Provided by: wmctrl_1.07-7_amd64 bug

NAME

       wmctrl - interact with a EWMH/NetWM compatible X Window Manager.

SYNOPSIS

       wmctrl [ options | actions ]...

DESCRIPTION

       wmctrl  is  a  command  that  can  be  used  to  interact with an X Window manager that is
       compatible with the EWMH/NetWM specification.  wmctrl can query  the  window  manager  for
       information, and it can request that certain window management actions be taken.

       wmctrl  is  controlled  entirely by its command line arguments. The command line arguments
       are used to specify the action to be performed (with options that modify behavior) and any
       arguments that might be needed to perform the actions.

       The  following sections define the supported actions and options. Arguments to the actions
       and options are written in the form <ARGNAME> in  the  descriptions  below.  The  detailed
       syntax for writing arguments are in a single section dedicated to that purpose.

ACTIONS

       The  following command line arguments can be specified to invoke a wmctrl action. Only one
       action can be executed with the invocation of the wmctrl command.

       -a <WIN>
              Switch to the desktop containing the window <WIN>, raise the window,  and  give  it
              focus.

       -b  ( add | remove | toggle),prop1 [,prop2 ]
              Add,  remove, or toggle up to two window properties simultaneously. The window that
              is being modified must be identified with a  -r  action.  The  property  change  is
              achived  by using the EWMH _NET_WM_STATE request. The supported property names (for
              prop1  and  prop2)  are  modal,  sticky,  maximized_vert,  maximized_horz,  shaded,
              skip_taskbar,  skip_pager, hidden, fullscreen, above and below.  Two properties are
              supported to allow operations like maximizing a window to full  screen  mode.  Note
              that this action is made up of exactly two shell command line arguments.

       -c <WIN>
              Close the window <WIN> gracefully.

       -d     List  all  desktops  managed  by  the  window  manager. One line is output for each
              desktop, with the line broken up into space separated  columns.  The  first  column
              contains  an integer desktop number. The second column contains a '*' character for
              the current desktop, otherwise it contains a '-' character. The  next  two  columns
              contain  the  fixed  string DG: and then the desktop geometry as '<width>x<height>'
              (e.g. '1280x1024'). The following two columns contain the fixed string VP: and then
              the  viewport position in the format '<y>,<y>' (e.g. '0,0'). The next three columns
              after this contains the fixed string WA: and then two  columns  with  the  workarea
              geometry  as 'X,Y and WxH' (e.g. '0,0 1280x998'). The rest of the line contains the
              name of the desktop (possibly containing multiple spaces).

       -e <MVARG>
              Resize and move a window that has been specified with a -r action according to  the
              <MVARG> argument.

       -g w,h Change  the  geometry (common size) of all desktops so they are w pixels wide and h
              pixels high. w and h must be positive integers. A window manager  may  ignore  this
              request.

       -h     Print help text about program usage.

       -I name
              Set the icon name (short title) of the window specified by a -r action to name.

       -k  ( on  |  off  )
              Turn  on or off the window manager's "show the desktop" mode (if the window manager
              implements this feature).

       -l     List the windows being managed by the window manager. One line is output  for  each
              window,  with  the  line  broken up into space separated columns.  The first column
              always contains the window identity as a hexadecimal integer, and the second column
              always  contains  the desktop number (a -1 is used to identify a sticky window). If
              the -p option is specified the next column will contain the PID for the window as a
              decimal  integer.  If  the  -G  option  is specified then four integer columns will
              follow: x-offset, y-offset, width and height. The next column always  contains  the
              client  machine name. The remainder of the line contains the window title (possibly
              with multiple spaces in the title).

       -m     Display information about the window manager and the environment.

       -n N   Change the number of desktops to N (a non-negative integer).

       -N name
              Set the name (long title) of the window specified by a -r action to name.

       -o x,y Change the viewport for the current desktop. The values x and y are numeric offsets
              that  specify the position of the top left corner of the viewport. A window manager
              may ignore this request.

       -r <WIN>
              Specify a target window for an action.

       -R <WIN>
              Move the window <WIN> to the current desktop, raise the window, and give it focus.

       -s <DESK>
              Switch to the desktop <DESK>.

       -t <DESK>
              Move a window that has been specified with the -r action to the desktop <DESK>.

       -T name
              Set the both the name (long title) and  icon  name  (short  title)  of  the  window
              specified  by a -r action to name.  This action is like using the -N and -I actions
              at the same time (which would otherwise be impossible since wmctrl can execute only
              one action at a time).

OPTIONS

       The  following  options  modify  the default actions, or they modify the interpretation of
       arguments.

       -F     Window name arguments (<WIN>) are to be treated as exact  window  titles  that  are
              case  sensitive.  Without  this  options  window  titles  are considered to be case
              insensitive substrings of the full window title.

       -G     Include geometry information in the output of the -l action.

       -i     Interpret window arguments (<WIN>) as a numeric value rather than a string name for
              the  window. If the numeric value starts with the prefix '0x' it is assumed to be a
              hexadecimal number.

       -p     Include PIDs in the window list printed by the -l action. Prints a PID  of  '0'  if
              the application owning the window does not support it.

       -u     Override auto-detection and force UTF-8 mode.

       -v     Provide verbose output. This is really useful when debugging wmctrl itself.

       -w [ <WORKAROUND>[,<WORKAROUND>]... ]
              Use workarounds specified in the argument.

       -x     Include WM_CLASS in the window list or interpret <WIN> as the WM_CLASS name.

ARGUMENTS

       <DESK> A  Desktop  is always specified by an integer which represents the desktop numbers.
              Desktop numbers start at 0.

       <MVARG>
              A move and resize argument has the format 'g,x,y,w,h'.   All  five  components  are
              integers.  The  first value, g, is the gravity of the window, with 0 being the most
              common value (the default value for the window). Please see the EWMH  specification
              for other values.

              The  four  remaining  values  are  a  standard  geometry  specification: x,y is the
              position of the top left corner of the window, and w,h is the width and  height  of
              the  window, with the exception that the value of -1 in any position is interpreted
              to mean that the current geometry value should not be modified.

       <WIN>  This argument specifies a window that is the target of an action.  By  default  the
              argument  is  treated  as  if  were a string, and windows are examined until one is
              found with a title the contains the specified string as a substring. The  substring
              matching  is  done in a case insensitive manner. The -F option may be used to force
              exact, case sensitive title matching. The option -i may be used  to  interpret  the
              window target as a numeric window identity instead of a string.

              The  window  name string :SELECT: is treated specially. If this window name is used
              then wmctrl waits for the user to select the target window by clicking on it.

              The window name string :ACTIVE: may be used to instruct wmctrl to use the currently
              active window for the action.

       <WORKAROUND>
              There  is  only  one work around currently implemeted. It is specified by using the
              string DESKTOP_TITLES_INVALID_UTF8 and it causes the printing of non-ASCII  desktop
              tiles correctly when using Window Maker.

EXAMPLES

       Getting a list of windows managed by the window manager

              wmctrl -l

       Getting a list of windows with PID and geometry information.

              wmctrl -p -G -l

       Going to the window with a name containing 'emacs' in it

              wmctrl -a emacs

       Shade a window with a title that contains the word 'mozilla'

              wmctrl -r mozilla -b add,shaded

       Close a very specifically titled window sticky

              wmctrl -F -c 'Debian bug tracking system - Mozilla'

       Toggle the 'stickiness' of a window with a specific window identity

              wmctrl -i -r 0x0120002 -b add,sticky

       Change the title of window to a specified string but choose the window by clicking on it

              wmctrl -r :SELECT: -T "Selected Window"

SEE ALSO

       zenity(1) is a useful dialog program for building scripts with wmctrl.

       Some  examples  of  EWMH/NetWM  compatible  window  managers  include  recent  versions of
       Enlightenment, Icewm, Kwin, Sawfish and Xfce.

AUTHOR

       wmctrl was written by Tomas Styblo <tripie@cpan.org>.

       This manual page was written by Shyamal Prasad  <shyamal@member.fsf.org>  for  the  Debian
       project (but may be used by others).

                                        December 12, 2004                               WMCTRL(1)