i3 User’s Guide
===============
-Michael Stapelberg <michael+i3@stapelberg.de>
-October 2011
+Michael Stapelberg <michael@i3wm.org>
+March 2013
This document contains all the information you need to configure and use the i3
-window manager. If it does not, please contact us on IRC (preferred) or post your
-question(s) on the mailing list.
+window manager. If it does not, please check http://faq.i3wm.org/ first, then
+contact us on IRC (preferred) or post your question(s) on the mailing list.
== Default keybindings
For the "too long; didn’t read" people, here is an overview of the default
keybindings (click to see the full size image):
-*Keys to use with mod (alt):*
+*Keys to use with $mod (Alt):*
-image:keyboard-layer1.png["Keys to use with mod (alt)",width=600,link="keyboard-layer1.png"]
+image:keyboard-layer1.png["Keys to use with $mod (Alt)",width=600,link="keyboard-layer1.png"]
-*Keys to use with Shift+mod:*
+*Keys to use with Shift+$mod:*
-image:keyboard-layer2.png["Keys to use with Shift+mod",width=600,link="keyboard-layer2.png"]
+image:keyboard-layer2.png["Keys to use with Shift+$mod",width=600,link="keyboard-layer2.png"]
The red keys are the modifiers you need to press (by default), the blue keys
are your homerow.
== Using i3
-Throughout this guide, the keyword +mod+ will be used to refer to the
-configured modifier. This is the alt key (Mod1) by default, with windows (Mod4)
-being a popular alternative.
+Throughout this guide, the keyword +$mod+ will be used to refer to the
+configured modifier. This is the Alt key (Mod1) by default, with the Windows
+key (Mod4) being a popular alternative.
=== Opening terminals and moving around
One very basic operation is opening a new terminal. By default, the keybinding
-for this is mod+Enter, that is Alt+Enter in the default configuration. By
-pressing mod+Enter, a new terminal will be opened. It will fill the whole
+for this is $mod+Enter, that is Alt+Enter in the default configuration. By
+pressing $mod+Enter, a new terminal will be opened. It will fill the whole
space available on your screen.
image:single_terminal.png[Single terminal]
To move the focus between the two terminals, you can use the direction keys
which you may know from the editor +vi+. However, in i3, your homerow is used
for these keys (in +vi+, the keys are shifted to the left by one for
-compatibility with most keyboard layouts). Therefore, +mod+J+ is left, +mod+K+
-is down, +mod+L+ is up and `mod+;` is right. So, to switch between the
-terminals, use +mod+K+ or +mod+L+. Of course, you can also use the arrow keys.
+compatibility with most keyboard layouts). Therefore, +$mod+J+ is left, +$mod+K+
+is down, +$mod+L+ is up and `$mod+;` is right. So, to switch between the
+terminals, use +$mod+K+ or +$mod+L+. Of course, you can also use the arrow keys.
At the moment, your workspace is split (it contains two terminals) in a
specific direction (horizontal by default). Every window can be split
TODO: picture of the tree
-To split a window vertically, press +mod+v+. To split it horizontally, press
-+mod+h+.
+To split a window vertically, press +$mod+v+ before you create the new window.
+To split it horizontally, press +$mod+h+.
=== Changing the container layout
A split container can have one of the following layouts:
-default::
+splith/splitv::
Windows are sized so that every window gets an equal amount of space in the
-container.
+container. splith distributes the windows horizontally (windows are right next
+to each other), splitv distributes them vertically (windows are on top of each
+other).
stacking::
Only the focused window in the container is displayed. You get a list of
windows at the top of the container.
The same principle as +stacking+, but the list of windows at the top is only
a single line which is vertically split.
-To switch modes, press +mod+e+ for default, +mod+s+ for stacking and
-+mod+w+ for tabbed.
+To switch modes, press +$mod+e+ for splith/splitv (it toggles), +$mod+s+ for
+stacking and +$mod+w+ for tabbed.
image:modes.png[Container modes]
=== Toggling fullscreen mode for a window
To display a window in fullscreen mode or to go out of fullscreen mode again,
-press +mod+f+.
+press +$mod+f+.
There is also a global fullscreen mode in i3 in which the client will span all
-available outputs.
+available outputs (the command is +fullscreen global+).
=== Opening other applications
Aside from opening applications from a terminal, you can also use the handy
-+dmenu+ which is opened by pressing +mod+d+ by default. Just type the name
++dmenu+ which is opened by pressing +$mod+d+ by default. Just type the name
(or a part of it) of the application which you want to open. The corresponding
application has to be in your +$PATH+ for this to work.
If an application does not provide a mechanism for closing (most applications
provide a menu, the escape key or a shortcut like +Control+W+ to close), you
-can press +mod+Shift+q+ to kill a window. For applications which support
+can press +$mod+Shift+q+ to kill a window. For applications which support
the WM_DELETE protocol, this will correctly close the application (saving
any modifications or doing other cleanup). If the application doesn’t support
the WM_DELETE protocol your X server will kill the window and the behaviour
Workspaces are an easy way to group a set of windows. By default, you are on
the first workspace, as the bar on the bottom left indicates. To switch to
-another workspace, press +mod+num+ where +num+ is the number of the workspace
+another workspace, press +$mod+num+ where +num+ is the number of the workspace
you want to use. If the workspace does not exist yet, it will be created.
A common paradigm is to put the web browser on one workspace, communication
=== Moving windows to workspaces
-To move a window to another workspace, simply press +mod+Shift+num+ where
+To move a window to another workspace, simply press +$mod+Shift+num+ where
+num+ is (like when switching workspaces) the number of the target workspace.
Similarly to switching workspaces, the target workspace will be created if
it does not yet exist.
=== Restarting i3 inplace
-To restart i3 inplace (and thus get into a clean state if there is a bug, or
-to upgrade to a newer version of i3) you can use +mod+Shift+r+.
+To restart i3 in place (and thus get into a clean state if there is a bug, or
+to upgrade to a newer version of i3) you can use +$mod+Shift+r+.
=== Exiting i3
-To cleanly exit i3 without killing your X server, you can use +mod+Shift+e+.
+To cleanly exit i3 without killing your X server, you can use +$mod+Shift+e+.
=== Floating
-Floating mode is the opposite of tiling mode. The position and size of a window
-are not managed by i3, but by you. Using this mode violates the tiling
-paradigm but can be useful for some corner cases like "Save as" dialog
-windows, or toolbar windows (GIMP or similar). Those windows usually set the
-appropriate hint and are opened in floating mode by default.
+Floating mode is the opposite of tiling mode. The position and size of
+a window are not managed automatically by i3, but manually by
+you. Using this mode violates the tiling paradigm but can be useful
+for some corner cases like "Save as" dialog windows, or toolbar
+windows (GIMP or similar). Those windows usually set the appropriate
+hint and are opened in floating mode by default.
-You can toggle floating mode for a window by pressing +mod+Shift+Space+. By
+You can toggle floating mode for a window by pressing +$mod+Shift+Space+. By
dragging the window’s titlebar with your mouse you can move the window
around. By grabbing the borders and moving them you can resize the window. You
can also do that by using the <<floating_modifier>>.
It is only natural to use so-called +Split Containers+ in order to build a
layout when using a tree as data structure. In i3, every +Container+ has an
-orientation (horizontal, vertical or unspecified). So, in our example with the
-workspace, the default orientation of the workspace +Container+ is horizontal
-(most monitors are widescreen nowadays). If you change the orientation to
-vertical (+mod+v+ in the default config) and *then* open two terminals, i3 will
-configure your windows like this:
+orientation (horizontal, vertical or unspecified) and the orientation depends
+on the layout the container is in (vertical for splitv and stacking, horizontal
+for splith and tabbed). So, in our example with the workspace, the default
+layout of the workspace +Container+ is splith (most monitors are widescreen
+nowadays). If you change the layout to splitv (+$mod+l+ in the default config)
+and *then* open two terminals, i3 will configure your windows like this:
image::tree-shot2.png["shot2",title="Vertical Workspace Orientation"]
-An interesting new feature of the tree branch is the ability to split anything:
-Let’s assume you have two terminals on a workspace (with horizontal
-orientation), focus is on the right terminal. Now you want to open another
-terminal window below the current one. If you would just open a new terminal
-window, it would show up to the right due to the horizontal workspace
-orientation. Instead, press +mod+v+ to create a +Vertical Split Container+ (to
-open a +Horizontal Split Container+, use +mod+h+). Now you can open a new
+An interesting new feature of i3 since version 4 is the ability to split anything:
+Let’s assume you have two terminals on a workspace (with splith layout, that is
+horizontal orientation), focus is on the right terminal. Now you want to open
+another terminal window below the current one. If you would just open a new
+terminal window, it would show up to the right due to the splith layout.
+Instead, press +$mod+v+ to split the container with the splitv layout (to
+open a +Horizontal Split Container+, use +$mod+h+). Now you can open a new
terminal and it will open below the current one:
image::tree-layout1.png["Layout",float="right"]
image::tree-shot3.png["shot3",title="Focus parent, then open new terminal"]
+=== Implicit containers
+
+In some cases, i3 needs to implicitly create a container to fulfill your
+command.
+
+One example is the following scenario: You start i3 with a single monitor and a
+single workspace on which you open three terminal windows. All these terminal
+windows are directly attached to one node inside i3’s layout tree, the
+workspace node. By default, the workspace node’s orientation is +horizontal+.
+
+Now you move one of these terminals down (+$mod+k+ by default). The workspace
+node’s orientation will be changed to +vertical+. The terminal window you moved
+down is directly attached to the workspace and appears on the bottom of the
+screen. A new (horizontal) container was created to accomodate the other two
+terminal windows. You will notice this when switching to tabbed mode (for
+example). You would end up having one tab called "another container" and the
+other one being the terminal window you moved down.
+
[[configuring]]
== Configuring i3
-This is where the real fun begins ;-). Most things are very dependant on your
+This is where the real fun begins ;-). Most things are very dependent on your
ideal working environment so we can’t make reasonable defaults for them.
While not using a programming language for the configuration, i3 stays
# This is a comment
-------------------
+[[fonts]]
+
=== Fonts
-i3 uses X core fonts (not Xft) for rendering window titles. You can use
-+xfontsel(1)+ to generate such a font description. To see special characters
-(Unicode), you need to use a font which supports the ISO-10646 encoding.
+i3 has support for both X core fonts and FreeType fonts (through Pango) to
+render window titles.
+
+To generate an X core font description, you can use +xfontsel(1)+. To see
+special characters (Unicode), you need to use a font which supports the
+ISO-10646 encoding.
+
+A FreeType font description is composed by a font family, a style, a weight,
+a variant, a stretch and a size.
+FreeType fonts support right-to-left rendering and contain often more
+Unicode glyphs than X core fonts.
If i3 cannot open the configured font, it will output an error in the logfile
and fall back to a working font.
*Syntax*:
------------------------------
font <X core font description>
+font pango:[family list] [style options] [size]
------------------------------
*Examples*:
--------------------------------------------------------------
font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
+font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono 10
+font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono, Terminus Bold Semi-Condensed 11
+font pango:Terminus 11px
--------------------------------------------------------------
[[keybindings]]
* A keysym (key symbol) is a description for a specific symbol, like "a"
or "b", but also more strange ones like "underscore" instead of "_". These
are the ones you use in Xmodmap to remap your keys. To get the current
- mapping of your keys, use +xmodmap -pke+.
+ mapping of your keys, use +xmodmap -pke+. To interactively enter a key and
+ see what keysym it is configured to, use +xev+.
* Keycodes do not need to have a symbol assigned (handy for custom vendor
hotkeys on some notebooks) and they will not change their meaning as you
If you don’t switch layouts, and want a clean and simple config file, use
keysyms.
+Some tools (such as +import+ or +xdotool+) might be unable to run upon a
+KeyPress event, because the keyboard/pointer is still grabbed. For these
+situations, the +--release+ flag can be used, which will execute the command
+after the keys have been released.
+
*Syntax*:
----------------------------------
-bindsym [Modifiers+]keysym command
-bindcode [Modifiers+]keycode command
+bindsym [--release] [Modifiers+]keysym command
+bindcode [--release] [Modifiers+]keycode command
----------------------------------
*Examples*:
--------------------------------
# Fullscreen
-bindsym mod+f f
+bindsym $mod+f fullscreen
# Restart
-bindsym mod+Shift+r restart
+bindsym $mod+Shift+r restart
# Notebook-specific hotkeys
-bindcode 214 exec /home/michael/toggle_beamer.sh
+bindcode 214 exec --no-startup-id /home/michael/toggle_beamer.sh
+
+# Simulate ctrl+v upon pressing $mod+x
+bindsym --release $mod+x exec --no-startup-id xdotool key --clearmodifiers ctrl+v
+
+# Take a screenshot upon pressing $mod+x (select an area)
+bindsym --release $mod+x exec --no-startup-id import /tmp/latest-screenshot.png
--------------------------------
Available Modifiers:
floating_modifier Mod1
--------------------------------
+=== Constraining floating window size
+
+The maximum and minimum dimensions of floating windows can be specified. If
+either dimension of +floating_maximum_size+ is specified as -1, that dimension
+will be unconstrained with respect to its maximum value. If either dimension of
++floating_maximum_size+ is undefined, or specified as 0, i3 will use a default
+value to constrain the maximum size. +floating_minimum_size+ is treated in a
+manner analogous to +floating_maximum_size+.
+
+*Syntax*:
+----------------------------------------
+floating_minimum_size <width> x <height>
+floating_maximum_size <width> x <height>
+----------------------------------------
+
+*Example*:
+--------------------------------------
+floating_minimum_size 75 x 50
+floating_maximum_size -1 x -1
+--------------------------------------
+
=== Orientation for new workspaces
New workspaces get a reasonable default orientation: Wide-screen monitors
=== Border style for new windows
-This option determines which border style new windows will have.
+This option determines which border style new windows will have. The default is
+"normal". Note that new_float applies only to windows which are starting out as
+floating windows, e.g. dialog windows.
*Syntax*:
---------------------------------------------
-new_window <normal|1pixel|none>
+new_window <normal|1pixel|none|pixel>
+new_float <normal|1pixel|none|pixel>
---------------------------------------------
*Example*:
new_window 1pixel
---------------------
+The "normal" and "pixel" border styles support an optional border width in
+pixels:
+
+*Example*:
+---------------------
+# The same as new_window none
+new_window pixel 0
+
+# A 3 px border
+new_window pixel 3
+---------------------
+
+
+=== Hiding vertical borders
+
+You can hide vertical borders adjacent to the screen edges using
++hide_edge_borders+. This is useful if you are using scrollbars, or do not want
+to waste even two pixels in displayspace. Default is none.
+
+*Syntax*:
+----------------------------
+hide_edge_borders <none|vertical|horizontal|both>
+----------------------------
+
+*Example*:
+----------------------
+hide_edge_borders vertical
+----------------------
+
=== Arbitrary commands for specific windows (for_window)
With the +for_window+ command, you can let i3 execute any command when it
bindsym $m+Shift+r restart
------------------------
-Variables are directly replaced in the file when parsing. There is no fancy
-handling and there are absolutely no plans to change this. If you need a more
-dynamic configuration you should create a little script which generates a
-configuration file and run it before starting i3 (for example in your
-+~/.xsession+ file).
+Variables are directly replaced in the file when parsing. Variables expansion
+is not recursive so it is not possible to define a variable with a value
+containing another variable. There is no fancy handling and there are
+absolutely no plans to change this. If you need a more dynamic configuration
+you should create a little script which generates a configuration file and run
+it before starting i3 (for example in your +~/.xsession+ file).
=== Automatically putting clients on specific workspaces
window (mapping means actually displaying it on the screen), you’d need to have
to match on 'Firefox' in this case.
+Assignments are processed by i3 in the order in which they appear in the config
+file. The first one which matches the window wins and later assignments are not
+considered.
+
*Syntax*:
------------------------------------------------------------
assign <criteria> [→] workspace
To get the class and instance, you can use +xprop+. After clicking on the
window, you will see the following output:
-*xwininfo*:
+*xprop*:
-----------------------------------
WM_CLASS(STRING) = "irssi", "URxvt"
-----------------------------------
details about the matching process and the window’s actual class, instance and
title when starting up.
+Note that if you want to start an application just once on a specific
+workspace, but you don’t want to assign all instances of it permanently, you
+can make use of i3’s startup-notification support (see <<exec>>) in your config
+file in the following way:
+
+*Start iceweasel on workspace 3 (once)*:
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Start iceweasel on workspace 3, then switch back to workspace 1
+# (Being a command-line utility, i3-msg does not support startup notifications,
+# hence the exec --no-startup-id.)
+# (Starting iceweasel with i3’s exec command is important in order to make i3
+# create a startup notification context, without which the iceweasel window(s)
+# cannot be matched onto the workspace on which the command was started.)
+exec --no-startup-id i3-msg 'workspace 3; exec iceweasel; workspace 1'
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
=== Automatically starting applications on i3 startup
By using the +exec+ keyword outside a keybinding, you can configure
*Syntax*:
--------------------------------------------
-colorclass border background text
+colorclass border background text indicator
--------------------------------------------
Where colorclass can be one of:
-----------------------
Only clients that do not cover the whole area of this window expose the color
-used to paint it. If you use a color other than black for your terminals, you
-most likely want to set the client background color to the same color as your
-terminal program's background color to avoid black gaps between the rendered
-area of the termianal and the i3 border.
+used to paint it.
Colors are in HTML hex format (#rrggbb), see the following example:
*Examples (default colors)*:
------------------------------------------------
-# class border backgr. text
-client.focused #4c7899 #285577 #ffffff
-client.focused_inactive #333333 #5f676a #ffffff
-client.unfocused #333333 #222222 #888888
-client.urgent #2f343a #900000 #ffffff
------------------------------------------------
+---------------------------------------------------------
+# class border backgr. text indicator
+client.focused #4c7899 #285577 #ffffff #2e9ef4
+client.focused_inactive #333333 #5f676a #ffffff #484e50
+client.unfocused #333333 #222222 #888888 #292d2e
+client.urgent #2f343a #900000 #ffffff #900000
+---------------------------------------------------------
Note that for the window decorations, the color around the child window is the
background color, and the border color is only the two thin lines at the top of
the window.
+The indicator color is used for indicating where a new window will be opened.
+For horizontal split containers, the right border will be painted in indicator
+color, for vertical split containers, the bottom border. This only applies to
+single windows within a split container, which are otherwise indistinguishable
+from single windows outside of a split container.
+
=== Interprocess communication
-i3 uses unix sockets to provide an IPC interface. This allows third-party
+i3 uses Unix sockets to provide an IPC interface. This allows third-party
programs to get information from i3, such as the current workspaces
(to display a workspace bar), and to control i3.
The IPC socket is enabled by default and will be created in
-+/tmp/i3-%u/ipc-socket.%p+ where +%u+ is your UNIX username and +%p+ is the PID
-of i3.
++/tmp/i3-%u.XXXXXX/ipc-socket.%p+ where +%u+ is your UNIX username, +%p+ is
+the PID of i3 and XXXXXX is a string of random characters from the portable
+filename character set (see mkdtemp(3)).
You can override the default path through the environment-variable +I3SOCK+ or
by specifying the +ipc-socket+ directive. This is discouraged, though, since i3
-does the right thing by default.
+does the right thing by default. If you decide to change it, it is strongly
+recommended to set this to a location in your home directory so that no other
+user can create that directory.
*Examples*:
----------------------------
-ipc-socket /tmp/i3-ipc.sock
+ipc-socket ~/.i3/i3-ipc.sock
----------------------------
You can then use the +i3-msg+ application to perform any command listed in
=== Focus follows mouse
-If you have a setup where your mouse usually is in your way (like a touchpad
-on your laptop which you do not want to disable completely), you might want
-to disable 'focus follows mouse' and control focus only by using your keyboard.
-The mouse will still be useful inside the currently active window (for example
-to click on links in your browser window).
+By default, window focus follows your mouse movements. However, if you have a
+setup where your mouse usually is in your way (like a touchpad on your laptop
+which you do not want to disable completely), you might want to disable 'focus
+follows mouse' and control focus only by using your keyboard. The mouse will
+still be useful inside the currently active window (for example to click on
+links in your browser window).
*Syntax*:
----------------------------
When you are in fullscreen mode, some applications still open popup windows
(take Xpdf for example). This is because these applications may not be aware
that they are in fullscreen mode (they do not check the corresponding hint).
-There are two things which are possible to do in this situation:
+There are three things which are possible to do in this situation:
-1. Just ignore the popup (don’t map it). This won’t interrupt you while you are
+1. Display the popup if it belongs to the fullscreen application only. This is
+ the default and should be reasonable behavior for most users.
+2. Just ignore the popup (don’t map it). This won’t interrupt you while you are
in fullscreen. However, some apps might react badly to this (deadlock until
you go out of fullscreen).
-2. Leave fullscreen mode. This is the default.
+3. Leave fullscreen mode.
*Syntax*:
-------------------------------------------------
-popup_during_fullscreen <ignore|leave_fullscreen>
+popup_during_fullscreen <smart|ignore|leave_fullscreen>
-------------------------------------------------
*Example*:
------------------------------
-popup_during_fullscreen ignore
+popup_during_fullscreen smart
------------------------------
=== Focus wrapping
For instance: Assume you are on workspace "1: www" and switch to "2: IM" using
mod+2 because somebody sent you a message. You don’t need to remember where you
-came from now, you can just press mod+2 again to switch back to "1: www".
+came from now, you can just press $mod+2 again to switch back to "1: www".
*Syntax*:
--------------------------------------
workspace_auto_back_and_forth yes
---------------------------------
+=== Delaying urgency hint reset on workspace change
+
+If an application on another workspace sets an urgency hint, switching to this
+workspace may lead to immediate focus of the application, which also means the
+window decoration color would be immediately resetted to +client.focused+. This
+may make it unnecessarily hard to tell which window originally raised the
+event.
+
+In order to prevent this, you can tell i3 to delay resetting the urgency state
+by a certain time using the +force_display_urgency_hint+ directive. Setting the
+value to 0 disables this feature.
+
+The default is 500ms.
+
+*Syntax*:
+---------------------------------------
+force_display_urgency_hint <timeout> ms
+---------------------------------------
+
+*Example*:
+---------------------------------
+force_display_urgency_hint 500 ms
+---------------------------------
+
== Configuring i3bar
The bar at the bottom of your monitor is drawn by a separate process called
}
---------------------------
+=== i3bar command
+
+By default i3 will just pass +i3bar+ and let your shell handle the execution,
+searching your +$PATH+ for a correct version.
+If you have a different +i3bar+ somewhere or the binary is not in your +$PATH+ you can
+tell i3 what to execute.
+
+The specified command will be passed to +sh -c+, so you can use globbing and
+have to have correct quoting etc.
+
+*Syntax*:
+----------------------
+i3bar_command command
+----------------------
+
+*Example*:
+-------------------------------------------------
+bar {
+ i3bar_command /home/user/bin/i3bar
+}
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+[[status_command]]
=== Statusline command
i3bar can run a program and display every line of its +stdout+ output on the
=== Display mode
-You can have i3bar either be visible permanently at one edge of the screen
-(+dock+ mode) or make it show up when you press your modifier key (+hide+
-mode).
+You can either have i3bar be visible permanently at one edge of the screen
+(+dock+ mode) or make it show up when you press your modifier key (+hide+ mode).
+It is also possible to force i3bar to always stay hidden (+invisible+
+mode). The modifier key can be configured using the +modifier+ option.
+
+The mode option can be changed during runtime through the +bar mode+ command.
+On reload the mode will be reverted to its configured value.
The hide mode maximizes screen space that can be used for actual windows. Also,
i3bar sends the +SIGSTOP+ and +SIGCONT+ signals to the statusline process to
save battery power.
-The default is dock mode.
+Invisible mode allows to permanently maximize screen space, as the bar is never
+shown. Thus, you can configure i3bar to not disturb you by popping up because
+of an urgency hint or because the modifier key is pressed.
+
+In order to control whether i3bar is hidden or shown in hide mode, there exists
+the hidden_state option, which has no effect in dock mode or invisible mode. It
+indicates the current hidden_state of the bar: (1) The bar acts like in normal
+hide mode, it is hidden and is only unhidden in case of urgency hints or by
+pressing the modifier key (+hide+ state), or (2) it is drawn on top of the
+currently visible workspace (+show+ state).
+
+Like the mode, the hidden_state can also be controlled through i3, this can be
+done by using the +bar hidden_state+ command.
+
+The default mode is dock mode; in hide mode, the default modifier is Mod4 (usually
+the windows key). The default value for the hidden_state is hide.
*Syntax*:
----------------
-mode <dock|hide>
+mode <dock|hide|invisible>
+hidden_state <hide|show>
+modifier <Modifier>
----------------
*Example*:
----------------
bar {
mode hide
+ hidden_state hide
+ modifier Mod1
}
----------------
+Available modifiers are Mod1-Mod5, Shift, Control (see +xmodmap(1)+).
+
+=== Bar ID
+
+Specifies the bar ID for the configured bar instance. If this option is missing,
+the ID is set to 'bar-x', where x corresponds to the position of the embedding
+bar block in the config file ('bar-0', 'bar-1', ...).
+
+*Syntax*:
+---------------------
+id <bar_id>
+---------------------
+
+*Example*:
+---------------------
+bar {
+ id bar-1
+}
+---------------------
+
+[[i3bar_position]]
=== Position
This option determines in which edge of the screen i3bar should show up.
*Syntax*:
-------------------------
-tray_output <none|output>
+tray_output <none|primary|output>
-------------------------
*Example*:
tray_output none
}
+# show tray icons on the primary monitor
+tray_output primary
+
# show tray icons on the big monitor
bar {
tray_output HDMI2
}
-------------------------
+Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
+-------------------------
+xrandr --output <output> --primary
+-------------------------
+
=== Font
-Specifies the font (again, X core font, not Xft, just like in i3) to be used in
-the bar.
+Specifies the font to be used in the bar. See <<fonts>>.
*Syntax*:
---------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
bar {
font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
+ font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono 10
}
--------------------------------------------------------------
Background color of the bar.
statusline::
Text color to be used for the statusline.
+separator::
+ Text color to be used for the separator.
focused_workspace::
- Text color/background color for a workspace button when the workspace
+ Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
has focus.
active_workspace::
- Text color/background color for a workspace button when the workspace
+ Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
is active (visible) on some output, but the focus is on another one.
You can only tell this apart from the focused workspace when you are
using multiple monitors.
inactive_workspace::
- Text color/background color for a workspace button when the workspace
+ Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
does not have focus and is not active (visible) on any output. This
will be the case for most workspaces.
urgent_workspace::
- Text color/background color for workspaces which contain at least one
+ Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
window with the urgency hint set.
*Syntax*:
colors {
background <color>
statusline <color>
+ separator <color>
- colorclass <foreground> <background>
+ colorclass <border> <background> <text>
}
----------------------------------------
-*Example*:
+*Example (default colors)*:
--------------------------------------
bar {
colors {
background #000000
statusline #ffffff
+ separator #666666
- focused_workspace #ffffff #285577
- active_workspace #ffffff #333333
- inactive_workspace #888888 #222222
- urgent_workspace #ffffff #900000
+ focused_workspace #4c7899 #285577 #ffffff
+ active_workspace #333333 #5f676a #ffffff
+ inactive_workspace #333333 #222222 #888888
+ urgent_workspace #2f343a #900000 #ffffff
}
}
--------------------------------------
the following keybinding:
*Example*:
--------------------------------------------
-bindsym mod+x move workspace 3; workspace 3
--------------------------------------------
+--------------------------------------------------------
+bindsym $mod+x move container to workspace 3; workspace 3
+--------------------------------------------------------
[[command_criteria]]
-Furthermore, you can change the scope of a command, that is, which containers
+Furthermore, you can change the scope of a command - that is, which containers
should be affected by that command, by using various criteria. These are
prefixed in square brackets to every command. If you want to kill all windows
which have the class Firefox, use:
*Example*:
------------------------------------
-bindsym mod+x [class="Firefox"] kill
+bindsym $mod+x [class="Firefox"] kill
# same thing, but case-insensitive
-bindsym mod+x [class="(?i)firefox"] kill
+bindsym $mod+x [class="(?i)firefox"] kill
------------------------------------
The criteria which are currently implemented are:
Compares the X11 window ID, which you can get via +xwininfo+ for example.
title::
Compares the X11 window title (_NET_WM_NAME or WM_NAME as fallback).
+urgent::
+ Compares the urgent state of the window. Can be "latest" or "oldest".
+ Matches the latest or oldest urgent window, respectively.
+ (The following aliases are also available: newest, last, recent, first)
con_mark::
Compares the mark set for this container, see <<vim_like_marks>>.
con_id::
*Example*:
------------------------------
# Start the GIMP
-bindsym mod+g exec gimp
+bindsym $mod+g exec gimp
# Start the terminal emulator urxvt which is not yet startup-notification-aware
-bindsym mod+Return exec --no-startup-id urxvt
+bindsym $mod+Return exec --no-startup-id urxvt
------------------------------
The +--no-startup-id+ parameter disables startup-notification support for this
=== Splitting containers
The split command makes the current window a split container. Split containers
-can contain multiple windows. Every split container has an orientation, it is
-either split horizontally (a new window gets placed to the right of the current
-one) or vertically (a new window gets placed below the current one).
+can contain multiple windows. Depending on the layout of the split container,
+new windows get placed to the right of the current one (splith) or new windows
+get placed below the current one (splitv).
If you apply this command to a split container with the same orientation,
nothing will happen. If you use a different orientation, the split container’s
-orientation will be changed (if it does not have more than one window).
+orientation will be changed (if it does not have more than one window). Use
++layout toggle split+ to change the layout of any split container from splitv
+to splith or vice-versa.
*Syntax*:
---------------------------
*Example*:
------------------------------
-bindsym mod+v split vertical
-bindsym mod+h split horizontal
+bindsym $mod+v split vertical
+bindsym $mod+h split horizontal
------------------------------
=== Manipulating layout
-Use +layout default+, +layout stacking+ or +layout tabbed+ to change the
-current container layout to default, stacking or tabbed layout, respectively.
+Use +layout toggle split+, +layout stacking+, +layout tabbed+, +layout splitv+
+or +layout splith+ to change the current container layout to splith/splitv,
+stacking, tabbed layout, splitv or splith, respectively.
To make the current window (!) fullscreen, use +fullscreen+, to make
it floating (or tiling again) use +floating enable+ respectively +floating disable+
(or +floating toggle+):
+*Syntax*:
+--------------
+layout <default|tabbed|stacking|splitv|splith>
+layout toggle [split|all]
+--------------
+
*Examples*:
--------------
-bindsym mod+s layout stacking
-bindsym mod+l layout default
-bindsym mod+w layout tabbed
+bindsym $mod+s layout stacking
+bindsym $mod+l layout toggle split
+bindsym $mod+w layout tabbed
+
+# Toggle between stacking/tabbed/split:
+bindsym $mod+x layout toggle
+
+# Toggle between stacking/tabbed/splith/splitv:
+bindsym $mod+x layout toggle all
# Toggle fullscreen
-bindsym mod+f fullscreen
+bindsym $mod+f fullscreen
# Toggle floating/tiling
-bindsym mod+t floating toggle
+bindsym $mod+t floating toggle
--------------
=== Focusing/Moving containers
-To change the focus, use the focus command: +focus left+, +focus right+, +focus down+ and +focus up+.
+To change the focus, use the focus command: +focus left+, +focus right+, +focus
+down+ and +focus up+.
There are a few special parameters you can use for the focus command:
Sets focus to the last focused tiling container.
mode_toggle::
Toggles between floating/tiling containers.
+output::
+ Followed by a direction or an output name, this will focus the
+ corresponding output.
For moving, use +move left+, +move right+, +move down+ and +move up+.
-----------------------------------
focus <left|right|down|up>
focus <parent|child|floating|tiling|mode_toggle>
+focus output <<left|right|down|up>|output>
move <left|right|down|up> [<px> px]
+move [absolute] position [[<px> px] [<px> px]|center]
-----------------------------------
Note that the amount of pixels you can specify for the +move+ command is only
*Examples*:
----------------------
# Focus container on the left, bottom, top, right:
-bindsym mod+j focus left
-bindsym mod+k focus down
-bindsym mod+l focus up
-bindsym mod+semicolon focus right
+bindsym $mod+j focus left
+bindsym $mod+k focus down
+bindsym $mod+l focus up
+bindsym $mod+semicolon focus right
# Focus parent container
-bindsym mod+u focus parent
+bindsym $mod+u focus parent
# Focus last floating/tiling container
-bindsym mod+g focus mode_toggle
+bindsym $mod+g focus mode_toggle
+
+# Focus the output right to the current one
+bindsym $mod+x focus output right
+
+# Focus the big output
+bindsym $mod+x focus output HDMI-2
# Move container to the left, bottom, top, right:
-bindsym mod+j move left
-bindsym mod+k move down
-bindsym mod+l move up
-bindsym mod+semicolon move right
+bindsym $mod+j move left
+bindsym $mod+k move down
+bindsym $mod+l move up
+bindsym $mod+semicolon move right
# Move container, but make floating containers
# move more than the default
-bindsym mod+j move left 20 px
+bindsym $mod+j move left 20 px
+
+# Move floating container to the center
+# of all outputs
+bindsym $mod+c move absolute position center
----------------------
=== Changing (named) workspaces/moving to workspaces
To change to a specific workspace, use the +workspace+ command, followed by the
number or name of the workspace. To move containers to specific workspaces, use
-+move workspace+.
++move container to workspace+.
You can also switch to the next and previous workspace with the commands
+workspace next+ and +workspace prev+, which is handy, for example, if you have
workspace 1, 3, 4 and 9 and you want to cycle through them with a single key
-combination. Similarily, you can use +move workspace next+ and +move workspace
-prev+ to move a container to the next/previous workspace.
+combination. To restrict those to the current output, use +workspace
+next_on_output+ and +workspace prev_on_output+. Similarly, you can use +move
+container to workspace next+, +move container to workspace prev+ to move a
+container to the next/previous workspace and +move container to workspace current+
+(the last one makes sense only when used with criteria).
+
+See <<move_to_outputs>> for how to move a container/workspace to a different
+RandR output.
[[back_and_forth]]
To switch back to the previously focused workspace, use +workspace
-back_and_forth+.
+back_and_forth+; likewise, you can move containers to the previously focused
+workspace using +move container to workspace back_and_forth+.
-To move a container to another xrandr output such as +LVDS1+ or +VGA1+, you can
-use the +move output+ command followed by the name of the target output. You
-may also use +left+, +right+, +up+, +down+ instead of the xrandr output name to
-move to the the next output in the specified direction.
+*Syntax*:
+-----------------------------------
+workspace <next|prev|next_on_output|prev_on_output>
+workspace back_and_forth
+workspace <name>
+workspace number <name>
+
+move [window|container] [to] workspace <name>
+move [window|container] [to] workspace number <name>
+move [window|container] [to] workspace <prev|next|current>
+-----------------------------------
*Examples*:
-------------------------
-bindsym mod+1 workspace 1
-bindsym mod+2 workspace 2
+bindsym $mod+1 workspace 1
+bindsym $mod+2 workspace 2
...
-bindsym mod+Shift+1 move workspace 1
-bindsym mod+Shift+2 move workspace 2
+bindsym $mod+Shift+1 move container to workspace 1
+bindsym $mod+Shift+2 move container to workspace 2
...
# switch between the current and the previously focused one
-bindsym mod+b workspace back_and_forth
+bindsym $mod+b workspace back_and_forth
+bindsym $mod+Shift+b move container to workspace back_and_forth
+
+# move the whole workspace to the next output
+bindsym $mod+x move workspace to output right
+
+# move firefox to current workspace
+bindsym $mod+F1 [class="Firefox"] move workspace current
-------------------------
==== Named workspaces
*Example*:
-------------------------
-bindsym mod+1 workspace mail
+bindsym $mod+1 workspace mail
...
-------------------------
*Example*:
-------------------------
-bindsym mod+1 workspace 1: mail
-bindsym mod+2 workspace 2: www
+bindsym $mod+1 workspace 1: mail
+bindsym $mod+2 workspace 2: www
...
-------------------------
Note that the workspace will really be named "1: mail". i3 treats workspace
names beginning with a number in a slightly special way. Normally, named
workspaces are ordered the way they appeared. When they start with a number, i3
-will order them numerically.
+will order them numerically. Also, you will be able to use +workspace number 1+
+to switch to the workspace which begins with number 1, regardless of which name
+it has. This is useful in case you are changing the workspace’s name
+dynamically. To combine both commands you can use +workspace number 1: mail+ to
+specify a default name if there's currently no workspace starting with a "1".
+
+==== Renaming workspaces
+
+You can rename workspaces. This might be useful to start with the default
+numbered workspaces, do your work, and rename the workspaces afterwards to
+reflect what’s actually on them. You can also omit the old name to rename
+the currently focused workspace. This is handy if you wan't to use the
+rename command with +i3-input+.
+
+*Syntax*:
+----------------------------------------------------
+rename workspace <old_name> to <new_name>
+rename workspace to <new_name>
+----------------------------------------------------
+
+*Examples*:
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+i3-msg 'rename workspace 5 to 6'
+i3-msg 'rename workspace 1 to "1: www"'
+i3-msg 'rename workspace "1: www" to "10: www"'
+i3-msg 'rename workspace to "2: mail"
+bindsym $mod+r exec i3-input -F 'rename workspace to %s' -P 'New name: '
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+=== Moving workspaces to a different screen
+
+See <<move_to_outputs>> for how to move a container/workspace to a different
+RandR output.
+
+=== Moving containers/workspaces to RandR outputs
+
+[[move_to_outputs]]
+
+To move a container to another RandR output (addressed by names like +LVDS1+ or
++VGA1+) or to a RandR output identified by a specific direction (like +left+,
++right+, +up+ or +down+), there are two commands:
+
+*Syntax*:
+--------------------------------------------------------
+move container to output <<left|right|down|up>|<output>>
+move workspace to output <<left|right|down|up>|<output>>
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+*Examples*:
+--------------------------------------------------------
+# Move the current workspace to the next output
+# (effectively toggles when you only have two outputs)
+bindsym $mod+x move workspace to output right
+
+# Put this window on the presentation output.
+bindsym $mod+x move container to output VGA1
+--------------------------------------------------------
[[resizingconfig]]
*Syntax*:
---------------------------------------------------------
-resize <grow|shrink> <direction> [<px> px] [or <ppt> ppt]
+resize <grow|shrink> <direction> [<px> px [or <ppt> ppt]]
---------------------------------------------------------
-Direction can be one of +up+, +down+, +left+ or +right+. The optional pixel
-argument specifies by how many pixels a *floating container* should be grown or
-shrunk (the default is 10 pixels). The ppt argument means percentage points
-and specifies by how many percentage points a *tiling container* should be
-grown or shrunk (the default is 10 percentage points).
+Direction can either be one of +up+, +down+, +left+ or +right+. Or you can be
+less specific and use +width+ or +height+, in which case i3 will take/give
+space from all the other containers. The optional pixel argument specifies by
+how many pixels a *floating container* should be grown or shrunk (the default
+is 10 pixels). The ppt argument means percentage points and specifies by how
+many percentage points a *tiling container* should be grown or shrunk (the
+default is 10 percentage points).
I recommend using the resize command inside a so called +mode+:
mode "resize" {
# These bindings trigger as soon as you enter the resize mode
- # They resize the border in the direction you pressed, e.g.
- # when pressing left, the window is resized so that it has
- # more space on its left
-
- bindsym j resize shrink left
- bindsym Shift+j resize grow left
-
- bindsym k resize grow down
- bindsym Shift+k resize shrink down
-
- bindsym l resize shrink up
- bindsym Shift+l resize grow up
-
- bindsym semicolon resize grow right
- bindsym Shift+semicolon resize shrink right
+ # Pressing left will shrink the window’s width.
+ # Pressing right will grow the window’s width.
+ # Pressing up will shrink the window’s height.
+ # Pressing down will grow the window’s height.
+ bindsym j resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt
+ bindsym k resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt
+ bindsym l resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt
+ bindsym semicolon resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt
+
+ # same bindings, but for the arrow keys
+ bindsym Left resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt
+ bindsym Down resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt
+ bindsym Up resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt
+ bindsym Right resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt
# back to normal: Enter or Escape
bindsym Return mode "default"
}
# Enter resize mode
-bindsym mod+r mode "resize"
+bindsym $mod+r mode "resize"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
=== Jumping to specific windows
Often when in a multi-monitor environment, you want to quickly jump to a
specific window. For example, while working on workspace 3 you may want to
jump to your mail client to email your boss that you’ve achieved some
-important goal. Instead of figuring out how to navigate to your mailclient,
+important goal. Instead of figuring out how to navigate to your mail client,
it would be more convenient to have a shortcut. You can use the +focus+ command
with criteria for that.
*Examples*:
------------------------------------------------
# Get me to the next open VIM instance
-bindsym mod+a [class="urxvt" title="VIM"] focus
+bindsym $mod+a [class="urxvt" title="VIM"] focus
------------------------------------------------
=== VIM-like marks (mark/goto)
This feature is like the jump feature: It allows you to directly jump to a
specific window (this means switching to the appropriate workspace and setting
focus to the windows). However, you can directly mark a specific window with
-an arbitrary label and use it afterwards. You do not need to ensure that your
-windows have unique classes or titles, and you do not need to change your
-configuration file.
+an arbitrary label and use it afterwards. You can unmark the label in the same
+way, using the unmark command. If you don't specify a label, unmark removes all
+marks. You do not need to ensure that your windows have unique classes or
+titles, and you do not need to change your configuration file.
As the command needs to include the label with which you want to mark the
window, you cannot simply bind it to a key. +i3-input+ is a tool created
------------------------------
mark identifier
[con_mark="identifier"] focus
+unmark identifier
------------------------------
*Example (in a terminal)*:
------------------------------
$ i3-msg mark irssi
$ i3-msg '[con_mark="irssi"] focus'
+$ i3-msg unmark irssi
------------------------------
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
*Examples*:
---------------------------------------
# Read 1 character and mark the current window with this character
-bindsym mod+m exec i3-input -p 'mark ' -l 1 -P 'Mark: '
+bindsym $mod+m exec i3-input -p 'mark ' -l 1 -P 'Mark: '
# Read 1 character and go to the window with the character
-bindsym mod+g exec i3-input -p 'goto ' -l 1 -P 'Goto: '
+bindsym $mod+g exec i3-input -p 'goto ' -l 1 -P 'Goto: '
---------------------------------------
Alternatively, if you do not want to mess with +i3-input+, you could create
*Examples*:
----------------------------
-bindsym mod+t border normal
-bindsym mod+y border 1pixel
-bindsym mod+u border none
+bindsym $mod+t border normal
+bindsym $mod+y border 1pixel
+bindsym $mod+u border none
----------------------------
[[stack-limit]]
image:stacklimit.png[Container limited to two columns]
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+[[shmlog]]
+
+=== Enabling shared memory logging
+
+As described in http://i3wm.org/docs/debugging.html, i3 can log to a shared
+memory buffer, which you can dump using +i3-dump-log+. The +shmlog+ command
+allows you to enable or disable the shared memory logging at runtime.
+
+Note that when using +shmlog <size_in_bytes>+, the current log will be
+discarded and a new one will be started.
+
+*Syntax*:
+------------------------------
+shmlog <size_in_bytes>
+shmlog <on|off|toggle>
+------------------------------
+
+*Examples*:
+---------------
+# Enable/disable logging
+bindsym $mod+x shmlog toggle
+
+# or, from a terminal:
+# increase the shared memory log buffer to 50 MiB
+i3-msg shmlog $((50*1024*1024))
+---------------
+
+=== Enabling debug logging
+
+The +debuglog+ command allows you to enable or disable debug logging at
+runtime. Debug logging is much more verbose than non-debug logging. This
+command does not activate shared memory logging (shmlog), and as such is most
+likely useful in combination with the above-described <<shmlog>> command.
+
+*Syntax*:
+------------------------
+debuglog <on|off|toggle>
+------------------------
+
+*Examples*:
+------------------------
+# Enable/disable logging
+bindsym $mod+x debuglog toggle
+------------------------
+
=== Reloading/Restarting/Exiting
You can make i3 reload its configuration file with +reload+. You can also
*Examples*:
----------------------------
-bindsym mod+Shift+r restart
-bindsym mod+Shift+w reload
-bindsym mod+Shift+e exit
+bindsym $mod+Shift+r restart
+bindsym $mod+Shift+w reload
+bindsym $mod+Shift+e exit
----------------------------
+=== Scratchpad
+
+There are two commands to use any existing window as scratchpad window. +move
+scratchpad+ will move a window to the scratchpad workspace. This will make it
+invisible until you show it again. There is no way to open that workspace.
+Instead, when using +scratchpad show+, the window will be shown again, as a
+floating window, centered on your current workspace (using +scratchpad show+ on
+a visible scratchpad window will make it hidden again, so you can have a
+keybinding to toggle). Note that this is just a normal floating window, so if
+you want to "remove it from scratchpad", you can simple make it tiling again
+(+floating toggle+).
+
+As the name indicates, this is useful for having a window with your favorite
+editor always at hand. However, you can also use this for other permanently
+running applications which you don’t want to see all the time: Your music
+player, alsamixer, maybe even your mail client…?
+
+*Syntax*:
+---------------
+move scratchpad
+
+scratchpad show
+---------------
+
+*Examples*:
+------------------------------------------------
+# Make the currently focused window a scratchpad
+bindsym $mod+Shift+minus move scratchpad
+
+# Show the first scratchpad window
+bindsym $mod+minus scratchpad show
+
+# Show the sup-mail scratchpad window, if any.
+bindsym mod4+s [title="^Sup ::"] scratchpad show
+------------------------------------------------
+
+=== i3bar control
+
+There are two options in the configuration of each i3bar instance that can be
+changed during runtime by invoking a command through i3. The commands +bar
+hidden_state+ and +bar mode+ allow setting the current hidden_state
+respectively mode option of each bar. It is also possible to toggle between
+hide state and show state as well as between dock mode and hide mode. Each
+i3bar instance can be controlled individually by specifying a bar_id, if none
+is given, the command is executed for all bar instances.
+
+*Syntax*:
+---------------
+bar hidden_state hide|show|toggle [<bar_id>]
+
+bar mode dock|hide|invisible|toggle [<bar_id>]
+---------------
+
+*Examples*:
+------------------------------------------------
+# Toggle between hide state and show state
+bindsym $mod+m bar hidden_state toggle
+
+# Toggle between dock mode and hide mode
+bindsym $mod+n bar mode toggle
+
+# Set the bar instance with id 'bar-1' to switch to hide mode
+bindsym $mod+b bar mode hide bar-1
+
+# Set the bar instance with id 'bar-1' to always stay hidden
+bindsym $mod+Shift+b bar mode invisible bar-1
+------------------------------------------------
+
[[multi_monitor]]
== Multiple monitors
3. If you have many workspaces on many monitors, it might get hard to keep
track of which window you put where. Thus, you can use vim-like marks to
quickly switch between windows. See <<vim_like_marks>>.
+4. For information on how to move existing workspaces between monitors,
+ see <<_moving_containers_workspaces_to_randr_outputs>>.
== i3 and the rest of your software world
this task. It was written in C with the goal of using as few syscalls as
possible to reduce the time your CPU is woken up from sleep states. Because
i3status only spits out text, you need to combine it with some other tool, like
-i3bar. Use a pipe to connect them: +i3status | i3bar -d+.
+i3bar. See <<status_command>> for how to display i3status in i3bar.
Regardless of which application you use to display the status line, you
want to make sure that it registers as a dock window using EWMH hints. i3 will
position the window either at the top or at the bottom of the screen, depending
-on which hint the application sets. With i3bar, you can use +-d+ or +-dbottom+
-for positioning it at the bottom and +-dtop+ to position it at the top of the
-screen.
+on which hint the application sets. With i3bar, you can configure its position,
+see <<i3bar_position>>.
=== Giving presentations (multi-monitor)
projects / i3 / i3.github.io / blobdiff