3 Michael Stapelberg <michael+i3@stapelberg.de>
8 i3status - Generates a status line for dzen2 or xmobar
12 i3status [-c configfile] [-h] [-v]
17 Specifies an alternate configuration file path. By default, i3status looks for
18 configuration files in the following order:
21 2. ~/.config/i3status/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/i3status/config if set)
23 4. /etc/xdg/i3status/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/i3status/config if set)
27 i3status is a small program (about 1500 SLOC) for generating a status bar for
28 i3bar, dzen2, xmobar or similar programs. It is designed to be very
29 efficient by issuing a very small number of system calls, as one generally
30 wants to update such a status line every second. This ensures that even under
31 high load, your status bar is updated correctly. Also, it saves a bit of energy
32 by not hogging your CPU as much as spawning the corresponding amount of shell
37 Since version 2, the configuration file for i3status will be parsed using
38 libconfuse. This makes configuration easier in the programmer’s point of
39 view and more flexible for the user at the same time.
41 The basic idea of i3status is that you can specify which "modules" should
42 be used (the order directive). You can then configure each module with its
43 own section. For every module, you can specify the output format. See below
44 for a complete reference.
47 -------------------------------------------------------------
49 output_format = "dzen2"
56 order += "run_watch DHCP"
57 order += "run_watch VPN"
58 order += "wireless wlan0"
59 order += "ethernet eth0"
61 order += "cpu_temperature 0"
66 format_up = "W: (%quality at %essid, %bitrate) %ip"
67 format_down = "W: down"
71 # if you use %speed, i3status requires the cap_net_admin capability
72 format_up = "E: %ip (%speed)"
73 format_down = "E: down"
77 format = "%status %percentage %remaining"
81 pidfile = "/var/run/dhclient*.pid"
85 pidfile = "/var/run/vpnc/pid"
89 format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
97 format = "T: %degrees °C"
98 path = "/sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp1_input"
104 -------------------------------------------------------------
108 The +colors+ directive will disable all colors if you set it to +false+. You can
109 also specify the colors that will be used to display "good", "degraded" or "bad"
110 values using the +color_good+, +color_degraded+ or +color_bad+ directives,
111 respectively. Those directives are only used if color support is not disabled by
112 the +colors+ directive. The input format for color values is the canonical RGB
113 hexadecimal triplet (with no separators between the colors), prefixed by a hash
116 *Example configuration*:
117 -------------------------------------------------------------
118 color_good = "#00FF00"
119 -------------------------------------------------------------
121 Likewise, you can use the +color_separator+ directive to specify the color that
122 will be used to paint the separator bar. The separator is always output in
123 color, even when colors are disabled by the +colors+ directive.
125 The +interval+ directive specifies the time in seconds for which i3status will
126 sleep before printing the next status line.
128 Using +output_format+ you can chose which format strings i3status should
129 use in its output. Currently available are:
132 Dzen is a general purpose messaging, notification and menuing program for X11.
133 It was designed to be scriptable in any language and integrate well with window
134 managers like dwm, wmii and xmonad though it will work with any windowmanger
136 xmobar is a minimalistic, text based, status bar. It was designed to work
137 with the xmonad Window Manager.
139 Does not use any color codes. Separates values by the pipe symbol. This should
140 be used with i3bar and can be used for custom scripts.
144 This module gets the IPv6 address used for outgoing connections (that is, the
145 best available public IPv6 address on your computer).
147 *Example format_up*: +%ip+
149 *Example format_down* +no IPv6+
153 Gets used, free, available and total amount of bytes on the given mounted filesystem.
155 *Example order*: +disk /mnt/usbstick+
157 *Example format*: +%free (%avail)/ %total+
161 Expands the given path to a pidfile and checks if the process ID found inside
162 is valid (that is, if the process is running). You can use this to check if
163 a specific application, such as a VPN client or your DHCP client is running.
165 *Example order*: +run_watch DHCP+
169 Gets the link quality and ESSID of the given wireless network interface. You
170 can specify different format strings for the network being connected or not
173 *Example order*: +wireless wlan0+
175 *Example format*: +W: (%quality at %essid, %bitrate) %ip+
179 Gets the IP address and (if possible) the link speed of the given ethernet
180 interface. Getting the link speed requires the cap_net_admin capability. Set
181 it using +setcap cap_net_admin=ep $(which i3status)+.
183 *Example order*: +ethernet eth0+
185 *Example format*: +E: %ip (%speed)+
189 Gets the status (charging, discharging, running), percentage and remaining
190 time of the given battery. If you want to use the last full capacity instead
191 of the design capacity (when using the design capacity, it may happen that
192 your battery is at 23% when fully charged because it’s old. In general, I
193 want to see it this way, because it tells me how worn off my battery is.),
194 just specify +last_full_capacity = true+.
196 *Example order*: +battery 0+
198 *Example format*: +%status %remaining+
202 Gets the temperature of the given thermal zone.
204 *Example order*: +cpu_temperature 0+
206 *Example format*: +T: %degrees °C+
210 Gets the percentual CPU usage from +/proc/stat+.
212 *Example order*: +cpu_usage+
214 *Example format*: +%usage+
218 Gets the system load (number of processes waiting for CPU time in the last
219 5, 10 and 15 minutes).
221 *Example order*: +load+
223 *Example format*: +%5min %10min %15min+
227 Formats the current system time. See +strftime(3)+ for the format.
229 *Example order*: +time+
231 *Example format*: +%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S+
235 Outputs the current discordian date in user-specified format. See +ddate(1)+ for
236 details on the format string.
237 *Note*: Neither *%.* nor *%X* are implemented yet.
239 *Example order*: +ddate+
241 *Example format*: +%{%a, %b %d%}, %Y%N - %H+
245 Outputs the volume of the specified mixer on the specified device. Works only
246 on Linux because it uses ALSA.
248 *Example order*: +volume master+
250 *Example format*: +♪: %volume+
252 *Example configuration*:
253 -------------------------------------------------------------
255 format = "♪: %volume"
260 -------------------------------------------------------------
262 == Using i3status with dzen2
264 After installing dzen2, you can directly use it with i3status. Just ensure that
265 +output_format+ is set to +dzen2+.
267 *Example for usage of i3status with dzen2*:
268 --------------------------------------------------------------
269 i3status | dzen2 -fg white -ta r -w 1280 \
270 -fn "-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso8859-1"
271 --------------------------------------------------------------
273 == Using i3status with xmobar
275 To get xmobar to start, you might need to copy the default configuration
276 file to +~/.xmobarrc+. Also, ensure that the +output_format+ option for i3status
279 *Example for usage of i3status with xmobar*:
280 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
281 i3status | xmobar -o -t "%StdinReader%" -c "[Run StdinReader]"
282 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
286 +strftime(3)+, +date(1)+, +glob(3)+, +dzen2(1)+, +xmobar(1)+
290 Michael Stapelberg and contributors
298 Fernando Tarlá Cardoso Lemos