add daemon/root mode (-x and -X); finally fix #28
[xmenu] / xmenu.1
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5a83c7dc 1.TH XMENU 1
08f16589 2.SH NAME
3xmenu \- menu utility for X
4.SH SYNOPSIS
5.B xmenu
78fb523f 6.RB [ \-irw ]
05cfe1a0 7.RB [ -p
8.IR position ]
3bec05ea 9.RI [ title ]
08f16589 10.SH DESCRIPTION
11.B xmenu
12is a menu for X,
13it reads a list of newline-separated items from stdin,
14shows a menu for the user to select one of the items,
15and outputs the item selected to stdout.
16.PP
3bec05ea 17The options are as follows:
18.TP
71b4db92 19.B -i
20Disable icons.
7832d2cf 21This makes xmenu loading faster when not using icons.
71b4db92 22.TP
05cfe1a0 23.BI -p " position"
24Set the position to spawn xmenu.
25Without this option, xmenu spawns next to the cursor.
26.I position
27is a string of the form
237da982 28.BR INTxINT[:MONITOR] ,
05cfe1a0 29where the first INT is the x position and the second INT is the y position.
237da982 30The monitor part between brackets is optional.
31.B MONITOR
32can be a number from 0 to the number of monitors minus 1;
33or it can be a string like
34.B current
35or
36.BR cursor .
37If present, the monitor specifies that the position is relative to the upper left corner
38of that monitor.
39If
40.B monitor
41is
42.B current
43or
44.BR cursor ,
45the monitor to be used is that where the cursor is in.
46For example,
47.B -p 0x0:cursor
48specifies that
49.B xmenu
50must spawn at the position 0x0 of the monitor where the cursor is in.
51And
52.B -p 100x500:0
53specifies that
54.B xmenu
55must spawn at the position 100x500 of the monitor 0.
05cfe1a0 56.TP
1146fd81 57.B -r
58If this option is set, the right mouse button is disabled;
59so pressing it will not trigger any menu item.
60.TP
3bec05ea 61.B -w
62Asks the window manager to draw a border around the menus.
71b4db92 63This option may be buggy in some window managers,
64specially tiled ones that do not respect window hints.
45b2e22f 65.TP
66\fB\-x\fP [\fImod\fP-]\fIbutton\fP
67This option requires an argument of the form
68\fImod\fP-\fIbutton\fP or \fIbutton\fP; where
69.I mod
70is
71.B Mod1
72to
73.BR Mod5 ,
74or
75.B Alt
76(equivalent to
77.BR Mod1 ),
78or
79.B Super
80(equivalent to
81.BR Mod4 );
82and
83.I button
84is the number of a mouse button.
85When this option is used,
86.B pmenu
87listens to button presses on the root window,
88and shows the pie menu when the given button is pressed,
89together with the given modifier,
90on the root window.
91For example, invoking
92.B pmenu
93with the option
94.B -x Super-3
95makes a menu open when clicking with the third mouse button on the root window,
96or when clicking with the third mouse button together with the Super (Mod4) modifier on any window.
97This option makes
98.B pmenu
99run continuously;
100so it should be used when
101.B pmenu
102is invoked in background on a X startup file (like
103.BR "~/.xinitrc" ).
104.TP
105\fB\-X\fP [\fImod\fP-]\fIbutton\fP
106Just like
107.BR \-x ,
108but also pass the click to the root window
109(for the window manager to use it, for example).
110This option is incompatible with
111.BR \-x .
3bec05ea 112.PP
08f16589 113Each item read from stdin has the following format:
114.IP
115.EX
33376f54 116ITEM := [TABS] [[IMAGE TABS] LABEL [TABS OUTPUT]] NEWLINE
08f16589 117.EE
118.PP
6b5123e7 119That means that each item is composed by
33376f54 120tabs, followed by an optional image specification, followed by tabs
121followed by a label, followed by more tabs, followed by an output,
6b5123e7 122and ended by a newline. Brackets group optional elements.
08f16589 123.IP
124The initial tabs indicate the menu hierarchy:
125items indented with a tab is shown in a submenu of the preceding item not indented.
6b5123e7 126An item without initial tabs is a top-level item.
08f16589 127.IP
33376f54 128The image is a string of the form "IMG:/path/to/image.png".
129It specifies a image to be shown as icon at the left of the entry.
130.IP
08f16589 131The label is the string that will be shown as a item in the menu.
132An item without label is considered a separator and is drawn as a thin line in the menu
133separating the item above from the item below.
134.IP
6b5123e7 135The output is the string that will be output after selecting the item.
136If an item does not have an output, its label is used as its output.
08f16589 137.IP
138The newline terminates the item specification.
3bec05ea 139.PP
140If the argument
141.I title
142is given, the title of the menu window is set to it.
858338d9 143.SH USAGE
144.B xmenu
145is controlled by the mouse,
146but can also be controlled by the keyboard.
147Items can be selected using the arrow keys,
148Tab (with and without Shift),
45115feb 149Home, End,
2b0484b1 150Enter and Esc, and 1-9 keys.
78fb523f 151Items can also be selected by typing the first several characters in it.
858338d9 152.TP
45115feb 153.BR Home
154Select the first item in the menu.
155.TP
156.BR End
157Select the last item in the menu.
158.TP
28f784a7 159.BR Down
160Cycle through the items in the regular direction.
161.TP
162.BR Tab
858338d9 163Cycle through the items in the regular direction.
78fb523f 164When the type\-to\-select feature is active, cycle through matching items instead.
28f784a7 165.TP
166.BR Up
167Cycle through the items in the reverse direction.
858338d9 168.TP
28f784a7 169.BR Shift-Tab
858338d9 170Cycle through the items in the reverse direction.
78fb523f 171When the type\-to\-select feature is active, cycle through matching items instead.
858338d9 172.TP
173.BR Right ", " Enter
174Select the highlighted item.
175.TP
176.B Left
177Go to the menu above.
178.TP
179.B Esc
180Go to the menu above or exit xmenu.
45115feb 181.PP
78fb523f 182.B xmenu
183features the type\-to\-select selecting style,
184where typing a string will select the first item matching it.
185.PP
45115feb 186Additional key bindings can be set at compile time by changing the
187.B config.h
188file.
f644b8bc 189.SH RESOURCES
190.B
191xmenu
192understands the following X resources.
193.TP
194.B xmenu.font
195The font in which the labels should be drawn.
cdeaefaa 196Multiple fonts can be added as fallback fonts;
197they must be separated by a comma.
f644b8bc 198.TP
199.B xmenu.background
5a83c7dc 200The background color of non-selected items in the menu.
f644b8bc 201.TP
202.B xmenu.foreground
5a83c7dc 203The color of the label text of non-selected items in the menu.
f644b8bc 204.TP
205.B xmenu.selbackground
5a83c7dc 206The background color of selected items in the menu.
f644b8bc 207.TP
208.B xmenu.selforeground
5a83c7dc 209The color of the label text of selected items in the menu.
f644b8bc 210.TP
211.B xmenu.border
212The color of the border around the menu.
213.TP
214.B xmenu.separator
5a83c7dc 215The color of the separator between items in the menu.
f644b8bc 216.TP
92e7609b 217.B xmenu.gap
218The gap, in pixels, between the menus.
219.TP
f644b8bc 220.B xmenu.width
221The minimum width, in pixels, of the items in the menu.
222.TP
685ca30d 223.B xmenu.height
224The size in pixels of the height of a single menu item.
f644b8bc 225.TP
fd530f3f 226.B xmenu.borderWidth
f644b8bc 227The size in pixels of the border around the menu.
228.TP
fd530f3f 229.B xmenu.separatorWidth
f644b8bc 230The size in pixels of the item separator.
27c03246 231.TP
232.B xmenu.alignment
233If set to
234.BR "\(dqleft\(dq" ,
235.BR "\(dqcenter\(dq" ,
236or
237.BR "\(dqright\(dq" ,
238text is aligned to the left, center, or right of the menu, respectively.
239By default, text is aligned to the left.
08f16589 240.SH EXAMPLES
d584fba6 241The following script illustrates the use of
08f16589 242.BR xmenu .
c49dad28 243The output is redirected to
244.IR sh (1),
245creating a command to be run by the shell.
08f16589 246.IP
247.EX
248#!/bin/sh
249
6aee4109 250xmenu <<EOF | sh &
08f16589 251Applications
33376f54 252 IMG:./web.png Web Browser firefox
d584fba6 253 IMG:./gimp.png Image editor gimp
33376f54 254Terminal (xterm) xterm
255Terminal (urxvt) urxvt
256Terminal (st) st
08f16589 257
33376f54 258Shutdown poweroff
259Reboot reboot
08f16589 260EOF
261.EE
262.PP
263For example, by selecting \(lqApplications\(rq, a new menu will appear.
d584fba6 264Selecting \(lqWeb Browser\(rq in the new menu opens firefox.
08f16589 265.SH SEE ALSO
266.IR dmenu (1),
267.IR 9menu (1),
268.IR thingmenu (1)