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xscreensaver-command(1)	      XScreenSaver manual      xscreensaver-command(1)

NAME
       xscreensaver-command - control a running xscreensaver process

SYNOPSIS
       xscreensaver-command  [-display	host:display.screen]  [-help | -demo |
       -prefs | -activate | -deactivate | -cycle | -next | -prev | -select n |
       -exit | -restart | -lock | -version | -time | -watch]

DESCRIPTION
       The   xscreensaver-command  program  controls  a	 running  xscreensaver
       process by sending it client-messages.

       xscreensaver(1) has a client-server model: the xscreensaver process  is
       a  daemon  that runs in the background; it is controlled by other fore‐
       ground programs such as xscreensaver-command and xscreensaver-demo(1).

       This program, xscreensaver-command, is  a  command-line-oriented	 tool;
       the xscreensaver-demo(1).  program is a graphical tool.

OPTIONS
       xscreensaver-command accepts the following command-line options:

       -help   Prints a brief summary of command-line options.

       -demo   This  just  launches the xscreensaver-demo(1) program, in which
	       one can experiment with the various graphics  hacks  available,
	       and edit parameters.

       -demo number
	       When  the  -demo option is followed by an integer, it instructs
	       the xscreensaver daemon to run that hack, and wait for the user
	       to click the mouse before deactivating (i.e., mouse motion does
	       not deactivate.)	 This  is  the	mechanism  by  which  xscreen‐
	       saver-demo(1)  communicates  with  the  xscreensaver(1) daemon.
	       (The first hack in the list is numbered 1, not 0.)

       -prefs  Like the no-argument form of -demo, but	brings	up  that  pro‐
	       gram's Preferences panel by default.

       -activate
	       Tell  xscreensaver  to  turn on immediately (that is, blank the
	       screen, as if the user had been idle  for  long	enough.)   The
	       screensaver will deactivate as soon as there is any user activ‐
	       ity, as usual.

	       It is useful to run this from a menu; you may wish to run it as
	       sleep 5 ; xscreensaver-command -activate
	       to be sure that you have time to take your hand off  the	 mouse
	       before  the  screensaver	 comes on.  (Because if you jiggle the
	       mouse, xscreensaver will notice, and deactivate.)

       -deactivate
	       This tells xscreensaver to pretend that	there  has  just  been
	       user  activity.	 This  means that if the screensaver is active
	       (the screen is blanked),	 then  this  command  will  cause  the
	       screen  to  un-blank  as	 if  there  had been keyboard or mouse
	       activity.  If the screen is locked, then	 the  password	dialog
	       will  pop  up  first,  as usual.	 If the screen is not blanked,
	       then this simulated user activity will re-start	the  countdown
	       (so, issuing the -deactivate command periodically is one way to
	       prevent the screen from blanking.)

       -cycle  If the screensaver is active (the screen is blanked), then stop
	       the current graphics demo and run a new one (chosen randomly.)

       -next   This  is like either -activate or -cycle, depending on which is
	       more appropriate, except that the graphics hack	that  will  be
	       run  is	the next one in the list, instead of a randomly-chosen
	       one.  In other words, repeatedly executing -next will cause the
	       xscreensaver process to invoke each graphics demo sequentially.
	       (Though using the -demo option is probably  an  easier  way  to
	       accomplish that.)

       -prev   This is like -next, but cycles in the other direction.

       -select number
	       Like  -activate, but runs the Nth element in the list of hacks.
	       By knowing what is in the programs list, and in what order, you
	       can  use	 this  to  activate  the screensaver with a particular
	       graphics demo.  (The first element in the list is  numbered  1,
	       not 0.)

       -exit   Causes  the xscreensaver process to exit gracefully.  This does
	       nothing if the display is currently locked.

	       Warning: never use kill -9 with xscreensaver while the  screen‐
	       saver  is  active.  If you are using a virtual root window man‐
	       ager, that can leave things in an inconsistent state,  and  you
	       may need to restart your window manager to repair the damage.

       -lock   Tells the running xscreensaver process to lock the screen imme‐
	       diately.	 This is like -activate, but forces locking  as	 well,
	       even  if	 locking is not the default (that is, even if xscreen‐
	       saver's lock resource is false, and  even  if  the  lockTimeout
	       resource is non-zero.)

	       Note  that locking doesn't work unless the xscreensaver process
	       is running as you.  See xscreensaver(1) for details.

       -version
	       Prints the version of xscreensaver that is currently running on
	       the  display: that is, the actual version number of the running
	       xscreensaver background process, rather than the version number
	       of   xscreensaver-command.   (To	 see  the  version  number  of
	       xscreensaver-command itself, use the -help option.)

       -time   Prints the time at which	 the  screensaver  last	 activated  or
	       deactivated  (roughly,  how long the user has been idle or non-
	       idle: but not quite, since it only tells you  when  the	screen
	       became blanked or un-blanked.)

       -restart
	       Causes  the  screensaver	 process to exit and then restart with
	       the same command line arguments as last	time.	You  shouldn't
	       really  need  to	 do  this, since xscreensaver notices when the
	       .xscreensaver file has changed and re-reads it as needed.

       -watch  Prints a line each time the screensaver changes state: when the
	       screen  blanks,	locks,	unblanks,  or when the running hack is
	       changed.	 This option never returns; it is intended for use  by
	       shell  scripts  that  want  to react to the screensaver in some
	       way.  An example of its output would be:
	       BLANK Fri Nov  5 01:57:22 1999
	       RUN 34
	       RUN 79
	       RUN 16
	       LOCK Fri Nov  5 01:57:22 1999
	       RUN 76
	       RUN 12
	       UNBLANK Fri Nov	5 02:05:59 1999
	       The above shows the screensaver activating, running three  dif‐
	       ferent  hacks,  then  locking (perhaps because the lock-timeout
	       went off) then unblanking (because the user became active,  and
	       typed  the correct password.)  The hack numbers are their index
	       in the `programs' list (starting with 1,	 not  0,  as  for  the
	       -select command.)

	       For  example, suppose you want to run a program that turns down
	       the volume on your machine when the screen blanks, and turns it
	       back  up	 when the screen un-blanks.  You could do that by run‐
	       ning a Perl program like the following in the background.   The
	       following  program  tracks the output of the -watch command and
	       reacts accordingly:
	       #!/usr/bin/perl

	       my $blanked = 0;
	       open (IN, "xscreensaver-command -watch |");
	       while (<IN>) {
		   if (m/^(BLANK|LOCK)/) {
		       if (!$blanked) {
			   system "sound-off";
			   $blanked = 1;
		       }
		   } elsif (m/^UNBLANK/) {
		       system "sound-on";
		       $blanked = 0;
		   }
	       }
	       Note that LOCK might come either with or	 without  a  preceding
	       BLANK  (depending  on whether the lock-timeout is non-zero), so
	       the above program keeps track of both of them.

STOPPING GRAPHICS
       If xscreensaver is running, but you want	 it  to	 stop  running	screen
       hacks (e.g., if you are logged in remotely, and you want the console to
       remain locked but just be black, with no	 graphics  processes  running)
       you  can	 accomplish that by simply powering down the monitor remotely.
       In a minute or so, xscreensaver will notice that the  monitor  is  off,
       and will stop running screen hacks.  You can power off the monitor like
       so:
       xset dpms force off
       See the xset(1) manual for more info.

       You can also use xscreensaver-demo(1) to make the  monitor  power  down
       after a few hours, meaning that xscreensaver will run graphics until it
       has been idle for the length of time you specified; and after that, the
       monitor will power off, and screen hacks will stop being run.

DIAGNOSTICS
       If an error occurs while communicating with the xscreensaver daemon, or
       if the daemon reports an error, a diagnostic message will be printed to
       stderr,	and  xscreensaver-command will exit with a non-zero value.  If
       the command is accepted, an indication of this will be printed to  std‐
       out, and the exit value will be zero.

ENVIRONMENT
       DISPLAY to get the host and display number of the screen whose saver is
	       to be manipulated.

       PATH    to find the executable to restart (for the  -restart  command).
	       Note  that this variable is consulted in the environment of the
	       xscreensaver process, not the xscreensaver-command process.

UPGRADES
       The latest version of xscreensaver(1) and related tools can  always  be
       found at http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/

SEE ALSO
       X(1), xscreensaver(1), xscreensaver-demo(1), xset(1)

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
       2005 by Jamie Zawinski.	Permission to use, copy,  modify,  distribute,
       and  sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby
       granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in
       all  copies  and	 that  both  that copyright notice and this permission
       notice appear in supporting documentation.  No representations are made
       about the suitability of this software for any purpose.	It is provided
       "as is" without express or implied warranty.

AUTHOR
       Jamie Zawinski <jwz@jwz.org>, 13-aug-92.

       Please let me know if you find any bugs or make any improvements.

X Version 11		      5.07 (10-Aug-2008)       xscreensaver-command(1)
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