Boolean options are set with

Values can be retrieved with

se is an alias for set and : can be used in place of =.

key can be any single character, in addition to these special characters: up, down, left, right, pageup, pagedown, home, end, space, delete, insert, backspace, return, kpenter, tab and F1 through F63. When unbinding, you can specify all as a parameter to remove all bindings.

map is an alias for bind, while unmap and unm are aliases for unbind.

colour is an alias for color.

host=string

The hostname to connect to. Default: localhost

port=integer

The port on the MPD server to connect to. Default: 6600

password=string

The password to give to the MPD server. Default: none

libraryroot=string

Optional path to the library's root. See !string below. If used, it should have a trailing slash. Default: empty string (nothing is prepended)

xtermtitle=string

If set, the XTerm window title will be set to the specified string. Default: PMS: %playstate%%ifcursong% %artist% – %title%%endif%

reconnectdelay=integer

If a connection is lost, this is how many seconds between each connection retry. Default: 30

msg_buffer_size=integer

How many log lines to keep in the console. A value of 0 keeps all lines. Default: 1024

mpd_timeout=integer

Sets MPD connection timeout in seconds. Leave this lower than your MPD setting. Default: 30

debug (boolean)

Turn debugging mode on or off. Default: set

repeat=enum

Choose between single or a boolean value. Default: off

stopdelay=integer

MPD does not support manual progression within the playlist. A hack is neccessary to stop when the song is done. If manual song progression is not working correctly, increase this value. Default: 1

nextinterval=integer

This setting controls how many seconds from the current song ends until PMS automatically adds the next song to MPD's playlist. Default: 5

crossfade=integer

Set crossfade time in seconds. 0 turns crossfade off completely. Default: MPD's settings

onplaylistfinish=string

Specify a shell command to run when the playlist finishes and playback stops. Default: none

addtoreturns (boolean)

If set, the add-to command will return focus to the original window. Else, the destination will be focused. Default: unset

followplayback (boolean)

If set, the cursor will go to the currently playing song and playlist when it changes. Default: unset

followwindow (boolean)

If set, playback will continue in the active window. Default: unset

followcursor (boolean)

If set, playback will follow cursor position. Default: unset

nextafteraction (boolean)

Move cursor to next item after the song is selected, unselected or added to a playlist. Default: set

startuplist=enum

The list which is activated and shown at program startup. This can be playlist, library or an arbitrary name of an existing playlist. Default: playlist

regexsearch (boolean)

Use regular expressions for search terms. Default: set

ignorecase (boolean)

Ignore case when sorting and searching. The alias ic can also be used. Default: set

scroll=enum

Set scroll mode

scrolloff=integer

When scroll is set to normal, try to keep this many songs above and below the cursor at all times. The alias so can also be used. Default: 0

playmode=enum

Set song progression mode to manual, linear or random. In manual progression mode playback will stop at the end of each song. Default: linear

resetstatus=integer

Set how many seconds before resetting the statusbar text. Default: 3

sort=field [field [...]]

Fields by which to sort the library. You can specify multiple fields, separated by whitespace. See FIELDS below. Default: track disc album albumartistsort

columns=column [column [...]]

Columns to show in the list. See FIELDS below. Default: artist track title album length

status_unknown=string

Available variables to put in the topbar:

librarysize, listsize, queuesize, livequeuesize, time_elapsed, time_remaining, progresspercentage, progressbar, playstate, volume, repeat, repeatshort, random, randomshort, mute, muteshort, manual, manualshort, bitrate, samplerate, bits, channels

Conditionals (if-else) are supported. Currently available conditionals:

ifcursong, ifplaying, ifpaused, ifstopped

See the defaults below for how conditionals are used.

The topbar syntax allows free customization of the top area of the display. The best way to understand the syntax is to take a look at the defaults:

set topbar1.left=%time_elapsed% %playstate% %time%%ifcursong% (%progresspercentage%%%)%endif%

Available fields are:

num, file, artist, artistsort, albumartist, albumartistsort, title, album, track, trackshort, time, date, year, name, genre, composer, performer, disc, comment

Items available for coloring:

background, foreground, statusbar, error, position, borders, headers, title, current, cursor, selection, lastlist, playinglist, fields.* topbar.foreground, topbar.time_elapsed, topbar.time_remaining, topbar.progresspercentage, topbar.progressbar, topbar.repeat, topbar.random, topbar.mute, topbar.repeatshort, topbar.randomshort, topbar.muteshort, topbar.librarysize, topbar.listsize, topbar.queuesize, topbar.livequeuesize, topbar.playstate, topbar.fields.*

Replace the wildcard * with any of the FIELDS described above.

The following colors can be used only as foreground colors:

gray, brightred, brightgreen, yellow, brightblue, brightmagenta, brightcyan

The following colors can be used either for background or foreground colors:

black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta, cyan, brightgray

The special color trans can only be used as a background color, and provides a transparent background.

The alternative spelling grey can be used in the place of gray, and light can be used in place of bright.

Adding and playing

Playlist management

Application

Movement and search