xenial (1) xcb.1.gz

Provided by: xcb_2.4-4.3_amd64 bug

NAME

       xcb - X Cut Buffers - Pigeon holes for your cut and paste selections.

SYNOPSIS

       xcb [Xt option] [-l layout] [-n count] [-p|-s|-S list] [-r count]

DESCRIPTION

       Xcb  provides  easy  access  to  the  cut buffers built into every X server.  It allows the buffers to be
       manipulated either via the command line, or with the mouse in a point and click manner.  The buffers  can
       be used as holding pens to store and retrieve arbitrary data fragments.  Any number of cut buffers may be
       created, so any number of different pieces of data can be saved and recalled later.  By  default,  8  cut
       buffers are created.  The program is designed primarily for use with textual data.

       Xcb  has  two modes of operation.  Normally xcb provides an array of windows on your display, one per cut
       buffer, tiled horizontally, vertically, or in some user  specified  layout.   Each  window  displays  the
       contents  of  its  respective  cut  buffer.   Data can be cut from and pasted to the windows in a similar
       manner to xterm.  The buffers can also be rotated.

       In task mode, xcb lets you access the cut buffers from the command line.  Cut buffers can be loaded  from
       stdin,  copied  or  concatenated  to  stdout,  loaded  using the current PRIMARY selection, or rotated an
       arbitrary number of positions.  In this mode of operation, xcb  performs  the  requested  task  and  then
       exits.  It does not create any windows and has no interaction with the mouse or keyboard.

OPTIONS

       Xcb  supports  the  full set of X Toolkit Intrinsics options, as well as those listed below.  Xcb options
       can appear in any order.  The presence of the -p, -r, -s or -S options causes  xcb  to  execute  in  task
       mode, described above.

       -l layout
              This  option  controls  the  geometry  arrangement  of  xcb's  subwindows.  It is the command line
              equivalent of the .layout resource, described below.

       -n count
              Create count cut buffers.  Count can be any integer greater than zero.  This option is the command
              line equivalent of the .bufferCount resource, described below.

       -u     Use utf-8 instead of the current locale settings when executing in task mode and doing I/O.

       -V     Print the xcb release version number and exit immediately.

       -p list
              Print  the contents of the listed buffer(s) on stdout.  The buffered data is printed exactly as it
              is stored in the server.  Selecting two or more buffers has the effect of concatenating  the  data
              on  stdout.   The  cut  buffers  are  numbered from 0... onwards.  The list can be either a single
              digit, a comma separated list of digits, a range of the form m-n, or some combination of lists and
              ranges.   The  buffers are printed in listed order, so repeated numbers in the list can be used to
              duplicate buffer contents.

       -r count
              Rotate the buffers by count positions.  Count can be any  integer,  positive  or  negative.   This
              option may be used in conjunction with the -n count option to rotate a specific number of buffers.
              If the -n option is not used, xcb will rotate the number of  buffers  given  by  the  .bufferCount
              resource.

       -s list
              Store the data from stdin in the listed buffer(s).  If the list refers to two or more buffers, the
              input data is duplicated in each buffer.  Refer to the -p option for the definition of a list.

       -S list
              Store the current PRIMARY selection data in the listed buffer(s).  The  data  is  converted  to  a
              string  representation.   If  the  list  refers  to  two or more buffers, the PRIMARY selection is
              duplicated in each buffer.  Refer to the -p option for the definition of a  list.   Under  the  -S
              option  xcb  waits for the nominated cut buffer's contents to change before exiting.  If no change
              is detected within 3 seconds, xcb exits with a non-zero return code.

WIDGETS and RESOURCES

       The xcb widget hierarchy consists of a collection of custom buffer widgets, one per cut buffer.   In  the
       Athena version of the program, these buffer widgets are all contained within a single Athena form widget.
       In the Motif version of the program, they are each enclosed by Motif frame widgets, and the frame widgets
       are all contained within a single Motif RowColumn widget.

       The  names  of the buffer widgets are "buffer0", "buffer1", "buffer2", .... etc., and their class name is
       "Buffer".  Each buffer widget supports all the standard core widget resources, plus the  .foreground  and
       .fontSet resources.

       Application wide resources are as follows:

         .bufferCount (default value 8)
               This is the number of buffer widgets to create.
               Any number of widgets (greater than zero) can be created.

         .layout (default value "h")
               Only the first character of the resource value is significant.
               This is the geometry arrangement to apply in the container widget.
               The layout can be "h" (horizontal), "v" (vertical), or some
               other value to disable the inbuilt geometry code and specify
               the layout via your X resources.  An example is provided in the
               application default resources file.

EVENTS and TRANSLATIONS

       Xcb's  input semantics are coded into a Toolkit translation table.  The default bindings have been chosen
       to conform with the default configuration of other cut and paste clients, such as  xterm.   The  bindings
       may be altered or overridden according to your needs.  The actions functions provided by xcb are:-

       cut()           causes the contents of the chosen cut buffer to become
                       the PRIMARY selection.  The window contents, if any,
                       are highlighted, and can then be pasted into other
                       cut buffers or applications.

       paste()         causes the value of the PRIMARY selection to be
                       converted into text and pasted into the chosen cut
                       buffer, overwriting any previous buffer contents.
                       If no PRIMARY selection is present, xcb pastes
                       the contents of cut buffer zero into the chosen buffer.

       clear()         clears the chosen cut buffer.

       rotate(NN)      rotates the cut buffers by NN positions.  NN may
                       be any positive or negative number.

       refresh()       causes the cut buffer window to be cleared and redrawn.

       selreq()        this action function handles paste requests
                       from other clients, or other xcb windows.
                       It should always be bound to SelectionRequest events.

       selclear()      this action function responds to the loss of
                       ownership of the PRIMARY selection property.
                       It should always be bound to SelectionClear events.

       quit()          causes xcb to terminate.

       The default bindings are as follows:-

       <Btn1Down>:         cut() \n\
       Shift <Btn2Down>:   clear() \n\
       <Btn2Down>:         paste() \n\
       Shift <Btn3Down>:   rotate(-1) \n\
       <Btn3Down>:         rotate(1) \n\
       <Key>Left:          rotate(-1) \n\
       <Key>Right:         rotate(1) \n\
       <Key>Up:            rotate(-1) \n\
       <Key>Down:          rotate(1) \n\
       <Key>q:             quit() \n\
       <SelReq>:           selreq() \n\
       <SelClr>:           selclear()

EXAMPLES

       The following are some examples of xcb task mode usage:-

       xcb -s 0-7 < /dev/null
       This clears the first 8 cut buffers in your server.

       echo "G'day." | xcb -display bigears:0.0 -s 1,3,5,7
       This loads the string "G'day." into four of the cut buffers on the display "bigears".

       xsendevent -win buffer5 '<Btn1Down>'
       This  uses  the  program  xsendevent  to  send a synthetic mouse click event to an xcb subwindow, thereby
       making that window the owner of the PRIMARY selection.

       ls `xcb -p 2,3`
       This produces a listing of all the files named in cut buffers 2 and 3.

       xcb -p 0-7 | xcb -s 0
       This concatenates the values in the first 8 cut buffers, and places the result back in cut buffer zero.

       xcb -S 0 && xcb -p 0
       The first command copies the current PRIMARY selection into the first cut buffer.  If the copy  succeeds,
       then the second command prints that data on stdout.

       for i in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
       do
               xcb -p $i > $HOME/.xcb/$i
       done
       for i in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
       do
               xcb -s $i < $HOME/.xcb/$i
       done
       This  first  loop  saves  the  contents  of  each  of  the cut buffers in a separate file under your home
       directory.  The second loop restores the cut buffer contents from  those  files.   When  placed  in  your
       .logout  and .login scripts respectively, the commands are a simple method of preserving your cut buffers
       across login sessions.

       function g {
               echo "$1\\c" | xcb -s 7
               grep "$@"
       }
       function vg {
               vi +/`xcb -p 7` "$@"
       }
       These two shell functions exemplify a simple mechanism for saving and reusing regular  expressions.   The
       first  function saves the regex used for grep-ing into cut buffer 7.  The second function reuses the most
       recent grep regex as a search command in vi.  There is considerable scope  for  expanding  and  improving
       these ideas.

SEE ALSO

       xterm(1), xcutsel(1), xclipboard(1), xprop(1)
       Athena Widget Set - C Language Interface
       Motif Programmers Reference Guide

AUTHORS

       Current Maintainer (I18n version)
       Marc Lehmann
       E-mail: pcg@goof.com

       Original Author
       Farrell McKay
       E-mail: Farrell.McKay@mpx.com.au

       XView modifications provided by Danny Vanderryn
       E-mail: dvanderr@us.oracle.com

       Copyright (C) 1992,1993,1994 by Farrell McKay.

       Permission  to  use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and
       without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appears in all  copies  and  that
       both  that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation.  This software
       is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

BUGS :-)

       Xlib's underlying protocol for moving selection data between client and server  can  sometimes  be  slow,
       depending  on  the amount of data involved.  Do not expect fast performance if your selections are big or
       you want to store big files in your cut buffers!  ("big" means, say, over 10k bytes -  but  your  mileage
       may vary).