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[Example Usage • Option Summary]

Use the import program to capture some or all of an X server screen and save the image to a file. See Command Line Processing for advice on how to structure your import command or see below for example usages of the command.

Example Usage

We list a few examples of the import command here to illustrate its usefulness and ease of use. To get started, lets import an image in the JPEG format:

  import rose.jpg

To capture the entire X server screen in the Postscript image format:

  import -window root screen.ps

You can find additional examples of using import in Graphics from the Command Line. Further discussion is available in More Graphics from the Command Line and Examples of ImageMagick Usage.

Option Summary

The import command recognizes these options. Click on an option to get more details about how that option works.

Option Description
-adjoin join images into a single multi-image file
-annotate geometry text annotate the image with text
-border include image borders in the output image
-channel type apply option to select image channels
-colors value preferred number of colors in the image
-colorspace type set image colorspace
-comment string annotate image with comment
-compress type image compression type
-contrast enhance or reduce the image contrast
-crop geometry preferred size and location of the cropped image
-debug events import copious debugging information
-define format:option define one or more image format options
-delay value import the next image after pausing
-density geometry horizontal and vertical density of the image
-depth value image depth
-descend obtain image by descending window hierarchy
-display server get image or font from this X server
-dispose method GIF disposal method
-dither apply Floyd/Steinberg error diffusion to image
-encoding type text encoding type
-endian type endianness (MSB or LSB) of the image
-frame include window manager frame
-geometry geometry preferred size or location of the image
-gravity type horizontal and vertical text placement
-help print program options
-identify identify the format and characteristics of the image
-interlace type type of image interlacing scheme
-interpolate method pixel color interpolation method
-label name assign a label to an image
-limit type value pixel cache resource limit
-log format format of debugging information
-monitor monitor progress
-monochrome transform image to black and white
-negate replace every pixel with its complementary color
-page geometry size and location of an image canvas (setting)
-quality value JPEG/MIFF/PNG compression level
-quantize colorspace reduce image colors in this colorspace
-quiet suppress all warning messages
-quiet suppress all warning messages
-repage geometry size and location of an image canvas
-resize geometry resize the image
-rotate degrees apply Paeth rotation to the image
-sampling-factor geometry horizontal and vertical sampling factor
-scene value image scene number
-screen select image from root window
-seed value seed a new sequence of pseudo-random numbers
-set attribute value set an image attribute
-silent operate silently, i.e. don't ring any bells
-strip strip image of all profiles and comments
-support factor resize support: > 1.0 is blurry, < 1.0 is sharp
-transparent-color color transparent color
-trim trim image edges
-type type image type
-verbose print detailed information about the image
-version print version information
-virtual-pixel method access method for pixels outside the boundaries of the image
-window id select window with this id or name