3 Michael Stapelberg <michael+i3@stapelberg.de>
8 i3status - Generates a status line for dzen2 or xmobar
12 i3status [-c configfile]
17 Specifies an alternate configuration file path (default is /etc/i3status.conf
22 i3status is a small program (less than 1000 SLOC) for generating a status bar
23 for dzen2, xmobar or similar programs. It is designed to be very efficient by
24 issuing a very small number of systemcalls, as one generally wants to update
25 such a status line every second. This ensures that even under high load, your
26 status bar is updated correctly. Also, it saves a bit of energy by not hogging
27 your CPU as much as spawning the corresponding amount of shell commands would.
31 Since version 2, the configuration file for i3status will be parsed using
32 libconfuse. This makes configuration easier in the programmer’s point of
33 view and more flexible for the user at the same time.
35 The basic idea of i3status is that you can specify which "modules" should
36 be used (the order directive). You can then configure each module with its
37 own section. For every module, you can specify the output format. See below
38 for a complete reference.
41 -------------------------------------------------------------
43 output_format = "dzen2"
50 order += "run_watch DHCP"
51 order += "run_watch VPN"
52 order += "wireless wlan0"
53 order += "ethernet eth0"
55 order += "cpu_temperature 0"
60 format_up = "W: (%quality at %essid) %ip"
61 format_down = "W: down"
65 # if you use %speed, i3status requires the cap_net_admin capability
66 format = "E: %ip (%speed)"
70 format = "%status %percentage %remaining"
74 pidfile = "/var/run/dhclient*.pid"
78 pidfile = "/var/run/vpnc/pid"
82 format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
90 format = "T: %degrees °C"
96 -------------------------------------------------------------
100 The colors directive will disable all colors if you set it to +false+.
101 +interval+ is the time in seconds which i3status will sleep until printing
102 the next status line.
104 Using +output_format+ you can chose which format strings i3status should
105 use in its output. Currently available are:
108 Dzen is a general purpose messaging, notification and menuing program for X11.
109 It was designed to be scriptable in any language and integrate well with window
110 managers like dwm, wmii and xmonad though it will work with any windowmanger
112 xmobar is a minimalistic, text based, status bar. It was designed to work
113 with the xmonad Window Manager.
115 Does not use any color codes. Separates values by the pipe symbol.
119 This module gets the IPv6 address used for outgoing connections (that is, the
120 best available public IPv6 address on your computer).
122 *Example format_up*: +%ip+
124 *Example format_down* +no IPv6+
128 Gets used, free and total amount of bytes on the given mounted filesystem.
130 *Example order*: +disk /mnt/usbstick+
132 *Example format*: +%free / %total+
136 Expands the given path to a pidfile and checks if the process ID found inside
137 is valid (that is, if the process is running). You can use this to check if
138 a specific application, such as a VPN client or your DHCP client is running.
140 *Example order*: +run_watch DHCP+
144 Gets the link quality and ESSID of the given wireless network interface. You
145 can specify different format strings for the network being connected or not
148 *Example order*: +wireless wlan0+
150 *Example format*: +W: (%quality at %essid) %ip+
154 Gets the IP address and (if possible) the link speed of the given ethernet
155 interface. Getting the link speed requires the cap_net_admin capability. Set
156 it using +setcap cap_net_admin=ep $(which i3status)+.
158 *Example order*: +ethernet eth0+
160 *Example format*: +E: %ip (%speed)+
164 Gets the status (charging, discharging, running), percentage and remaining
165 time of the given battery. If you want to use the last full capacity instead
166 of the design capacity (when using the design capacity, it may happen that
167 your battery is at 23% when fully charged because it’s old. In general, I
168 want to see it this way, because it tells me how worn off my battery is.),
169 just specify +last_full_capacity = true+.
171 *Example order*: +battery 0+
173 *Example format*: +%status %remaining+
177 Gets the temperature of the given thermal zone.
179 *Example order*: +cpu_temperature 0+
181 *Example format*: +T: %degrees °C+
185 Gets the system load (number of processes waiting for CPU time in the last
186 5, 10 and 15 minutes).
188 *Example order*: +load+
190 *Example format*: +%5min %10min %15min+
194 Formats the current system time. See +strftime(3)+ for the format.
196 *Example order*: +time+
198 *Example format*: +%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S+
200 == Using i3status with dzen2
202 After installing dzen2, you can directly use it with i3status:
204 *Example for usage of i3status with dzen2*:
205 --------------------------------------------------------------
206 i3status | dzen2 -fg white -ta r -w 1280 \
207 -fn "-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso8859-1"
208 --------------------------------------------------------------
210 == Using i3status with xmobar
212 To get xmobar to start, you might need to copy the default configuration
213 file to +~/.xmobarrc+.
215 *Example for usage of i3status with xmobar*:
216 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
217 i3status-xmobar | xmobar -o -t "%StdinReader%" -c "[Run StdinReader]"
218 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
222 +strftime(3)+, +date(1)+, +glob(3)+, +dzen2(1)+, +xmobar(1)+
226 Michael Stapelberg and contributors