XWIT(1)

🌸 XWIT(1) — General Commands Manual 🌸

hiii bestie welcome to the xwit page, it's from the General Commands Manual section and honestly it's a whole vibe 💅 it's a lil X window manipulation tool and by the end of this you're gonna be popping and iconifying windows like it's nothing, no cap ✨

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🎀 NAME 🎀

xwit — window interface tool: pop or iconify this xterm window or named windows

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

xwit [-display display] [-sync] [-pop] [-focus] [-iconify] [-unmap]
     [-raise] [-lower] [-opposite] [-[un]circulate]
     [-resize w h] [-rows r] [-columns c] [-[r]move x y]
     [-[r]warp x y] [-colormap colormapid] [-[no]save]
     [-name name] [-iconname name]
     [-bitmap file] [-mask file] [-[r]iconmove x y]
     [-[no]backingstore] [-[no]saveunder]
     [-[no]keyrepeat keycode ... keycode - keycode ...]
     [-id windowid] [-root] [-current] [-select] [-all] [-names
     initialsubstring...]

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so xwit is an X window interface tool. That's the whole thing, that's the job 💖

By default, if you run it with no arguments inside an xterm, it de-iconifies and raises the window. Like, it un-minimizes your terminal and yanks it to the front, main character energy fr fr 👑

But you can also tell it to do something different — iconifying the window, for example — and then apply that action to:

• several windows whose name begins with one of the strings you give it 🫶
• a particular window id you hand over
• the window id found in the environment variable WINDOWID (which is set by xterm for the program it runs)
• or the window under the mouse cursor 🖱️

So many options, so much power, we love to see it.

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• -display — is followed by the display to open.
• -sync — causes all X requests to be performed synchronously.
• -property property — causes the specified property to be used instead of the window's name (which is WM_NAME). Some possible values are: WM_CLASS, WM_COMMAND, WM_ICON_NAME, WM_CLIENT_MACHINE.
• -pop — is the default action. It only needs to be given if you want it as well as some other function. (yes bestie, popping is the factory setting 💖)
• -focus — will give the input focus to the specified window.
• -iconify — will iconify the windows instead of popping them.
• -unmap — will iconify windows by unmapping, with a non ICCCM compliant window manager.

⚠️ Beware, this option is not usually what you want. Like, seriously, look away 🙈

• -raise — raise windows (but do not map them if unmapped).
• -lower — lower windows.
• -opposite — toggle the stacking of windows from top to bottom among any overlapping windows.
• -circulate — circulate a window's subwindows forward. Use this with -root.
• -uncirculate — circulate a window's subwindows backward. Use this with -root.
• -resize w h — resize windows to the given pixel size.
• -rows r — resize windows to the given number of rows.
• -columns c — resize windows to the given number of columns.
• -move x y — move windows to the given absolute position relative to its parent. (If the x or y value is negative it is taken relative to the right or bottom edge of the parent.)
• -rmove x y — move windows by the given relative amount.
• -warp x y — move the cursor to the given position relative to the specified window. Add -root to warp to an absolute position.
• -rwarp x y — move the cursor by the given relative amount.
• -colormap colormapid — install the given colormap into the given window.
• -save, -nosave — immediately enable or disable the screen saver.
• -name name — set the WM_NAME property to the given string.
• -iconname name — set the WM_ICON_NAME property to the given string.
• -bitmap file — use the given bitmap file as the icon bitmap for the window.
• -mask file — use the given bitmap file as the icon mask for the window.
• -iconmove x y — move icons to the given absolute position. (Will not work with some window managers. 😭)
• -riconmove x y — move icons by the given relative amount. (Will not work with some window managers. 😭)
• -backingstore, -bs, -nobackingstore, -nobs — enable or disable backing store for the window.
• -saveunder, -su, -nosaveunder, -nosu — enable or disable saveunders for the window.
• -keyrepeat, -nokeyrepeat — is followed by a list of keycodes (decimal numbers, see xmodmap(1)). A range can be specified as a lower number, -, and upper number as three separate arguments. The individual setting of auto-repeat for those keycodes is set on or off. The global setting of auto-repeat can be set with xset(1). When off, no keys will repeat.
• -print — will print the id, the coordinates, the depth and the name of all selected windows. If -property is given, that one will be printed instead of the name.

🖱️ Window Selection 🖱️

If no window is specified, $WINDOWID will be used if set; otherwise the window under the cursor will be selected. (automatic queen behavior 💅)

• -id — is followed by a single window number, in decimal; or, if it begins with 0x, in hexadecimal.
• -root — selects the root window.
• -current — selects the window under the cursor (default if no window specified and $WINDOWID not set).
• -select — allows the user to interactively select a window with the mouse.
• -all — is equivalent to -names '', as easier to remember.
• -names — if given must be the last option and is followed by a list of strings. All windows that have a name that begins exactly like one of the strings will be acted upon. If -property is given, this property is used instead of the name. By using a null string (-names ''), all names will be matched.

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

To de-iconify and pop "this" xterm and warp the cursor into it:

          xwit -pop -warp 50 50

To interactively select an xterm, and resize it to 34 rows and 80 columns:

          xwit -select -rows 34 -columns 80

To gently agitate your oclock on the screen:

           while   xwit -rmove 0 10 -names oclock
           do      xwit -rmove 0 -10 -names oclock
           done

(that last one is honestly so unserious and I'm obsessed with it 🕐✨)

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💀 DIAGNOSTICS 💀

Exit status is:

1. 0 if any action is taken 🎉
2. 1 if no window matches the list supplied to -names 😭
3. 2 if an error occurs 💀

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🙈 LIMITATIONS 🙈

Since each application is supposed to request these functions of the window manager, some of them may not like other clients mapping and unmapping them behind their backs. (drama 😳)

Iconification is requested of the window manager using the ICCCM. Non ICCCM compliant window managers may not react correctly.

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

• Mark M Martin, CETIA France, mmm@cetia.fr
• David DiGiacomo, david@slack.com

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🫶 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 🫶

Thanks to Andre Delafontaine, Norman R. McBride, Keith Thompson, Glen R. Walker, Michael Mauch, Dima Barsky and Decklin Foster for bug reports, suggestions and/or patches. absolute legends, every single one 💜

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okay that's the whole page bestie!! this version dropped 2 Dec 2005 and it lives in section XWIT(1) of the General Commands Manual — now go forth and pop some windows, you've got this 🌟💖