hilbert(6)

📦
version 6.15 · 2 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, nixpkgs unstable

✨ hilbert(6) — the 3D Hilbert fractal, but make it a vibe ✨

okay bestie, so this one is from the XScreenSaver manual and honestly? it's kind of iconic. it's called hilbert and it draws a 3D Hilbert fractal and i'm obsessed 💜

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

hilbert [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--delay number] [--speed ratio] [--depth
number] [--spin] [--wander] [-2d] [-3d] [--closed] [--open] [--max-depth
number] [--thickness ratio] [--wireframe] [--fps]

like, that's the whole invocation, no cap 🫶

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

this literally draws the recursive Hilbert space-filling curve, and it comes in both 2D and 3D variants, because why choose 💅

it incrementally animates the growth and recursion all the way up to the maximum depth, then unwinds it back. so it grows and then it un-grows. main character energy honestly.

so here's the tea: the Hilbert path is a single contiguous line that can fill a volume without crossing itself ✨. as a data structure, Hilbert paths are useful because ordering along the curve preserves locality — points that are close together along the curve are also close together in space 🎀. the converse is often, but not always, true. and the coloration reflects this 💖

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • --visual visual — specifies which visual to use, bestie. legal values are the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual.
  • --window — draws on a newly-created window. this is the default 🫶
  • --root — draws on the root window.
  • --window-id number — draws on the specified window, iykyk.
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, in microseconds. default: 30000 (that's 0.03 seconds.).
  • --speed number — how fast the animation should run. less than 1 for slower, greater than 1 for faster 🏃‍♀️
  • --max-depth number — max depth to descend. default: 5, which peaks at around half a million polygons 😭 iconic and slightly unhinged.
  • --spin, --no-spin — whether to rotate the object. default: true 🔥
  • --wander, --no-wander — whether to wander the object around on the screen. default: false;
  • -2d, -3d — whether to draw the 2D or 3D variant. default: random 🎲
  • --closed, --open — whether to draw the open or closed-path variant. default: random 🎲
  • --thickness ratio — how thick the lines should be. default: 0.25.
  • --wireframe — renders in wireframe instead of solid.
  • --fps — displays the current frame rate, CPU load, and polygon count 👑

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

  • DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number.
  • XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property.
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root.

💫 SEE ALSO 💫

X(1), xscreensaver(1) — go read those too, bestie 🫶

Copyright © 2011 by Jamie Zawinski.

Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. No representations are made about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

💖 AUTHOR 💖

Jamie Zawinski.

okay that's the whole page, bestie, no skips, no summaries, periodt 💅

this was X Version 11, version 6.15 (30-Mar-2026), and it's the hilbert(6) page from the XScreenSaver manual — drink water, run your screen saver, and stan the Hilbert curve 🦋✨🎀
📦 where this page comes from