1XMESSAGE(1) General Commands Manual XMESSAGE(1)
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6 xmessage - display a message or query in a window (X-based /bin/echo)
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9 xmessage [ -buttons label1[:value1],label2[:value2], ... ] [ options ]
10 -file filename
11 xmessage [ -buttons label1[:value1],label2[:value2], ... ] [ options ]
12 message ...
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15 The xmessage program displays a window containing a message from the
16 command line, a file, or standard input. Along the lower edge of the
17 message is row of buttons; clicking the left mouse button on any of
18 these buttons will cause xmessage to exit. Which button was pressed is
19 returned in the exit status and, optionally, by writing the label of
20 the button to standard output.
21 The program is typically used by shell scripts to display information
23 to the user or to ask the user to make a choice.
24 Unless a size is specified, xmessage sizes itself to fit the message,
26 up to a maximum size. If the message is too big for the window, xmes‐
27 sage will display scroll bars.
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30 These are the command line options that xmessage understands, in addi‐
31 tion to the standard ones listed in X(7).
32 -buttons button,button,...
34 This option will cause xmessage to create one button for each
35 comma-separated button argument. The corresponding resource is
36 buttons. Each button consists of a label optionally followed
37 by a colon and an exit value. The label is the name of the
38 Command button widget created and will be the default text dis‐
39 played to the user. Since this is the name of the widget it
40 may be used to change any of the resources associated with that
41 button. The exit value will be returned by xmessage if that
42 button is selected. The default exit value is 100 plus the
43 button number. Buttons are numbered from the left starting
44 with one. The default string if no -buttons option is given is
45 okay:0.
46 -default label
48 Defines the button with a matching label to be the default. If
49 not specified there is no default. The corresponding resource
50 is defaultButton. Pressing Return anywhere in the xmessage
51 window will activate the default button. The default button
52 has a wider border than the others.
53 -file filename
55 File to display. The corresponding resource is file. A file‐
56 name of `-' reads from standard input. If this option is not
57 supplied, xmessage will display all non-option arguments in the
58 style of echo. Either -file or a message on the command line
59 should be provided, but not both.
60 -print This will cause the program to write the label of the button
62 pressed to standard output. Equivalent to setting the print‐
63 Value resource to TRUE. This is one way to get feedback as to
64 which button was pressed.
65 -center Pop up the window at the center of the screen. Equivalent to
67 setting the center resource to TRUE.
68 -nearmouse
70 Pop up the window near the mouse cursor. Equivalent to setting
71 the nearMouse resource to TRUE.
72 -timeout secs
74 Exit with status 0 after secs seconds if the user has not
75 clicked on a button yet. The corresponding resource is time‐
76 out.
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79 Knowing the name and position in the hierarchy of each widget is useful
80 when specifying resources for them. In the following chart, the class
81 and name of each widget is given.
82 Xmessage (xmessage)
84 Form form
85 Text message
86 Command (label1)
87 Command (label2)
88 .
89 .
90 .
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93 The program has a few top-level application resources that allow cus‐
94 tomizations that are specific to xmessage.
95 file A String specifying the file to display.
97 buttons A String specifying the buttons to display. See the -buttons
99 command-line option.
100 defaultButton
102 A String specifying a default button by label.
103 printValue
105 A Boolean value specifying whether the label of the button
106 pressed to exit the program is written to standard output. The
107 default is FALSE.
108 center A Boolean value specifying whether to pop up the window at the
110 center of the screen. The default is FALSE.
111 nearMouse
113 A Boolean value specifying whether to pop up the window near
114 the mouse cursor. The default is FALSE.
115 timeout The number of seconds after which to exit with status 0. The
117 default is 0, which means never time out.
118 maxHeight (class Maximum)
120 The maximum height of the text part of the window in pixels,
121 used if no size was specified in the geometry. The default is
122 0, which means use 70% of the height of the screen.
123 maxWidth (class Maximum)
125 The maximum width of the text part of the window in pixels,
126 used if no size was specified in the geometry. The default is
127 0, which means use 70% of the width of the screen.
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130 exit(value)
131 exit immediately with an exit status of value (default 0).
132 This action can be used with translations to provide alternate
133 ways of exiting xmessage.
134 default-exit()
136 exit immediately with the exit status specified by the default
137 button. If there is no default button, this action has no
138 effect.
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141 If it detects an error, xmessage returns 1, so this value should not be
142 used with a button.
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145 X(7), echo(1), cat(1)
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148 Chris Peterson, MIT Project Athena
149 Stephen Gildea, X Consortium
150X Version 11 xmessage 1.0.5 XMESSAGE(1)