xmatrix(6)

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

💚 xmatrix — the digital rain, bestie 💚

okay so this is xmatrix, and it lives in section 6 of the manual (the XScreenSaver one, iykyk) ✨

🌧️ NAME 🌧️

xmatrix — it simulates the computer displays from the movie 🎬 like, that movie. you know the one.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

xmatrix [--display host:display.screen] [--window] [--root] [--window-id
number][--install] [--visual visual] [--delay usecs] [--density
percentage] [--top | --bottom | --both] [--small | --large] [--trace]
[--mode mode] [--phone number] [--fps]

no cap, that's the whole invocation 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

the xmatrix program draws the 2D "digital rain" effect, exactly as seen on the computer monitors in the 1999 film, "The Matrix". iconic behavior, honestly. main character energy from 1999 to forever 👑

also! go see glmatrix(6) if you want a 3D rendering of the similar effect that appeared in the title sequence of the movie. literally the same vibe but with depth 🫶

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

xmatrix accepts the following options, bestie — read them all, there's lore:

  • --window — Draw on a newly-created window. This is the default. ✨
  • --root — Draw on the root window.
  • --window-id number — Draw on the specified window.
  • --install — Install a private colormap for the window.
  • --visual visual — Specify which visual to use. Legal values are the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual.
  • --delay usecs — The delay between steps of the animation, in microseconds: default 10000.
  • --density percentage — The approximate percentage of the screen that should be filled with characters at any given time. Default 75%.
okay so when it's running in a window, typing + will increase the density and typing - will decrease it. and typing 0 will momentarily drain the screen. very satisfying, ngl 🌊
  • --top | --bottom | --both — If --top is specified, the characters will only drop in from the top of the screen as sliding columns of characters. If --bottom is specified, then instead of sliding columns, the characters will appear as columns that grow downwards and are erased from above. If --both is specified, then a mixture of both styles will be used. The default is --both.
and when running in a window: typing [ will switch to top-mode, typing ] will switch to bottom-mode, and typing \ will switch to both-mode. keyboard queen 💅
  • --small | --large — These options specify the sizes of the characters. The default is --large.
  • --mode trace — Start off with a representation of a phone number being traced. When the number is finally found, display The Matrix as usual. This is the default. ☎️✨
  • --phone number — The phone number to trace, if --trace is specified.
  • --mode crack — Start off by shutting down the power grid. chaos. love it 💀
  • --mode binary — Instead of displaying Matrix glyphs, only display ones and zeros.
  • --mode hexadecimal — Instead of displaying Matrix glyphs, display hexadecimal digits.
  • --mode dna — Instead of displaying Matrix glyphs, display genetic code (guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine.) 🧬
  • --mode ascii — Instead of displaying Matrix glyphs, display random ASCII characters.
  • --mode pipe — Instead of displaying random characters, display the output of a subprocess, as ASCII.
  • --program sh-command — The command to run to generate the text to display. This option may be any string acceptable to /bin/sh. The program will be run at the end of a pty or pipe, and any characters that it prints to stdout will be placed in the feeders for xmatrix. If the program exits, it will be launched again after xmatrix has processed all the text it produced.

For example:

xmatrix -program 'echo Hello World'
xmatrix -ascii -program 'ps -eo comm | rev'
xmatrix -program 'od -txC -w6 /dev/random'
xmatrix -program 'cat /dev/random'
literally copy those exactly, bestie, don't get creative with the flags 🙈

🌈 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 🦋

glmatrix(6), X(1), xscreensaver(1) — go read them, they're giving lore 🫶

Copyright © 1999-2018 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.

fr fr, "as is", no promises, no warranty, that's the deal ⭐

💜 AUTHOR 💜

Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 25-Apr-99.

🌸 okay that's the whole page!! this is X Version 11, 6.15 (30-Mar-2026), and it's the xmatrix(6) manual from the XScreenSaver manual — mwah, go make it rain 💚✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from