Customizing the Status Bar in i3wm¶

The runtime configuration file for the i3wm status bar: ~/.config/i3status/config This is separate from the i3 config file, which is at ~/.config/i3/config

Table of Contents¶

i3status
Example (default) i3status:
Suffix Options

i3status¶

Example (default) i3status:¶

# i3status configuration file.
# see "man i3status" for documentation.

# It is important that this file is edited as UTF-8.
# The following line should contain a sharp s:
# ß
# If the above line is not correctly displayed, fix your editor first!

general {
        colors = true
        interval = 5
}

order += "ipv6"
order += "wireless _first_"
order += "ethernet _first_"
order += "battery all"
order += "disk /"
order += "load"
order += "memory"
order += "tztime local"

wireless _first_ {
        format_up = "W: (%quality at %essid) %ip"
        format_down = "W: down"
}

ethernet _first_ {
        format_up = "E: %ip (%speed)"
        format_down = "E: down"
}

battery all {
        format = "%status %percentage %remaining"
}

disk "/" {
        format = "%avail"
}

load {
        format = "%1min"
}

memory {
        format = "%used | %available"
        threshold_degraded = "1G"
        format_degraded = "MEMORY < %available"
}

tztime local {
        format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
}

Suffix Options¶

There are options you can use to specify network interfaces in i3status.

These options help you control how i3status selects which network interface to monitor and display.

tl;dr¶

_first_: Selects the first network interface of the specified type.
_up_: Selects the first network interface of the specified type that is currently active.
_down_: Selects the first network interface of the specified type that is currently inactive.

`_first_` Suffix¶

In i3status config, the _first_ suffix is used to specify the first network interface that matches a given type (e.g., wireless, ethernet).

This can be useful when you have multiple network interfaces and you want i3status to display the status of the first available one.

Purpose: The _first_ suffix is used to indicate that i3status should display information for the first network interface of a specified type that it finds.

Example:

wireless _first_ {
    format_up = "WiFi: (%quality at %essid) %ip"
    format_down = "WiFi: Not Connected"
    align = "left"
    separator_block_width = 25
}

This configuration tells i3status to display the status of the first wireless network interface it finds.

`_up_` Suffix¶

The _up_ suffix tells i3status to display info for the first network interface of the specified type that is currently up/active. * Example:

wireless _up_ {
    format_up = "WiFi: (%quality at %essid) %ip"
    format_down = "WiFi: Not Connected"
    align = "left"
    separator_block_width = 25
}

This displays the status of the first wireless network interface that is currently active.

`_down_` Suffix¶

The _down_ suffix tells i3status to display info for the first network interface of the specified type that is currently down/inactive. * Example:

wireless _down_ {
    format_up = "WiFi: (%quality at %essid) %ip"
    format_down = "WiFi: Not Connected"
    align = "left"
    separator_block_width = 25
}

This displays the status of the first wireless network interface that is currently inactive.