twm - Tab Window Manager for the X Window System
twm [
-display dpy ] [
-s ] [
-f
initfile ] [
-v ]
Twm is a window manager for the X Window System. It provides titlebars,
shaped windows, several forms of icon management, 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) or
xinit(1) without a session manager,
twm is frequently executed in the foreground as the last client. When
run this way, 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 keyboard
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 the default interface, windows are iconified by
clicking (pressing and then immediately releasing) the left titlebutton (which
looks like a Dot). Conversely, windows are deiconified 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 pointer when the outline of the window is the desired size.
Similarly, windows are moved by pressing in the title or highlight region,
dragging a window outline to the new location, 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 individual applications). Otherwise, an
outline of the window's default size, its titlebar, and lines dividing the
window 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) and
dragging the outline will give the window its current position 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.
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 environment
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 file to 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 is received. This can be
useful when debugging applications but can be distracting in regular
use.
Much 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/share/X11/twm/system.twmrc
- 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 types of
specifications:
Variables,
Bindings,
Menus. The
Variables 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 usually 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. The
Menus section gives
any user-defined menus (containing functions 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 character appears to be treated as a comment.
Many 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 representing 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 example 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 the user's
directory (specified by the
HOME environment variable) 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 the dot),
:resize (the nested squares used by the resize button),
:menu (a
page with lines), and
:question (the question mark 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 indicated 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 by pressing a titlebutton,
twm will still wait for the pointer to cross a window edge (to
prevent accidents). This option is particularly useful for people who like
the press-drag-release method of sweeping out window sizes.
-
BorderColor string [{ wincolorlist
}]
- This variable specifies the default color of the border to
be placed around all non-iconified windows, and may only be given within a
Color, Grayscale or Monochrome list. The optional
wincolorlist 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 Monochrome list. 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 Monochrome list. 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 windows
created by twm (such as the icon manager). The default is 2.
-
ButtonIndent pixels
- This variable specifies the amount by which titlebuttons
should be indented on all sides. Positive 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.
-
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. The colors-list is made up of the following color
variables and their values: DefaultBackground,
DefaultForeground, MenuBackground, MenuForeground,
MenuTitleBackground, MenuTitleForeground,
MenuShadowColor, MenuBorderColor, PointerForeground,
and PointerBackground. The following color variables may also be
given a list of window and color name pairs to allow per-window colors to
be specified (see BorderColor for details): BorderColor,
IconManagerHighlight, BorderTitleBackground,
BorderTitleForeground, 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 specified for the Monochrome
variable, allowing the same initialization file to be used on both color
and monochrome 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 be defined either from
the cursor font or from two bitmap files. Shapes from the
cursor font may be specified directly as:
cursorname "string"
where cursorname is one of the cursor names listed below, and
string is the name of a glyph as found in the 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 of files
containing the glyph image and mask in bitmap(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 that should not
be iconified by simply unmapping the window (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 windows are handled by the
icon manager.
- DontMoveOff
- This variable indicates that windows should not be allowed
to be moved off the screen. It can be overridden 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 specified in 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
BorderColor variable 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. 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 description
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 string
- 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 be used
when displaying 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 BorderColor variable for a complete description
of the win-list. The default is "black".
-
IconifyByUnmapping [{ win-list
}]
- This variable indicates that windows should be iconified by
being unmapped without trying to map any icons. This assumes that the user
will remap the window through the icon manager, the f.warpto
function, or the TwmWindows menu. If the optional win-list
is provided, only those windows will be iconified 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 description
of the win-list. The default is "white".
-
IconManagerDontShow [{ win-list }]
- This variable indicates that the icon manager should not
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 are rarely iconified (such as xclock or xload) from
taking 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".
-
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 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 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 icon manager. Extra entries are wrapped to
form additional 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 description of the
win-list. The default is "black".
-
IconManagers { iconmgr-list }
- This variable specifies a list of icon managers to create.
Each item in the iconmgr-list has the following 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. 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 window in which
icons are placed if no specific icon location is provided by the client.
The geomstring is a quoted string containing a standard geometry
specification. 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 in from the
top or bottom of the icon region. Similarly, 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 iconified 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.title
"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, and the background colors between red and green.
Similarly, the foreground for ``entry4'' will be half-way between white
and red, and the background will be 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 is 32767 -
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 border and
can only be specified inside of a Color, Grayscale 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".
-
MenuShadowColor string
- This variable specifies the color of the shadow behind
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.
- NoBackingStore
- This 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. This option is typically used with
applications that capitalize the first letter of their icon name.
- NoDefaults
- This 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.
- NoGrabServer
- This variable indicates that twm should not grab the
server when popping up menus and moving opaque windows.
-
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 border is highlighted, it will be drawn in the current
BorderColor. When the border is not highlighted, it will be
stippled with a gray pattern using the current BorderTileForeground
and BorderTileBackground 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, warping to an occluded window may result in the
pointer ending up in the occluding window instead the desired window
(which causes unexpected behavior with f.warpring).
- NoSaveUnders
- This variable indicates that menus should not request
save-unders to minimize window repainting following menu selection. It is
typically used with displays that can repaint faster than they can handle
save-unders.
-
NoStackMode [{ win-list }]
- This variable indicates that client window requests to
change stacking order should be ignored. If the optional win-list
is given, only requests on those windows will be ignored. This is
typically used to prevent applications from relentlessly popping
themselves to the front of the window stack.
-
NoTitle [{ win-list }]
- This variable indicates that windows should not have
titlebars. 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.
- NoTitleFocus
- This variable indicates that twm should not set
keyboard 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 is moved 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 be displayed. If the optional win-list is
given, only those windows will not have highlight areas. This and the
SqueezeTitle options can be set to substantially 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. This option is typically used on fast displays (particularly 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.
The following pixmaps may be specified:
Pixmaps
{
TitleHighlight "gray1"
}
The default for TitleHighlight is to use an even stipple
pattern.
-
Priority priority
- This 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.
- RandomPlacement
- This variable indicates that windows with no specified
geometry should be placed in a pseudo-random location instead of having
the user drag out an outline.
-
ResizeFont string
- This variable specifies the font to be used for in the
dimensions window when resizing windows. The default is
"fixed".
- RestartPreviousState
- This 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 assignments to be
stored as pixel values in the root window property _MIT_PRIORITY_COLORS.
Clients may elect to preserve these values when installing their own
colormap. Note that use of this mechanism is a way an for application to
avoid the "technicolor" problem, whereby useful screen objects
such as window borders and titlebars disappear when a programs custom
colors are installed by the window manager. For example:
SaveColor
{
BorderColor
TitleBackground
TitleForeground
"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 window should
be displayed when twm is started. It can always be brought up using
the f.showiconmgr function.
- 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 are numbers specifying a ratio giving the relative position
about which the titlebar is justified. The ratio is measured from left to
right if the numerator is positive, and right to left if negative. A
denominator of 0 indicates that the numerator should be measured in
pixels. For convenience, the ratio 0/0 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 off squeezing on
certain titles.
-
StartIconified [{ win-list }]
- This variable indicates that client windows should
initially be left as icons until explicitly deiconified 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 optional win-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 optional win-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 string
- This variable specifies whether or not twm should
honor program-requested locations (given by the PPosition 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" (the default) 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. If the 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 number
- This variable specifies the value to use when drawing
window outlines for moving and resizing. This should be set to a value
that will result in a variety of of distinguishable colors when
exclusive-or'ed with the contents of the user's typical screen. Setting
this variable to 1 often gives nice results if adjacent colors in the
default colormap 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 iconified or deiconified. The optional count argument
specifies 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:
-
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 to f.nop, f.beep, or a menu containing
window operations.
-
WindowFunction function
- This variable specifies the function to execute when a
window is selected from the TwmWindows menu. If this variable is
not set, the window will be deiconified and raised.
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 and appear 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" = function
The
bitmapname may refer to one of the built-in bitmaps (which are scaled
to match
TitleFont) by using the appropriate colon-prefixed name
described above.
Key and pointer button specifications must give the modifiers 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 keysym
name; 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, the 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.iconify
Button3 = m : window | icon : f.function "move-or-raise"
Button1 = : title : f.function "move-or-raise"
Button2 = : title : f.raiselower
Button1 = : 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 button strokes. 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 selecting 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 functions 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.
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.circledown
- This function lowers the top-most window that occludes
another window.
- f.circleup
- This function raises the bottom-most window that is
occluded by another window.
-
f.colormap string
- This function rotates the colormaps (obtained from the
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. If the
window is not an icon, this function does nothing.
- f.delete
- This function sends the WM_DELETE_WINDOW message to the
selected window if the client application has requested it through the
WM_PROTOCOLS window property. The application is supposed to respond to
the message by removing the indicated window. If the window has not
requested WM_DELETE_WINDOW messages, 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.deltastop
- This function allows a user-defined function to be aborted
if the pointer has been moved more than MoveDelta pixels. See the
example definition given for 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 string starts a new X client
without giving a display argument, 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 focus rule 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 the beginning of the next row if
necessary.
- f.fullzoom
- This function resizes the selected window to the full size
of the display or else restores the original size if the window was
already zoomed.
-
f.function string
- This 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 and geometry
of the selected window. If the server supports 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.leftzoom
- This variable is similar to the f.bottomzoom
function 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 the argument
string. Cascaded menus may be built by nesting calls to
f.menu.
- f.move
- This function drags an outline of the selected window (or
the window itself if the OpaqueMove variable is set) until the
invoking pointer button is released. Double clicking within the number of
milliseconds given by ConstrainedMoveTime warps the pointer to the
center of the window and constrains the move to be either horizontal or
vertical depending on which grid line is crossed. To abort a move, press
another button before releasing the first button.
-
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 an effect only if the server supports the SYNC
extension.
- 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 top of the
stacking order if it is occluded by any windows, otherwise the window will
be lowered.
- f.refresh
- This function causes all windows to be refreshed.
- f.resize
- This function displays an outline of the selected window.
Crossing a border (or setting AutoRelativeResize) 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.restart
- This 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.rightzoom
- This variable is similar to the f.bottomzoom
function except that the selected window is only resized to the right half
of the display.
- f.saveyourself
- This function sends a WM_SAVEYOURSELF message to the
selected window if it has requested the message in its WM_PROTOCOLS window
property. Clients that accept this message are supposed to checkpoint all
state associated with the window and update the WM_COMMAND property as
specified in the ICCCM. If the selected window has not selected for this
message, 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 icon manager
alphabetically. See the variable SortIconManager.
- f.title
- This function provides a centered, unselectable item in a
menu definition. It should not be used in any other context.
- f.topzoom
- This variable is similar to the f.bottomzoom
function except that the selected window is only resized to the top half
of the display.
- f.unfocus
- This function resets the focus back to pointer-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 string
- This function warps the pointer to the next or previous
window (as indicated by the argument string, which may be
"next" or "prev") specified in the
WindowRing 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 the pointer in the icon manager
specified by the argument string. If string is empty (i.e.
""), the current icon manager is chosen.
-
f.warptoscreen string
- This function warps the pointer to the screen specified 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 window is changed.
Functions may be grouped and interactively selected using pop-up (when bound to
a pointer button) or pull-down (when associated with a titlebutton) menus.
Each menu specification 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 which will appear in the menu. The optional
fore and
back arguments 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 is to use the colors
specified by the
MenuForeground and
MenuBackground variables.
The
function portion of the menu entry is one of the functions,
including any user-defined functions, or additional menus.
There is a special menu named
TwmWindows which contains the names of all
of the client and
twm-supplied windows. Selecting an entry will cause
the
WindowFunction to be executed on that window. If
WindowFunction hasn't been set, the window will be deiconified and
raised.
Twm supports several different ways of manipulating iconified 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 symbol 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 in the icon manager,
use the the
iconmgr context when specifying button and keyboard
bindings.
Moving the pointer into the icon manager also directs keyboard 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.
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 function will sometimes
cause the window to move, even though the pointer is not moved.
If
IconifyByUnmapping is on and windows are listed in
IconManagerDontShow but not in
DontIconifyByUnmapping, they may
be lost if they are iconified and no bindings to
f.menu
"TwmWindows" or
f.warpto are setup.
$HOME/.twmrc.<screen number>
$HOME/.twmrc
/usr/lib/X11/twm/system.twmrc
- 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 that begin
with a tilde and for locating the twm startup file.
X(7),
Xserver(1),
xdm(1),
xrdb(1)
Tom LaStrange, Solbourne Computer; Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium; Steve Pitschke,
Stardent Computer; Keith Packard, MIT X Consortium; Dave Sternlicht, MIT X
Consortium; Dave Payne, Apple Computer.