XMESSAGE(1)

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 ...

DESCRIPTION
Xmessage 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.

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.

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
		Text 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(1), echo(1), cat(1)

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