XKILL(1) MachTen Programmer’s Manual XKILL(1)

NAME
xkill - kill a client by its X resource

SYNOPSIS
xkill [-display displayname] [-id resource] [-button num-
ber] [-frame] [-all]

DESCRIPTION
Xkill is a utility for forcing the X server to close con-
nections to clients. This program is very dangerous, but
is useful for aborting programs that have displayed unde-
sired windows on a user’s screen. If no resource identi-
fier is given with -id, xkill will display a special cur-
sor as a prompt for the user to select a window to be
killed. If a pointer button is pressed over a non-root
window, the server will close its connection to the client
that created the window.

OPTIONS
-display displayname
This option specifies the name of the X server to
contact.

-id resource
This option specifies the X identifier for the
resource whose creator is to be aborted. If no
resource is specified, xkill will display a spe-
cial cursor with which you should select a window
to be kill.

-button number
This option specifies the number of pointer button
that should be used in selecting a window to kill.
If the word "any" is specified, any button on the
pointer may be used. By default, the first button
in the pointer map (which is usually the leftmost
button) is used.

-all This option indicates that all clients with top-
level windows on the screen should be killed.
Xkill will ask you to select the root window with
each of the currently defined buttons to give you
several chances to abort. Use of this option is
highly discouraged.

-frame This option indicates that xkill should ignore the
standard conventions for finding top-level client
windows (which are typically nested inside a win-
dow manager window), and simply believe that you
want to kill direct children of the root.

XDEFAULTS
Button Specifies a specific pointer button number or the
word "any" to use when selecting windows.

SEE ALSO
X(1), xwininfo(1), XKillClient and XGetPointerMapping in
the Xlib Programmers Manual, KillClient in the X Protocol
Specification

AUTHOR
Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium
Dana Chee, Bellcore

X Version 11 Release 6 2