.\" Man page for lyxclient.
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.\"  tbl lyxclient.1 | nroff -man | less
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.TH LYXCLIENT 1 "2024-03-24" "Version 2.4.0~RC4" "lyxclient 2.4.0~RC4"
.SH NAME
lyxclient \- send commands to a running LyX editor
.\"
.\" setup
.de Cr
.ie n (c)
.el \(co
..
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBlyxclient\fR [ \fIoptions\fR ]
.br
.SH DESCRIPTION
When LyX starts, it creates a unique, per-process local socket in the
temporary directory through which commands can be sent. That is, it can act
like a server, accepting connections from clients. \fBlyxclient\fR
can be used as such client. \fBlyxclient\fR will take care of all
connection and communication protocol details, leaving you (or your app)
free to concentrate on what you want to send to LyX.
.SH SERVER IDENTIFICATION OPTIONS
\fBlyxclient\fR must first identify to which server (i.e. a running LyX)
commands are to be sent. The following options are used to specify the server.
.TP 6
.TP
.BI \-p " pid"
specify the \fIpid\fR of the running LyX process to which \fBlyxclient\fR
should send commands.
.TP
.BI \-a " socket_address"
specify explicitly which socket special file should be used. These special
files are located inside lyx_tmpdir<lyx_pid><hash>, in the temporary
directory. There is one per running LyX process.
.TP
.BI \-t " tmp_dir"
if LyX is configured to use a temporary directory other than /tmp, you must
inform \fBlyxclient\fR of this.
.PP
If neither \fB\-a\fR nor \fB\-p\fR are invoked, \fBlyxclient\fR will search for
sockets in /tmp (or \fItmp_dir\fR if the \fB\-t\fR option is used) and use
the first socket to which it can connect.
This is safe if you are running only one LyX process at any one time.
.SH COMMAND MODE OPTIONS
\fBlyxclient\fR can send commands to LyX from both the command-line
and from standard input.
LyX commands documentation can be found in LyX Help menu.
.TP 6
.BI \-c " command"
send a single \fIcommand\fR, print LyX information to standard output and exit. LYXCMD prefix is needed in the given command.
.TP
.BI \-g " file line"
this is simply a wrapper for the command 'command-sequence server\-goto\-file\-row \fIfile\fR \fIline\fR; lyx-activate'. It is used by the PDF and DVI previewer to elicit inverse search and focus the LyX window.
.PP
If neither \fB\-c\fR nor \fB\-g\fR are used, \fBlyxclient\fR will regard any
standard input as commands to be sent to LyX, printing LyX's responses to
standard output. Commands are
separated by newlines (the '\\n' character). To finish communication
and terminate the \fBlyxclient\fR process, send the command 'BYE:'.
.SH MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS
.TP 6
.BI \-n " name"
when starting communication, \fBlyxclient\fR sends an identifier
string to LyX. By default, this string is "PPID>PID", where PPID is
\fBlyxclient\fR's parent pid and pid is \fBlyxclient\fR's pid.
Use this option to override this default.
.TP
.BI \-h
print the \fBlyxclient\fR version and summarize its usage.
.SH ENVIRONMENT
.TP
.B LYXSOCKET
can be used to specify the socket special file that must be used.
LyX sets this variable.
It is overridden by the \fB\-a\fR option.
.SH SEE ALSO
lyx(1), xdvi(1), LFUNs.lyx.
.SH AUTHORS
Jo\[~a]o Luis M. Assirati <assirati@fma.if.usp.br> is the principal author
of lyxclient.