C    Commands That Help You Manage Windows

In addition to the Motif window manager (mwm), the following commands are also useful in managing windows:

• resize

• xrefresh

C.1    Resetting Environment Variables with resize

The resize command resets the tty's size information and displays a command which you can use in your shell to define the value of the TERMCAP environment variable (which contains window length and width information). This enables a shell to reflect the current size of its window.

Do not confuse resize, the command, with the window manager function f.resize. The f.resize function changes the size of a window, but does not reset any environment variables. The resize command, on the other hand, does not change the size of a window, but it does reset the tty's window size information and displays a command that can be used to reset the TERMCAP environment variable. Resetting this tty size information and/or the TERMCAP environment variable enables character-cell programs to adjust their output to the window's new size.

C.1.1    When to Use resize

Use resize when you notice that a character-cell program or shell does not seem to be using correct window size information.

Usually, it is not necessary to use the resize command. Terminal emulators, ttys, and shells use escape sequences, system calls, and signals to communicate window size information, and they automatically keep this information up-to-date, reflecting any changes in the window size. Using resize may be necessary when using older implementations of rlogin or telnet, or LAT connections from an xterm or DECterm. The resize command may also be useful when using an ordinary video terminal with a screen size other than 24×80.

C.1.2    Example

After you have resized a window, either by dragging the window frame or by choosing Size from the window menu, you can reset the TERMCAP environment variable to reflect the new window size by issuing the following command:

% eval `resize`

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C.2    Repainting the Screen with xrefresh

The xrefresh client repaints the screen or a specified portion of the screen. This client performs a similar task to the f.refresh window manager function. However, the xrefresh client, because of its options, is more versatile.

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C.2.1    When to Use xrefresh

Occasionally, an X program might not clean up properly after itself, leaving graphics litter on the screen. Use xrefresh any time you want X to redisplay everything on the screen (or on a portion of the screen).

To use xrefresh, execute it from the command line of any terminal window. To repaint just a portion of the screen, use the -geometry option.

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C.2.2    Examples

The following command repaints the entire display:

xrefresh

This command repaints a portion of the display in the upper-left corner:

xrefresh  -white -geometry 400x200+1+1