phpman > man > xmessage(1)

XMESSAGE(1)                            General Commands Manual                           XMESSAGE(1)



NAME
       xmessage - display a message or query in a window (X-based /bin/echo)

SYNOPSIS
       xmessage [ -buttons label1[:value1],label2[:value2], ...  ] [ options ] -file filename
       xmessage [ -buttons label1[:value1],label2[:value2], ...  ] [ options ] message ...

DESCRIPTION
       The xmessage program displays a window containing a message from the command line, a file, or
       standard input.  Along the lower edge of the message is row of  buttons;  clicking  the  left
       mouse  button  on any of these buttons will cause xmessage to exit.  Which button was pressed
       is returned in the exit status and, optionally, by writing the label of the button  to  stan‐
       dard output.

       The  program  is typically used by shell scripts to display information to the user or to ask
       the user to make a choice.

       Unless a size is specified, xmessage sizes itself to fit the message, up to a  maximum  size.
       If the message is too big for the window, xmessage will display scroll bars.

OPTIONS
       These  are  the  command  line options that xmessage understands, in addition to the standard
       ones listed in X(7).

       -buttons button,button,...
               This option will cause xmessage to create one button for each comma-separated  button
               argument.   The  corresponding  resource is buttons.  Each button consists of a label
               optionally followed by a colon and an exit value.  The label is the name of the  Com‐
               mand button widget created and will be the default text displayed to the user.  Since
               this is the name of the widget it may be used to change any of the resources  associ‐
               ated with that button.  The exit value will be returned by xmessage if that button is
               selected.  The default exit value is 100 plus the button number.   Buttons  are  num‐
               bered  from  the left starting with one.  The default string if no -buttons option is
               given is okay:0.

       -default label
               Defines the button with a matching label to be the default.  If not  specified  there
               is  no  default.   The corresponding resource is defaultButton.  Pressing Return any‐
               where in the xmessage window will activate the default button.   The  default  button
               has a wider border than the others.

       -file filename
               File  to  display.  The corresponding resource is file.  A filename of `-' reads from
               standard input.  If this option is not supplied, xmessage will display all non-option
               arguments in the style of echo.  Either -file or a message on the command line should
               be provided, but not both.

       -print  This will cause the program to write the label of the button pressed to standard out‐
               put.   Equivalent to setting the printValue resource to TRUE.  This is one way to get
               feedback as to which button was pressed.

       -center Pop up the window at the center of the screen.  Equivalent to setting the center  re‐
               source to TRUE.

       -nearmouse
               Pop  up  the  window  near the mouse cursor.  Equivalent to setting the nearMouse re‐
               source to TRUE.

       -timeout secs
               Exit with status 0 after secs seconds if the user has not clicked on  a  button  yet.
               The corresponding resource is timeout.

WIDGET HIERARCHY
       Knowing  the  name and position in the hierarchy of each widget is useful when specifying re‐
       sources for them.  In the following chart, the class and name of each widget is given.

       Xmessage (xmessage)
            Form form
                 Text message
                 Command (label1)
                 Command (label2)
                 .
                 .
                 .

RESOURCES
       The program has a few top-level application resources that allow customizations that are spe‐
       cific to xmessage.

       file    A String specifying the file to display.

       buttons A String specifying the buttons to display.  See the -buttons command-line option.

       defaultButton
               A String specifying a default button by label.

       printValue
               A  Boolean  value specifying whether the label of the button pressed to exit the pro‐
               gram is written to standard output.  The default is FALSE.

       center  A Boolean value specifying whether to pop up the window at the center of the  screen.
               The default is FALSE.

       nearMouse
               A  Boolean  value specifying whether to pop up the window near the mouse cursor.  The
               default is FALSE.

       timeout The number of seconds after which to exit with status 0.  The  default  is  0,  which
               means never time out.

       maxHeight (class Maximum)
               The  maximum  height  of  the  text part of the window in pixels, used if no size was
               specified in the geometry.  The default is 0, which means use 70% of  the  height  of
               the screen.

       maxWidth (class Maximum)
               The maximum width of the text part of the window in pixels, used if no size was spec‐
               ified in the geometry.  The default is 0, which means use 70% of  the  width  of  the
               screen.

ACTIONS
       exit(value)
               exit  immediately  with an exit status of value (default 0).  This action can be used
               with translations to provide alternate ways of exiting xmessage.

       default-exit()
               exit immediately with the exit status specified by the default button.  If  there  is
               no default button, this action has no effect.

EXIT STATUS
       If it detects an error, xmessage returns 1, so this value should not be used with a button.

SEE ALSO
       X(7), echo(1), cat(1)

AUTHORS
       Chris Peterson, MIT Project Athena
       Stephen Gildea, X Consortium



X Version 11                               xmessage 1.0.5                                XMESSAGE(1)