1xscreensaver-command(1) XScreenSaver manual xscreensaver-command(1)
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6 xscreensaver-command - control a running xscreensaver process
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9 xscreensaver-command [-display host:display.screen] [-help | -demo |
10 -prefs | -activate | -deactivate | -cycle | -next | -prev | -select n |
11 -exit | -restart | -lock | -suspend | -version | -time | -watch]
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14 The xscreensaver-command program controls a running xscreensaver
15 process by sending it client-messages.
16 xscreensaver(1) has a client-server model: the xscreensaver process is
18 a daemon that runs in the background; it is controlled by other fore‐
19 ground programs such as xscreensaver-command and xscreensaver-demo(1).
20 This program, xscreensaver-command, is a command-line-oriented tool;
22 the xscreensaver-demo(1). program is a graphical tool.
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25 xscreensaver-command accepts the following command-line options:
26 -help Prints a brief summary of command-line options.
28 -demo This just launches the xscreensaver-demo(1) program, in which
30 one can experiment with the various graphics hacks available,
31 and edit parameters.
32 -demo number
34 When the -demo option is followed by an integer, it instructs
35 the xscreensaver daemon to run that hack, and wait for the user
36 to click the mouse before deactivating (i.e., mouse motion does
37 not deactivate.) This is the mechanism by which xscreen‐
38 saver-demo(1) communicates with the xscreensaver(1) daemon.
39 (The first hack in the list is numbered 1, not 0.)
40 -prefs Like the no-argument form of -demo, but brings up that pro‐
42 gram's Preferences panel by default.
43 -activate
45 Tell xscreensaver to turn on immediately (that is, blank the
46 screen, as if the user had been idle for long enough.) The
47 screensaver will deactivate as soon as there is any user activ‐
48 ity, as usual.
49 It is useful to run this from a menu; you may wish to run it as
51 sleep 5 ; xscreensaver-command -activate
52 to be sure that you have time to take your hand off the mouse
53 before the screensaver comes on. (Because if you jiggle the
54 mouse, xscreensaver will notice, and deactivate.)
55 -deactivate
57 This tells xscreensaver to pretend that there has just been
58 user activity. This means that if the screensaver is active
59 (the screen is blanked), then this command will cause the
60 screen to un-blank as if there had been keyboard or mouse
61 activity. If the screen is locked, then the password dialog
62 will pop up first, as usual. If the screen is not blanked,
63 then this simulated user activity will re-start the countdown
64 (so, issuing the -deactivate command periodically is one way to
65 prevent the screen from blanking.)
66 -cycle If the screensaver is active (the screen is blanked), then stop
68 the current graphics demo and run a new one (chosen randomly.)
69 -next This is like either -activate or -cycle, depending on which is
71 more appropriate, except that the graphics hack that will be
72 run is the next one in the list, instead of a randomly-chosen
73 one. In other words, repeatedly executing -next will cause the
74 xscreensaver process to invoke each graphics demo sequentially.
75 (Though using the -demo option is probably an easier way to
76 accomplish that.)
77 -prev This is like -next, but cycles in the other direction.
79 -select number
81 Like -activate, but runs the Nth element in the list of hacks.
82 By knowing what is in the programs list, and in what order, you
83 can use this to activate the screensaver with a particular
84 graphics demo. (The first element in the list is numbered 1,
85 not 0.)
86 -exit Causes the xscreensaver process to exit gracefully. This does
88 nothing if the display is currently locked.
89 Warning: never use kill -9 with xscreensaver while the screen‐
91 saver is active. If you are using a virtual root window man‐
92 ager, that can leave things in an inconsistent state, and you
93 may need to restart your window manager to repair the damage.
94 -lock Tells the running xscreensaver process to lock the screen imme‐
96 diately. This is like -activate, but forces locking as well,
97 even if locking is not the default (that is, even if xscreen‐
98 saver's lock resource is false, and even if the lockTimeout
99 resource is non-zero.)
100 Note that locking doesn't work unless the xscreensaver process
102 is running as you. See xscreensaver(1) for details.
103 -suspend
105 Like -activate, but ignores lockTimeout and immediately powers
106 off the screen without fading out. This is intended to be run
107 just after your laptop's lid is closed, and just before the CPU
108 halts, to lock things down quickly.
109 -version
111 Prints the version of xscreensaver that is currently running on
112 the display: that is, the actual version number of the running
113 xscreensaver background process, rather than the version number
114 of xscreensaver-command. (To see the version number of
115 xscreensaver-command itself, use the -help option.)
116 -time Prints the time at which the screensaver last activated or
118 deactivated (roughly, how long the user has been idle or non-
119 idle: but not quite, since it only tells you when the screen
120 became blanked or un-blanked.)
121 -restart
123 Causes the screensaver process to exit and then restart with
124 the same command line arguments as last time. You shouldn't
125 really need to do this, since xscreensaver notices when the
126 .xscreensaver file has changed and re-reads it as needed.
127 -watch Prints a line each time the screensaver changes state: when the
129 screen blanks, locks, unblanks, or when the running hack is
130 changed. This option never returns; it is intended for use by
131 shell scripts that want to react to the screensaver in some
132 way. An example of its output would be:
133 BLANK Fri Nov 5 01:57:22 1999
134 RUN 34
135 RUN 79
136 RUN 16
137 LOCK Fri Nov 5 01:57:22 1999
138 RUN 76
139 RUN 12
140 UNBLANK Fri Nov 5 02:05:59 1999
141 The above shows the screensaver activating, running three dif‐
142 ferent hacks, then locking (perhaps because the lock-timeout
143 went off) then unblanking (because the user became active, and
144 typed the correct password.) The hack numbers are their index
145 in the `programs' list (starting with 1, not 0, as for the
146 -select command.)
147 For example, suppose you want to run a program that turns down
149 the volume on your machine when the screen blanks, and turns it
150 back up when the screen un-blanks. You could do that by run‐
151 ning a Perl program like the following in the background. The
152 following program tracks the output of the -watch command and
153 reacts accordingly:
154 #!/usr/bin/perl
155 my $blanked = 0;
157 open (IN, "xscreensaver-command -watch |");
158 while (<IN>) {
159 if (m/^(BLANK|LOCK)/) {
160 if (!$blanked) {
161 system "sound-off";
162 $blanked = 1;
163 }
164 } elsif (m/^UNBLANK/) {
165 system "sound-on";
166 $blanked = 0;
167 }
168 }
169 Note that LOCK might come either with or without a preceding
170 BLANK (depending on whether the lock-timeout is non-zero), so
171 the above program keeps track of both of them.
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174 If xscreensaver is running, but you want it to stop running screen
175 hacks (e.g., if you are logged in remotely, and you want the console to
176 remain locked but just be black, with no graphics processes running)
177 you can accomplish that by simply powering down the monitor remotely.
178 In a minute or so, xscreensaver will notice that the monitor is off,
179 and will stop running screen hacks. You can power off the monitor like
180 so:
181 xset dpms force off
182 See the xset(1) manual for more info.
183 You can also use xscreensaver-demo(1) to make the monitor power down
185 after a few hours, meaning that xscreensaver will run graphics until it
186 has been idle for the length of time you specified; and after that, the
187 monitor will power off, and screen hacks will stop being run.
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190 If an error occurs while communicating with the xscreensaver daemon, or
191 if the daemon reports an error, a diagnostic message will be printed to
192 stderr, and xscreensaver-command will exit with a non-zero value. If
193 the command is accepted, an indication of this will be printed to std‐
194 out, and the exit value will be zero.
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197 DISPLAY to get the host and display number of the screen whose saver is
198 to be manipulated.
199 PATH to find the executable to restart (for the -restart command).
201 Note that this variable is consulted in the environment of the
202 xscreensaver process, not the xscreensaver-command process.
203
205 The latest version of xscreensaver(1) and related tools can always be
206 found at https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/
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209 X(1), xscreensaver(1), xscreensaver-demo(1), xset(1)
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212 Copyright © 1992-2019 by Jamie Zawinski. Permission to use, copy, mod‐
213 ify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any
214 purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copy‐
215 right notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice
216 and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. No rep‐
217 resentations are made about the suitability of this software for any
218 purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
219
221 Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 13-aug-1992.
222 Please let me know if you find any bugs or make any improvements.
224X Version 11 5.44-2.fc32 (16-Apr-2020) xscreensaver-command(1)