3 .\" Author: [see the "Author" section]
4 .\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.78.1 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
6 .\" Manual: Bspwm Manual
10 .TH "BSPWM" "1" "10/01/2013" "Bspwm 0\&.8" "Bspwm Manual"
11 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
12 .\" * Define some portability stuff
13 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
14 .\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15 .\" http://bugs.debian.org/507673
16 .\" http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2009-02/msg00013.html
17 .\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
20 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
21 .\" * set default formatting
22 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
23 .\" disable hyphenation
25 .\" disable justification (adjust text to left margin only)
27 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
28 .\" * MAIN CONTENT STARTS HERE *
29 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
31 bspwm \- Binary space partitioning window manager
34 \fBbspwm\fR [\fB\-h\fR|\fB\-v\fR|\fB\-c\fR \fICONFIG_PATH\fR|\fB\-s\fR \fIPANEL_FIFO\fR|\fB\-p\fR \fIPANEL_PREFIX\fR]
36 \fBbspc\fR \fICOMMAND\fR [\fIARGUMENTS\fR]
39 \fBbspwm\fR is a tiling window manager that represents windows as the leaves of a full binary tree\&.
41 It is controlled and configured via \fBbspc\fR\&.
46 Print the synopsis and exit\&.
51 Print the version and exit\&.
54 \fB\-c\fR \fICONFIG_PATH\fR
56 Use the given configuration file\&.
59 \fB\-s\fR \fIPANEL_FIFO\fR
61 Write the internal state to the given FIFO\&.
64 \fB\-p\fR \fIPANEL_PREFIX\fR
66 Start every line written to the
68 with the given prefix\&.
72 \fBbspwm\fR has only two sources of informations: the X events it receives and the messages it reads on a dedicated socket\&.
74 The default configuration file is \fI$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/bspwm/bspwmrc\fR\&.
76 Keyboard and pointer bindings are defined with sxhkd\&.
78 Example configuration files can be found in the \fBexamples\fR directory\&.
81 New windows are inserted in the tree as close as possible to the focused window\&.
83 There is only two splitting modes: \fIautomatic\fR and \fImanual\fR\&.
85 The default mode is \fIautomatic\fR\&. The \fImanual\fR mode is entered by sending a \fBpreselection\fR message\&.
87 Example: insertion of a new node (number 4) into the given tree in \fIautomatic\fR mode:
100 +\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-+ +\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-+
104 | 3 |\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-| \-\-> | 4 |\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-|
108 +\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-+ +\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-+
114 Same departure, but the mode is \fImanual\fR, and a \fBwindow \-\-presel up\fR message was sent beforehand:
126 +\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-+ +\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-+
130 | 3 |\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-| \-\-> |\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-|\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-|
134 +\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-+ +\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-+
141 Each monitor contains at least one desktop\&.
143 Each desktop contains at most one tree\&.
144 .SH "COMMON DEFINITIONS"
150 DIR := left | right | up | down
151 CYCLE_DIR := next | prev
158 Selectors are used to select a target window, desktop, or monitor\&. A selector can either describe the target relatively or name it globally\&.
160 Descriptive (relative) selectors consist of a primary selector and any number of non\-conflicting modifiers as follows:
166 PRIMARY_SELECTOR[\&.MODIFIER]*
172 For obvious reasons, neither desktops nor monitors names may be valid descriptive selectors\&.
181 WINDOW_SEL := <window_id>
182 | (DIR|CYCLE_DIR|biggest|last|focused)[\&.floating|\&.tiled][\&.like|\&.unlike][\&.automatic|\&.manual][\&.urgent|\&.nonurgent]
189 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
193 \fBPrimary Selectors\fR
198 Selects the window in the given (spacial) direction relative to the active window\&.
203 Selects the window in the given (cyclic) direction\&.
208 Selects the biggest window on the current desktop\&.
213 Selects the previously focused window on the current desktop\&.
218 Selects the currently focused window\&.
223 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
232 Only consider floating windows\&.
237 Only consider tiled windows\&.
242 Only consider windows that have the same class as the current window\&.
247 Only consider windows that have a different class than the current window\&.
252 Only consider windows in automatic splitting mode\&.
257 Only consider windows in manual splitting mode (see
263 Only consider urgent windows\&.
268 Only consider nonurgent windows\&.
279 DESKTOP_SEL := <desktop_name>
281 | (CYCLE_DIR|last|focused)[\&.occupied|\&.free][\&.urgent|\&.nonurgent]
288 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
292 \fBPrimary Selectors\fR
297 Selects the desktop with the given name\&.
302 Selects the nth desktop\&.
307 Selects the desktop in the given direction relative to the active desktop\&.
312 Selects the previously focused desktop\&.
317 Selects the currently focused desktop\&.
322 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
331 Only consider occupied desktops\&.
336 Only consider free desktops\&.
341 Only consider urgent desktops\&.
346 Only consider nonurgent desktops\&.
357 MONITOR_SEL := <monitor_name>
359 | (DIR|CYCLE_DIR|last|primary|focused)[\&.occupied|\&.free]
366 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
370 \fBPrimary Selectors\fR
375 Selects the monitor with the given name\&.
380 Selects the nth monitor\&.
385 Selects the monitor in the given (spacial) direction relative to the active monitor\&.
390 Selects the monitor in the given (cyclic) direction relative to the active monitor\&.
395 Selects the primary monitor\&.
400 Selects the previously focused monitor\&.
405 Selects the currently focused monitor\&.
410 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
419 Only consider monitors where the focused desktop is occupied\&.
424 Only consider monitors where the focused desktop is free\&.
431 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
438 window [\fIWINDOW_SEL\fR] \fIOPTIONS\fR
442 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
449 \fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-focus\fR [\fIWINDOW_SEL\fR]
451 Focus the selected or given window\&.
454 \fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-to\-desktop\fR \fIDESKTOP_SEL\fR
456 Send the selected window to the given desktop\&.
459 \fB\-m\fR, \fB\-\-to\-monitor\fR \fIMONITOR_SEL\fR
461 Send the selected window to the given monitor\&.
464 \fB\-w\fR, \fB\-\-to\-window\fR \fIWINDOW_SEL\fR
466 Transplant the selected window to the given window\&.
469 \fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-swap\fR \fIWINDOW_SEL\fR
471 Swap the selected window with the given window\&.
474 \fB\-p\fR, \fB\-\-presel\fR \fIDIR\fR|cancel
476 Preselect the splitting area of the selected window (or cancel the preselection)\&.
479 \fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-ratio\fR \fIRATIO\fR
481 Set the splitting ratio of the selected window (0 <
486 \fB\-e\fR, \fB\-\-edge\fR \fIDIR\fR \fIRATIO\fR|pull|push
488 Set the splitting ratio (or pull, or push) the edge located in the given direction in relation to the selected window\&.
491 \fB\-R\fR, \fB\-\-rotate\fR \fIDIR\fR \fI90|270|180\fR
493 Rotate the tree holding the edge located in the given direction in relation to the selected window\&.
496 \fB\-t\fR, \fB\-\-toggle\fR floating|fullscreen|locked[=on|off]
498 Set or toggle the given state for the selected window\&.
501 \fB\-c\fR, \fB\-\-close\fR
503 Close the selected window\&.
506 \fB\-k\fR, \fB\-\-kill\fR
508 Kill the selected window\&.
514 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
521 desktop [\fIDESKTOP_SEL\fR] \fIOPTIONS\fR
525 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
532 \fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-focus\fR [\fIDESKTOP_SEL\fR]
534 Focus the selected or given desktop\&.
537 \fB\-m\fR, \fB\-\-to\-monitor\fR \fIMONITOR_SEL\fR
539 Send the selected desktop to the given monitor\&.
542 \fB\-l\fR, \fB\-\-layout\fR \fICYCLE_DIR\fR|monocle|tiled
544 Set or cycle the layout of the selected desktop\&.
547 \fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-rename\fR <new_name>
549 Rename the selected desktop\&.
552 \fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-swap\fR \fIDESKTOP_SEL\fR
554 Swap the selected desktop with the given desktop\&.
557 \fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-remove\fR
559 Remove the selected desktop\&.
562 \fB\-c\fR, \fB\-\-cancel\-presel\fR
564 Cancel the preselection of all the windows of the selected desktop\&.
567 \fB\-F\fR, \fB\-\-flip\fR \fIhorizontal|vertical\fR
569 Flip the tree of the selected desktop\&.
572 \fB\-R\fR, \fB\-\-rotate\fR \fI90|270|180\fR
574 Rotate the tree of the selected desktop\&.
577 \fB\-B\fR, \fB\-\-balance\fR
579 Adjust the split ratios of the tree of the selected desktop so that all windows occupy the same area\&.
582 \fB\-C\fR, \fB\-\-circulate\fR forward|backward
584 Circulate the leaves of the tree of the selected desktop\&.
590 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
597 monitor [\fIMONITOR_SEL\fR] \fIOPTIONS\fR
601 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
608 \fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-focus\fR [\fIMONITOR_SEL\fR]
610 Focus the selected or given monitor\&.
613 \fB\-a\fR, \fB\-\-add\-desktops\fR <name>\&...
615 Create desktops with the given names in the selected monitor\&.
618 \fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-remove\-desktops\fR <name>\&...
620 Remove desktops with the given names\&.
623 \fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-rename\fR <new_name>
625 Rename the selected monitor\&.
628 \fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-swap\fR \fIMONITOR_SEL\fR
630 Swap the selected monitor with the given monitor\&.
636 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
647 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
654 \fB\-W\fR, \fB\-\-windows\fR
656 List matching windows\&.
659 \fB\-D\fR, \fB\-\-desktops\fR
661 List matching desktops\&.
664 \fB\-M\fR, \fB\-\-monitors\fR
666 List matching monitors\&.
669 \fB\-T\fR, \fB\-\-tree\fR
671 Print tree rooted at query\&.
674 \fB\-H\fR, \fB\-\-history\fR
676 Print the history as it relates to the query\&.
679 \fB\-S\fR, \fB\-\-stack\fR
681 Print the window stacking order\&.
684 [\fB\-m\fR,\fB\-\-monitor\fR [\fIMONITOR_SEL\fR]] | [\fB\-d\fR,\fB\-\-desktop\fR [\fIDESKTOP_SEL\fR]] | [\fB\-w\fR, \fB\-\-window\fR [\fIWINDOW_SEL\fR]]
686 Constrain matches to the selected monitor, desktop or window\&.
692 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
699 restore \fIOPTIONS\fR
703 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
710 \fB\-T\fR, \fB\-\-tree\fR <file_path>
712 Load the desktop trees from the given file\&.
715 \fB\-H\fR, \fB\-\-history\fR <file_path>
717 Load the focus history from the given file\&.
720 \fB\-S\fR, \fB\-\-stack\fR <file_path>
722 Load the window stacking order from the given file\&.
728 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
735 control \fIOPTIONS\fR
739 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
746 \fB\-\-adopt\-orphans\fR
748 Manage all the unmanaged windows remaining from a previous session\&.
751 \fB\-\-put\-status\fR
753 Write the current internal state to the panel FIFO\&.
756 \fB\-\-toggle\-visibility\fR
758 Toggle the visibility of all the windows\&.
764 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
771 pointer \fIOPTIONS\fR
775 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
782 \fB\-t\fR, \fB\-\-track\fR <x> <y>
784 Pass the pointer root coordinates for the current pointer action\&.
787 \fB\-g\fR, \fB\-\-grab\fR focus|move|resize_side|resize_corner
789 Perform the given pointer action\&.
795 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
806 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
813 \fB\-a\fR, \fB\-\-add\fR <pattern> [\-d \fIDESKTOP_SEL\fR [\-\-follow]] [\-\-floating] [\-\-fullscreen] [\-\-locked] [\-\-focus] [\-\-unmanage] [\-\-one\-shot]
815 Create a new rule (<pattern> must match the class or instance name)\&.
818 \fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-remove\fR <rule_uid>|tail|head\&...
820 Remove the rules with the given UIDs\&.
823 \fB\-l\fR, \fB\-\-list\fR [<pattern>]
831 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
838 config [\-m \fIMONITOR_SEL\fR|\-d \fIDESKTOP_SEL\fR] <key> [<value>]
840 Get or set the value of <key>\&.
846 .nr an-no-space-flag 1
855 Quit with an optional exit status\&.
860 Colors are either X color names or \fI#RRGGBB\fR, booleans are \fItrue\fR or \fIfalse\fR\&.
862 All the boolean settings are \fIfalse\fR by default\&.
863 .SS "Global Settings"
865 \fIfocused_border_color\fR
867 Color of the border of a focused window of a focused monitor\&.
870 \fIactive_border_color\fR
872 Color of the border of a focused window of an unfocused monitor\&.
875 \fInormal_border_color\fR
877 Color of the border of an unfocused window\&.
880 \fIpresel_border_color\fR
887 \fIfocused_locked_border_color\fR
889 Color of the border of a focused locked window of a focused monitor\&.
892 \fIactive_locked_border_color\fR
894 Color of the border of a focused locked window of an unfocused monitor\&.
897 \fInormal_locked_border_color\fR
899 Color of the border of an unfocused locked window\&.
902 \fIurgent_border_color\fR
904 Color of the border of an urgent window\&.
909 Window border width\&.
914 Default split ratio\&.
919 Intensity of the growth involved in pulling or pushing an edge\&.
922 \fIhistory_aware_focus\fR
924 Give priority to the focus history when focusing nodes\&.
927 \fIborderless_monocle\fR
929 Remove borders for tiled windows in monocle mode\&.
932 \fIgapless_monocle\fR
934 Remove gaps for tiled windows in monocle mode\&.
937 \fIfocus_follows_pointer\fR
939 Focus the window under the pointer\&.
942 \fIpointer_follows_monitor\fR
944 When focusing a monitor, put the pointer at its center\&.
949 Interpret two consecutive identical
958 Interpret two consecutive identical
965 \fIapply_floating_atom\fR
968 \fI_BSPWM_FLOATING_WINDOW\fR
969 atom of each window according to its floating state\&.
972 \fIhonor_ewmh_focus\fR
974 Honor EWMH requests to focus a window\&.
976 .SS "Monitor Settings"
978 \fItop_padding\fR, \fIright_padding\fR, \fIbottom_padding\fR, \fIleft_padding\fR
980 Padding space added at the sides of the monitor\&.
982 .SS "Desktop Settings"
986 Size of the gap that separates windows\&.
988 .SH "ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES"
992 The path of the socket used for the communication between
995 \fBbspwm\fR\&. If it isn\(cqt defined, then the following path is used:
996 \fI/tmp/bspwm\-socket\fR\&.
1002 \h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
1008 Any EWMH compliant panel (e\&.g\&.:
1010 \fIbmpanel2\fR, etc\&.)\&.
1015 \h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
1021 A custom panel if the
1023 flag is used (have a look at the files in
1024 \fIexamples/panel\fR)\&.
1030 \h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
1036 Configured and controlled through messages\&.
1041 \h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
1047 Multiple monitors support (via
1053 \h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
1059 EWMH support (\fBtint2\fR
1065 \h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
1077 \h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
1083 Steven Allen <steven at stebalien\&.com>
1088 \h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
1094 Thomas Adam <thomas at xteddy\&.org>
1099 \h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
1105 Ivan Kanakarakis <ivan\&.kanak at gmail\&.com>
1109 Bastien Dejean <nihilhill at gmail\&.com>
1112 bspwm at librelist\&.com