Manual: xmessage

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 ...
       xmessage [ -help | -version ]

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 standard 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  corre‐
	       sponding	 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 Command 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 associated 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 numbered 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	cor‐
	       responding  resource is defaultButton.  Pressing Return anywhere in the xmessage window will activate the de‐
	       fault 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 output.  Equivalent to set‐
	       ting 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 resource to TRUE.

       -nearmouse
	       Pop up the window near the mouse cursor.	 Equivalent to setting the nearMouse resource to TRUE.

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

       -help   Print a usage message and exit.

       -version
	       Print version info and exit.

WIDGET HIERARCHY
       Knowing	the  name and position in the hierarchy of each widget is useful when specifying resources 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 specific 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 program 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 specified 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 pro‐
	       vide 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 1.0.7						 XMESSAGE(1)