evilwm(1)                   General Commands Manual                  evilwm(1)



NAME
       evilwm--minimalist window manager for X11

SYNOPSIS
       evilwm [OPTION]...

DESCRIPTION
       evilwm  is  a  minimalist  window  manager  for the X Window System. It
       features plenty of reconfigurable mouse  and  keyboard  controls  while
       providing  a clean display, uncluttered by less useful window furniture
       (like title bars).

OPTIONS
       --display display
              specifies the X display to run on. Usually this can be  inferred
              from the DISPLAY environment variable.

       --term termprog
              specifies  an  alternative  program  to  run when spawning a new
              terminal (defaults to xterm, or x-terminal-emulator in  Debian).
              Separate arguments with whitespace, and escape needed whitespace
              with a backslash. Remember that  special  characters  will  also
              need to be protected from the shell.

       --fn fontname
              specify a font to use when resizing or displaying window titles.

       --fg colour
       --fc colour
       --bg colour
              frame  colour  of  currently  active, fixed active, and inactive
              windows respectively. Either specify an  X11  colour  name  like
              goldenrod, or a hex triplet like #DAA520.

       --bw borderwidth
              width of window borders in pixels.

       --snap distance
              enable  snap-to-border  support.  distance  is  the proximity in
              pixels to snap to.

       --wholescreen
              ignore monitor geometry and use  the  whole  screen  dimensions.
              This  is the old behaviour from before multi-monitor support was
              implemented, and may still be useful, eg when one large  monitor
              is driven from multiple outputs.

       --numvdesks value
              number of virtual desktops to provide. Defaults to 8. Any extras
              will    only    be    accessible    by    pagers    or     using
              Control+Alt+(Left/Right).

       --nosoliddrag
              draw a window outline while moving or resizing.

       --mask1 modifier[+modifier]...
       --mask2 modifier[+modifier]...
       --altmask modifier[+modifier]...
              override  the  default  keyboard modifiers used to grab keys for
              window manager functionality.

              mask1 is used for most keyboard controls (default: control+alt),
              and  mask2 is used for mouse button controls and cycling windows
              (default: alt). altmask is  used  to  modify  the  behaviour  of
              certain  controls  (default:  shift). Modifiers may be separated
              with + signs. Valid modifiers  are  'shift',  'control',  'alt',
              'mod1'...'mod5'.

       --bind key[+modifier]...=[function[,flag]...]
              bind  a key pressed with specified modifiers to a window manager
              function. key is an X11 keysym name, modifiers are as above, but
              may  also include 'mask1', 'mask2' and 'altmask' to refer to the
              globally-configured combinations. See FUNCTIONS for  a  list  of
              available functions and the flags they recognise. If function is
              empty, a bind is removed.

       --bind button=[function[,flag]...]
              bind  a  mouse  button  to  a  window  manager  function.  While
              modifiers  can be specified, they will be ignored; the button on
              its own will trigger if pressed within a window's frame, or with
              'mask2'  held anywhere within a window. Function and flags is as
              with key binds above. Valid buttons are 'button1'...'button5'.

       --app name/class
              match an application by instance name and  class  (for  help  in
              finding  these,  use  the  xprop  tool  to  extract the WM_CLASS
              property).

              Subsequent --geometry, --dock, --vdesk and --fixed options  will
              apply to this match.

       -g, --geometry geometry
              apply  a  geometry  (using  a  standard  X  geometry  string) to
              applications matching the last --app.

       --dock specify that application should be considered to be a dock, even
              if it lacks the appropriate property.

       -v, --vdesk vdesk
              specify  a default virtual desktop for applications matching the
              last --app. Note that virtual desktops are numbered from zero.

       -f, --fixed
              specify that application is to start with a fixed client window.

       -h, --help
              show help

       -V, --version
              show program version

       evilwm will also read  options,  one  per  line,  from  a  file  called
       .evilwmrc   in   the   user's  home  directory.  Options  listed  in  a
       configuration file should omit the leading dash(es). Options  specified
       on the command line override those found in the configuration file.

USAGE
       In  evilwm,  the focus follows the mouse pointer, and focus is not lost
       if you stray onto the root window. The current window border is  shaded
       gold  (unless it is fixed, in which case blue), with other windows left
       as a dark grey.

       You can use the mouse to manipulate windows  either  by  click/dragging
       the single-pixel border (easier when they align with a screen edge), or
       by holding down Alt and doing so anywhere in the window.  The  controls
       are:

       Button 1
              Move window.

       Button 2
              Resize window.

       Button 3
              Lower window.

       Most  keyboard  controls are used by holding down Control and Alt, then
       pressing a key. Available functions are:

       Return Spawn new terminal.

       Escape Delete current window. Hold  Shift  as  well  to  force  kill  a
              client.

       Insert Lower current window.

       H, J, K, L
              Move  window  left, down, up or right (16 pixels). Holding Shift
              resizes the window instead.

       Y, U, B, N
              Move window to the top-left, top-right, bottom-left  or  bottom-
              right of the current monitor.

       I      Show information about current window.

       Equals Maximise  current window vertically on current monitor (toggle).
              Holding Shift toggles horizontal maximization.

       X      Maximise current window to current monitor (toggle).

       D      Toggle visible state of docks, eg pagers and launch bars.

       If compiled with virtual desktop  support,  these  functions  are  also
       available:

       F      Fix  or  unfix current window. Fixed windows remain visible when
              you switch virtual desktop.

       1--8   Switch to specific virtual  desktop  (internally,  desktops  are
              numbered  from zero, so this actually switches to desktops 0--7;
              this only becomes important if you use application matching).

       Left   Switch to next lower numbered virtual desktop.

       Right  Switch to next higher numbered virtual desktop.

       A      Switch to the previously selected virtual desktop.

       In addition to the above, Alt+Tab can be used to cycle through windows.

       To make evilwm reread its config, send a HUP signal to the process.  To
       make it quit, kill it, ie send a TERM signal.

FUNCTIONS
       The  keyboard  and  mouse  button  controls  can be configured with the
       --bind option to a  number  of  built-in  functions.  Typically,  these
       functions  respond  to  an  additional  set  of flags that modify their
       behaviour.

       delete Delete a  window.  This  is  the  co-operative  way  of  closing
              applications,  as  it  sends the client a signal indicating that
              they should shut down.

       dock   When called with the toggle  flag,  toggles  visibility  of  any
              window claiming to be a dock.

       fix    With  the toggle flag, toggle whether a window is fixed (visible
              on all virtual desktops) or not.

       info   Shows extra information about the current window for as long  as
              the key is held.

       kill   Kill  a window. A more forceful way of closing an application if
              it is not responding to delete requests.

       lower  Lower the current window.

       move   When bound to a button, moves a window with the mouse.

              When bound to a key, if the relative flag is specified, moves  a
              window in the direction indicated by other flags: up, down, left
              or right. Without the relative  flag,  moves  a  window  in  the
              direction specified by other flag to the edge of the monitor.

       next   Cycle to the next window.

       raise

       Raises the current window.

       resize When bound to a button, resizes a window with the mouse.

              When bound to a key, if the relative flag is specified, modifies
              the width or height of the window as indicated by  other  flags:
              up  (reduce height), down (increase height), left (reduce width)
              or right  (increase  width).  If  instead  the  toggle  flag  is
              specified,  maximises  along  axes  specified  by  other  flags:
              horizontal, vertical or both.

       spawn  Start a terminal.

       vdesk  With the toggle flag specified, switch to the previously visible
              vdesk.  With the relative flag set, either increase vdesk number
              (with up flag) or decrease it (with down flag).

              If neither flag is specified,  a  numerical  argument  indicates
              which vdesk to switch to.

DEFAULT BINDS
       These  are  the  default lists of modifiers, button and keyboard binds.
       The built-in binds use the globally-configurable modifier  combinations
       'mask1', 'mask2' and 'altmask', making a sweeping change to a different
       modifier combination easy.

       Note that 'mod1' typically refers to the Alt key.

   Modifiers
              mask1 control+mod1
              mask2 mod1
              altmask shift

   Button binds
              bind button1=move
              bind button2=resize
              bind button3=lower

   Keyboard binds
              bind mask1+Return=spawn
              bind mask1+Escape=delete
              bind mask1+altmask+Escape=kill
              bind mask1+Insert=lower
              bind mask1+KP_Insert=lower
              bind mask1+i=info
              bind mask2+Tab=next
              bind mask1+h=move,relative+left
              bind mask1+j=move,relative+down
              bind mask1+k=move,relative+up
              bind mask1+l=move,relative+right
              bind mask1+y=move,top+left
              bind mask1+u=move,top+right
              bind mask1+b=move,bottom+left
              bind mask1+n=move,bottom+right
              bind mask1+altmask+h=resize,relative+left
              bind mask1+altmask+j=resize,relative+down
              bind mask1+altmask+k=resize,relative+up
              bind mask1+altmask+l=resize,relative+right
              bind mask1+equal=resize,toggle+v
              bind mask1+altmask+equal=resize,toggle+h
              bind mask1+x=resize,toggle+v+h
              bind mask1+d=dock,toggle
              bind mask1+f=fix,toggle
              bind mask1+1=vdesk,0
              bind mask1+2=vdesk,1
              bind mask1+3=vdesk,2
              bind mask1+4=vdesk,3
              bind mask1+5=vdesk,4
              bind mask1+6=vdesk,5
              bind mask1+7=vdesk,6
              bind mask1+8=vdesk,7
              bind mask1+Left=vdesk,relative+down
              bind mask1+Right=vdesk,relative+up
              bind mask1+a=vdesk,toggle

FILES
       $HOME/.evilwmrc

LICENCE
       Copyright (C) 1999-2022 Ciaran Anscomb <[email protected]>

       This is free software. You can do what you want to it, but if it breaks
       something,  you get to pay for the counselling. The code was originally
       based on aewm, so this is distributed under the same terms, which  fol-
       low.

AEWM LICENCE
       Copyright (c) 1998-2000 Decklin Foster.

       THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR
       IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE  AUTHOR  BE  HELD
       LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES CONNECTED WITH THE USE OF THIS PROGRAM.

       You  are  granted  permission to copy, publish, distribute, and/or sell
       copies of this program and any modified versions or derived works, pro-
       vided that this copyright and notice are not removed or altered.

       Portions of the code were based on 9wm, which contains this license:

              9wm is free software, and is Copyright (c) 1994 by David Hogan.
              Permission is granted to all sentient beings to use this
              software, to make copies of it, and to distribute those copies,
              provided that:
                (1) the copyright and licence notices are left intact
                (2) the recipients are aware that it is free software
                (3) any unapproved changes in functionality are either
                      (i) only distributed as patches
                  or (ii) distributed as a new program which is not called 9wm
                          and whose documentation gives credit where it is due
                (4) the author is not held responsible for any defects
                    or shortcomings in the software, or damages caused by it.
              There is no warranty for this software.  Have a nice day.

SEE ALSO
       xterm (1), xprop (1)



evilwm-1.4                       October 2022                        evilwm(1)