XKILL(1) User Commands XKILL(1)

NAME

xkill - kill a client by its X resource

SYNOPSIS

xkill [-display displayname] [-id resource] [-button number] [-frame]
[-all] [-version]

DESCRIPTION

Xkill is a utility for forcing the X server to close connections to
clients. This program is very dangerous, but is useful for aborting
programs that have displayed undesired windows on a user's screen.
If no resource identifier is given with -id, xkill will display a
special cursor 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 special 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 window manager window), and simply
believe that you want to kill direct children of the root.

-version
This option makes xkill print its version and exit without
killing anything.

CAVEATS

This command does not provide any warranty that the application whose
connection to the X server is closed will abort nicely, or even abort
at all. All this command does is to close the connection to the X
server. Many existing applications do indeed abort when their
connection to the X server is closed, but some can choose to
continue.

XDEFAULTS

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

SEE ALSO

X(7), xwininfo(1), XKillClient(3), XGetPointerMapping(3), KillClient
in the X Protocol Specification

AUTHOR

Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium
Dana Chee, Bellcore

X Version 11 xkill 1.0.6 XKILL(1)