March 2013
This document contains all the information you need to configure and use the i3
-window manager. If it does not, please check http://faq.i3wm.org/ first, then
-contact us on IRC (preferred) or post your question(s) on the mailing list.
+window manager. If it does not, please check https://www.reddit.com/r/i3wm/
+first, then contact us on IRC (preferred) or post your question(s) on the
+mailing list.
== Default keybindings
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 if they appear in your command.
+strings (as shown in <<exec_quoting>>) if they appear in your command.
*Syntax*:
---------------------------------------
You can configure on which output (monitor) the icons should be displayed or
you can turn off the functionality entirely.
+You can use mutliple +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>
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.
window_type::
Compare the window type (_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE). Possible values are
+normal+, +dialog+, +utility+, +toolbar+, +splash+, +menu+, +dropdown_menu+,
- +popup_menu+ and +tooltip+.
+ +popup_menu+, +tooltip+ and +notification+.
id::
Compares the X11 window ID, which you can get via +xwininfo+ for example.
title::
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 if they appear in your command.
+strings (as shown in <<exec_quoting>>) if they appear in your command.
*Syntax*:
--------------------------------
and Qt using applications seem to be, though), you will end up with a watch
cursor for 60 seconds.
+[[exec_quoting]]
+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\\""
+------------------------------
+
=== Splitting containers
The split command makes the current window a split container. Split containers
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). Use
-+layout toggle split+ to change the layout of any split container from splitv
-to splith or vice-versa.
+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.
*Syntax*:
--------------------------
-split vertical|horizontal
--------------------------
+--------------------------------
+split vertical|horizontal|toggle
+--------------------------------
*Example*:
-------------------------------
+-------------------------------
bindsym $mod+v split vertical
bindsym $mod+h split horizontal
-------------------------------
+bindsym $mod+t split toggle
+-------------------------------
=== Manipulating layout
=== Changing (named) workspaces/moving to workspaces
To change to a specific workspace, use the +workspace+ command, followed by the
-number or name of the workspace. To move containers to specific workspaces, use
-+move container to workspace+.
+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 using +move container to workspace back_and_forth+.
*Syntax*:
------------------------------------
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
workspace next|prev|next_on_output|prev_on_output
workspace back_and_forth
-workspace <name>
-workspace number <name>
+workspace [--no-auto-back-and-forth] <name>
+workspace [--no-auto-back-and-forth] number <name>
-move [window|container] [to] workspace <name>
-move [window|container] [to] workspace 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*:
-------------------------
projects / i3 / i3 / blobdiff