ImageMagick: Command-line Tools: Import

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	alternate 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
–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
–quiet	suppress all error or 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
–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
–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