3 Michael Stapelberg <michael+i3@stapelberg.de>
8 i3status - Generates a status line for dzen2 or xmobar
12 i3status [-c configfile] [-h] [-v]
17 Specifies an alternate configuration file path. By default, i3status looks for
18 configuration files in the following order:
21 2. ~/.config/i3status/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/i3status/config if set)
22 3. /etc/i3status/config
23 4. /etc/xdg/i3status/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/i3status/config if set)
27 i3status is a small program (less than 1000 SLOC) for generating a status bar
28 for dzen2, xmobar or similar programs. It is designed to be very efficient by
29 issuing a very small number of system calls, as one generally wants to update
30 such a status line every second. This ensures that even under high load, your
31 status bar is updated correctly. Also, it saves a bit of energy by not hogging
32 your CPU as much as spawning the corresponding amount of shell commands would.
36 Since version 2, the configuration file for i3status will be parsed using
37 libconfuse. This makes configuration easier in the programmer’s point of
38 view and more flexible for the user at the same time.
40 The basic idea of i3status is that you can specify which "modules" should
41 be used (the order directive). You can then configure each module with its
42 own section. For every module, you can specify the output format. See below
43 for a complete reference.
46 -------------------------------------------------------------
48 output_format = "dzen2"
55 order += "run_watch DHCP"
56 order += "run_watch VPN"
57 order += "wireless wlan0"
58 order += "ethernet eth0"
60 order += "cpu_temperature 0"
65 format_up = "W: (%quality at %essid, %bitrate) %ip"
66 format_down = "W: down"
70 # if you use %speed, i3status requires the cap_net_admin capability
71 format_up = "E: %ip (%speed)"
72 format_down = "E: down"
76 format = "%status %percentage %remaining"
80 pidfile = "/var/run/dhclient*.pid"
84 pidfile = "/var/run/vpnc/pid"
88 format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
96 format = "T: %degrees °C"
102 -------------------------------------------------------------
106 The +colors+ directive will disable all colors if you set it to +false+. You can
107 also specify the colors that will be used to display "good", "degraded" or "bad"
108 values using the +color_good+, +color_degraded+ or +color_bad+ directives,
109 respectively. Those directives are only used if color support is not disabled by
110 the +colors+ directive. The input format for color values is the canonical RGB
111 hexadecimal triplet (with no separators between the colors), prefixed by a hash
114 *Example color_good*: +#00FF00+
116 Likewise, you can use the +color_separator+ directive to specify the color that
117 will be used to paint the separator bar. The separator is always output in
118 color, even when colors are disabled by the +colors+ directive.
120 The +interval+ directive specifies the time in seconds for which i3status will
121 sleep before printing the next status line.
123 Using +output_format+ you can chose which format strings i3status should
124 use in its output. Currently available are:
127 Dzen is a general purpose messaging, notification and menuing program for X11.
128 It was designed to be scriptable in any language and integrate well with window
129 managers like dwm, wmii and xmonad though it will work with any windowmanger
131 xmobar is a minimalistic, text based, status bar. It was designed to work
132 with the xmonad Window Manager.
134 Does not use any color codes. Separates values by the pipe symbol.
138 This module gets the IPv6 address used for outgoing connections (that is, the
139 best available public IPv6 address on your computer).
141 *Example format_up*: +%ip+
143 *Example format_down* +no IPv6+
147 Gets used, free, available and total amount of bytes on the given mounted filesystem.
149 *Example order*: +disk /mnt/usbstick+
151 *Example format*: +%free (%avail)/ %total+
155 Expands the given path to a pidfile and checks if the process ID found inside
156 is valid (that is, if the process is running). You can use this to check if
157 a specific application, such as a VPN client or your DHCP client is running.
159 *Example order*: +run_watch DHCP+
163 Gets the link quality and ESSID of the given wireless network interface. You
164 can specify different format strings for the network being connected or not
167 *Example order*: +wireless wlan0+
169 *Example format*: +W: (%quality at %essid, %bitrate) %ip+
173 Gets the IP address and (if possible) the link speed of the given ethernet
174 interface. Getting the link speed requires the cap_net_admin capability. Set
175 it using +setcap cap_net_admin=ep $(which i3status)+.
177 *Example order*: +ethernet eth0+
179 *Example format*: +E: %ip (%speed)+
183 Gets the status (charging, discharging, running), percentage and remaining
184 time of the given battery. If you want to use the last full capacity instead
185 of the design capacity (when using the design capacity, it may happen that
186 your battery is at 23% when fully charged because it’s old. In general, I
187 want to see it this way, because it tells me how worn off my battery is.),
188 just specify +last_full_capacity = true+.
190 *Example order*: +battery 0+
192 *Example format*: +%status %remaining+
196 Gets the temperature of the given thermal zone.
198 *Example order*: +cpu_temperature 0+
200 *Example format*: +T: %degrees °C+
204 Gets the system load (number of processes waiting for CPU time in the last
205 5, 10 and 15 minutes).
207 *Example order*: +load+
209 *Example format*: +%5min %10min %15min+
213 Formats the current system time. See +strftime(3)+ for the format.
215 *Example order*: +time+
217 *Example format*: +%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S+
221 Outputs the current discordian date in user-specified format. See +ddate(1)+ for
222 details on the format string.
223 *Note*: Neither *%.* nor *%X* are implemented yet.
225 *Example order*: +ddate+
227 *Example format*: +%{%a, %b %d%}, %Y%N - %H+
231 Outputs the volume of the specified mixer on the specified device. Works only
232 on Linux because it uses ALSA.
234 *Example order*: +volume master+
236 *Example format*: +♪: %volume+
238 *Example configuration*:
239 -------------------------------------------------------------
241 format = "♪: %volume"
246 -------------------------------------------------------------
248 == Using i3status with dzen2
250 After installing dzen2, you can directly use it with i3status. Just ensure that
251 +output_format+ is set to +dzen2+.
253 *Example for usage of i3status with dzen2*:
254 --------------------------------------------------------------
255 i3status | dzen2 -fg white -ta r -w 1280 \
256 -fn "-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso8859-1"
257 --------------------------------------------------------------
259 == Using i3status with xmobar
261 To get xmobar to start, you might need to copy the default configuration
262 file to +~/.xmobarrc+. Also, ensure that the +output_format+ option for i3status
265 *Example for usage of i3status with xmobar*:
266 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
267 i3status | xmobar -o -t "%StdinReader%" -c "[Run StdinReader]"
268 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
272 +strftime(3)+, +date(1)+, +glob(3)+, +dzen2(1)+, +xmobar(1)+
276 Michael Stapelberg and contributors