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 1.0.6                                XMESSAGE(1)