---
name: "nawm"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "nawm"
version: "0.0.20030130-2.2"
release: "Debian 5.0 (Lenny)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/nawm"
---

# nawm(1)

I can't believe it's not a window manager!

## NAME

nawm - I can't believe it's not a window manager!

## SYNOPSIS

**nawm** \[-e *commands*\] \[-f *initfile*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**nawm** is not a window manager. Or at least, it used to not be a window manager. It's working its way there though.

## OPTIONS

**nawm** accepts a handful of command-line options:

- **-e *commands***

  The commands are one or more semicolon-terminated nawm commands to execute.

- **-f *initfile***

  Read commands and bindings from the named file (or standard input if *initfile* is *-*).

- **-i *module***

  Load the named module. For more information about available nawm modules, see the **nawmmod**(3) man page. Modules can also be loaded using the **include** directive within a config file.

- **-o *option***

  Set an option. The only currently supported option is **nocapslock,** which tells nawm to ignore the state of the Caps Lock key in key and mouse bindings. Options can also be set using the **option** directive within a config file.

- **-w *windowmanager***

  Tells nawm what window manager you are using. Any string is accepted, but only two values currently cause non-default behavior:

- **nawm**

  Tells **nawm** that you aren't using any other window manager, so it should not try to look for and ignore window manager decorations (titlebars, etc).

- **vtwm.gamma**

  Tells **nawm** that you're using vtwm.gamma, so that nawm can compensate for a bug in vtwm.gamma's window moving and resizing code.

If no **-w** option is given, **nawm** will look at the final pathname component of the **WINDOW\_MANAGER** environment variable.

If no options are specified, **nawm** will read commands and bindings from **$HOME/.nawmrc**. **nawm** has no default settings. You must give it a configuration either on the command line or in a **.nawmrc** file.

If one or more **-e** options are specified and no **-f** options are (or if the configuration file(s) don't specify any bindings) then **nawm** will exit after executing the given commands.

## CONFIGURATION

A **.nawmrc** is a series of declarations of the following types:

- **include** "*module*";

  Loads the named module, as with the **-i** command-line option.

- **option** "*option*";

  Sets the named option, as with the **-o** command-line option.

- *vartype name* \[**,** *name* ...\]**;**

  Declares global variables. (See below for more information about data types.)

- *bindtype* \[*data*\] **{** *vardecls commands* **}**

  Declares a global binding. (See below for more information about bindings.)

- **command** *name* \[ *arg* \[**,** *arg* ...\]\] **{** *vardecls commands* **}**

  Declares a global command. If you declare arguments to the function, you must include variable declarations for those arguments in the function body (in order, as the first variable declarations in the body) so that nawm knows their types. The declaration of the command is visible within the function itself, allowing recursive calls.

- **function** *type name* **(** \[ *arg* \[**,** *arg* ...\]\] **) {** *vardecls commands* **}**

  Declares a global function.

- **mode *name* { *bindings* }**

  Declares a mode, which can have local (static) variables, bindings, commands, and functions (declared as with global ones above). You can switch modes with the **setmode** command.

## TYPES

There are three primitive data types in nawm: **int**, **string**, and **window**, which represent the obvious kinds of data.

**string** values are implicitly converted to **window** values when necessary. (For example, the string **"Emacs"** will be converted to a **window** value corresponding to a window named "Emacs" if one exists.) Note also that an initial **window** argument to a command or function can be omitted, and the \`current window' will be substituted in. (The current window defaults to the window that the pointer is in when a binding is invoked.)

nawm also has arrays, which can be indexed by any primitive type. (e.g., "int\[string\] foo" declares foo to be an array of integers, indexed by strings. You could then say things like

foo\["Monday"\] = 7;

whatever that means. Multiple subscripts work as in C: string\[int\]\[int\]\[int\], for example. Arrays are dynamically sized. Looking up the value of an array element that you haven't set is undefined. You can unset an array element with the **del** special form. (Not to be confused with the **delete** command, which sends delete messages to windows.)

You can find out the number of elements currently in an array with the expression *arrayname*.**size**.

Arrays and strings that become inaccessible are garbage collected.

## BINDINGS

There are several types of event bindings.

- **begin { *commands* }**

  The commands will be executed when you enter the mode the binding appears in. If multiple **begin** declarations appear, they will be executed in order. A global **begin** binding will be executed at startup time after all command-line arguments are parsed but before the main loop is entered.

- **end { *commands* }**

  The commands will be executed when leave the mode the binding appears in. A global **end** binding will be executed immediately before nawm exits normally.

- **key**\[**press \| release**\] *keyname*

  Runs the associated commands when it gets a KeyPress or KeyRelease event for the named key with the given modifiers. **key** is an alias for **keypress**. *keyname* is a string, containing the X keysym name for the key, possibly preceded by one or more of the modifiers **shift**, **control**, **meta**, **alt**, **super**, **hyper**, **mod***n* for *n* from **1**-**5**, or **any**. *keyname* can also have multiple vertical-bar-separated keysym names so you can have similar bindings on slightly different keyboards. (For example, binding something to "KP\_F2 \| KP\_Divide".)

- **mouse**\[**press \| release**\] *buttonname*

  As with **key** bindings, but for ButtonPress events. *buttonname* is a string which can contain a name (**left**, **middle**, or **right**) or a number, and can be preceded by modifiers as with **key** bindings.

- **motion**

  Runs the associated commands whenever it gets a MotionNotify event (ie, the mouse is moved).

- **enter** \[*name*\]

  Runs the associated commands whenever the pointer enters the named window. If no name is given, the binding is run whenever the pointer enters any window.

- **leave** \[*name*\]

  As with **enter**, but when the pointer leaves a window.

## LANGUAGE

The .nawmrc configuration language is somewhat, but not entirely, unlike awk.

```
command [ expr [, expr...] ] ;
if ( expr ) command [ else command ]
for ( expr ; expr ; expr ) command
for ( var in arrayexpr ) command
while ( expr ) command
do command while ( expr ) ;
break ;
continue ;
del array [ subscript ]
{ commands }
```

***expr* ;**

## EXPRESSIONS

The following operators all do basically what you'd expect.\
 **= && \|\| \< \<= \> \>= == != + - \* / % ! in**

**+** is both addition and string concatenation. Equality and relational operators can be used on objects of any type. (A window is "greater than" the windows it is above on the screen.). **in** tests if an element is in an array. Parentheses can be used to change precedence.

Minimal expressions are numbers, strings (which are converted to **window**s in some contexts), variables, and function calls.

## BUILTINS

Built-in commands:

- **beep**

  beep!

- **cut *string***

  copy the string to the X cut buffer. (Not yet implemented.)

- **delete *window***

  send a WM\_DELETE message to the indicated window.

- **destroy *window***

  send a WM\_DESTROY message to the indicated window.

- **dsize *window*, *dwidth*, *dheight***

  discretely resize the window by the given deltas.

- **dsizeto *window*, *width*, *height***

  discretely resize the window to the given width and height. For example, **dsizeto "xterm", 132, 48** would resize an xterm to 132 columns by 48 rows, as opposed to **sizeto "xterm", 132, 48**, which would size it to 132 by 48 pixels.

- **exec *string***

  parse and execute the given string of nawmrc commands. This can be used to add modes and bindings as well. (Not yet implemented.)

- **exit**

  exit nawm (after running the global **end** binding, if any).

- **find *window***

  set *window* to be the current window. (This is equivalent to **currentwindow =** *window).*

- **grab**

  *grabs the X server. Prevents other programs from interfering with nawm.* *You probably want to call* **ungrab** *not too long after calling* *this.*

- **lower *window***

  *lowers the window to the bottom of the stack*

- **map *window***

  *maps the window*

- **mouseclick *button*, *x*, *y***

  *clicks the indicated mouse button (given as a string, as with* **button** *event bindings) at the given x and y coordinates.* *(Negative coordinates measure from the right or bottom of the screen.)* *button can include modifiers, in which case those modifier keys* *will be held down while nawm is clicking.*

- **move *window*, *dx*, *dy***

  *moves the window by the given deltas*

- **moveto *window*, *x*, *y***

  *moves the window to the specified absolute position on the screen.* *x and y are treated like coordinates in X geometries:* *negative values measure from the right or bottom of the screen.*

- **put *string***

  *writes the string to stdout*

- **raise *window***

  *raises the window to the top of the stack*

- **refresh**

  *redraws all windows*

- **restart**

  *restarts nawm and rereads the configuration file(s). The global* **begin** *binding will be rerun, although the global* **end** *binding won't. This behavior might change in the future if I decide* *it's a bug.*

- **setled *number*, *state***

  *set the indicated keyboard LED to the given state (0 for off, 1 for* *on). The mapping from numbers to LEDs is entirely OS-specific, and on* *some OSes, this doesn't actually have any effect.*

- **setrepeat *key*, *state***

  *set the autorepeat state for the given key (0 for off, 1 for on).*

- **size *window*, *dwidth*, *dheight***

  *resize the window by the given deltas.*

- **sizeto *window*, *width*, *height***

  *resize the window to the given absolute width and height.*

- **sync**

  *wait for the X server to catch up with any queued requests before* *continuing. You may need to use this if a binding changes something* *on the screen and then tries to act on the effects of those changes* *later on.*

- **system *commands***

  *pass the commands (a string) to a shell to execute.*

- **type *string***

  *types the string into the current window.*

- **typekey *keyname***

  *types the given keyname (like with key bindings) into the current* *window.*

- **unfocus**

  *break any explicitly-declared pointer focus. If you are running* *another windowmanager, it may grab it back, but this can be useful in* *recovering from poorly-behaved applications.*

- **ungrab**

  *Un-grab the X server.*

- **unmap *window***

  *unmap the window*

- **warp *dx*, *dy***

  *move the cursor the given delta x and delta y*

- **warpto *x*, *y***

  *move the cursor to the given absolute coordinates (negative* *coordinates are treated as with moveto).*

- **warptowindow *window***

  *move the cursor to the center of the given window and make it the* *current window.*

*Built-in functions:*

- **at(*x*, *y*)**

  *returns the window located at the given point*

- **atoi(*str*)**

  *converts a string representation of a number into an integer value*

- **dheight(*window*)**

  *returns the discrete height of the window*

- **dwidth(*window*)**

  *returns the discrete width of the window*

- **env(*str*)**

  *looks up str in the environment and returns a string* *corresponding to its value.*

- **focuswindow()**

  *returns the window that currently has the keyboard focus*

- **getled(*number*)**

  *returns the status of the numbered keyboard LED (0 for off, 1 for on).* *If the operating system does not support changing the LED states in* *software, then this merely returns the state as allegedly set by* *setled.*

- **getrepeat(*key*)**

  *returns whether or not the named key autorepeats.*

- **hasname(*window*, *str*)**

  *returns 1 if the given window has the given string as either its name* *or one of its class names. "hasname(win, x)" is a more robust version* *of "name(win) == x".*

- **height(*window*)**

  *returns the height of the window*

- **mapped(*window*)**

  *returns whether or not the window is currently mapped*

- **name(*window*)**

  *returns the name of the given window*

- **pick()**

  *allows the user to select a window, and returns that window. Also sets* *currentwindow.*

- **pointerwindow()**

  *returns the window that the pointer is currently in*

- **px(), py()**

  *return the x and y coordinates of the current pointer location.*

- **width(*window*)**

  *returns the width of the window*

- **win(*name*)**

  *returns the window with the given name: for use when you need to* *explicitly convert a string to a window. (e.g, if you are testing* *if ("Xterm" \< "Emacs"), you'd need to use* **win** *to convert one of* *the two to a window to prevent them from being compared as strings.)*

- **windows()**

  *returns an array (window\[int\]) of current windows.*

- **xloc(*window*), yloc(*window*)**

  *returns the x and y coordinates of the top, left corner of the window*

*Built-in variables:*

- **currentwindow**

  *the window that is used by default when no window is specified in a* *command or function. (This variable is reset whenever a binding is* *run--usually to* **pointerwindow***, except in the case of "leave"* *events, where it's set to the window that the pointer has left, not* *the window it's in currently.)*

- **root**

  *the root window*

- **screenheight, screenwidth**

  *the height/width of the screen.*

## EXAMPLES

*See http://www.mit.edu/~nawm/samples/*

## BUGS

*Some*

## AUTHOR

*Dan Winship (danw@mit.edu)*\
 *based on the original nawm by Ken Duda and Chee Chew, with later* *modifications by George Madrid and Greg Stark.*