1XScreenSaver(6) Games Manual XScreenSaver(6)
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6 xscreensaver-command - control a running xscreensaver process
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9 xscreensaver-command [--display host:display.screen] [--help | --quiet
10 | --verbose | --activate | --deactivate | --cycle | --next | --prev |
11 --select n | --lock | --suspend | --exit | --restart | --time | --watch
12 | --version]
13
15 The xscreensaver-command program controls a running xscreensaver(1)
16 daemon.
17
20 xscreensaver-command accepts the following command-line options:
21 --help Prints a brief summary of command-line options.
24 --quiet Only print output if an error occurs.
27 --verbose
30 Opposite of --quiet. Default.
31 --activate
34 Tell xscreensaver to turn on immediately (that is, blank the
35 screen, as if the user had been idle for long enough.) The
36 screensaver will deactivate as soon as there is any user activ‐
37 ity, as usual.
38 It is useful to run this from a menu; you may wish to run it as
40 sleep 5 ; xscreensaver-command -activate
42 to be sure that you have time to take your hand off the mouse
44 before the screensaver comes on. (Because if you jiggle the
45 mouse, xscreensaver will notice, and deactivate.)
46 --deactivate
49 This tells xscreensaver to pretend that there has just been
50 user activity. This means that if the screensaver is active
51 (the screen is blanked), then this command will cause the
52 screen to un-blank as if there had been keyboard or mouse ac‐
53 tivity. If the screen is locked, then the password dialog will
54 pop up first, as usual. If the screen is not blanked, then
55 this simulated user activity will re-start the countdown (so,
56 issuing the --deactivate command periodically is one way to
57 prevent the screen from blanking.)
58 --cycle If the screensaver is active (the screen is blanked), then stop
61 the current graphics demo and run a new one (chosen randomly.)
62 --next This is like either --activate or --cycle, depending on which
65 is more appropriate, except that the graphics hack that will be
66 run is the next one in the list, instead of a randomly-chosen
67 one. In other words, repeatedly executing -next will cause the
68 xscreensaver process to invoke each graphics demo sequentially.
69 (Though using the --settings option is probably an easier way
70 to accomplish that.)
71 --prev This is like --next, but cycles in the other direction.
74 --select number
77 Like --activate, but runs the Nth element in the list of hacks.
78 By knowing what is in the programs list, and in what order, you
79 can use this to activate the screensaver with a particular
80 graphics demo. (The first element in the list is numbered 1,
81 not 0.)
82 --lock Tells the running xscreensaver process to lock the screen imme‐
85 diately. This is like --activate, but forces locking as well,
86 even if locking is not the default (that is, even if xscreen‐
87 saver's lock resource is false, and even if the lockTimeout re‐
88 source is non-zero.)
89 Note that locking doesn't work unless the xscreensaver process
91 is running as you. See xscreensaver(1) for details.
92 --suspend
95 Like --activate, but ignores lockTimeout and immediately powers
96 off the screen without fading out. This is intended to be run
97 just after your laptop's lid is closed, and just before the CPU
98 halts, to lock things down quickly.
99 --exit Causes the xscreensaver process to exit gracefully. This does
102 nothing if the display is currently locked.
103 Warning: never use kill -9 with xscreensaver while the screen‐
105 saver is active. If you are using a virtual root window man‐
106 ager, that can leave things in an inconsistent state, and you
107 may need to restart your window manager to repair the damage.
108 --restart
111 Causes the screensaver process to exit and then restart with
112 the same command line arguments as last time. You shouldn't
113 really need to do this, since xscreensaver notices when the
114 .xscreensaver file has changed and re-reads it as needed.
115 --time Prints the time at which the screensaver last activated or de‐
118 activated (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 --watch Prints a line each time the screensaver changes state: when the
124 screen blanks, locks, unblanks, or when the running hack is
125 changed. This option never returns; it is intended for use by
126 shell scripts that want to react to the screensaver in some
127 way. An example of its output would be:
128 BLANK Fri Nov 5 01:57:22 1999
130 RUN 34
131 RUN 79
132 RUN 16
133 LOCK Fri Nov 5 01:57:22 1999
134 RUN 76
135 RUN 12
136 UNBLANK Fri Nov 5 02:05:59 1999
137 The above shows the screensaver activating, running three dif‐
139 ferent hacks, then locking (perhaps because the lock-timeout
140 went off) then unblanking (because the user became active, and
141 typed the correct password.) The hack numbers are their index
142 in the `programs' list (starting with 1, not 0, as for the
143 --select command.)
144 For example, suppose you want to run a program that turns down
146 the volume on your machine when the screen blanks, and turns it
147 back up when the screen un-blanks. You could do that by run‐
148 ning a Perl program like the following in the background. The
149 following program tracks the output of the --watch command and
150 reacts accordingly:
151 #!/usr/bin/perl
153 my $blanked = 0;
155 open (my $in, "xscreensaver-command -watch |") || die;
156 while (<$in>) {
157 if (m/^(BLANK|LOCK)/) {
158 if (!$blanked) {
159 system ("sound-off");
160 $blanked = 1;
161 }
162 } elsif (m/^UNBLANK/) {
163 system ("sound-on");
164 $blanked = 0;
165 }
166 }
167 Note that LOCK might come either with or without a preceding
169 BLANK (depending on whether the lock-timeout is non-zero), so
170 the above program keeps track of both of them.
171 --version
174 Prints the version of xscreensaver that is currently running on
175 the display: that is, the actual version number of the running
176 xscreensaver background process, rather than the version number
177 of xscreensaver-command. (To see the version number of
178 xscreensaver-command itself, use the --help option.)
179
182 If xscreensaver is running, but you want it to stop running screen
183 hacks (e.g., if you are logged in remotely, and you want the console to
184 remain locked but just be black, with no graphics processes running)
185 you can accomplish that by simply powering down the monitor remotely.
186 In a minute or so, xscreensaver will notice that the monitor is off,
187 and will stop running screen hacks. You can power off the monitor like
188 so:
189 xset dpms force off
191 See the xset(1) manual for more info.
193 You can also use xscreensaver-settings(1) to make the monitor power
195 down after a few hours, meaning that xscreensaver will run graphics un‐
196 til it has been idle for the length of time you specified; and after
197 that, the monitor will power off, and screen hacks will stop being run.
198
200 If an error occurs while communicating with the xscreensaver daemon, or
201 if the daemon reports an error, a diagnostic message will be printed to
202 stderr, and xscreensaver-command will exit with a non-zero value. If
203 the command is accepted, an indication of this will be printed to std‐
204 out, and the exit value will be zero.
205
207 DISPLAY to get the host and display number of the screen whose saver is
208 to be manipulated.
209 PATH to find the executable to restart (for the --restart command).
211 Note that this variable is consulted in the environment of the
212 xscreensaver process, not the xscreensaver-command process.
213
215 The latest version of xscreensaver(1) and related tools can always be
216 found at https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/
217
219 X(1), xscreensaver(1), xscreensaver-settings(1), xset(1)
220
222 Copyright © 1992-2021 by Jamie Zawinski. Permission to use, copy, mod‐
223 ify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any
224 purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copy‐
225 right notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice
226 and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. No rep‐
227 resentations are made about the suitability of this software for any
228 purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
229
231 Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 13-aug-1992.
232 Please let me know if you find any bugs or make any improvements.
234X Version 11 6.00-4.fc34 (05-May-2021) XScreenSaver(6)