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 Comments begin with a #. When a literal '#' is desired in an option, then it
86 must be escaped with a backslash. i.e. \e#
88 The file supports the following keywords:
91 Launch an application in a specified workspace at start-of-day.
92 Defined in the format ws[<idx>]:application, e.g. ws[2]:xterm launches an
95 External script that populates additional information in the status bar,
98 Place the statusbar at the bottom of each region instead of the top.
99 .It Ic bar_border Ns Bq Ar x
100 Border color of the status bar(s) in screen
102 .It Ic bar_border_unfocus Ns Bq Ar x
103 Border color of the status bar(s) on unfocused region(s) in screen
105 .It Ic bar_border_width
106 Set status bar border thickness in pixels.
107 Disable border by setting to 0.
108 .It Ic bar_color Ns Bq Ar x
109 Background color of the status bar(s) in screen
115 .It Ic bar_enabled_ws Ns Bq Ar x
122 Font used in the status bar. Either Xft or X Logical Font Description (XLFD)
123 may be used to specify fonts. Fallback fonts may be specified by separating
124 each font with a comma. If all entries are XLFD syntax, font set will be
125 used. If at least one entry is Xft, Xft will be used. Note that if Xft is in
126 use, only the first font that successfully loads will be used regardless of
127 missing glyphs. The default is to use font set. Also note that dmenu does
128 not support Xft fonts.
131 .Bd -literal -offset indent
132 bar_font = Terminus:style=Regular:pixelsize=14:antialias=true
134 bar_font = -*-profont-medium-*-*-*-11-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,Terminus:pixelsize=14,\
135 -*-clean-medium-*-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
139 .Bd -literal -offset indent
140 bar_font = -*-terminus-medium-*-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
142 bar_font = -*-profont-medium-*-*-*-11-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,\
143 -*-terminus-medium-*-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,\
144 -*-clean-medium-*-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
147 To list the available fonts in your system see
154 application can help with the XLFD setting.
156 .It Ic bar_font_color Ns Bq Ar x
157 Color of the font in status bar in screen
160 Set the bar_format string and overrides
165 The format is passed through
168 It may contain the following character sequences:
169 .Bl -column "Character sequence" "Replaced with" -offset indent
170 .It Sy "Character sequence" Ta Sy "Replaced with"
171 .It Li "+<" Ta "Pad with a space"
172 .It Li "+A" Ta "Output of the external script"
173 .It Li "+C" Ta "Window class"
174 .It Li "+D" Ta "Workspace name"
175 .It Li "+F" Ta "Floating indicator"
176 .It Li "+I" Ta "Workspace index"
177 .It Li "+N" Ta "Screen number"
178 .It Li "+P" Ta "Window class and title separated by a colon"
179 .It Li "+S" Ta "Stacking algorithm"
180 .It Li "+T" Ta "Window title"
181 .It Li "+U" Ta "Urgency hint"
182 .It Li "+V" Ta "Program version"
183 .It Li "+W" Ta "Window name"
184 .It Li "++" Ta "A literal" Ql +
187 All character sequences may limit its output to a specific length, for
188 example +64A. Any characters that don't match the specification are copied
191 Justify the status bar text. Possible values are
197 Note that if the output is not
199 justified, it may not be properly aligned in some circumstances, due to the
200 white-spaces in the default static format.
203 option for more details.
204 .It Ic bind Ns Bq Ar x
205 Bind key combo to action
211 Set window border thickness in pixels.
212 Disable all borders by setting to 0.
214 Enable or disable displaying the clock in the status bar.
215 Disable by setting to 0
216 so a custom clock could be used in the
220 Border color of the currently focussed window.
222 Border color of unfocussed windows.
224 Some applications have dialogue windows that are too small to be useful.
225 This ratio is the screen size to what they will be resized.
226 For example, 0.6 is 60% of the physical screen size.
227 .It Ic disable_border
228 Remove border when bar is disabled and there is only one window on the
231 Window to put focus when the focused window is closed.
241 are relative to the window that is closed.
242 .It Ic focus_close_wrap
243 Whether to allow the focus to jump to the last window when the first window
244 is closed or vice versa. Disable by setting to 0.
246 Window to put focus when no window has been focused. Possible values are
252 Window focus behavior with respect to the mouse cursor. Possible values:
254 .Bl -tag -width "default" -offset indent -compact
256 Set window focus on border crossings caused by cursor motion and
259 Set window focus on all cursor border crossings, including workspace switches
260 and changes to layout.
262 Set window focus on window interaction only.
264 .It Ic keyboard_mapping
265 Clear all key bindings and load new key bindings from the specified file.
266 This allows you to load pre-defined key bindings for your keyboard layout.
268 .Sx KEYBOARD MAPPING FILES
269 section below for a list of keyboard mapping files that have been provided
270 for several keyboard layouts.
272 Select layout to use at start-of-day. Defined in the format
273 ws[idx]:master_grow:master_add:stack_inc:layout:always_raise:stack_mode, e.g.
274 ws[2]:-4:0:1:0:horizontal sets worskspace 2 to the horizontal stack mode and
275 shrinks the master area by 4 ticks and adds one window to the stack, while
276 maintaining default floating window behavior.
277 Possible stack_mode values are
294 for more information.
295 Note that the stacking options are complicated and have side-effects. One
296 should familiarize oneself with these commands before experimenting with the
300 This setting is not retained at restart.
303 Mod1 is generally the ALT key and Mod4 is the windows key on a PC.
304 .It Ic program Ns Bq Ar p
305 Define new action to spawn a program
310 .It Ic quirk Ns Bq Ar c:n
311 Add "quirk" for windows with class
319 Allocates a custom region, removing any autodetected regions which occupy the
320 same space on the screen.
321 Defined in the format screen[<idx>]:WIDTHxHEIGHT+X+Y,
322 e.g.\& screen[1]:800x1200+0+0.
324 To make a region span multiple monitors, create a region big enough to cover
325 them all, e.g. screen[1]:2048x768+0+0 makes the region span two monitors with
326 1024x768 resolution sitting one next to the other.
327 .It Ic region_padding
328 Pixel width of empty space within region borders.
329 Disable by setting to 0.
330 .It Ic spawn_position
331 Position in stack to place newly spawned windows.
342 are relative to the focused window.
344 Enable or disable displaying the current stacking algorithm in the status
347 Set a preferred minimum width for the terminal.
348 If this value is greater than 0,
350 will attempt to adjust the font sizes in the terminal to keep the terminal
351 width above this number as the window is resized.
354 is currently supported.
357 binary must not be setuid or setgid, which it is by default on most systems.
358 Users may need to set program[term] (see the
360 section) to use an alternate copy of the
362 binary without the setgid bit set.
364 Pixel width of empty space between tiled windows.
365 Disable by setting to 0.
366 .It Ic title_class_enabled
367 Enable or disable displaying the window class in the status bar.
368 Enable by setting to 1.
369 .It Ic title_name_enabled
370 Enable or disable displaying the window title in the status bar.
371 Enable by setting to 1.
372 .It Ic urgent_enabled
373 Enable or disable the urgency hint.
374 Note that many terminal emulators require this to be enabled for it to
376 In xterm, for example, one needs to add the following line
377 .Pa xterm.bellIsUrgent: true
380 .It Ic verbose_layout
381 Enable or disable displaying the current master and stack values in the
382 status bar. Enable by setting to 1.
383 .It Ic window_name_enabled
384 Enable or disable displaying the window name in the status bar.
385 Enable by setting to 1.
387 To prevent excessively large window names from pushing the remaining text off
388 the bar, it's limited to 64 characters, by default.
391 option for more details.
392 .It Ic workspace_limit
393 Set the total number of workspaces available. Minimum is 1, maximum is 22,
398 allows you to define custom actions to launch programs of your choice and
399 then bind them the same as with built-in actions.
404 Custom programs in the configuration file are specified as follows:
406 .Dl program[<action>] = <progpath> [<arg> [... <arg>]]
409 is any identifier that does not conflict with a built-in action or keyword,
411 is the desired program, and
413 is zero or more arguments to the program.
415 Remember that when using # in your program call, it must be escaped with a
418 The following argument variables will be substituted for values at the time the program
421 .Bl -tag -width "$bar_font_color" -offset indent -compact
425 .It Cm $bar_font_color
427 .It Cm $color_unfocus
429 .It Cm $workspace_index
433 .Bd -literal -offset indent
434 program[ff] = /usr/local/bin/firefox http://spectrwm.org/
435 bind[ff] = Mod+Shift+b # Now M-S-b launches firefox
438 To cancel the previous, unbind it:
439 .Bd -literal -offset indent
444 .Bl -tag -width "screenshot_wind" -offset indent -compact
448 dmenu_run \-fn $bar_font \-nb $bar_color \-nf $bar_font_color \-sb
449 $bar_border \-sf $bar_color
453 initscreen.sh # optional
454 .It Cm screenshot_all
455 screenshot.sh full # optional
456 .It Cm screenshot_wind
457 screenshot.sh window # optional
460 Note that optional default programs will not be validated unless overridden.
461 If a default program fails validation, you can resolve the exception
462 by installing the program, modifying the program call or disabling the program
463 by freeing the respective key binding.
465 For example, to override
467 .Bd -literal -offset indent
468 program[lock] = xscreensaver-command --lock
473 and prevent it from being validated:
474 .Bd -literal -offset indent
475 bind[] = MOD+Shift+Delete
479 provides many functions (or actions) accessed via key or mouse bindings.
481 The current mouse bindings are described below:
483 .Bl -tag -width "M-j, M-<TAB>XXX" -offset indent -compact
491 Resize window while maintaining it centered
494 The default key bindings are described below:
496 .Bl -tag -width "M-j, M-<TAB>XXXXXX" -offset indent -compact
497 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Return
505 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Space
507 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm \e
509 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Space
523 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Return
532 .Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm TAB
549 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Ar 1-9,0,F1-F12
551 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Ar 1-9,0,F1-F12
552 .Pf mvws_ Ns Aq Ar 1-22
553 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Ar Keypad 1-9
555 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Ar Keypad 1-9
557 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Right
559 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Left
561 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Up
563 .It Cm M- Ns Aq Cm Down
567 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Left
569 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Up
571 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Right
573 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Left
583 .It Cm M-S- Ns Aq Cm Delete
619 The action names and descriptions are listed below:
621 .Bl -tag -width "M-j, M-<TAB>XXXX" -offset indent -compact
641 Swap the master and stacking areas.
649 Add windows to master area.
651 Remove windows from master area.
653 Add columns/rows to stacking area.
655 Remove columns/rows from stacking area.
657 Move current window to master area.
659 Focus next window in workspace.
661 Focus previous window in workspace.
663 Focus on main window in workspace.
665 Swap with next window in workspace.
667 Swap with previous window in workspace.
669 Toggle overall visibility of status bars.
671 Toggle status bar on current workspace.
673 Delete current window in workspace.
675 Destroy current window in workspace.
681 is 1 through workspace_limit.
683 Move current window to workspace
687 is 1 through workspace_limit.
695 Move current window to region
701 Switch to next workspace with a window in it.
703 Switch to previous workspace with a window in it.
705 Switch to next workspace.
707 Switch to previous workspace.
709 Switch to next workspace with the current window.
711 Switch to previous workspace with the current window.
713 Switch to last visited workspace.
715 Switch to next region.
717 Switch to previous region.
718 .It Cm screenshot_all
719 Take screenshot of entire screen (if enabled)
723 .It Cm screenshot_wind
724 Take screenshot of selected window (if enabled)
729 Toggle version in status bar.
731 Toggle focused window between tiled and floating.
738 Reinitialize physical screens
743 Minimize (unmap) currently focused window.
745 Maximize (map) window returned by dmenu selection.
747 When set tiled windows are allowed to obscure floating windows.
749 Fake a middle mouse button click (mouse button 2).
751 Shrink the width of a floating window.
753 Grow the width of a floating window.
755 Shrink the height of a floating window.
757 Grow the height of a floating window.
759 Move a floating window a step to the left.
761 Move a floating window a step to the right.
763 Move a floating window a step upwards.
765 Move a floating window a step downwards.
766 .It Cm name_workspace
767 Name the current workspace.
768 .It Cm search_workspace
769 Search for a workspace.
771 Search the windows in the current workspace.
774 Custom bindings in the configuration file are specified as follows:
776 .Dl bind[<action>] = <keys>
779 is one of the actions listed above (or empty to unbind) and
781 is in the form of zero or more modifier keys
782 (MOD, Mod1, Shift, etc.) and one or more normal keys
783 (b, space, etc.), separated by "+".
786 .Bd -literal -offset indent
787 bind[reset] = Mod4+q # bind Windows-key + q to reset
788 bind[] = Mod1+q # unbind Alt + q
791 To use the currently defined
793 specify MOD as the modifier key.
795 Multiple key combinations may be bound to the same action.
797 To bind non-latin characters such as å or π you must enter the xkb
798 character name instead of the character itself. Run xev, focus the window
799 and press the specific key and in the terminal output read the symbol name.
800 In the fallowing example for å:
801 .Bd -literal -offset indent
802 KeyPress event, serial 41, synthetic NO, window 0x2600001,
803 root 0x15a, subw 0x0, time 106213808, (11,5), root:(359,823),
804 state 0x0, keycode 24 (keysym 0xe5, aring), same_screen YES,
805 XLookupString gives 2 bytes: (c3 a5) "å"
806 XmbLookupString gives 2 bytes: (c3 a5) "å"
807 XFilterEvent returns: False
810 The xkb name is aring. In other words, in .spectrwm.conf add:
811 .Bd -literal -offset indent
812 bind[program] = MOD+aring
814 .Sh KEYBOARD MAPPING FILES
815 Keyboard mapping files for several keyboard layouts are listed
817 These files can be used with the
819 setting to load pre-defined key bindings for the specified
822 .Bl -tag -width "spectrwm_XX.confXXX" -offset indent -compact
823 .It Cm spectrwm_cz.conf
824 Czech Republic keyboard layout
825 .It Cm spectrwm_es.conf
826 Spanish keyboard layout
827 .It Cm spectrwm_fr.conf
828 French keyboard layout
829 .It Cm spectrwm_fr_ch.conf
830 Swiss French keyboard layout
831 .It Cm spectrwm_se.conf
832 Swedish keyboard layout
833 .It Cm spectrwm_us.conf
834 United States keyboard layout
838 provides "quirks" which handle windows that must be treated specially
839 in a tiling window manager, such as some dialogs and fullscreen apps.
841 The default quirks are described below:
843 .Bl -tag -width "OpenOffice.org N.M:VCLSalFrame<TAB>XXX" -offset indent \
845 .It Firefox\-bin:firefox\-bin
852 FLOAT + FULLSCREEN + FOCUSPREV
853 .It OpenOffice.org 2.4:VCLSalFrame
855 .It OpenOffice.org 3.1:VCLSalFrame
863 .It xine:xine Video Fullscreen Window
873 The quirks themselves are described below:
875 .Bl -tag -width "XTERM_FONTADJ<TAB>XXX" -offset indent -compact
877 This window should not be tiled, but allowed to float freely.
879 Adjusts size on transient windows that are too small using dialog_ratio
881 .Sx CONFIGURATION FILES ) .
883 Allow window to position itself, uncentered.
885 Adjust xterm fonts when resizing.
887 Remove border to allow window to use full region size.
889 On exit force focus on previously focused application not previous
890 application in the stack.
892 Don't change focus to the window when it first appears on the screen.
896 .It FOCUSONMAP_SINGLE
897 When the window first appears on the screen, change focus to the window
898 if there are no other windows on the workspace with the same class/name.
904 Custom quirks in the configuration file are specified as follows:
906 .Dl quirk[<class>:<name>] = <quirk> [ + <quirk> ... ]
911 specify the window to which the quirk(s) apply, and
913 is one of the quirks from the list above.
915 .Bd -literal -offset indent
916 quirk[MPlayer:xv] = FLOAT + FULLSCREEN + FOCUSPREV
917 quirk[pcb:pcb] = NONE # remove existing quirk
926 and then clicking on the desired window.
927 In the following example the main window of Firefox was clicked:
928 .Bd -literal -offset indent
929 $ xprop | grep WM_CLASS
930 WM_CLASS(STRING) = "Navigator", "Firefox"
933 Note that grepping for WM_CLASS flips class and name.
934 In the example above the quirk entry would be:
935 .Bd -literal -offset indent
936 quirk[Firefox:Navigator] = FLOAT
940 also automatically assigns quirks to windows based on the value
941 of the window's _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE property as follows:
943 .Bl -tag -width "_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_TOOLBAR<TAB>XXX" -offset indent -compact
944 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DOCK
946 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_TOOLBAR
948 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_UTILITY
950 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_SPLASH
952 .It _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DIALOG
956 In all other cases, no automatic quirks are assigned to the window.
957 Quirks specified in the configuration file override the automatic quirks.
960 partially implements the Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH) specification.
961 This enables controlling windows as well as
963 itself from external scripts and programs.
966 responding to certain ClientMessage events.
967 From the terminal these events
968 can be conveniently sent using tools such as
973 actual format of these ClientMessage events, see the EWMH specification.
975 The id of the currently focused window is stored in the _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW
976 property of the root window.
977 This can be used for example to retrieve the
978 title of the currently active window with
982 .Bd -literal -offset indent
983 $ WINDOWID=`xprop \-root _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW | grep \-o "0x.*"`
984 $ xprop \-id $WINDOWID WM_NAME | grep \-o "\\".*\\""
987 A window can be focused by sending a _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW client message
992 (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be focused):
993 .Bd -literal -offset indent
994 $ wmctrl \-i \-a 0x4a0000b
997 Windows can be closed by sending a _NET_CLOSE_WINDOW client message
1002 (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be closed):
1003 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1004 $ wmctrl \-i \-c 0x4a0000b
1007 Windows can be floated and un-floated by adding or removing the
1008 _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE atom from the _NET_WM_STATE property of the window.
1009 This can be achieved by sending a _NET_WM_STATE client message to the
1011 For example, the following toggles the floating state of
1014 to send the message (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window floated
1016 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1017 $ wmctrl \-i \-r 0x4a0000b \-b toggle,_NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE
1020 Floating windows can also be resized and moved by sending a
1021 _NET_MOVERESIZE_WINDOW client message to the root window.
1025 to send the message (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of
1026 the window to be resize/moved):
1027 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1028 $ wmctrl \-i \-r 0x4a0000b \-e 0,100,50,640,480
1031 This moves the window to (100,50) and resizes it to 640x480.
1033 Any _NET_MOVERESIZE_WINDOW events received for stacked windows are ignored.
1037 a HUP signal will restart it.
1039 .Bl -tag -width "/etc/spectrwm.confXXX" -compact
1040 .It Pa ~/.spectrwm.conf
1042 user specific settings.
1043 .It Pa /etc/spectrwm.conf
1049 was inspired by xmonad & dwm.
1055 .Bl -tag -width "Ryan Thomas McBride Aq mcbride@countersiege.com " -offset \
1057 .It Cm Marco Peereboom Aq marco@peereboom.us
1058 .It Cm Ryan Thomas McBride Aq mcbride@countersiege.com
1059 .It Cm Darrin Chandler Aq dwchandler@stilyagin.com
1060 .It Cm Pierre-Yves Ritschard Aq pyr@spootnik.org
1061 .It Cm Tuukka Kataja Aq stuge@xor.fi
1062 .It Cm Jason L. Wright Aq jason@thought.net
1063 .It Cm Reginald Kennedy Aq rk@rejii.com
1064 .It Cm Lawrence Teo Aq lteo@lteo.net
1065 .It Cm Tiago Cunha Aq tcunha@gmx.com
1066 .It Cm David Hill Aq dhill@mindcry.org