Running rofi

To launch rofi directly in a certain mode, specify a mode with rofi -show <mode>. To show the drun dialog:

    rofi -show drun

A very useful setup in minimalistic window managers is to combine drun, run with window mode:

  rofi -show combi -modes combi -combi-modes "window,drun,run"

In this setup it first list all open applications, then all installed applications. So if you type firefox and hit return, it will switch to the running firefox, or launch it when it is not running.

Emulating dmenu

rofi can emulate dmenu(1) (a dynamic menu for X11) when launched with the -dmenu flag.

For more information see rofi-dmenu(5).

Display Error message

rofi error dialog can also be called from the command line.

rofi -e "my message"

Markup support can be enabled, see CONFIGURATION options.

General

-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.

-rasi-validate filename

Try to parse the file and return 0 when successful, non-zero when failed.

-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

See the rofi-dmenu(5) manpage for more information.

-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 the rofi-keys(5) manpage)

To show the run-dialog:

rofi -show run

If -show is the last option passed to rofi, the first enabled modes is shown.

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

Notes: The i3 window manager dislikes commas in the command when specifying an exec command. For that case, # can be used as a separator.

TIP: The name is allowed to contain spaces:

rofi -modes "My File Browser:fb.sh" -show "My File Browser"

-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.

-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 disables 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.

-[no-]steal-focus

Make rofi steal focus on launch and restore close to window that held it when launched.

-refilter-timeout-limit

The limit of elements that is used to switch from instant to delayed filter mode.

Default: 8192

A fallback icon can be specified for each mode:

configuration {
    <mode>{
      fallback-icon: "<icon name>";
    }
}

Example

configuration {
    run,drun {
      fallback-icon: "application-x-addon";
    }
}

Matching

-matching method

Specify the matching algorithm used. Currently, 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:

-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:

-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: '-'

Layout and Theming

IMPORTANT:
In newer rofi releases, all the theming options have been moved into the new theme format. They are no longer normal
rofi options that can be passed directly on the command line (there are too many).
Small snippets can be passed on the command line: rofi -theme-str 'window {width: 50%;}' to override a single
setting. They are merged into the current theme.
They can also be appended at the end of the rofi config file to override parts of the theme.

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.

-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.

-sidebar-mode

Open in sidebar-mode. In this mode, a list of all enabled modes is shown at the bottom. (See -modes option) To show sidebar, use:

rofi -show run -sidebar-mode 

-hover-select

Automatically select the entry the mouse is hovering over. This option is best combined with custom mouse bindings. To utilize hover-select and accept an entry in a single click, use:

rofi -show run -hover-select -me-select-entry '' -me-accept-entry MousePrimary

-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:

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. This is now the method to tweak the theme via the command line.

-dpi number

Override the default DPI setting.

-selected-row selected row

Select a certain row.

Default: 0

PATTERN setting

-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 settings

-ssh-command cmd

Set the command to execute when starting an 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 settings

-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 a list of executable commands. Uses run-command.

Default: {cmd}

Window switcher settings

-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 an 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.

You can stop rofi from exiting when closing a window (allowing multiple to be closed in a row).

configuration {
  window {
      close-on-delete: false;
  }
}

You can hide the currently active window with the 'hide-active-window' setting:

configuration {
  window {
      hide-active-window: true;
  }
}

or pass -window-hide-active-window true on command line.

Combi settings

-combi-modes mode1,mode2

The modes to combine in combi mode. For syntax to -combi-modes, see -modes. To get one merge view, of window,run, and ssh:

rofi -show combi -combi-modes "window,run,ssh" -modes combi

NOTE: The i3 window manager dislikes commas in the command when specifying an exec command. For that case, # can be used as a separator.

-combi-display-format

The format string for entries in the combi dialog:

Pango markup can be used to formatting the output.

Default: {mode} {text}

Note: This setting is ignored if combi-hide-mode-prefix is enabled.

History and Sorting

-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 methods:

-max-history-size number

Maximum number of entries to store in history. Defaults to 25. (WARNING: can cause slowdowns when set too high)

Message dialog

-e message

Pops up a message dialog (used internally for showing errors) with message. Message can be multi-line.

File browser settings

File browser behavior can be controlled via the following options:

configuration {
   filebrowser {
      /** Directory the file browser starts in. */
      directory: "/some/directory";
      /**
        * Sorting method. Can be set to:
        *   - "name"
        *   - "mtime" (modification time)
        *   - "atime" (access time)
        *   - "ctime" (change time)
        */
      sorting-method: "name";
      /** Group directories before files. */
      directories-first: true;
   }
}

Other

-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.

-drun-url-launcher command

Command to open a Desktop Entry that is a Link.

-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.

-replace

If rofi is already running, based on pid file, try to kill that instance.

-display-{mode} string

Set the name to use for mode. This is used as prompt and in combi-browser.

It is now preferred to use the configuration file:

configuration {
  {mode} {
    display-name: *string*;
  }
}

-click-to-exit -no-click-to-exit

Click the mouse outside the rofi window to exit.

Default: enabled

-xserver-i300-workaround

Workaround for bug in Xserver. See issue #611 and #1642 on the rofi issue tracker.

Default: disabled

Timeout

You can configure an action to be taken when rofi has not been interacted with for a certain amount of seconds. You can specify a keybinding to trigger after X seconds.

configuration {
  timeout {
      delay:  15;
      action: "kb-cancel";
  }
}

Input change

When the input of the textbox changes:

configuration {
  inputchange {
      action: "kb-row-first";
  }
}

window

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 );

If there is no match, it will try to launch the input.

windowcd

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.

run

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) will run the command as entered in the entry box. Pressing the accept-alt binding (shift-enter) will run the command in a terminal.

When pressing the mode-complete binding (Control-l), you can use the File Browser mode to launch the application with a file as the first argument.

drun

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) will run the command as entered in the entry box. Pressing the accept-alt binding (shift-enter) will run the command in a terminal.

When pressing the mode-complete binding (Control-l), you can use the File Browser mode to launch the application passing a file as argument if specified in the desktop file.

The DRUN mode tries to follow the XDG Desktop Entry Specification ⟨https://freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/desktop-entry-spec/⟩ and should be compatible with applications using this standard. Some applications create invalid desktop files, rofi will discard these entries. See the debugging section for more info on DRUN mode, this will print why desktop files are discarded.

There are two advanced options to tweak the behaviour:

configuration {
   drun {
      /** Parse user desktop files. */
      parse-user:   true;
      /** Parse system desktop files. */
      parse-system: false;
   }
}

ssh

Shows a list of SSH targets based on your ssh config file, and allows to quickly ssh into them.

keys

Shows a searchable list of key bindings.

script

Allows custom scripted Modes to be added, see the rofi-script(5) manpage for more information.

combi

Combines multiple modes in one list. Specify which modes are included with the -combi-modes option.

When using the combi mode, a !bang can be used to filter the results by modes. All modes that match the bang as a prefix are included. For example, say you have specified -combi-modes run,window,windowcd. If your query begins with the bang !w, only results from the window and windowcd modes 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 modes.

The text in the window switcher is not nicely aligned.

Try using a mono-space font or tabs + the tab-stops setting..

The window is completely black.

Check quotes used on the command-line: you might have used “ ("smart quotes") instead of " ("machine quotes").

What does the icon in the top right show?

The indicator shows:

` ` Case insensitive and no sorting.
`-` Case sensitivity enabled, no sorting.
`+` Case insensitive and Sorting enabled
`±` Sorting and Case sensitivity enabled"

Why do I see different icons for run,drun and window mode

Each of these modes uses different methods of resolving the icon: