X-Git-Url: https://git.sur5r.net/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=docs%2Fuserguide.html;h=7362e009e59589ead8d341ebbc791f070c22291d;hb=0a716379dbf172d480de4a7fba89dc9c79d6a204;hp=794be021c78d17fe4fcac628795244ce43864c35;hpb=bc8d991f08f5f4fe001440ac3a277af4a41fec9a;p=i3%2Fi3.github.io diff --git a/docs/userguide.html b/docs/userguide.html index 794be02..7362e00 100644 --- a/docs/userguide.html +++ b/docs/userguide.html @@ -2,14 +2,15 @@ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd"> + - + i3: i3 User’s Guide @@ -21,16 +22,17 @@ window.onload = function(){asciidoc.footnotes(); asciidoc.toc(2);}

2. 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 the Windows +key (Mod4) being a popular alternative.

2.1. Opening terminals and moving around

One very basic operation is opening a new terminal. By default, the keybinding -for this is Mod1+Enter, that is Alt+Enter in the default configuration. By -pressing Mod1+Enter, a new terminal will be opened. It will fill the whole -space available on your screen.

+for this is $mod+Enter, that is Alt+Enter (Mod1+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.

Single terminal

-

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, which is where your new terminal is -opened.

-

If you now open another terminal, you still have only one cell. However, the -container in that cell holds both of your terminals. So, a container is just a -group of clients with a specific layout. Containers can be resized by adjusting -the size of the cell that holds them.

+

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 +created window beside the existing window (on wide displays) or below the +existing window (rotated displays).

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.

-

To create a new row/column (and a new cell), you can simply move a terminal (or -any other window) in the direction you want to expand your table. So, let’s -expand the table to the right by pressing Mod1+Shift+;.

-

-Two columns -

+

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.

+

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.

+

TODO: picture of the tree

+

To split a window vertically, press $mod+v before you create the new window. +To split it horizontally, press $mod+h.

-

2.2. Changing container modes

-

A container can have the following modes:

+

2.2. 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).

@@ -135,34 +145,34 @@ a single line which is vertically split.

-

To switch modes, press Mod1+e for default, Mod1+h for stacking and -Mod1+w for tabbed.

+

To switch modes, press $mod+e for splith/splitv (it toggles), $mod+s for +stacking and $mod+w for tabbed.

Container modes

2.3. Toggling fullscreen mode for a window

-

To display a window fullscreen or to go out of fullscreen mode again, press -Mod1+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 Mod1+Shift+f.

+

To display a window in fullscreen mode or to go out of fullscreen mode again, +press $mod+f.

+

There is also a global fullscreen mode in i3 in which the client will span all +available outputs (the command is fullscreen toggle global).

2.4. Opening other applications

Aside from opening applications 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. The application -typed has to be in your $PATH for this to work.

+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.

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.

+[configuring] for details.

2.5. Closing windows

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 +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 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 @@ -172,7 +182,7 @@ depends on the application.

2.6. 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 @@ -184,64 +194,157 @@ focus to that screen.

2.7. 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.

-

2.8. Resizing columns/rows

-

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. If -you need applications with different horizontal sizes, place them in seperate -cells one above the other.

-

See [resizingconfig] for how to configure i3 to be able to resize -columns/rows with your keyboard.

+

2.8. Resizing

+

The easiest way to resize a container is by using the mouse: Grab the border +and move it to the wanted size.

+

You can also use [binding_modes] to define a mode for resizing via the +keyboard. To see an example for this, look at the +default config provided +by i3.

2.9. 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 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 layouts will be -implemented in a later version.

+

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.

2.10. Exiting i3

-

To cleanly exit i3 without killing your X server, you can use Mod1+Shift+e.

-
-
-

2.11. Snapping

-

Snapping is a mechanism to increase/decrease the colspan/rowspan of a container. -Colspan/rowspan is the number of columns/rows a specific cell of the table -consumes. This is easier explained by giving an example, so take the following -layout:

-

-Snapping example -

-

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).

+

To cleanly exit i3 without killing your X server, you can use $mod+Shift+e. +By default, a dialog will ask you to confirm if you really want to quit.

-

2.12. 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).

-

You can enable floating mode for a window by pressing Mod1+Shift+Space. By +

2.11. Floating

+

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 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].

-

For resizing floating windows with your keyboard, see [resizingconfig].

+can also do that by using the [floating_modifier]. Another way to resize +floating windows using the mouse is to right-click on the titlebar and drag.

+

For resizing floating windows with your keyboard, see the resizing binding mode +provided by the i3 default config.

Floating windows are always on top of tiling windows.

-

3. Configuring i3

+

3. Tree

+
+

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 dock areas and a content container, then workspaces and +finally the windows themselves. 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.

+
+

3.1. 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:

+
+
+layout2 +
+
+
+
+shot4 +
+
Figure 1. Two terminals on standard workspace
+
+
+
+

3.2. Orientation and Split Containers

+

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) 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+v in the default config) +and then open two terminals, i3 will configure your windows like this:

+
+
+shot2 +
+
Figure 2. Vertical Workspace Orientation
+
+

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:

+
+
+Layout +
+
+
+
+shot +
+
Figure 3. Vertical Split Container
+
+
+

You probably guessed it already: There is no limit on how deep your hierarchy +of splits can be.

+
+
+

3.3. 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:

+
+
+shot3 +
+
Figure 4. Focus parent, then open new terminal
+
+
+
+

3.4. 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+Shift+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 accommodate the +other two terminal windows. You will notice this when switching to tabbed mode +(for example). You would end up having one tab with a representation of the split +container (e.g., "H[urxvt firefox]") and the other one being the terminal window +you moved down.

+
+
+
+
+

4. 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 quite flexible in regards to the things you usually want your window manager @@ -253,8 +356,23 @@ 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 with a text editor.

+

On first start (and on all following starts, unless you have a configuration +file), i3 will offer you to create a configuration file. You can tell the +wizard to use either Alt (Mod1) or Windows (Mod4) as modifier in the config +file. Also, the created config file will use the key symbols of your current +keyboard layout. To start the wizard, use the command i3-config-wizard. +Please note that you must not have ~/.i3/config, otherwise the wizard will +exit.

+

Since i3 4.0, a new configuration format is used. i3 will try to automatically +detect the format version of a config file based on a few different keywords, +but if you want to make sure that your config is read with the new format, +include the following line in your config file:

+
+
+
# i3 config file (v4)
+
-

3.1. Comments

+

4.1. Comments

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:

@@ -265,24 +383,35 @@ a # and can only be used at the beginning of a line:

-

3.2. Fonts

-

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.

+

4.2. Fonts

+

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 <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 -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
-

3.3. Keyboard bindings

+

4.3. 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).

@@ -292,14 +421,15 @@ also mix your bindings, though i3 will not protect you from overlapping ones).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 some hotkeys - on some notebooks) and they will not change their meaning as you switch to a - different keyboard layout (when using xmodmap). +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 + switch to a different keyboard layout (when using xmodmap).

    • @@ -307,23 +437,33 @@ Keycodes do not need to have a symbol assigned (handy for some hotkeys 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.

    +

    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
-bind [Modifiers+]keycode command
    +
    bindsym [--release] [<Group>+][<Modifiers>+]<keysym> command
+bindcode [--release] [<Group>+][<Modifiers>+]<keycode> command

    Examples:

    # Fullscreen
-bindsym Mod1+f f
+bindsym $mod+f fullscreen toggle
 
 # Restart
-bindsym Mod1+Shift+r restart
+bindsym $mod+Shift+r restart
 
 # Notebook-specific hotkeys
-bind 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:

    @@ -336,21 +476,105 @@ Standard modifiers, see xmodmap(1)

    -Mode_switch +Group1, Group2, Group3, Group4

    -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 :-). +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.

    -

    3.4. The floating modifier

    +

    4.4. Mouse bindings

    +

    A mouse binding makes i3 execute a command upon pressing a specific mouse +button in the scope of the clicked container (see [command_criteria]). You +can configure mouse bindings in a similar way to key bindings.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    bindsym [--release] [--border] [--whole-window] [--exclude-titlebar] [<Modifiers>+]button<n> command
    +
    +

    By default, the binding will only run when you click on the titlebar of the +window. If the --release flag is given, it will run when the mouse button +is released.

    +

    If the --whole-window flag is given, the binding will also run when any part +of the window is clicked, with the exception of the border. To have a bind run +when the border is clicked, specify the --border flag.

    +

    If the --exclude-titlebar flag is given, the titlebar will not be considered +for the keybinding.

    +

    Examples:

    +
    +
    +
    # The middle button over a titlebar kills the window
+bindsym --release button2 kill
+
+# The middle button and a modifer over any part of the window kills the window
+bindsym --whole-window $mod+button2 kill
+
+# The right button toggles floating
+bindsym button3 floating toggle
+bindsym $mod+button3 floating toggle
+
+# The side buttons move the window around
+bindsym button9 move left
+bindsym button8 move right
    +
    +
    +
    +

    4.5. Binding modes

    +

    You can have multiple sets of bindings by using different binding modes. When +you switch to another binding mode, all bindings from the current mode are +released and only the bindings defined in the new mode are valid for as long as +you stay in that binding mode. The only predefined binding mode is default, +which is the mode i3 starts out with and to which all bindings not defined in a +specific binding mode belong.

    +

    Working with binding modes consists of two parts: defining a binding mode and +switching to it. For these purposes, there are one config directive and one +command, both of which are called mode. The directive is used to define the +bindings belonging to a certain binding mode, while the command will switch to +the specified mode.

    +

    It is recommended to use binding modes in combination with [variables] in +order to make maintenance easier. Below is an example of how to use a binding +mode.

    +

    Note that it is advisable to define bindings for switching back to the default +mode.

    +

    Note that it is possible to use [pango_markup] for binding modes, but you +need to enable it explicitly by passing the --pango_markup flag to the mode +definition.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    # config directive
+mode [--pango_markup] <name>
+
+# command
+mode <name>
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    # Press $mod+o followed by either f, t, Escape or Return to launch firefox,
+# thunderbird or return to the default mode, respectively.
+set $mode_launcher Launch: [f]irefox [t]hunderbird
+bindsym $mod+o mode "$mode_launcher"
+
+mode "$mode_launcher" {
+    bindsym f exec firefox
+    bindsym t exec thunderbird
+
+    bindsym Escape mode "default"
+    bindsym Return mode "default"
+}
    +
    +
    +
    +

    4.6. 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 to move it. The most common setup is to @@ -359,50 +583,170 @@ 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.

    +you hold the shift button as well, the resize will be proportional (the aspect +ratio will be preserved).

    Syntax:

    -
    floating_modifier <Modifiers>
    +
    floating_modifier <Modifier>
    -

    Examples:

    +

    Example:

    floating_modifier Mod1
    -

    3.5. Layout mode for new containers

    -

    This option determines in which mode new containers will start. See also -[stack-limit].

    +

    4.7. 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:

    -
    new_container <default|stacking|tabbed>
-new_container stack-limit <cols|rows> <value>
    +
    floating_minimum_size <width> x <height>
+floating_maximum_size <width> x <height>
    -

    Examples:

    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    floating_minimum_size 75 x 50
+floating_maximum_size -1 x -1
    +
    +
    +
    +

    4.8. Orientation for new workspaces

    +

    New workspaces get a reasonable default orientation: Wide-screen monitors +(anything wider than high) get horizontal orientation, rotated monitors +(anything higher than wide) get vertical orientation.

    +

    With the default_orientation configuration directive, you can override that +behavior.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    default_orientation horizontal|vertical|auto
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    default_orientation vertical
    +
    +
    +
    +

    4.9. Layout mode for new containers

    +

    This option determines in which mode new containers on workspace level will +start.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    workspace_layout default|stacking|tabbed
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    workspace_layout tabbed
    +
    +
    +
    +

    4.10. 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, but not windows that are floated later on.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    new_window normal|none|pixel
+new_window normal|pixel <px>
+new_float normal|none|pixel
+new_float normal|pixel <px>
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    new_window pixel
    +
    +

    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
    +
    +
    +
    +

    4.11. Hiding borders adjacent to the screen edges

    +

    You can hide container 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. The "smart" setting hides borders on +workspaces with only one window visible, but keeps them on workspaces with +multiple windows visible. Default is none.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    hide_edge_borders none|vertical|horizontal|both|smart
    +
    +

    Example:

    -
    new_container tabbed
    +
    hide_edge_borders vertical
    -

    3.6. Border style for new windows

    -

    This option determines which border style new windows will have.

    +

    4.12. Arbitrary commands for specific windows (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.

    Syntax:

    -
    new_window <bp|bn|bb>
    +
    for_window <criteria> <command>

    Examples:

    -
    new_window bp
    +
    # enable floating mode for all XTerm windows
+for_window [class="XTerm"] floating enable
+
+# Make all urxvts use a 1-pixel border:
+for_window [class="urxvt"] border pixel 1
+
+# A less useful, but rather funny example:
+# makes the window floating as soon as I change
+# directory to ~/work
+for_window [title="x200: ~/work"] floating enable
    +
    +

    The valid criteria are the same as those for commands, see [command_criteria].

    +
    +
    +

    4.13. Don’t focus window upon opening

    +

    When a new window appears, it will be focused. The no_focus directive allows preventing +this from happening and must be used in combination with [command_criteria].

    +

    Note that this does not apply to all cases, e.g., when feeding data into a running application +causing it to request being focused. To configure the behavior in such cases, refer to +[focus_on_window_activation].

    +

    no_focus will also be ignored for the first window on a workspace as there shouldn’t be +a reason to not focus the window in this case. This allows for better usability in +combination with workspace_layout.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    no_focus <criteria>
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    no_focus [window_role="pop-up"]
    -

    3.7. Variables

    +

    4.14. Variables

    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 be able to change the modifier you use later, @@ -410,68 +754,148 @@ variables can be handy.

    Syntax:

    -
    set name value
    +
    set $<name> <value>
    -

    Examples:

    +

    Example:

    set $m Mod1
 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).

    -
    -
    -

    3.8. Automatically putting clients on specific workspaces

    -

    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 -not be put onto any workspace, but will be set floating on the current one.

    +

    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).

    +

    Also see [xresources] to learn how to create variables based on resources +loaded from the X resource database.

    +
    +
    +

    4.15. X resources

    +

    [variables] can also be created using a value configured in the X resource +database. This is useful, for example, to avoid configuring color values within +the i3 configuration. Instead, the values can be configured, once, in the X +resource database to achieve an easily maintainable, consistent color theme +across many X applications.

    +

    Defining a resource will load this resource from the resource database and +assign its value to the specified variable. A fallback must be specified in +case the resource cannot be loaded from the database.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    set_from_resource $<name> <resource_name> <fallback>
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    # The ~/.Xresources should contain a line such as
+#     *color0: #121212
+# and must be loaded properly, e.g., by using
+#     xrdb ~/.Xresources
+# This value is picked up on by other applications (e.g., the URxvt terminal
+# emulator) and can be used in i3 like this:
+set_from_resource $black i3wm.color0 #000000
    +
    +
    +
    +

    4.16. Automatically putting clients on specific workspaces

    +

    To automatically make a specific window show up on a specific workspace, you +can use an assignment. You can match windows by using any criteria, +see [command_criteria]. It is recommended that you match on window classes +(and instances, when appropriate) instead of window titles whenever 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.

    +

    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 ["]window class[/window title]["] [→] [~ | workspace]
    +
    assign <criteria> [→] [workspace] <workspace>

    Examples:

    -
    assign urxvt 2
-assign urxvt → 2
-assign "urxvt" → 2
-assign "urxvt/VIM" → 3
-assign "gecko" → ~4
-assign "xv/MPlayer" → ~
    +
    # Assign URxvt terminals to workspace 2
+assign [class="URxvt"] 2
+
+# Same thing, but more precise (exact match instead of substring)
+assign [class="^URxvt$"] 2
+
+# Same thing, but with a beautiful arrow :)
+assign [class="^URxvt$"] → 2
+
+# Assignment to a named workspace
+assign [class="^URxvt$"] → work
+
+# Start urxvt -name irssi
+assign [class="^URxvt$" instance="^irssi$"] → 3

    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.

    +use it, it has to be a UTF-8 encoded arrow, not -> or something like that.

    +

    To get the class and instance, you can use xprop. After clicking on the +window, you will see the following output:

    +

    xprop:

    +
    +
    +
    WM_CLASS(STRING) = "irssi", "URxvt"
    +
    +

    The first part of the WM_CLASS is the instance ("irssi" in this example), the +second part is the class ("URxvt" in this example).

    +

    Should you have any problems with assignments, make sure to check the i3 +logfile first (see http://i3wm.org/docs/debugging.html). It includes more +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'
    +
    -

    3.9. 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 initial startup (not when restarting i3 -in-place however). These commands will be run in order.

    +

    4.17. 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 initial startup. exec +commands will not run when restarting i3, if you need a command to run +also when restarting i3 you should use the exec_always +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, so you need to use quoted +strings (as shown in [exec_quoting]) if they appear in your command.

    Syntax:

    -
    exec command
    +
    exec [--no-startup-id] <command>
+exec_always [--no-startup-id] <command>

    Examples:

    -
    exec sudo i3status | dzen2 -dock
    +
    exec chromium
+exec_always ~/my_script.sh
+
+# Execute the terminal emulator urxvt, which is not yet startup-notification aware.
+exec --no-startup-id urxvt
    +

    The flag --no-startup-id is explained in [exec].

    -

    3.10. Automatically putting workspaces on specific screens

    +

    4.18. 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 @@ -480,45 +904,27 @@ the second screen and so on).

    Syntax:

    -
    workspace <number> output <output>
    +
    workspace <workspace> output <output>

    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.

    +

    If you use named workspaces, they must be quoted:

    Examples:

    workspace 1 output LVDS1
-workspace 5 output VGA1
    -
    -
    -
    -

    3.11. 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
    +workspace 5 output VGA1 +workspace "2: vim" output VGA1
    -

    3.12. Changing colors

    -

    You can change all colors which i3 uses to draw the window decorations and the -bottom bar.

    +

    4.19. Changing colors

    +

    You can change all colors which i3 uses to draw the window decorations.

    Syntax:

    -
    colorclass border background text
    +
    <colorclass> <border> <background> <text> <indicator> <child_border>

    Where colorclass can be one of:

    @@ -556,382 +962,1889 @@ client.urgent

    -bar.focused +client.placeholder

    - The current workspace in the bottom bar. + Background and text color are used to draw placeholder window contents + (when restoring layouts). Border and indicator are ignored.

    -bar.unfocused +client.background

    - All other workspaces in the bottom bar. -

    -
    -
    -bar.urgent -
    -
    -

    - A workspace which has at least one client with an activated urgency hint. + 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.

    -

    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:

    +

    Examples (default colors):

    -
    # class        border  backgr. text
-client.focused #2F343A #900000 #FFFFFF
    +
    # class                 border  backgr. text    indicator child_border
+client.focused          #4c7899 #285577 #ffffff #2e9ef4   #285577
+client.focused_inactive #333333 #5f676a #ffffff #484e50   #5f676a
+client.unfocused        #333333 #222222 #888888 #292d2e   #222222
+client.urgent           #2f343a #900000 #ffffff #900000   #900000
+client.placeholder      #000000 #0c0c0c #ffffff #000000   #0c0c0c
+
+client.background       #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 -the window.

    +"child_border", and "border" color is only the two thin lines around the +titlebar.

    +

    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.

    -

    3.13. Interprocess communication

    -

    i3 uses unix sockets to provide an IPC interface. This allows third-party +

    4.20. Interprocess communication

    +

    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 ~/.i3/ipc.sock.

    +

    The IPC socket is enabled by default and will be created in +/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. 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 ~/.i3/ipc.sock
    +
    ipc-socket ~/.i3/i3-ipc.sock

    You can then use the i3-msg application to perform any command listed in the next section.

    -

    3.14. 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. -The mouse will still be useful inside the currently active window (for example -to click on links in your browser window).

    +

    4.21. Focus follows mouse

    +

    By default, window focus follows your mouse movements as the mouse crosses +window borders. 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:

    -
    focus_follows_mouse <yes|no>
    +
    focus_follows_mouse yes|no
    -

    Examples:

    +

    Example:

    focus_follows_mouse no
    -

    3.15. Internal workspace bar

    -

    The internal workspace bar (the thing at the bottom of your screen) is very -simple — it does not provide a way to display custom text and it does not -offer advanced customization features. This is intended because we do not -want to duplicate functionality of tools like dzen2, xmobar and so on -(they render bars, we manage windows). Instead, there is an option which will -turn off the internal bar completely, so that you can use a separate program to -display it (see i3-wsbar, a sample implementation of such a program):

    +

    4.22. Mouse warping

    +

    By default, when switching focus to a window on a different output (e.g. +focusing a window on workspace 3 on output VGA-1, coming from workspace 2 on +LVDS-1), the mouse cursor is warped to the center of that window.

    +

    With the mouse_warping option, you can control when the mouse cursor should +be warped. none disables warping entirely, whereas output is the default +behavior described above.

    Syntax:

    -
    workspace_bar <yes|no>
    +
    mouse_warping output|none
    -

    Examples:

    +

    Example:

    -
    workspace_bar no
    +
    mouse_warping none
    -
    - -
    -

    4. List of commands

    -
    -

    4.1. 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 span all outputs, use fg, to make it floating (or -tiling again) use t:

    -

    Examples:

    +

    4.23. Popups during fullscreen mode

    +

    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 three things which are possible to do in this situation:

    +
      +
    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. +
    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). +

      +
      3. +
    3. +

      +Leave fullscreen mode. +

      +
      4. +
    +

    Syntax:

    -
    bindsym Mod1+s s
-bindsym Mod1+l d
-bindsym Mod1+w T
-
-# Toggle fullscreen
-bindsym Mod1+f f
-
-# Toggle global fullscreen
-bindsym Mod1+Shift+f fg
-
-# Toggle floating/tiling
-bindsym Mod1+t t
    +
    popup_during_fullscreen smart|ignore|leave_fullscreen
    -
    -
    -

    4.2. Focusing/Moving/Snapping clients/containers/screens

    -

    To change the focus, use one of the h, j, k and l commands, meaning -left, down, up, right (respectively). To focus a container, prefix it with -wc. To focus a screen, prefix it with ws.

    -

    The same principle applies for moving and snapping: just prefix the command -with m when moving and with s when snapping:

    -

    Examples:

    +

    Example:

    -
    # Focus clients on the left, bottom, top, right:
-bindsym Mod1+j h
-bindsym Mod1+k j
-bindsym Mod1+j k
-bindsym Mod1+semicolon l
-
-# 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
-…
    +
    popup_during_fullscreen smart
    -

    4.3. Changing workspaces/moving clients 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.

    -

    You can also 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.

    -

    Examples:

    +

    4.24. Focus wrapping

    +

    When being in a tabbed or stacked container, the first container will be +focused when you use focus down on the last container — the focus wraps. If +however there is another stacked/tabbed container in that direction, focus will +be set on that container. This is the default behavior so you can navigate to +all your windows without having to use focus parent.

    +

    If you want the focus to always wrap and you are aware of using focus +parent to switch to different containers, you can use the +force_focus_wrapping configuration directive. After enabling it, the focus +will always wrap.

    +

    Syntax:

    -
    bindsym Mod1+1 1
-bindsym Mod1+2 2
-...
-
-bindsym Mod1+Shift+1 m1
-bindsym Mod1+Shift+2 m2
-...
-
-bindsym Mod1+o nw
-bindsym Mod1+p pw
    +
    force_focus_wrapping yes|no
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    force_focus_wrapping yes
    -

    4.4. Resizing columns/rows

    -

    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:

    +

    4.25. Forcing Xinerama

    +

    As explained in-depth in http://i3wm.org/docs/multi-monitor.html, some X11 +video drivers (especially the nVidia binary driver) only provide support for +Xinerama instead of RandR. In such a situation, i3 must be told to use the +inferior Xinerama API explicitly and therefore don’t provide support for +reconfiguring your screens on the fly (they are read only once on startup and +that’s it).

    +

    For people who cannot modify their ~/.xsession to add the +--force-xinerama commandline parameter, a configuration option is provided:

    +

    Syntax:

    -
    Example: Configuration file, defining a mode for resizing
    -
    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 n resize left -10
-        bindsym Shift+n resize left +10
-
-        bindsym r resize bottom +10
-        bindsym Shift+r resize bottom -10
-
-        bindsym t resize top -10
-        bindsym Shift+t resize top +10
-
-        bindsym d resize right +10
-        bindsym Shift+d resize right -10
-
-        bind 36 mode default
-}
-
-# Enter resize mode
-bindsym Mod1+r mode resize
    +
    force_xinerama yes|no
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    force_xinerama yes
    +

    Also note that your output names are not descriptive (like HDMI1) when using +Xinerama, instead they are counted up, starting at 0: xinerama-0, xinerama-1, …

    -

    4.5. 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, -it would be more convenient to have a shortcut.

    +

    4.26. Automatic back-and-forth when switching to the current workspace

    +

    This configuration directive enables automatic workspace back_and_forth (see +[back_and_forth]) when switching to the workspace that is currently focused.

    +

    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".

    Syntax:

    -
    jump ["]window class[/window title]["]
-jump workspace [ column row ]
    +
    workspace_auto_back_and_forth yes|no
    -

    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:

    +

    Example:

    -
    # Get me to the next open VIM instance
-bindsym Mod1+a jump "urxvt/VIM"
    +
    workspace_auto_back_and_forth yes
    -

    4.6. 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.

    -

    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 -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.

    +

    4.27. 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 reset 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:

    -
    mark <identifier>
-goto <identifier>
    +
    force_display_urgency_hint <timeout> ms
    -

    Examples:

    +

    Example:

    -
    # Read 1 character and mark the current window with this character
-bindsym Mod1+m exec i3-input -p 'mark ' -l 1 -P 'Mark: '
-
-# Read 1 character and go to the window with the character
-bindsym Mod1+g exec i3-input -p 'goto ' -l 1 -P 'Goto: '
    +
    force_display_urgency_hint 500 ms
    -

    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.

    -

    4.7. 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 which had focus previously.

    +

    4.28. Focus on window activation

    +

    If a window is activated, e.g., via google-chrome www.google.com, it may request +to take focus. Since this may not preferable, different reactions can be configured.

    +

    Note that this may not affect windows that are being opened. To prevent new windows +from being focused, see [no_focus].

    Syntax:

    -
    focus [number] | floating | tiling | ft
    +
    focus_on_window_activation smart|urgent|focus|none
    -

    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:

    +

    The different modes will act as follows:

    -floating +smart

    - The next floating window is selected. + This is the default behavior. If the window requesting focus is on an active + workspace, it will receive the focus. Otherwise, the urgency hint will be set.

    -tiling +urgent +
    +
    +

    + The window will always be marked urgent, but the focus will not be stolen. +

    +
    +
    +focus

    - The next tiling window is selected. + The window will always be focused and not be marked urgent.

    -ft +none

    - If the current window is floating, the next tiling window will be - selected; and vice-versa. + The window will neither be focused, nor be marked urgent.

    -

    4.8. 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 is also bt which will toggle -the different border styles.

    -

    Examples:

    -
    -
    -
    bindsym Mod1+t bn
-bindsym Mod1+y bp
-bindsym Mod1+u bb
    -
    -
    -
    -

    4.9. Changing the stack-limit of a container

    -

    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 seeing only half of the -titlebars for each window in the container.

    -

    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.

    +

    4.29. Drawing marks on window decoration

    +

    If activated, marks (see [vim_like_marks]) on windows are drawn in their window +decoration. However, any mark starting with an underscore in its name (_) will +not be drawn even if this option is activated.

    +

    The default for this option is yes.

    Syntax:

    -
    stack-limit <cols|rows> <value>
    +
    show_marks yes|no
    -

    Examples:

    +

    Example:

    -
    # I always want to have two window titles in one line
-stack-limit cols 2
-
-# Not more than 5 rows in this stacking container
-stack-limit rows 5
    +
    show_marks yes
    -

    -Container limited to two columns -

    -

    4.10. Reloading/Restarting/Exiting

    -

    You can make i3 reload its configuration file with reload. You can also -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 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).

    +

    4.30. 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. +Commented lines are not continued.

    Examples:

    -
    bindsym Mod1+Shift+r restart
-bindsym Mod1+Shift+w reload
-bindsym Mod1+Shift+e exit
    +
    bindsym Mod1+f \
+fullscreen toggle
+
+# this line is not continued \
+bindsym Mod1+F fullscreen toggle
    -

    5. Multiple monitors

    +

    5. Configuring i3bar

    -

    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 +

    The bar at the bottom of your monitor is drawn by a separate process called +i3bar. Having this part of "the i3 user interface" in a separate process has +several advantages:

    +
      +
    1. +

      +It is a modular approach. If you don’t need a workspace bar at all, or if + you prefer a different one (dzen2, xmobar, maybe even gnome-panel?), you can + just remove the i3bar configuration and start your favorite bar instead. +

      +
      2. +
    2. +

      +It follows the UNIX philosophy of "Make each program do one thing well". + While i3 manages your windows well, i3bar is good at displaying a bar on + each monitor (unless you configure it otherwise). +

      +
      3. +
    3. +

      +It leads to two separate, clean codebases. If you want to understand i3, you + don’t need to bother with the details of i3bar and vice versa. +

      +
      4. +
    +

    That said, i3bar is configured in the same configuration file as i3. This is +because it is tightly coupled with i3 (in contrary to i3lock or i3status which +are useful for people using other window managers). Therefore, it makes no +sense to use a different configuration place when we already have a good +configuration infrastructure in place.

    +

    Configuring your workspace bar starts with opening a bar block. You can have +multiple bar blocks to use different settings for different outputs (monitors):

    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bar {
+    status_command i3status
+}
    +
    +
    +

    5.1. 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
+}
    +
    +
    +
    +

    5.2. Statusline command

    +

    i3bar can run a program and display every line of its stdout output on the +right hand side of the bar. This is useful to display system information like +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. 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:

    +
    +
    +
    status_command <command>
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bar {
+    status_command i3status --config ~/.i3status.conf
+
+    # For dash(1) users who want signal handling to work:
+    status_command exec ~/.bin/my_status_command
+}
    +
    +
    +
    +

    5.3. Display 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.

    +

    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|invisible
+hidden_state hide|show
+modifier <Modifier>|none
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bar {
+    mode hide
+    hidden_state hide
+    modifier Mod1
+}
    +
    +

    Available modifiers are Mod1-Mod5, Shift, Control (see xmodmap(1)). You can +also use "none" if you don’t want any modifier to trigger this behavior.

    +
    +
    +

    5.4. Mouse button commands

    +

    Specifies a command to run when a button was pressed on i3bar to override the +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:

    +
    +
    +
    bindsym button<n> <command>
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bar {
+    # disable clicking on workspace buttons
+    bindsym button1 nop
+    # execute custom script when scrolling downwards
+    bindsym button5 exec ~/.i3/scripts/custom_wheel_down
+}
    +
    +
    +
    +

    5.5. 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
+}
    +
    +
    +
    +

    5.6. Position

    +

    This option determines in which edge of the screen i3bar should show up.

    +

    The default is bottom.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    position top|bottom
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bar {
+    position top
+}
    +
    +
    +
    +

    5.7. Output(s)

    +

    You can restrict i3bar to one or more outputs (monitors). The default is to +handle all outputs. Restricting the outputs is useful for using different +options for different outputs by using multiple bar blocks.

    +

    To make a particular i3bar instance handle multiple outputs, specify the output +directive multiple times.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    output primary|<output>
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    # big monitor: everything
+bar {
+    # The display is connected either via HDMI or via DisplayPort
+    output HDMI2
+    output DP2
+    status_command i3status
+}
+
+# laptop monitor: bright colors and i3status with less modules.
+bar {
+    output LVDS1
+    status_command i3status --config ~/.i3status-small.conf
+    colors {
+        background #000000
+        statusline #ffffff
+    }
+}
+
+# show bar on the primary monitor and on HDMI2
+bar {
+    output primary
+    output HDMI2
+    status_command i3status
+}
    +
    +

    Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:

    +
    +
    +
    xrandr --output <output> --primary
    +
    +
    +
    +

    5.8. Tray output

    +

    i3bar by default provides a system tray area where programs such as +NetworkManager, VLC, Pidgin, etc. can place little icons.

    +

    You can configure on which output (monitor) the icons should be displayed or +you can turn off the functionality entirely.

    +

    You can use multiple tray_output directives in your config to specify a list +of outputs on which you want the tray to appear. The first available output in +that list as defined by the order of the directives will be used for the tray +output.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    tray_output none|primary|<output>
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    # disable system tray
+bar {
+    tray_output none
+}
+
+# show tray icons on the primary monitor
+bar {
+    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
    +
    +

    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.

    +
    +
    +

    5.9. 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
    +
    +
    +
    +

    5.10. Font

    +

    Specifies the font to be used in the bar. See [fonts].

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    font <font>
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bar {
+    font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
+    font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono 10
+}
    +
    +
    +
    +

    5.11. Custom separator symbol

    +

    Specifies a custom symbol to be used for the separator as opposed to the vertical, +one pixel thick separator.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    separator_symbol <symbol>
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bar {
+    separator_symbol ":|:"
+}
    +
    +
    +
    +

    5.12. Workspace buttons

    +

    Specifies whether workspace buttons should be shown or not. This is useful if +you want to display a statusline-only bar containing additional information.

    +

    The default is to show workspace buttons.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    workspace_buttons yes|no
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bar {
+    workspace_buttons no
+}
    +
    +
    +
    +

    5.13. Strip workspace numbers

    +

    Specifies whether workspace numbers should be displayed within the workspace +buttons. This is useful if you want to have a named workspace that stays in +order on the bar according to its number without displaying the number prefix.

    +

    When strip_workspace_numbers is set to yes, any workspace that has a name of +the form "[n]:[NAME]" will display only the name. You could use this, for +instance, to display Roman numerals rather than digits by naming your +workspaces to "1:I", "2:II", "3:III", "4:IV", …

    +

    The default is to display the full name within the workspace button.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    strip_workspace_numbers yes|no
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bar {
+    strip_workspace_numbers yes
+}
    +
    +
    +
    +

    5.14. Binding Mode indicator

    +

    Specifies whether the current binding mode indicator should be shown or not. +This is useful if you want to hide the workspace buttons but still be able +to see the current binding mode indicator. See [binding_modes] to learn what +modes are and how to use them.

    +

    The default is to show the mode indicator.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    binding_mode_indicator yes|no
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bar {
+    binding_mode_indicator no
+}
    +
    +
    +
    +

    5.15. Colors

    +

    As with i3, colors are in HTML hex format (#rrggbb). The following colors can +be configured at the moment:

    +
    +
    +background +
    +
    +

    + Background color of the bar. +

    +
    +
    +statusline +
    +
    +

    + Text color to be used for the statusline. +

    +
    +
    +separator +
    +
    +

    + Text color to be used for the separator. +

    +
    +
    +focused_background +
    +
    +

    + Background color of the bar on the currently focused monitor output. If + not used, the color will be taken from background. +

    +
    +
    +focused_statusline +
    +
    +

    + Text color to be used for the statusline on the currently focused + monitor output. If not used, the color will be taken from statusline. +

    +
    +
    +focused_separator +
    +
    +

    + Text color to be used for the separator on the currently focused + monitor output. If not used, the color will be taken from separator. +

    +
    +
    +focused_workspace +
    +
    +

    + Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace + has focus. +

    +
    +
    +active_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 +
    +
    +

    + 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 +
    +
    +

    + Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace + 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:

    +
    +
    +
    colors {
+    background <color>
+    statusline <color>
+    separator <color>
+
+    <colorclass> <border> <background> <text>
+}
    +
    +

    Example (default colors):

    +
    +
    +
    bar {
+    colors {
+        background #000000
+        statusline #ffffff
+        separator #666666
+
+        focused_workspace  #4c7899 #285577 #ffffff
+        active_workspace   #333333 #5f676a #ffffff
+        inactive_workspace #333333 #222222 #888888
+        urgent_workspace   #2f343a #900000 #ffffff
+        binding_mode       #2f343a #900000 #ffffff
+    }
+}
    +
    +
    +
    +
    +
    +

    6. List of commands

    +
    +

    Commands are what you bind to specific keypresses. You can also issue commands +at runtime without pressing a key by using the IPC interface. An easy way to +do this is to use the i3-msg utility:

    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    # execute this on your shell to make the current container borderless
+i3-msg border none
    +
    +

    Commands can be chained by using ; (a semicolon). So, to move a window to a +specific workspace and immediately switch to that workspace, you can configure +the following keybinding:

    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bindsym $mod+x move container to workspace 3; workspace 3
    +
    +

    Furthermore, you can change the scope of a command - that is, which containers +should be affected by that command, by using various criteria. The criteria +are specified before any command in a pair of square brackets and are separated +by space.

    +

    When using multiple commands, separate them by using a , (a comma) instead of +a semicolon. Criteria apply only until the next semicolon, so if you use a +semicolon to separate commands, only the first one will be executed for the +matched window(s).

    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    # if you want to kill all windows which have the class Firefox, use:
+bindsym $mod+x [class="Firefox"] kill
+
+# same thing, but case-insensitive
+bindsym $mod+x [class="(?i)firefox"] kill
+
+# kill only the About dialog from Firefox
+bindsym $mod+x [class="Firefox" window_role="About"] kill
+
+# enable floating mode and move container to workspace 4
+for_window [class="^evil-app$"] floating enable, move container to workspace 4
+
+# move all floating windows to the scratchpad
+bindsym $mod+x [floating] move scratchpad
    +
    +

    The criteria which are currently implemented are:

    +
    +
    +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). 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). 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, tooltip and notification. +

    +
    +
    +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 marks set for this container, see [vim_like_marks]. A + match is made if any of the container’s marks matches the specified + mark. +

    +
    +
    +con_id +
    +
    +

    + Compares the i3-internal container ID, which you can get via the IPC + interface. Handy for scripting. Use the special value __focused__ + to match only the currently focused window. +

    +
    +
    +floating +
    +
    +

    + Only matches floating windows. This criterion requires no value. +

    +
    +
    +tiling +
    +
    +

    + Only matches tiling windows. This criterion requires no value. +

    +
    +
    +

    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.

    +
    +

    6.1. Executing applications (exec)

    +

    What good is a window manager if you can’t actually start any applications? +The exec command starts an application by passing the command you specify to a +shell. This implies that you can use globbing (wildcards) and programs will be +searched in your $PATH.

    +

    See [command_chaining] for details on the special meaning of ; (semicolon) +and , (comma): they chain commands together in i3, so you need to use quoted +strings (as shown in [exec_quoting]) if they appear in your command.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    exec [--no-startup-id] <command>
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    # Start the 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
    +
    +

    The --no-startup-id parameter disables startup-notification support for this +particular exec command. With startup-notification, i3 can make sure that a +window appears on the workspace on which you used the exec command. Also, it +will change the X11 cursor to watch (a clock) while the application is +launching. So, if an application is not startup-notification aware (most GTK +and Qt using applications seem to be, though), you will end up with a watch +cursor for 60 seconds.

    +

    If the command to be executed contains a ; (semicolon) and/or a , (comma), +the entire command must be quoted. For example, to have a keybinding for the +shell command notify-send Hello, i3, you would add an entry to your +configuration file like this:

    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    # Execute a command with a comma in it
+bindsym $mod+p exec "notify-send Hello, i3"
    +
    +

    If however a command with a comma and/or semicolon itself requires quotes, you +must escape the internal quotation marks with double backslashes, like this:

    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    # Execute a command with a comma, semicolon and internal quotes
+bindsym $mod+p exec "notify-send \\"Hello, i3; from $USER\\""
    +
    +
    +
    +

    6.2. Splitting containers

    +

    The split command makes the current window a split container. Split containers +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). +The toggle option will toggle the orientation of the split container if it +contains a single window. Otherwise it makes the current window a split +container with opposite orientation compared to the parent container. +Use layout toggle split to change the layout of any split container from +splitv to splith or vice-versa. You can also define a custom sequence of layouts +to cycle through with layout toggle, see [manipulating_layout].

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    split vertical|horizontal|toggle
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bindsym $mod+v split vertical
+bindsym $mod+h split horizontal
+bindsym $mod+t split toggle
    +
    +
    +
    +

    6.3. Manipulating layout

    +

    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.

    +

    Specify up to four layouts after layout toggle to cycle through them. Every +time the command is executed, the layout specified after the currently active +one will be applied. If the currently active layout is not in the list, the +first layout in the list will be activated.

    +

    To make the current window (!) fullscreen, use fullscreen enable (or +fullscreen enable global for the global mode), to leave either fullscreen +mode use fullscreen disable, and to toggle between these two states use +fullscreen toggle (or fullscreen toggle global).

    +

    Likewise, to make the current window floating (or tiling again) use floating +enable respectively floating disable (or floating toggle):

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    layout default|tabbed|stacking|splitv|splith
+layout toggle [split|all]
+layout toggle [split|tabbed|stacking|splitv|splith] [split|tabbed|stacking|splitv|splith]…
    +
    +

    Examples:

    +
    +
    +
    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 between stacking/tabbed/splith:
+bindsym $mod+x layout toggle stacking tabbed splith
+
+# Toggle between splitv/tabbed
+bindsym $mod+x layout toggle splitv tabbed
+
+# Toggle between last split layout/tabbed/stacking
+bindsym $mod+x layout toggle split tabbed stacking
+
+# Toggle fullscreen
+bindsym $mod+f fullscreen toggle
+
+# Toggle floating/tiling
+bindsym $mod+t floating toggle
    +
    +
    +
    +

    6.4. Focusing containers

    +

    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. +

    +
    +
    +child +
    +
    +

    + The opposite of focus parent, sets the focus to the last focused + child container. +

    +
    +
    +floating +
    +
    +

    + Sets focus to the last focused floating container. +

    +
    +
    +tiling +
    +
    +

    + 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. +

    +
    +
    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    focus left|right|down|up
+focus parent|child|floating|tiling|mode_toggle
+focus output left|right|up|down|primary|<output>
    +
    +

    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
+
+# Focus parent container
+bindsym $mod+u focus parent
+
+# Focus last floating/tiling container
+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
+
+# Focus the primary output
+bindsym $mod+x focus output primary
    +
    +
    +
    +
    Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
    +
    +

    xrandr --output <output> --primary

    +
    +
    +
    === 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 <pos_x> [px] <pos_y> [px] +move [absolute] position center

    +

    # 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 +bindsym $mod+semicolon move right

    +

    # Move container, but make floating containers +# move more than the default +bindsym $mod+j move left 20 px

    +

    # 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

    +
    +
    +
    === Swapping containers
+
+Two containers can be swapped (i.e., move to each other's position) by using
+the +swap+ command. They will assume the position and geometry of the container
+they are swapped with.
+
+The first container to participate in the swapping can be selected through the
+normal command criteria process with the focused window being the usual
+fallback if no criteria are specified. The second container can be selected
+using one of the following methods:
+
++id+:: The X11 window ID of a client window.
++con_id+:: The i3 container ID of a container.
++mark+:: A container with the specified mark, see <<vim_like_marks>>.
+
+Note that swapping does not work with all containers. Most notably, swapping
+floating containers or containers that have a parent-child relationship to one
+another does not work.
+
+*Syntax*:
    +
    +
    +
    +
    +
    +

    7. swap container with id|con_id|mark <arg>

    +
    +

    Examples:

    +
    +
    +
    # Swaps the focused container with the container marked »swapee«.
+swap container with mark swapee
+
+# Swaps container marked »A« and »B«
+[con_mark="^A$"] swap container with mark B
    +
    +
    +

    7.1. 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
    +
    +
    +
    +

    7.2. 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. Pass the optional flag +--no-auto-back-and-forth to disable [back_and_forth] for this specific call +only.

    +

    To move containers to specific workspaces, use 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. 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).

    +

    workspace next cycles through either numbered or named workspaces. But when it +reaches the last numbered/named workspace, it looks for named workspaces after +exhausting numbered ones and looks for numbered ones after exhausting named ones.

    +

    See [move_to_outputs] for how to move a container/workspace to a different +RandR output.

    +

    Workspace names are parsed as +Pango markup +by i3bar.

    +

    To switch back to the previously focused workspace, use workspace +back_and_forth; likewise, you can move containers to the previously focused +workspace using move container to workspace back_and_forth.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    workspace next|prev|next_on_output|prev_on_output
+workspace back_and_forth
+workspace [--no-auto-back-and-forth] <name>
+workspace [--no-auto-back-and-forth] number <name>
+
+move [--no-auto-back-and-forth] [window|container] [to] workspace <name>
+move [--no-auto-back-and-forth] [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+3 workspace 3:<span foreground="red">vim</span>
+...
+
+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+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
    +
    +
    +

    7.2.1. Named workspaces

    +

    Workspaces are identified by their name. So, instead of using numbers in the +workspace command, you can use an arbitrary name:

    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bindsym $mod+1 workspace mail
+...
    +
    +

    If you want the workspace to have a number and a name, just prefix the +number, like this:

    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    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. 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".

    +
    +
    +

    7.2.2. 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 want 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: '
    +
    +

    If you want to rename workspaces on demand while keeping the navigation stable, +you can use a setup like this:

    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    bindsym $mod+1 workspace number "1: www"
+bindsym $mod+2 workspace number "2: mail"
+...
    +
    +

    If a workspace does not exist, the command workspace number "1: mail" will +create workspace "1: mail".

    +

    If a workspace with number 1 does already exist, the command will switch to this +workspace and ignore the text part. So even when the workspace has been renamed +to "1: web", the above command will still switch to it.

    +
    +
    +
    +

    7.3. Moving workspaces to a different screen

    +

    See [move_to_outputs] for how to move a container/workspace to a different +RandR output.

    +
    +
    +

    7.4. Moving containers/workspaces to RandR 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|current|primary|<output>
+move workspace to output left|right|down|up|current|primary|<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
+
+# Put this window on the primary output.
+bindsym $mod+x move container to output primary
    +
    +
    +
    +
    Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
    +
    +

    xrandr --output <output> --primary

    +
    +
    +
    === Moving containers/windows to marks
+
+To move a container to another container with a specific mark (see <<vim_like_marks>>),
+you can use the following command.
+
+The window will be moved right after the marked container in the tree, i.e., it ends up
+in the same position as if you had opened a new window when the marked container was
+focused. If the mark is on a split container, the window will appear as a new child
+after the currently focused child within that container.
+
+*Syntax*:
    +
    +
    +
    +
    +
    +

    8. move window|container to mark <mark>

    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    for_window [instance="tabme"] move window to mark target
    +
    +
    +

    8.1. Resizing containers/windows

    +

    If you want to resize containers/windows using your keyboard, you can use the +resize command:

    +

    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 +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). Note that resize set will only work for +floating containers.

    +

    It is recommended to define bindings for resizing in a dedicated binding mode. +See [binding_modes] and the example in the i3 +default config for more +context.

    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    for_window [class="urxvt"] resize set 640 480
    +
    +
    +
    +

    8.2. 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 mail client, +it would be more convenient to have a shortcut. You can use the focus command +with criteria for that.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    [class="class"] focus
+[title="title"] focus
    +
    +

    Examples:

    +
    +
    +
    # Get me to the next open VIM instance
+bindsym $mod+a [class="urxvt" title="VIM"] focus
    +
    +
    +
    +

    8.3. 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 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 +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.

    +

    The additional --toggle option will remove the mark if the window already has +this mark or add it otherwise. Note that you may need to use this in +combination with --add (see below) as any other marks will otherwise be +removed.

    +

    By default, a window can only have one mark. You can use the --add flag to +put more than one mark on a window.

    +

    Refer to [show_marks] if you don’t want marks to be shown in the window decoration.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    mark [--add|--replace] [--toggle] <identifier>
+[con_mark="identifier"] focus
+unmark <identifier>
    +
    +

    Example (in a terminal):

    +
    +
    +
    # marks the focused container
+mark irssi
+
+# focus the container with the mark "irssi"
+'[con_mark="irssi"] focus'
+
+# remove the mark "irssi" from whichever container has it
+unmark irssi
+
+# remove all marks on all firefox windows
+[class="(?i)firefox"] unmark
    +
    +
    +
    +

    8.4. Window title format

    +

    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 +Pango markup +and the following placeholders which will be replaced:

    +
    +
    +%title +
    +
    +

    + For normal windows, this is the X11 window title (_NET_WM_NAME or WM_NAME + as fallback). When used on containers without a window (e.g., a split + container inside a tabbed/stacked layout), this will be the tree + representation of the container (e.g., "H[xterm xterm]"). +

    +
    +
    +%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:

    +
    +
    +
    # give the focused window a prefix
+bindsym $mod+p title_format "Important | %title"
+
+# print all window titles bold
+for_window [class=".*"] title_format "<b>%title</b>"
+
+# print window titles of firefox windows red
+for_window [class="(?i)firefox"] title_format "<span foreground='red'>%title</span>"
    +
    +
    +
    +

    8.5. Changing border style

    +

    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.

    +

    There is also border toggle which will toggle the different border styles.

    +

    Note that "pixel" refers to logical pixel. On HiDPI displays, a logical pixel +may be represented by multiple physical pixels, so pixel 1 might not +necessarily translate into a single pixel row wide border.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    border normal|pixel [<n>]
+border none|toggle
+
+# legacy syntax, equivalent to "border pixel 1"
+border 1pixel
    +
    +

    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
    +
    +
    +
    +

    8.6. 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))
    +
    +
    +
    +

    8.7. 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
    +
    +
    +
    +

    8.8. Reloading/Restarting/Exiting

    +

    You can make i3 reload its configuration file with reload. You can also +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. 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 $mod+Shift+r restart
+bindsym $mod+Shift+w reload
+bindsym $mod+Shift+e exit
    +
    +
    +
    +

    8.9. 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
    +
    +
    +
    +

    8.10. Nop

    +

    There is a no operation command nop which allows you to override default +behavior. This can be useful for, e.g., disabling a focus change on clicks with +the middle mouse button.

    +

    The optional comment argument is ignored, but will be printed to the log file +for debugging purposes.

    +

    Syntax:

    +
    +
    +
    nop [<comment>]
    +
    +

    Example:

    +
    +
    +
    # Disable focus change for clicks on titlebars
+# with the middle mouse button
+bindsym button2 nop
    +
    +
    +
    +

    8.11. 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
    +
    +
    +
    +
    +
    +

    9. 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.

    @@ -951,7 +2864,7 @@ 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).

    -

    5.1. Configuring your monitors

    +

    9.1. Configuring your monitors

    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. @@ -1014,7 +2927,7 @@ only what you can see in xrandr.

    See also [presentations] for more examples of multi-monitor setups.

    -

    5.2. Interesting configuration for multi-monitor environments

    +

    9.2. Interesting configuration for multi-monitor environments

    There are several things to configure in i3 which may be interesting if you have more than one monitor:

      @@ -1040,56 +2953,45 @@ If you have many workspaces on many monitors, it might get hard to keep quickly switch between windows. See [vim_like_marks].

      +
    1. +

      +For information on how to move existing workspaces between monitors, + see [move_to_outputs]. +

      +
    -

    6. i3 and the rest of your software world

    +

    10. i3 and the rest of your software world

    -

    6.1. Displaying a status line

    +

    10.1. 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 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 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 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. -
    2. -

      -Overlay the internal workspace bar. This method will not waste any space - 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). -

      -
      3. -
    -

    The planned solution for this problem is to make the workspace bar optional -and switch to a third party application completely (dzen2 for example) -which will then contain the workspace bar.

    +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. 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 configure its position, +see [i3bar_position].

    -

    6.2. Giving presentations (multi-monitor)

    +

    10.2. Giving presentations (multi-monitor)

    When giving a presentation, you typically want the audience to see what you see on your screen and then go through a series of slides (if the presentation is simple). For more complex presentations, you might want to have some notes which only you can see on your screen, while the audience can only see the slides.

    -

    6.2.1. Case 1: everybody gets the same output

    +

    10.2.1. Case 1: everybody gets the same output

    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:

    @@ -1102,7 +3004,7 @@ your screen will be left untouched (it will show the X background). So, in our example, this would be 1024x768 (my notebook has 1280x800).

    -

    6.2.2. Case 2: you can see more than your audience

    +

    10.2.2. Case 2: you can see more than your audience

    This case is a bit harder. First of all, you should configure the VGA output somewhere near your internal flat panel, say right of it: