== Default keybindings
For the "too long; didn’t read" people, here is an overview of the default
-keybindings (click to see the full size image):
+keybindings (click to see the full-size image):
*Keys to use with $mod (Alt):*
Throughout this guide, the keyword +$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.
+key (+Mod4+) being a popular alternative that largely prevents conflicts with
+application-defined shortcuts.
=== Opening terminals and moving around
=== The tree consists of Containers
-The building blocks of our tree are so called +Containers+. A +Container+ can
+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
=== 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
+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
use the same key you use for managing windows (Mod1 for example). Then
you can press Mod1, click into a window using your left mouse button, and drag
window (mapping means actually displaying it on the screen), you’d need to have
to match on 'Firefox' in this case.
+You can also assign a window to show up on a specific output. You can use RandR
+names such as +VGA1+ or names relative to the output with the currently focused
+workspace such as +left+ and +down+.
+
Assignments are processed by i3 in the order in which they appear in the config
file. The first one which matches the window wins and later assignments are not
considered.
*Syntax*:
------------------------------------------------------------
-assign <criteria> [→] [workspace] <workspace>
+assign <criteria> [→] [workspace] [number] <workspace>
+assign <criteria> [→] output left|right|up|down|primary|<output>
------------------------------------------------------------
*Examples*:
# Assignment to a named workspace
assign [class="^URxvt$"] → work
+# Assign to the workspace with number 2, regardless of name
+assign [class="^URxvt$"] → number 2
+
+# You can also specify a number + name. If the workspace with number 2 exists, assign will skip the text part.
+assign [class="^URxvt$"] → number "2: work"
+
# Start urxvt -name irssi
assign [class="^URxvt$" instance="^irssi$"] → 3
+
+# Assign urxvt to the output right of the current one
+assign [class="^URxvt$"] → output right
+
+# Assign urxvt to the primary output
+assign [class="^URxvt$"] → output primary
----------------------
-Note that the arrow is not required, it just looks good :-). If you decide to
+Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
+-------------------------
+xrandr --output <output> --primary
+-------------------------
+
+Also, 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.
To get the class and instance, you can use +xprop+. After clicking on 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
+logfile first (see https://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.
laptop, you might have VGA1 and LVDS1 as output names. You can see the
available outputs by running +xrandr --current+.
+If your X server supports RandR 1.5 or newer, i3 will use RandR monitor objects
+instead of output objects. Run +xrandr --listmonitors+ to see a list. Usually,
+a monitor object contains exactly one output, and has the same name as the
+output; but should that not be the case, you may specify the name of either the
+monitor or the output in i3's configuration. For example, the Dell UP2414Q uses
+two scalers internally, so its output names might be “DP1” and “DP2”, but the
+monitor name is “Dell UP2414Q”.
+
+(Note that even if you specify the name of an output which doesn't span the
+entire monitor, i3 will still use the entire area of the containing monitor
+rather than that of just the output's.)
+
If you use named workspaces, they must be quoted:
*Examples*:
=== 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+.
+By default, when in a container with several windows or child containers, the
+opposite window will be focused when trying to move the focus over the edge of
+a container (and there are no other containers in that direction) -- the focus
+wraps.
+
+If desired, you can disable this behavior by setting the +focus_wrapping+
+configuration directive to the value +no+.
+
+When enabled, focus wrapping does not occur by default if there is another
+window or container in the specified direction, and focus will instead be set
+on that window or 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.
+parent+ to switch to different containers, you can instead set +focus_wrapping+
+to the value +force+.
*Syntax*:
---------------------------
-force_focus_wrapping yes|no
----------------------------
+focus_wrapping yes|no|force
-*Example*:
-------------------------
+# Legacy syntax, equivalent to "focus_wrapping force"
force_focus_wrapping yes
-------------------------
+---------------------------
+
+*Examples*:
+-----------------
+# Disable focus wrapping
+focus_wrapping no
+
+# Force focus wrapping
+focus_wrapping force
+-----------------
=== Forcing Xinerama
-As explained in-depth in <http://i3wm.org/docs/multi-monitor.html>, some X11
+As explained in-depth in <https://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
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
bindsym $mod+m move position mouse
-------------------------------------------------------
+=== Swapping containers
+
+Two containers can be swapped (i.e., move to each other's position) by using
+the +swap+ command. They will assume the position and geometry of the container
+they are swapped with.
+
+The first container to participate in the swapping can be selected through the
+normal command criteria process with the focused window being the usual
+fallback if no criteria are specified. The second container can be selected
+using one of the following methods:
+
++id+:: The X11 window ID of a client window.
++con_id+:: The i3 container ID of a container.
++mark+:: A container with the specified mark, see <<vim_like_marks>>.
+
+Note that swapping does not work with all containers. Most notably, swapping
+floating containers or containers that have a parent-child relationship to one
+another does not work.
+
+*Syntax*:
+----------------------------------------
+swap container with id|con_id|mark <arg>
+----------------------------------------
+
+*Examples*:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------
+# Swaps the focused container with the container marked »swapee«.
+swap container with mark swapee
+
+# Swaps container marked »A« and »B«
+[con_mark="^A$"] swap container with mark B
+-----------------------------------------------------------------
+
=== Sticky floating windows
If you want a window to stick to the glass, i.e., have it stay on screen even
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
*Syntax*:
-------------------------------------------------------
resize grow|shrink <direction> [<px> px [or <ppt> ppt]]
-resize set <width> [px] <height> [px]
+resize set <width> [px | ppt] <height> [px | ppt]
-------------------------------------------------------
Direction can either be one of +up+, +down+, +left+ or +right+. Or you can be
*Examples*:
---------------------------------------
# Read 1 character and mark the current window with this character
-bindsym $mod+m exec i3-input -p 'mark ' -l 1 -P 'Mark: '
+bindsym $mod+m exec i3-input -F 'mark %s' -l 1 -P 'Mark: '
# Read 1 character and go to the window with the character
-bindsym $mod+g exec i3-input -p 'goto ' -l 1 -P 'Goto: '
+bindsym $mod+g exec i3-input -F '[con_mark="%s"] focus' -l 1 -P 'Goto: '
---------------------------------------
Alternatively, if you do not want to mess with +i3-input+, you could create
[[shmlog]]
=== Enabling shared memory logging
-As described in http://i3wm.org/docs/debugging.html, i3 can log to a shared
+As described in https://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.
projects / i3 / i3 / blobdiff