1 .\" Copyright (c) 2009-2012 Marco Peereboom <marco@peereboom.us>
2 .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Darrin Chandler <dwchandler@stilyagin.com>
3 .\" Copyright (c) 2011-2012 Reginald Kennedy <rk@rejii.com>
4 .\" Copyright (c) 2011-2012 Lawrence Teo <lteo@lteo.net>
5 .\" Copyright (c) 2011-2012 Tiago Cunha <tcunha@gmx.com>
6 .\" Copyright (c) 2012 David Hill <dhill@mindcry.org>
8 .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
9 .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
10 .\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
12 .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
13 .\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
14 .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
15 .\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
16 .\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
17 .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
18 .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
20 .Dd $Mdocdate: February 15 2012 $
25 .Nd window manager for X11
30 is a minimalistic window manager that tries to stay out of the way so that
31 valuable screen real estate can be used for much more important stuff.
32 It has sane defaults and does not require one to learn a language to do any
34 It was written by hackers for hackers and it strives to be small, compact and
39 starts up, it reads settings from its configuration file,
42 .Sx CONFIGURATION FILES
45 The following notation is used throughout this page:
47 .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
61 is very simple in its use.
62 Most of the actions are initiated via key or mouse bindings.
65 section below for defaults and customizations.
66 .Sh CONFIGURATION FILES
68 first tries to open the user specific file,
69 .Pa ~/.spectrwm.conf .
70 If that file is unavailable,
71 it then tries to open the global configuration file
72 .Pa /etc/spectrwm.conf .
74 The format of the file is \*(Ltkeyword\*(Gt = \*(Ltsetting\*(Gt.
79 Enabling or disabling an option is done by using 1 or 0 respectively.
81 Colors need to be specified per the
85 The file supports the following keywords:
88 Launch an application in a specified workspace at start-of-day.
89 Defined in the format ws[<idx>]:application, e.g. ws[2]:xterm launches an
92 External script that populates additional information in the status bar,
95 Place the statusbar at the bottom of each region instead of the top.
96 .It Ic bar_border Ns Bq Ar x
97 Border color of the status bar(s) in screen
99 .It Ic bar_border_unfocus Ns Bq Ar x
100 Border color of the status bar(s) on unfocused region(s) in screen
102 .It Ic bar_border_width
103 Set status bar border thickness in pixels.
104 Disable border by setting to 0.
105 .It Ic bar_color Ns Bq Ar x
106 Background color of the status bar(s) in screen
112 .It Ic bar_enabled_ws Ns Bq Ar x
119 Font used in the status bar. Either Xft or X Logical Font Description (XLFD)
120 may be used to specify fonts. Fallback fonts may be specified by separating
121 each font with a comma. If all entries are XLFD syntax, font set will be
122 used. If at least one entry is Xft, Xft will be used. Note that if Xft is in
123 use, only the first font that successfully loads will be used regardless of
124 missing glyphs. The default is to use font set. Also note that dmenu does
125 not support Xft fonts.
128 .Bd -literal -offset indent
129 bar_font = Terminus:style=Regular:pixelsize=14:antialias=true
131 bar_font = -*-profont-medium-*-*-*-11-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,Terminus:pixelsize=14,\
132 -*-clean-medium-*-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
136 .Bd -literal -offset indent
137 bar_font = -*-terminus-medium-*-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
139 bar_font = -*-profont-medium-*-*-*-11-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,\
140 -*-terminus-medium-*-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,\
141 -*-clean-medium-*-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
144 To list the available fonts in your system see
151 application can help with the XLFD setting.
153 .It Ic bar_font_color Ns Bq Ar x
154 Color of the font in status bar in screen
157 Set the bar_format string and overrides
162 The format is passed through
165 It may contain the following character sequences:
166 .Bl -column "Character sequence" "Replaced with" -offset indent
167 .It Sy "Character sequence" Ta Sy "Replaced with"
168 .It Li "+<" Ta "Pad with a space"
169 .It Li "+A" Ta "Output of the external script"
170 .It Li "+C" Ta "Window class"
171 .It Li "+D" Ta "Workspace name"
172 .It Li "+F" Ta "Floating indicator"
173 .It Li "+I" Ta "Workspace index"
174 .It Li "+N" Ta "Screen number"
175 .It Li "+P" Ta "Window class and title separated by a colon"
176 .It Li "+S" Ta "Stacking algorithm"
177 .It Li "+T" Ta "Window title"
178 .It Li "+U" Ta "Urgency hint"
179 .It Li "+V" Ta "Program version"
180 .It Li "+W" Ta "Window name"
181 .It Li "++" Ta "A literal" Ql +
184 All character sequences may limit its output to a specific length, for
185 example +64A. Any characters that don't match the specification are copied
188 Justify the status bar text. Possible values are
194 Note that if the output is not
196 justified, it may not be properly aligned in some circumstances, due to the
197 white-spaces in the default static format.
200 option for more details.
201 .It Ic bind Ns Bq Ar x
202 Bind key combo to action
208 Set window border thickness in pixels.
209 Disable all borders by setting to 0.
211 Enable or disable displaying the clock in the status bar.
212 Disable by setting to 0
213 so a custom clock could be used in the
217 Border color of the currently focussed window.
219 Border color of unfocussed windows.
221 Some applications have dialogue windows that are too small to be useful.
222 This ratio is the screen size to what they will be resized.
223 For example, 0.6 is 60% of the physical screen size.
224 .It Ic disable_border
225 Remove border when bar is disabled and there is only one window on the
228 Window to put focus when the focused window is closed.
238 are relative to the window that is closed.
239 .It Ic focus_close_wrap
240 Whether to allow the focus to jump to the last window when the first window
241 is closed or vice versa. Disable by setting to 0.
243 Window to put focus when no window has been focused. Possible values are
249 Window focus behavior with respect to the mouse cursor. Possible values:
251 .Bl -tag -width "default" -offset indent -compact
253 Set window focus on border crossings caused by cursor motion and
256 Set window focus on all cursor border crossings, including workspace switches
257 and changes to layout.
259 Set window focus on window interaction only.
261 .It Ic keyboard_mapping
262 Clear all key bindings and load new key bindings from the specified file.
263 This allows you to load pre-defined key bindings for your keyboard layout.
265 .Sx KEYBOARD MAPPING FILES
266 section below for a list of keyboard mapping files that have been provided
267 for several keyboard layouts.
269 Select layout to use at start-of-day. Defined in the format
270 ws[idx]:master_grow:master_add:stack_inc:layout:always_raise:stack_mode, e.g.
271 ws[2]:-4:0:1:0:horizontal sets worskspace 2 to the horizontal stack mode and
272 shrinks the master area by 4 ticks and adds one window to the stack, while
273 maintaining default floating window behavior.
274 Possible stack_mode values are
291 for more information.
292 Note that the stacking options are complicated and have side-effects. One
293 should familiarize oneself with these commands before experimenting with the
297 This setting is not retained at restart.
300 Mod1 is generally the ALT key and Mod4 is the windows key on a PC.
301 .It Ic program Ns Bq Ar p
302 Define new action to spawn a program
307 .It Ic quirk Ns Bq Ar c:n
308 Add "quirk" for windows with class
316 Allocates a custom region, removing any autodetected regions which occupy the
317 same space on the screen.
318 Defined in the format screen[<idx>]:WIDTHxHEIGHT+X+Y,
319 e.g.\& screen[1]:800x1200+0+0.
321 To make a region span multiple monitors, create a region big enough to cover
322 them all, e.g. screen[1]:2048x768+0+0 makes the region span two monitors with
323 1024x768 resolution sitting one next to the other.
324 .It Ic region_padding
325 Pixel width of empty space within region borders.
326 Disable by setting to 0.
327 .It Ic spawn_position
328 Position in stack to place newly spawned windows.
339 are relative to the focused window.
341 Enable or disable displaying the current stacking algorithm in the status
344 Set a preferred minimum width for the terminal.
345 If this value is greater than 0,
347 will attempt to adjust the font sizes in the terminal to keep the terminal
348 width above this number as the window is resized.
351 is currently supported.
354 binary must not be setuid or setgid, which it is by default on most systems.
355 Users may need to set program[term] (see the
357 section) to use an alternate copy of the
359 binary without the setgid bit set.
361 Pixel width of empty space between tiled windows.
362 Disable by setting to 0.
363 .It Ic title_class_enabled
364 Enable or disable displaying the window class in the status bar.
365 Enable by setting to 1.
366 .It Ic title_name_enabled
367 Enable or disable displaying the window title in the status bar.
368 Enable by setting to 1.
369 .It Ic urgent_enabled
370 Enable or disable the urgency hint.
371 Note that many terminal emulators require this to be enabled for it to
373 In xterm, for example, one needs to add the following line
374 .Pa xterm.bellIsUrgent: true
377 .It Ic verbose_layout
378 Enable or disable displaying the current master and stack values in the
379 status bar. Enable by setting to 1.
380 .It Ic window_name_enabled
381 Enable or disable displaying the window name in the status bar.
382 Enable by setting to 1.
384 To prevent excessively large window names from pushing the remaining text off
385 the bar, it's limited to 64 characters, by default.
388 option for more details.
389 .It Ic workspace_limit
390 Set the total number of workspaces available. Minimum is 1, maximum is 22,
395 allows you to define custom actions to launch programs of your choice and
396 then bind them the same as with built-in actions.
401 The default programs are described below:
403 .Bl -tag -width "screenshot_wind" -offset indent -compact
406 .It Cm screenshot_all
408 .It Cm screenshot_wind
415 dmenu_run \-fn $bar_font \-nb $bar_color \-nf $bar_font_color \-sb
416 $bar_border \-sf $bar_color
419 Custom programs in the configuration file are specified as follows:
421 .Dl program[<name>] = <progpath> [<arg> [... <arg>]]
424 is any identifier that does not conflict with a built-in action or keyword,
426 is the desired program, and
428 is zero or more arguments to the program.
430 The following argument variables will be substituted for values at the time the program
433 .Bl -tag -width "$bar_font_color" -offset indent -compact
437 .It Cm $bar_font_color
439 .It Cm $color_unfocus
441 .It Cm $workspace_index
445 .Bd -literal -offset indent
446 program[ff] = /usr/local/bin/firefox http://spectrwm.org/
447 bind[ff] = Mod+Shift+b # Now Mod+Shift+B launches firefox
450 To undo the previous:
451 .Bd -literal -offset indent
457 provides many functions (or actions) accessed via key or mouse bindings.
459 The current mouse bindings are described below:
461 .Bl -tag -width "M-j, M-<TAB>XXX" -offset indent -compact
469 Resize window while maintaining it centered
472 The default key bindings are described below:
474 .Bl -tag -width "M-j, M-<TAB>XXXXXX" -offset indent -compact
475 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Return
483 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Space
485 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm \e
487 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Space
501 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Return
510 .Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm TAB
527 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Ar 1-9,0,F1-F12
529 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Ar 1-9,0,F1-F12
530 .Pf mvws_ Ns Aq Ar 1-22
531 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Ar Keypad 1-9
533 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Ar Keypad 1-9
535 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Right
537 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Left
539 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Up
541 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Down
545 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Right
547 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Left
557 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Delete
593 The action names and descriptions are listed below:
595 .Bl -tag -width "M-j, M-<TAB>XXXX" -offset indent -compact
615 Swap the master and stacking areas.
623 Add windows to master area.
625 Remove windows from master area.
627 Add columns/rows to stacking area.
629 Remove columns/rows from stacking area.
631 Move current window to master area.
633 Focus next window in workspace.
635 Focus previous window in workspace.
637 Focus on main window in workspace.
639 Swap with next window in workspace.
641 Swap with previous window in workspace.
643 Toggle overall visibility of status bars.
645 Toggle status bar on current workspace.
647 Delete current window in workspace.
649 Destroy current window in workspace.
655 is 1 through workspace_limit.
657 Move current window to workspace
661 is 1 through workspace_limit.
669 Move current window to region
675 Switch to next workspace with a window in it.
677 Switch to previous workspace with a window in it.
679 Switch to next workspace.
681 Switch to previous workspace.
683 Switch to last visited workspace.
685 Switch to next region.
687 Switch to previous region.
688 .It Cm screenshot_all
689 Take screenshot of entire screen (if enabled)
693 .It Cm screenshot_wind
694 Take screenshot of selected window (if enabled)
699 Toggle version in status bar.
701 Toggle focused window between tiled and floating.
708 Reinitialize physical screens
713 Minimize (unmap) currently focused window.
715 Maximize (map) window returned by dmenu selection.
717 When set tiled windows are allowed to obscure floating windows.
719 Fake a middle mouse button click (mouse button 2).
721 Shrink the width of a floating window.
723 Grow the width of a floating window.
725 Shrink the height of a floating window.
727 Grow the height of a floating window.
729 Move a floating window a step to the left.
731 Move a floating window a step to the right.
733 Move a floating window a step upwards.
735 Move a floating window a step downwards.
736 .It Cm name_workspace
737 Name the current workspace.
738 .It Cm search_workspace
739 Search for a workspace.
741 Search the windows in the current workspace.
744 Custom bindings in the configuration file are specified as follows:
746 .Dl bind[<action>] = <keys>
749 is one of the actions listed above (or empty) and
751 is in the form of zero or more modifier keys
752 (MOD, Mod1, Shift, etc.) and one or more normal keys
753 (b, space, etc.), separated by "+".
755 .Bd -literal -offset indent
756 bind[reset] = Mod4+q # bind Windows-key + q to reset
757 bind[] = Mod1+q # unbind Alt + q
760 To use the currently defined
762 specify MOD as the modifier key.
764 Multiple key combinations may be bound to the same action.
766 To bind non-latin characters such as å or π you must enter the xkb
767 character name instead of the character itself. Run xev, focus the window
768 and press the specific key and in the terminal output read the symbol name.
769 In the fallowing example for å:
770 .Bd -literal -offset indent
771 KeyPress event, serial 41, synthetic NO, window 0x2600001,
772 root 0x15a, subw 0x0, time 106213808, (11,5), root:(359,823),
773 state 0x0, keycode 24 (keysym 0xe5, aring), same_screen YES,
774 XLookupString gives 2 bytes: (c3 a5) "å"
775 XmbLookupString gives 2 bytes: (c3 a5) "å"
776 XFilterEvent returns: False
779 The xkb name is aring. In other words, in .spectrwm.conf add:
780 .Bd -literal -offset indent
781 bind[program] = MOD+aring
783 .Sh KEYBOARD MAPPING FILES
784 Keyboard mapping files for several keyboard layouts are listed
786 These files can be used with the
788 setting to load pre-defined key bindings for the specified
791 .Bl -tag -width "spectrwm_XX.confXXX" -offset indent -compact
792 .It Cm spectrwm_cz.conf
793 Czech Republic keyboard layout
794 .It Cm spectrwm_es.conf
795 Spanish keyboard layout
796 .It Cm spectrwm_fr.conf
797 French keyboard layout
798 .It Cm spectrwm_fr_ch.conf
799 Swiss French keyboard layout
800 .It Cm spectrwm_se.conf
801 Swedish keyboard layout
802 .It Cm spectrwm_us.conf
803 United States keyboard layout
807 provides "quirks" which handle windows that must be treated specially
808 in a tiling window manager, such as some dialogs and fullscreen apps.
810 The default quirks are described below:
812 .Bl -tag -width "OpenOffice.org N.M:VCLSalFrame<TAB>XXX" -offset indent \
814 .It Firefox\-bin:firefox\-bin
821 FLOAT + FULLSCREEN + FOCUSPREV
822 .It OpenOffice.org 2.4:VCLSalFrame
824 .It OpenOffice.org 3.1:VCLSalFrame
832 .It xine:xine Video Fullscreen Window
842 The quirks themselves are described below:
844 .Bl -tag -width "XTERM_FONTADJ<TAB>XXX" -offset indent -compact
846 This window should not be tiled, but allowed to float freely.
848 Adjusts size on transient windows that are too small using dialog_ratio
850 .Sx CONFIGURATION FILES ) .
852 Allow window to position itself, uncentered.
854 Adjust xterm fonts when resizing.
856 Remove border to allow window to use full region size.
858 On exit force focus on previously focused application not previous
859 application in the stack.
862 Custom quirks in the configuration file are specified as follows:
864 .Dl quirk[<class>:<name>] = <quirk> [ + <quirk> ... ]
869 specify the window to which the quirk(s) apply, and
871 is one of the quirks from the list above.
873 .Bd -literal -offset indent
874 quirk[MPlayer:xv] = FLOAT + FULLSCREEN + FOCUSPREV
875 quirk[pcb:pcb] = NONE # remove existing quirk
884 and then clicking on the desired window.
885 In the following example the main window of Firefox was clicked:
886 .Bd -literal -offset indent
887 $ xprop | grep WM_CLASS
888 WM_CLASS(STRING) = "Navigator", "Firefox"
891 Note that grepping for WM_CLASS flips class and name.
892 In the example above the quirk entry would be:
893 .Bd -literal -offset indent
894 quirk[Firefox:Navigator] = FLOAT
898 also automatically assigns quirks to windows based on the value
899 of the window's _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE property as follows:
901 .Bl -tag -width "_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_TOOLBAR<TAB>XXX" -offset indent -compact
902 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DOCK
904 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_TOOLBAR
906 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_UTILITY
908 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_SPLASH
910 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DIALOG
914 In all other cases, no automatic quirks are assigned to the window.
915 Quirks specified in the configuration file override the automatic quirks.
918 partially implements the Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH) specification.
919 This enables controlling windows as well as
921 itself from external scripts and programs.
924 responding to certain ClientMessage events.
925 From the terminal these events
926 can be conveniently sent using tools such as
931 actual format of these ClientMessage events, see the EWMH specification.
933 The id of the currently focused window is stored in the _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW
934 property of the root window.
935 This can be used for example to retrieve the
936 title of the currently active window with
940 .Bd -literal -offset indent
941 $ WINDOWID=`xprop \-root _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW | grep \-o "0x.*"`
942 $ xprop \-id $WINDOWID WM_NAME | grep \-o "\\".*\\""
945 A window can be focused by sending a _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW client message
950 (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be focused):
951 .Bd -literal -offset indent
952 $ wmctrl \-i \-a 0x4a0000b
955 Windows can be closed by sending a _NET_CLOSE_WINDOW client message
960 (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be closed):
961 .Bd -literal -offset indent
962 $ wmctrl \-i \-c 0x4a0000b
965 Windows can be floated and un-floated by adding or removing the
966 _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE atom from the _NET_WM_STATE property of the window.
967 This can be achieved by sending a _NET_WM_STATE client message to the
969 For example, the following toggles the floating state of
972 to send the message (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window floated
974 .Bd -literal -offset indent
975 $ wmctrl \-i \-r 0x4a0000b \-b toggle,_NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE
978 Floating windows can also be resized and moved by sending a
979 _NET_MOVERESIZE_WINDOW client message to the root window.
983 to send the message (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of
984 the window to be resize/moved):
985 .Bd -literal -offset indent
986 $ wmctrl \-i \-r 0x4a0000b \-e 0,100,50,640,480
989 This moves the window to (100,50) and resizes it to 640x480.
991 Any _NET_MOVERESIZE_WINDOW events received for stacked windows are ignored.
995 a HUP signal will restart it.
997 .Bl -tag -width "/etc/spectrwm.confXXX" -compact
998 .It Pa ~/.spectrwm.conf
1000 user specific settings.
1001 .It Pa /etc/spectrwm.conf
1007 was inspired by xmonad & dwm.
1013 .Bl -tag -width "Ryan Thomas McBride Aq mcbride@countersiege.com " -offset \
1015 .It Cm Marco Peereboom Aq marco@peereboom.us
1016 .It Cm Ryan Thomas McBride Aq mcbride@countersiege.com
1017 .It Cm Darrin Chandler Aq dwchandler@stilyagin.com
1018 .It Cm Pierre-Yves Ritschard Aq pyr@spootnik.org
1019 .It Cm Tuukka Kataja Aq stuge@xor.fi
1020 .It Cm Jason L. Wright Aq jason@thought.net
1021 .It Cm Reginald Kennedy Aq rk@rejii.com
1022 .It Cm Lawrence Teo Aq lteo@lteo.net
1023 .It Cm Tiago Cunha Aq tcunha@gmx.com
1024 .It Cm David Hill Aq dhill@mindcry.org