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xmessage(1X)
X11R6


NAME
  xmessage - display a message or query in a window (X-based /bin/echo)

SYNOPSIS
  xmessage [-buttons label1[:value1] ,label2 [:value2] ,...] [options] -file
  filename

  xmessage [-buttons label1[:value1] ,label2 [:value2] ,...] [options]
  message ...

OPTIONS
  These are the command line options that xmessage understands.

  -buttons button,button,...
      This option will cause xmessage to create one button for each comma-
      separated button argument.  The corresponding resource is buttons. Each
      button consists of a label optionally followed by a colon and an exit
      value. The label is the name of the Command button widget created and
      will be the default text displayed to the user.  Since this is the name
      of the widget it may be used to change any of the resources associated
      with that button. The exit value will be returned by xmessage if that
      button is selected.  The default exit value is 100 plus the button
      number.  Buttons are numbered from the left starting with one. The
      default string if no -buttons option is given is okay:0.

  -default label
      Defines the button with a matching label to be the default. If not
      specified there is no default. The corresponding resource is
      defaultButton. Pressing Return anywhere in the xmessage window will
      activate the default button. The default button has a wider border than
      the others.

  -file filename
      File to display. The corresponding resource is file. A filename of `-'
      reads from standard input. If this option is not supplied, xmessage
      will display all non-option arguments in the style of echo. Either
      -file or a message on the command line should be provided, but not
      both.

  -print
      This will cause the program to print the label of the button pressed to
      standard output.	Equivalent to setting the printValue resource to
      TRUE. This is one way to get feedback as to which button was pressed.







DESCRIPTION
  The xmessage program displays a window containing a message from the
  command line, a file, or standard input. Along the lower edge of the
  message is row of buttons; clicking the left mouse button on any of these
  buttons will cause xmessage to exit. Which button was pressed is returned
  in the exit status and, optionally, by writing the label of the button to
  standard output.

  xmessage is typically used by shell scripts to display information to the
  user or to ask the user to make a choice.

WIDGET HIERARCHY
  Knowing the name and position in the hierarchy of each widget is useful
  when specifying resources for them.  In the chart below, the class and name
  of each widget is given.

  Xmessage (xmessage)
	  Form form
		  Label message
		  Command (label1)
		  Command (label2)
		  .
		  .
		  .

RESOURCES
  xmessage has a few top-level application resources that allow
  customizations that are specific to xmessage.

  file
      A String resource specifying the file to display.

  buttons
      A String resource specifying the buttons to display. See the -buttons
      command-line option.

  defaultButton
      A String resource specifying a default button by label.

  printValue
      A Boolean resource that determines whether or not the label of the
      button pressed to exit the program is printed.  The default is FALSE.

ACTIONS
  exit(value)
      exit immediately with an exit status of value (default 0).  This action
      can be used with translations to provide alternate ways of exiting
      xmessage.

  default-exit()
      exit immediately with the exit status specified by the default button.
      If there is no default button, this action has no effect.

EXIT STATUS
  If it detects an error, xmessage returns 1, so this value should not be
  used with a button.





SEE ALSO
  X(1X), echo(1), cat(1)



AUTHORS
  Chris Peterson, MIT Project Athena
  Stephen Gildea, MIT X Consortium

Index for Section 1

Alphabetical listing for X

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