NAME

xev − print contents of X events. 

SYNTAX

xev [options]

DESCRIPTION

xev creates a window and then asks the X server to send it notices, called events, whenever anything happens to the window (such as being moved, resized, typed in, clicked in, etc.).  It is useful for seeing what causes events to occur and to display the information that they contain. 

xev can be found in the demos directory in the X source tree.  We feel it is sufficiently useful that we continue to document it here.  See Chapter 14, Setup Clients, for instructions on using xev to assist in mapping keys. 

OPTIONS

xev accepts the following options:

-bs backing_store
Specifies what kind of backing store to give the window (either NotUseful, WhenMapped, Always).  The default is NotUseful. 

-bw pixels
Specifies the width of the window border in pixels.

-display [host]:server[.screen]
Allows you to specify the host, server, and screen to connect to. host is the hostname of the physical display, server specifies the server number, and screen specifies the screen number.  For example, xev -display your_node:0.1 specifies screen 1 of server 0 on the display named by your_node.  Either or both the host and screen elements can be omitted.  If host is omitted, the local display is assumed.  If screen is omitted, screen 0 is assumed (and the period is unnecessary).  The colon and server are necessary in all cases. 

-geometry geometry
The xev window is created with the specified size and location determined by the supplied geometry specification.  The -geometry option can be (and often is) abbreviated to -g, unless there is a conflicting option that begins with "g".  The argument to the geometry option (geometry) is referred to as a "standard geometry string," and has the form widthxheight±xoff±yoff. 

-id window_ID
Specifies that the window with the given ID should be monitored, instead of creating a new window.

-name string
Specifies the name to assign to the created window.

-rvSpecifies that the window should be in reverse video. 

-sSpecifies that save unders should be enabled on the window. 

SEE ALSO

X, xmodmap, xwininfo, xdpyinfo; Chapter 14, Setup Clients; Volume One, Xlib Programming Manual. 

AUTHOR

Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium.