rofi/doc/rofi-manpage.markdown

ROFI 1 rofi

NAME

rofi - A window switcher, run launcher, ssh dialog and dmenu replacement

SYNOPSIS

rofi [ -width pct_scr ] [ -lines lines ] [ -columns columns ] [ -font pangofont ] [ -fg color ] [ -fg-urgent color ] [ -fg-active color ] [ -bg-urgent color ] [ -bg-active color ] [ -bg color ] [ -bgalt color ] [ -hlfg color ] [ -hlbg color ] [ -key-mode combo ] [ -terminal terminal ] [ -location position ] [ -fixed-num-lines ] [ -padding padding ] [ -opacity opacity% ] [ -display display ] [ -bc color ] [ -bw width ] [ -dmenu [ -p prompt ] [ -sep separator ] [ -l selected line ] ] [ -ssh-client client ] [ -ssh-command command ] [ -disable-history ] [ -levenshtein-sort ] [ -case-sensitive ] [ -show mode ] [ -modi mode1,mode2 ] [ -eh element height ] [ -lazy-filter-limit limit ] [ -e message] [ -a row ] [ -u row ] [ -pid path ] [ -now ] [ -rnow ] [ -snow ] [ -version ] [ -help] [ -dump-Xresources ] [ -auto-select ] [ -parse-hosts ] [ -combi-modi mode1,mode2 ] [ -quiet ]

DESCRIPTION

rofi is an X11 popup window switcher, run dialog, dmenu replacement and more. It focuses on being fast to use and have minimal distraction. It supports keyboard and mouse navigation, type to filter, tokenized search and more.

USAGE

rofi can be used in three ways, single-shot; executes once and directly exits when done, as a daemon listening to specific key-combination or emulating dmenu.

Single-shot mode

To launch rofi directly in a certain mode, specifying rofi -show <mode>. To show the run dialog:

    rofi -show run

Daemon mode

To launch rofi in daemon mode don't specify a mode to show (-show <mode>), instead you can bind keys to launch a certain mode. To have run mode open when pressing F2 start rofi like:

    rofi -key-run F2

Keybindings can also be specified in the Xresources file.

Emulating dmenu

rofi can emulate dmenu (a dynamic menu for X) when launched with the -dmenu flag.

The official website for dmenu can be found here.

OPTIONS

There are currently three methods of setting configuration options:

• Compile time: edit config.c. This method is strongly discouraged.
• Xresources: A method of storing key values in the Xserver. See here for more information.
• Command-line options: Arguments passed to rofi.

The Xresources options and the command-line options are aliased. So to set option X you would set:

rofi.X: value

In the Xresources file, and to (override) this via the command-line you would pass the same key prefixed with a '-':

rofi -X value

To get a list of available options, formatted as Xresources entries run:

rofi -dump-Xresources

The configuration system supports the following types:

• String
• Integer (signed and unsigned)
• Char
• Boolean

The boolean option has a non-default command-line syntax, to enable option X you do:

-X

to disable it:

-no-X

Below is a list of the most important options:

General

-key-{mode} KEY

Set the key combination to display a {mode} in daemon mode.

  rofi -key-run F12
  rofi -key-ssh control+shift+s
  rofi -key-window mod1+Tab

-dmenu

Run rofi in dmenu mode. Allowing it to be used for user interaction in scripts.

In dmenu mode, rofi will read input from STDIN, and will output to STDOUT by default.

Example to let the user choose between three pre-defined options:

    echo -e "Option #1\nOption #2\nOption #3" | rofi -dmenu

Or get the options from a script:

    ~/my_script.sh | rofi -dmenu

Pressing shift-enter will open the selected entries and move to the next entry.

-show mode

Open rofi in a certain mode.

For example to show the run-dialog:

    rofi -show run

This function deprecates -rnow,-snow and -now

-switchers mode1,mode1 -modi mode1,mode1

Give a comma separated list of modes to enable, in what order.

For example to only show the run and ssh launcher (in that order):

    rofi -modi "run,ssh" -show run

Custom modes can be added using the internal 'script' mode. Each mode has two parameters:

    <name>:<script>

So to have a mode 'Workspaces' using the i3_switch_workspace.sh script type:

    rofi -modi "window,run,ssh,Workspaces:i3_switch_workspaces.sh" -show Workspaces

-case-sensitive

Start in case sensitive mode.

-quiet

Do not print any message when starting in daemon mode.

Theming

-bg

-bg-active

-bg-urgent

Set the background text color (X11 named color or hex #rrggbb) for the menu.

  rofi -bg "#222222"

Default: #f2f1f0

-bgalt

Set the background text color for alternating rows (X11 named color or hex #rrggbb) for the menu.

  rofi -bgalt "#222222"

Default: #f2f1f0

-bc

Set the border color (X11 named color or hex #rrggbb) for the menu.

  rofi -bc black

Default: black

-bw

Set the border width in pixels.

  rofi -bw 1

Default: 1

-fg

-fg-urgent

-fg-active

Set the foreground text color (X11 named color or hex #rrggbb) for the menu.

  rofi -fg "#cccccc"

Default: #222222

-hlbg

-hlbg-active

-hlbg-urgent

Set the background text color (X11 named color or hex #rrggbb) for the highlighted item in the menu.

  rofi -hlbg "#005577"

Default: #005577

-hlfg

-hlfg-active

-hlfg-urgent

Set the foreground text color (X11 named color or hex #rrggbb) for the highlighted item in the menu.

  rofi -hlfg "#ffffff"

Default: #FFFFFF

-font

Pango font name for use by the menu.

  rofi -font monospace\ 14

Default: mono 12

-opacity

Set the window opacity (0-100).

  rofi -opacity "75"

Default: 100

-eh element height

The height of a field in lines. e.g.

        echo -e "a\n3|b\n4|c\n5" | rofi -sep '|' -eh 2 -dmenu

Default: 1

The following options are further explained in the theming section:

-color-enabled

Enable the exteneded coloring options.

-color-window background border color

Set window background and border color.

-color-normal background,foreground,background alt, highlight background, highlight foreground -color-urgent background,foreground,background alt, highlight background, highlight foreground -color-active background,foreground,background alt, highlight background, highlight foreground

Specify the colors used in a row per state (normal, active, urgent).

Layout

-lines

Maximum number of lines the menu may show before scrolling.

  rofi -lines 25

Default: 15

-columns

The number of columns the menu may show before scrolling.

  rofi -columns 2

Default: 1

-width [value]

Set the width of the menu as a percentage of the screen width.

  rofi -width 60

If value is larger then 100, the size is set in pixels. e.g. to span a full hd monitor:

  rofi -width 1920

If the value is negative, it tries to estimates a character width. To show 30 characters on a row:

  rofi -width -30

Character width is a rough estimation, and might not be correct, but should work for most monospaced fonts.

Default: 50

-location

Specify where the window should be located. The numbers map to the following location on the monitor:

  1 2 3
  8 0 4
  7 6 5

Default: 0

-fixed-num-lines

Keep a fixed number of visible lines (See the -lines option.)

-padding

Define the inner margin of the window.

Default: 5

-sidebar-mode

Go into side-bar mode, it will show list of modi at the bottom.
To show sidebar use:

    rofi -show run -sidebar-mode -lines 0

-lazy-filter-limit limit

The number of entries required for rofi to go into lazy filter mode. In lazy filter mode, it won't re-filter the list on each keypress, but only after rofi been idle for 250ms. Experiments shows that the default (5000 lines) works well, set to 0 to always enable.

Default: 5000

-auto-select

When one entry is left, automatically select this.

PATTERN setting

-terminal

Specify what terminal to start.

  rofi -terminal xterm

Pattern: {terminal} Default: x-terminal-emulator

-ssh-client client

Override the used ssh client.

Pattern: {ssh-client} Default: ssh

SSH settings

-ssh-command cmd

Set the command to execute when starting a ssh session. The pattern {host} is replaced by the selected ssh entry.

Default: {terminal} -e {ssh-client} {host}

-parse-hosts

Parse the `/etc/hosts` files for entries.

Run settings

-run-command cmd

Set the command ({cmd}) to execute when running an application. See PATTERN.

Default: {cmd}

-run-shell-command cmd

Set the command to execute when running an application in a shell. See PATTERN.

Default: {terminal} -e {cmd}

-run-list-command cmd

If set, use an external tool to generate list of executable commands. Uses 'run-command'

Default: ""

Combi settings

-combi-modi mode1,mode2

The modi to combine in the combi mode.
For syntax to see `-modi`. 
To get one merge view, of window,run,ssh:

        rofi -show combi -combi-mode "window,run,ssh"

History and Sorting

-disable-history -no-disable-history (re-enable history)

Disable history

-levenshtein-sort to enable -no-levenshtein-sort to disable

When searching sort the result based on levenshtein distance.

Dmenu specific

-sep separator

Separator for dmenu. For example to show list a to e with '|' as separator:

        echo "a|b|c|d|e" | rofi -sep '|' -dmenu

-p prompt

Specify the prompt to show in dmenu mode. E.g. select monkey a,b,c,d or e.

        echo "a|b|c|d|e" | rofi -sep '|' -dmenu -p "monkey:"

Default: *dmenu*

-l selected line

Select a certain line.

Default: *0*

-i

Number mode, return the index of the selected row. (starting at 0)

-a X

Active row, mark row X as active. (starting at 0)
You can specify single element: -a 3
A range: -a 3-8
or a set of rows: -a 0,2
Or any combination: -a 0,2-3,9

-u X

Urgent row, mark row X as urgent. (starting at 0)
You can specify single element: -u 3
A range: -u 3-8
or a set of rows: -u 0,2
Or any combination: -u 0,2-3,9

Message dialog

-e message

Popup a message dialog (used internally for showing errors) with *message*.
Message can be multi-line.

Other

'-pid' path

Make **rofi** create a pid file and check this on startup. Avoiding multiple copies running
simultaneous. This is useful when running **rofi** from a keybinding daemon. 

Debug

-dump-Xresources

Dump the current active configuration in Xresources format to the command-line.

PATTERN

To launch commands (e.g. when using the ssh launcher) the user can enter the used commandline, the following keys can be used that will be replaced at runtime:

• {host}: The host to connect to.
• {terminal}: The configured terminal (See -terminal-emulator)
• {ssh-client}: The configured ssh client (See -ssh-client)
• {cmd}: The command to execute.

DMENU REPLACEMENT

If argv[0] (calling command) is dmenu, rofi will start in dmenu mode. This way it can be used as a drop-in replacement for dmenu. just copy or symlink rofi to dmenu in $PATH.

ln -s /usr/bin/dmenu /usr/bin/rofi

SIGNALS

HUP

If in daemon mode, reload the configuration from Xresources. (commandline arguments still

override Xresources).

THEMING

With rofi 0.15.4 we have a new way of specifying colors, the old settings still apply (for now). To enable the new setup, set rofi.color-enabled to true. The new setup allows you to specify colors per state, similar to i3 Currently 3 states exists:

• normal Normal row.
• urgent Highlighted row (urgent)
• active Highlighted row (active)

For each state the following 5 colors must be set:

• bg Background color row
• fg Text color
• bgalt Background color alternating row
• hlfg Foreground color selected row
• hlbg Background color selected row

The window background and border color should be specified separate. The key color-window contains a pair background,border. An example for Xresources file:

! State:           'bg',     'fg',     'bgalt',  'hlbg',   'hlfg'
rofi.color-normal: #fdf6e3,  #002b36,  #eee8d5,  #586e75,  #eee8d5
rofi.color-urgent: #fdf6e3,  #dc322f,  #eee8d5,  #dc322f,  #fdf6e3
rofi.color-active: #fdf6e3,  #268bd2,  #eee8d5,  #268bd2,  #fdf6e3
 
!                  'background', 'border'
rofi.color-window: #fdf6e3,      #002b36 

Same settings can also be specified on command-line:

rofi -color-normal "#fdf6e3,#002b36,#eee8d5,#586e75,#eee8d5"

COLORS

Rofi has an experimental mode for a 'nicer' transparency. The idea is that you can make the background of the window transparent but the text not. This way, in contrast to the -opacity option, the text is still fully visible and readable. To use this there are 2 requirements: 1. Your Xserver supports TrueColor, 2. You are running a composite manager. If this is satisfied you can use the following format for colors:

argb:FF444444

The first two fields specify the alpha level. This determines how much the background shines through the color (00 everything, FF nothing). E.g. 'argb:00FF0000' gives you a bright red color with the background shining through. If you want a dark greenish transparent color use: 'argb:dd2c3311'. This can be done for any color; it is therefore possible to have solid borders, the selected row solid, and the others slightly transparent.

KEYBINDINGS

rofi has the following key-bindings:

• Ctrl-v, Insert: Paste clipboard
• Ctrl-Shift-v, Shift-Insert: Paste primary selection
• Ctrl-u: Clear the line
• Ctrl-a: Beginning of line
• Ctrl-e: End of line
• Ctrl-f, Right: Forward one character
• Alt-f: Forward one word
• Ctrl-b, Left: Back one character
• Alt-b: Back one word
• Ctrl-d, Delete: Delete character
• `Ctrl-Alt-d': Delete word
• Ctrl-h, Backspace: Backspace (delete previous character)
• Ctrl-Alt-h: Delete previous word
• Ctrl-j,Ctrl-m,Enter: Accept entry
• Ctrl-n,Down: Select next entry
• Ctrl-p,Up: Select previous entry
• Page Up: Go to the previous page
• Page Down: Go to the next page
• Ctrl-Page Up: Go to the previous column
• Ctrl-Page Down: Go to the next column
• Ctrl-Enter: Use entered text as command (in ssh/run modi)
• Shift-Enter: Launch the application in a terminal (in run mode)
• Shift-Enter: Return the selected entry and move to the next item while keeping Rofi open. (in dmenu)
• Shift-Right: Switch to the next modi. The list can be customized with the -switchers argument.
• Shift-Left: Switch to the previous modi. The list can be customized with the -switchers argument.
• Ctrl-Tab: Switch to the next modi. The list can be customized with the -switchers argument.
• Ctrl-Shift-Tab: Switch to the previous modi. The list can be customized with the -switchers argument.
• Ctrl-space: Set selected item as input text.
• Shift-Del: Delete entry from history.
• Ctrl-grave: Toggle case sensitivity.

FAQ

Text in window switcher is not nicely lined out

Try using a mono-space font.

**rofi** is completely black.

Check quotes used on the commandline: e.g. used “ instead of ".

LICENSE

MIT/X11

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

WEBSITE

rofi website can be found at here

rofi bugtracker can be found here

AUTHOR

Qball Cow qball@gmpclient.org

Original code based on work by: Sean Pringle sean.pringle@gmail.com

For a full list of authors, check the AUTHORS file.