Matchers are used throughout wayland-debug to filter messages and set breakpoints. Matchers can leave components of messages unspecified, and use wildcards.
| Matcher | Description |
|---|---|
wl_surface |
All events and requests on wl_surfaces |
xdg_* |
Messages on any XDG type (using a wildcard) |
5 |
Messages on all objects with ID 5 |
4b |
Messages on object 4b |
.commit |
commit messages on any object |
wl_surface.commit |
commit messages on wl_surfaces |
B: .commit |
commit messages on connection B (the 2nd connection) |
wl_pointer(pressed) |
Any Messages on wl_pointers with pressed as an argument |
wl_pointer(buffer=) |
Messages with an argument named buffer |
.(nil) |
Messages that have an object argument that's null |
Objects are created by messages on other objects. When objects are destroyed the wl_display gets a .delete_id message with the object ID of the destroyed object. object.new and object.destroyed aren't real Wayland messages, but they allow you to match these two cases more easily.
| Matcher | Description |
|---|---|
.new |
Any object being created |
wl_surface.new |
wl_surfaces being created |
.destroyed |
Any object being destroyed |
10.destroyed |
Object with ID 10 being destroyed |
A matcher can be a comma-separated list of patterns, in which case a message that matches any of the cases will match. A list or pattern can be followed by ! and one or more patterns, in which case any message that matches those is excluded. Argument lists behave a little differently, because all items in an argument list must match at least one argument.
| Matcher | Description |
|---|---|
wl_pointer, .commit |
Matches any message on a wl_surface, and a .commit message on any type |
wl_pointer, wl_touch ! .motion |
All wl_pointer and wl_touch messages except .motion |
xdg_* ! xdg_popup, .get_popup |
Matches all messages on XDG types except those relating to popups |
(x=0, y=0) |
Matches only messages that have both an x=0 argument and a y=0 argument |
Components of a pattern can be surrounded by braces and use the positive ! negative syntax as described above.
| Matcher | Description |
|---|---|
55a.[motion, axis] |
Matches .motion and .axis events on object 55a |
[wl_pointer ! 55, 62].motion |
Matches .motion events on wl_pointers that do not have object ID 55 or 62 |
([x=0, y=0]) |
Matches messages that have either an x=0 or y=0 argument |
The special matchers * and ! match anything and nothing respectively.