NAME
xkill − kill a client by its X resource ID.
SYNTAX
xkill [options]
DESCRIPTION
xkill allows you to "kill" a client window or, more specifically, to force the X server to close the connection to the client. This program is very dangerous, but is useful for aborting programs that have displayed undesired windows on a user’s screen. If no window (resource) identification number is given with -id, xkill will display a special cursor as a prompt for the user to select a window to be killed. If a pointer button is pressed over a non-root window, the server will close its connection to the client that created the window and the window will be removed from the display. For a more detailed discussion of xkill and some problems inherent in "killing" a client window, see Chapter 8, Other Clients.
OPTIONS
xkill accepts the following application-specific options:
−allIndicates that all clients with top-level windows on the screen should be killed. xkill will ask you to select the root window with each of the currently defined buttons to give you several chances to abort. Use of this option is highly discouraged.
−button number
−button any
Specifies the number of the pointer button that should be used to select the window to kill. If the word any is specified, any button on the pointer can be used. By default, the first button in the pointer map (which is usually the leftmost button) is used.
-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, xkill -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 to the display specification 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.
-frame
Indicates that xkill should ignore the standard conventions for finding top-level client windows (which are typically nested inside a window manager window), and simply believe that you want to kill direct children of the root. If you are running a window manager that provides titlebars or frames (such as twm or mwm), the children of the root include these window decorations. Thus, when you select a client window to be killed, the window manager is killed instead.
−id resource
Allows you to specify the window to be killed using its resource (window) ID on the command line, rather than by selecting it with the pointer. If no window ID is specified, xkill will display a special cursor with which you should select a window to be killed.
RESOURCES
xkill defines the following application resource:
Button
Specifies a pointer button number to use when selecting the window to be removed. If the word any is specified, any button on the pointer can be used.
SEE ALSO
X, xwininfo; Chapter 8, Other Clients; Volume One, Xlib Programming Manual.
AUTHORS
Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium;
Dana Chee, Bellcore.