rofi/doc/rofi-manpage.markdown

ROFI 1 rofi

NAME

rofi - A window switcher, run dialog and dmenu replacement

SYNOPSIS

rofi [ -width pct_scr ] [ -lines lines ] [ -columns columns ] [ -font pangofont ] [ -fg color ] [ -bg color ] [ -bgalt color ] [ -hlfg color ] [ -hlbg color ] [ -key combo ] [ -dkey comdo ] [ -rkey comdo ] [ -terminal terminal ] [ -location position ] [ -hmode ] [ -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 ] [ -switcher mode1,mode2 ] [ -eh element height ] [ -lazy-filter-limit limit ] [ -e message] [ -pid path ] [ -now ] [ -rnow ] [ -snow ] [ -version ] [ -help] [ -dump-xresources ]

DESCRIPTION

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

License

MIT/X11

USAGE

rofi can be used in two ways, single-shot; executes once and directly exits when done or as daemon listening to specific key-combinations.

The default key combinations are:

• F12

  Show all windows on all desktops.

• mod1-F2

  Show run-dialog.

• mod1-F3

  Show ssh-dialog.

OPTIONS

-key

Change the key combination to display all windows.

  rofi -key F12
  rofi -key control+shift+s
  rofi -key mod1+Tab

Default: F12

-rkey

Change the key combination to display the run dialog.

  rofi -rkey F11
  rofi -rkey control+shift+d
  rofi -rkey mod1+grave (grave=backtick)

Default: Alt-F2

-skey

Change the key combination to display the ssh dialog.

  rofi -skey F10
  rofi -skey control+shift+s
  rofi -skey mod1+grave (grave=backtick)

Default: Alt-F3

-now

Run rofi in all-windows mode once then exit. Does not bind any keys.

-rnow

Run rofi in run-dialog mode once then exit. Does not bind any keys.

-snow

Run rofi in ssh mode once then exit. Does not bind any keys.

-dmenu

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

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

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

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

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

-case-sensitive

Start in case sensitive mode.

Theming

-bg

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

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

  rofi -fg "#cccccc"

Default: #222222

-hlbg

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

  rofi -hlbg "#005577"

Default: #005577

-hlfg

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

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

-hmode

Switch to horizontal mode (ala dmenu). The number of elements is the number of lines times the number of columns.

-fixed-num-lines

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

-padding

Define the inner margin of the window.

To make rofi look like dmenu:

  rofi -hmode -padding 0

Default: 5

-sidebar-mode

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

    rofi -rnow -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 refilter 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

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}

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: ""

History and Sorting

-disable-history

Disable history

-levenshtein-sort

When searching sort the result based on levenshtein distance.

Note that levenshtein sort is disabled in dmenu mode.

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*

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 dialog) 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 replacemnt

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).

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 supports the following keybindings:

• 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
• Ctrl-b, Left: Back one character
• Ctrl-d, Delete: Delete character
• Ctrl-h, Backspace: Backspace (delete previous character)
• 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 dialog)
• Shift-Enter: Launch the application in a terminal (in run dialog)
• Shift-Enter: Return the selected entry and move to the next item while keeping Rofi open. (in dmenu)
• ?: Switch to the next modi. The list can be customized with the -switchers argument.
• ctrl-/: 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.
• 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 ".

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