rofi - A window switcher, application launcher, ssh dialog and dmenu replacement
rofi [ -show mode ]|[ -dmenu ]|[ -e msg ] [ CONFIGURATION ]
rofi is an X11 pop-up 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.
rofi's main functionality is to assist in your workflow, allowing you to quickly switch between windows, start applications or log into a remote machine via ssh. There are different modi for different types of actions.
rofi can also function as (drop-in) replacement for dmenu(1).
To launch rofi directly in a certain mode, specify a mode with rofi -show <mode>. To show the run dialog:
rofi -show run
rofi can emulate dmenu(1) (a dynamic menu for X) when launched with the -dmenu flag.
The website for dmenu can be found here <http://tools.suckless.org/dmenu/>.
rofi does not aim to be 100% compatible with dmenu. There are simply too many different flavors of dmenu. The idea is that the basic usage command-line flags are obeyed, theme-related flags are not. Besides, rofi offers some extended features (like multi-select, highlighting, message bar, extra key bindings).
rofi error dialog can also be called from the command line.
rofi -e "my message"
Markup support can be enabled, see CONFIGURATION options.
There are currently three methods of setting configuration options (evaluated in order below):
TIP: To get a template config file run: rofi -dump-xresources > rofi-example.config.
NOTE: In version 1.4.0 we support configuration in a new format, a config for this can be generated by: rofi -dump-config > config.rasi
NOTE: If you want to use the new configuration format, the config file should be named config.rasi.
NOTE: You can upgrade to the new configuration file format using rofi -upgrade-config
The Xresources file expects options starting with rofi. followed by its name. An example to set the number of lines:
rofi.lines: 10
Command-line options override settings from the Xresources file. The same option set as argument — prefixed with a '-':
rofi -lines 10
To get a list of available options formatted as Xresources entries, run:
rofi -dump-xresources
The configuration system supports the following types:
Boolean options have a non-default command-line syntax. Example to enable option X:
-X
To disable option X:
-no-X
Below is a list of the most important options:
-help
The help option shows the full list of command-line options and the current set values. These include dynamic (run-time generated) options.
-version
Show the rofi version and exit.
-dump-config
Dump the current active configuration, in rasi format, to stdout and exit. Information about the rasi format can be found in the rofi-theme(5) manpage.
-dump-theme
Dump the current active theme, in rasi format, to stdout and exit.
-dump-xresources
Dump the current active configuration, in Xresources format, to stdout. This does not validate all passed values (for example, colors).
-threads num
Specify the number of threads rofi should use:
-display display
The X server to contact. Default is $DISPLAY.
-dmenu
Run rofi in dmenu mode. This allows for interactive scripts. In dmenu mode, rofi reads from STDIN, and output to STDOUT. A simple example, displaying 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
-show mode
Open rofi in a certain mode. Available modes are window, run, drun, ssh, combi. The special argument keys can be used to open a searchable list of supported key bindings (see KEY BINDINGS)
To show the run-dialog:
rofi -show run
-modi mode1,mode2
Specify an ordered, comma-separated list of modes to enable. Enabled modes can be changed at runtime. Default key is Ctrl+Tab. If no modes are specified, all configured modes will be enabled. To only show the run and ssh launcher:
rofi -modi "run,ssh" -show run
Custom modes can be added using the internal script mode. Each such mode has two parameters:
<name>:<script>
Example: Have a mode called 'Workspaces' using the i3_switch_workspaces.sh script:
rofi -modi "window,run,ssh,Workspaces:i3_switch_workspaces.sh" -show Workspaces
Notes: The i3 window manager does not like commas in the command when specifying an exec command. For that case '#' can be used as an separator.
-case-sensitive
Start in case sensitive mode. This option can be changed at run-time using the -kb-toggle-case-sensitivity key binding.
-cycle
Cycle through the result list. Default is 'true'.
-filter filter
Filter the list by setting text in input bar to filter
-config filename
Load an alternative configuration file.
-cache-dir filename
Directory that is used to place temporary files, like history.
-scroll-method method
Select the scrolling method. 0: Per page, 1: continuous.
-[no-]show-match
Show the indicator that shows what part of the string is matched.
Default: *true*
-normalize-match
Normalize the string before matching, so o will match ö, and é matches e. This is not a perfect implementation, but works. For now it disabled highlighting of the matched part.
-no-lazy-grab
Disables lazy grab, this forces the keyboard being grabbed before gui is shown.
-no-plugins
Disable plugin loading.
-plugin-path directory
Specify the directory where rofi should look for plugins.
-show-icons
Show application icons in drun and window modes.
-icon-theme
Specify icon theme to be used. If not specified default theme from DE is used, Adwaita and gnome themes act as fallback themes.
-markup
Use Pango markup to format output wherever possible.
-normal-window
Make rofi react like a normal application window. Useful for scripts like Clerk that are basically an application.
-matching method
Specify the matching algorithm used. Current the following methods are supported.
Default: normal
Note: glob matching might be slow for larger lists
-tokenize
Tokenize the input.
-drun-categories category1,category2
Only show desktop files that are present in the listed categories.
-drun-match-fields field1,field2,...
When using drun, match only with the specified Desktop entry fields. The different fields are:
all: all of the above
Default: name,generic,exec,categories,keywords
-drun-display-format
The format string for the drun dialog:
Pango markup can be used to formatting the output.
Default: {name} [<span weight='light' size='small'><i>({generic})</i></span>]
Note: Only fields enabled in -drun-match-fields can be used in the format string.
-[no-]drun-show-actions
Show actions present in the Desktop files.
Default: false
-window-match-fields field1,field2,...
When using window mode, match only with the specified fields. The different fields are:
all: all of the above
Default: all
-matching-negate-char char
Set the character used to negate the query (i.e. if it does not match the next keyword ). Set to '\x0' to disable.
Default: '-'
Most of the following options are deprecated and should not be used. Please use the new theme format to customize rofi. More information about the new format can be found in the rofi-theme(5) manpage.
-lines
Maximum number of lines to show before scrolling.
rofi -lines 25
Default: 15
-columns
Number of columns to show before scrolling.
rofi -columns 2
Default: 1
-width [value]
Set width of menu. [value] is specified in percentage.
rofi -width 60
If [value] is larger then 100, size is set in pixels. Example to span a full-HD monitor:
rofi -width 1920
If [value] is negative, it tries to estimates a character width. To show 30 characters in a row:
rofi -width -30
Character width is a rough estimate, 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 locations on screen:
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
-fullscreen
Use the full-screen height and width.
-sidebar-mode
Open in sidebar-mode. In this mode a list of all enabled modes is shown at the bottom. (See -modi option) To show sidebar, use:
rofi -show run -sidebar-mode -lines 0
-eh number
Set row height (in chars) Default: 1
-auto-select
When one entry is left, automatically select it.
-m num
-m name
-monitor num
-monitor name
Select monitor to display rofi on. It accepts as input: primary (if primary output is set), the xrandr output name, or integer number (in order of detection). Negative numbers are handled differently:
-5: the monitor that shows the mouse pointer.
Default: -5
See rofi -h output for the detected monitors, their position, and size.
-theme filename
Path to the new theme file format. This overrides the old theme settings.
-theme-str string
Allow theme parts to be specified on the command line as an override.
For example:
rofi -theme-str '#window { fullscreen: true; }'
This option can be specified multiple times.
-dpi number
Override the default DPI setting.
-selected-row selected row
Select a certain row.
Default: 0
-terminal
Specify which 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-command cmd
Set the command to execute when starting a ssh session. The pattern {host} is replaced by the selected ssh entry.
Pattern: {ssh-client}
Default: {terminal} -e {ssh-client} {host}
-parse-hosts
Parse the /etc/hosts file for entries.
Default: disabled
-parse-known-hosts -no-parse-known-hosts
Parse the ~/.ssh/known_hosts file for entries.
Default: enabled
-run-command cmd
Set command ({cmd}) to execute when running an application. See PATTERN.
Default: {cmd}
-run-shell-command cmd
Set 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: {cmd}
-window-format format
Format what is being displayed for windows.
format: {field[:len]}
field:
len: maximum field length (0 for auto-size). If length and window width are negative, field length is width - len. if length is positive, the entry will be truncated or padded to fill that length.
default: {w} {c} {t}
-window-command cmd
Set command to execute on selected window for a alt action (-kb-accept-alt). See PATTERN.
Default: "wmctrl -i -R {window}"
-window-thumbnail
Show window thumbnail (if available) as icon in the window switcher.
-combi-modi mode1,mode2
The modi to combine in combi mode. For syntax to -combi-modi, see -modi. To get one merge view, of window,run, and ssh:
rofi -show combi -combi-modi "window,run,ssh" -modi combi
NOTE: The i3 window manager does not like commas in the command when specifying an exec command. For that case '#' can be used as a separator.
-disable-history -no-disable-history (re-enable history)
Disable history
-sort to enable -no-sort to disable
Enable, disable sorting. This setting can be changed at runtime (see -kb-toggle-sort).
-sorting-method 'method' to specify the sorting method.
There are 2 sorting method:
-sep separator
Separator for dmenu. Example: To show a list of 'a' to 'e' with '|' as a separator:
echo "a|b|c|d|e" | rofi -sep '|' -dmenu
-p prompt
Specify the prompt to show in dmenu mode. For example, select 'monkey', a,b,c,d, or e.
echo "a|b|c|d|e" | rofi -sep '|' -dmenu -p "monkey"
Default: dmenu
-l number of lines to show
Maximum number of lines the menu may show before scrolling.
rofi -lines 25
Default: 15
-i
Makes dmenu searches case-insensitive
-a X
Active row, mark X as active. Where X is a comma-separated list of python(1)-style indices and ranges, e.g. indices start at 0, -1 refers to the last row with -2 preceding it, ranges are left-open and right-close, and so on. You can specify:
-u X
Urgent row, mark X as urgent. See -a option for details.
-only-match
Only return a selected item, do not allow custom entry. This mode always returns an entry. It will not return if no matching entry is selected.
-no-custom
Only return a selected item, do not allow custom entry. This mode returns directly when no entries given.
-format format
Allows the output of dmenu to be customized (N is the total number of input entries):
Default: 's'
-select string
Select first line that matches the given string
-mesg string
Add a message line below the filter entry box. Supports Pango markup. For more information on supported markup see here <https://developer.gnome.org/pygtk/stable/pango-markup-language.html>
-dump
Dump the filtered list to stdout and quit. This can be used to get the list as rofi would filter it. Use together with -filter command.
-input file
Reads from file instead of stdin.
-password
Hide the input text. This should not be considered secure!
-markup-rows
Tell rofi that DMenu input is Pango markup encoded, and should be rendered. See here <https://developer.gnome.org/pygtk/stable/pango-markup-language.html> for details about Pango markup.
-multi-select
Allow multiple lines to be selected. Adds a small selection indicator to the left of each entry.
-sync
Force rofi mode to first read all data from stdin before showing the selection window. This is original dmenu behavior.
Note: the default asynchronous mode will also be automatically disabled if used with conflicting options, such as -dump, -only-match or -auto-select.
-async-pre-read number
Reads the first number entries blocking, then switches to async mode. This makes it feel more 'snappy'.
default: 25
-window-title title
Set name used for the window title. Will be shown as Rofi - title
-w windowid
Position rofi over the window with the given X11 window ID.
-keep-right
Set ellipsize mode to start. So end of string is visible.
-e message
Pops up a message dialog (used internally for showing errors) with message. Message can be multi-line.
-drun-use-desktop-cache
Build and use a cache with the content of desktop files. Usable for systems with slow hard drives.
-drun-reload-desktop-cache
If drun-use-desktop-cache is enabled, rebuild a cache with the content of desktop files.
-pid path
Make rofi create a pid file and check this on startup. The pid file prevents multiple rofi instances from running simultaneously. This is useful when running rofi from a key-binding daemon.
-fake-transparency
Enable fake transparency. This only works with transparent background color in the theme.
-fake-background
Select what to use as background for fake transparency. This can be 'background', 'screenshot' or a path to an image file (currently only supports png).
-display-{mode} string
Set the name to use for mode. This is used as prompt and in combi-browser.
-click-to-exit -no-click-to-exit
Click the mouse outside of the rofi window to exit.
Default: enabled
-no-config
Disable parsing of configuration. This runs rofi in stock mode.
-no-plugins
Disables the loading of plugins.
To get a trace with (lots of) debug information, set the following environment variable when executing rofi:
G_MESSAGES_DEBUG=all
The trace can be filtered by only outputting the relevant domains, for example:
G_MESSAGES_DEBUG=Dialogs.DRun
For more information on debugging, see the wiki <https://github.com/DaveDavenport/rofi/wiki/Debugging%20Rofi>
To launch commands (for example, when using the ssh launcher), the user can enter the used command-line. The following keys can be used that will be replaced at runtime:
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/rofi /usr/bin/dmenu
The theme format below describes the old (pre version 1.4) theme format. Please see rofi-theme(5) manpage for an updated manual.
The theme setup allows you to specify colors per state, similar to i3 Currently 3 states exist:
For each state, the following 5 colors must be set:
The window background and border color should be specified separately. The key color-window contains a tuple background,border,separator. An example 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', 'separator' rofi.color-window: #fdf6e3, #002b36, #002b36
Same settings can also be specified on the command-line:
rofi -color-normal "#fdf6e3,#002b36,#eee8d5,#586e75,#eee8d5"
RGB colors can be specified by either their X11 name or hexadecimal notation. For example:
white
Or:
#FFFFFF
ARGB colors are also supported. These can be used to create a transparent window if (1) your Xserver supports TrueColor, and (2) you are running a composite manager.
For example:
argb:FF444444
Or:
#FF444444
The first two fields specify the alpha level. This determines the amount of transparency (00 everything, FF nothing). The other fields represent the actual color, in hex.
Transparency can be used within rofi, for example if the selected background color is 50% transparent, the background color of the window will be visible through it.
rofi has the following key bindings:
To get a full list of key bindings on the commandline, see rofi -h. The options starting with -kb are keybindings. Key bindings can be modified using the configuration systems. To get a searchable list of key bindings, run rofi -show keys.
A key binding starting with ! will act when all keys have been released.
Show a list of all the windows and allow switching between them. Pressing the delete-entry binding (shift-delete) will close the window. Pressing the accept-custom binding (control-enter or shift-enter) will run a command on the window. (See option window-command );
Shows a list of the windows on the current desktop and allows switching between them. Pressing the delete-entry binding (shift-delete) will kill the window. Pressing the accept-custom binding (control-enter or shift-enter) will run a command on the window. (See option window-command );
If there is no match, it will try to launch the input.
Shows a list of executables in $PATH and can launch them (optional in a terminal). Pressing the delete-entry binding (shift-delete) will remove this entry from the run history. Pressing the accept-custom binding (control-enter or shift-enter) will run the command in a terminal.
Same as the run launches, but the list is created from the installed desktop files. It automatically launches them in a terminal if specified in the Desktop File. Pressing the delete-entry binding (shift-delete) will remove this entry from the run history. Pressing the accept-custom binding (control-enter or shift-enter) will run the command in a terminal.
Shows a list of SSH targets based on your ssh config file, and allows to quickly ssh into them.
Shows a searchable list of key bindings.
Allows custom scripted Modi to be added.
Combines multiple modi in one list. Specify which modi are included with the -combi-modi option.
When using the combi mode, a !bang can be used to filter the results by modi. All modi that match the bang as a prefix are included. For example, say you have specified -combi-modi run,window,windowcd. If your query begins with the bang !w, only results from the window and windowcd modi are shown, even if the rest of the input text would match results from run.
If no match, the input is handled by the first combined modi.
Try using a mono-space font.
Check quotes used on the command-line: you might have used “ ("smart quotes") instead of " ("machine quotes").
The indicator shows:
` ` Case insensitive and no sorting. `-` Case sensitivity enabled, no sorting. `+` Case insensitive and Sorting enabled `±` Sorting and Case sensitivity enabled"
Some basic usage examples of rofi:
Show the run dialog:
rofi -modi run -show run
Show the run dialog, and allow switching to Desktop File run dialog (drun):
rofi -modi run,drun -show run
Combine the run and Desktop File run dialog (drun):
rofi -modi combi -show combi -combi-modi run,drun
Combine the run and Desktop File run dialog (drun), and allow switching to window switcher:
rofi -modi combi,window -show combi -combi-modi run,drun
Run rofi full monitor width at the top of the monitor like a dropdown menu:
rofi -show run -width 100 -location 1 -lines 5 -bw 2 -yoffset -2
Pop up a text message claiming that this is the end:
rofi -e "This is the end"
Pop up a text message in red, bold font claiming that this is still the end:
rofi -e "<span color='red'><b>This is still the end</b></span>" -markup
Show all key bindings:
rofi -show keys
Use qalc to get a simple calculator in rofi:
rofi -show calc -modi "calc:qalc +u8 -nocurrencies"
In i3 <http://i3wm.org/> you want to bind rofi to be launched on key release. Otherwise, it cannot grab the keyboard. See also the i3 manual <http://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html>:
Some tools (such as import or xdotool) might be unable to run upon a KeyPress event, because the keyboard/pointer is still grabbed. For these situations, the --release flag can be used, as it will execute the command after the keys have been released.
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.
rofi website can be found here <https://davedavenport.github.io/rofi/>
rofi support can be obtained here <irc://irc.freenode.net/#rofi> (#rofi on irc.freenode.net), or via the forum <https://reddit.com/r/qtools//>
Please see this <https://github.com/DaveDavenport/rofi/wiki/Debugging Rofi> wiki entry.
The rofi issue tracker can be found here <https://github.com/DaveDavenport/rofi/issues>
When creating an issue, please read this <https://github.com/DaveDavenport/rofi/blob/master/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md> first.
rofi-sensible-terminal(1), dmenu(1), rofi-theme(5), rofi-script(5), rofi-theme-selector(1)
Original code based on work by: Sean Pringle <sean.pringle@gmail.com>
For a full list of authors, check the AUTHORS file.