xcb_get_property(3) XCB Requests xcb_get_property(3)
NAME
xcb_get_property - Gets a window property
SYNOPSIS
#include <xcb/xproto.h>
Request function
xcb_get_property_cookie_t xcb_get_property(xcb_connection_t *conn,
uint8_t _delete, xcb_window_t window, xcb_atom_t property,
xcb_atom_t type, uint32_t long_offset, uint32_t long_length);
Reply datastructure
typedef struct xcb_get_property_reply_t {
uint8_t response_type;
uint8_t format;
uint16_t sequence;
uint32_t length;
xcb_atom_t type;
uint32_t bytes_after;
uint32_t value_len;
uint8_t pad0[12];
} xcb_get_property_reply_t;
Reply function
xcb_get_property_reply_t *xcb_get_property_reply(xcb_connection_t *conn,
xcb_get_property_cookie_t cookie, xcb_generic_error_t **e);
Reply accessors
void *xcb_get_property_value(const xcb_get_property_request_t *reply);
int xcb_get_property_value_length(const xcb_get_property_reply_t
*reply);
xcb_generic_iterator_t xcb_get_property_value_end(const
xcb_get_property_reply_t *reply);
REQUEST ARGUMENTS
conn The XCB connection to X11.
_delete Whether the property should actually be deleted. For deleting
a property, the specified type has to match the actual proper-
ty type.
window The window whose property you want to get.
property The property you want to get (an atom).
type The type of the property you want to get (an atom).
long_offset
Specifies the offset (in 32-bit multiples) in the specified
property where the data is to be retrieved.
long_length
Specifies how many 32-bit multiples of data should be re-
trieved (e.g. if you set long_length to 4, you will receive 16
bytes of data).
REPLY FIELDS
response_type
The type of this reply, in this case XCB_GET_PROPERTY. This
field is also present in the xcb_generic_reply_t and can be
used to tell replies apart from each other.
sequence The sequence number of the last request processed by the X11
server.
length The length of the reply, in words (a word is 4 bytes).
format Specifies whether the data should be viewed as a list of
8-bit, 16-bit, or 32-bit quantities. Possible values are 8,
16, and 32. This information allows the X server to correctly
perform byte-swap operations as necessary.
type The actual type of the property (an atom).
bytes_after
The number of bytes remaining to be read in the property if a
partial read was performed.
value_len The length of value. You should use the corresponding accessor
instead of this field.
DESCRIPTION
Gets the specified property from the specified window. Properties are
for example the window title (WM_NAME) or its minimum size (WM_NOR-
MAL_HINTS). Protocols such as EWMH also use properties - for example
EWMH defines the window title, encoded as UTF-8 string, in the
_NET_WM_NAME property.
TODO: talk about type
TODO: talk about delete
TODO: talk about the offset/length thing. what's a valid use case?
RETURN VALUE
Returns an xcb_get_property_cookie_t. Errors have to be handled when
calling the reply function xcb_get_property_reply.
If you want to handle errors in the event loop instead, use
xcb_get_property_unchecked. See xcb-requests(3) for details.
ERRORS
xcb_atom_error_t
property or type do not refer to a valid atom.
xcb_value_error_t
The specified long_offset is beyond the actual property length
(e.g. the property has a length of 3 bytes and you are setting
long_offset to 1, resulting in a byte offset of 4).
xcb_window_error_t
The specified window does not exist.
EXAMPLE
/*
* Prints the WM_NAME property of the window.
*
*/
void my_example(xcb_connection_t *c, xcb_window_t window) {
xcb_get_property_cookie_t cookie;
xcb_get_property_reply_t *reply;
/* These atoms are predefined in the X11 protocol. */
xcb_atom_t property = XCB_ATOM_WM_NAME;
xcb_atom_t type = XCB_ATOM_STRING;
// TODO: a reasonable long_length for WM_NAME?
cookie = xcb_get_property(c, 0, window, property, type, 0, 0);
if ((reply = xcb_get_property_reply(c, cookie, NULL))) {
int len = xcb_get_property_value_length(reply);
if (len == 0) {
printf("TODO\n");
free(reply);
return;
}
printf("WM_NAME is %.*s\n", len,
(char*)xcb_get_property_value(reply));
}
free(reply);
}
SEE ALSO
xcb-requests(3), xcb-examples(3), xcb_intern_atom(3), xprop(1)
AUTHOR
Generated from xproto.xml. Contact xcb@lists.freedesktop.org for correc-
tions and improvements.
X Version 11 libxcb 1.17.0 xcb_get_property(3)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Sat Oct 3 10:25:35 CEST 2026.