NAME

xwininfo − window information utility for X. 

SYNTAX

xwininfo [options]

DESCRIPTION

xwininfo (described in Chapter 8, Other Clients) is a utility for displaying information about windows.  Depending on which options are choosen, various information is displayed.  If no options are choosen, -stats is assumed. 

The user has the option of selecting the target window either by using the pointer or by specifying the window on the command line.  To select the window using the pointer, simply click any pointer button in the desired window.  There are two ways to specify the target window on the command line:  either by window ID (using the -id option); or by name (using the -name option).  See "Options" below.  There is also a special -root option to obtain information about the root window. 

With the -children and -tree options (Release 5), xwininfo can now provide information that, in prior releases, was only available using the xlswins client.  xlswins has been removed from the standard MIT X distribution in Release 5. 

OPTIONS

xwininfo accepts the following options:

-allA quick way to ask for all information possible. 

-bitsCauses the display of various attributes pertaining to the selected window’s raw bits and how the selected window is to be stored.  Information displayed includes the selected window’s bit gravity, window gravity, backing store hint, backing planes value, backing pixel, and whether or not the window has save under set. 

-children
Displays the selected window’s root, parent, and children windows’ IDs and names.  (Available as of Release 5.)  See -tree. 

-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, % xwininfo -display your_node:0.1 specifies screen 1 of server 0 on the display hardware named by your_node.  If the host is omitted, the local display is assumed.  If the screen is omitted, screen 0 is assumed; the server and colon (:) are necessary in all cases. 

-events
Causes the selected window’s event masks to be displayed. Both the event mask of events wanted by some client and the event mask of events not to propagate are displayed.

-english
Causes all individual height, width, and x and y positions to be displayed in inches (and feet, yards, and miles if necessary), as well as number of pixels, based on what the server thinks the resolution is.  Geometry specifications that are in +x+y form are not changed.  -metric and -english may be used at the same time. 

-frame
Causes window manager frames to be considered when manually selecting windows.

-helpPrints out the "Usage:" command syntax summary. 

-id window_id
Allows the user to specify a target window on the command line by providing its window_id (rather than selecting a window using the pointer).  This is very useful in debugging X applications where the target window is not mapped to the screen or where the use of the pointer might be impossible or interfere with the application. 

-intSpecifies that all X window IDs should be displayed as integer values.  The default is to display them as hexadecimal values. 

-metric
Causes all individual height, width, and x and y positions to be displayed in millimeters, as well as number of pixels, based on what the server thinks the resolution is.  Geometry specifications that are in +x+y form are not changed.  -english and -metric may be used at the same time. 

-name name
Allows the user to specify a target window on the command line by providing its name (rather than selecting a window using the pointer). 

-rootSpecifies that the root window is the target window.  This is useful in situations where the root window is completely obscured. 

-shape
Causes the selected window’s window and border shape extents to be displayed.  (Available as of Release 5.)

-sizeCauses the selected window’s sizing hints to be displayed.  Information displayed includes:  for both the normal size hints and the zoom size hints, the user supplied location, if any; the program supplied location, if any; the user supplied size, if any; the program supplied size, if any; the minimum size, if any; the maximum size, if any; the resize increments, if any; and the minimum and maximum aspect ratios, if any. 

-statsCauses various attributes of the selected window having to do with its location and appearance to be displayed.  Information displayed includes the location of the window, its width, height, depth, border width, class, and map state, colormap ID (if any), backing store hint, and the location of its corners.  If xwininfo is run with no options, -stats is assumed. 

-treeLike -children but displays all children recursively.  (Available as of Release 5.) 

-wmCauses the selected window’s window manager hints to be displayed.  Information displayed may include whether or not the application accepts input, what the window’s icon window number and name is, where the window’s icon should go, and what the window’s initial state should be. 

EXAMPLES

The following is sample output taken with no options specified.  (The Motif window manager was running on the display.  See Chapter 8, Other Clients, for a discussion of how the mwm frame can affect xwininfo’s results.) 

xwininfo: Please select the window about which you
          would like information by clicking the
          mouse in that window.
 xwininfo: Window id: 0x3c0000f "xterm"
   Absolute upper-left X:  8
  Absolute upper-left Y:  25
  Relative upper-left X:  0
  Relative upper-left Y:  0
  Width: 819
  Height: 484
  Depth: 8
  Visual Class: PseudoColor
  Border width: 0
  Class: InputOutput
  Colormap: 0x27 (installed)
  Bit Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Window Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Backing Store State: NotUseful
  Save Under State: no
  Map State: IsViewable
  Override Redirect State: no
  Corners:  +8+25  -325+25  -325-391  +8-391
  -geometry 80x24+0+0

BUGS

Using -stats and -bits together shows some redundant information. 

The geometry string displayed must make assumptions about the window’s border width, the behavior of the application, and the window manager.  As a result, the location given is not always correct. 

SEE ALSO

X, xprop; Chapter 8, Other Clients. 

AUTHOR

Mark Lillibridge, MIT Project Athena.