look at what is here.

; Show what type of thing a visible symbol corresponds to.

, Pick up some things from the floor beneath you.

May be preceded by `m' to force a selection menu.

@ Toggle the autopickup option on and off.

^ Ask for the type of an adjacent trap you found earlier.

) Tell what weapon you are wielding.

[ Tell what armor you are wearing.

= Tell what rings you are wearing.

" Tell what amulet you are wearing.

( Tell what tools you are using.

* Tell what equipment you are using.

Combines the preceding five type-specific commands into one.

$ Count your gold pieces.

+ List the spells you know.

Using this command, you can also rearrange the order in

which your spells are listed, either by sorting the entire
list or by picking one spell from the menu then picking an-
other to swap places with it. Swapping pairs of spells
changes their casting letters, so the change lasts after the
current `+' command finishes. Sorting the whole list is
temporary. To make the most recent sort order persist be-
yond the current `+' command, choose the sort option again
and then pick "reassign casting letters". (Any spells
learned after that will be added to the end of the list
rather than be inserted into the sorted ordering.)

\ Show what types of objects have been discovered.

` Show discovered types for one class of objects.

__________
(R)UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 18

! Escape to a shell.

# Perform an extended command.

As you can see, the authors of NetHack used up all the let-
ters, so this is a way to introduce the less frequently used com-
mands. What extended commands are available depends on what fea-
tures the game was compiled with.

#adjust
Adjust inventory letters (most useful when the fixinv option
is "on"). Autocompletes. Default key is `M-a'.

This command allows you to move an item from one particular

inventory slot to another so that it has a letter which is
more meaningful for you or that it will appear in a particu-
lar location when inventory listings are displayed. You can
move to a currently empty slot, or if the destination is oc-
cupied -- and won't merge -- the item there will swap slots
with the one being moved. "#adjust" can also be used to
split a stack of objects; when choosing the item to adjust,
enter a count prior to its letter.

Adjusting without a count used to collect all compatible

stacks when moving to the destination. That behavior has
been changed; to gather compatible stacks, "#adjust" a stack
into its own inventory slot. If it has a name assigned,
other stacks with the same name or with no name will merge
provided that all their other attributes match. If it does
not have a name, only other stacks with no name are eligi-
ble. In either case, otherwise compatible stacks with a
different name will not be merged. This contrasts with us-
ing "#adjust" to move from one slot to a different slot. In
that situation, moving (no count given) a compatible stack
will merge if either stack has a name when the other doesn't
and give that name to the result, while splitting (count
given) will ignore the source stack's name when deciding
whether to merge with the destination stack.

#annotate
Allows you to specify one line of text to associate with the
current dungeon level. All levels with annotations are dis-
played by the "#overview" command. Autocompletes. Default
key is `M-A', and also `^N' if number_pad is on.

#apply
Apply (use) a tool such as a pick-axe, a key, or a lamp.
Default key is `a'.

If the tool used acts on items on the floor, using the `m'
 prefix skips those items.

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 19

If used on a wand, that wand will be broken, releasing its

magic in the process. Confirmation is required.

#attributes
Show your attributes. Default key is `^X'.

#autopickup
Toggle the autopickup option on/off. Default key is `@'.

#call
Call (name) a monster, or an object in inventory, on the
floor, or in the discoveries list, or add an annotation for
the current level (same as "#annotate"). Default key is
`C'.

#cast
Cast a spell. Default key is `Z'.

#chat
Talk to someone. Default key is `M-c'.

#close
Close a door. Default key is `c'.

#conduct
List voluntary challenges you have maintained. Autocom-
pletes. Default key is `M-C'.

See the section below entitled "Conduct" for details.

#dip
Dip an object into something. Autocompletes. Default key
is `M-d'.

#down
Go down a staircase. Default key is `>'.

#drop
Drop an item. Default key is `d'.

#droptype
Drop specific item types. Default key is `D'.

#eat
Eat something. Default key is `e'. The `m' prefix skips
 eating items on the floor.

#engrave
Engrave writing on the floor. Default key is `E'.

#enhance
Advance or check weapon and spell skills. Autocompletes.
Default key is `M-e'.

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 20

#exploremode
Enter the explore mode.

Requires confirmation; default response is n (no). To real-

ly switch to explore mode, respond with y. You can set the
paranoid_confirmation:quit option to require a response of
yes instead.

#fire
Fire ammunition from quiver. Default key is `f'.

#force
Force a lock. Autocompletes. Default key is `M-f'.

#glance
Show what type of thing a map symbol corresponds to. De-
fault key is `;'.

#help
Show the help menu. Default key is `?', and also `h' if
number_pad is on.

#herecmdmenu
Show a menu of possible actions in your current location.

#history
Show long version and game history. Default key is `V'.

#inventory
Show your inventory. Default key is `i'.

#inventtype
Inventory specific item types. Default key is `I'.

#invoke
Invoke an object's special powers. Autocompletes. Default
key is `M-i'.
#jump
Jump to another location. Autocompletes. Default key is
`M-j', and also `j' if number_pad is on.

#kick
Kick something. Default key is `^D', and `k' if number_pad
is on.

#known
Show what object types have been discovered. Default key is
`\'.

#knownclass
Show discovered types for one class of objects. Default key
is ``'.

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 21

#levelchange
Change your experience level. Autocompletes. Debug mode
only.

#lightsources
Show mobile light sources. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#look
Look at what is here, under you. Default key is `:'.

#loot
Loot a box or bag on the floor beneath you, or the saddle
from a steed standing next to you. Autocompletes. Precede
with the `m' prefix to skip containers at your location and
go directly to removing a saddle. Default key is `M-l', and
also `l' if number_pad is on.

#monster
Use a monster's special ability (when polymorphed into mon-
ster form). Autocompletes. Default key is `M-m'.

#name
Name a monster, an individual object, or a type of object.
Same as "#call". Autocompletes. Default keys are `N', `M-
n', and `M-N'.

#offer
Offer a sacrifice to the gods. Autocompletes. Default key
is `M-o'.

You'll need to find an altar to have any chance at success.

 Corpses of recently killed monsters are the fodder of
choice.

The `m' prefix skips offering any items which are on the al-
tar.

#open
Open a door. Default key is `o'.

#options
Show and change option settings. Default key is `O'.

#overview
Display information you've discovered about the dungeon.
Any visited level (unless forgotten due to amnesia) with an
annotation is included, and many things (altars, thrones,
fountains, and so on; extra stairs leading to another dun-
geon branch) trigger an automatic annotation. If dungeon
overview is chosen during end-of-game disclosure, every vis-
ited level will be included regardless of annotations. Au-
tocompletes. Default keys are `^O', and `M-O'.

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 22

#panic
Test the panic routine. Terminates the current game. Auto-
completes. Debug mode only.

Asks for confirmation; default is n (no); continue playing.

To really panic, respond with y. You can set the para-
noid_confirmation:quit option to require a response of yes
instead.

#pay
Pay your shopping bill. Default key is `p'.

#pickup
Pick up things at the current location. Default key is `,'.
The `m' prefix forces use of a menu.

#polyself
Polymorph self. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#pray
Pray to the gods for help. Autocompletes. Default key is
`M-p'.

Praying too soon after receiving prior help is a bad idea.

 (Hint: entering the dungeon alive is treated as having re-
ceived help. You probably shouldn't start off a new game by
praying right away.) Since using this command by accident
can cause trouble, there is an option to make you confirm
your intent before praying. It is enabled by default, and
you can reset the paranoid_confirmation option to disable
it.

#prevmsg
Show previously displayed game messages. Default key is
`^P'.

#puton
Put on an accessory (ring, amulet, etc). Default key is
`P'.

#quaff
Quaff (drink) something. Default key is `q'.

#quit
Quit the program without saving your game. Autocompletes.
Default key is `M-q'.

Since using this command by accident would throw away the

current game, you are asked to confirm your intent before
quitting. Default response is n (no); continue playing. To
really quit, respond with y. You can set the paranoid_con-
firmation:quit option to require a response of yes instead.

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 23

#quiver
Select ammunition for quiver. Default key is `Q'.

#read
Read a scroll, a spellbook, or something else. Default key
is `r'.

#redraw
Redraw the screen. Default key is `^R', and also `^L' if
number_pad is on.

#remove
Remove an accessory (ring, amulet, etc). Default key is
`R'.

#ride
Ride (or stop riding) a saddled creature. Autocompletes.
 Default key is `M-R'.

#rub
Rub a lamp or a stone. Autocompletes. Default key is `M-
r'.

#save
Save the game and exit the program. Default key is `S'.

#search
Search for traps and secret doors around you. Default key
is `s'.

#seeall
Show all equipment in use. Default key is `*'.

#seeamulet
Show the amulet currently worn. Default key is `"'.

#seearmor
Show the armor currently worn. Default key is `['.

#seegold
Count your gold. Default key is `$'.

#seenv
Show seen vectors. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#seerings
Show the ring(s) currently worn. Default key is `='.

#seespells
List and reorder known spells. Default key is `+'.

#seetools
Show the tools currently in use. Default key is `('.

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NetHack Guidebook 24

#seetrap
Show the type of an adjacent trap. Default key is `^'.

#seeweapon
Show the weapon currently wielded. Default key is `)'.

#shell
Do a shell escape. Default key is `!'.

#sit
 Sit down. Autocompletes. Default key is `M-s'.

#stats
Show memory usage statistics. Autocompletes. Debug mode
only.

#suspend
Suspend the game. Default key is `^Z'.

#swap
Swap wielded and secondary weapons. Default key is `x'.

#takeoff
Take off one piece of armor. Default key is `T'.

#takeoffall
Remove all armor. Default key is `A'.

#teleport
Teleport around the level. Default key is `^T'.

#terrain
Show bare map without displaying monsters, objects, or
traps. Autocompletes.

#therecmdmenu
Show a menu of possible actions in a location next to you.

#throw
Throw something. Default key is `t'.

#timeout
Look at the timeout queue. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#tip
Tip over a container (bag or box) to pour out its contents.
Autocompletes. Default key is `M-T'. The `m' prefix makes
the command use a menu.

#travel
Travel to a specific location on the map. Default key is
`_'. Using the "request menu" prefix shows a menu of inter-
esting targets in sight without asking to move the cursor.
When picking a target with cursor and the autodescribe

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 25

option is on, the top line will show "(no travel path)" if
your character does not know of a path to that location.
#turn
Turn undead away. Autocompletes. Default key is `M-t'.

#twoweapon
Toggle two-weapon combat on or off. Autocompletes. Default
key is `X', and also `M-2' if number_pad is off.

Note that you must use suitable weapons for this type of
combat, or it will be automatically turned off.

#untrap
Untrap something (trap, door, or chest). Default key is `M-
u', and `u' if number_pad is on.

In some circumstances it can also be used to rescue trapped

monsters.

#up
Go up a staircase. Default key is `<'.

#vanquished
List vanquished monsters. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#version
Print compile time options for this version of NetHack. Au-
tocompletes. Default key is `M-v'.

#versionshort
Show version string. Default key is `v'.

#vision
Show vision array. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#wait
Rest one move while doing nothing. Default key is `.', and
also ` ' if rest_on_space is on.

#wear
Wear a piece of armor. Default key is `W'.

#whatdoes
Tell what a key does. Default key is `&'.

#whatis
Show what type of thing a symbol corresponds to. Default
key is `/'.

#wield
Wield a weapon. Default key is `w'.

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 26

#wipe
Wipe off your face. Autocompletes. Default key is `M-w'.

#wizbury
Bury objects under and around you. Autocompletes. Debug
mode only.

#wizdetect
Search for hidden things (secret doors or traps or unseen
monsters) within a modest radius. Autocompletes. Debug
mode only. Default key is `^E'.

#wizgenesis
Create a monster. May be prefixed by a count to create more
than one. Autocompletes. Debug mode only. Default key is
`^G'.

#wizidentify
Identify all items in inventory. Autocompletes. Debug mode
only. Default key is `^I'.

#wizintrinsic
Set one or more intrinsic attributes. Autocompletes. Debug
mode only.

#wizlevelport
Teleport to another level. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.
Default key is `^V'.

#wizmap
Map the level. Autocompletes. Debug mode only. Default
key is `^F'.

#wizrumorcheck
Verify rumor boundaries. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#wizsmell
Smell monster. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#wizwhere
Show locations of special levels. Autocompletes. Debug
mode only.

#wizwish
Wish for something. Autocompletes. Debug mode only. De-
fault key is `^W'.

#wmode
Show wall modes. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#zap
Zap a wand. Default key is `z'.
NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 27

#?
Help menu: get the list of available extended commands.

If your keyboard has a meta key (which, when pressed in com-

bination with another key, modifies it by setting the "meta"
[8th, or "high"] bit), you can invoke many extended commands by
meta-ing the first letter of the command.

In NT, OS/2, PC and ST NetHack, the "Alt" key can be used in

this fashion; on the Amiga, set the altmeta option to get this
behavior. On other systems, if typing "Alt" plus another key
transmits a two character sequence consisting of an Escape fol-
lowed by the other key, you may set the altmeta option to have
NetHack combine them into meta+key.

M-? #? (not supported by all platforms)

M-2 #twoweapon (unless the number_pad option is enabled)

M-a #adjust

M-A #annotate

M-c #chat

M-C #conduct

M-d #dip

M-e #enhance

M-f #force

M-i #invoke

M-j #jump

M-l #loot

M-m #monster

M-n #name

M-o #offer

M-O #overview
M-p #pray

M-q #quit

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 28

M-r #rub

M-R #ride

M-s #sit

M-t #turn

M-T #tip

M-u #untrap

M-v #version

M-w #wipe

If the number_pad option is on, some additional letter com-

mands are available:

h #help

j #jump

k #kick

l #loot

N #name

u #untrap

5. Rooms and corridors

Rooms and corridors in the dungeon are either lit or dark.

Any lit areas within your line of sight will be displayed; dark
areas are only displayed if they are within one space of you.
Walls and corridors remain on the map as you explore them.

Secret corridors are hidden. You can find them with the `s'
(search) command.

5.1. Doorways

Doorways connect rooms and corridors. Some doorways have no

doors; you can walk right through. Others have doors in them,
which may be open, closed, or locked. To open a closed door, use
the `o' (open) command; to close it again, use the `c' (close)
command.

You can get through a locked door by using a tool to pick

the lock with the `a' (apply) command, or by kicking it open with
the `^D' (kick) command.

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 29

Open doors cannot be entered diagonally; you must approach

them straight on, horizontally or vertically. Doorways without
doors are not restricted in this fashion.

Doors can be useful for shutting out monsters. Most mon-

sters cannot open doors, although a few don't need to (for exam-
ple, ghosts can walk through doors).

Secret doors are hidden. You can find them with the `s'
(search) command. Once found they are in all ways equivalent to
normal doors.

5.2. Traps (`^')

There are traps throughout the dungeon to snare the unwary

delver. For example, you may suddenly fall into a pit and be
stuck for a few turns trying to climb out. Traps don't appear on
your map until you see one triggered by moving onto it, see some-
thing fall into it, or you discover it with the `s' (search) com-
mand. Monsters can fall prey to traps, too, which can be a very
useful defensive strategy.

There is a special pre-mapped branch of the dungeon based on

the classic computer game "Sokoban." The goal is to push the
boulders into the pits or holes. With careful foresight, it is
possible to complete all of the levels according to the tradi-
tional rules of Sokoban. Some allowances are permitted in case
the player gets stuck; however, they will lower your luck.

5.3. Stairs and ladders (`<', `>')

In general, each level in the dungeon will have a staircase

going up (`<') to the previous level and another going down (`>')
to the next level. There are some exceptions though. For in-
stance, fairly early in the dungeon you will find a level with
two down staircases, one continuing into the dungeon and the oth-
er branching into an area known as the Gnomish Mines. Those
mines eventually hit a dead end, so after exploring them (if you
choose to do so), you'll need to climb back up to the main dun-
geon.

When you traverse a set of stairs, or trigger a trap which

sends you to another level, the level you're leaving will be de-
activated and stored in a file on disk. If you're moving to a
previously visited level, it will be loaded from its file on disk
and reactivated. If you're moving to a level which has not yet
been visited, it will be created (from scratch for most random
levels, from a template for some "special" levels, or loaded from
the remains of an earlier game for a "bones" level as briefly de-
scribed below). Monsters are only active on the current level;
those on other levels are essentially placed into stasis.

Ordinarily when you climb a set of stairs, you will arrive

on the corresponding staircase at your destination. However,

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 30

pets (see below) and some other monsters will follow along if
they're close enough when you travel up or down stairs, and occa-
sionally one of these creatures will displace you during the
climb. When that occurs, the pet or other monster will arrive on
the staircase and you will end up nearby.

Ladders serve the same purpose as staircases, and the two

types of inter-level connections are nearly indistinguishable
during game play.

5.4. Shops and shopping

Occasionally you will run across a room with a shopkeeper

near the door and many items lying on the floor. You can buy
items by picking them up and then using the `p' command. You can
inquire about the price of an item prior to picking it up by us-
ing the "#chat" command while standing on it. Using an item pri-
or to paying for it will incur a charge, and the shopkeeper won't
allow you to leave the shop until you have paid any debt you owe.

You can sell items to a shopkeeper by dropping them to the

floor while inside a shop. You will either be offered an amount
of gold and asked whether you're willing to sell, or you'll be
told that the shopkeeper isn't interested (generally, your item
needs to be compatible with the type of merchandise carried by
the shop).
 If you drop something in a shop by accident, the shopkeeper
will usually claim ownership without offering any compensation.
You'll have to buy it back if you want to reclaim it.

Shopkeepers sometimes run out of money. When that happens,

you'll be offered credit instead of gold when you try to sell
something. Credit can be used to pay for purchases, but it is
only good in the shop where it was obtained; other shopkeepers
won't honor it. (If you happen to find a "credit card" in the
dungeon, don't bother trying to use it in shops; shopkeepers will
not accept it.)

The `$' command, which reports the amount of gold you are
carrying (in inventory, not inside bags or boxes), will also show
current shop debt or credit, if any. The "Iu" command lists un-
paid items (those which still belong to the shop) if you are car-
rying any. The "Ix" command shows an inventory-like display of
any unpaid items which have been used up, along with other shop
fees, if any.

5.4.1. Shop idiosyncrasies

Several aspects of shop behavior might be unexpected.

* The price of a given item can vary due to a variety of factors.

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NetHack Guidebook 31

* A shopkeeper treats the spot immediately inside the door as if

it were outside the shop.

* While the shopkeeper watches you like a hawk, he will generally

ignore any other customers.

* If a shop is "closed for inventory," it will not open of its

own accord.

* Shops do not get restocked with new items, regardless of inven-

tory depletion.

6. Monsters

Monsters you cannot see are not displayed on the screen.

Beware! You may suddenly come upon one in a dark place. Some
magic items can help you locate them before they locate you
(which some monsters can do very well).

The commands `/' and `;' may be used to obtain information

about those monsters who are displayed on the screen. The com-
mand "#name" (by default bound to `C'), allows you to assign a
name to a monster, which may be useful to help distinguish one
from another when multiple monsters are present. Assigning a
name which is just a space will remove any prior name.

The extended command "#chat" can be used to interact with an

adjacent monster. There is no actual dialog (in other words, you
don't get to choose what you'll say), but chatting with some mon-
sters such as a shopkeeper or the Oracle of Delphi can produce
useful results.

6.1. Fighting

If you see a monster and you wish to fight it, just attempt
to walk into it. Many monsters you find will mind their own
business unless you attack them. Some of them are very dangerous
when angered. Remember: discretion is the better part of valor.

In most circumstances, if you attempt to attack a peaceful

monster by moving into its location, you'll be asked to confirm
your intent. By default an answer of `y' acknowledges that in-
tent, which can be error prone if you're using `y' to move. You
can set the paranoid_confirmation option to require a response of
"yes" instead.

If you can't see a monster (if it is invisible, or if you

are blinded), the symbol `I' will be shown when you learn of its
presence. If you attempt to walk into it, you will try to fight
it just like a monster that you can see; of course, if the mon-
ster has moved, you will attack empty air. If you guess that the
monster has moved and you don't wish to fight, you can use the
`m' command to move without fighting; likewise, if you don't re-
member a monster but want to try fighting anyway, you can use the

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`F' command.

6.2. Your pet

You start the game with a little dog (`d'), kitten (`f'), or
pony (`u'), which follows you about the dungeon and fights mon-
sters with you. Like you, your pet needs food to survive. Dogs
and cats usually feed themselves on fresh carrion and other
meats; horses need vegetarian food which is harder to come by.
If you're worried about your pet or want to train it, you can
feed it, too, by throwing it food. A properly trained pet can be
very useful under certain circumstances.
 Your pet also gains experience from killing monsters, and
can grow over time, gaining hit points and doing more damage.
Initially, your pet may even be better at killing things than
you, which makes pets useful for low-level characters.

Your pet will follow you up and down staircases if it is

next to you when you move. Otherwise your pet will be stranded
and may become wild. Similarly, when you trigger certain types
of traps which alter your location (for instance, a trap door
which drops you to a lower dungeon level), any adjacent pet will
accompany you and any non-adjacent pet will be left behind. Your
pet may trigger such traps itself; you will not be carried along
with it even if adjacent at the time.

6.3. Steeds

Some types of creatures in the dungeon can actually be rid-

den if you have the right equipment and skill. Convincing a wild
beast to let you saddle it up is difficult to say the least.
Many a dungeoneer has had to resort to magic and wizardry in or-
der to forge the alliance. Once you do have the beast under your
control however, you can easily climb in and out of the saddle
with the "#ride" command. Lead the beast around the dungeon when
riding, in the same manner as you would move yourself. It is the
beast that you will see displayed on the map.

Riding skill is managed by the "#enhance" command. See the

section on Weapon proficiency for more information about that.

Use the `a' (apply) command and pick a saddle in your inven-
tory to attempt to put that saddle on an adjacent creature. If
successful, it will be transferred to that creature's inventory.

Use the "#loot" command while adjacent to a saddled creature

to try to remove the saddle from that creature. If successful,
it will be transferred to your inventory.

6.4. Bones levels

You may encounter the shades and corpses of other adventur-

ers (or even former incarnations of yourself!) and their personal

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effects. Ghosts are hard to kill, but easy to avoid, since

they're slow and do little damage. You can plunder the deceased
adventurer's possessions; however, they are likely to be cursed.
Beware of whatever killed the former player; it is probably still
lurking around, gloating over its last victory.
6.5. Persistence of Monsters

Monsters (a generic reference which also includes humans and

pets) are only shown while they can be seen or otherwise sensed.
Moving to a location where you can't see or sense a monster any
more will result in it disappearing from your map, similarly if
it is the one who moved rather than you.

However, if you encounter a monster which you can't see or

sense -- perhaps it is invisible and has just tapped you on the
noggin -- a special "remembered, unseen monster" marker will be
displayed at the location where you think it is. That will per-
sist until you have proven that there is no monster there, even
if the unseen monster moves to another location or you move to a
spot where the marker's location ordinarily wouldn't be seen any
more.

7. Objects

When you find something in the dungeon, it is common to want

to pick it up. In NetHack, this is accomplished automatically by
walking over the object (unless you turn off the autopickup op-
tion (see below), or move with the `m' prefix (see above)), or
manually by using the `,' command.

If you're carrying too many items, NetHack will tell you so

and you won't be able to pick up anything more. Otherwise, it
will add the object(s) to your pack and tell you what you just
picked up.

As you add items to your inventory, you also add the weight
of that object to your load. The amount that you can carry de-
pends on your strength and your constitution. The stronger and
sturdier you are, the less the additional load will affect you.
There comes a point, though, when the weight of all of that stuff
you are carrying around with you through the dungeon will encum-
ber you. Your reactions will get slower and you'll burn calories
faster, requiring food more frequently to cope with it. Eventu-
ally, you'll be so overloaded that you'll either have to discard
some of what you're carrying or collapse under its weight.

NetHack will tell you how badly you have loaded yourself.
If you are encumbered, one of the conditions "Burdened",
"Stressed", "Strained", "Overtaxed" or "Overloaded" will be shown
on the bottom line status display.

When you pick up an object, it is assigned an inventory let-

ter. Many commands that operate on objects must ask you to find

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out which object you want to use. When NetHack asks you to
choose a particular object you are carrying, you are usually pre-
sented with a list of inventory letters to choose from (see Com-
mands, above).

Some objects, such as weapons, are easily differentiated.

Others, like scrolls and potions, are given descriptions which
vary according to type. During a game, any two objects with the
same description are the same type. However, the descriptions
will vary from game to game.

When you use one of these objects, if its effect is obvious,

NetHack will remember what it is for you. If its effect isn't
extremely obvious, you will be asked what you want to call this
type of object so you will recognize it later. You can also use
the "#name" command, for the same purpose at any time, to name
all objects of a particular type or just an individual object.
When you use "#name" on an object which has already been named,
specifying a space as the value will remove the prior name in-
stead of assigning a new one.

7.1. Curses and Blessings

Any object that you find may be cursed, even if the object
is otherwise helpful. The most common effect of a curse is being
stuck with (and to) the item. Cursed weapons weld themselves to
your hand when wielded, so you cannot unwield them. Any cursed
item you wear is not removable by ordinary means. In addition,
cursed arms and armor usually, but not always, bear negative en-
chantments that make them less effective in combat. Other cursed
objects may act poorly or detrimentally in other ways.

Objects can also be blessed. Blessed items usually work

better or more beneficially than normal uncursed items. For ex-
ample, a blessed weapon will do more damage against demons.

Objects which are neither cursed nor blessed are referred to

as uncursed. They could just as easily have been described as
unblessed, but the uncursed designation is what you will see
within the game. A "glass half full versus glass half empty"
situation; make of that what you will.

There are magical means of bestowing or removing curses upon

objects, so even if you are stuck with one, you can still have
the curse lifted and the item removed. Priests and Priestesses
have an innate sensitivity to this property in any object, so
they can more easily avoid cursed objects than other character
roles.

An item with unknown status will be reported in your inven-

tory with no prefix. An item which you know the state of will be
distinguished in your inventory by the presence of the word
"cursed", "uncursed" or "blessed" in the description of the item.
In some cases "uncursed" will be omitted as being redundant when

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NetHack Guidebook 35

enough other information is displayed. The implicit_uncursed op-

tion can be used to control this; toggle it off to have "un-
cursed" be displayed even when that can be deduced from other at-
tributes.

7.2. Weapons (`)')

Given a chance, most monsters in the Mazes of Menace will

gratuitously try to kill you. You need weapons for self-defense
(killing them first). Without a weapon, you do only 1-2 hit
points of damage (plus bonuses, if any). Monk characters are an
exception; they normally do more damage with bare (or gloved)
hands than they do with weapons.

There are wielded weapons, like maces and swords, and thrown
weapons, like arrows and spears. To hit monsters with a weapon,
you must wield it and attack them, or throw it at them. You can
simply elect to throw a spear. To shoot an arrow, you should
first wield a bow, then throw the arrow. Crossbows shoot cross-
bow bolts. Slings hurl rocks and (other) stones (like gems).

Enchanted weapons have a "plus" (or "to hit enhancement"

which can be either positive or negative) that adds to your
chance to hit and the damage you do to a monster. The only way
to determine a weapon's enchantment is to have it magically iden-
tified somehow. Most weapons are subject to some type of damage
like rust. Such "erosion" damage can be repaired.

The chance that an attack will successfully hit a monster,

and the amount of damage such a hit will do, depends upon many
factors. Among them are: type of weapon, quality of weapon (en-
chantment and/or erosion), experience level, strength, dexterity,
encumbrance, and proficiency (see below). The monster's armor
class -- a general defense rating, not necessarily due to wearing
of armor -- is a factor too; also, some monsters are particularly
vulnerable to certain types of weapons.

Many weapons can be wielded in one hand; some require both

hands. When wielding a two-handed weapon, you can not wear a
shield, and vice versa. When wielding a one-handed weapon, you
can have another weapon ready to use by setting things up with
the `x' command, which exchanges your primary (the one being
wielded) and alternate weapons. And if you have proficiency in
the "two weapon combat" skill, you may wield both weapons simul-
taneously as primary and secondary; use the `X' command to engage
or disengage that. Only some types of characters (barbarians,
for instance) have the necessary skill available. Even with that
skill, using two weapons at once incurs a penalty in the chance
to hit your target compared to using just one weapon at a time.

There might be times when you'd rather not wield any weapon
at all. To accomplish that, wield `-', or else use the `A' com-
mand which allows you to unwield the current weapon in addition
to taking off other worn items.

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Those of you in the audience who are AD&D players, be aware

that each weapon which existed in AD&D does roughly the same dam-
age to monsters in NetHack. Some of the more obscure weapons
(such as the aklys, lucern hammer, and bec-de-corbin) are defined
in an appendix to Unearthed Arcana, an AD&D supplement.

The commands to use weapons are `w' (wield), `t' (throw),

`f' (fire, an alternate way of throwing), `Q' (quiver), `x' (ex-
change), `X' (twoweapon), and "#enhance" (see below).

7.2.1. Throwing and shooting

You can throw just about anything via the `t' command. It
will prompt for the item to throw; picking `?' will list things
in your inventory which are considered likely to be thrown, or
picking `*' will list your entire inventory. After you've chosen
what to throw, you will be prompted for a direction rather than
for a specific target. The distance something can be thrown de-
pends mainly on the type of object and your strength. Arrows can
be thrown by hand, but can be thrown much farther and will be
more likely to hit when thrown while you are wielding a bow.

You can simplify the throwing operation by using the `Q'

command to select your preferred "missile", then using the `f'
command to throw it. You'll be prompted for a direction as
above, but you don't have to specify which item to throw each
time you use `f'. There is also an option, autoquiver, which has
NetHack choose another item to automatically fill your quiver (or
quiver sack, or have at the ready) when the inventory slot used
for `Q' runs out.

Some characters have the ability to fire a volley of multi-

ple items in a single turn. Knowing how to load several rounds
of ammunition at once -- or hold several missiles in your hand --
and still hit a target is not an easy task. Rangers are among
those who are adept at this task, as are those with a high level
of proficiency in the relevant weapon skill (in bow skill if
you're wielding one to shoot arrows, in crossbow skill if you're
wielding one to shoot bolts, or in sling skill if you're wielding
one to shoot stones). The number of items that the character has
a chance to fire varies from turn to turn. You can explicitly
limit the number of shots by using a numeric prefix before the
`t' or `f' command. For example, "2f" (or "n2f" if using num-
ber_pad mode) would ensure that at most 2 arrows are shot even if
you could have fired 3. If you specify a larger number than
would have been shot ("4f" in this example), you'll just end up
shooting the same number (3, here) as if no limit had been speci-
fied. Once the volley is in motion, all of the items will travel
in the same direction; if the first ones kill a monster, the oth-
ers can still continue beyond that spot.

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NetHack Guidebook 37

7.2.2. Weapon proficiency

You will have varying degrees of skill in the weapons avail-

able. Weapon proficiency, or weapon skills, affect how well you
can use particular types of weapons, and you'll be able to im-
prove your skills as you progress through a game, depending on
your role, your experience level, and use of the weapons.

For the purposes of proficiency, weapons have been divided

up into various groups such as daggers, broadswords, and
polearms. Each role has a limit on what level of proficiency a
character can achieve for each group. For instance, wizards can
become highly skilled in daggers or staves but not in swords or
bows.

The "#enhance" extended command is used to review current

weapons proficiency (also spell proficiency) and to choose which
skill(s) to improve when you've used one or more skills enough to
become eligible to do so. The skill rankings are "none" (some-
times also referred to as "restricted", because you won't be able
to advance), "unskilled", "basic", "skilled", and "expert". Re-
stricted skills simply will not appear in the list shown by "#en-
hance". (Divine intervention might unrestrict a particular
skill, in which case it will start at unskilled and be limited to
basic.) Some characters can enhance their barehanded combat or
martial arts skill beyond expert to "master" or "grand master".

Use of a weapon in which you're restricted or unskilled will

incur a modest penalty in the chance to hit a monster and also in
the amount of damage done when you do hit; at basic level, there
is no penalty or bonus; at skilled level, you receive a modest
bonus in the chance to hit and amount of damage done; at expert
level, the bonus is higher. A successful hit has a chance to
boost your training towards the next skill level (unless you've
already reached the limit for this skill). Once such training
reaches the threshold for that next level, you'll be told that
you feel more confident in your skills. At that point you can
use "#enhance" to increase one or more skills. Such skills are
not increased automatically because there is a limit to your to-
tal overall skills, so you need to actively choose which skills
to enhance and which to ignore.

7.2.3. Two-Weapon combat

Some characters can use two weapons at once. Setting things

up to do so can seem cumbersome but becomes second nature with
use. To wield two weapons, you need to use the "#twoweapon" com-
mand. But first you need to have a weapon in each hand. (Note
that your two weapons are not fully equal; the one in the hand
you normally wield with is considered primary and the other one
is considered secondary. The most noticeable difference is after
you stop -- or before you begin, for that matter -- wielding two
weapons at once. The primary is your wielded weapon and the sec-
ondary is just an item in your inventory that's been designated

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NetHack Guidebook 38

as alternate weapon.)

If your primary weapon is wielded but your off hand is empty

or has the wrong weapon, use the sequence `x', `w', `x' to first
swap your primary into your off hand, wield whatever you want as
secondary weapon, then swap them both back into the intended
hands. If your secondary or alternate weapon is correct but your
primary one is not, simply use `w' to wield the primary. Lastly,
if neither hand holds the correct weapon, use `w', `x', `w' to
first wield the intended secondary, swap it to off hand, and then
wield the primary.

The whole process can be simplified via use of the push-

weapon option. When it is enabled, then using `w' to wield some-
thing causes the currently wielded weapon to become your alter-
nate weapon. So the sequence `w', `w' can be used to first wield
the weapon you intend to be secondary, and then wield the one you
want as primary which will push the first into secondary posi-
tion.

When in two-weapon combat mode, using the `X' command tog-

gles back to single-weapon mode. Throwing or dropping either of
the weapons or having one of them be stolen or destroyed will al-
so make you revert to single-weapon combat.

7.3. Armor (`[')

Lots of unfriendly things lurk about; you need armor to pro-

tect yourself from their blows. Some types of armor offer better
protection than others. Your armor class is a measure of this
protection. Armor class (AC) is measured as in AD&D, with 10 be-
ing the equivalent of no armor, and lower numbers meaning better
armor. Each suit of armor which exists in AD&D gives the same
protection in NetHack. Here is an (incomplete) list of the armor
classes provided by various suits of armor:
dragon scale mail 1
plate mail 3
crystal plate mail 3
bronze plate mail 4
splint mail 4
banded mail 4
dwarvish mithril-coat 4
elven mithril-coat 5
chain mail 5
orcish chain mail 6
scale mail 6
dragon scales 7
studded leather armor 7
ring mail 7
orcish ring mail 8
leather armor 8
leather jacket 9
no armor 10

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NetHack Guidebook 39

You can also wear other pieces of armor (for example hel-
mets, boots, shields, cloaks) to lower your armor class even fur-
ther, but you can only wear one item of each category (one suit
of armor, one cloak, one helmet, one shield, and so on) at a
time.

If a piece of armor is enchanted, its armor protection will

be better (or worse) than normal, and its "plus" (or minus) will
subtract from your armor class. For example, a +1 chain mail
would give you better protection than normal chain mail, lowering
your armor class one unit further to 4. When you put on a piece
of armor, you immediately find out the armor class and any
"plusses" it provides. Cursed pieces of armor usually have nega-
tive enchantments (minuses) in addition to being unremovable.

Many types of armor are subject to some kind of damage like

rust. Such damage can be repaired. Some types of armor may in-
hibit spell casting.

The commands to use armor are `W' (wear) and `T' (take off).
The `A' command can also be used to take off armor as well as
other worn items.
7.4. Food (`%')

Food is necessary to survive. If you go too long without

eating you will faint, and eventually die of starvation. Some
types of food will spoil, and become unhealthy to eat, if not
protected. Food stored in ice boxes or tins ("cans") will usual-
ly stay fresh, but ice boxes are heavy, and tins take a while to
open.

When you kill monsters, they usually leave corpses which are
also "food." Many, but not all, of these are edible; some also
give you special powers when you eat them. A good rule of thumb
is "you are what you eat."

Some character roles and some monsters are vegetarian. Veg-

etarian monsters will typically never eat animal corpses, while
vegetarian players can, but with some rather unpleasant side-ef-
fects.

You can name one food item after something you like to eat
with the fruit option.

The command to eat food is `e'.

7.5. Scrolls (`?')

Scrolls are labeled with various titles, probably chosen by

ancient wizards for their amusement value (for example "READ ME,"
or "THANX MAUD" backwards). Scrolls disappear after you read
them (except for blank ones, without magic spells on them).

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NetHack Guidebook 40

One of the most useful of these is the scroll of identify,

which can be used to determine what another object is, whether it
is cursed or blessed, and how many uses it has left. Some ob-
jects of subtle enchantment are difficult to identify without
these.

A mail daemon may run up and deliver mail to you as a scroll

of mail (on versions compiled with this feature). To use this
feature on versions where NetHack mail delivery is triggered by
electronic mail appearing in your system mailbox, you must let
NetHack know where to look for new mail by setting the "MAIL" en-
vironment variable to the file name of your mailbox. You may al-
so want to set the "MAILREADER" environment variable to the file
name of your favorite reader, so NetHack can shell to it when you
read the scroll. On versions of NetHack where mail is randomly
generated internal to the game, these environment variables are
ignored. You can disable the mail daemon by turning off the mail
option.

The command to read a scroll is `r'.

7.6. Potions (`!')

Potions are distinguished by the color of the liquid inside

the flask. They disappear after you quaff them.

Clear potions are potions of water. Sometimes these are

blessed or cursed, resulting in holy or unholy water. Holy water
is the bane of the undead, so potions of holy water are good
things to throw (`t') at them. It is also sometimes very useful
to dip ("#dip") an object into a potion.

The command to drink a potion is `q' (quaff).

7.7. Wands (`/')

Wands usually have multiple magical charges. Some types of

wands require a direction in which to zap them. You can also zap
them at yourself (just give a `.' or `s' for the direction). Be
warned, however, for this is often unwise. Other types of wands
don't require a direction. The number of charges in a wand is
random and decreases by one whenever you use it.

When the number of charges left in a wand becomes zero, at-

tempts to use the wand will usually result in nothing happening.
Occasionally, however, it may be possible to squeeze the last few
mana points from an otherwise spent wand, destroying it in the
process. A wand may be recharged by using suitable magic, but
doing so runs the risk of causing it to explode. The chance for
such an explosion starts out very small and increases each time
the wand is recharged.

In a truly desperate situation, when your back is up against

the wall, you might decide to go for broke and break your wand.

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NetHack Guidebook 41

This is not for the faint of heart. Doing so will almost cer-
tainly cause a catastrophic release of magical energies.

When you have fully identified a particular wand, inventory

display will include additional information in parentheses: the
number of times it has been recharged followed by a colon and
then by its current number of charges. A current charge count of
-1 is a special case indicating that the wand has been cancelled.
 The command to use a wand is `z' (zap). To break one, use
the `a' (apply) command.

7.8. Rings (`=')

Rings are very useful items, since they are relatively per-
manent magic, unlike the usually fleeting effects of potions,
scrolls, and wands.

Putting on a ring activates its magic. You can wear only

two rings, one on each ring finger.

Most rings also cause you to grow hungry more rapidly, the
rate varying with the type of ring.

The commands to use rings are `P' (put on) and `R' (remove).

7.9. Spellbooks (`+')

Spellbooks are tomes of mighty magic. When studied with the

`r' (read) command, they transfer to the reader the knowledge of
a spell (and therefore eventually become unreadable) -- unless
the attempt backfires. Reading a cursed spellbook or one with
mystic runes beyond your ken can be harmful to your health!

A spell (even when learned) can also backfire when you cast
it. If you attempt to cast a spell well above your experience
level, or if you have little skill with the appropriate spell
type, or cast it at a time when your luck is particularly bad,
you can end up wasting both the energy and the time required in
casting.

Casting a spell calls forth magical energies and focuses

them with your naked mind. Some of the magical energy released
comes from within you. Casting temporarily drains your magical
power, which will slowly be recovered, and causes you to need ad-
ditional food. Casting of spells also requires practice. With
practice, your skill in each category of spell casting will im-
prove. Over time, however, your memory of each spell will dim,
and you will need to relearn it.

Some spells require a direction in which to cast them, simi-

lar to wands. To cast one at yourself, just give a `.' or `s'
for the direction. A few spells require you to pick a target lo-
cation rather than just specify a particular direction. Other

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NetHack Guidebook 42

spells don't require any direction or target.

 Just as weapons are divided into groups in which a character
can become proficient (to varying degrees), spells are similarly
grouped. Successfully casting a spell exercises its skill group;
using the "#enhance" command to advance a sufficiently exercised
skill will affect all spells within the group. Advanced skill
may increase the potency of spells, reduce their risk of failure
during casting attempts, and improve the accuracy of the estimate
for how much longer they will be retained in your memory. Skill
slots are shared with weapons skills. (See also the section on
"Weapon proficiency".)

Casting a spell also requires flexible movement, and wearing

various types of armor may interfere with that.

The command to read a spellbook is the same as for scrolls,

`r' (read). The `+' command lists each spell you know along with
its level, skill category, chance of failure when casting, and an
estimate of how strongly it is remembered. The `Z' (cast) com-
mand casts a spell.

7.10. Tools (`(')

Tools are miscellaneous objects with various purposes. Some

tools have a limited number of uses, akin to wand charges. For
example, lamps burn out after a while. Other tools are contain-
ers, which objects can be placed into or taken out of.

The command to use a tool is `a' (apply).

7.10.1. Containers

You may encounter bags, boxes, and chests in your travels.

A tool of this sort can be opened with the "#loot" extended com-
mand when you are standing on top of it (that is, on the same
floor spot), or with the `a' (apply) command when you are carry-
ing it. However, chests are often locked, and are in any case
unwieldy objects. You must set one down before unlocking it by
using a key or lock-picking tool with the `a' (apply) command, by
kicking it with the `^D' command, or by using a weapon to force
the lock with the "#force" extended command.

Some chests are trapped, causing nasty things to happen when

you unlock or open them. You can check for and try to deactivate
traps with the "#untrap" extended command.

7.11. Amulets (`"')

Amulets are very similar to rings, and often more powerful.

Like rings, amulets have various magical properties, some benefi-
cial, some harmful, which are activated by putting them on.

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NetHack Guidebook 43

Only one amulet may be worn at a time, around your neck.

The commands to use amulets are the same as for rings, `P'
(put on) and `R' (remove).

7.12. Gems (`*')

Some gems are valuable, and can be sold for a lot of gold.
They are also a far more efficient way of carrying your riches.
Valuable gems increase your score if you bring them with you when
you exit.

Other small rocks are also categorized as gems, but they are
much less valuable. All rocks, however, can be used as projec-
tile weapons (if you have a sling). In the most desperate of
cases, you can still throw them by hand.

7.13. Large rocks (``')

Statues and boulders are not particularly useful, and are

generally heavy. It is rumored that some statues are not what
they seem.

Very large humanoids (giants and their ilk) have been known
to use boulders as weapons.

For some configurations of the program, statues are no

longer shown as ``' but by the letter representing the monster
they depict instead.

7.14. Gold (`$')

Gold adds to your score, and you can buy things in shops
with it. There are a number of monsters in the dungeon that may
be influenced by the amount of gold you are carrying (shopkeepers
aside).

7.15. Persistence of Objects

Normally, if you have seen an object at a particular map lo-

cation and move to another location where you can't directly see
that object any more, it will continue to be displayed on your
map. That remains the case even if it is not actually there any
more -- perhaps a monster has picked it up or it has rotted away
-- until you can see or feel that location again. One notable
exception is that if the object gets covered by the "remembered,
unseen monster" marker. When that marker is later removed after
you've verified that no monster is there, you will forget that
there was any object there regardless of whether the unseen mon-
ster actually took the object. If the object is still there,
then once you see or feel that location again you will re-discov-
er the object and resume remembering it.
NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 44

The situation is the same for a pile of objects, except that

only the top item of the pile is displayed. The hilite_pile op-
tion can be enabled in order to show an item differently when it
is the top one of a pile.

8. Conduct

As if winning NetHack were not difficult enough, certain

players seek to challenge themselves by imposing restrictions on
the way they play the game. The game automatically tracks some
of these challenges, which can be checked at any time with the
#conduct command or at the end of the game. When you perform an
action which breaks a challenge, it will no longer be listed.
This gives players extra "bragging rights" for winning the game
with these challenges. Note that it is perfectly acceptable to
win the game without resorting to these restrictions and that it
is unusual for players to adhere to challenges the first time
they win the game.

Several of the challenges are related to eating behavior.

The most difficult of these is the foodless challenge. Although
creatures can survive long periods of time without food, there is
a physiological need for water; thus there is no restriction on
drinking beverages, even if they provide some minor food bene-
fits. Calling upon your god for help with starvation does not
violate any food challenges either.

A strict vegan diet is one which avoids any food derived

from animals. The primary source of nutrition is fruits and veg-
etables. The corpses and tins of blobs (`b'), jellies (`j'), and
fungi (`F') are also considered to be vegetable matter. Certain
human food is prepared without animal products; namely, lembas
wafers, cram rations, food rations (gunyoki), K-rations, and C-
rations. Metal or another normally indigestible material eaten
while polymorphed into a creature that can digest it is also con-
sidered vegan food. Note however that eating such items still
counts against foodless conduct.

Vegetarians do not eat animals; however, they are less se-

lective about eating animal byproducts than vegans. In addition
to the vegan items listed above, they may eat any kind of pudding
(`P') other than the black puddings, eggs and food made from eggs
(fortune cookies and pancakes), food made with milk (cream pies
and candy bars), and lumps of royal jelly. Monks are expected to
observe a vegetarian diet.

Eating any kind of meat violates the vegetarian, vegan, and

foodless conducts. This includes tripe rations, the corpses or
tins of any monsters not mentioned above, and the various other
chunks of meat found in the dungeon. Swallowing and digesting a
monster while polymorphed is treated as if you ate the creature's
corpse. Eating leather, dragon hide, or bone items while poly-
morphed into a creature that can digest it, or eating monster
brains while polymorphed into a mind flayer, is considered eating

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 45

an animal, although wax is only an animal byproduct.

Regardless of conduct, there will be some items which are

indigestible, and others which are hazardous to eat. Using a
swallow-and-digest attack against a monster is equivalent to eat-
ing the monster's corpse. Please note that the term "vegan" is
used here only in the context of diet. You are still free to
choose not to use or wear items derived from animals (e.g.
leather, dragon hide, bone, horns, coral), but the game will not
keep track of this for you. Also note that "milky" potions may
be a translucent white, but they do not contain milk, so they are
compatible with a vegan diet. Slime molds or player-defined
"fruits", although they could be anything from "cherries" to
"pork chops", are also assumed to be vegan.

An atheist is one who rejects religion. This means that you

cannot #pray, #offer sacrifices to any god, #turn undead, or
#chat with a priest. Particularly selective readers may argue
that playing Monk or Priest characters should violate this con-
duct; that is a choice left to the player. Offering the Amulet
of Yendor to your god is necessary to win the game and is not
counted against this conduct. You are also not penalized for be-
ing spoken to by an angry god, priest(ess), or other religious
figure; a true atheist would hear the words but attach no special
meaning to them.

Most players fight with a wielded weapon (or tool intended

to be wielded as a weapon). Another challenge is to win the game
without using such a wielded weapon. You are still permitted to
throw, fire, and kick weapons; use a wand, spell, or other type
of item; or fight with your hands and feet.

In NetHack, a pacifist refuses to cause the death of any

other monster (i.e. if you would get experience for the death).
This is a particularly difficult challenge, although it is still
possible to gain experience by other means.

An illiterate character cannot read or write. This includes

reading a scroll, spellbook, fortune cookie message, or t-shirt;
writing a scroll; or making an engraving of anything other than a
single "X" (the traditional signature of an illiterate person).
Reading an engraving, or any item that is absolutely necessary to
win the game, is not counted against this conduct. The identity
of scrolls and spellbooks (and knowledge of spells) in your
starting inventory is assumed to be learned from your teachers
prior to the start of the game and isn't counted.

There are several other challenges tracked by the game. It

is possible to eliminate one or more species of monsters by geno-
cide; playing without this feature is considered a challenge.
When the game offers you an opportunity to genocide monsters, you
may respond with the monster type "none" if you want to decline.
You can change the form of an item into another item of the same
type ("polypiling") or the form of your own body into another

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 46

creature ("polyself") by wand, spell, or potion of polymorph;

avoiding these effects are each considered challenges. Polymor-
phing monsters, including pets, does not break either of these
challenges. Finally, you may sometimes receive wishes; a game
without an attempt to wish for any items is a challenge, as is a
game without wishing for an artifact (even if the artifact imme-
diately disappears). When the game offers you an opportunity to
make a wish for an item, you may choose "nothing" if you want to
decline.

9. Options

Due to variations in personal tastes and conceptions of how

NetHack should do things, there are options you can set to change
how NetHack behaves.

9.1. Setting the options

Options may be set in a number of ways. Within the game,

the `O' command allows you to view all options and change most of
them. You can also set options automatically by placing them in
a configuration file, or in the NETHACKOPTIONS environment vari-
able. Some versions of NetHack also have front-end programs that
allow you to set options before starting the game or a global
configuration for system administrators.

9.2. Using a configuration file

The default name of the configuration file varies on differ-

ent operating systems.

On UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS X it is ".nethackrc" in the us-

er's home directory. The file may not exist, but it is a normal
ASCII text file and can be created with any text editor.

On Windows, it is ".nethackrc" in the folder "\%USERPRO-

FILE%\NetHack\(rq. The file may not exist, but it is a normal
ASCII text file can can be created with any text editor. After
running NetHack for the first time, you should find a default
template for the configuration file named ".nethackrc.template"
in "\%USERPROFILE%\NetHack\(rq. If you had not created the con-
figuration file, NetHack will create the configuration file for
you using the default template file.

On MS-DOS, it is "defaults.nh" in the same folder as

nethack.exe.

Any line in the configuration file starting with `#' is

treated as a comment. Empty lines are ignored.

Any line beginning with `[' and ending in `]' is considered

a section marker. The text between the square brackets is the
section name. Lines after a section marker belong to that sec-
tion, and are ignored unless a CHOOSE statement was used to

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 47

select that section. Section names are case insensitive.

You can use different configuration statements in the file,

some of which can be used multiple times. In general, the state-
ments are written in capital letters, followed by an equals sign,
followed by settings particular to that statement.

Here is a list of allowed statements:

OPTIONS
There are two types of options, boolean and compound options.
Boolean options toggle a setting on or off, while compound op-
tions take more diverse values. Prefix a boolean option with
"no" or `!' to turn it off. For compound options, the option
name and value are separated by a colon. Some options are per-
sistent, and apply only to new games. You can specify multiple
OPTIONS statements, and multiple options separated by commas in
a single OPTIONS statement. (Comma separated options are pro-
cessed from right to left.)

Example:

OPTIONS=dogname:Fido
OPTIONS=!legacy,autopickup,pickup_types:$"=/!?+

HACKDIR
 Default location of files NetHack needs. On Windows HACKDIR
defaults to the location of the NetHack.exe or NetHackw.exe
file so setting HACKDIR to override that is not usually neces-
sary or recommended.

LEVELDIR
The location that in-progress level files are stored. Defaults
to HACKDIR, must be writable.

SAVEDIR
The location where saved games are kept. Defaults to HACKDIR,
must be writable.

BONESDIR
The location that bones files are kept. Defaults to HACKDIR,
must be writable.

LOCKDIR
The location that file synchronization locks are stored.
Defaults to HACKDIR, must be writable.

TROUBLEDIR
The location that a record of game aborts and self-diagnosed
game problems is kept. Defaults to HACKDIR, must be writable.

AUTOCOMPLETE
Enable or disable an extended command autocompletion. Autocom-
pletion has no effect for the X11 windowport. You can specify

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 48

multiple autocompletions. To enable autocompletion, list the

extended command. Prefix the command with "!" to disable the
autocompletion for that command.

Example:

AUTOCOMPLETE=zap,!annotate

AUTOPICKUP_EXCEPTION
Set exceptions to the pickup_types option. See the "Configur-
ing Autopickup Exceptions" section.

BINDINGS
Change the key bindings of some special keys, menu accelera-
tors, or extended commands. You can specify multiple bindings.
Format is key followed by the command, separated by a colon.
See the "Changing Key Bindings" section for more information.

Example:
 BIND=^X:getpos.autodescribe

CHOOSE
Chooses at random one of the comma-separated parameters as an
active section name. Lines in other sections are ignored.

Example:

OPTIONS=color
CHOOSE=char A,char B
[char A]
OPTIONS=role:arc,race:dwa,align:law,gender:fem
[char B]
OPTIONS=role:wiz,race:elf,align:cha,gender:mal

MENUCOLOR
Highlight menu lines with different colors. See the "Configur-
ing Menu Colors" section.

MSGTYPE
Change the way messages are shown in the top status line. See
the "Configuring Message Types" section.

ROGUESYMBOLS
Custom symbols for for the rogue level's symbol set. See SYM-
BOLS below.

SOUND
Define a sound mapping. See the "Configuring User Sounds" sec-
tion.

SOUNDDIR
Define the directory that contains the sound files. See the
"Configuring User Sounds" section.

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NetHack Guidebook 49

SYMBOLS
Override one or more symbols in the symbol set used for all
dungeon levels except for the special rogue level. See the
"Modifying NetHack Symbols" section.

Example:

# replace small punctuation (tick marks) with digits

SYMBOLS=S_boulder:0,S_golem:7

WIZKIT
Debug mode only: extra items to add to initial inventory.
 Value is the name of a text file containing a list of item
names, one per line, up to a maximum of 128 lines. Each line
is processed by the function that handles wishing.

Example:

WIZKIT=~/wizkit.txt

Here is an example of configuration file contents:

# Set your character's role, race, gender, and alignment.

OPTIONS=role:Valkyrie, race:Human, gender:female, align:lawful
#
# Turn on autopickup, set automatically picked up object types
OPTIONS=autopickup,pickup_types:$"=/!?+
#
# Map customization
OPTIONS=color # Display things in color if possible
OPTIONS=lit_corridor # Show lit corridors differently
OPTIONS=hilite_pet,hilite_pile
# Replace small punctuation (tick marks) with digits
SYMBOLS=S_boulder:0,S_golem:7
#
# No startup splash screen. Windows GUI only.
OPTIONS=!splash_screen

9.3. Using the NETHACKOPTIONS environment variable

The NETHACKOPTIONS variable is a comma-separated list of

initial values for the various options. Some can only be turned
on or off. You turn one of these on by adding the name of the
option to the list, and turn it off by typing a `!' or "no" be-
fore the name. Others take a character string as a value. You
can set string options by typing the option name, a colon or
equals sign, and then the value of the string. The value is ter-
minated by the next comma or the end of string.

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 50

For example, to set up an environment variable so that color

is on, legacy is off, character name is set to "Blue Meanie", and
named fruit is set to "lime", you would enter the command

% setenv NETHACKOPTIONS "color,\!leg,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:lime"

in csh (note the need to escape the `!' since it's special to
that shell), or the pair of commands

$ NETHACKOPTIONS="color,!leg,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:lime"
$ export NETHACKOPTIONS

in sh, ksh, or bash.

The NETHACKOPTIONS value is effectively the same as a single

OPTIONS statement in a configuration file. The "OPTIONS=" prefix
is implied and comma separated options are processed from right
to left. Other types of configuration statements such as BIND or
MSGTYPE are not allowed.

Instead of a comma-separated list of options, NETHACKOPTIONS

can be set to the full name of a configuration file you want to
use. If that full name doesn't start with a slash, precede it
with `@' (at-sign) to let NetHack know that the rest is intended
as a file name. If it does start with `/', the at-sign is op-
tional.

9.4. Customization options

Here are explanations of what the various options do. Char-

acter strings that are too long may be truncated. Some of the
options listed may be inactive in your dungeon.

Some options are persistent, and are saved and reloaded

along with the game. Changing a persistent option in the config-
uration file applies only to new games.

acoustics
Enable messages about what your character hears (default on).
Note that this has nothing to do with your computer's audio ca-
pabilities. Persistent.

align
Your starting alignment (align:lawful, align:neutral, or
align:chaotic). You may specify just the first letter. The
default is to randomly pick an appropriate alignment. If you
prefix the value with `!' or "no", you will exclude that align-
ment from being picked randomly. Cannot be set with the `O'
command. Persistent.

autodescribe
Automatically describe the terrain under cursor when asked to
get a location on the map (default true). The whatis_coord op-
tion controls whether the description includes map coordinates.

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NetHack Guidebook 51
autodig
Automatically dig if you are wielding a digging tool and moving
into a place that can be dug (default false). Persistent.

autoopen
Walking into a door attempts to open it (default true). Persis-
tent.

autopickup
Automatically pick up things onto which you move (default on).
Persistent. See pickup_types to refine the behavior.

autoquiver
This option controls what happens when you attempt the `f'
(fire) command when nothing is quivered or readied (default
false). When true, the computer will fill your quiver or
quiver sack or make ready some suitable weapon. Note that it
will not take into account the blessed/cursed status, enchant-
ment, damage, or quality of the weapon; you are free to manual-
ly fill your quiver or quiver sack or make ready with the `Q'
command instead. If no weapon is found or the option is false,
the `t' (throw) command is executed instead. Persistent.

blind
Start the character permanently blind (default false). Persis-
tent.

bones
Allow saving and loading bones files (default true). Persis-
tent.

boulder
Set the character used to display boulders (default is the
"large rock" class symbol, ``').

catname
Name your starting cat (for example "catname:Morris"). Cannot
be set with the `O' command.

character
Synonym for "role" to pick the type of your character (for ex-
ample "character:Monk"). See role for more details.

checkpoint
Save game state after each level change, for possible recovery
after program crash (default on). Persistent.

checkspace
Check free disk space before writing files to disk (default
on). You may have to turn this off if you have more than 2 GB
free space on the partition used for your save and level files
(because too much space might overflow the calculation and end
up looking like insufficient space). Only applies when MFLOPPY
was defined during compilation.

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NetHack Guidebook 52

clicklook
Allows looking at things on the screen by navigating the mouse
over them and clicking the right mouse button (default off).

cmdassist
Have the game provide some additional command assistance for
new players if it detects some anticipated mistakes (default
on).

confirm
Have user confirm attacks on pets, shopkeepers, and other
peaceable creatures (default on). Persistent.

dark_room
Show out-of-sight areas of lit rooms (default on). Persistent.

disclose
Controls what information the program reveals when the game
ends. Value is a space separated list of prompting/category
pairs (default is "ni na nv ng nc no", prompt with default re-
sponse of `n' for each candidate). Persistent. The possibili-
ties are:

i - disclose your inventory;

a - disclose your attributes;
v - summarize monsters that have been vanquished;
g - list monster species that have been genocided;
c - display your conduct;
o - display dungeon overview.

Each disclosure possibility can optionally be preceded by a

prefix which lets you refine how it behaves. Here are the
valid prefixes:

y - prompt you and default to yes on the prompt;

n - prompt you and default to no on the prompt;
+ - disclose it without prompting;
- - do not disclose it and do not prompt.

The listing of vanquished monsters can be sorted, so there are

two additional choices for `v':

? - prompt you and default to ask on the prompt;

# - disclose it without prompting, ask for sort order.

Asking refers to picking one of the orderings from a menu. The

`+' disclose without prompting choice, or being prompted and
answering `y' rather than `a', will default to showing monsters
in the traditional order, from high level to low level.
 Omitted categories are implicitly added with `n' prefix. Spec-
ified categories with omitted prefix implicitly use `+' prefix.
Order of the disclosure categories does not matter, program
display for end-of-game disclosure follows a set sequence.

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NetHack Guidebook 53

(for example "disclose:yi na +v -g o") The example sets inven-

tory to prompt and default to yes, attributes to prompt and de-
fault to no, vanquished to disclose without prompting, genocid-
ed to not disclose and not prompt, conduct to implicitly prompt
and default to no, and overview to disclose without prompting.

Note that the vanquished monsters list includes all monsters

killed by traps and each other as well as by you. And the dun-
geon overview shows all levels you had visited but does not re-
veal things about them that you hadn't discovered.

dogname
Name your starting dog (for example "dogname:Fang"). Cannot be
set with the `O' command.

extmenu
Changes the extended commands interface to pop-up a menu of
available commands. It is keystroke compatible with the tradi-
tional interface except that it does not require that you hit
Enter. It is implemented for the tty interface (default off).

For the X11 interface, which always uses a menu for choosing an
extended command, it controls whether the menu shows all avail-
able commands (on) or just the subset of commands which have
traditionally been considered extended ones (off).

female
An obsolete synonym for "gender:female". Cannot be set with
the `O' command.

fixinv
An object's inventory letter sticks to it when it's dropped
(default on). If this is off, dropping an object shifts all
the remaining inventory letters. Persistent.

force_invmenu
Commands asking for an inventory item show a menu instead of a
text query with possible menu letters. Default is off.

fruit
Name a fruit after something you enjoy eating (for example
"fruit:mango") (default "slime mold"). Basically a nostalgic
whimsy that NetHack uses from time to time. You should set
 this to something you find more appetizing than slime mold.
Apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and melons already exist in
NetHack, so don't use those.

gender
Your starting gender (gender:male or gender:female). You may
specify just the first letter. Although you can still denote
your gender using the "male" and "female" options, the "gender"
option will take precedence. The default is to randomly pick
an appropriate gender. If you prefix the value with `!' or
"no", you will exclude that gender from being picked randomly.

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NetHack Guidebook 54

Cannot be set with the `O' command. Persistent.

goldX
When filtering objects based on bless/curse state (BUCX),
whether to treat gold pieces as X (unknown bless/curse state,
when "on") or U (known to be uncursed, when "off", the de-
fault). Gold is never blessed or cursed, but it is not de-
scribed as "uncursed" even when the implicit_uncursed option is
"off".

help
If more information is available for an object looked at with
the `/' command, ask if you want to see it (default on). Turn-
ing help off makes just looking at things faster, since you
aren't interrupted with the "More info?" prompt, but it also
means that you might miss some interesting and/or important in-
formation. Persistent.

herecmd_menu
When using a windowport that supports mouse and clicking on
yourself or next to you, show a menu of possible actions for
the location. Same as "#herecmdmenu" and "#therecmdmenu" com-
mands.

hilite_pet
Visually distinguish pets from similar animals (default off).
The behavior of this option depends on the type of windowing
you use. In text windowing, text highlighting or inverse video
is often used; with tiles, generally displays a heart symbol
near pets.

With the curses interface, the petattr option controls how to

highlight pets and setting it will turn the hilite_pet option
on or off as warranted.

hilite_pile
 Visually distinguish piles of objects from individual objects
(default off). The behavior of this option depends on the type
of windowing you use. In text windowing, text highlighting or
inverse video is often used; with tiles, generally displays a
small plus-symbol beside the object on the top of the pile.

hitpointbar
Show a hit point bar graph behind your name and title. Only
available for TTY and Windows GUI, and only when statushilites
is on.

horsename
Name your starting horse (for example "horsename:Trigger").
Cannot be set with the `O' command.

ignintr
Ignore interrupt signals, including breaks (default off). Per-
sistent.

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NetHack Guidebook 55

implicit_uncursed
Omit "uncursed" from inventory lists, if possible (default on).

legacy
Display an introductory message when starting the game (default
on). Persistent.

lit_corridor
Show corridor squares seen by night vision or a light source
held by your character as lit (default off). Persistent.

lootabc
When using a menu to interact with a container, use the old
`a', `b', and `c' keyboard shortcuts rather than the mnemonics
`o', `i', and `b' (default off). Persistent.

mail
Enable mail delivery during the game (default on). Persistent.

male
An obsolete synonym for "gender:male". Cannot be set with the
`O' command.

mention_walls
Give feedback when walking against a wall (default off).

menucolors
Enable coloring menu lines (default off). See "Configuring
Menu Colors" on how to configure the colors.
menustyle
Controls the interface used when you need to choose various ob-
jects (in response to the Drop command, for instance). The
value specified should be the first letter of one of the fol-
lowing: traditional, combination, full, or partial. Tradi-
tional was the only interface available for early versions; it
consists of a prompt for object class characters, followed by
an object-by-object prompt for all items matching the selected
object class(es). Combination starts with a prompt for object
class(es) of interest, but then displays a menu of matching ob-
jects rather than prompting one-by-one. Full displays a menu
of object classes rather than a character prompt, and then a
menu of matching objects for selection. Partial skips the ob-
ject class filtering and immediately displays a menu of all ob-
jects. Persistent.

menu_deselect_all
Menu character accelerator to deselect all items in a menu.
Implemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default `-'.

menu_deselect_page
Menu character accelerator to deselect all items on this page
of a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. De-
fault `\'.

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NetHack Guidebook 56

menu_first_page
Menu character accelerator to jump to the first page in a menu.
Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default `^'.

menu_headings
Controls how the headings in a menu are highlighted. Values
are "none", "bold", "dim", "underline", "blink", or "inverse".
Not all ports can actually display all types.

menu_invert_all
Menu character accelerator to invert all items in a menu. Im-
plemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default `@'.

menu_invert_page
Menu character accelerator to invert all items on this page of
a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default
`~'.

menu_last_page
Menu character accelerator to jump to the last page in a menu.
Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default `|'.
menu_next_page
Menu character accelerator to goto the next menu page. Imple-
mented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default `>'.

menu_objsyms
Show object symbols in menu headings in menus where the object
symbols act as menu accelerators (default off).

menu_overlay
Do not clear the screen before drawing menus, and align menus
to the right edge of the screen. Only for the tty port. (de-
fault on)

menu_previous_page
Menu character accelerator to goto the previous menu page. Im-
plemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default `<'.

menu_search
Menu character accelerator to search for a menu item. Imple-
mented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default `:'.

menu_select_all
Menu character accelerator to select all items in a menu. Im-
plemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default `.'.

menu_select_page
Menu character accelerator to select all items on this page of
a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default
`,'.

monpolycontrol
Prompt for new form whenever any monster changes shape (default

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NetHack Guidebook 57

off). Debug mode only.

mouse_support
Allow use of the mouse for input and travel. Valid settings
are:

0 - disabled
1 - enabled and make OS adjustments to support mouse use
2 - like 1 but does not make any OS adjustments

Omitting a value is the same as specifying 1 and negating

mouse_support is the same as specifying 0.

msghistory
The number of top line messages to keep (and be able to recall
 with `^P') (default 20). Cannot be set with the `O' command.

msg_window
Allows you to change the way recalled messages are displayed.
Currently it is only supported for tty (all four choices) and
for curses (`f' and `r' choices, default `r'). The possible
values are:

s - single message (default; only choice prior to 3.4.0);

c - combination, two messages as "single", then as "full";
f - full window, oldest message first;
r - full window reversed, newest message first.

For backward compatibility, no value needs to be specified

(which defaults to "full"), or it can be negated (which
defaults to "single").

name
Set your character's name (defaults to your user name). You
can also set your character's role by appending a dash and one
or more letters of the role (that is, by suffixing one of -A -B
-C -H -K -M -P -Ra -Ro -S -T -V -W). If -@ is used for the
role, then a random one will be automatically chosen. Cannot
be set with the `O' command.

news
Read the NetHack news file, if present (default on). Since the
news is shown at the beginning of the game, there's no point in
setting this with the `O' command.

nudist
Start the character with no armor (default false). Persistent.

null
Send padding nulls to the terminal (default on). Persistent.

number_pad
Use digit keys instead of letters to move (default 0 or off).
Valid settings are:

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NetHack Guidebook 58

0 - move by letters; "yuhjklbn"

1 - move by numbers; digit `5' acts as `G' movement prefix
2 - like 1 but `5' works as `g' prefix instead of as `G'
3 - by numbers using phone key layout; 123 above, 789 below
4 - combines 3 with 2; phone layout plus MS-DOS compatibility
-1 - by letters but use `z' to go northwest, `y' to zap wands

For backward compatibility, omitting a value is the same as

 specifying 1 and negating number_pad is the same as specifying
0. (Settings 2 and 4 are for compatibility with MS-DOS or old
PC Hack; in addition to the different behavior for `5', `Alt-5'
acts as `G' and `Alt-0' acts as `I'. Setting -1 is to accommo-
date some QWERTZ keyboards which have the location of the `y'
and `z' keys swapped.) When moving by numbers, to enter a
count prefix for those commands which accept one (such as "12s"
to search twelve times), precede it with the letter `n'
("n12s").

packorder
Specify the order to list object types in (default
"")[%?+!=/(*`0_"). The value of this option should be a string
containing the symbols for the various object types. Any omit-
ted types are filled in at the end from the previous order.

paranoid_confirmation
A space separated list of specific situations where alternate
prompting is desired. The default is paranoid_confirma-
tion:pray.

Confirm - for any prompts which are set to require "yes"

rather than `y', also require "no" to reject in-
stead of accepting any non-yes response as no
quit - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm quitting
the game or switching into non-scoring explore
mode;
die - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm dying
(not useful in normal play; applies to explore
mode);
bones - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm saving
bones data when dying in debug mode;
attack - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm attack-
ing a peaceful monster;
wand-break - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm breaking
a wand;
eating - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm whether
to continue eating;
Were-change - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm changing
form due to lycanthropy when hero has polymorph
control;
pray - require `y' to confirm an attempt to pray rather
than immediately praying; on by default;
Remove - require selection from inventory for `R' and `T'
commands even when wearing just one applicable
item.

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NetHack Guidebook 59

all - turn on all of the above.

 By default, the pray choice is enabled, the others disabled.
To disable it without setting any of the other choices, use
"paranoid_confirmation:none". To keep it enabled while setting
any of the others, include it in the list, such as "para-
noid_confirmation:attack pray Remove".

perm_invent
If true, always display your current inventory in a window.
This only makes sense for windowing system interfaces that im-
plement this feature.

petattr
Specifies one or more text highlighting attributes to use when
showing pets on the map. Effectively a superset of the
hilite_pet boolean option. Curses interface only; value is one
or more of the following letters.

n - Normal text (no highlighting)

i - Inverse video (default)
b - Bold text
u - Underlined text
k - blinKing text
d - Dim text
t - iTalic text
l - Left line indicator
r - Right line indicator

Some of those choices might not work, particularly the final

three, depending upon terminal hardware or terminal emulation
software.

Currently multiple highlight-style letters can be combined by

simply stringing them together (for example, "bk"), but in the
future they might require being separated by plus signs (such
as "b+k", which works already). When using the `n' choice, it
should be specified on its own, not in combination with any of
the other letters.

pettype
Specify the type of your initial pet, if you are playing a
character class that uses multiple types of pets; or choose to
have no initial pet at all. Possible values are "cat", "dog",
"horse", and "none". If the choice is not allowed for the role
you are currently playing, it will be silently ignored. For
example, "horse" will only be honored when playing a knight.
Cannot be set with the `O' command.

pickup_burden
When you pick up an item that would exceed this encumbrance
level (Unencumbered, Burdened, streSsed, straiNed, overTaxed,
or overLoaded), you will be asked if you want to continue.
(Default `S'). Persistent.

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NetHack Guidebook 60

pickup_thrown
If this option is on and autopickup is also on, try to pick up
things that you threw, even if they aren't in pickup_types or
match an autopickup exception. Default is on. Persistent.

pickup_types
Specify the object types to be picked up when autopickup is on.
Default is all types. You can use autopickup_exception config-
uration file lines to further refine autopickup behavior. Per-
sistent.

pile_limit
When walking across a pile of objects on the floor, threshold
at which the message "there are few/several/many objects here"
is given instead of showing a popup list of those objects. A
value of 0 means "no limit" (always list the objects); a value
of 1 effectively means "never show the objects" since the pile
size will always be at least that big; default value is 5.
Persistent.

playmode
Values are "normal", "explore", or "debug". Allows selection
of explore mode (also known as discovery mode) or debug mode
(also known as wizard mode) instead of normal play. Debug mode
might only be allowed for someone logged in under a particular
user name (on multi-user systems) or specifying a particular
character name (on single-user systems) or it might be disabled
entirely. Requesting it when not allowed or not possible re-
sults in explore mode instead. Default is normal play.

pushweapon
Using the `w' (wield) command when already wielding something
pushes the old item into your alternate weapon slot (default
off). Likewise for the `a' (apply) command if it causes the
applied item to become wielded. Persistent.

race
Selects your race (for example, "race:human"). Default is ran-
dom. If you prefix the value with `!' or "no", you will ex-
clude that race from being picked randomly. Cannot be set with
the `O' command. Persistent.

rest_on_space
Make the space bar a synonym for the `.' (#wait) command (de-
fault off). Persistent.

role
Pick your type of character (for example "role:Samurai"); syn-
onym for "character". See "name" for an alternate method of
specifying your role. Normally only the first letter of the
value is examined; `r' is an exception with "Rogue", "Ranger",
and "random" values. If you prefix the value with `!' or "no",
you will exclude that role from being picked randomly. Cannot
 be set with the `O' command. Persistent.

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NetHack Guidebook 61

roguesymset
This option may be used to select one of the named symbol sets
found within "symbols" to alter the symbols displayed on the
screen on the rogue level.

rlecomp
When writing out a save file, perform run length compression of
the map. Not all ports support run length compression. It has
no effect on reading an existing save file.

runmode
Controls the amount of screen updating for the map window when
engaged in multi-turn movement (running via shift+direction or
control+direction and so forth, or via the travel command or
mouse click). The possible values are:

teleport - update the map after movement has finished;

run - update the map after every seven or so steps;
walk - update the map after each step;
crawl - like walk, but pause briefly after each step.

This option only affects the game's screen display, not the ac-
tual results of moving. The default is "run"; versions prior
to 3.4.1 used "teleport" only. Whether or not the effect is
noticeable will depend upon the window port used or on the type
of terminal. Persistent.

safe_pet
Prevent you from (knowingly) attacking your pets (default on).
Persistent.

sanity_check
Evaluate monsters, objects, and map prior to each turn (default
off). Debug mode only.

scores
Control what parts of the score list you are shown at the end
(for example "scores:5 top scores/4 around my score/own
scores"). Only the first letter of each category (`t', `a', or
`o') is necessary. Persistent.

showexp
Show your accumulated experience points on bottom line (default
off). Persistent.

showrace
 Display yourself as the glyph for your race, rather than the
glyph for your role (default off). Note that this setting af-
fects only the appearance of the display, not the way the game
treats you. Persistent.

showscore
Show your approximate accumulated score on bottom line (default
off). Persistent.

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NetHack Guidebook 62

silent
Suppress terminal beeps (default on). Persistent.

sortloot
Controls the sorting behavior of the pickup lists for inventory
and #loot commands and some others. Persistent. The possible
values are:

full - always sort the lists;

loot - only sort the lists that don't use inventory letters,
like with the #loot and pickup commands;
none - show lists the traditional way without sorting.

sortpack
Sort the pack contents by type when displaying inventory (de-
fault on). Persistent.

sparkle
Display a sparkly effect when a monster (including yourself) is
hit by an attack to which it is resistant (default on). Per-
sistent.

standout
Boldface monsters and "--More--" (default off). Persistent.

statushilites
Controls how many turns status hilite behaviors highlight the
field. If negated or set to zero, disables status hiliting.
See "Configuring Status Hilites" for further information.

status_updates
Allow updates to the status lines at the bottom of the screen
(default true).

suppress_alert
This option may be set to a NetHack version level to suppress
alert notification messages about feature changes for that and
prior versions (for example "suppress_alert:3.3.1").
symset
This option may be used to select one of the named symbol sets
found within "symbols" to alter the symbols displayed on the
screen. Use "symset:default" to explicitly select the default
symbols.

time
Show the elapsed game time in turns on bottom line (default
off). Persistent.

timed_delay
When pausing momentarily for display effect, such as with ex-
plosions and moving objects, use a timer rather than sending
extra characters to the screen. (Applies to "tty" interface
only; "X11" interface always uses a timer based delay. The

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NetHack Guidebook 63

default is on if configured into the program.) Persistent.

tombstone
Draw a tombstone graphic upon your death (default on). Persis-
tent.

toptenwin
Put the ending display in a NetHack window instead of on stdout
(default off). Setting this option makes the score list visi-
ble when a windowing version of NetHack is started without a
parent window, but it no longer leaves the score list around
after game end on a terminal or emulating window.

travel
Allow the travel command (default on). Turning this option off
will prevent the game from attempting unintended moves if you
make inadvertent mouse clicks on the map window. Persistent.

verbose
Provide more commentary during the game (default on). Persis-
tent.

whatis_coord
When using the `/' or `;' commands to look around on the map
with autodescribe on, display coordinates after the descrip-
tion. Also works in other situations where you are asked to
pick a location.

The possible settings are:

c - compass ("east" or "3s" or "2n,4w");

f - full compass ("east" or "3south" or "2north,4west");
 m - map <x,y> (map column x=0 is not used);
s - screen [row,column] (row is offset to match tty usage);
n - none (no coordinates shown) [default].

The whatis_coord option is also used with the "/m", "/M", "/o",
and "/O" sub-commands of `/', where the "none" setting is over-
ridden with "map".

whatis_filter
When getting a location on the map, and using the keys to cycle
through next and previous targets, allows filtering the possi-
ble targets.

n - no filtering [default]
v - in view only
a - in same area only

The area-filter tries to be slightly predictive -- if you're

standing on a doorway, it will consider the area on the side of
the door you were last moving towards.

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NetHack Guidebook 64

Filtering can also be changed when getting a location with the

"getpos.filter" key.

whatis_menu
When getting a location on the map, and using a key to cycle
through next and previous targets, use a menu instead to pick a
target. (default off)

whatis_moveskip
When getting a location on the map, and using shifted movement
keys or meta-digit keys to fast-move, instead of moving 8 units
at a time, move by skipping the same glyphs. (default off)

windowtype
When the program has been built to support multiple interfaces,
select which one to use, such as "tty" or "X11" (default de-
pends on build-time settings; use "#version" to check). Cannot
be set with the `O' command.

When used, it should be the first option set since its value
might enable or disable the availability of various other op-
tions. For multiple lines in a configuration file, that would
be the first non-comment line. For a comma-separated list in
NETHACKOPTIONS or an OPTIONS line in a configuration file, that
would be the rightmost option in the list.
wizweight
Augment object descriptions with their objects' weight (default
off). Debug mode only.

zerocomp
When writing out a save file, perform zero-comp compression of
the contents. Not all ports support zero-comp compression. It
has no effect on reading an existing save file.

9.5. Window Port Customization options

Here are explanations of the various options that are used

to customize and change the characteristics of the windowtype
that you have chosen. Character strings that are too long may be
truncated. Not all window ports will adjust for all settings
listed here. You can safely add any of these options to your
configuration file, and if the window port is capable of adjust-
ing to suit your preferences, it will attempt to do so. If it
can't it will silently ignore it. You can find out if an option
is supported by the window port that you are currently using by
checking to see if it shows up in the Options list. Some options
are dynamic and can be specified during the game with the `O'
command.

align_message
Where to align or place the message window (top, bottom, left,
or right)

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NetHack Guidebook 65

align_status
Where to align or place the status window (top, bottom, left,
or right).

ascii_map
If NetHack can, it should display an ascii character map if it
can.

color
If NetHack can, it should display color if it can for different
monsters, objects, and dungeon features.

eight_bit_tty
If NetHack can, it should pass eight-bit character values (for
example, specified with the traps option) straight through to
your terminal (default off).

font_map
 if NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for the
map window.

font_menu
If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for
menu windows.

font_message
If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for the
message window.

font_status
If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for the
status window.

font_text
If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for
text windows.

font_size_map
If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the map win-
dow.

font_size_menu
If NetHack can, it should use this size font for menu windows.

font_size_message
If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the message
window.

font_size_status
If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the status
window.

font_size_text
If NetHack can, it should use this size font for text windows.

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fullscreen
If NetHack can, it should try and display on the entire screen
rather than in a window.

guicolor
Use color text and/or highlighting attributes when displaying
some non-map data (such as menu selector letters). Curses in-
terface only; default is on.

large_font
If NetHack can, it should use a large font.
map_mode
If NetHack can, it should display the map in the manner speci-
fied.

player_selection
If NetHack can, it should pop up dialog boxes, or use prompts
for character selection.

popup_dialog
If NetHack can, it should pop up dialog boxes for input.

preload_tiles
If NetHack can, it should preload tiles into memory. For exam-
ple, in the protected mode MS-DOS version, control whether
tiles get pre-loaded into RAM at the start of the game. Doing
so enhances performance of the tile graphics, but uses more
memory. (default on). Cannot be set with the `O' command.

scroll_amount
If NetHack can, it should scroll the display by this number of
cells when the hero reaches the scroll_margin.

scroll_margin
If NetHack can, it should scroll the display when the hero or
cursor is this number of cells away from the edge of the win-
dow.

selectsaved
If NetHack can, it should display a menu of existing saved
games for the player to choose from at game startup, if it can.
Not all ports support this option.

softkeyboard
Display an onscreen keyboard. Handhelds are most likely to
support this option.

splash_screen
If NetHack can, it should display an opening splash screen when
it starts up (default yes).

statuslines
Number of lines for traditional below-the-map status display.

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NetHack Guidebook 67

Acceptable values are 2 and 3 (default is 2). Curses and tty

interfaces only.

term_cols and
term_rows
Curses interface only. Number of columns and rows to use for
the display. Curses will attempt to resize to the values spec-
ified but will settle for smaller sizes if they are too big.
Default is the current window size.

tiled_map
If NetHack can, it should display a tiled map if it can.

tile_file
Specify the name of an alternative tile file to override the
default.

tile_height
Specify the preferred height of each tile in a tile capable
port.

tile_width
Specify the preferred width of each tile in a tile capable port

use_darkgray
Use bold black instead of blue for black glyphs (TTY only).

use_inverse
If NetHack can, it should display inverse when the game speci-
fies it.

vary_msgcount
If NetHack can, it should display this number of messages at a
time in the message window.

windowborders
Whether to draw boxes around the map, status area, message
area, and persistent inventory window if enabled. Curses in-
terface only. Acceptable values are

0 - off, never show borders

1 - on, always show borders
2 - auto, on if display is at least (24+2)x(80+2) (default)

(The 26x82 size threshold for `2' refers to number of rows and
columns of the display. A width of at least 110 columns
(80+2+26+2) is needed for align_status set to left or right.)

windowcolors
If NetHack can, it should display windows with the specified
foreground/background colors. Windows GUI only. The format is

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NetHack Guidebook 68
 OPTION=windowcolors:wintype foreground/background

where wintype is one of "menu", "message", "status", or

"text", and foreground and background are colors, either a hexa-
decimal \'#rrggbb', one of the named colors (black, red, green,
brown, blue, magenta, cyan, orange, brightgreen, yellow, bright-
blue, brightmagenta, brightcyan, white, trueblack, gray, purple,
silver, maroon, fuchsia, lime, olive, navy, teal, aqua), or one
of Windows UI colors (activeborder, activecaption, appworkspace,
background, btnface, btnshadow, btntext, captiontext, graytext,
greytext, highlight, highlighttext, inactiveborder, inactivecap-
tion, menu, menutext, scrollbar, window, windowframe, window-
text).

wraptext
If NetHack can, it should wrap long lines of text if they don't
fit in the visible area of the window.

9.6. Platform-specific Customization options

Here are explanations of options that are used by specific

platforms or ports to customize and change the port behavior.

altkeyhandling
Select an alternate way to handle keystrokes (Win32 tty NetHack
only). The name of the handling type is one of "default",
"ray", "340".

altmeta
On Amiga, this option controls whether typing "Alt" plus anoth-
er key functions as a meta-shift for that key (default on).

altmeta
On other (non-Amiga) systems where this option is available, it
can be set to tell NetHack to convert a two character sequence
beginning with ESC into a meta-shifted version of the second
character (default off).

This conversion is only done for commands, not for other input
prompts. Note that typing one or more digits as a count prefix
prior to a command -- preceded by n if the number_pad option is
set -- is also subject to this conversion, so attempting to
abort the count by typing ESC will leave NetHack waiting for
another character to complete the two character sequence. Type
a second ESC to finish cancelling such a count. At other
prompts a single ESC suffices.

BIOS
Use BIOS calls to update the screen display quickly and to read
the keyboard (allowing the use of arrow keys to move) on ma-
chines with an IBM PC compatible BIOS ROM (default off, OS/2,
PC, and ST NetHack only).
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NetHack Guidebook 69

flush
(default off, Amiga NetHack only).

MACgraphics
(default on, Mac NetHack only).

page_wait
(default on, Mac NetHack only).

rawio
Force raw (non-cbreak) mode for faster output and more bullet-
proof input (MS-DOS sometimes treats `^P' as a printer toggle
without it) (default off, OS/2, PC, and ST NetHack only).
Note: DEC Rainbows hang if this is turned on. Cannot be set
with the `O' command.

soundcard
(default on, PC NetHack only). Cannot be set with the `O' com-
mand.

subkeyvalue
(Win32 tty NetHack only). May be used to alter the value of
keystrokes that the operating system returns to NetHack to help
compensate for international keyboard issues. OPTIONS=subkey-
value:171/92 will return 92 to NetHack, if 171 was originally
going to be returned. You can use multiple subkeyvalue state-
ments in the configuration file if needed. Cannot be set with
the `O' command.

video
Set the video mode used (PC NetHack only). Values are "autode-
tect", "default", or "vga". Setting "vga" (or "autodetect"
with vga hardware present) will cause the game to display
tiles. Cannot be set with the `O' command.

videocolors
Set the color palette for PC systems using NO_TERMS (default
4-2-6-1-5-3-15-12-10-14-9-13-11, (PC NetHack only). The order
of colors is red, green, brown, blue, magenta, cyan,
bright.white, bright.red, bright.green, yellow, bright.blue,
bright.magenta, and bright.cyan. Cannot be set with the `O'
command.

videoshades
Set the intensity level of the three gray scales available (de-
fault dark normal light, PC NetHack only). If the game display
is difficult to read, try adjusting these scales; if this does
not correct the problem, try !color. Cannot be set with the
`O' command.
9.7. Regular Expressions

Regular expressions are normally POSIX extended regular ex-

pressions. It is possible to compile NetHack without regular

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NetHack Guidebook 70

expression support on a platform where there is no regular ex-

pression library. While this is not true of any modern platform,
if your NetHack was built this way, patterns are instead glob
patterns. This applies to Autopickup exceptions, Message types,
Menu colors, and User sounds.

9.8. Configuring Autopickup Exceptions

You can further refine the behavior of the autopickup option

beyond what is available through the pickup_types option.

By placing autopickup_exception lines in your configuration

file, you can define patterns to be checked when the game is
about to autopickup something.

autopickup_exception
Sets an exception to the pickup_types option. The autopick-
up_exception option should be followed by a regular expression
to be used as a pattern to match against the singular form of
the description of an object at your location.

In addition, some characters are treated specially if they oc-

cur as the first character in the pattern, specifically:

< - always pickup an object that matches rest of pattern;

> - never pickup an object that matches rest of pattern.

The autopickup_exception rules are processed in the order in

which they appear in your configuration file, thus allowing a
later rule to override an earlier rule.

Exceptions can be set with the `O' command, but because they
are not included in your configuration file, they won't be in
effect if you save and then restore your game. autopickup_ex-
ception rules and not saved with the game.

Here are some examples:

autopickup_exception="<*arrow"
autopickup_exception=">*corpse"
autopickup_exception=">* cursed*"
 The first example above will result in autopickup of any
type of arrow. The second example results in the exclusion of
any corpse from autopickup. The last example results in the ex-
clusion of items known to be cursed from autopickup.

9.9. Changing Key Bindings

It is possible to change the default key bindings of some

special commands, menu accelerator keys, and extended commands,
by using BIND stanzas in the configuration file. Format is key,
followed by the command to bind to, separated by a colon. The
key can be a single character ("x"), a control key ("^X", "C-x"),

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NetHack Guidebook 71

a meta key ("M-x"), or a three-digit decimal ASCII code.

For example:

BIND=^X:getpos.autodescribe
BIND={:menu_first_page
BIND=v:loot

Extended command keys

You can bind multiple keys to the same extended command. Un-
bind a key by using "nothing" as the extended command to bind
to. You can also bind the "<esc>", "<enter>", and "<space>"
keys.

Menu accelerator keys

The menu control or accelerator keys can also be rebound via
OPTIONS lines in the configuration file. You cannot bind ob-
ject symbols into menu accelerators.

Special command keys

Below are the special commands you can rebind. Some of them
can be bound to same keys with no problems, others are in the
same "context", and if bound to same keys, only one of those
commands will be available. Special command can only be bound
to a single key.

count
Prefix key to start a count, to repeat a command this many
times. With number_pad only. Default is `n'.

doinv
Show inventory. With number_pad only. Default is `0'.

fight
Prefix key to force fight a direction. Default is `F'.
fight.numpad
Prefix key to force fight a direction. With number_pad only.
Default is `-'.

getdir.help
When asked for a direction, the key to show the help. Default
is `?'.

getdir.self
When asked for a direction, the key to target yourself. De-
fault is `.'.

getdir.self2
When asked for a direction, the key to target yourself. De-
fault is `s'.

getpos.autodescribe
When asked for a location, the key to toggle autodescribe.

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NetHack Guidebook 72

Default is `#'.

getpos.all.next
When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest inter-
esting thing. Default is `a'.

getpos.all.prev
When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
interesting thing. Default is `A'.

getpos.door.next
When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest door
or doorway. Default is `d'.

getpos.door.prev
When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
door or doorway. Default is `D'.

getpos.help
When asked for a location, the key to show help. Default is
`?'.

getpos.mon.next
When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest mon-
ster. Default is `m'.

getpos.mon.prev
When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
 monster. Default is `M'.

getpos.obj.next
When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest ob-
ject. Default is `o'.

getpos.obj.prev
When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
object. Default is `O'.

getpos.menu
When asked for a location, and using one of the next or previ-
ous keys to cycle through targets, toggle showing a menu in-
stead. Default is `!'.

getpos.moveskip
When asked for a location, and using the shifted movement keys
or meta-digit keys to fast-move around, move by skipping the
same glyphs instead of by 8 units. Default is `*'.

getpos.filter
When asked for a location, change the filtering mode when using
one of the next or previous keys to cycle through targets.
Toggles between no filtering, in view only, and in the same
area only. Default is `"'.

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getpos.pick
When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
possibly ask for more info. Default is `.'.

getpos.pick.once
When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
skip asking for more info. Default is `,'.

getpos.pick.quick
When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, skip
asking for more info, and exit the location asking loop. De-
fault is `;'.

getpos.pick.verbose
When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
show more info without asking. Default is `:'.

getpos.self
When asked for a location, the key to go to your location. De-
fault is `@'.
getpos.unexplored.next
When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest unex-
plored location. Default is `x'.

getpos.unexplored.prev
When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
unexplored location. Default is `X'.

getpos.valid
When asked for a location, the key to go to show valid target
locations. Default is `$'.

getpos.valid.next
When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest valid
location. Default is `z'.

getpos.valid.prev
When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
valid location. Default is `Z'.

nopickup
Prefix key to move without picking up items. Default is `m'.

redraw
Key to redraw the screen. Default is `^R'.

redraw.numpad
Key to redraw the screen. With number_pad only. Default is
`^L'.

repeat
Key to repeat previous command. Default is `^A'.

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NetHack Guidebook 74

reqmenu
Prefix key to request menu from some commands. Default is `m'.

run
Prefix key to run towards a direction. Default is `G'.

run.nopickup
Prefix key to run towards a direction without picking up items
on the way. Default is `M'.

run.numpad
Prefix key to run towards a direction. With number_pad only.
Default is `5'.
rush
Prefix key to rush towards a direction. Default is `g'.

9.10. Configuring Message Types

You can change the way the messages are shown in the message
area, when the message matches a user-defined pattern.

In general, the configuration file entries to describe the

message types look like this: MSGTYPE=type "pattern"

type - how the message should be shown;

pattern - the pattern to match.

The pattern should be a regular expression.

Allowed types are:

show - show message normally;

hide - never show the message;
stop - wait for user with more-prompt;
norep - show the message once, but not again if no other mes-
sage is shown in between.

Here's an example of message types using NetHack's internal

pattern matching facility:

MSGTYPE=stop "You feel hungry."

MSGTYPE=hide "You displaced *."

specifies that whenever a message "You feel hungry" is shown,

the user is prompted with more-prompt, and a message matching
"You displaced <something>." is not shown at all.

The order of the defined MSGTYPE lines is important; the last

matching rule is used. Put the general case first, exceptions
below them.

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NetHack Guidebook 75

9.11. Configuring Menu Colors

Some platforms allow you to define colors used in menu lines

when the line matches a user-defined pattern. At this time the
tty, curses, win32tty and win32gui interfaces support this.

In general, the configuration file entries to describe the

menu color mappings look like this:

MENUCOLOR="pattern"=color&attribute

pattern - the pattern to match;

color - the color to use for lines matching the pat-
tern;
attribute - the attribute to use for lines matching the
pattern. The attribute is optional, and if
left out, you must also leave out the preced-
ing ampersand. If no attribute is defined,
no attribute is used.

The pattern should be a regular expression.

Allowed colors are black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta,

cyan, gray, orange, light-green, yellow, light-blue, light-ma-
genta, light-cyan, and white. And no-color, the default fore-
ground color, which isn't necessarily the same as any of the
other colors.

Allowed attributes are none, bold, dim, underline, blink, and

inverse. "Normal" is a synonym for "none". Note that the
platform used may interpret the attributes any way it wants.

Here's an example of menu colors using NetHack's internal pat-

tern matching facility:

MENUCOLOR="* blessed *"=green

MENUCOLOR="* cursed *"=red
MENUCOLOR="* cursed *(being worn)"=red&underline

specifies that any menu line with " blessed " contained in it
will be shown in green color, lines with " cursed " will be
shown in red, and lines with " cursed " followed by "(being
worn)" on the same line will be shown in red color and under-
lined. You can have multiple MENUCOLOR entries in your config-
uration file, and the last MENUCOLOR line that matches a menu
line will be used for the line.

Note that if you intend to have one or more color specifica-

tions match " uncursed ", you will probably want to turn the im-
plicit_uncursed option off so that all items known to be uncursed
are actually displayed with the "uncursed" description.

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NetHack Guidebook 76
9.12. Configuring User Sounds

Some platforms allow you to define sound files to be played

when a message that matches a user-defined pattern is delivered
to the message window. At this time the Qt port and the win32tty
and win32gui ports support the use of user sounds.

The following configuration file entries are relevant to

mapping user sounds to messages:

SOUNDDIR
The directory that houses the sound files to be played.

SOUND
An entry that maps a sound file to a user-specified message
pattern. Each SOUND entry is broken down into the following
parts:

MESG - message window mapping (the only one supported in

3.6);
pattern - the pattern to match;
sound file - the sound file to play;
volume - the volume to be set while playing the sound file.

The pattern should be a POSIX extended regular expression.

9.13. Configuring Status Hilites

Your copy of NetHack may have been compiled with support for
"Status Hilites". If so, you can customize your game display by
setting thresholds to change the color or appearance of fields in
the status display.

The format for defining status colors is:

OPTION=hilite_status:field-name/behavior/color&attributes

For example, the following line in your configuration file

will cause the hitpoints field to display in the color red if
your hitpoints drop to or below a threshold of 30%:

OPTION=hilite_status:hitpoints/<=30%/red/normal

(That example is actually specifying red&normal for <=30% and no-

color&normal for >30%.)

For another example, the following line in your configura-

tion file will cause wisdom to be displayed red if it drops and
green if it rises:

OPTION=hilite_status:wisdom/down/red/up/green

Allowed colors are black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta,

cyan, gray, orange, light-green, yellow, light-blue, light-

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NetHack Guidebook 77

magenta, light-cyan, and white. And "no-color", the default

foreground color on the display, which is not necessarily the
same as black or white or any of the other colors.

Allowed attributes are none, bold, dim, underline, blink,

and inverse. "Normal" is a synonym for "none"; they should not
be used in combination with any of the other attributes.

To specify both a color and an attribute, use `&' to combine

them. To specify multiple attributes, use `+' to combine those.
For example: "magenta&inverse+dim".

Note that the display may substitute or ignore particular

attributes depending upon its capabilities, and in general may
interpret the attributes any way it wants. For example, on some
display systems a request for bold might yield blink or vice ver-
sa. On others, issuing an attribute request while another is al-
ready set up will replace the earlier attribute rather than com-
bine with it. Since NetHack issues attribute requests sequen-
tially (at least with the tty interface) rather than all at once,
the only way a situation like that can be controlled is to speci-
fy just one attribute.

You can adjust the appearance of the following status

fields:
title dungeon-level experience-level
strength gold experience
dexterity hitpoints HD
constitution hitpoints-max time
intelligence power hunger
wisdom power-max carrying-capacity
charisma armor-class condition
alignment score

The pseudo-field "characteristics" can be used to set all six

of Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha at once. "HD" is "hit
dice", an approximation of experience level displayed when
polymorphed. "experience", "time", and "score" are condition-
ally displayed depending upon your other option settings.

Instead of a behavior, "condition" takes the following condi-

tion flags: stone, slime, strngl, foodpois, termill, blind,
deaf, stun, conf, hallu, lev, fly, and ride. You can use "ma-
jor_troubles" as an alias for stone through termill, "mi-
nor_troubles" for blind through hallu, "movement" for lev, fly,
and ride, and "all" for every condition.

Allowed behaviors are "always", "up", "down", "changed", a per-

centage or absolute number threshold, or text to match against.

* "always" will set the default attributes for that field.

 * "up", "down" set the field attributes for when the field
value changes upwards or downwards. This attribute times

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NetHack Guidebook 78

out after statushilites turns.

* "changed" sets the field attribute for when the field val-
ue changes. This attribute times out after statushilites
turns. (If a field has both a "changed" rule and an "up"
or "down" rule which matches a change in the field's val-
ue, the "up" or "down" one takes precedence.)

* percentage sets the field attribute when the field value

matches the percentage. It is specified as a number be-
tween 0 and 100, followed by `%' (percent sign). If the
percentage is prefixed with `<=' or `>=', it also matches
when value is below or above the percentage. Use prefix
`<' or `>' to match when strictly below or above. (The
numeric limit is relaxed slightly for those: >-1% and
<101% are allowed.) Only four fields support percentage
rules. Percentages for "hitpoints" and "power" are
straightforward; they're based on the corresponding maxi-
mum field. Percentage highlight rules are also allowed
for "experience level" and "experience points" (valid when
the showexp option is enabled). For those, the percentage
is based on the progress from the start of the current ex-
perience level to the start of the next level. So if lev-
el 2 starts at 20 points and level 3 starts at 40 points,
having 30 points is 50% and 35 points is 75%. 100% is
unattainable for experience because you'll gain a level
and the calculations will be reset for that new level, but
a rule for =100% is allowed and matches the special case
of being exactly 1 experience point short of the next lev-
el.

* absolute value sets the attribute when the field value

matches that number. The number must be 0 or higher, ex-
cept for "armor-class' which allows negative values, and
may optionally be preceded by `='. If the number is pre-
ceded by `<=' or `>=' instead, it also matches when value
is below or above. If the prefix is `<' or `>', only
match when strictly above or below.

* text match sets the attribute when the field value matches
the text. Text matches can only be used for "alignment",
"carrying-capacity", "hunger", "dungeon-level", and "ti-
tle". For title, only the role's rank title is tested;
the character's name is ignored.
 The in-game options menu can help you determine the correct
syntax for a configuration file.

The whole feature can be disabled by setting option sta-

tushilites to 0.

Example hilites:

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OPTION=hilite_status: gold/up/yellow/down/brown
OPTION=hilite_status: characteristics/up/green/down/red
OPTION=hilite_status: hitpoints/100%/gray&normal
OPTION=hilite_status: hitpoints/<100%/green&normal
OPTION=hilite_status: hitpoints/<66%/yellow&normal
OPTION=hilite_status: hitpoints/<50%/orange&normal
OPTION=hilite_status: hitpoints/<33%/red&bold
OPTION=hilite_status: hitpoints/<15%/red&inverse
OPTION=hilite_status: condition/major/orange&inverse
OPTION=hilite_status: condition/lev+fly/red&inverse

9.14. Modifying NetHack Symbols

NetHack can load entire symbol sets from the symbol file.

The options that are used to select a particular symbol set

from the symbol file are:

symset
Set the name of the symbol set that you want to load.

roguesymset
Set the name of the symbol set that you want to load for dis-
play on the rogue level.

You can also override one or more symbols using the SYMBOLS
and ROGUESYMBOLS configuration file options. Symbols are speci-
fied as name:value pairs. Note that NetHack escape-processes the
value string in conventional C fashion. This means that \ is a
prefix to take the following character literally. Thus \ needs
to be represented as \\. The special prefix form \m switches on
the meta bit in the symbol value, and the ^ prefix causes the
following character to be treated as a control character.

NetHack Symbols
Symbol Name Description
-----------------------------------------------------------------
S_air (air)
_ S_altar (altar)
" S_amulet (amulet)
A S_angel (angelic being)
a S_ant (ant or other insect)
^ S_anti_magic_trap (anti-magic field)
[ S_armor (suit or piece of armor)
[ S_armour (suit or piece of armor)
^ S_arrow_trap (arrow trap)
0 S_ball (iron ball)
# S_bars (iron bars)
B S_bat (bat or bird)
^ S_bear_trap (bear trap)
- S_blcorn (bottom left corner)
b S_blob (blob)
+ S_book (spellbook)

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) S_boomleft (boomerang open left)

( S_boomright (boomerang open right)
` S_boulder (boulder)
- S_brcorn (bottom right corner)
C S_centaur (centaur)
_ S_chain (iron chain)
# S_cloud (cloud)
c S_cockatrice (cockatrice)
$ S_coin (pile of coins)
# S_corr (corridor)
- S_crwall (wall)
# S_darkroom (dark room)
^ S_dart_trap (dart trap)
& S_demon (major demon)
* S_digbeam (dig beam)
> S_dnladder (ladder down)
> S_dnstair (staircase down)
d S_dog (dog or other canine)
D S_dragon (dragon)
; S_eel (sea monster)
E S_elemental (elemental)
/ S_explode1 (explosion top left)
- S_explode2 (explosion top center)
\ S_explode3 (explosion top right)
| S_explode4 (explosion middle left)
S_explode5 (explosion middle center)
| S_explode6 (explosion middle right)
\ S_explode7 (explosion bottom left)
- S_explode8 (explosion bottom center)
/ S_explode9 (explosion bottom right)
e S_eye (eye or sphere)
^ S_falling_rock_trap (falling rock trap)
f S_feline (cat or other feline)
^ S_fire_trap (fire trap)
! S_flashbeam (flash beam)
% S_food (piece of food)
{ S_fountain (fountain)
F S_fungus (fungus or mold)
* S_gem (gem or rock)
S_ghost (ghost)
H S_giant (giant humanoid)
G S_gnome (gnome)
' S_golem (golem)
| S_grave (grave)
g S_gremlin (gremlin)
- S_hbeam (horizontal beam [zap animation])
# S_hcdbridge (horizontal raised drawbridge)
+ S_hcdoor (closed door in horizontal wall)
. S_hodbridge (horizontal lowered drawbridge)
| S_hodoor (open door in horizontal wall)
^ S_hole (hole)
@ S_human (human or elf)
h S_humanoid (humanoid)

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- S_hwall (horizontal wall)

. S_ice (ice)
i S_imp (imp or minor demon)
I S_invisible (invisible monster)
J S_jabberwock (jabberwock)
j S_jelly (jelly)
k S_kobold (kobold)
K S_kop (Keystone Kop)
^ S_land_mine (land mine)
} S_lava (molten lava)
l S_leprechaun (leprechaun)
^ S_level_teleporter (level teleporter)
L S_lich (lich)
y S_light (light)
# S_litcorr (lit corridor)
: S_lizard (lizard)
\ S_lslant (diagonal beam [zap animation])
^ S_magic_portal (magic portal)
^ S_magic_trap (magic trap)
m S_mimic (mimic)
] S_mimic_def (mimic)
M S_mummy (mummy)
N S_naga (naga)
. S_ndoor (doorway without door)
n S_nymph (nymph)
O S_ogre (ogre)
o S_orc (orc)
p S_piercer (piercer)
^ S_pit (pit)
# S_poisoncloud (poison cloud)
^ S_polymorph_trap (polymorph trap)
} S_pool (water)
! S_potion (potion)
P S_pudding (pudding or ooze)
q S_quadruped (quadruped)
Q S_quantmech (quantum mechanic)
= S_ring (ring)
` S_rock (boulder or statue)
r S_rodent (rodent)
^ S_rolling_boulder_trap (rolling boulder trap)
. S_room (floor of a room)
/ S_rslant (diagonal beam [zap animation])
^ S_rust_trap (rust trap)
R S_rustmonst (rust monster or disenchanter)
? S_scroll (scroll)
# S_sink (sink)
^ S_sleeping_gas_trap (sleeping gas trap)
S S_snake (snake)
s S_spider (arachnid or centipede)
^ S_spiked_pit (spiked pit)
^ S_squeaky_board (squeaky board)
0 S_ss1 (magic shield 1 of 4)
# S_ss2 (magic shield 2 of 4)

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@ S_ss3 (magic shield 3 of 4)

* S_ss4 (magic shield 4 of 4)
^ S_statue_trap (statue trap)
S_stone (solid rock or unexplored terrain
or dark part of a room)
] S_strange_obj (strange object)
- S_sw_bc (swallow bottom center)
\ S_sw_bl (swallow bottom left)
/ S_sw_br (swallow bottom right)
| S_sw_ml (swallow middle left)
| S_sw_mr (swallow middle right)
- S_sw_tc (swallow top center)
/ S_sw_tl (swallow top left)
\ S_sw_tr (swallow top right)
- S_tdwall (wall)
^ S_teleportation_trap (teleportation trap)
\ S_throne (opulent throne)
- S_tlcorn (top left corner)
| S_tlwall (wall)
( S_tool (useful item (pick-axe, key, lamp...))
^ S_trap_door (trap door)
t S_trapper (trapper or lurker above)
- S_trcorn (top right corner)
# S_tree (tree)
T S_troll (troll)
| S_trwall (wall)
- S_tuwall (wall)
U S_umber (umber hulk)
u S_unicorn (unicorn or horse)
< S_upladder (ladder up)
< S_upstair (staircase up)
V S_vampire (vampire)
| S_vbeam (vertical beam [zap animation])
# S_vcdbridge (vertical raised drawbridge)
+ S_vcdoor (closed door in vertical wall)
. S_venom (splash of venom)
^ S_vibrating_square (vibrating square)
. S_vodbridge (vertical lowered drawbridge)
- S_vodoor (open door in vertical wall)
v S_vortex (vortex)
| S_vwall (vertical wall)
/ S_wand (wand)
} S_water (water)
) S_weapon (weapon)
" S_web (web)
w S_worm (worm)
~ S_worm_tail (long worm tail)
W S_wraith (wraith)
x S_xan (xan or other extraordinary insect)
X S_xorn (xorn)
Y S_yeti (apelike creature)
Z S_zombie (zombie)
z S_zruty (zruty)

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NetHack Guidebook 83

S_pet_override (any pet if ACCESSIBILITY=1 is set)

S_hero_override (hero if ACCESSIBILITY=1 is set)

Notes:

* Several symbols in this table appear to be blank. They are the

space character, except for S_pet_override and S_hero_override
which don't have any default value and can only be used if en-
abled in the "sysconf" file.
* S_rock is misleadingly named; rocks and stones use S_gem.
Statues and boulders are the rock being referred to, but since
version 3.6.0, statues are displayed as the monster they de-
pict. So S_rock is only used for boulders and not used at all
if overridden by the more specific S_boulder.

9.15. Configuring NetHack for Play by the Blind

NetHack can be set up to use only standard ASCII characters

for making maps of the dungeons. This makes the MS-DOS versions
of NetHack completely accessible to the blind who use speech
and/or Braille access technologies. Players will require a good
working knowledge of their screen-reader's review features, and
will have to know how to navigate horizontally and vertically
character by character. They will also find the search capabili-
ties of their screen-readers to be quite valuable. Be certain to
examine this Guidebook before playing so you have an idea what
the screen layout is like. You'll also need to be able to locate
the PC cursor. It is always where your character is located.
Merely searching for an @-sign will not always find your charac-
ter since there are other humanoids represented by the same sign.
Your screen-reader should also have a function which gives you
the row and column of your review cursor and the PC cursor.
These co-ordinates are often useful in giving players a better
sense of the overall location of items on the screen.

NetHack can also be compiled with support for sending the

game messages to an external program, such as a text-to-speech
synthesizer. If the "#version" extended command shows "external
program as a message handler", your NetHack has been compiled
with the capability. When compiling NetHack from source on Linux
and other POSIX systems, define MSGHANDLER to enable it. To use
the capability, set the environment variable NETHACK_MSGHANDLER
to an executable, which will be executed with the game message as
the program's only parameter.

While it is not difficult for experienced users to edit the

defaults.nh file to accomplish this, novices may find this task
somewhat daunting. Included within the "symbols" file of all of-
ficial distributions of NetHack is a symset called NHAccess. Se-
lecting that symset in your configuration file will cause the
game to run in a manner accessible to the blind. After you have
gained some experience with the game and with editing files, you
may want to alter settings via SYMBOLS= and ROGUESYMBOLS= in your

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NetHack Guidebook 84

configuration file to better suit your preferences. See the pre-

vious section for the special symbols S_pet_override to force a
consistent symbol for all pets and S_hero_override to force a
unique symbol for the player character if accessibility is en-
abled in the sysconf file.

The most crucial settings to make the game more accessible

are:

symset:NHAccess
Load a symbol set appropriate for use by blind players.

roguesymset:NHAccess
Load a symbol set for the rogue level that is appropriate for
use by blind players.

menustyle:traditional
This will assist in the interface to speech synthesizers.

nomenu_overlay
Show menus on a cleared screen and aligned to the left edge.

number_pad
A lot of speech access programs use the number-pad to review
the screen. If this is the case, disable the number_pad option
and use the traditional Rogue-like commands.

autodescribe
Automatically describe the terrain under the cursor when tar-
geting.

mention_walls
Give feedback messages when walking towards a wall or when
travel command was interrupted.

whatis_coord:compass
When targeting with cursor, describe the cursor position with
coordinates relative to your character.

whatis_filter:area
When targeting with cursor, filter possible locations so only
those in the same area (eg. same room, or same corridor) are
considered.

whatis_moveskip
When targeting with cursor and using fast-move, skip the same
glyphs instead of moving 8 units at a time.

nostatus_updates
Prevent updates to the status lines at the bottom of the
screen, if your screen-reader reads those lines. The same in-
formation can be seen via the "#attributes" command.

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9.16. Global Configuration for System Administrators

If NetHack is compiled with the SYSCF option, a system ad-

ministrator should set up a global configuration; this is a file
in the same format as the traditional per-user configuration file
(see above). This file should be named sysconf and placed in the
same directory as the other NetHack support files. The options
recognized in this file are listed below. Any option not set us-
es a compiled-in default (which may not be appropriate for your
system).

WIZARDS = A space-separated list of user names who are allowed

to play in debug mode (commonly referred to as wizard mode). A
value of a single asterisk (*) allows anyone to start a game in
debug mode.

SHELLERS = A list of users who are allowed to use the shell es-
cape command (!). The syntax is the same as WIZARDS.

EXPLORERS = A list of users who are allowed to use the explore

mode. The syntax is the same as WIZARDS.

MAXPLAYERS = Limit the maximum number of games that can be run-

ning at the same time.

SUPPORT = A string explaining how to get local support (no de-

fault value).

RECOVER = A string explaining how to recover a game on this

system (no default value).

SEDUCE = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the SEDUCE

option. When disabled, incubi and succubi behave like nymphs.

CHECK_PLNAME = Setting this to 1 will make the EXPLORERS, WIZ-

ARDS, and SHELLERS check for the player name instead of the us-
er's login name.

CHECK_SAVE_UID = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the

UID (used identification number) checking for save files (to
verify that the user who is restoring is the same one who
saved).

The following options affect the score file:

PERSMAX = Maximum number of entries for one person.

ENTRYMAX = Maximum number of entries in the score file.

POINTSMIN = Minimum number of points to get an entry in the

score file.

PERS_IS_UID = 0 or 1 to use user names or numeric userids, re-

spectively, to identify unique people for the score file.
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NetHack Guidebook 86

MAX_STATUENAME_RANK = Maximum number of score file entries to

use for random statue names (default is 10).

ACCESSIBILITY = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the

ability for players to set S_pet_override and S_hero_override
symbols in their configuration file.

PORTABLE_DEVICE_PATHS = 0 or 1 Windows OS only, the game will

look for all of its external files, and write to all of its
output files in one place rather than at the standard loca-
tions.

DUMPLOGFILE = A filename where the end-of-game dumplog is

saved. Not defining this will prevent dumplog from being cre-
ated. Only available if your game is compiled with DUMPLOG. Al-
lows the following placeholders:

%% - literal `%'
%v - version (eg. "3.6.3-0")
%u - game UID
%t - game start time, UNIX timestamp format
%T - current time, UNIX timestamp format
%d - game start time, YYYYMMDDhhmmss format
%D - current time, YYYYMMDDhhmmss format
%n - player name
%N - first character of player name

10. Scoring

NetHack maintains a list of the top scores or scorers on

your machine, depending on how it is set up. In the latter case,
each account on the machine can post only one non-winning score
on this list. If you score higher than someone else on this
list, or better your previous score, you will be inserted in the
proper place under your current name. How many scores are kept
can also be set up when NetHack is compiled.

Your score is chiefly based upon how much experience you

gained, how much loot you accumulated, how deep you explored, and
how the game ended. If you quit the game, you escape with all of
your gold intact. If, however, you get killed in the Mazes of
Menace, the guild will only hear about 90% of your gold when your
corpse is discovered (adventurers have been known to collect
finder's fees). So, consider whether you want to take one last
hit at that monster and possibly live, or quit and stop with
whatever you have. If you quit, you keep all your gold, but if
you swing and live, you might find more.
 If you just want to see what the current top players/games
list is, you can type nethack -s all on most versions.

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NetHack Guidebook 87

11. Explore mode

NetHack is an intricate and difficult game. Novices might

falter in fear, aware of their ignorance of the means to survive.
Well, fear not. Your dungeon comes equipped with an "explore" or
"discovery" mode that enables you to keep old save files and
cheat death, at the paltry cost of not getting on the high score
list.

There are two ways of enabling explore mode. One is to

start the game with the -X command-line switch or with the play-
mode:explore option. The other is to issue the "#exploremode"
extended command while already playing the game. Starting a new
game in explore mode provides your character with a wand of wish-
ing in initial inventory; switching during play does not. The
other benefits of explore mode are left for the trepid reader to
discover.

11.1. Debug mode

Debug mode, also known as wizard mode, is undocumented aside

from this brief description and the various "debug mode only"
commands listed among the command descriptions. It is intended
for tracking down problems within the program rather than to pro-
vide god-like powers to your character, and players who attempt
debugging are expected to figure out how to use it themselves.
It is initiated by starting the game with the -D command-line
switch or with the playmode:debug option.

For some systems, the player must be logged in under a par-

ticular user name to be allowed to use debug mode; for others,
the hero must be given a particular character name (but may be
any role; there's no connection between "wizard mode" and the
Wizard role). Attempting to start a game in debug mode when not
allowed or not available will result in falling back to explore
mode instead.

12. Credits

The original hack game was modeled on the Berkeley UNIX

rogue game. Large portions of this paper were shamelessly
cribbed from A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom, by Michael C. Toy
and Kenneth C. R. C. Arnold. Small portions were adapted from
Further Exploration of the Dungeons of Doom, by Ken Arromdee.

NetHack is the product of literally dozens of people's work.

Main events in the course of the game development are described
below:

Jay Fenlason wrote the original Hack, with help from Kenny
Woodland, Mike Thome and Jon Payne.

Andries Brouwer did a major re-write, transforming Hack into

a very different game, and published (at least) three versions

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 88

(1.0.1, 1.0.2, and 1.0.3) for UNIX machines to the Usenet.

Don G. Kneller ported Hack 1.0.3 to Microsoft C and MS-DOS,

producing PC HACK 1.01e, added support for DEC Rainbow graphics
in version 1.03g, and went on to produce at least four more ver-
sions (3.0, 3.2, 3.51, and 3.6).

R. Black ported PC HACK 3.51 to Lattice C and the Atari

520/1040ST, producing ST Hack 1.03.

Mike Stephenson merged these various versions back together,

incorporating many of the added features, and produced NetHack
1.4. He then coordinated a cast of thousands in enhancing and
debugging NetHack 1.4 and released NetHack versions 2.2 and 2.3.

Later, Mike coordinated a major rewrite of the game, heading

a team which included Ken Arromdee, Jean-Christophe Collet, Steve
Creps, Eric Hendrickson, Izchak Miller, John Rupley, Mike Threep-
oint, and Janet Walz, to produce NetHack 3.0c.

NetHack 3.0 was ported to the Atari by Eric R. Smith, to

OS/2 by Timo Hakulinen, and to VMS by David Gentzel. The three
of them and Kevin Darcy later joined the main NetHack Development
Team to produce subsequent revisions of 3.0.

Olaf Seibert ported NetHack 2.3 and 3.0 to the Amiga. Norm
Meluch, Stephen Spackman and Pierre Martineau designed overlay
code for PC NetHack 3.0. Johnny Lee ported NetHack 3.0 to the
Macintosh. Along with various other Dungeoneers, they continued
to enhance the PC, Macintosh, and Amiga ports through the later
revisions of 3.0.

Headed by Mike Stephenson and coordinated by Izchak Miller

and Janet Walz, the NetHack Development Team which now included
Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jean-Christophe Collet, Kevin Darcy,
Matt Day, Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin,
Eric Raymond, and Eric Smith undertook a radical revision of 3.0.
They re-structured the game's design, and re-wrote major parts of
the code. They added multiple dungeons, a new display, special
individual character quests, a new endgame and many other new
features, and produced NetHack 3.1.

Ken Lorber, Gregg Wonderly and Greg Olson, with help from
Richard Addison, Mike Passaretti, and Olaf Seibert, developed
NetHack 3.1 for the Amiga.

Norm Meluch and Kevin Smolkowski, with help from Carl Sche-
lin, Stephen Spackman, Steve VanDevender, and Paul Winner, ported
NetHack 3.1 to the PC.

Jon W{tte and Hao-yang Wang, with help from Ross Brown, Mike
Engber, David Hairston, Michael Hamel, Jonathan Handler, Johnny
Lee, Tim Lennan, Rob Menke, and Andy Swanson, developed NetHack
3.1 for the Macintosh, porting it for MPW. Building on their

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 89

development, Bart House added a Think C port.

Timo Hakulinen ported NetHack 3.1 to OS/2. Eric Smith port-

ed NetHack 3.1 to the Atari. Pat Rankin, with help from Joshua
Delahunty, was responsible for the VMS version of NetHack 3.1.
Michael Allison ported NetHack 3.1 to Windows NT.

Dean Luick, with help from David Cohrs, developed NetHack

3.1 for X11. Warwick Allison wrote a tiled version of NetHack
for the Atari; he later contributed the tiles to the NetHack De-
velopment Team and tile support was then added to other plat-
forms.

The 3.2 NetHack Development Team, comprised of Michael Alli-

son, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps, Kevin
Darcy, Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Er-
ic Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner, released
version 3.2 in April of 1996.

Version 3.2 marked the tenth anniversary of the formation of

the development team. In a testament to their dedication to the
game, all thirteen members of the original NetHack Development
Team remained on the team at the start of work on that release.
During the interval between the release of 3.1.3 and 3.2, one of
the founding members of the NetHack Development Team, Dr. Izchak
Miller, was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. That release
of the game was dedicated to him by the development and porting
teams.

During the lifespan of NetHack 3.1 and 3.2, several enthusi-

asts of the game added their own modifications to the game and
made these "variants" publicly available:

Tom Proudfoot and Yuval Oren created NetHack++, which was

quickly renamed NetHack--. Working independently, Stephen White
wrote NetHack Plus. Tom Proudfoot later merged NetHack Plus and
his own NetHack-- to produce SLASH. Larry Stewart-Zerba and War-
wick Allison improved the spell casting system with the Wizard
Patch. Warwick Allison also ported NetHack to use the Qt inter-
face.

Warren Cheung combined SLASH with the Wizard Patch to pro-

duce Slash'EM, and with the help of Kevin Hugo, added more fea-
tures. Kevin later joined the NetHack Development Team and in-
corporated the best of these ideas in NetHack 3.3.

The final update to 3.2 was the bug fix release 3.2.3, which
was released simultaneously with 3.3.0 in December 1999 just in
time for the Year 2000.

The 3.3 NetHack Development Team, consisting of Michael Al-

lison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps,
Kevin Darcy, Timo Hakulinen, Kevin Hugo, Steve Linhart, Ken Lor-
ber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet

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NetHack Guidebook 90

Walz, and Paul Winner, released 3.3.0 in December 1999 and 3.3.1
in August of 2000.

Version 3.3 offered many firsts. It was the first version to

separate race and profession. The Elf class was removed in pref-
erence to an elf race, and the races of dwarves, gnomes, and orcs
made their first appearance in the game alongside the familiar
human race. Monk and Ranger roles joined Archeologists, Barbar-
ians, Cavemen, Healers, Knights, Priests, Rogues, Samurai,
Tourists, Valkyries and of course, Wizards. It was also the
first version to allow you to ride a steed, and was the first
version to have a publicly available web-site listing all the
bugs that had been discovered. Despite that constantly growing
bug list, 3.3 proved stable enough to last for more than a year
and a half.

The 3.4 NetHack Development Team initially consisted of

Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Kevin
Hugo, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephenson, Janet
Walz, and Paul Winner, with Warwick Allison joining just before
the release of NetHack 3.4.0 in March 2002.

As with version 3.3, various people contributed to the game

as a whole as well as supporting ports on the different platforms
that NetHack runs on:

Pat Rankin maintained 3.4 for VMS.

Michael Allison maintained NetHack 3.4 for the MS-DOS plat-

form. Paul Winner and Yitzhak Sapir provided encouragement.

Dean Luick, Mark Modrall, and Kevin Hugo maintained and en-
hanced the Macintosh port of 3.4.

Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas,

and Yitzhak Sapir maintained and enhanced 3.4 for the Microsoft
Windows platform. Alex Kompel contributed a new graphical inter-
face for the Windows port. Alex Kompel also contributed a Win-
dows CE port for 3.4.1.

Ron Van Iwaarden was the sole maintainer of NetHack for OS/2
the past several releases. Unfortunately Ron's last OS/2 machine
stopped working in early 2006. A great many thanks to Ron for
keeping NetHack alive on OS/2 all these years.

Janne Salmijarvi and Teemu Suikki maintained and enhanced

the Amiga port of 3.4 after Janne Salmijarvi resurrected it for
3.3.1.

Christian "Marvin" Bressler maintained 3.4 for the Atari af-

ter he resurrected it for 3.3.1.

The release of NetHack 3.4.3 in December 2003 marked the be-

ginning of a long release hiatus. 3.4.3 proved to be a remarkably

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 91

stable version that provided continued enjoyment by the community

for more than a decade. The NetHack Development Team slowly and
quietly continued to work on the game behind the scenes during
the tenure of 3.4.3. It was during that same period that several
new variants emerged within the NetHack community. Notably
sporkhack by Derek S. Ray, unnethack by Patric Mueller, nitrohack
and its successors originally by Daniel Thaler and then by Alex
Smith, and Dynahack by Tung Nguyen. Some of those variants con-
tinue to be developed, maintained, and enjoyed by the community
to this day.

In September 2014, an interim snapshot of the code under de-

velopment was released publicly by other parties. Since that code
was a work-in-progress and had not gone through the process of
debugging it as a suitable release, it was decided that the ver-
sion numbers present on that code snapshot would be retired and
never used in an official NetHack release. An announcement was
posted on the NetHack Development Team's official nethack.org
website to that effect, stating that there would never be a
3.4.4, 3.5, or 3.5.0 official release version.

In January 2015, preparation began for the release of

NetHack 3.6.

At the beginning of development for what would eventually

get released as 3.6.0, the NetHack Development Team consisted of
Warwick Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs,
Jessie Collet, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephen-
son, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner. In early 2015, ahead of the
release of 3.6.0, new members Sean Hunt, Pasi Kallinen, and Derek
S. Ray joined the NetHack Development Team.

Near the end of the development of 3.6.0, one of the signif-

icant inspirations for many of the humorous and fun features
found in the game, author Terry Pratchett, passed away. NetHack
3.6.0 introduced a tribute to him.

3.6.0 was released in December 2015, and merged work done by

the development team since the release of 3.4.3 with some of the
beloved community patches. Many bugs were fixed and some code was
restructured.

The NetHack Development Team, as well as Steve VanDevender

and Kevin Smolkowski, ensured that NetHack 3.6 continued to oper-
ate on various UNIX flavors and maintained the X11 interface.

Ken Lorber, Haoyang Wang, Pat Rankin, and Dean Luick main-
tained the port of NetHack 3.6 for Mac OSX.

Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Bart House, Pasi Kallinen,

Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas, Derek S. Ray and Yitzhak Sapir main-
tained the port of NetHack 3.6 for Microsoft Windows.

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 92

Pat Rankin attempted to keep the VMS port running for

NetHack 3.6, hindered by limited access. Kevin Smolkowski has up-
dated and tested it for the most recent version of OpenVMS (V8.4
as of this writing) on Alpha and Integrity (aka Itanium aka IA64)
but not VAX.
 Ray Chason resurrected the msdos port for 3.6 and contrib-
uted the necessary updates to the community at large.

In late April 2018, several hundred bug fixes for 3.6.0 and
some new features were assembled and released as NetHack 3.6.1.
The NetHack Development Team at the time of release of 3.6.1 con-
sisted of Warwick Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David
Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Pasi Kallinen, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick,
Patric Mueller, Pat Rankin, Derek S. Ray, Alex Smith, Mike
Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner.

In early May 2019, another 320 bug fixes along with some en-
hancements and the adopted curses window port, were released as
3.6.2.

Bart House, who had contributed to the game as a porting

team participant for decades, joined the NetHack Development Team
in late May 2019.

NetHack 3.6.3 was released on December 5, 2019 containing

over 190 bug fixes to NetHack 3.6.2.

NetHack 3.6.4 was released on December 18, 2019 containing a

security fix and a few bug fixes.

NetHack 3.6.5 was released on January 27, 2020 containing

some security fixes and a small number of bug fixes.

NetHack 3.6.6 was released on March 8, 2020 containing a se-

curity fix and some bug fixes.

NetHack 3.6.7 was released in February 2023 containing a se-

curity fix and some bug fixes.

The official NetHack web site is maintained by Ken Lorber at

https://www.nethack.org/.

12.1. SPECIAL THANKS

On behalf of the NetHack community, thank you very much once

again to M. Drew Streib and Pasi Kallinen for providing a public
NetHack server at nethack.alt.org. Thanks to Keith Simpson and
Andy Thomson for hardfought.org. Thanks to all those unnamed dun-
geoneers who invest their time and effort into annual NetHack
tournaments such as Junethack, The November NetHack Tournament
and in days past, devnull.net (gone for now, but not forgotten).

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023

NetHack Guidebook 93
 - - - - - - - - - -

From time to time, some depraved individual out there in

netland sends a particularly intriguing modification to help out
with the game. The NetHack Development Team sometimes makes note
of the names of the worst of these miscreants in this, the list
of Dungeoneers:
Adam Aronow J. Ali Harlow Mikko Juola
Alex Kompel Janet Walz Nathan Eady
Alex Smith Janne Salmijarvi Norm Meluch
Andreas Dorn Jean-Christophe Collet Olaf Seibert
Andy Church Jeff Bailey Pasi Kallinen
Andy Swanson Jochen Erwied Pat Rankin
Andy Thomson John Kallen Patric Mueller
Ari Huttunen John Rupley Paul Winner
Bart House John S. Bien Pierre Martineau
Benson I. Margulies Johnny Lee Ralf Brown
Bill Dyer Jon W{tte Ray Chason
Boudewijn Waijers Jonathan Handler Richard Addison
Bruce Cox Joshua Delahunty Richard Beigel
Bruce Holloway Karl Garrison Richard P. Hughey
Bruce Mewborne Keizo Yamamoto Rob Menke
Carl Schelin Keith Simpson Robin Bandy
Chris Russo Ken Arnold Robin Johnson
David Cohrs Ken Arromdee Roderick Schertler
David Damerell Ken Lorber Roland McGrath
David Gentzel Ken Washikita Ron Van Iwaarden
David Hairston Kevin Darcy Ronnen Miller
Dean Luick Kevin Hugo Ross Brown
Del Lamb Kevin Sitze Sascha Wostmann
Derek S. Ray Kevin Smolkowski Scott Bigham
Deron Meranda Kevin Sweet Scott R. Turner
Dion Nicolaas Lars Huttar Sean Hunt
Dylan O'Donnell Leon Arnott Stephen Spackman
Eric Backus M. Drew Streib Stefan Thielscher
Eric Hendrickson Malcolm Ryan Stephen White
Eric R. Smith Mark Gooderum Steve Creps
Eric S. Raymond Mark Modrall Steve Linhart
Erik Andersen Marvin Bressler Steve VanDevender
Fredrik Ljungdahl Matthew Day Teemu Suikki
Frederick Roeber Merlyn LeRoy Tim Lennan
Gil Neiger Michael Allison Timo Hakulinen
Greg Laskin Michael Feir Tom Almy
Greg Olson Michael Hamel Tom West
Gregg Wonderly Michael Sokolov Warren Cheung
Hao-yang Wang Mike Engber Warwick Allison
Helge Hafting Mike Gallop Yitzhak Sapir
Irina Rempt-Drijfhout Mike Passaretti
Izchak Miller Mike Stephenson

Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trade-

marks of their respective holders.

NetHack 3.6 February 3, 2023