DOKK / manpages / debian 11 / x11-xserver-utils / xrefresh.1.en
XREFRESH(1) General Commands Manual XREFRESH(1)

xrefresh - refresh all or part of an X screen

xrefresh [-option ...]

Xrefresh is a simple X program that causes all or part of your screen to be repainted. This is useful when system messages have messed up your screen. Xrefresh maps a window on top of the desired area of the screen and then immediately unmaps it, causing refresh events to be sent to all applications. By default, a window with no background is used, causing all applications to repaint ``smoothly.'' However, the various options can be used to indicate that a solid background (of any color) or the root window background should be used instead.

Use a white background. The screen just appears to flash quickly, and then repaint.
Use a black background (in effect, turning off all of the electron guns to the tube). This can be somewhat disorienting as everything goes black for a moment.
Use a solid background of the specified color. Try green.
Use the root window background.
This is the default. All of the windows simply repaint.
Specifies the portion of the screen to be repainted; see X(7).
This argument allows you to specify the server and screen to refresh; see X(7).
This argument prints the program version and exits.

The xrefresh program uses the routine XGetDefault(3) to read defaults, so its resource names are all capitalized.

Determines what sort of window background to use.
Determines the area to refresh. Not very useful.

X(7)

It should have just one default type for the background.

Jim Gettys, Digital Equipment Corp., MIT Project Athena

xrefresh 1.0.6 X Version 11