XMESSAGE(1) X Version 11 (20 August 1991) 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
Xmessage 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.
Xmessage is typically used by shell scripts to display
information to the user or to ask the user to make a choice.
OPTIONS
These are the command line options that xmessage
understands.
-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
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
corresponding resource is defaultButton. Pressing
Return anywhere in the xmessage window will activate
the default button. The default button has a wider
border than the others.
-display [host]:server[.screen]
The host where xmessage will be displayed. This
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option should be included when xmessage is run from
crontab.
Example: xmessage-display host:0.0 "testing"
-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 print the label of
the button pressed to standard output. Equivalent
to setting the printValue resource to TRUE. This is
one way to get feedback as to which button was
pressed.
WIDGET HIERARCHY
Knowing the name and position in the hierarchy of each
widget is useful when specifying resources for them. In the
chart below, the class and name of each widget is given.
Xmessage (xmessage)
Form form
Label message
Command (label1)
Command (label2)
.
.
.
RESOURCES
Xmessage has a few top-level application resources that
allow customizations that are specific to xmessage.
file A String resource specifying the file to display.
buttons A String resource specifying the buttons to display.
See the -buttons command-line option.
defaultButton
A String resource specifying a default button by
label.
printValue
A Boolean resource that determines whether or not
the label of the button pressed to exit the program
is printed. The default is FALSE.
ACTIONS
exit(value)
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XMESSAGE(1) X Version 11 (20 August 1991) XMESSAGE(1)
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(1), echo(1), cat(1)
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1988,1991 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
See X(1) for a full statement of rights and permissions.
AUTHORS
Chris Peterson, MIT Project Athena
Stephen Gildea, MIT X Consortium
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