1. NAME
i3status - Generates a status line for dzen2 or xmobar
2. SYNOPSIS
i3status [-c configfile] [-h] [-v]
3. OPTIONS
- -c
-
Specifies an alternate configuration file path. By default, i3status looks for configuration files in the following order:
-
~/.i3status.conf
-
~/.config/i3status/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/i3status/config if set)
-
/etc/i3status.conf
-
/etc/xdg/i3status/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/i3status/config if set)
-
4. DESCRIPTION
i3status is a small program (about 1500 SLOC) for generating a status bar for i3bar, dzen2, xmobar or similar programs. It is designed to be very efficient by issuing a very small number of system calls, as one generally wants to update such a status line every second. This ensures that even under high load, your status bar is updated correctly. Also, it saves a bit of energy by not hogging your CPU as much as spawning the corresponding amount of shell commands would.
5. CONFIGURATION
Since version 2, the configuration file for i3status will be parsed using libconfuse. This makes configuration easier in the programmer’s point of view and more flexible for the user at the same time.
The basic idea of i3status is that you can specify which "modules" should be used (the order directive). You can then configure each module with its own section. For every module, you can specify the output format. See below for a complete reference.
general { output_format = "dzen2" colors = true interval = 5 } order = "ipv6" order += "disk /" order += "run_watch DHCP" order += "run_watch VPN" order += "wireless wlan0" order += "ethernet eth0" order += "battery 0" order += "cpu_temperature 0" order += "load" order += "time" wireless wlan0 { format_up = "W: (%quality at %essid, %bitrate) %ip" format_down = "W: down" } ethernet eth0 { # if you use %speed, i3status requires the cap_net_admin capability format_up = "E: %ip (%speed)" format_down = "E: down" } battery 0 { format = "%status %percentage %remaining" } run_watch DHCP { pidfile = "/var/run/dhclient*.pid" } run_watch VPN { pidfile = "/var/run/vpnc/pid" } time { format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S" } load { format = "%5min" } cpu_temperature 0 { format = "T: %degrees °C" path = "/sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp1_input" } disk "/" { format = "%free" }
5.1. General
The colors directive will disable all colors if you set it to false. You can also specify the colors that will be used to display "good", "degraded" or "bad" values using the color_good, color_degraded or color_bad directives, respectively. Those directives are only used if color support is not disabled by the colors directive. The input format for color values is the canonical RGB hexadecimal triplet (with no separators between the colors), prefixed by a hash character ("#").
Example configuration:
color_good = "#00FF00"
Likewise, you can use the color_separator directive to specify the color that will be used to paint the separator bar. The separator is always output in color, even when colors are disabled by the colors directive.
The interval directive specifies the time in seconds for which i3status will sleep before printing the next status line.
Using output_format you can chose which format strings i3status should use in its output. Currently available are:
- dzen2
-
Dzen is a general purpose messaging, notification and menuing program for X11. It was designed to be scriptable in any language and integrate well with window managers like dwm, wmii and xmonad though it will work with any windowmanger
- xmobar
-
xmobar is a minimalistic, text based, status bar. It was designed to work with the xmonad Window Manager.
- none
-
Does not use any color codes. Separates values by the pipe symbol. This should be used with i3bar and can be used for custom scripts.
5.2. IPv6
This module gets the IPv6 address used for outgoing connections (that is, the best available public IPv6 address on your computer).
Example format_up: %ip
Example format_down no IPv6
5.3. Disk
Gets used, free, available and total amount of bytes on the given mounted filesystem.
Example order: disk /mnt/usbstick
Example format: %free (%avail)/ %total
5.4. Run-watch
Expands the given path to a pidfile and checks if the process ID found inside is valid (that is, if the process is running). You can use this to check if a specific application, such as a VPN client or your DHCP client is running.
Example order: run_watch DHCP
5.5. Wireless
Gets the link quality and ESSID of the given wireless network interface. You can specify different format strings for the network being connected or not connected.
Example order: wireless wlan0
Example format: W: (%quality at %essid, %bitrate) %ip
5.6. Ethernet
Gets the IP address and (if possible) the link speed of the given ethernet interface. Getting the link speed requires the cap_net_admin capability. Set it using setcap cap_net_admin=ep $(which i3status).
Example order: ethernet eth0
Example format: E: %ip (%speed)
5.7. Battery
Gets the status (charging, discharging, running), percentage and remaining time of the given battery. If you want to use the last full capacity instead of the design capacity (when using the design capacity, it may happen that your battery is at 23% when fully charged because it’s old. In general, I want to see it this way, because it tells me how worn off my battery is.), just specify last_full_capacity = true.
Example order: battery 0
Example format: %status %remaining
5.8. CPU-Temperature
Gets the temperature of the given thermal zone.
Example order: cpu_temperature 0
Example format: T: %degrees °C
5.9. CPU Usage
Gets the percentual CPU usage from /proc/stat.
Example order: cpu_usage
Example format: %usage
5.10. Load
Gets the system load (number of processes waiting for CPU time in the last 5, 10 and 15 minutes).
Example order: load
Example format: %5min %10min %15min
5.11. Time
Formats the current system time. See strftime(3) for the format.
Example order: time
Example format: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S
5.12. DDate
Outputs the current discordian date in user-specified format. See ddate(1) for details on the format string. Note: Neither %. nor %X are implemented yet.
Example order: ddate
Example format: %{%a, %b %d%}, %Y%N - %H
5.13. Volume
Outputs the volume of the specified mixer on the specified device. Works only on Linux because it uses ALSA.
Example order: volume master
Example format: ♪: %volume
Example configuration:
volume master { format = "♪: %volume" device = "default" mixer = "Master" mixer_idx = 0 }
6. Using i3status with dzen2
After installing dzen2, you can directly use it with i3status. Just ensure that output_format is set to dzen2.
Example for usage of i3status with dzen2:
i3status | dzen2 -fg white -ta r -w 1280 \ -fn "-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso8859-1"
7. Using i3status with xmobar
To get xmobar to start, you might need to copy the default configuration file to ~/.xmobarrc. Also, ensure that the output_format option for i3status is set to xmobar.
Example for usage of i3status with xmobar:
i3status | xmobar -o -t "%StdinReader%" -c "[Run StdinReader]"
8. External scripts/programs with i3status
In i3status, we don’t want to implement process management again. Therefore, there is no module to run arbitrary scripts or commands. Instead, you should use your shell, for example like this:
Example for prepending the i3status output:
i3status | while : do read line echo "mystuff | $line" done | i3bar -d
9. SEE ALSO
strftime(3), date(1), glob(3), dzen2(1), xmobar(1)
10. AUTHORS
Michael Stapelberg and contributors
Thorsten Toepper
Baptiste Daroussin
Axel Wagner
Fernando Tarlá Cardoso Lemos