GSP
Quick Navigator

Search Site

Unix VPS
A - Starter
B - Basic
C - Preferred
D - Commercial
MPS - Dedicated
Previous VPSs
* Sign Up! *

Support
Contact Us
Online Help
Handbooks
Domain Status
Man Pages

FAQ
Virtual Servers
Pricing
Billing
Technical

Network
Facilities
Connectivity
Topology Map

Miscellaneous
Server Agreement
Year 2038
Credits
 

USA Flag

 

 

Man Pages
SPECTRWM(1) FreeBSD General Commands Manual SPECTRWM(1)

spectrwm
window manager for X11

spectrwm [-c file] [-v]

file
Specify a configuration file to load instead of scanning for one.
Print version and exit.

spectrwm is a minimalistic window manager that tries to stay out of the way so that valuable screen real estate can be used for much more important stuff. It has sane defaults and does not require one to learn a language to do any configuration. It was written by hackers for hackers and it strives to be small, compact and fast.

When spectrwm starts up, it reads settings from its configuration file, spectrwm.conf. See the CONFIGURATION FILES section below.

The following notation is used throughout this page:

Meta
Shift
Name
Named key or button

spectrwm is very simple in its use. Most of the actions are initiated via key or pointer bindings. See the BINDINGS section below for defaults and customizations.

spectrwm looks for the user-configuration file in the following order:

  1. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/spectrwm/spectrwm.conf
  2. ~/.config/spectrwm/spectrwm.conf (if $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is either not set or empty)
  3. ~/.spectrwm.conf.

If the user-configuration file is not found, spectrwm then looks for the global configuration file in the following order:

  1. $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/spectrwm/spectrwm.conf (each colon-separated directory in $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS)
  2. /usr/local/etc/xdg/spectrwm/spectrwm.conf (if $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS is either not set or empty)
  3. /usr/local/etc/spectrwm.conf

The format of the file is

keyword = setting

For example:

color_focus = red

Enabling or disabling an option is done by using 1 or 0 respectively.

Colors need to be specified per the XQueryColor(3) specification.

Comments begin with a #. When a literal ‘#’ is desired in an option, then it must be escaped with a backslash, i.e. \#

The file supports the following keywords:

Launch an application in a specified workspace at start-of-day. Defined in the format ws[idx]:application, e.g. ws[2]:xterm launches an xterm(1) in workspace 2.

Note that workspace mapping is handled via libswmhack.so. When autorun spawns windows via a daemon, ensure the daemon is started with the correct LD_PRELOAD in its environment.

For example, starting urxvtd(1) via xinit(1):

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libswmhack.so.0.0 urxvtd -q -o -f
    

Spawned programs automatically have LD_PRELOAD set when executed.

It is advised to check the man page of ld.so as LD_PRELOAD is sometimes ignored by some operating systems. A workaround is available, e.g. launch an xterm(1) in workspace 2:

autorun = ws[2]:xterm -name ws2
quirk[XTerm:ws2] = WS[2]
    
External script that populates additional information in the status bar, such as battery life.
Process bar_format character sequences in bar_action output; default is 0.
Place the statusbar at the bottom of each region instead of the top.
[x]
Border color of the status bar(s) in screen x.
[x]
Border color of the status bar(s) on unfocused region(s) in screen x.
Set status bar border thickness in pixels. Disable border by setting to 0.
[x]
Background color of the status bar(s) in screen x.

A comma separated list of up to 10 colors can be specified. The first value is used as the default background color. Any of these colors can then be selected as a background color in the status bar through the use of the markup sequence +@bg=n; where n is between 0 and 9.

[x]
Background color for selections on the status bar(s) in screen x. Defaults to the value of bar_border.
Set default bar_toggle state; default is 1.
[x]
Set default bar_toggle_ws state on workspace x; default is 1.
Fonts used in the status bar. Either Xft or X Logical Font Description (XLFD) may be used to specify fonts. Fallback fonts may be specified by separating each font with a comma. If all entries are in XLFD syntax, font set will be used. If at least one entry is Xft, Xft will be used.

The default is to use font set.

If Xft is used, a comma-separated list of up to 10 fonts can be specified. The first entry is the default font. Any font defined here can then be selected in the status bar through the use of the markup sequence +@fn=n; where n is between 0 and 9.

Also note that dmenu(1) does not support Xft fonts.

Xft examples:

bar_font = Terminus:style=Regular:pixelsize=14:antialias=true

bar_font = -*-profont-medium-*-*-*-11-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,Terminus:pixelsize=14,-*-clean-medium-*-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
    

Font set examples:

bar_font = -*-terminus-medium-*-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

bar_font = -*-profont-medium-*-*-*-11-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,-*-terminus-medium-*-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,-*-clean-medium-*-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
    

To list the available fonts in your system see fc-list(1) or xlsfonts(1) manpages. The xfontsel(1) application can help with the XLFD setting.

[x]
Foreground color of the status bar(s) in screen x.

A comma separated list of up to 10 colors can be specified. The first value is used as the default foreground color. Any of these colors can then be selected as a foreground color in the status bar through the use of the markup sequence +@fg=n; where n is between 0 and 9.

[x]
Foreground color for selections on the status bar(s) in screen x. Defaults to the value of bar_color.
Specify a font which uses the Unicode Private Use Area (U+E000 -> U+F8FF). Some fonts use these code points to provide special icon glyphs. Available only with Xft fonts.
Set the bar format string, overriding clock_format and all of the enabled options. The format is passed through strftime(3) before being used. It may contain the following character sequences:
Character sequence Replaced with
Pad with a space
Output of the external script
Window class (from WM_CLASS)
Workspace name
Floating indicator
Workspace index
Workspace list indicator
Number of iconic (minimized) windows in workspace
Screen number
Window class and instance separated by a colon
Region index
Stacking algorithm
Window instance (from WM_CLASS)
Urgency hint
Program version
Window name (from _NET_WM_NAME/WM_NAME)
Begin new section and reset markup sequence effects.

weight is a positive integer used to allocate horizontal space between 'L', 'C' and 'R' sections (see justify). The default weight is 1.

justify can have the value L, C, R or T. L, C, R are for left, center and right justified sections respectively. A 'T' section will limit its space usage to fit to the text. If no value is specified for a given section, the setting from bar_justify is used.

A literal ‘+
Prefix for text markup sequences

The currently recognized text markup sequences are:

Character sequence Action
Selects font n (from 0 to 9) from bar_font.
Selects foreground color n (from 0 to 9) from bar_font_color.
Selects background color n (from 0 to 9) from bar_color.
Stops the interpretation of markup sequences. Any markup sequence found after +@stp will appear as normal characters in the status bar.

Note that markup sequences in bar_action script output will only be processed if bar_action_expand is enabled.

All character sequences may limit its output to a specific length, for example +64A. By default, no padding/alignment is done in case the length of the replaced string is less than the specified length (64 in the example). The padding/alignment can be enabled using a '_' character in the sequence. For example: +_64W, +64_W and +_64_W enable padding before (right alignment), after (left alignment), and both before and after (center alignment) window name, respectively. Any characters that don't match the specification are copied as-is.

Justify the status bar text. Possible values are left, center, and right.

Note that if the output is not left justified, it may not be properly aligned in some circumstances, due to the white-spaces in the default static format. See the bar_format option for more details.

[x]
Bind key or button combo to action x. See the BINDINGS section below.
Set window border thickness in pixels. Disable all borders by setting to 0.
Set region containment boundary width in pixels. This is how far a window must be dragged/resized (with the pointer) beyond the region edge before it is allowed outside the region. Disable the window containment effect by setting to 0.
Enable or disable displaying the clock in the status bar. Disable by setting to 0 so a custom clock could be used in the bar_action script.
Border color of the currently focused window. Default is red.
Border color of the currently focused, maximized window. Defaults to the value of color_focus.
Border color of unfocused windows, default is rgb:88/88/88.
Border color of unfocused, maximized windows. Defaults to the value of color_unfocus.
Some applications have dialogue windows that are too small to be useful. This ratio is the screen size to what they will be resized. For example, 0.6 is 60% of the physical screen size.
Remove border when bar is disabled and there is only one window on the region. Enable by setting to 1. Setting this to always removes border from lone tiled windows, regardless of the bar being enabled/disabled. Defaults to 0.
Window to put focus when the focused window is closed. Possible values are first, next, previous (default) and last. next and previous are relative to the window that is closed.
Whether to allow the focus to jump to the last window when the first window is closed or vice versa. Disable by setting to 0.
Window to put focus when no window has been focused. Possible values are first and last (default).
Window focus behavior with respect to the pointer. Possible values:

default
Set window focus on border crossings caused by cursor motion and window interaction.
follow
Set window focus on all cursor border crossings, including workspace switches and changes to layout.
manual
Set window focus on window interaction only.
Display the number of iconic (minimized) windows in the status bar. Enable by setting to 1.
Clear all key bindings (not button bindings) and load new bindings from the specified file. This allows you to load pre-defined key bindings for your keyboard layout. See the KEYBOARD MAPPING FILES section below for a list of keyboard mapping files that have been provided for several keyboard layouts.

Note that /dev/null can be specified if you only want to clear bindings.

Select layout to use at start-of-day. Defined in the format ws[idx]:master_grow:master_add:stack_inc:always_raise:stack_mode, e.g. ws[2]:-4:0:1:0:horizontal sets worskspace 2 to the horizontal stack mode, shrinks the master area by 4 ticks and adds one window to the stack, while maintaining default floating window behavior. Possible stack_mode values are vertical, vertical_flip, horizontal, horizontal_flip and max.

See master_grow, master_shrink, master_add, master_del, stack_inc, stack_dec, stack_balance, and always_raise for more information. Note that the stacking options are complicated and have side-effects. One should familiarize oneself with these commands before experimenting with the layout option.

This setting is not retained at restart.

When set to 1, maximize_toggle will also hide/restore the bar visibility of the affected workspace. Defaults to 0.
Change mod key. Mod1 is generally the ALT key and Mod4 is the windows key on a PC.
Set the name of a workspace at start-of-day. Defined in the format ws[idx]:name, e.g. ws[1]:Console sets the name of workspace 1 to “Console”.
[p]
Define new action to spawn a program p. See the PROGRAMS section below.
[c[:i[:n]]]
Add "quirk" for windows with class c, instance i (optional) and name n (optional). See the QUIRKS section below.
Allocates a custom region, removing any autodetected regions which occupy the same space on the screen. Defined in the format screen[idx]:widthxheight+x+y, e.g. screen[1]:800x1200+0+0.

To make a region span multiple monitors, create a region big enough to cover them all, e.g. screen[1]:2048x768+0+0 makes the region span two monitors with 1024x768 resolution sitting one next to the other.

Pixel width of empty space within region borders. Disable by setting to 0.
Position in stack to place newly spawned windows. Possible values are first, next, previous and last (default). next and previous are relative to the focused window.
Enable or disable displaying the current stacking algorithm in the status bar.
Set a preferred minimum width for the terminal. If this value is greater than 0, spectrwm will attempt to adjust the font sizes in the terminal to keep the terminal width above this number as the window is resized. Only xterm(1) is currently supported. The xterm(1) binary must not be setuid or setgid, which it is by default on most systems. Users may need to set program[term] (see the PROGRAMS section) to use an alternate copy of the xterm(1) binary without the setgid bit set.
Pixel width of empty space between tiled windows. Negative values cause overlap. Set this to the opposite of border_width to collapse the border between tiles. Disable by setting to 0.
Minimizes the space consumed by the urgency hint indicator by removing the placeholders for non-urgent workspaces, the trailing space when there are urgent windows and the default leading space. Enable by setting to 1.
Enable or disable the urgency hint indicator in the status bar. Note that many terminal emulators require an explicit setting for the bell character to trigger urgency on the window. In xterm(1), for example, one needs to add the following line to .Xdefaults:
xterm.bellIsUrgent: true
    
Enable or disable displaying the current master window count and stack column/row count in the status bar. Enable by setting to 1. See master_add, master_del, stack_inc and stack_dec for more information.
Focus on the target window/workspace/region when clamped. For example, when attempting to switch to a workspace that is mapped on another region and workspace_clamp is enabled, focus on the region with the target workspace. Enable by setting to 1.
Centers the pointer on the focused window when using bindings to change focus, switch workspaces, change regions, etc. Enable by setting to 1.
Enable or disable displaying the window class name (from WM_CLASS) in the status bar. Enable by setting to 1.
Enable or disable displaying the window instance name (from WM_CLASS) in the status bar. Enable by setting to 1.
Enable or disable displaying the window display name (from _NET_WM_NAME/WM_NAME) in the status bar. Enable by setting to 1.

To prevent excessively large window names from pushing the remaining text off the bar, it's limited to 64 characters, by default. See the bar_format option for more details.

Prevents workspaces from being swapped when attempting to switch to a workspace that is mapped to another region. Use warp_focus if you want to focus on the region containing the workspace and warp_pointer if you want to also send the pointer. Enable by setting to 1.
Configure the status bar workspace indicator. One or more of the following options may be specified in a comma-separated list:

listcurrent
Include the current workspace.
listactive
Include workspaces with windows.
listempty
Include empty workspaces.
listnamed
Include named workspaces.
listurgent
Include workspaces with urgent window(s).
listall
Include all workspaces.
hidecurrent
Always exclude the current workspace from the list.
markcurrent
Indicate the current workspace if it is in the list.
markurgent
Indicate workspaces in the list that contain urgent window(s).
printnames
Display the names of named workspaces in the list.

The default is listcurrent,listactive,markcurrent,printnames

Set the total number of workspaces available. Minimum is 1, maximum is 22, default is 10.

spectrwm allows you to define custom actions to launch programs of your choice and then bind them the same as with built-in actions. See the BINDINGS section below.

Custom programs in the configuration file are specified as follows:

program[action] = progpath [arg [arg ...]]

action is any identifier that does not conflict with a built-in action or keyword, progpath is the desired program, and arg is zero or more arguments to the program.

With the exception of '~' expansion, program calls are executed as-is without any interpretation. A shell can be called to execute shell commands. (e.g. sh -c 'command string').

Remember that when using ‘#’ in your program call, it must be escaped with a backslash, i.e. \#

The following argument variables will be substituted for values at the time the program is spawned:

Example:

program[ff] = /usr/local/bin/firefox http://spectrwm.org/
bind[ff] = MOD+Shift+b # Now M-S-b launches firefox

To cancel the previous, unbind it:

bind[] = MOD+Shift+b

Default programs:

xterm
xlock
dmenu_run $dmenu_bottom -fn $bar_font -nb $bar_color -nf $bar_font_color -sb $bar_color_selected -sf $bar_font_color_selected
dmenu $dmenu_bottom -i -fn $bar_font -nb $bar_color -nf $bar_font_color -sb $bar_color_selected -sf $bar_font_color_selected
dmenu $dmenu_bottom -p Workspace -fn $bar_font -nb $bar_color -nf $bar_font_color -sb $bar_color_selected -sf $bar_font_color_selected
initscreen.sh # optional
screenshot.sh full # optional
screenshot.sh window # optional

Note that optional default programs will not be validated unless overridden. If a default program fails validation, you can resolve the exception by installing the program, modifying the program call or disabling the program by freeing the respective binding.

For example, to override lock:

program[lock] = xscreensaver-command -lock

To unbind lock and prevent it from being validated:

bind[] = MOD+Shift+Delete

spectrwm provides many functions (or actions) accessed via key or pointer bindings.

The default bindings are listed below:

Button1
focus
Button1
move
Button3
resize
Button3
resize_centered
Return
term
menu
quit
restart
unbound
restart_of_day
Space
cycle_layout
flip_layout
unbound
layout_vertical
unbound
layout_horizontal
unbound
layout_max
Space
stack_reset
unbound
stack_balance
master_shrink
master_grow
master_add
master_del
stack_inc
stack_dec
Return
swap_main
, M-TAB
focus_next
, M-S-TAB
focus_prev
focus_main
focus_urgent
swap_next
swap_prev
bar_toggle
bar_toggle_ws
wind_del
wind_kill
1-9,0,F1-F12
ws_⟨1-22
1-9,0,F1-F12
mvws_⟨1-22
Keypad 1-9
rg_⟨1-9
Keypad 1-9
mvrg_⟨1-9
unbound
mvrg_next
unbound
mvrg_prev
unbound
ws_empty
unbound
ws_empty_move
Right
ws_next
Left
ws_prev
Up
ws_next_all
Down
ws_prev_all
ws_prior
Down
ws_prev_move
Up
ws_next_move
Right
rg_next
Left
rg_prev
unbound
rg_move_next
unbound
rg_move_prev
screenshot_all
screenshot_wind
version
float_toggle
Delete
lock
initscr
iconify
uniconify
maximize_toggle
fullscreen_toggle
raise
always_raise
button2
width_shrink
width_grow
height_shrink
height_grow
move_left
move_right
move_up
move_down
name_workspace
search_workspace
search_win

The action names and descriptions are listed below:

Focus window/region under pointer.
Move window with pointer while binding is pressed.
Resize window with pointer while binding is pressed.
Same as resize but keep window centered.
Spawn a new terminal (see PROGRAMS above).
Menu (see PROGRAMS above).
Quit spectrwm.
Restart spectrwm.
Same as restart but configuration file is loaded in full.
Cycle layout.
Swap the master and stacking areas.
Switch to vertical layout.
Switch to horizontal layout.
Switch to max layout.
Reset layout.
Balance master/stacking area.
Shrink master area.
Grow master area.
Add windows to master area.
Remove windows from master area.
Add columns/rows to stacking area.
Remove columns/rows from stacking area.
Move current window to master area.
Focus next window in workspace.
Focus previous window in workspace.
Focus on main window in workspace.
Focus on next window with the urgency hint flag set. The workspace is switched if needed.
Swap with next window in workspace.
Swap with previous window in workspace.
Toggle overall visibility of status bars.
Toggle status bar on current workspace.
Delete current window in workspace.
Destroy current window in workspace.
n
Switch to workspace n, where n is 1 through workspace_limit.
n
Move current window to workspace n, where n is 1 through workspace_limit.
n
Focus on region n, where n is 1 through 9.
n
Move current window to region n, where n is 1 through 9.
Move current window to workspace in next region.
Move current window to workspace in previous region.
Switch to the first empty workspace.
Switch to the first empty workspace and move current window.
Switch to next workspace with a window in it.
Switch to previous workspace with a window in it.
Switch to next workspace.
Switch to previous workspace.
Switch to next workspace with the current window.
Switch to previous workspace with the current window.
Switch to last visited workspace.
Switch to next region.
Switch to previous region.
Switch region to next screen.
Switch region to previous screen.
Take screenshot of entire screen (if enabled) (see PROGRAMS above).
Take screenshot of selected window (if enabled) (see PROGRAMS above).
Toggle version in status bar.
Toggle focused window between tiled and floating.
Lock screen (see PROGRAMS above).
Reinitialize physical screens (see PROGRAMS above).
Minimize (unmap) currently focused window.
Restore (map) window returned by dmenu(1) selection.
Toggle maximization of focused window.
Toggle fullscreen state of focused window.
Raise the current window.
When set tiled windows are allowed to obscure floating windows.
Fake a middle mouse button click (Button2).
Shrink the width of a floating window.
Grow the width of a floating window.
Shrink the height of a floating window.
Grow the height of a floating window.
Move a floating window a step to the left.
Move a floating window a step to the right.
Move a floating window a step upwards.
Move a floating window a step downwards.
Name the current workspace.
Search for a workspace.
Search the windows in the current workspace.

Custom bindings in the configuration file are specified as follows:

bind[action] = combo

action is one of the actions listed above (or empty to unbind) and combo is in the form of zero or more modifier keys and/or special arguments (Mod1, Shift, MOD, etc.) and a normal key (b, Space, etc) or a button (Button1 .. Button255), separated by ‘+’. Multiple key/button combinations may be bound to the same action.

Special arguments:

Substituted for the currently defined modkey.
Select all modifier combinations not handled by another binding.
Reprocess binding press/release events for other programs to handle. Unavailable for move, resize and resize_centered.

MOD example:

bind[reset] = Mod4+q # bind Windows-key + q to reset
bind[] = Mod1+q # unbind Alt + q
bind[move] = MOD+Button3 # Bind move to M-Button3
bind[] = MOD+Button1 # Unbind default move binding.

ANYMOD example:

bind[focus] = ANYMOD+Button3
bind[move] = MOD+Button3

In the above example, M-Button3⟩ initiates move and ⟨Button3⟩ pressed with any other combination of modifiers sets focus to the window/region under the pointer.

REPLAY example:

bind[focus] = REPLAY+Button3

In the above example, when ⟨Button3⟩ is pressed without any modifier(s), focus is set to the window under the pointer and the button press is passed to the window.

To bind non-latin characters such as å or π you must enter the xkb character name instead of the character itself. Run xev(1), focus the window and press the specific key and in the terminal output read the symbol name. In the following example for å:

KeyPress event, serial 41, synthetic NO, window 0x2600001,
    root 0x15a, subw 0x0, time 106213808, (11,5), root:(359,823),
    state 0x0, keycode 24 (keysym 0xe5, aring), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 2 bytes: (c3 a5) "å"
    XmbLookupString gives 2 bytes: (c3 a5) "å"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

The xkb name is aring. In other words, in spectrwm.conf add:

bind[program] = MOD+aring

To clear all default keyboard bindings and specify your own, see the keyboard_mapping option.

Keyboard mapping files for several keyboard layouts are listed below. These files can be used with the keyboard_mapping setting to load pre-defined key bindings for the specified keyboard layout.

Czech Republic keyboard layout
Spanish keyboard layout
French keyboard layout
Swiss French keyboard layout
Swedish keyboard layout
United States keyboard layout

spectrwm provides "quirks" which handle windows that must be treated specially in a tiling window manager, such as some dialogs and fullscreen apps.

The default quirks are described below:

Firefox-bin:firefox-bin
TRANSSZ
Firefox:Dialog
FLOAT
Gimp:gimp
FLOAT + ANYWHERE
MPlayer:xv
FLOAT + FULLSCREEN + FOCUSPREV
OpenOffice.org 2.4:VCLSalFrame
FLOAT
OpenOffice.org 3.1:VCLSalFrame
FLOAT
pcb:pcb
FLOAT
xine:Xine Window
FLOAT + ANYWHERE
xine:xine Panel
FLOAT + ANYWHERE
xine:xine Video Fullscreen Window
FULLSCREEN + FLOAT
Xitk:Xitk Combo
FLOAT + ANYWHERE
Xitk:Xine Window
FLOAT + ANYWHERE
XTerm:xterm
XTERM_FONTADJ

The quirks themselves are described below:

ANYWHERE
Allow window to position itself, uncentered.
FLOAT
This window should not be tiled, but allowed to float freely.
FOCUSONMAP_SINGLE
When the window first appears on the screen, change focus to the window if there are no other windows on the workspace with the same WM_CLASS class/instance value. Has no effect when focus_mode is set to follow.
FOCUSPREV
On exit force focus on previously focused application not previous application in the stack.
FULLSCREEN
Remove border to allow window to use full region size.
IGNOREPID
Ignore the PID when determining the initial workspace for a new window. Especially useful for terminal windows that share a process.
IGNORESPAWNWS
Ignore the spawn workspace when determining the initial workspace for a new window.
MINIMALBORDER
Remove border when window is unfocused and floating.
NOFOCUSCYCLE
Remove from normal focus cycle (focus_prev or focus_next). The window can still be focused using search_win.
NOFOCUSONMAP
Don't change focus to the window when it first appears on the screen. Has no effect when focus_mode is set to follow.
OBEYAPPFOCUSREQ
When an application requests focus on the window via a _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW client message (source indication of 1), comply with the request. Note that a source indication of 0 (unspecified) or 2 (pager) are always obeyed.
TRANSSZ
Adjusts size on transient windows that are too small using dialog_ratio (see CONFIGURATION FILES).
WS[n]
Force a new window to appear on workspace n.
XTERM_FONTADJ
Adjust xterm(1) fonts when resizing.

Custom quirks in the configuration file are specified as follows:

quirk[class[:instance[:name]]] = quirk [+ quirk ...]

class, instance (optional) and name (optional) are patterns used to determine which window(s) the quirk(s) apply to and quirk is one of the quirks from the list above.

Note that patterns are interpreted as POSIX Extended Regular Expressions. Any ':', '[' or ']' must be escaped with '\'. See regex(7) for more information on POSIX Extended Regular Expressions.

For example:

quirk[MPlayer] = FLOAT + FULLSCREEN + FOCUSPREV # Float all windows having a class of 'MPlayer'
quirk[.*] = FLOAT # Float all windows by default.
quirk[.*:.*:.*] = FLOAT # Same as above.
quirk[Firefox:Navigator] = FLOAT # Float all Firefox browser windows.
quirk[::Console] = FLOAT # Float windows with WM_CLASS not set and a window name of 'Console'.
quirk[\[0-9\].*:.*:\[\[\:alnum\:\]\]*] = FLOAT # Float windows with WM_CLASS class beginning with a number, any WM_CLASS instance and a _NET_WM_NAME/WM_NAME either blank or containing alphanumeric characters without spaces.
quirk[pcb:pcb] = NONE # remove existing quirk

You can obtain class, instance and name by running xprop(1) and then clicking on the desired window. In the following example the main window of Firefox was clicked:

$ xprop | grep -E "^(WM_CLASS|_NET_WM_NAME|WM_NAME)"
WM_CLASS(STRING) = "Navigator", "Firefox"
WM_NAME(STRING) = "spectrwm - ConformalOpenSource"
_NET_WM_NAME(UTF8_STRING) = "spectrwm - ConformalOpenSource"

Note that xprop(1) displays WM_CLASS as:

WM_CLASS(STRING) = "<instance>", "<class>"

In the example above the quirk entry would be:

quirk[Firefox:Navigator] = FLOAT

spectrwm also automatically assigns quirks to windows based on the value of the window's _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE property as follows:

_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DOCK
FLOAT + ANYWHERE
_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_TOOLBAR
FLOAT + ANYWHERE
_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_UTILITY
FLOAT + ANYWHERE
_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_SPLASH
FLOAT
_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DIALOG
FLOAT

In all other cases, no automatic quirks are assigned to the window. Quirks specified in the configuration file override the automatic quirks.

spectrwm partially implements the Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH) specification. This enables controlling windows as well as spectrwm itself from external scripts and programs. This is achieved by spectrwm responding to certain ClientMessage events. From the terminal these events can be conveniently sent using tools such as wmctrl(1) and xdotool(1). For the actual format of these ClientMessage events, see the EWMH specification.

The id of the currently focused window is stored in the _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW property of the root window. This can be used for example to retrieve the title of the currently active window with xprop(1) and grep(1):

$ WINDOWID=`xprop -root _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW | grep -o "0x.*"`
$ xprop -id $WINDOWID _NET_WM_NAME | grep -o "\".*\""

A window can be focused by sending a _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW client message to the root window. For example, using wmctrl(1) to send the message (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be focused):

$ wmctrl -i -a 0x4a0000b

Windows can be closed by sending a _NET_CLOSE_WINDOW client message to the root window. For example, using wmctrl(1) to send the message (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be closed):

$ wmctrl -i -c 0x4a0000b

Windows can be floated and un-floated by adding or removing the _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE atom from the _NET_WM_STATE property of the window. This can be achieved by sending a _NET_WM_STATE client message to the root window. For example, the following toggles the floating state of a window using wmctrl(1) to send the message (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be floated or un-floated):

$ wmctrl -i -r 0x4a0000b -b toggle,_NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE

Windows can also be iconified and un-iconified by substituting _NET_WM_STATE_HIDDEN for _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE in the previous example:

$ wmctrl -i -r 0x4a0000b -b toggle,_NET_WM_STATE_HIDDEN

Floating windows can also be resized and moved by sending a _NET_MOVERESIZE_WINDOW client message to the root window. For example, using wmctrl(1) to send the message (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be resize/moved):

$ wmctrl -i -r 0x4a0000b -e 0,100,50,640,480

This moves the window to (100,50) and resizes it to 640x480.

Any _NET_MOVERESIZE_WINDOW events received for stacked windows are ignored.

Sending spectrwm a HUP signal will restart it.

~/.spectrwm.conf
spectrwm user specific settings.
/usr/local/etc/spectrwm.conf
spectrwm global settings.

spectrwm was inspired by xmonad & dwm.

spectrwm was written by:

Marco Peereboom <marco@peereboom.us>
 
Ryan Thomas McBride <mcbride@countersiege.com>
 
Darrin Chandler <dwchandler@stilyagin.com>
 
Pierre-Yves Ritschard <pyr@spootnik.org>
 
Tuukka Kataja <stuge@xor.fi>
 
Jason L. Wright <jason@thought.net>
 
Reginald Kennedy <rk@rejii.com>
 
Lawrence Teo <lteo@lteo.net>
 
Tiago Cunha <tcunha@gmx.com>
 
David Hill <dhill@mindcry.org>
 
August 29, 2018 FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE

Search for    or go to Top of page |  Section 1 |  Main Index

Powered by GSP Visit the GSP FreeBSD Man Page Interface.
Output converted with ManDoc.