User Commands TWM(1)
NAME
twm - Tab Window Manager for the X Window System
SYNTAX/usr/bin/twm [ -display dpy ] [ -s ] [ -f initfile ] [ -v ]
DESCRIPTION
Twm is a window manager for the X Window System. It pro-
vides titlebars, shaped windows, several forms of iconmanagement, user-defined macro functions, click-to-type and
pointer-driven keyboard focus, and user-specified key and
pointer button bindings. This program is usually started by the user's session manager or startup script. When used from xdm(1) orxinit(1) without a session manager, twm is frequently exe-
cuted in the foreground as the last client. When run thisway, exiting twm causes the session to be terminated (i.e.,
logged out). By default, application windows are surrounded by a ``frame'' with a titlebar at the top and a special border around the window. The titlebar contains the window's name,a rectangle that is lit when the window is receiving key-
board input, and function boxes known as ``titlebuttons'' at the left and right edges of the titlebar.Pressing pointer Button1 (usually the left-most button
unless it has been changed with xmodmap) on a titlebutton will invoke the function associated with the button. In thedefault interface, windows are iconified by clicking (press-
ing and then immediately releasing) the left titlebutton(which looks like a Dot). Conversely, windows are deiconi-
fied by clicking in the associated icon or entry in the icon manager (see description of the variable ShowIconManager and of the function f.showiconmgr). Windows are resized by pressing the right titlebutton (which resembles a group of nested squares), dragging the pointer over edge that is to be moved, and releasing the pointerwhen the outline of the window is the desired size. Simi-
larly, windows are moved by pressing in the title orhighlight region, dragging a window outline to the new loca-
tion, and then releasing when the outline is in the desired position. Just clicking in the title or highlight region raises the window without moving it.When new windows are created, twm will honor any size and
location information requested by the user (usually through-geometry command line argument or resources for the indivi-
dual applications). Otherwise, an outline of the window's default size, its titlebar, and lines dividing the windowX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 1
User Commands TWM(1) into a 3x3 grid that track the pointer are displayed. Clicking pointer Button1 will position the window at the current position and give it the default size. Pressing pointer Button2 (usually the middle pointer button) anddragging the outline will give the window its current posi-
tion but allow the sides to be resized as described above. Clicking pointer Button3 (usually the right pointer button) will give the window its current position but attempt to make it long enough to touch the bottom the screen. OPTIONS Twm accepts the following command line options:-display dpy
This option specifies the X server to use.-s This option indicates that only the default screen
(as specified by -display or by the DISPLAY environ-
ment variable) should be managed. By default, twm
will attempt to manage all screens on the display.-f filename
This option specifies the name of the startup fileto use. By default, twm will look in the user's
home directory for files named .twmrc.num (where num
is a screen number) or .twmrc.
-v This option indicates that twm should print error
messages whenever an unexpected X Error event isreceived. This can be useful when debugging appli-
cations but can be distracting in regular use. CUSTOMIZATIONMuch of twm's appearance and behavior can be controlled by
providing a startup file in one of the following locations(searched in order for each screen being managed when twm
begins):$HOME/.twmrc.screennumber
The screennumber is a small positive number (e.g. 0, 1, etc.) representing the screen number (e.g. the last number in the DISPLAY environment variable host:displaynum.screennum) that would be used to contact that screen of the display. This is intended for displays with multiple screens of differing visual types.$HOME/.twmrc
This is the usual name for an individual user's startup file./usr/lib/X11/twm/system.twmrc
X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 2
User Commands TWM(1)If neither of the preceding files are found, twm
will look in this file for a default configuration. This is often tailored by the site administrator to provide convenient menus or familiar bindings for novice users.If no startup files are found, twm will use the built-in
defaults described above. The only resource used by twm is
bitmapFilePath for a colon-separated list of directories to
search when looking for bitmap files (for more information, see the Athena Widgets manual and xrdb(1)). Twm startup files are logically broken up into three typesof specifications: Variables, Bindings, Menus. The Vari-
ables section must come first and is used to describe the fonts, colors, cursors, border widths, icon and window placement, highlighting, autoraising, layout of titles,warping, use of the icon manager. The Bindings section usu-
ally comes second and is used to specify the functions that should be to be invoked when keyboard and pointer buttons are pressed in windows, icons, titles, and frames. TheMenus section gives any user-defined menus (containing func-
tions to be invoked or commands to be executed).Variable names and keywords are case-insensitive. Strings
must be surrounded by double quote characters (e.g. "blue")and are case-sensitive. A pound sign (#) outside of a
string causes the remainder of the line in which the charac-
ter appears to be treated as a comment. VARIABLESMany of the aspects of twm's user interface are controlled
by variables that may be set in the user's startup file. Some of the options are enabled or disabled simply by the presence of a particular keyword. Other options require keywords, numbers, strings, or lists of all of these. Lists are surrounded by braces and are usually separated by whitespace or a newline. For example: AutoRaise { "emacs" "XTerm" "Xmh" } or AutoRaise { "emacs" "XTerm" "Xmh" } When a variable containing a list of strings representingX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 3
User Commands TWM(1) windows is searched (e.g. to determine whether or not to enable autoraise as shown above), a string must be an exact,case-sensitive match to the window's name (given by the
WM_NAME window property), resource name or class name (both
given by the WM_CLASS window property). The preceding exam-
ple would enable autoraise on windows named ``emacs'' as well as any xterm (since they are of class ``XTerm'') or xmh windows (which are of class ``Xmh''). String arguments that are interpreted as filenames (see the Pixmaps, Cursors, and IconDirectory below) will prepend theuser's directory (specified by the HOME environment vari-
able) if the first character is a tilde (~). If, instead, the first character is a colon (:), the name is assumed to refer to one of the internal bitmaps that are used to create the default titlebars symbols: :xlogo or :delete (both refer to the X logo), :dot or :iconify (both refer to thedot), :resize (the nested squares used by the resize but-
ton), :menu (a page with lines), and :question (the questionmark used for non-existent bitmap files).
The following variables may be specified at the top of a twm
startup file. Lists of Window name prefix strings are indi-
cated by win-list. Optional arguments are shown in square
brackets:AutoRaise { win-list }
This variable specifies a list of windows that should automatically be raised whenever the pointer enters the window. This action can be interactively enabled or disabled on individual windows using the function f.autoraise. AutoRelativeResize This variable indicates that dragging out a window size (either when initially sizing the window with pointer Button2 or when resizing it) should not wait until the pointer has crossed the window edges. Instead, moving the pointer automatically causes the nearest edge or edges to move by the same amount. This allows the resizing of windows that extend off the edge of the screen. If the pointer is in the center of the window, or if the resize is begun bypressing a titlebutton, twm will still wait for the
pointer to cross a window edge (to prevent accidents). This option is particularly useful forpeople who like the press-drag-release method of
sweeping out window sizes. BorderColor string [{ wincolorlist }] This variable specifies the default color of theborder to be placed around all non-iconified
X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 4
User Commands TWM(1) windows, and may only be given within a Color,Grayscale or Monochrome list. The optional win-
colorlist specifies a list of window and color name pairs for specifying particular border colors for different types of windows. For example: BorderColor "gray50" { "XTerm" "red" "xmh" "green" } The default is "black". BorderTileBackground string [{ wincolorlist }] This variable specifies the default background color in the gray pattern used in unhighlighted borders (only if NoHighlight hasn't been set), and may only be given within a Color, Grayscale or Monochromelist. The optional wincolorlist allows per-window
colors to be specified. The default is "white". BorderTileForeground string [{ wincolorlist }] This variable specifies the default foreground color in the gray pattern used in unhighlighted borders (only if NoHighlight hasn't been set), and may only be given within a Color, Grayscale or Monochromelist. The optional wincolorlist allows per-window
colors to be specified. The default is "black". BorderWidth pixels This variable specifies the width in pixels of the border surrounding all client window frames if ClientBorderWidth has not been specified. This value is also used to set the border size of windowscreated by twm (such as the icon manager). The
default is 2. ButtonIndent pixels This variable specifies the amount by whichtitlebuttons should be indented on all sides. Posi-
tive values cause the buttons to be smaller than the window text and highlight area so that they stand out. Setting this and the TitleButtonBorderWidth variables to 0 makes titlebuttons be as tall and wide as possible. The default is 1. ClientBorderWidth This variable indicates that border width of a window's frame should be set to the initial border width of the window, rather than to the value of BorderWidth.X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 5
User Commands TWM(1)Color { colors-list }
This variable specifies a list of color assignments to be made if the default display is capable of displaying more than simple black and white. Thecolors-list is made up of the following color vari-
ables and their values: DefaultBackground, Default-
Foreground, MenuBackground, MenuForeground, Menu-
TitleBackground, MenuTitleForeground, MenuSha-
dowColor, MenuBorderColor, PointerForeground, and PointerBackground. The following color variables may also be given a list of window and color namepairs to allow per-window colors to be specified
(see BorderColor for details): BorderColor, Icon-
ManagerHighlight, BorderTitleBackground, Border-
TitleForeground, TitleBackground, TitleForeground, IconBackground, IconForeground, IconBorderColor, IconManagerBackground, and IconManagerForeground. For example: Color { MenuBackground "gray50" MenuForeground "blue" BorderColor "red" { "XTerm" "yellow" } TitleForeground "yellow" TitleBackground "blue" } All of these color variables may also be specifiedfor the Monochrome variable, allowing the same ini-
tialization file to be used on both color and mono-
chrome displays. ConstrainedMoveTime milliseconds This variable specifies the length of time between button clicks needed to begin a constrained move operation. Double clicking within this amount of time when invoking f.move will cause the window to be moved only in a horizontal or vertical direction. Setting this value to 0 will disable constrained moves. The default is 400 milliseconds.Cursors { cursor-list }
This variable specifies the glyphs that twm should
use for various pointer cursors. Each cursor may bedefined either from the cursor font or from two bit-
map files. Shapes from the cursor font may be specified directly as: cursorname "string" where cursorname is one of the cursor names listedX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 6
User Commands TWM(1) below, and string is the name of a glyph as found inthe file /usr/include/X11/cursorfont.h (without the
``XC_'' prefix). If the cursor is to be defined
from bitmap files, the following syntax is used instead: cursorname "image" "mask" The image and mask strings specify the names offiles containing the glyph image and mask in bit-
map(1) form. The bitmap files are located in the same manner as icon bitmap files. The following example shows the default cursor definitions: Cursors {Frame "top_left_arrow"
Title "top_left_arrow"
Icon "top_left_arrow"
IconMgr "top_left_arrow"
Move "fleur" Resize "fleur"Menu "sb_left_arrow"
Button "hand2" Wait "watch" Select "dot" Destroy "pirate" } DecorateTransients This variable indicates that transient windows(those containing a WM_TRANSIENT_FOR property)
should have titlebars. By default, transients are not reparented. DefaultBackground string This variable specifies the background color to be used for sizing and information windows. The default is "white". DefaultForeground string This variable specifies the foreground color to be used for sizing and information windows. The default is "black".DontIconifyByUnmapping { win-list }
This variable specifies a list of windows thatshould not be iconified by simply unmapping the win-
dow (as would be the case if IconifyByUnmapping had been set). This is frequently used to force some windows to be treated as icons while other windowsX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 7
User Commands TWM(1) are handled by the icon manager. DontMoveOff This variable indicates that windows should not beallowed to be moved off the screen. It can be over-
ridden by the f.forcemove function.DontSqueezeTitle [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that titlebars should not be squeezed to their minimum size as described under SqueezeTitle below. If the optional window list is supplied, only those windows will be prevented from being squeezed. ForceIcons This variable indicates that icon pixmaps specifiedin the Icons variable should override any client-
supplied pixmaps. FramePadding pixels This variable specifies the distance between the titlebar decorations (the button and text) and the window frame. The default is 2 pixels. Grayscale { colors } This variable specifies a list of color assignments that should be made if the screen has a GrayScale default visual. See the description of Colors.IconBackground string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the background color of icons, and may only be specified inside of a Color,Grayscale or Monochrome list. The optional win-list
is a list of window names and colors so that per-
window colors may be specified. See the BorderColorvariable for a complete description of the win-list.
The default is "white".IconBorderColor string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the color of the border used for icon windows, and may only be specified inside of a Color, Grayscale or Monochrome list. Theoptional win-list is a list of window names and
colors so that per-window colors may be specified.
See the BorderColor variable for a complete descrip-
tion of the win-list. The default is "black".
IconBorderWidth pixels This variable specifies the width in pixels of the border surrounding icon windows. The default is 2. IconDirectory stringX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 8
User Commands TWM(1) This variable specifies the directory that should be searched if if a bitmap file cannot be found in any of the directories in the bitmapFilePath resource. IconFont string This variable specifies the font to be used to display icon names within icons. The default is "variable".IconForeground string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the foreground color to beused when displaying icons, and may only be speci-
fied inside of a Color, Grayscale or Monochromelist. The optional win-list is a list of window
names and colors so that per-window colors may be
specified. See the BorderColor variable for a com-
plete description of the win-list. The default is
"black".IconifyByUnmapping [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that windows should be icon-
ified by being unmapped without trying to map any icons. This assumes that the user will remap thewindow through the icon manager, the f.warpto func-
tion, or the TwmWindows menu. If the optional win-
list is provided, only those windows will be iconi-
fied by simply unmapping. Windows that have both this and the IconManagerDontShow options set may not be accessible if no binding to the TwmWindows menu is set in the user's startup file.IconManagerBackground string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the background color to use for icon manager entries, and may only be specified inside of a Color, Grayscale or Monochrome list.The optional win-list is a list of window names and
colors so that per-window colors may be specified.
See the BorderColor variable for a complete descrip-
tion of the win-list. The default is "white".
IconManagerDontShow [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that the icon manager shouldnot display any windows. If the optional win-list
is given, only those windows will not be displayed. This variable is used to prevent windows that arerarely iconified (such as xclock or xload) from tak-
ing up space in the icon manager. IconManagerFont string This variable specifies the font to be used when displaying icon manager entries. The default is "variable".X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 9
User Commands TWM(1)IconManagerForeground string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the foreground color to be used when displaying icon manager entries, and may only be specified inside of a Color, Grayscale orMonochrome list. The optional win-list is a list of
window names and colors so that per-window colors
may be specified. See the BorderColor variable fora complete description of the win-list. The default
is "black". IconManagerGeometry string [ columns ] This variable specifies the geometry of the icon manager window. The string argument is standard geometry specification that indicates the initial full size of the icon manager. The icon manager window is then broken into columns pieces and scaled according to the number of entries in the iconmanager. Extra entries are wrapped to form addi-
tional rows. The default number of columns is 1.IconManagerHighlight string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the border color to be used when highlighting the icon manager entry that currently has the focus, and can only be specified inside of a Color, Grayscale or Monochrome list.The optional win-list is a list of window names and
colors so that per-window colors may be specified.
See the BorderColor variable for a complete descrip-
tion of the win-list. The default is "black".
IconManagers { iconmgr-list }
This variable specifies a list of icon managers tocreate. Each item in the iconmgr-list has the fol-
lowing format: "winname" ["iconname"] "geometry" columns where winname is the name of the windows that should be put into this icon manager, iconname is the name of that icon manager window's icon, geometry is a standard geometry specification, and columns is the number of columns in this icon manager as described in IconManagerGeometry. For example: IconManagers { "XTerm" "=300x5+800+5" 5 "myhost" "=400x5+100+5" 2 } Clients whose name or class is ``XTerm'' will have an entry created in the ``XTerm'' icon manager.X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 10
User Commands TWM(1) Clients whose name was ``myhost'' would be put into the ``myhost'' icon manager.IconManagerShow { win-list }
This variable specifies a list of windows that should appear in the icon manager. When used in conjunction with the IconManagerDontShow variable, only the windows in this list will be shown in the icon manager. IconRegion geomstring vgrav hgrav gridwidth gridheight This variable specifies an area on the root windowin which icons are placed if no specific icon loca-
tion is provided by the client. The geomstring is aquoted string containing a standard geometry specif-
ication. If more than one IconRegion lines are given, icons will be put into the succeeding icon regions when the first is full. The vgrav argument should be either North or South and control and is used to control whether icons are first filled infrom the top or bottom of the icon region. Simi-
larly, the hgrav argument should be either East or West and is used to control whether icons should be filled in from left from the right. Icons are laid out within the region in a grid with cells gridwidth pixels wide and gridheight pixels high.Icons { win-list }
This variable specifies a list of window names and the bitmap filenames that should be used as their icons. For example: Icons { "XTerm" "xterm.icon""xfd" "xfd_icon"
}Windows that match ``XTerm'' and would not be iconi-
fied by unmapping, and would try to use the icon bitmap in the file ``xterm.icon''. If ForceIcons is specified, this bitmap will be used even if the client has requested its own icon pixmap. InterpolateMenuColors This variable indicates that menu entry colors should be interpolated between entry specified colors. In the example below: Menu "mymenu" { "Title" ("black":"red") f.titleX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 11
User Commands TWM(1) "entry1" f.nop "entry2" f.nop "entry3" ("white":"green") f.nop "entry4" f.nop "entry5" ("red":"white") f.nop } the foreground colors for ``entry1'' and ``entry2'' will be interpolated between black and white, andthe background colors between red and green. Simi-
larly, the foreground for ``entry4'' will be half-
way between white and red, and the background willbe half-way between green and white.
MakeTitle { win-list }
This variable specifies a list of windows on which a titlebar should be placed and is used to request titles on specific windows when NoTitle has been set. MaxWindowSize string This variable specifies a geometry in which the width and height give the maximum size for a given window. This is typically used to restrict windows to the size of the screen. The default width is32767 - screen width. The default height is 32767 -
screen height. MenuBackground string This variable specifies the background color used for menus, and can only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The default is "white". MenuBorderColor string This variable specifies the color of the menu borderand can only be specified inside of a Color, Grays-
cale or Monochrome list. The default is "black". MenuBorderWidth pixels This variable specifies the width in pixels of the border surrounding menu windows. The default is 2. MenuFont string This variable specifies the font to use when displaying menus. The default is "variable". MenuForeground string This variable specifies the foreground color used for menus, and can only be specified inside of a Color, Grayscale or Monochrome list. The default is "black".X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 12
User Commands TWM(1) MenuShadowColor string This variable specifies the color of the shadowbehind pull-down menus and can only be specified
inside of a Color, Grayscale or Monochrome list. The default is "black". MenuTitleBackground string This variable specifies the background color for f.title entries in menus, and can only be specified inside of a Color, Grayscale or Monochrome list. The default is "white". MenuTitleForeground string This variable specifies the foreground color for f.title entries in menus and can only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The default is "black". Monochrome { colors } This variable specifies a list of color assignments that should be made if the screen has a depth of 1. See the description of Colors. MoveDelta pixels This variable specifies the number of pixels the pointer must move before the f.move function starts working. Also see the f.deltastop function. The default is zero pixels. NoBackingStoreThis variable indicates that twm's menus should not
request backing store to minimize repainting of menus. This is typically used with servers that can repaint faster than they can handle backing store. NoCaseSensitive This variable indicates that case should be ignored when sorting icon names in an icon manager. Thisoption is typically used with applications that cap-
italize the first letter of their icon name. NoDefaultsThis variable indicates that twm should not supply
the default titlebuttons and bindings. This option should only be used if the startup file contains a completely new set of bindings and definitions. NoGrabServerThis variable indicates that twm should not grab the
server when popping up menus and moving opaque win-
dows.X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 13
User Commands TWM(1)NoHighlight [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that borders should not be highlighted to track the location of the pointer.If the optional win-list is given, highlighting will
only be disabled for those windows. When the borderis highlighted, it will be drawn in the current Bor-
derColor. When the border is not highlighted, it will be stippled with a gray pattern using thecurrent BorderTileForeground and BorderTileBack-
ground colors. NoIconManagers This variable indicates that no icon manager should be created. NoMenuShadows This variable indicates that menus should not have drop shadows drawn behind them. This is typically used with slower servers since it speeds up menu drawing at the expense of making the menu slightly harder to read. NoRaiseOnDeiconify This variable indicates that windows that are deiconified should not be raised. NoRaiseOnMove This variable indicates that windows should not be raised when moved. This is typically used to allow windows to slide underneath each other. NoRaiseOnResize This variable indicates that windows should not be raised when resized. This is typically used to allow windows to be resized underneath each other. NoRaiseOnWarp This variable indicates that windows should not be raised when the pointer is warped into them with the f.warpto function. If this option is set, warpingto an occluded window may result in the pointer end-
ing up in the occluding window instead the desired window (which causes unexpected behavior with f.warpring). NoSaveUnders This variable indicates that menus should notrequest save-unders to minimize window repainting
following menu selection. It is typically used withdisplays that can repaint faster than they can han-
dle save-unders.
X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 14
User Commands TWM(1)NoStackMode [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that client window requests to change stacking order should be ignored. If theoptional win-list is given, only requests on those
windows will be ignored. This is typically used toprevent applications from relentlessly popping them-
selves to the front of the window stack.NoTitle [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that windows should not havetitlebars. If the optional win-list is given, only
those windows will not have titlebars. MakeTitle may be used with this option to force titlebars to be put on specific windows. NoTitleFocusThis variable indicates that twm should not set key-
board input focus to each window as it is entered.Normally, twm sets the focus so that focus and key
events from the titlebar and icon managers are delivered to the application. If the pointer ismoved quickly and twm is slow to respond, input can
be directed to the old window instead of the new. This option is typically used to prevent this ``input lag'' and to work around bugs in older applications that have problems with focus events.NoTitleHighlight [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that the highlight area of the titlebar, which is used to indicate the window that currently has the input focus, should not bedisplayed. If the optional win-list is given, only
those windows will not have highlight areas. Thisand the SqueezeTitle options can be set to substan-
tially reduce the amount of screen space required by titlebars. OpaqueMove This variable indicates that the f.move function should actually move the window instead of just an outline so that the user can immediately see what the window will look like in the new position. Thisoption is typically used on fast displays (particu-
larly if NoGrabServer is set). Pixmaps { pixmaps } This variable specifies a list of pixmaps that define the appearance of various images. Each entry is a keyword indicating the pixmap to set, followed by a string giving the name of the bitmap file. TheX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 15
User Commands TWM(1) following pixmaps may be specified: Pixmaps { TitleHighlight "gray1" } The default for TitleHighlight is to use an even stipple pattern. Priority priorityThis variable sets twm's priority. priority should
be an unquoted, signed number (e.g. 999). This variable has an effect only if the server supports the SYNC extension. RandomPlacementThis variable indicates that windows with no speci-
fied geometry should be placed in a pseudo-random
location instead of having the user drag out an out-
line. ResizeFont string This variable specifies the font to be used for in the dimensions window when resizing windows. The default is "fixed". RestartPreviousStateThis variable indicates that twm should attempt to
use the WM_STATE property on client windows to tell
which windows should be iconified and which should be left visible. This is typically used to try to regenerate the state that the screen was in before the previous window manager was shutdown.SaveColor { colors-list }
This variable indicates a list of color assignmentsto be stored as pixel values in the root window pro-
perty _MIT_PRIORITY_COLORS. Clients may elect to
preserve these values when installing their own colormap. Note that use of this mechanism is a wayan for application to avoid the "technicolor" prob-
lem, whereby useful screen objects such as windowborders and titlebars disappear when a programs cus-
tom colors are installed by the window manager. For example: SaveColor { BorderColor TitleBackground TitleForegroundX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 16
User Commands TWM(1) "red" "green" "blue" } This would place on the root window 3 pixel values for borders and titlebars, as well as the three color strings, all taken from the default colormap. ShowIconManager This variable indicates that the icon manager windowshould be displayed when twm is started. It can
always be brought up using the f.showiconmgr func-
tion. SortIconManager This variable indicates that entries in the icon manager should be sorted alphabetically rather than by simply appending new windows to the end.SqueezeTitle [{ squeeze-list }]
This variable indicates that twm should attempt to
use the SHAPE extension to make titlebars occupy only as much screen space as they need, rather than extending all the way across the top of the window.The optional squeeze-list may be used to control the
location of the squeezed titlebar along the top of the window. It contains entries of the form: "name" justification num denom where name is a window name, justification is either left, center, or right, and num and denom arenumbers specifying a ratio giving the relative posi-
tion about which the titlebar is justified. Theratio is measured from left to right if the numera-
tor is positive, and right to left if negative. A denominator of 0 indicates that the numerator should be measured in pixels. For convenience, the ratio0/0 is the same as 1/2 for center and -1/1 for
right. For example: SqueezeTitle { "XTerm" left 0 0 "xterm1" left 1 3 "xterm2" left 2 3 "oclock" center 0 0 "emacs" right 0 0 } The DontSqueezeTitle list can be used to turn offX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 17
User Commands TWM(1) squeezing on certain titles.StartIconified [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that client windows shouldinitially be left as icons until explicitly deiconi-
fied by the user. If the optional win-list is
given, only those windows will be started iconic. This is useful for programs that do not support an-iconic command line option or resource.
TitleBackground string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the background color used in titlebars, and may only be specified inside of a Color, Grayscale or Monochrome list. The optionalwin-list is a list of window names and colors so
that per-window colors may be specified. The
default is "white". TitleButtonBorderWidth pixels This variable specifies the width in pixels of the border surrounding titlebuttons. This is typically set to 0 to allow titlebuttons to take up as much space as possible and to not have a border. The default is 1. TitleFont string This variable specifies the font to be used for displaying window names in titlebars. The default is "variable".TitleForeground string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the foreground color used in titlebars, and may only be specified inside of a Color, Grayscale or Monochrome list. The optionalwin-list is a list of window names and colors so
that per-window colors may be specified. The
default is "black". TitlePadding pixels This variable specifies the distance between the various buttons, text, and highlight areas in the titlebar. The default is 8 pixels. UnknownIcon string This variable specifies the filename of a bitmap file to be used as the default icon. This bitmap will be used as the icon of all clients which do not provide an icon bitmap and are not listed in the Icons list. UsePPosition stringThis variable specifies whether or not twm should
X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 18
User Commands TWM(1)honor program-requested locations (given by the PPo-
sition flag in the WM_NORMAL_HINTS property) in the
absence of a user-specified position. The argument
string may have one of three values: "off" (thedefault) indicating that twm should ignore the
program-supplied position, "on" indicating that the
position should be used, and "non-zero" indicating
that the position should used if it is other than (0,0). The latter option is for working around a bug in older toolkits.WarpCursor [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that the pointer should be warped into windows when they are deiconified. Ifthe optional win-list is given, the pointer will
only be warped when those windows are deiconified.WindowRing { win-list }
This variable specifies a list of windows along which the f.warpring function cycles. WarpUnmapped This variable indicates that the f.warpto function should deiconify any iconified windows it encounters. This is typically used to make a key binding that will pop a particular window (such as xmh), no matter where it is. The default is for f.warpto to ignore iconified windows. XorValue numberThis variable specifies the value to use when draw-
ing window outlines for moving and resizing. This should be set to a value that will result in a variety of of distinguishable colors whenexclusive-or'ed with the contents of the user's typ-
ical screen. Setting this variable to 1 often gives nice results if adjacent colors in the defaultcolormap are distinct. By default, twm will attempt
to cause temporary lines to appear at the opposite end of the colormap from the graphics. Zoom [ count ] This variable indicates that outlines suggesting movement of a window to and from its iconified state should be displayed whenever a window is iconifiedor deiconified. The optional count argument speci-
fies the number of outlines to be drawn. The default count is 8. The following variables must be set after the fonts have been assigned, so it is usually best to put them at the end of the variables or beginning of the bindings sections:X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 19
User Commands TWM(1) DefaultFunction function This variable specifies the function to be executed when a key or button event is received for which no binding is provided. This is typically bound tof.nop, f.beep, or a menu containing window opera-
tions. WindowFunction function This variable specifies the function to execute when a window is selected from the TwmWindows menu. Ifthis variable is not set, the window will be deicon-
ified and raised. BINDINGS After the desired variables have been set, functions may be attached titlebuttons and key and pointer buttons. Titlebuttons may be added from the left or right side andappear in the titlebar from left-to-right according to the
order in which they are specified. Key and pointer button bindings may be given in any order. Titlebuttons specifications must include the name of the pixmap to use in the button box and the function to be invoked when a pointer button is pressed within them: LeftTitleButton "bitmapname" = function or RightTitleButton "bitmapname" = functionThe bitmapname may refer to one of the built-in bitmaps
(which are scaled to match TitleFont) by using the appropri-
ate colon-prefixed name described above.
Key and pointer button specifications must give the modif-
iers that must be pressed, over which parts of the screen the pointer must be, and what function is to be invoked. Keys are given as strings containing the appropriate keysymname; buttons are given as the keywords Button1-Button5:
"FP1" = modlist : context : function Button1 = modlist : context : function The modlist is any combination of the modifier names shift, control, lock, meta, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4, or mod5 (which may be abbreviated as s, c, l, m, m1, m2, m3, m4, m5, respectively) separated by a vertical bar (|). Similarly, the context is any combination of window, title, icon, root, frame, iconmgr, their first letters (iconmgr abbreviation is m), or all, separated by a vertical bar. The function is any of the f. keywords described below. For example, theX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 20
User Commands TWM(1) default startup file contains the following bindings: Button1 = : root : f.menu "TwmWindows"Button1 = m : window | icon : f.function "move-or-lower"
Button2 = m : window | icon : f.iconifyButton3 = m : window | icon : f.function "move-or-raise"
Button1 = : title : f.function "move-or-raise"
Button2 = : title : f.raiselowerButton1 = : icon : f.function "move-or-iconify"
Button2 = : icon : f.iconify Button1 = : iconmgr : f.iconify Button2 = : iconmgr : f.iconify A user who wanted to be able to manipulate windows from the keyboard could use the following bindings: "F1" = : all : f.iconify "F2" = : all : f.raiselower "F3" = : all : f.warpring "next" "F4" = : all : f.warpto "xmh" "F5" = : all : f.warpto "emacs" "F6" = : all : f.colormap "next" "F7" = : all : f.colormap "default" "F20" = : all : f.warptoscreen "next" "Left" = m : all : f.backiconmgr "Right" = m | s : all : f.forwiconmgr "Up" = m : all : f.upiconmgr "Down" = m | s : all : f.downiconmgr Twm provides many more window manipulation primitives than can be conveniently stored in a titlebar, menu, or set of key bindings. Although a small set of defaults are supplied (unless the NoDefaults is specified), most users will want to have their most common operations bound to key and buttonstrokes. To do this, twm associates names with each of the
primitives and provides user-defined functions for building
higher level primitives and menus for interactively select-
ing among groups of functions.User-defined functions contain the name by which they are
referenced in calls to f.function and a list of other func-
tions to execute. For example:Function "move-or-lower" { f.move f.deltastop f.lower }
Function "move-or-raise" { f.move f.deltastop f.raise }
Function "move-or-iconify" { f.move f.deltastop f.iconify }
Function "restore-colormap" { f.colormap "default" f.lower }
The function name must be used in f.function exactly as it appears in the function specification.X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 21
User Commands TWM(1) In the descriptions below, if the function is said to operate on the selected window, but is invoked from a root menu, the cursor will be changed to the Select cursor and the next window to receive a button press will be chosen: ! string This is an abbreviation for f.exec string. f.autoraise This function toggles whether or not the selected window is raised whenever entered by the pointer. See the description of the variable AutoRaise. f.backiconmgr This function warps the pointer to the previous column in the current icon manager, wrapping back to the previous row if necessary. f.beep This function sounds the keyboard bell. f.bottomzoom This function is similar to the f.fullzoom function, but resizes the window to fill only the bottom half of the screen. f.circledownThis function lowers the top-most window that
occludes another window. f.circleupThis function raises the bottom-most window that is
occluded by another window. f.colormap string This function rotates the colormaps (obtained fromthe WM_COLORMAP_WINDOWS property on the window) that
twm will display when the pointer is in this window.
The argument string may have one of the following values: "next", "prev", and "default". It should be noted here that in general, the installed colormap is determined by keyboard focus. A pointer driven keyboard focus will install a private colormap upon entry of the window owning the colormap. Using the click to type model, private colormaps will not be installed until the user presses a mouse button on the target window. f.deiconify This function deiconifies the selected window. Ifthe window is not an icon, this function does noth-
ing.X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 22
User Commands TWM(1) f.deleteThis function sends the WM_DELETE_WINDOW message to
the selected window if the client application hasrequested it through the WM_PROTOCOLS window pro-
perty. The application is supposed to respond to the message by removing the indicated window. Ifthe window has not requested WM_DELETE_WINDOW mes-
sages, the keyboard bell will be rung indicating that the user should choose an alternative method. Note this is very different from f.destroy. The intent here is to delete a single window, not necessarily the entire application. f.deltastopThis function allows a user-defined function to be
aborted if the pointer has been moved more than MoveDelta pixels. See the example definition givenfor Function "move-or-raise" at the beginning of the
section. f.destroy This function instructs the X server to close the display connection of the client that created the selected window. This should only be used as a last resort for shutting down runaway clients. See also f.delete. f.downiconmgr This function warps the pointer to the next row in the current icon manger, wrapping to the beginning of the next column if necessary. f.exec string This function passes the argument string to /bin/sh for execution. In multiscreen mode, if stringstarts a new X client without giving a display argu-
ment, the client will appear on the screen from which this function was invoked. f.focus This function toggles the keyboard focus of the server to the selected window, changing the focusrule from pointer-driven if necessary. If the
selected window already was focused, this function executes an f.unfocus. f.forcemove This function is like f.move except that it ignores the DontMoveOff variable. f.forwiconmgr This function warps the pointer to the next column in the current icon manager, wrapping to theX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 23
User Commands TWM(1) beginning of the next row if necessary. f.fullzoom This function resizes the selected window to thefull size of the display or else restores the origi-
nal size if the window was already zoomed. f.function stringThis function executes the user-defined function
whose name is specified by the argument string. f.hbzoom This function is a synonym for f.bottomzoom. f.hideiconmgr This function unmaps the current icon manager. f.horizoom This variable is similar to the f.zoom function except that the selected window is resized to the full width of the display. f.htzoom This function is a synonym for f.topzoom. f.hzoom This function is a synonym for f.horizoom. f.iconify This function iconifies or deiconifies the selected window or icon, respectively. f.identify This function displays a summary of the name andgeometry of the selected window. If the server sup-
ports the SYNC extension, the priority of the client owning the window is also displayed. Clicking the pointer or pressing a key in the window will dismiss it. f.lefticonmgr This function similar to f.backiconmgr except that wrapping does not change rows. f.leftzoomThis variable is similar to the f.bottomzoom func-
tion but causes the selected window is only resized to the left half of the display. f.lower This function lowers the selected window. f.menu string This function invokes the menu specified by theX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 24
User Commands TWM(1) argument string. Cascaded menus may be built by nesting calls to f.menu.f.move This function drags an outline of the selected win-
dow (or the window itself if the OpaqueMove variable is set) until the invoking pointer button isreleased. Double clicking within the number of mil-
liseconds given by ConstrainedMoveTime warps the pointer to the center of the window and constrainsthe move to be either horizontal or vertical depend-
ing on which grid line is crossed. To abort a move,press another button before releasing the first but-
ton. f.nexticonmgr This function warps the pointer to the next icon manager containing any windows on the current or any succeeding screen. f.nop This function does nothing and is typically used with the DefaultFunction or WindowFunction variables or to introduce blank lines in menus. f.previconmgr This function warps the pointer to the previous icon manager containing any windows on the current or preceding screens. f.priority string This function sets the priority of the client owning the selected window to the numeric value of the argument string, which should be a signed integer in double quotes (e.g. "999" ). This function has aneffect only if the server supports the SYNC exten-
sion.f.quit This function causes twm to restore the window's
borders and exit. If twm is the first client
invoked from xdm, this will result in a server reset. f.raise This function raises the selected window. f.raiselower This function raises the selected window to the topof the stacking order if it is occluded by any win-
dows, otherwise the window will be lowered. f.refresh This function causes all windows to be refreshed. f.resizeX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 25
User Commands TWM(1) This function displays an outline of the selectedwindow. Crossing a border (or setting AutoRela-
tiveResize) will cause the outline to begin to rubber band until the invoking button is released. To abort a resize, press another button before releasing the first button. f.restartThis function kills and restarts twm.
f.startwm string
This function kills twm and starts another window
manager, as specified by string. f.righticonmgr This function is similar to f.nexticonmgr except that wrapping does not change rows. f.rightzoomThis variable is similar to the f.bottomzoom func-
tion except that the selected window is only resized to the right half of the display. f.saveyourselfThis function sends a WM_SAVEYOURSELF message to the
selected window if it has requested the message inits WM_PROTOCOLS window property. Clients that
accept this message are supposed to checkpoint all state associated with the window and update theWM_COMMAND property as specified in the ICCCM. If
the selected window has not selected for this mes-
sage, the keyboard bell will be rung. f.showiconmgr This function maps the current icon manager. f.sorticonmgr This function sorts the entries in the current iconmanager alphabetically. See the variable SortIcon-
Manager. f.title This function provides a centered, unselectable item in a menu definition. It should not be used in any other context. f.topzoomThis variable is similar to the f.bottomzoom func-
tion except that the selected window is only resized to the top half of the display. f.unfocusThis function resets the focus back to pointer-
X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 26
User Commands TWM(1) driven. This should be used when a focused window is no longer desired. f.upiconmgr This function warps the pointer to the previous row in the current icon manager, wrapping to the last row in the same column if necessary. f.vlzoom This function is a synonym for f.leftzoom. f.vrzoom This function is a synonym for f.rightzoom. f.warpring stringThis function warps the pointer to the next or pre-
vious window (as indicated by the argument string,which may be "next" or "prev") specified in the Win-
dowRing variable. f.warpto string This function warps the pointer to the window which has a name or class that matches string. If the window is iconified, it will be deiconified if the variable WarpUnmapped is set or else ignored. f.warptoiconmgr string This function warps the pointer to the icon manager entry associated with the window containing thepointer in the icon manager specified by the argu-
ment string. If string is empty (i.e. ""), the current icon manager is chosen. f.warptoscreen stringThis function warps the pointer to the screen speci-
fied by the argument string. String may be a number (e.g. "0" or "1"), the word "next" (indicating the current screen plus 1, skipping over any unmanaged screens), the word "back" (indicating the current screen minus 1, skipping over any unmanaged screens), or the word "prev" (indicating the last screen visited. f.winrefresh This function is similar to the f.refresh function except that only the selected window is refreshed. f.zoom This function is similar to the f.fullzoom function,except that the only the height of the selected win-
dow is changed.X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 27
User Commands TWM(1) MENUS Functions may be grouped and interactively selected usingpop-up (when bound to a pointer button) or pull-down (when
associated with a titlebutton) menus. Each menu specifica-
tion contains the name of the menu as it will be referred to by f.menu, optional default foreground and background colors, the list of item names and the functions they should invoke, and optional foreground and background colors for individual items: Menu "menuname" [ ("deffore":"defback") ] { string1 [ ("fore1":"backn")] function1 string2 [ ("fore2":"backn")] function2 . . . stringN [ ("foreN":"backN")] functionN }The menuname is case-sensitive. The optional deffore and
defback arguments specify the foreground and background colors used on a color display to highlight menu entries. The string portion of each menu entry will be the text whichwill appear in the menu. The optional fore and back argu-
ments specify the foreground and background colors of the menu entry when the pointer is not in the entry. These colors will only be used on a color display. The default isto use the colors specified by the MenuForeground and Menu-
Background variables. The function portion of the menuentry is one of the functions, including any user-defined
functions, or additional menus. There is a special menu named TwmWindows which contains thenames of all of the client and twm-supplied windows.
Selecting an entry will cause the WindowFunction to be exe-
cuted on that window. If WindowFunction hasn't been set, the window will be deiconified and raised. ICONSTwm supports several different ways of manipulating iconi-
fied windows. The common pixmap-and-text style may be laid
out by hand or automatically arranged as described by the IconRegion variable. In addition, a terse grid of icon names, called an icon manager, provides a more efficient use of screen space as well as the ability to navigate among windows from the keyboard. An icon manager is a window that contains names of selected or all windows currently on the display. In addition to the window name, a small button using the default iconify symbolX Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 28
User Commands TWM(1) will be displayed to the left of the name when the window is iconified. By default, clicking on an entry in the icon manager performs f.iconify. To change the actions taken inthe icon manager, use the the iconmgr context when specify-
ing button and keyboard bindings.Moving the pointer into the icon manager also directs key-
board focus to the indicated window (setting the focus explicitly or else sending synthetic events NoTitleFocus is set). Using the f.upiconmgr, f.downiconmgr f.lefticonmgr, and f.righticonmgr functions, the input focus can be changed between windows directly from the keyboard.BUGS
The resource manager should have been used instead of all of the window lists. The IconRegion variable should take a list.Double clicking very fast to get the constrained move func-
tion will sometimes cause the window to move, even though the pointer is not moved.If IconifyByUnmapping is on and windows are listed in Icon-
ManagerDontShow but not in DontIconifyByUnmapping, they may be lost if they are iconified and no bindings to f.menu "TwmWindows" or f.warpto are setup. FILES$HOME/.twmrc.
$HOME/.twmrc
/usr/lib/X11/twm/system.twmrc
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES DISPLAY This variable is used to determine which X server to use. It is also set during f.exec so that programs come up on the proper screen. HOME This variable is used as the prefix for files thatbegin with a tilde and for locating the twm startup
file.SEE ALSO
X(5), Xserver(1), xdm(1), xrdb(1) AUTHORSTom LaStrange, Solbourne Computer; Jim Fulton, MIT X Consor-
tium; Steve Pitschke, Stardent Computer; Keith Packard, MIT X Consortium; Dave Sternlicht, MIT X Consortium; Dave Payne, Apple Computer.X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 29
User Commands TWM(1)ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | desktop/window-manager/twm |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Committed ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
X Version 11 Last change: twm 1.0.4 30