i3 User’s Guide
===============
Michael Stapelberg <michael+i3@stapelberg.de>
-March 2010
+May 2011
-This document contains all information you need to configuring and using the i3
-window manager. If it does not, please contact me on IRC, Jabber or E-Mail and
-I’ll help you out.
+*********************************************************************************
+This document is not yet finished. The tree branch is still in development. The
+information provided here should be correct, just not complete yet.
+*********************************************************************************
-For a complete listing of the default keybindings, please see the manpage.
+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.
+
+//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+== 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 Mod1 (alt):*
+
+image:keyboard-layer1.png["Keys to use with Mod1 (alt)",width=600,link="keyboard-layer1.png"]
+
+*Keys to use with Shift+Mod1:*
+
+image:keyboard-layer2.png["Keys to use with Shift+Mod1",width=600,link="keyboard-layer2.png"]
+
+As i3 uses keycodes in the default configuration, it does not matter which
+keyboard layout you actually use. The key positions are what matters (of course
+you can also use keysymbols, see <<keybindings>>).
+
+The red keys are the modifiers you need to press (by default), the blue keys
+are your homerow.
+//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
== Using i3
-=== Creating terminals and moving around
+Throughout this guide, the keyword +mod+ will be used to refer to the
+configured modifier. This is the windows key (mod4) by default, with alt (mod1)
+being a popular alternative.
-A very basic operation is to create a new terminal. By default, the keybinding
-for that is Mod1+Enter, that is Alt+Enter in the default configuration. By
-pressing Mod1+Enter, a new terminal will be created and it will fill the whole
-space which is available on your screen.
+=== Opening terminals and moving around
-image:single_terminal.png[Single terminal]
+One very basic operation is opening a new terminal. By default, the keybinding
+for this is mod+Enter, that is Win+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.
-It is important to keep in mind that i3 uses a table to manage your windows. At
-the moment, you have exactly one column and one row which leaves you with one
-cell. In this cell, there is a container in which your newly opened terminal is.
+image:single_terminal.png[Single terminal]
-If you now open another terminal, you still have only one cell. However, the
-container has both of your terminals. So, a container is just a group of clients
-with a specific layout. You can resize containers as they directly resemble
-columns/rows of the layout table.
+If you now open another terminal, i3 will place it next to the current one,
+splitting the screen size in half. Depending on your monitor, i3 will put the
+new window right to the old window (for widescreen) or below the old window
+(rotated displays).
image:two_terminals.png[Two terminals]
To move the focus between the two terminals, you 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, +Mod1+J+ is left, +Mod1+K+ is down, +Mod1+L+
-is up and `Mod1+;` is right. So, to switch between the terminals, use +Mod1+K+ or
-+Mod1+L+.
+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+.
-To create a new row/column, you can simply move a terminal (or any other window)
-to the direction you want to expand your table. So, let’s expand the table to
-the right by pressing `Mod1+Shift+;`.
+At the moment, your workspace is split (it contains two terminals) in a
+specific direction (horizontal by default). Every window can be split
+horizontally or vertically again, just like the workspace. The terminology is
+"window" for a container that actually contains an X11 window (like a terminal
+or browser) and "split container" for containers that consist of one or more
+windows.
-image:two_columns.png[Two columns]
+TODO: picture of the tree
-=== Changing mode of containers
+To split a window vertically, press +mod+v+. To split it horizontally, press
++mod+h+.
-A container can be in different modes:
+=== Changing container modes
+
+A container can have the following modes:
default::
-Windows are sized so that every window gets an equal amount of space of the
+Windows are sized so that every window gets an equal amount of space in the
container.
stacking::
-Only the focused client of the container is displayed and you get a list of
+Only the focused window in the container is displayed. You get a list of
windows at the top of the container.
tabbed::
The same principle as +stacking+, but the list of windows at the top is only
-a single line which will be vertically split.
+a single line which is vertically split.
-To switch the mode, press +Mod1+e+ for default, +Mod1+h+ for stacking and
+To switch modes, press +Mod1+e+ for default, +Mod1+h+ for stacking and
+Mod1+w+ for tabbed.
image:modes.png[Container modes]
=== Toggling fullscreen mode for a window
To display a window fullscreen or to go out of fullscreen mode again, press
-+Mod1+f+.
++mod+f+.
+
+There is also a global fullscreen mode in i3 in which the client will use all
+available outputs. To use it, or to get out of it again, press +mod+Shift+f+.
=== Opening other applications
-Aside from opening applicatios from a terminal, you can also use the handy
-+dmenu+ which is opened by pressing +Mod1+v+ by default. Just type the name
-(or a part of it) of the application which you want to open. It has to be in
-your +$PATH+ for that to work.
+Aside from opening applications from a terminal, you can also use the handy
++dmenu+ which is opened by pressing +mod+p+ by default. Just type the name
+(or a part of it) of the application which you want to open. The application
+typed has to be in your +$PATH+ for this to work.
-Furthermore, if you have applications you open very frequently, you can also
-create a keybinding for it. See the section "Configuring i3" for details.
+Additionally, if you have applications you open very frequently, you can
+create a keybinding for starting the application directly. See the section
+"Configuring i3" for details.
=== Closing windows
-If an application does not provide a mechanism to close (most applications
+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 +Mod1+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
-it, your X server will kill the window and the behaviour depends on the
-application.
+the WM_DELETE protocol your X server will kill the window and the behaviour
+depends on the application.
=== Using workspaces
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 +Mod1+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
-applications (+mutt+, +irssi+, ...) on another one and the ones with which you
-work on the third one. Of course, there is no need to follow this approach.
+applications (+mutt+, +irssi+, ...) on another one, and the ones with which you
+work, on the third one. Of course, there is no need to follow this approach.
-If you have multiple screens, a workspace will be created on each screen. If
-you open a new workspace, it will be bound to the screen you created it on.
-When you switch to a workspace on another screen, i3 will set focus to this
-screen.
+If you have multiple screens, a workspace will be created on each screen at
+startup. If you open a new workspace, it will be bound to the screen you
+created it on. When you switch to a workspace on another screen, i3 will set
+focus to that screen.
=== Moving windows to workspaces
-To move a window to another workspace, simply press +Mod1+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.
-=== Resizing columns/rows
+=== Resizing
-To resize columns or rows just grab the border between the two columns/rows
-and move it to the wanted size. Please keep in mind that each cell of the table
-holds a +container+ and thus you cannot horizontally resize single windows.
+The easiest way to resize a container is by using the mouse: Grab the border
+and move it to the wanted size.
See <<resizingconfig>> for how to configure i3 to be able to resize
columns/rows with your keyboard.
=== Restarting i3 inplace
-To restart i3 inplace (and thus get it into a clean state if it has a bug, to
-reload your configuration or even to upgrade to a newer version of i3) you
-can use +Mod1+Shift+r+. Be aware, though, that this kills your current layout
-and all the windows you have opened will be put in a default container in only
-one cell. Saving the layout will be implemented in a later version.
+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+.
=== Exiting i3
-To cleanly exit i3 without killing your X server, you can use +Mod1+Shift+e+.
+To cleanly exit i3 without killing your X server, you can use +mod+Shift+e+.
-=== Snapping
+=== Floating
-Snapping is a mechanism to increase/decrease the colspan/rowspan of a container.
-Colspan/rowspan is the amount of columns/rows a specific cell of the table
-consumes. This is easier explained by giving an example, so take the following
-layout:
+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.
-image:snapping.png[Snapping example]
+You can enable 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>>.
-To use the full size of your screen, you can now snap container 3 downwards
-by pressing +Mod1+Control+k+ (or snap container 2 rightwards).
+For resizing floating windows with your keyboard, see <<resizingconfig>>.
-=== Floating
+Floating windows are always on top of tiling windows.
-Floating is the opposite of tiling mode. The position and size of a window
-are then 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).
+== Tree
+
+The most important change and reason for the name is that i3 stores all
+information about the X11 outputs, workspaces and layout of the windows on them
+in a tree. The root node is the X11 root window, followed by the X11 outputs,
+then workspaces and finally the windows themselve. In previous versions of i3
+we had multiple lists (of outputs, workspaces) and a table for each workspace.
+That approach turned out to be complicated to use (snapping), understand and
+implement.
+
+=== The tree consists of Containers
+
+The building blocks of our tree are so called +Containers+. A +Container+ can
+host a window (meaning an X11 window, one that you can actually see and use,
+like a browser). Alternatively, it could contain one or more +Containers+. A
+simple example is the workspace: When you start i3 with a single monitor, a
+single workspace and you open two terminal windows, you will end up with a tree
+like this:
-You can enable floating for a window by pressing +Mod1+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.
+image::tree-layout2.png["layout2",float="right"]
+image::tree-shot4.png["shot4",title="Two terminals on standard workspace"]
-Bindings for doing this with your keyboard will follow.
+=== Orientation and Split Containers
+
+[[OrientationSplit]]
+
+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 (+Alt+v+ 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 +Alt+v+ to create a +Vertical Split Container+ (to
+open a +Horizontal Split Container+, use +Alt+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-shot1.png["shot",title="Vertical Split Container"]
+
+unfloat::[]
+
+You probably guessed it already: There is no limit on how deep your hierarchy
+of splits can be.
+
+=== Focus parent
+
+Let’s stay with our example from above. We have a terminal on the left and two
+vertically split terminals on the right, focus is on the bottom right one. When
+you open a new terminal, it will open below the current one.
+
+So, how can you open a new terminal window to the *right* of the current one?
+The solution is to use +focus parent+, which will focus the +Parent Container+ of
+the current +Container+. In this case, you would focus the +Vertical Split
+Container+ which is *inside* the horizontally oriented workspace. Thus, now new
+windows will be opened to the right of the +Vertical Split Container+:
+
+image::tree-shot3.png["shot3",title="Focus parent, then open new terminal"]
-Floating clients are always on top of tiling clients.
== Configuring i3
This is where the real fun begins ;-). Most things are very dependant on your
-ideal working environment, so we can’t make reasonable defaults for them.
+ideal working environment so we can’t make reasonable defaults for them.
While not using a programming language for the configuration, i3 stays
-quite flexible regarding to the things you usually want your window manager
+quite flexible in regards to the things you usually want your window manager
to do.
For example, you can configure bindings to jump to specific windows,
-you can set specific applications to start on a specific workspace, you can
-automatically start applications, you can change the colors of i3 or bind
-your keys to do useful stuff.
+you can set specific applications to start on specific workspaces, you can
+automatically start applications, you can change the colors of i3, and you
+can bind your keys to do useful things.
To change the configuration of i3, copy +/etc/i3/config+ to +\~/.i3/config+
(or +~/.config/i3/config+ if you like the XDG directory scheme) and edit it
It is possible and recommended to use comments in your configuration file to
properly document your setup for later reference. Comments are started with
-a # and can only be used at the beginning of a line, like this:
+a # and can only be used at the beginning of a line:
*Examples*:
-------------------
i3 uses X core fonts (not Xft) for rendering window titles and the internal
workspace bar. 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.
+
+If i3 cannot open the configured font, it will output an error in the logfile
+and fall back to a working font.
*Syntax*:
------------------------------
font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
--------------------------------------------------------------
+[[keybindings]]
+
=== Keyboard bindings
A keyboard binding makes i3 execute a command (see below) upon pressing a
specific key. i3 allows you to bind either on keycodes or on keysyms (you can
also mix your bindings, though i3 will not protect you from overlapping ones).
-* 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 also use in Xmodmap to remap your keys. To get the current mapping of your
- keys, use +xmodmap -pke+.
+* 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+.
-* Keycodes however do not need to have a symbol assigned (handy for some hotkeys
+* Keycodes do not need to have a symbol assigned (handy for some hotkeys
on some notebooks) and they will not change their meaning as you switch to a
- different keyboard layout.
+ different keyboard layout (when using +xmodmap+).
-My recommendation is: If you often switch keyboard layouts because you try to
-learn a different one, but you want to keep your bindings at the same place,
-use keycodes. If you don’t switch layouts and like a clean and simple config
-file, use keysyms.
+My recommendation is: If you often switch keyboard layouts but you want to keep
+your bindings in the same physical location on the keyboard, use keycodes.
+If you don’t switch layouts, and want a clean and simple config file, use
+keysyms.
*Syntax*:
----------------------------------
bindsym [Modifiers+]keysym command
-bind [Modifiers+]keycode command
+bindcode [Modifiers+]keycode command
----------------------------------
*Examples*:
--------------------------------
# Fullscreen
-bind Mod1+f f
+bindsym Mod1+f f
# Restart
-bind Mod1+Shift+r restart
+bindsym Mod1+Shift+r restart
# Notebook-specific hotkeys
-bind 214 exec /home/michael/toggle_beamer.sh
+bindcode 214 exec /home/michael/toggle_beamer.sh
--------------------------------
Available Modifiers:
bindings. For example, when typing, capslock+1 or capslock+2 for switching
workspaces is totally convenient. Try it :-).
+[[floating_modifier]]
+
=== The floating modifier
To move floating windows with your mouse, you can either grab their titlebar
or configure the so called floating modifier which you can then press and
-click anywhere in the window itself. The most common setup is to configure
-it as the same one you use for managing windows (Mod1 for example). Afterwards,
-you can press Mod1, click into a window using your left mouse button and drag
-it to the position you want it at.
+click anywhere in the window itself to move it. The most common setup is to
+use the same key you use for managing windows (Mod1 for example). Then
+you can press Mod1, click into a window using your left mouse button, and drag
+it to the position you want.
+
+When holding the floating modifier, you can resize a floating window by
+pressing the right mouse button on it and moving around while holding it. If
+you hold the shift button as well, the resize will be proportional.
*Syntax*:
--------------------------------
=== Layout mode for new containers
-This option is only available when using the new lexer/parser (pass +-l+ to i3
-when starting). It determines in which mode new containers will start. See also
-<<stack-limit>>.
+This option determines in which mode new containers on workspace level will
+start.
+///////////////////////////////
+See also <<stack-limit>>.
+//////////////////////////////
*Syntax*:
---------------------------------------------
-new_container <default|stacking|tabbed>
-new_container stack-limit <cols|rows> <value>
+workspace_layout <default|stacking|tabbed>
---------------------------------------------
+/////////////////////////////////////////////
+new_container stack-limit <cols|rows> <value>
+/////////////////////////////////////////////
*Examples*:
---------------------
-new_container tabbed
+workspace_layout tabbed
---------------------
=== Border style for new windows
-This option is only available when using the new lexer/parser (pass +-l+ to i3
-when starting). It determines which border new windows will have.
+This option determines which border style new windows will have.
*Syntax*:
---------------------------------------------
-new_window <bp|bn|bb>
+new_window <normal|1pixel|borderless>
---------------------------------------------
*Examples*:
---------------------
-new_window bp
+new_window 1pixel
---------------------
=== Variables
-As you learned in the previous section about keyboard bindings, you will have
+As you learned in the section about keyboard bindings, you will have
to configure lots of bindings containing modifier keys. If you want to save
-yourself some typing and have the possibility to change the modifier you want
-to use later, variables can be handy.
+yourself some typing and be able to change the modifier you use later,
+variables can be handy.
*Syntax*:
--------------
bindsym $m+Shift+r restart
------------------------
-Variables are directly replaced in the file when parsing, there is no fancy
+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, like when configuring
-wmii.
+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
[[assign_workspace]]
-It is recommended that you match on window classes whereever possible because
-some applications first create their window and then care about setting the
-correct title. Firefox with Vimperator comes to mind, as the window starts up
-being named Firefox and only when Vimperator is loaded, the title changes. As
-i3 will get the title as soon as the application maps the window (mapping means
-actually displaying it on the screen), you’d need to have to match on Firefox
-in this case.
+It is recommended that you match on window classes wherever possible because
+some applications first create their window, and then worry about setting the
+correct title. Firefox with Vimperator comes to mind. The window starts up
+being named Firefox, and only when Vimperator is loaded does the title change.
+As i3 will get the title as soon as the application maps the window (mapping
+means actually displaying it on the screen), you’d need to have to match on
+'Firefox' in this case.
You can prefix or suffix workspaces with a `~` to specify that matching clients
should be put into floating mode. If you specify only a `~`, the client will
*Syntax*:
------------------------------------------------------------
-assign ["]window class[/window title]["] [→] [~ | workspace]
+assign ["]window class[/window title]["] [→] [workspace]
------------------------------------------------------------
*Examples*:
----------------------
assign urxvt 2
assign urxvt → 2
+assign urxvt → work
assign "urxvt" → 2
assign "urxvt/VIM" → 3
-assign "gecko" → ~4
-assign "xv/MPlayer" → ~
+assign "gecko" → 4
----------------------
-=== Automatically starting applications on startup
+Note that the arrow is not required, it just looks good :-). If you decide to
+use it, it has to be a UTF-8 encoded arrow, not `->` or something like that.
+
+=== Automatically starting applications on i3 startup
By using the +exec+ keyword outside a keybinding, you can configure which
-commands will be performed by i3 on the first start (not when reloading inplace
-however). The commands will be run in order.
+commands will be performed by i3 on initial startup (not when restarting i3
+in-place however). These commands will be run in order.
*Syntax*:
------------
*Examples*:
--------------------------------
-exec sudo i3status | dzen2 -dock
+exec i3status | dzen2 -dock
--------------------------------
-=== Automatically putting workspaces on specific screens
-
[[workspace_screen]]
-If you use the assigning of clients to workspaces and start some clients
-automatically, it might be handy to put the workspaces on specific screens.
-Also, the assignment of workspaces to screens will determine the workspace
-which i3 uses for a new screen when adding screens or when starting (e.g., by
-default it will use 1 for the first screen, 2 for the second screen and so on).
+=== Automatically putting workspaces on specific screens
+
+If you assign clients to workspaces, it might be handy to put the
+workspaces on specific screens. Also, the assignment of workspaces to screens
+will determine which workspace i3 uses for a new screen when adding screens
+or when starting (e.g., by default it will use 1 for the first screen, 2 for
+the second screen and so on).
*Syntax*:
----------------------------------
workspace <number> output <output>
----------------------------------
-The output is the name of the RandR output you attach your screen to. On a
+The 'output' is the name of the RandR output you attach your screen to. On a
laptop, you might have VGA1 and LVDS1 as output names. You can see the
available outputs by running +xrandr --current+.
workspace 5 output VGA1
---------------------------
-=== Named workspaces
-
-If you always have a certain arrangement of workspaces, you might want to give
-them names (of course UTF-8 is supported):
-
-*Syntax*:
----------------------------------------
-workspace <number> <name>
-workspace <number> output <output> name
----------------------------------------
-
-For more details about the output-part of this command, see above.
-
-*Examples*:
---------------------------
-workspace 1 www
-workspace 2 work
-workspace 3 i ♥ workspaces
---------------------------
-
=== Changing colors
You can change all colors which i3 uses to draw the window decorations and the
bar.urgent::
A workspace which has at least one client with an activated urgency hint.
-Colors are in HTML hex format, see below.
+You can also specify the color to be used to paint the background of the client
+windows. This color will be used to paint the window on top of which the client
+will be rendered.
+
+*Syntax*:
+-----------------------
+client.background color
+-----------------------
+
+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.
+
+Colors are in HTML hex format (#rrggbb), see the following example:
*Examples*:
--------------------------------------
client.focused #2F343A #900000 #FFFFFF
--------------------------------------
-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
+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.
=== Interprocess communication
-i3 uses unix sockets to provide an IPC interface. At the moment, this interface
-is only useful for sending commands. To enable it, you have to configure a path
-where the unix socket will be stored. The default path is +/tmp/i3-ipc.sock+.
+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.
+
+To enable it, you have to configure a path where the unix socket will be
+stored. The default path is +/tmp/i3-ipc.sock+.
+
+You can override the default path through the environment-variable +I3SOCK+.
*Examples*:
----------------------------
ipc-socket /tmp/i3-ipc.sock
----------------------------
-You can then use the i3-msg command to perform any command listed in the next
-section.
+You can then use the +i3-msg+ application to perform any command listed in
+the next section.
=== Disable 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.
+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).
=== Manipulating layout
-To change the layout of the current container to stacking, use +s+, for default
-use +d+ and for tabbed, use +T+. To make the current client (!) fullscreen,
-use +f+, to make it floating (or tiling again) use +t+:
+To change the layout of the current container to stacking, use +layout
+stacking+, for default use +layout default+ and for tabbed, use +layout
+tabbed+. To make the current client (!) fullscreen, use +fullscreen+, to make
+it floating (or tiling again) use +floating enable+ respectively +floating disable+
+(or +floating toggle+):
*Examples*:
--------------
-bindsym Mod1+s s
-bindsym Mod1+l d
-bindsym Mod1+w T
+bindsym Mod1+s layout stacking
+bindsym Mod1+l layout default
+bindsym Mod1+w layout tabbed
# Toggle fullscreen
-bindsym Mod1+f f
+bindsym Mod1+f fullscreen
# Toggle floating/tiling
-bindsym Mod1+t t
+bindsym Mod1+t floating toggle
--------------
-=== Focussing/Moving/Snapping clients/containers/screens
+=== Focusing/Moving containers
-To change the focus, use one of the +h+, +j+, +k+ and +l+ commands, meaning
-respectively left, down, up, right. To focus a container, prefix it with +wc+,
-to focus a screen, prefix it with +ws+.
+To change the focus, use the focus command: +focus left+, +focus right+, +focus down+ and +focus up+.
-The same principle applies for moving and snapping, just prefix the command
-with +m+ when moving and with +s+ when snapping:
+For moving, use +move left+, +move right+, +move down+ and +move up+.
*Examples*:
----------------------
# Focus clients on the left, bottom, top, right:
-bindsym Mod1+j h
-bindsym Mod1+k j
-bindsym Mod1+j k
-bindsym Mod1+semicolon l
+bindsym Mod1+j focus left
+bindsym Mod1+k focus down
+bindsym Mod1+l focus up
+bindsym Mod1+semicolon focus right
# Move client to the left, bottom, top, right:
-bindsym Mod1+j mh
-bindsym Mod1+k mj
-bindsym Mod1+j mk
-bindsym Mod1+semicolon ml
-
-# Snap client to the left, bottom, top, right:
-bindsym Mod1+j sh
-bindsym Mod1+k sj
-bindsym Mod1+j sk
-bindsym Mod1+semicolon sl
-
-# Focus container on the left, bottom, top, right:
-bindsym Mod3+j wch
-…
+bindsym Mod1+j move left
+bindsym Mod1+k move down
+bindsym Mod1+l move up
+bindsym Mod1+semicolon move right
----------------------
-=== Changing workspaces/moving clients to workspaces
+=== Changing workspaces/moving containers to workspaces
-To change to a specific workspace, the command is just the number of the
-workspace, e.g. +1+ or +3+. To move the current client to a specific workspace,
-prefix the number with an +m+.
+To change to a specific workspace, use the +workspace+ command, followed by the
+number or name of the workspace. To move containers, use +move workspace+.
-Furthermore, you can switch to the next and previous workspace with the
-commands +nw+ and +pw+, 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.
+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.
*Examples*:
-------------------------
-bindsym Mod1+1 1
-bindsym Mod1+2 2
+bindsym Mod1+1 workspace 1
+bindsym Mod1+2 workspace 2
...
-bindsym Mod1+Shift+1 m1
-bindsym Mod1+Shift+2 m2
+bindsym Mod1+Shift+1 move workspace 1
+bindsym Mod1+Shift+2 move workspace 2
...
-
-bindsym Mod1+o nw
-bindsym Mod1+p pw
-------------------------
[[resizingconfig]]
-=== Resizing columns/rows
+=== Resizing containers/windows
-If you want to resize columns/rows using your keyboard, you can use the
-+resize+ command, I recommend using it inside a so called +mode+ (you need to
-use the new lexer/parser for that, so pass +-l+ to i3 when starting):
+If you want to resize containers/windows using your keyboard, you can use the
++resize+ command, I recommend using it inside a so called +mode+:
.Example: Configuration file, defining a mode for resizing
----------------------------------------------------------------------
# when pressing left, the window is resized so that it has
# more space on its left
- bindsym n resize left -10
- bindsym Shift+n resize left +10
+ bindsym j resize shrink left
+ bindsym Shift+j resize grow left
- bindsym r resize bottom +10
- bindsym Shift+r resize bottom -10
+ bindsym k resize grow bottom
+ bindsym Shift+k resize shrink bottom
- bindsym t resize top -10
- bindsym Shift+t resize top +10
+ bindsym l resize shrink top
+ bindsym Shift+l resize grow top
- bindsym d resize right +10
- bindsym Shift+d resize right -10
+ bindsym semicolon resize grow right
+ bindsym Shift+semicolon resize shrink right
- bind 36 mode default
+ bindcode 36 mode default
}
# Enter resize mode
-bindsym Mod1+r mode resize
+bindsym Mod1+r mode "resize"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
=== Jumping to specific windows
-Especially when in a multi-monitor environment, you want to quickly jump to a specific
-window, for example while currently working on workspace 3 you may want to jump to
-your mailclient to mail your boss that you’ve achieved some important goal. Instead
-of figuring out how to navigate to your mailclient, it would be more convenient to
-have a shortcut.
+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,
+it would be more convenient to have a shortcut. You can use the +focus+ command
+for that.
*Syntax*:
----------------------------------------------------
-jump ["]window class[/window title]["]
-jump workspace [ column row ]
+[class="class"] focus
+[title="title"] focus
----------------------------------------------------
-You can either use the same matching algorithm as in the +assign+ command (see above)
-or you can specify the position of the client if you always use the same layout.
-
*Examples*:
---------------------------------------
+------------------------------------------------
# Get me to the next open VIM instance
-bindsym Mod1+a jump "urxvt/VIM"
---------------------------------------
+bindsym Mod1+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, that is, 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 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 (or, you could bind it to a key and
-only use the set of labels for which you created bindings). +i3-input+ is a
-tool created for this purpose: It lets you input a command and sends the
-command to i3. It can also prefix this command and display a custom prompt for
-the input dialog.
+window, you cannot simply bind it to a key. +i3-input+ is a tool created
+for this purpose: It lets you input a command and sends the command to i3. It
+can also prefix this command and display a custom prompt for the input dialog.
*Syntax*:
------------------
+------------------------------
mark <identifier>
-goto <identifier>
------------------
+[con_mark="identifier"] focus
+------------------------------
+///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+TODO: make i3-input replace %s
*Examples*:
---------------------------------------
# Read 1 character and mark the current window with this character
bindsym Mod1+g exec i3-input -p 'goto ' -l 1 -P 'Goto: '
---------------------------------------
+Alternatively, if you do not want to mess with +i3-input+, you could create
+seperate bindings for a specific set of labels and then only use those labels.
+///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+TODO: not yet implemented
=== Traveling the focus stack
-This mechanism can be thought of as the opposite of the +jump+ command. It travels
-the focus stack and jumps to the window you focused before.
+This mechanism can be thought of as the opposite of the +jump+ command.
+It travels the focus stack and jumps to the window which had focus previously.
*Syntax*:
--------------
-focus [number] | floating | tilling | ft
+focus [number] | floating | tiling | ft
--------------
-Where +number+ by default is 1 meaning that the next client in the focus stack will
-be selected.
+Where +number+ by default is 1 meaning that the next client in the focus stack
+will be selected.
The special values have the following meaning:
tiling::
The next tiling window is selected.
ft::
- If the current window is floating, the next tiling window will be selected
- and vice-versa.
+ If the current window is floating, the next tiling window will be
+ selected; and vice-versa.
+///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
=== Changing border style
-To change the border of the current client, you can use +bn+ to use the normal
-border (including window title), +bp+ to use a 1-pixel border (no window title)
-and +bb+ to make the client borderless. There also is +bt+ which will toggle
-the different border styles.
+To change the border of the current client, you can use +border normal+ to use the normal
+border (including window title), +border 1pixel+ to use a 1-pixel border (no window title)
+and +border none+ to make the client borderless.
+
+There is also +border toggle+ which will toggle the different border styles.
*Examples*:
-------------------
-bindsym Mod1+t bn
-bindsym Mod1+y bp
-bindsym Mod1+u bb
-------------------
+----------------------------
+bindsym Mod1+t border normal
+bindsym Mod1+y border 1pixel
+bindsym Mod1+u border none
+----------------------------
[[stack-limit]]
+///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+TODO: not yet implemented
=== Changing the stack-limit of a container
-If you have a single container with a lot of windows inside (say, more than
+If you have a single container with a lot of windows inside it (say, more than
10), the default layout of a stacking container can get a little unhandy.
-Depending on your screen’s size, you might end up only using half of the
-titlebars of each window in the container.
+Depending on your screen’s size, you might end up with only half of the title
+lines being actually used, wasting a lot of screen space.
-Using the +stack-limit+ command, you can limit the amount of rows or columns
+Using the +stack-limit+ command, you can limit the number of rows or columns
in a stacking container. i3 will create columns or rows (depending on what
you limited) automatically as needed.
-------------------
image:stacklimit.png[Container limited to two columns]
+///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
=== Reloading/Restarting/Exiting
restart i3 inplace with the +restart+ command to get it out of some weird state
(if that should ever happen) or to perform an upgrade without having to restart
your X session. However, your layout is not preserved at the moment, meaning
-that all open windows will be in a single container in default layout. To exit
-i3 properly, you can use the +exit+ command, however you don’t need to (e.g.,
-simply killing your X session is fine aswell).
+that all open windows will end up in a single container in default layout
+after the restart. To exit i3 properly, you can use the +exit+ command,
+however you don’t need to (simply killing your X session is fine as well).
*Examples*:
----------------------------
bindsym Mod1+Shift+e exit
----------------------------
-== Multiple monitors
-
[[multi_monitor]]
-As you can read in the goal list on its website, i3 was specifically developed
-with Xinerama (support for multiple monitors) in mind. This section will
-explain how to handle multiple monitors.
+== Multiple monitors
+
+As you can see in the goal list on the website, i3 was specifically developed
+with support for multiple monitors in mind. This section will explain how to
+handle multiple monitors.
When you have only one monitor, things are simple. You usually start with
workspace 1 on your monitor and open new ones as you need them.
When you have more than one monitor, each monitor will get an initial
-workspace, say the first gets 1, the second gets 2 and a possible third would
-get 3. When you switch to a workspace on a different screen, i3 will switch
-to that screen and then switch to the workspace. This way, you don’t need
-shortcuts to switch to a specific screen and remember where you put which
-workspace. New workspaces will be opened on the screen you currently are on.
-There is no possiblity to have a screen without workspaces.
-
-The idea to make workspaces global is due to the observation that most users
-have a very limited set of workspaces on their additional monitors, often
-using them for a specific task (browser, shell) or for monitoring several
-things (mail, IRC, syslog, …). Thus, using one workspace on one monitor and
-"the rest" on the other monitors often makes sense. However, as you can
-create unlimited workspaces in i3 and tie them to specific screens, you can
-have the "traditional" approach of having X workspaces per screen by
-changing your configuration (using modes, for example).
+workspace. The first monitor gets 1, the second gets 2 and a possible third
+would get 3. When you switch to a workspace on a different monitor, i3 will
+switch to that monitor and then switch to the workspace. This way, you don’t
+need shortcuts to switch to a specific monitor, and you don’t need to remember
+where you put which workspace. New workspaces will be opened on the currently
+active monitor. It is not possible to have a monitor without a workspace.
+
+The idea of making workspaces global is based on the observation that most
+users have a very limited set of workspaces on their additional monitors.
+They are often used for a specific task (browser, shell) or for monitoring
+several things (mail, IRC, syslog, …). Thus, using one workspace on one monitor
+and "the rest" on the other monitors often makes sense. However, as you can
+create an unlimited number of workspaces in i3 and tie them to specific
+screens, you can have the "traditional" approach of having X workspaces per
+screen by changing your configuration (using modes, for example).
=== Configuring your monitors
-To help you get going if you never did multiple monitors before, here comes a
-short overview of the xrandr options which are probably of interest for you.
-It is always useful to get an overview of the current screen configuration, so
-just run "xrandr" and you will get an output like the following:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+To help you get going if you have never used multiple monitors before, here is
+a short overview of the xrandr options which will probably be of interest to
+you. It is always useful to get an overview of the current screen configuration.
+Just run "xrandr" and you will get an output like the following:
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 800, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several things are important here: You can see that +LVDS1+ is connected (of
-course, it is the internal flat panel) but +VGA1+ is not. If you have connected
-a monitor to one of the ports but xrandr still says "disconnected", you should
+course, it is the internal flat panel) but +VGA1+ is not. If you have a monitor
+connected to one of the ports but xrandr still says "disconnected", you should
check your cable, monitor or graphics driver.
-Furthermore, the maximum resolution you can see at the end of the first line
-is the maximum combined resolution of your monitors. By default, it is usually
-too low and has to be increased by editing +/etc/X11/xorg.conf+.
+The maximum resolution you can see at the end of the first line is the maximum
+combined resolution of your monitors. By default, it is usually too low and has
+to be increased by editing +/etc/X11/xorg.conf+.
So, say you connected VGA1 and want to use it as an additional screen:
-------------------------------------------
xrandr --output VGA1 --auto --left-of LVDS1
-------------------------------------------
-This command lets xrandr try to find out the native resolution of the device
+This command makes xrandr try to find the native resolution of the device
connected to +VGA1+ and configures it to the left of your internal flat panel.
When running "xrandr" again, the output looks like this:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2560 x 1024, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA1 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 338mm x 270mm
720x400 85.0
640x400 85.1
640x350 85.1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note that i3 uses exactly the same API as xrandr does, so it will see
only what you can see in xrandr.
There are several things to configure in i3 which may be interesting if you
have more than one monitor:
-1. You can specify which workspace should be put on which screen. This will
- allow you to have a different set of workspaces when starting than just
+1. You can specify which workspace should be put on which screen. This
+ allows you to have a different set of workspaces when starting than just
1 for the first monitor, 2 for the second and so on. See
<<workspace_screen>>.
2. If you want some applications to generally open on the bigger screen
=== Displaying a status line
A very common thing amongst users of exotic window managers is a status line at
-some corner of the screen. It is an often superior replacement of the widget
+some corner of the screen. It is an often superior replacement to the widget
approach you have in the task bar of a traditional desktop environment.
If you don’t already have your favorite way of generating such a status line
(self-written scripts, conky, …), then i3status is the recommended tool for
-this task. It was written in C with the goal to have as little syscalls as
-possible to reduce the time your CPU is waken up from sleep states.
+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.
Regardless of which application you use to generate the status line, you
want to make sure that the application does one of the following things:
1. Register as a dock window using EWMH hints. This will make i3 position the
window above the workspace bar but below every other client. This is the
- recommended way, but for example in case of dzen2 you need to check out
- the source of dzen2 from subversion, because the -dock option is not present
+ recommended way, but in case of dzen2, for example, you need to check out
+ the source of dzen2 from subversion, as the -dock option is not present
in the released versions.
2. Overlay the internal workspace bar. This method will not waste any space
- in the workspace bar. However, it is a rather hackish way. Just configure
- the output window to be over your workspace bar (say -x 200 and -y 780 if
+ on the workspace bar, however, it is rather hackish. Just configure
+ the output window to be over the workspace bar (say -x 200 and -y 780 if
your screen is 800 px height).
The planned solution for this problem is to make the workspace bar optional
-and switch to dzen2 (for example) completely (it will contain the workspaces
-then).
+and switch to a third party application completely (dzen2 for example)
+which will then contain the workspace bar.
=== Giving presentations (multi-monitor)
[[presentations]]
==== Case 1: everybody gets the same output
-This is the rather easy case. You connect your computer to the video projector,
+This is the simple case. You connect your computer to the video projector,
turn on both (computer and video projector) and configure your X server to
clone the internal flat panel of your computer to the video output:
-----------------------------------------------------
xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1024x768 --same-as LVDS1
-----------------------------------------------------
i3 will then use the lowest common subset of screen resolutions, the rest of
-your screen will be left untouched (so it will show the X background). So, in
+your screen will be left untouched (it will show the X background). So, in
our example, this would be 1024x768 (my notebook has 1280x800).
==== Case 2: you can see more than your audience
Now, i3 will put a new workspace (depending on your settings) on the new screen
and you are in multi-monitor mode (see <<multi_monitor>>).
-Because i3 is not a compositing window manager, there is no possibility to
-display a window on two screens at the same time. Instead, you presentation
-software needs to do this job (that is, open a window on each screen with the
-same contents).
+Because i3 is not a compositing window manager, there is no ability to
+display a window on two screens at the same time. Instead, your presentation
+software needs to do this job (that is, open a window on each screen).
projects / i3 / i3 / blobdiff