.TH CRIKEY 1 "v0.8.3 19 Aug 2009" "Akkana Peck"
.SH NAME
crikey \- A program to generate typed key events on Linux
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B crikey [-itxr] [-sS sleeptime] string...
.SH DESCRIPTION
.LP
.B crikey 
Send key events, as if args was typed in whatever X window currently has focus.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP 10
.BI \-s
seconds: sleep time before sending
.TP 10
.BI \-S
seconds: sleep time before sending
Many window managers need a delay for focus shifting
or to allow a modifier button to be released.
.TP 10
.BI \-i
Interactive (read input from stdin)
.TP 10
.BI \-t
Use XTest to send events (default)
.TP 10
.BI \-x
Use XSendEvent to send events
.TP 10
.BI \-r
Send events to root window (only with XSendEvent)
.TP 10
.BI \-l
Show long (more detailed) help
.TP 10
.BI \-d
Show debug messages
.SH Crikey input options
Sample usage:

crikey -s 1 'My long string\\nExtending over two lines.'

Using quotes around the string is normally recommended, 
to avoid problems with your shell treating any characters specially, especially backslashes. 
.SH Special characters and syntaxes
Control characters use ^: ^A sends a Control-A

Numeric ASCII codes (decimal only): \27 sends ESC

Special codes: \\t tab, \\b backspace, \\n newline, \\r return, \\d delete, \\e escape, \\ backslash

Modifier keys: \S shift, \\C control, \\A alt, \\M or \\W for the "Windows" key. 
These must be capitalized, and they only apply to the next single character, 
so \\Aabc will send alt-A followed by b and c with no modifier keys.

Special symbols with \\( \\): \\(Return\\) ... 
these are defined in /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h, 
but only those defined on your keyboard will likely work.
.SH  Miscellany
New in 0.8: I've added symbols for BackSpace and Delete. But more important, I've added two new ways to specify characters.

You can specify characters by symbol using \\( and \\), using the symbol definitions from /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h. For example, \\(BackSpace\\) would insert a backspace character.

You can also specify control characters using the up-caret ^ character. So you could get that same backspace character with ^H.

0.8.1 just fixes a new compiler warning, no functional changes.
0.8.2 adds -lXext to the link line -- some systems added that automatically, but making it explicit is better.
0.8.3 adds a bunch more new ways to specify characters, fixes some bugs, and switches back to XTest as the default (use -x to use XSendEvent).

I also have a new, experimental, Python version called pykey, which requires the python-xlib library. It might be useful for people who don't have a compiler installed, or as a demo of how to generate key events in python-xlib. Try it out: pykey-0.1. 

.SH AUTHOR
.LP
.NF
Akkana Peck (e-mail: webster@shallowsky.com)
.br
.FI