Man page 1 : zenity

zenity - display GTK+ dialogs

zenity [ options ]

zenity is a program that will display GTK+ dialogs, and return (either in the return code, or on standard output) the users input. This allows you to present information, and ask for information from the user, from all manner of shell scripts.

For example, zenity --question will return either 0 or 1, depending on whether the user pressed OK or Cancel. zenity --entry will output on standard output what the user typed into the text entry field.

Comprehensive documentation is available in the GNOME Help Browser, under GNOME/Utilities.

This program follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (`-').

Dialog options

--calendar

    Display calendar dialog

--entry

    Display text entry dialog

--error

    Display error dialog

--file-selection

    Display file selection dialog

--info

    Display info dialog

--list

    Display list dialog

--notification

    Display notification icon

--progress

    Display progress indication dialog

--question

    Display question dialog

--text-info

    Display text information dialog

--warning

    Display warning dialog

--scale

    Display scale dialog

General options

--title=TITLE

    Set the dialog title

--window-icon=ICONPATH

    Set the window icon

--width=WIDTH

    Set the dialog width

--height=HEIGHT

    Set the dialog height

--timeout=TIMEOUT

    Set the dialog timeout

Calendar options

--text=STRING

    Set the dialog text

--day=INT

    Set the calendar day

--month=INT

    Set the calendar month

--year=INT

    Set the calendar year

--date-format=PATTERN

    Set the format for the returned date

Text entry options

--text=STRING

    Set the dialog text

--entry-text=STRING

    Set the entry text

--hide-text

    Hide the entry text

Error options

--text=STRING

    Set the dialog text

--no-wrap

    Do not enable text wrapping

File selection options

--filename=FILENAME

    Set the filename

--multiple

    Allow selection of multiple filenames in file selection dialog

--directory

    Activate directory-only selection

--save

    Activate save mode

--separator=SEPARATOR

    Specify separator character when returning multiple filenames

--confirm-overwrite

    Confirm file selection if filename already exists

Info options

--text=STRING

    Set the dialog text

--no-wrap

    Do not enable text wrapping

List options

--text=STRING

    Set the dialog text

--column=STRING

    Set the column header

--checklist

    Use check boxes for first column

--radiolist

    Use radio buttons for first column

--separator=STRING

    Set output separator character

--multiple

    Allow multiple rows to be selected

--editable

    Allow changes to text

--print-column=NUMBER

    Specify what column to print to standard output. The default is to return the first column. 'ALL' may be used to print all columns.

--hide-column=NUMBER

    Hide a specific column

Notification options

--text=STRING

    Set the notification text

--listen

    Listen for commands on stdin

Progress options

--text=STRING

    Set the dialog text

--percentage=INT

    Set initial percentage

--auto-close

    Close dialog when 100% has been reached

--auto-kill

    Kill parent process if cancel button is pressed

--pulsate

    Pulsate progress bar

Question options

--text=STRING

    Set the dialog text

--no-wrap

    Do not enable text wrapping

Text options

--filename=FILENAME

    Open file

--editable

    Allow changes to text

Warning options

--text=STRING

    Set the dialog text

--no-wrap

    Do not enable text wrapping

Scale options

--text=STRING

    Set the dialog text

--value=VALUE

    Set initial value

--min-value=VALUE

    Set minimum value

--max-value=VALUE

    Set maximum value

--step=VALUE

    Set step size

--print-partial

    Print partial values

--hide-value

    Hide value

Miscellaneous options

-?, --help

    Show summary of options.

--about

    Display an about dialog.

--version

    Show version of program.

Also the standard GTK+ options are accepted.

Normally, zenity detects the terminal window from which it was launched and keeps itself above that window. This behavior can be disabled by unsetting the WINDOWID environment variable.

Display a file selector with the title Select a file to remove. The file selected is returned on standard output.

zenity --title="Select a file to remove" --file-selection

Display a text entry dialog with the title Select Host and the text Select the host you would like to flood-ping. The entered text is returned on standard output.

zenity --title "Select Host" --entry --text "Select the host you would like to flood-ping"

Display a dialog, asking Microsoft Windows has been found! Would you like to remove it?. The return code will be 0 (true in shell) if OK is selected, and 1 (false) if Cancel is selected.

zenity --question --title "Alert" --text "Microsoft Windows has been found! Would you like to remove it?"

Show the search results in a list dialog with the title Search Results and the text Finding all header files....

find . -name '*.h' | zenity --list --title "Search Results" --text "Finding all header files.." --column "Files"

Show an icon in the notification area

zenity --notification --window-icon=update.png --text "System update necessary!"

Display a weekly shopping list in a check list dialog with Apples and Oranges pre selected

zenity --list --checklist --column "Buy" --column "Item" TRUE Apples TRUE Oranges FALSE Pears FALSE Toothpaste

Display a progress dialog while searching for all the postscript files in your home directory

find $HOME -name '*.ps' | zenity --progress --pulsate

Zenity was written by Glynn Foster <>.

This manual page was written by Ross Burton <>.

gdialog(1), dialog(1)