3 Michael Stapelberg <michael@i3wm.org>
8 i3status - Generates a status line for i3bar, 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 The basic idea of i3status is that you can specify which "modules" should
38 be used (the order directive). You can then configure each module with its
39 own section. For every module, you can specify the output format. See below
40 for a complete reference.
43 -------------------------------------------------------------
45 output_format = "dzen2"
52 order += "run_watch DHCP"
53 order += "run_watch VPNC"
54 order += "path_exists VPN"
55 order += "wireless wlan0"
56 order += "ethernet eth0"
58 order += "cpu_temperature 0"
60 order += "tztime local"
61 order += "tztime berlin"
64 format_up = "W: (%quality at %essid, %bitrate) %ip"
65 format_down = "W: down"
69 # if you use %speed, i3status requires the cap_net_admin capability
70 format_up = "E: %ip (%speed)"
71 format_down = "E: down"
75 format = "%status %percentage %remaining %emptytime"
76 format_down = "No battery"
79 status_full = "☻ FULL"
80 path = "/sys/class/power_supply/BAT%d/uevent"
85 pidfile = "/var/run/dhclient*.pid"
89 # file containing the PID of a vpnc process
90 pidfile = "/var/run/vpnc/pid"
94 # path exists when a VPN tunnel launched by nmcli/nm-applet is active
95 path = "/proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/tun0"
99 format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
103 format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z"
104 timezone = "Europe/Berlin"
112 format = "T: %degrees °C"
113 path = "/sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp1_input"
119 -------------------------------------------------------------
123 The +colors+ directive will disable all colors if you set it to +false+. You can
124 also specify the colors that will be used to display "good", "degraded" or "bad"
125 values using the +color_good+, +color_degraded+ or +color_bad+ directives,
126 respectively. Those directives are only used if color support is not disabled by
127 the +colors+ directive. The input format for color values is the canonical RGB
128 hexadecimal triplet (with no separators between the colors), prefixed by a hash
131 *Example configuration*:
132 -------------------------------------------------------------
133 color_good = "#00FF00"
134 -------------------------------------------------------------
136 Likewise, you can use the +color_separator+ directive to specify the color that
137 will be used to paint the separator bar. The separator is always output in
138 color, even when colors are disabled by the +colors+ directive. This option has
139 no effect when +output_format+ is set to +i3bar+ or +none+.
141 The +interval+ directive specifies the time in seconds for which i3status will
142 sleep before printing the next status line.
144 Using +output_format+ you can chose which format strings i3status should
145 use in its output. Currently available are:
148 i3bar comes with i3 and provides a workspace bar which does the right thing in
149 multi-monitor situations. It also comes with tray support and can display the
150 i3status output. This output type uses JSON to pass as much meta-information to
151 i3bar as possible (like colors, which blocks can be shortened in which way,
154 Dzen is a general purpose messaging, notification and menuing program for X11.
155 It was designed to be scriptable in any language and integrate well with window
156 managers like dwm, wmii and xmonad though it will work with any windowmanger
158 xmobar is a minimalistic, text based, status bar. It was designed to work
159 with the xmonad Window Manager.
161 Use ANSI Escape sequences to produce a terminal-output as close as possible to
162 the graphical outputs. This makes debugging your config file a little bit
163 easier because the terminal-output of i3status becomes much more readable, but
164 should only used for such quick glances, because it will only support very
165 basic output-features (for example you only get 3 bits of color depth).
167 Does not use any color codes. Separates values by the pipe symbol by default.
168 This should be used with i3bar and can be used for custom scripts.
170 It's also possible to use the color_good, color_degraded, color_bad directives
171 to define specific colors per module. If one of these directives is defined
172 in a module section its value will override the value defined in the general
173 section just for this module.
175 If you don't fancy the vertical separators between modules i3status/i3bar
176 uses by default, you can employ the +separator+ directive to configure how
177 modules are separated. You can either disable the default separator altogether
178 setting it to the empty string. You might then define separation as part of a
179 module's format string. This is your only option when using the i3bar output
180 format as the separator is drawn by i3bar directly otherwise. For the other
181 output formats, the provided non-empty string will be automatically enclosed
182 with the necessary coloring bits if color support is enabled.
184 *Example configuration*:
185 -------------------------------------------------------------
187 output_format = "xmobar"
195 format = "[ load: %1min, %5min, %15min ]"
200 -------------------------------------------------------------
204 This module gets the IPv6 address used for outgoing connections (that is, the
205 best available public IPv6 address on your computer).
207 *Example format_up*: +%ip+
209 *Example format_down*: +no IPv6+
213 Gets used, free, available and total amount of bytes on the given mounted filesystem.
215 These values can also be expressed in percentages with the percentage_used,
216 percentage_free, percentage_avail and percentage_used_of_avail formats.
218 Byte sizes are presented in a human readable format using a set of prefixes
219 whose type can be specified via the "prefix_type" option. Three sets of
220 prefixes are available:
223 IEC prefixes (Ki, Mi, Gi, Ti) represent multiples of powers of 1024.
226 SI prefixes (k, M, G, T) represent multiples of powers of 1000.
228 The custom prefixes (K, M, G, T) represent multiples of powers of 1024.
230 It is possible to define a low_threshold that causes the disk text to be
231 displayed using color_bad. The low_threshold type can be of threshold_type
232 "bytes_free", "bytes_avail", "percentage_free", or "percentage_avail", where
233 the former two can be prepended by a generic prefix (k, m, g, t) having
234 prefix_type. So, if you configure low_threshold to 2, threshold_type to
235 "gbytes_avail", and prefix_type to "binary", and the remaining available disk
236 space is below 2 GiB, it will be colored bad. If not specified, threshold_type
237 is assumed to be "percentage_avail" and low_threshold to be set to 0, which
238 implies no coloring at all.
240 *Example order*: +disk /mnt/usbstick+
242 *Example format*: +%free (%avail)/ %total+
244 *Example format*: +%percentage_used used, %percentage_free free, %percentage_avail avail+
246 *Example prefix_type*: +custom+
248 *Example low_threshold*: +5+
250 *Example threshold_type*: +percentage_free+
254 Expands the given path to a pidfile and checks if the process ID found inside
255 is valid (that is, if the process is running). You can use this to check if
256 a specific application, such as a VPN client or your DHCP client is running.
258 *Example order*: +run_watch DHCP+
260 *Example format*: +%title: %status+
264 Checks if the given path exists in the filesystem. You can use this to check if
265 something is active, like for example a VPN tunnel managed by NetworkManager.
267 *Example order*: +path_exists VPN+
269 *Example format*: +%title: %status+
273 Gets the link quality, frequency and ESSID of the given wireless network
274 interface. You can specify different format strings for the network being
275 connected or not connected.
277 The special interface name `_first_` will be replaced by the first wireless
278 network interface found on the system (excluding devices starting with "lo").
280 *Example order*: +wireless wlan0+
282 *Example format*: +W: (%quality at %essid, %bitrate / %frequency) %ip+
286 Gets the IP address and (if possible) the link speed of the given ethernet
287 interface. Getting the link speed requires the cap_net_admin capability. Set
288 it using +setcap cap_net_admin=ep $(which i3status)+.
290 The special interface name `_first_` will be replaced by the first non-wireless
291 network interface found on the system (excluding devices starting with "lo").
293 *Example order*: +ethernet eth0+
295 *Example format*: +E: %ip (%speed)+
299 Gets the status (charging, discharging, running), percentage, remaining
300 time and power consumption (in Watts) of the given battery and when it's
301 estimated to be empty. If you want to use the last full capacity instead of the
302 design capacity (when using the design capacity, it may happen that your
303 battery is at 23% when fully charged because it’s old. In general, I want to
304 see it this way, because it tells me how worn off my battery is.), just specify
305 +last_full_capacity = true+. You can hide seconds in the remaining time and
306 empty time estimations by setting +hide_seconds = true+.
308 If you want the battery percentage to be shown without decimals, add
309 +integer_battery_capacity = true+.
311 If your battery is represented in a non-standard path in /sys, be sure to
312 modify the "path" property accordingly, i.e. pointing to the uevent file on
313 your system. The first occurence of %d gets replaced with the battery number,
314 but you can just hard-code a path as well.
316 It is possible to define a low_threshold that causes the battery text to be
317 colored red. The low_threshold type can be of threshold_type "time" or
318 "percentage". So, if you configure low_threshold to 10 and threshold_type to
319 "time", and your battery lasts another 9 minutes, it will be colored red.
321 Optionally custom strings including any UTF-8 symbols can be used for different
322 battery states. This makes it possible to display individual symbols
323 for each state (charging, discharging, full)
324 Of course it will also work with special iconic fonts, such as FontAwesome.
325 If any of this special status strings is omitted, the default (CHR, BAT, FULL)
328 *Example order*: +battery 0+
330 *Example format*: +%status %remaining (%emptytime %consumption)+
332 *Example format_down*: +No battery+
334 *Example status_chr*: +⚇ CHR+
336 *Example status_bat*: +⚡ BAT+
338 *Example status_full*: +☻ FULL+
340 *Example low_threshold*: +30+
342 *Example threshold_type*: +time+
344 *Example path*: +/sys/class/power_supply/CMB1/uevent+
348 Gets the temperature of the given thermal zone. It is possible to
349 define a max_threshold that will color the temperature red in case the
350 specified thermal zone is getting too hot. Defaults to 75 degrees C.
352 *Example order*: +cpu_temperature 0+
354 *Example format*: +T: %degrees °C+
356 *Example max_threshold*: +42+
358 *Example path*: +/sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp1_input+
362 Gets the percentual CPU usage from +/proc/stat+ (Linux) or +sysctl(3)+ (FreeBSD/OpenBSD).
364 *Example order*: +cpu_usage+
366 *Example format*: +%usage+
370 Gets the system load (number of processes waiting for CPU time in the last
371 1, 5 and 15 minutes). It is possible to define a max_threshold that will
372 color the load value red in case the load average of the last minute is
373 getting higher than the configured threshold. Defaults to 5.
375 *Example order*: +load+
377 *Example format*: +%1min %5min %15min+
379 *Example max_threshold*: +"0,1"+
383 Outputs the current time in the local timezone.
384 To use a different timezone, you can set the TZ environment variable,
385 or use the +tztime+ module.
386 See +strftime(3)+ for details on the format string.
388 *Example order*: +time+
390 *Example format*: +%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S+
394 Outputs the current time in the given timezone.
395 If no timezone is given, local time will be used.
396 See +strftime(3)+ for details on the format string.
397 The system's timezone database is usually installed in +/usr/share/zoneinfo+.
398 Files below that path make for valid timezone strings, e.g. for
399 +/usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin+ you can set timezone to +Europe/Berlin+
400 in the +tztime+ module.
402 *Example order*: +tztime berlin+
404 *Example format*: +%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z+
406 *Example timezone*: +Europe/Berlin+
410 Outputs the current discordian date in user-specified format. See +ddate(1)+ for
411 details on the format string.
412 *Note*: Neither *%.* nor *%X* are implemented yet.
414 *Example order*: +ddate+
416 *Example format*: +%{%a, %b %d%}, %Y%N - %H+
420 Outputs the volume of the specified mixer on the specified device. Works only
421 on Linux because it uses ALSA.
422 A simplified configuration can be used on FreeBSD and OpenBSD due to
423 the lack of ALSA, the +device+ and +mixer+ options can be
424 ignored on these systems. On these systems the OSS API is used instead to
425 query +/dev/mixer+ directly if +mixer_dix+ is -1, otherwise
426 +/dev/mixer++mixer_idx+.
428 *Example order*: +volume master+
430 *Example format*: +♪: %volume+
431 *Example format_muted*: +♪: 0%%+
433 *Example configuration*:
434 -------------------------------------------------------------
436 format = "♪: %volume"
437 format_muted = "♪: muted (%volume)"
442 -------------------------------------------------------------
444 == Universal module options
446 When using the i3bar output format, there are a few additional options that
447 can be used with all modules to customize their appearance:
450 The alignment policy to use when the minimum width (see below) is not
451 reached. Either +center+ (default), +right+ or +left+.
453 The minimum width (in pixels) the module should occupy. If the module takes
454 less space than the specified size, the block will be padded to the left
455 and/or the right side, according to the defined alignment policy. This is
456 useful when you want to prevent the whole status line from shifting when
457 values take more or less space between each iteration.
458 The option can also be a string. In this case, the width of the given text
459 determines the minimum width of the block. This is useful when you want to
460 set a sensible minimum width regardless of which font you are using, and at
461 what particular size. Please note that a number enclosed with quotes will
462 still be treated as a number.
464 *Example configuration*:
465 -------------------------------------------------------------
471 -------------------------------------------------------------
473 == Using i3status with dzen2
475 After installing dzen2, you can directly use it with i3status. Just ensure that
476 +output_format+ is set to +dzen2+.
478 *Example for usage of i3status with dzen2*:
479 --------------------------------------------------------------
480 i3status | dzen2 -fg white -ta r -w 1280 \
481 -fn "-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso8859-1"
482 --------------------------------------------------------------
484 == Using i3status with xmobar
486 To get xmobar to start, you might need to copy the default configuration
487 file to +~/.xmobarrc+. Also, ensure that the +output_format+ option for i3status
490 *Example for usage of i3status with xmobar*:
491 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
492 i3status | xmobar -o -t "%StdinReader%" -c "[Run StdinReader]"
493 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
495 == What about memory usage or CPU frequency?
497 While talking about two specific things, please understand this section as a
498 general explanation why your favorite information is not included in i3status.
500 Let’s talk about memory usage specifically. It is hard to measure memory in a
501 way which is accurate or meaningful. An in-depth understanding of how paging
502 and virtual memory work in your operating system is required. Furthermore, even
503 if we had a well-defined way of displaying memory usage and you would
504 understand it, I think that it’s not helpful to repeatedly monitor your memory
505 usage. One reason for that is that I have not run out of memory in the last few
506 years. Memory has become so cheap that even in my 4 year old notebook, I have
507 8 GiB of RAM. Another reason is that your operating system will do the right
508 thing anyway: Either you have not enough RAM for your workload, but you need to
509 do it anyway, then your operating system will swap. Or you don’t have enough
510 RAM and you want to restrict your workload so that it fits, then the operating
511 system will kill the process using too much RAM and you can act accordingly.
513 For CPU frequency, the situation is similar. Many people don’t understand how
514 frequency scaling works precisely. The generally recommended CPU frequency
515 governor ("ondemand") changes the CPU frequency far more often than i3status
516 could display it. The display number is therefore often incorrect and doesn’t
517 tell you anything useful either.
519 In general, i3status wants to display things which you would look at
520 occasionally anyways, like the current date/time, whether you are connected to
521 a WiFi network or not, and if you have enough disk space to fit that 4.3 GiB
524 However, if you need to look at some kind of information more than once in a
525 while (like checking repeatedly how full your RAM is), you are probably better
526 off with a script doing that, which pops up an alert when your RAM usage reaches
527 a certain threshold. After all, the point of computers is not to burden you
528 with additional boring tasks like repeatedly checking a number.
530 == External scripts/programs with i3status
532 In i3status, we don’t want to implement process management again. Therefore,
533 there is no module to run arbitrary scripts or commands. Instead, you should
534 use your shell, for example like this:
536 *Example for prepending the i3status output*:
537 --------------------------------------------------------------
539 # shell script to prepend i3status with more stuff
544 echo "mystuff | $line" || exit 1
546 --------------------------------------------------------------
548 Put that in some script, say +.bin/my_i3status.sh+ and execute that instead of i3status.
550 Note that if you want to use the JSON output format (with colors in i3bar), you
551 need to use a slightly more complex wrapper script. There are examples in the
552 contrib/ folder, see http://code.i3wm.org/i3status/tree/contrib
556 When receiving +SIGUSR1+, i3status’s nanosleep() will be interrupted and thus
557 you will force an update. You can use killall -USR1 i3status to force an update
558 after changing the system volume, for example.
562 +strftime(3)+, +date(1)+, +glob(3)+, +dzen2(1)+, +xmobar(1)+
566 Michael Stapelberg and contributors
574 Fernando Tarlá Cardoso Lemos