dclock - digital clock for X
dclock [-toolkitoption ...] [-option ...]
Dclock accepts all of the standard X Toolkit command line
options along with the additional options listed below:
- -help
- This option indicates that a brief summary of the allowed options should
be printed on the standard error.
- -bell
- -nobell
- This option, if enabled, indicates that the bell will beep once on the
half hour and twice on the hour.
- -bellFile
filename
- This specifies a sound file to use to play the dclock hourly chime. If
unspecified, or the string "NULL" is
used, the system beep is used instead. The sound file format must be
understood by the executable specified by option
"audioPlay". The
"NULL" value is a means to override a
system-level setting to disable external sound playing.
- -miltime
- -nomiltime
- This option, if enabled, causes the clock to display the time in 24 hour
(military) time format.
- -utc
- -noutc
- This option, causes the clock to display the UTC (GMT) time rather than
the default local time.
- -tails
- -notails
- This option places [or removes] "tails"
on the digits 6 and 9.
- -scroll
- -noscroll
- When the time changes, the digits scroll from the previous digit to the
next digit. The -noscroll option turns the behavior off.
- -blink
- -noblink
- The colon separating hours from minutes blinks on and off once per second.
With the -noblink option, it remains on permanently.
- -persist
- -nopersist
- This option determines whether or not the clock display remains in the
reverse video state after the alarm goes off.
- -fade
- -nofade
- This option, when enabled, causes the display to fade from one digit to
the next instead of jumping or scrolling. If fade is specified, the scroll
attribute will be automatically disabled.
- -fadeRate
n
- The fadeRate attribute takes an integer value which specifies the number
of milliseconds to wait between iterations when fading from one digit to
the next. A larger value will make the fade slower and more pronounced.
The default is 50.
- -audioPlay
filename
- Specifies an executable to use to play audio files for the bell and alarm.
The default is none, which falls back to using the system bell for both
the dclock bell and alarm.
- -date
"format"
- The date is printed under the time in the specified font. The string
displayed is in the "format" argument.
The format corresponds to the system call strftime() (see
strftime(3)).
dclock -date "Today is %A"
Useful examples of strftime() formatting:
- %A Full weekday name
- %a Three-char weekday name
(Sun, Mon, Tue...)
- %B Full month name
- %b Three-char month name
(Jan, Feb, Mar...)
- %d The date (numerical day
number of the month)
- %Y Full year (4 digits)
- %y 2-digit year number
- -dateup
- By default, the date string is at the bottom of the display. This option
starts it at the top, instead.
- -alarm
- -noalarm
- The alarm is turned on or off. Alarm rings bell and toggles reverse
video.
- -alarmTime
HH:MM
- If alarm is set, it goes off at time specified in 24-hour format.
- -alarmFile
filename
- This specifies a sound file to use to play the dclock alarm. If
unspecified, or the string "NULL" is
used, the system beep is used instead. The sound file format must be
understood by the executable specified by option "audioPlay".
The "NULL" string is a means to override
a system-level setting to disable external sound playing.
- -seconds
- This option will update the clock every second and display the time
including the seconds.
- -slope
value
- Sets the angle of the digits according to the (floating-point) slope value
value.
- -thickness
width_factor
- Sets the segment thickness as a (floating-point) ratio to digit
width.
- -spacing
space_factor
- Sets the digit spacing as a (floating-point) ratio to digit width.
- -smallsize
space_factor
- Sets the seconds digit size as a (floating-point) ratio to the digit size
of the minutes and hours digits.
- -second_gap
space_factor
- Sets the spacing of the seconds digits from the other digits as a
(floating-point) ratio to digit width.
- -bg color
- This option specifies the color to use for the background of the window.
The default is ``darkslategray''.
- -bd color
- This option specifies the color to use for the border of the window. The
default is ``black''.
- -bw number
- This option specifies the width in pixels of the border surrounding the
window.
- -fg color
- This option specifies the color to use for displaying text and digit
segments. The default is ``chartreuse''.
- -led_off
color
- This option specifies the color to use for displaying digit segments when
turned off. The default is ``darkgreen''.
- -fn font
- This option specifies the font to be used for displaying normal text. The
default is ``Fixed''.
- -geometry
geometry
- This option specifies the preferred size and position of the clock
window.
- -display
host:display
- This option specifies the X server to contact.
- -xrm
resourcestring
- This option specifies a resource string to be used. This is especially
useful for setting resources that do not have separate command line
options.
It understands all of the core resource names and classes as well
as:
- geometry
(class Geometry)
- Specifies the width and height and, optionally, the preferred position of
the clock.
- foreground
(class Foreground)
- Specifies the color for the digits. Using the class specifies the color
for all things that normally would appear in the foreground color. The
default is ``chartreuse''.
- background
(class Background)
- Specifies the background color, by default ``DarkSlateGray''.
- led_off
(class Foreground)
- Specifies the color of the digit segments when ``off''. This can be set to
be the background color, or it can be set to a color just slightly
different from the background, matching the segment colors, to give just a
hint of color. Default ``DarkGreen'' works well with the default segment
color of ``chartreuse''.
- bell (class
Boolean)
- Specifies whether or not a bell should be rung on the hour and half
hour.
- font (class
Font)
- Specifies the font to be used for the date.
- militaryTime
(class Boolean)
- Specifies whether the military (24hr) time format should be used.
- utcTime (class
Boolean)
- Specifies whether UTC (GMT) time should be used, rather than local
time.
- reverseVideo
(class ReverseVideo)
- Specifies that the foreground and background colors should be
reversed.
- scroll (class
Boolean)
- Specifies whether the digits should scroll or not.
- fade (class
Boolean)
- Specifies whether the digits should fade or not.
- fadeRate
(class Time)
- The number of milliseconds of delay between iterations of fading.
- seconds
(class Boolean)
- Specifies whether the seconds should be displayed or not.
- tails (class
Boolean)
- Specifies whether tails should be put on the digits 6 and 9.
- date (class
String)
- Specifies the date format to use. The format corresponds to the system
call strftime() (see strftime(3)).
- dateUp (class
Boolean)
- Specifies whether the date is shown at the top or at the bottom.
- blink (class
Boolean)
- Specifies whether the colon separating hours from minutes should blink on
and off once per second or remain on permanently.
- alarm (class
Boolean)
- Specifies whether the alarm should go off at the specified time
(alarmTime).
- alarmTime
(class String)
- Specifies the time alarm goes off if alarm is set.
- alarmPersist
(class Boolean)
- Specifies whether the alarm should remain in reverse video after the alarm
goes off, or return to normal video.
- angle (class
Float)
- Defines the slope of the digits (default 6).
- smallRatio
(class Float)
- Defines the size of the seconds digits compared to the minutes digits
(default 2/3).
- secondGap
(class Float)
- Defines the amount of space between the minutes digits and the seconds
digits (default 0.3).
- widthFactor
(class Float)
- Determines the width of segments as a ratio to digit width (default
0.13).
- spaceFactor
(class Float)
- Determines the spacing between digit as a ratio to digit width (default
0.09).
- bellFile
(class String)
- Specifies an audio file to play for the hourly bell (no default).
- alarmFile
(class String)
- Specifies an audio file to play for the alarm (no default).
- audioPlay
(class String)
- Specifies an executable to use to play the bell and alarm audio files, if
they are specified. Otherwise, the system bell is used (default is
/usr/bin/play).
- DISPLAY
- To get the default host and display number.
- XENVIRONMENT
- To get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources
stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property.
Dclock believes the system clock.
Scrolling from 9 to 10 O'Clock seems weird, but chances are you
won't notice it.
Scrolling can take so long that dclock may lag behind system time
by a fraction of a second and eventually skip a second to catch up. In
modern times, it should be dealing with this by tracking seconds with a
separate thread.
Copyright (c) 1988, Dan Heller. Revisions copyright (c) 1993 and
1999, Tim Edwards.
Original dclock by Dan Heller (1988) <argv@sun.com> or
<dheller@cory.berkeley.edu>
Fade & tails by Steve Reinhardt,
<steven@fts.webo.dg.com>
Derived geometry by Tim Edwards (1993)
<tim@stravinsky.jhuapl.edu>
Antialiasing, color fades, and audio play by Tim Edwards (1999)
<tim@stravinsky.jhuapl.edu>
Manual page in POD format by Ricardo Mones (2023)
<mones@debian.org>