The red keys are the modifiers you need to press (by default), the blue keys
are your homerow.
+Note that when starting i3 without a config file, i3-config-wizard will offer
+you to create a config file in which the key positions (!) match what you see
+in the image above, regardless of the keyboard layout you are using. If you
+prefer to use a config file where the key letters match what you are seeing
+above, just decline i3-config-wizard’s offer and base your config on
++/etc/i3/config+.
+
== Using i3
Throughout this guide, the keyword +$mod+ will be used to refer to the
*Syntax*:
----------------------------------
-bindsym [--release] [<Modifiers>+]<keysym> command
-bindcode [--release] [<Modifiers>+]<keycode> command
+bindsym [--release] [<Group>+][<Modifiers>+]<keysym> command
+bindcode [--release] [<Group>+][<Modifiers>+]<keycode> command
----------------------------------
*Examples*:
Mod1-Mod5, Shift, Control::
Standard modifiers, see +xmodmap(1)+
-Mode_switch::
-Unlike other window managers, i3 can use Mode_switch as a modifier. This allows
-you to remap capslock (for example) to Mode_switch and use it for both: typing
-umlauts or special characters 'and' having some comfortably reachable key
-bindings. For example, when typing, capslock+1 or capslock+2 for switching
-workspaces is totally convenient. Try it :-).
+Group1, Group2, Group3, Group4::
+When using multiple keyboard layouts (e.g. with `setxkbmap -layout us,ru`), you
+can specify in which XKB group (also called “layout”) a keybinding should be
+active. By default, keybindings are translated in Group1 and are active in all
+groups. If you want to override keybindings in one of your layouts, specify the
+corresponding group. For backwards compatibility, the group “Mode_switch” is an
+alias for Group2.
[[mousebindings]]
This option determines in which mode new containers on workspace level will
start.
-///////////////////////////////
-See also <<stack-limit>>.
-//////////////////////////////
*Syntax*:
---------------------------------------------
workspace_layout default|stacking|tabbed
---------------------------------------------
-/////////////////////////////////////////////
-new_container stack-limit <cols|rows> <value>
-/////////////////////////////////////////////
*Example*:
---------------------
=== Border style for new windows
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.
++normal+. Note that new_float applies only to windows which are starting out as
+floating windows, e.g., dialog windows, but not windows that are floated later on.
*Syntax*:
---------------------------------------------
-new_window normal|1pixel|none|pixel
+new_window normal|none|pixel
new_window normal|pixel <px>
-new_float normal|1pixel|none|pixel
+new_float normal|none|pixel
new_float normal|pixel <px>
---------------------------------------------
*Example*:
---------------------
-new_window 1pixel
+new_window pixel
---------------------
The "normal" and "pixel" border styles support an optional border width in
=== Arbitrary commands for specific windows (for_window)
+[[for_window]]
+
With the +for_window+ command, you can let i3 execute any command when it
encounters a specific window. This can be used to set windows to floating or to
change their border style, for example.
for_window [class="XTerm"] floating enable
# Make all urxvts use a 1-pixel border:
-for_window [class="urxvt"] border 1pixel
+for_window [class="urxvt"] border pixel 1
# A less useful, but rather funny example:
# makes the window floating as soon as I change
keyword. These commands will be run in order.
See <<command_chaining>> for details on the special meaning of +;+ (semicolon)
-and +,+ (comma): they chain commands together in i3 and need to be escaped if
-you want to use them in your command.
+and +,+ (comma): they chain commands together in i3, so you need to use quoted
+strings if they appear in your command.
*Syntax*:
---------------------------------------
client.placeholder::
Background and text color are used to draw placeholder window contents
(when restoring layouts). Border and indicator are ignored.
-
-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.
+client.background::
+ Background color which will be used to paint the background of the
+ client window on top of which the client will be rendered. Only clients
+ which do not cover the whole area of this window expose the color. Note
+ that this colorclass only takes a single color.
Colors are in HTML hex format (#rrggbb), see the following example:
client.unfocused #333333 #222222 #888888 #292d2e
client.urgent #2f343a #900000 #ffffff #900000
client.placeholder #000000 #0c0c0c #ffffff #000000
+
+client.background #ffffff
---------------------------------------------------------
Note that for the window decorations, the color around the child window is the
force_display_urgency_hint 500 ms
---------------------------------
+=== Delaying exiting on zero displays
+
+Outputs may disappear momentarily and come back later. For example,
+using a docking station that does not announce the undock (e.g. ACPI Undock
+event triggered through manually pushing a button before actually ejecting
+the notebook). During the removal of the notebook from the docking station,
+all outputs disappear momentarily.
+
+To prevent i3 from exiting when no output is available momentarily, you can
+tell i3 to delay a certain time first and check available outputs again using
+the +delay_exit_on_zero_displays+ directive. Setting the value to 0 disables
+this feature.
+
+The default is 500ms.
+
+*Syntax*:
+----------------------------------------
+delay_exit_on_zero_displays <timeout> ms
+----------------------------------------
+
+*Example*:
+----------------------------------
+delay_exit_on_zero_displays 500 ms
+----------------------------------
+
=== Focus on window activation
[[focus_on_window_activation]]
show_marks yes
--------------
+[[line_continuation]]
+
+=== Line continuation
+
+Config files support line continuation, meaning when you end a line in a
+backslash character (`\`), the line-break will be ignored by the parser. This
+feature can be used to create more readable configuration files.
+
+*Examples*:
+-------------------
+bindsym Mod1+f \
+fullscreen toggle
+-------------------
+
== Configuring i3bar
The bar at the bottom of your monitor is drawn by a separate process called
your current IP address, battery status or date/time.
The specified command will be passed to +sh -c+, so you can use globbing and
-have to have correct quoting etc.
+have to have correct quoting etc. Note that for signal handling, depending on
+your shell (users of dash(1) are known to be affected), you have to use the
+shell’s exec command so that signals are passed to your program, not to the
+shell.
*Syntax*:
------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
bar {
status_command i3status --config ~/.i3status.conf
+
+ # For dash(1) users who want signal handling to work:
+ status_command exec ~/.bin/my_status_command
}
-------------------------------------------------
=== Mouse button commands
Specifies a command to run when a button was pressed on i3bar to override the
-default behavior. Currently only the mouse wheel buttons are supported. This is
-useful for disabling the scroll wheel action or running scripts that implement
-custom behavior for these buttons.
+default behavior. This is useful, e.g., for disabling the scroll wheel action
+or running scripts that implement custom behavior for these buttons.
+
+A button is always named +button<n>+, where 1 to 5 are default buttons as follows and higher
+numbers can be special buttons on devices offering more buttons:
+
+button1::
+ Left mouse button.
+button2::
+ Middle mouse button.
+button3::
+ Right mouse button.
+button4::
+ Scroll wheel up.
+button5::
+ Scroll wheel down.
+
+Please note that the old +wheel_up_cmd+ and +wheel_down_cmd+ commands are deprecated
+and will be removed in a future release. We strongly recommend using the more general
++bindsym+ with +button4+ and +button5+ instead.
*Syntax*:
----------------------
-wheel_up_cmd <command>
-wheel_down_cmd <command>
----------------------
+----------------------------
+bindsym button<n> <command>
+----------------------------
*Example*:
----------------------
+---------------------------------------------------------
bar {
- wheel_up_cmd nop
- wheel_down_cmd exec ~/.i3/scripts/custom_wheel_down
+ # disable clicking on workspace buttons
+ bindsym button1 nop
+ # execute custom script when scrolling downwards
+ bindsym button5 exec ~/.i3/scripts/custom_wheel_down
}
----------------------
+---------------------------------------------------------
=== Bar ID
you can turn off the functionality entirely.
*Syntax*:
--------------------------------
-tray_output none|primary|output
--------------------------------
+---------------------------------
+tray_output none|primary|<output>
+---------------------------------
*Example*:
-------------------------
}
# show tray icons on the primary monitor
-tray_output primary
+bar {
+ tray_output primary
+}
# show tray icons on the big monitor
bar {
xrandr --output <output> --primary
-------------------------
+Note that when you use multiple bar configuration blocks, either specify
+`tray_output primary` in all of them or explicitly specify `tray_output none`
+in bars which should not display the tray, otherwise the different instances
+might race each other in trying to display tray icons.
+
+=== Tray padding
+
+The tray is shown on the right-hand side of the bar. By default, a padding of 2
+pixels is used for the upper, lower and right-hand side of the tray area and
+between the individual icons.
+
+*Syntax*:
+-------------------------
+tray_padding <px> [px]
+-------------------------
+
+*Example*:
+-------------------------
+# Obey Fitts's law
+tray_padding 0
+-------------------------
+
=== Font
Specifies the font to be used in the bar. See <<fonts>>.
will be the case for most workspaces.
urgent_workspace::
Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
- contains a window with the urgency hint set. Also applies to +mode+ indicators.
+ contains a window with the urgency hint set.
+binding_mode::
+ Border, background and text color for the binding mode indicator. If not used,
+ the colors will be taken from +urgent_workspace+.
*Syntax*:
----------------------------------------
active_workspace #333333 #5f676a #ffffff
inactive_workspace #333333 #222222 #888888
urgent_workspace #2f343a #900000 #ffffff
+ binding_mode #2f343a #900000 #ffffff
}
}
--------------------------------------
The criteria which are currently implemented are:
class::
- Compares the window class (the second part of WM_CLASS)
+ Compares the window class (the second part of WM_CLASS). Use the
+ special value +__focused__+ to match all windows having the same window
+ class as the currently focused window.
instance::
- Compares the window instance (the first part of WM_CLASS)
+ Compares the window instance (the first part of WM_CLASS). Use the
+ special value +__focused__+ to match all windows having the same window
+ instance as the currently focused window.
window_role::
- Compares the window role (WM_WINDOW_ROLE).
+ Compares the window role (WM_WINDOW_ROLE). Use the special value
+ +__focused__+ to match all windows having the same window role as the
+ currently focused window.
window_type::
- Compare the window type (_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE). Possible values are
- +normal+, +dialog+, +utility+, +toolbar+, +splash+, +menu+, +dropdown_menu+,
- +popup_menu+ and +toolti+.
+ Compare the window type (_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE). Possible values are
+ +normal+, +dialog+, +utility+, +toolbar+, +splash+, +menu+, +dropdown_menu+,
+ +popup_menu+ and +tooltip+.
id::
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).
+ Use the special value +__focused__+ to match all windows having the
+ same window title as the currently focused window.
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)
+workspace::
+ Compares the workspace name of the workspace the window belongs to. Use
+ the special value +__focused__+ to match all windows in the currently
+ focused workspace.
con_mark::
Compares the mark set for this container, see <<vim_like_marks>>.
con_id::
Compares the i3-internal container ID, which you can get via the IPC
interface. Handy for scripting.
-The criteria +class+, +instance+, +role+, +title+ and +mark+ are actually
-regular expressions (PCRE). See +pcresyntax(3)+ or +perldoc perlre+ for
+The criteria +class+, +instance+, +role+, +title+, +workspace+ and +mark+ are
+actually regular expressions (PCRE). See +pcresyntax(3)+ or +perldoc perlre+ for
information on how to use them.
[[exec]]
searched in your +$PATH+.
See <<command_chaining>> for details on the special meaning of +;+ (semicolon)
-and +,+ (comma): they chain commands together in i3 and need to be escaped if
-you want to use them in your command.
+and +,+ (comma): they chain commands together in i3, so you need to use quoted
+strings if they appear in your command.
*Syntax*:
--------------------------------
bindsym $mod+t floating toggle
--------------
-=== Focusing/Moving containers
+[[_focusing_moving_containers]]
-To change the focus, use the focus command: +focus left+, +focus right+, +focus
-down+ and +focus up+.
+=== Focusing containers
-There are a few special parameters you can use for the focus command:
+To change focus, you can use the +focus+ command. The following options are
+available:
+left|right|up|down::
+ Sets focus to the nearest container in the given direction.
parent::
- Sets focus to the +Parent Container+ of the current +Container+.
+ Sets focus to the parent container of the current container.
child::
The opposite of +focus parent+, sets the focus to the last focused
child container.
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+.
-
*Syntax*:
------------------------------------
-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
-relevant for floating containers. The default amount is 10 pixels.
+----------------------------------------------
+focus left|right|down|up
+focus parent|child|floating|tiling|mode_toggle
+focus output left|right|up|down|<output>
+----------------------------------------------
*Examples*:
-----------------------
-# Focus container on the left, bottom, top, right:
+-------------------------------------------------
+# Focus container on the left, bottom, top, right
bindsym $mod+j focus left
bindsym $mod+k focus down
bindsym $mod+l focus up
# Focus the big output
bindsym $mod+x focus output HDMI-2
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+=== Moving containers
+
+Use the +move+ command to move a container.
+
+*Syntax*:
+-----------------------------------------------------
+# Moves the container into the given direction.
+# The optional pixel argument specifies how far the
+# container should be moved if it is floating and
+# defaults to 10 pixels.
+move <left|right|down|up> [<px> px]
+
+# Moves the container either to a specific location
+# or to the center of the screen. If 'absolute' is
+# used, it is moved to the center of all outputs.
+move [absolute] position [[<px> px] [<px> px]|center]
-# Move container to the left, bottom, top, right:
+# Moves the container to the current position of the
+# mouse cursor. Only affects floating containers.
+move position mouse
+-----------------------------------------------------
+
+*Examples*:
+-------------------------------------------------------
+# Move container to the left, bottom, top, right
bindsym $mod+j move left
bindsym $mod+k move down
bindsym $mod+l move up
# move more than the default
bindsym $mod+j move left 20 px
-# Move floating container to the center
-# of all outputs
+# Move floating container to the center of all outputs
bindsym $mod+c move absolute position center
-----------------------
+
+# Move container to the current position of the cursor
+bindsym $mod+m move position mouse
+-------------------------------------------------------
+
+=== Sticky floating windows
+
+If you want a window to stick to the glass, i.e., have it stay on screen even
+if you switch to another workspace, you can use the +sticky+ command. For
+example, this can be useful for notepads, a media player or a video chat
+window.
+
+Note that while any window can be made sticky through this command, it will
+only take effect if the window is floating.
+
+*Syntax*:
+----------------------------
+sticky enable|disable|toggle
+----------------------------
+
+*Examples*:
+------------------------------------------------------
+# make a terminal sticky that was started as a notepad
+for_window [instance=notepad] sticky enable
+------------------------------------------------------
=== Changing (named) workspaces/moving to workspaces
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"
+i3-msg 'rename workspace to "2: mail"'
bindsym $mod+r exec i3-input -F 'rename workspace to "%s"' -P 'New name: '
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Syntax*:
-------------------------------------------------------
resize grow|shrink <direction> [<px> px [or <ppt> ppt]]
+resize set <width> [px] <height> [px]
-------------------------------------------------------
Direction can either be one of +up+, +down+, +left+ or +right+. Or you can be
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).
+default is 10 percentage points). Note that +resize set+ will only work for
+floating containers.
I recommend using the resize command inside a so called +mode+:
bindsym $mod+r mode "resize"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
+*Example 2 - setting urxvt size to 640x480:*
+------------------------------------------------
+for_window [class="urxvt"] resize set 640 480
+------------------------------------------------
+
=== Jumping to specific windows
Often when in a multi-monitor environment, you want to quickly jump to a
seperate bindings for a specific set of labels and then only use those labels.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-=== Changing border style
+=== Window title format
-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.
+By default, i3 will simply print the X11 window title. Using +title_format+,
+this can be customized by setting the format to the desired output. This
+directive supports
+https://developer.gnome.org/pango/stable/PangoMarkupFormat.html[Pango markup]
+and the following placeholders which will be replaced:
-There is also +border toggle+ which will toggle the different border styles.
++%title+::
+ The X11 window title (_NET_WM_NAME or WM_NAME as fallback).
++%class+:
+ The X11 window class (second part of WM_CLASS). This corresponds to the
+ +class+ criterion, see <<command_criteria>>.
++%instance+:
+ The X11 window instance (first part of WM_CLASS). This corresponds to the
+ +instance+ criterion, see <<command_criteria>>.
+
+Using the <<for_window>> directive, you can set the title format for any window
+based on <<command_criteria>>.
+
+*Syntax*:
+---------------------
+title_format <format>
+---------------------
*Examples*:
-----------------------------
-bindsym $mod+t border normal
-bindsym $mod+y border 1pixel
-bindsym $mod+u border none
-----------------------------
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# give the focused window a prefix
+bindsym $mod+p title_format "Important | %title"
-[[stack-limit]]
+# print all window titles bold
+for_window [class=".*"] title_format "<b>%title</b>"
-///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-TODO: not yet implemented
-=== Changing the stack-limit of a container
+# print window titles of firefox windows red
+for_window [class="(?i)firefox"] title_format "<span foreground='red'>%title</span>"
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-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 with only half of the title
-lines being actually used, wasting a lot of screen space.
+=== Changing border style
-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.
+To change the border of the current client, you can use +border normal+ to use the normal
+border (including window title), +border pixel 1+ to use a 1-pixel border (no window title)
+and +border none+ to make the client borderless.
-*Syntax*:
------------------------------
-stack-limit cols|rows <value>
------------------------------
+There is also +border toggle+ which will toggle the different border styles.
-*Examples*:
--------------------
-# I always want to have two window titles in one line
-stack-limit cols 2
+*Syntax*:
+-----------------------------------------------
+border normal|pixel [<n>]
+border none|toggle
-# Not more than 5 rows in this stacking container
-stack-limit rows 5
--------------------
+# legacy syntax, equivalent to "border pixel 1"
+border 1pixel
+-----------------------------------------------
-image:stacklimit.png[Container limited to two columns]
-///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+*Examples*:
+----------------------------------------------
+# use window title, but no border
+bindsym $mod+t border normal 0
+# use no window title and a thick border
+bindsym $mod+y border pixel 3
+# use neither window title nor border
+bindsym $mod+u border none
+----------------------------------------------
[[shmlog]]
projects / i3 / i3 / blobdiff