You can not select more than 25 topics Topics must start with a letter or number, can include dashes ('-') and can be up to 35 characters long.

277 lines
7.1 KiB

% I3BLOCKS(1)
# NAME
i3blocks - A flexible scheduler for your i3bar blocks
# SYNOPSIS
i3blocks [*options*]
# DESCRIPTION
**i3blocks** allows one to easily describe blocks in a simple format, and
generate a status line for i3bar(1). It handles clicks, signals and time
interval for user scripts.
#OPTIONS
-c <configfile>
: Specifies an alternate configuration file path. By default, i3blocks looks
for configuration files in the following order (note that /etc may be
prefixed with /usr/local depending on the compilation flags):
1. ~/.config/i3blocks/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/i3blocks/config if set)
2. ~/.i3blocks.conf
3. /etc/xdg/i3blocks/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/i3blocks/config if set)
4. /etc/i3blocks.conf
-v
: Log level. This option is cumulative. By default, error messages are
displayed on stderr. Passed once, a failure during an update is shown
within the block. Passed twice enables the debug messages on stderr.
-V
: Print the version and exit.
-h
: Print the help message and exit.
# CONFIGURATION
The configuration file is an ini file. Each section describes a new block.
A line beginning with a `#` sign is a comment, and empty lines are ignored.
A property is a `key=value` pair per line, with no space around the equal sign.
Properties declared outside a block (i.e. at the beginning of the file)
describe global settings.
Here is an example config file:
# This is a comment
interval=5
color=#00FF00
[weather]
command=~/bin/weather.pl
interval=1800
[time]
command=date +%T
To use i3blocks as your status line, define it in a *bar* block of your
`~/i3/config` file:
bar {
status_command i3blocks
}
# BLOCK
The properties used to describe a block are the keys specified in the i3bar
protocol http://i3wm.org/docs/i3bar-protocol.html , plus additional properties
used by **i3blocks** to describe when and how to update a block.
All the supported properties are described below.
The following keys are standard, see
http://i3wm.org/docs/i3bar-protocol.html
for details.
- `full_text`
- `short_text`
- `color`
- `background`
- `border`
- `min_width`
- `align`
- `name`
- `instance`
- `urgent`
- `separator`
- `separator_block_width`
- `markup`
The following keys are specific to **i3blocks**.
`command`
: The command executed by a shell, used to update the block. The expected
behavior is described below, in the **COMMAND** section.
`interval`
: If it is a positive integer, then the block is spawned on startup and the
value is used as a time interval in seconds to schedule future updates.
If unspecified or 0, the block won't be executed on startup (which is
useful to simulate buttons).
If "*once*" (or -1), the block will be executed only on startup (note that a
click or signal will still trigger an update).
If "*repeat*" (or -2), the block will be spawned on startup, and as soon as
it terminates (useful to repeat blocking commands). Use with caution!
If "*persist*" (or -3), the block will be executed only on startup, and
updated as soon as it outputs a line. Thus limited to single line updates.
`signal`
: The signal number used to update the block. All the real-time (think
prioritized and queueable) signals are available to the user. The number is
valid between 1 and N, where SIGRTMIN+N = SIGRTMAX. (Note: there are 31
real-time signals in Linux.) For instance, `signal=10` means that this
block will be updated when **i3blocks** receives SIGRTMIN+10.
`label`
: An optional label to preprend to the `full_text` after an update.
`format`
: This property specifies the format of the output text. The default format
is plain text, as described in the **COMMAND** section.
If "json" (or 1) is used, the block output is parsed as JSON.
# COMMAND
The value of the `command` key will be passed and executed as is by a shell.
The standard output of the command line is used to update the block content.
Each non-empty line of the output will overwrite the corresponding property:
1. full_text
2. short_text
3. color
For example, this script sets the `full_text` in blue but no `short_text`:
echo "Here's my label"
echo
echo \#0000FF
If the command line returns 0 or 33, the block is updated. Otherwise, it is
considered a failure and the first line (if any) is still displayed. Note that
stderr is ignored. A return code of 33 will set the `urgent` flag to true.
For example, this script prints the battery percentage and sets the urgent flag
if it is below 10%:
BAT=`acpi -b | grep -E -o '[0-9][0-9]?%'`
echo "BAT: $BAT"
test ${BAT%?} -le 10 && exit 33 || exit 0
When forking a block command, **i3blocks** will set the environment with some
`BLOCK_*` variables. The following variables are always provided, with
eventually an empty string as the value.
`BLOCK_NAME`
: The name of the block (usually the section name).
`BLOCK_INSTANCE`
: An optional argument to the script.
`BLOCK_BUTTON`
: Mouse button (1, 2 or 3) if the block was clicked.
`BLOCK_X` and `BLOCK_Y`
: Coordinates where the click occurred, if the block was clicked.
Here is an example using the environment:
[block]
command=echo name=$BLOCK_NAME instance=$BLOCK_INSTANCE
interval=1
[clickme]
full_text=Click me!
command=echo button=$BLOCK_BUTTON x=$BLOCK_X y=$BLOCK_Y
min_width=button=1 x=1366 y=768
align=left
Note that **i3blocks** provides a set of optional scripts for convenience, such
as network status, battery check, cpu load, volume, etc.
# EXAMPLES
As an example, here is a close configuration to i3status(1) default settings:
**TODO**
interval=5
signal=10
[ipv6]
[free]
[dhcp]
[vpn]
[wifi]
[ethernet]
min_width=E: 255.255.255.255 (1000 Mbit/s)
[battery]
[cpu]
[datetime]
The following block shows the usage of `signal` with some i3(1) bindings
which adjust the volume, before issuing a `pkill -RTMIN+1 i3blocks`:
[volume]
command=echo -n 'Volume: '; amixer get Master | grep -E -o '[0-9][0-9]?%'
interval=once
signal=1
# no interval, only check on SIGRTMIN+1
Here is an example of a very minimalist config, assuming you have a bunch of
scripts under `~/bin/blocks/` with the same name as the blocks:
command=~/bin/blocks/$BLOCK_NAME
interval=1
[free]
[wifi]
[ethernet]
[battery]
[cpu]
[datetime]
# SEE ALSO
The development of i3blocks takes place on [Github](https://github.com/vivien/i3blocks).
The [wiki](https://github.com/vivien/i3blocks/wiki) is a good
source of examples for blocks and screenshots.
`i3` (1), `i3bar` (1), `i3status` (1)
# Reporting Bugs
Please report bugs on the [issue tracker](https://github.com/vivien/i3blocks/issues).
# Known Bugs
None.
# AUTHOR
Written by Vivien Didelot <vivien.didelot@gmail.com>.
# COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2014 Vivien Didelot <vivien.didelot@gmail.com>
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO
WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.