XParseGeometry(3) XLIB FUNCTIONS XParseGeometry(3)
NAME
XParseGeometry, XWMGeometry - parse window geometry
SYNTAX
int XParseGeometry(_Xconst char *parsestring, int *x_return, int *y_re-
turn, unsigned int *width_return, unsigned int *height_return);
int XWMGeometry(Display *display, int screen, _Xconst char *user_geom,
_Xconst char *def_geom, unsigned int bwidth, XSizeHints *hints,
int *x_return, int *y_return, int *width_return, int *height_re-
turn, int *gravity_return);
ARGUMENTS
position
default_position
Specify the geometry specifications.
display Specifies the connection to the X server.
fheight
fwidth Specify the font height and width in pixels (increment size).
parsestring
Specifies the string you want to parse.
screen Specifies the screen.
width_return
height_return
Return the width and height determined.
xadder
yadder Specify additional interior padding needed in the window.
x_return
y_return Return the x and y offsets.
bwidth Specifies the border width.
hints Specifies the size hints for the window in its normal state.
def_geom Specifies the application's default geometry or NULL.
gravity_return
Returns the window gravity.
user_geom Specifies the user-specified geometry or NULL.
DESCRIPTION
By convention, X applications use a standard string to indicate window
size and placement. XParseGeometry makes it easier to conform to this
standard because it allows you to parse the standard window geometry.
Specifically, this function lets you parse strings of the form:
[=][<width>{xX}<height>][{+-}<xoffset>{+-}<yoffset>]
The fields map into the arguments associated with this function. (Items
enclosed in <> are integers, items in [] are optional, and items en-
closed in {} indicate “choose one of.” Note that the brackets should
not appear in the actual string.) If the string is not in the Host
Portable Character Encoding, the result is implementation-dependent.
The XParseGeometry function returns a bitmask that indicates which of
the four values (width, height, xoffset, and yoffset) were actually
found in the string and whether the x and y values are negative. By
convention, -0 is not equal to +0, because the user needs to be able to
say “position the window relative to the right or bottom edge.” For
each value found, the corresponding argument is updated. For each value
not found, the argument is left unchanged. The bits are represented by
XValue, YValue, WidthValue, HeightValue, XNegative, or YNegative and are
defined in X11/Xutil.h. They will be set whenever one of the values is
defined or one of the signs is set.
If the function returns either the XValue or YValue flag, you should
place the window at the requested position.
The XWMGeometry function combines any geometry information (given in the
format used by XParseGeometry) specified by the user and by the calling
program with size hints (usually the ones to be stored in WM_NOR-
MAL_HINTS) and returns the position, size, and gravity (NorthWestGrav-
ity, NorthEastGravity, SouthEastGravity, or SouthWestGravity) that de-
scribe the window. If the base size is not set in the XSizeHints struc-
ture, the minimum size is used if set. Otherwise, a base size of zero
is assumed. If no minimum size is set in the hints structure, the base
size is used. A mask (in the form returned by XParseGeometry) that de-
scribes which values came from the user specification and whether or not
the position coordinates are relative to the right and bottom edges is
returned. Note that these coordinates will have already been accounted
for in the x_return and y_return values.
Note that invalid geometry specifications can cause a width or height of
zero to be returned. The caller may pass the address of the hints
win_gravity field as gravity_return to update the hints directly.
SEE ALSO
XSetWMProperties(3)
Xlib - C Language X Interface
X Version 11 libX11 1.8.12 XParseGeometry(3)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Fri Oct 2 15:10:53 CEST 2026.