i3 User’s Guide
===============
Michael Stapelberg <michael@i3wm.org>
-March 2013
This document contains all the information you need to configure and use the i3
window manager. If it does not, please check https://www.reddit.com/r/i3wm/
workspace_layout tabbed
---------------------
-=== Border style for new windows
+=== Default 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
++normal+. Note that default_floating_border 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>
+default_border normal|none|pixel
+
default_border normal|pixel <px>
+default_floating_border normal|none|pixel
+
default_floating_border normal|pixel <px>
---------------------------------------------
+Please note that +new_window+ and +new_float+ have been deprecated in favor of the above options
+and will be removed in a future release. We strongly recommend using the new options instead.
+
*Example*:
---------------------
-new_window pixel
+default_border pixel
---------------------
The "normal" and "pixel" border styles support an optional border width in
*Example*:
---------------------
-# The same as new_window none
-new_window pixel 0
+# The same as default_border none
+default_border pixel 0
# A 3 px border
-new_window pixel 3
+default_border pixel 3
---------------------
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
+assign its value to the specified variable. This is done verbatim and the value
+must therefore be in the format that i3 uses. A fallback must be specified in
case the resource cannot be loaded from the database.
*Syntax*:
*Syntax*:
-------------------------------------
-workspace <workspace> output <output>
+workspace <workspace> output <output1> [output2]…
-------------------------------------
The 'output' is the name of the RandR output you attach your screen to. On a
entire monitor, i3 will still use the entire area of the containing monitor
rather than that of just the output's.)
+You can specify multiple outputs. The first available will be used.
+
If you use named workspaces, they must be quoted:
*Examples*:
---------------------------
workspace 1 output LVDS1
-workspace 5 output VGA1
+workspace 2 output primary
+workspace 5 output VGA1 LVDS1
workspace "2: vim" output VGA1
---------------------------
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+, …
+[[workspace_auto_back_and_forth]]
=== Automatic back-and-forth when switching to the current workspace
This configuration directive enables automatic +workspace back_and_forth+ (see
*Syntax*:
----------------------------
-bindsym button<n> <command>
+bindsym [--release] button<n> <command>
----------------------------
*Example*:
bar {
# disable clicking on workspace buttons
bindsym button1 nop
+ # Take a screenshot by right clicking on the bar
+ bindsym --release button3 exec --no-startup-id import /tmp/latest-screenshot.png
# execute custom script when scrolling downwards
bindsym button5 exec ~/.i3/scripts/custom_wheel_down
}
}
------------------------
-=== Strip workspace numbers
+=== Strip workspace numbers/name
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
instance, to display Roman numerals rather than digits by naming your
workspaces to "1:I", "2:II", "3:III", "4:IV", ...
+When +strip_workspace_name+ is set to +yes+, any workspace that has a name of
+the form "[n]:[NAME]" will display only the number.
+
The default is to display the full name within the workspace button.
*Syntax*:
------------------------------
strip_workspace_numbers yes|no
+strip_workspace_name yes|no
------------------------------
*Example*:
To change focus, you can use the +focus+ command. The following options are
available:
+<criteria>::
+ Sets focus to the container that matches the specified criteria.
+ See <<command_criteria>>.
left|right|up|down::
Sets focus to the nearest container in the given direction.
parent::
*Syntax*:
----------------------------------------------
+<criteria> focus
focus left|right|down|up
focus parent|child|floating|tiling|mode_toggle
focus output left|right|up|down|primary|<output>
*Examples*:
-------------------------------------------------
+# Focus firefox
+bindsym $mod+F1 [class="Firefox"] focus
+
# Focus container on the left, bottom, top, right
bindsym $mod+j focus left
bindsym $mod+k focus down
# 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]
+# Moves the container to the specified pos_x and pos_y
+# coordinates on the screen.
+move position <pos_x> [px] <pos_y> [px]
+
+# Moves the container to the center of the screen.
+# If 'absolute' is used, it is moved to the center of
+# all outputs.
move [absolute] position center
# Moves the container to the current position of the
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.
++--no-auto-back-and-forth+ to disable <<workspace_auto_back_and_forth>> for this
+specific call only.
To move containers to specific workspaces, use +move container to workspace+.
RandR output.
[[move_to_outputs]]
-[[_moving_containers_workspaces_to_randr_outputs]]
-=== Moving containers/workspaces to RandR outputs
+=== [[_moving_containers_workspaces_to_randr_outputs]]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+,
*Syntax*:
-------------------------------------------------------
resize grow|shrink <direction> [<px> px [or <ppt> ppt]]
-resize set <width> [px | ppt] <height> [px | ppt]
+resize set [width] <width> [px | ppt]
+resize set height <height> [px | ppt]
+resize set [width] <width> [px | ppt] [height] <height> [px | ppt]
-------------------------------------------------------
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.
+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 container should be grown or shrunk (the default is 10 pixels). The
+optional ppt argument means "percentage points", and if specified it indicates
+that a *tiling container* should be grown or shrunk by that many points, instead
+of by the +px+ value.
+
+Note about +resize set+: a value of 0 for <width> or <height> means "do not
+resize in this direction".
It is recommended to define bindings for resizing in a dedicated binding mode.
See <<binding_modes>> and the example in the i3
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.
+There is also +border toggle+ which will toggle the different border styles. The
+optional pixel argument can be used to specify the border width when switching
+to the normal and pixel 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
*Syntax*:
-----------------------------------------------
-border normal|pixel [<n>]
-border none|toggle
+border normal|pixel|toggle [<n>]
+border none
# legacy syntax, equivalent to "border pixel 1"
border 1pixel
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