Ubuntu Manpage: bemenu - dynamic menu inspired by dmenu(1)

Provided by: bemenu_0.6.15+dfsg-1build2_amd64

NAME

       bemenu - dynamic menu inspired by dmenu(1)

SYNOPSIS

       bemenu [-hCiKTvwx] [-I <index>] [-l <lines>] [-P <prefix>]
           [-p <prompt>] [--ifne] [--scrollbar none|always|autohide] [--binding vim] [--fork] [backend_options]

       bemenu-run [-hCiKTvwx] [-I <index>] [-l <lines>] [-P <prefix>]
           [-p  <prompt>]  [--ifne]  [--scrollbar  none|always|autohide]  [--binding  vim]  [--fork] [--no-exec]
           [backend-options]

DESCRIPTION

       bemenu is a dynamic menu for tty(4) (using ncurses(3)), X11 and Wayland, inspired by dmenu(1).

       It reads a list of newline-separated items from standard input and then presents them as  a  list,  where
       the  user can select one or more of them. When pressing <carriage-return>, the selected items are printed
       to standard output (one per line) and bemenu exits.

       Entering text will filter the items to those that match the input. If the number  of  items  exceeds  the
       size of the list, the items will be paginated.

       bemenu-run  is a special-case invocation of bemenu, where the input is the list of executables under PATH
       and the selected items are executed.

OPTIONS

-h, --help
Print a help message to standard output and exit.

-C, --no-cursor
Disable all cursor events.

-I, --index <index>
Highlight the item at index at the start. Indices start at 0. By default, the first item is
highlighted.

-i, --ignorecase
Filter items case-insensitively.

-K, --no-keyboard
Disable all keyboard events.

-l, --list <number>
List items vertically with the given number of lines.

-P, --prefix <prefix>
Display prefix before the highlighted item in a vertical list.

-p, --prompt <prompt>
Defines the prompt text to be displayed to the left of the input field. Defaults to ‘bemenu’.

-s, --no-spacing
Disable the title spacing on entries.

-T, --no-touch
Disable all touch events.

-v, --version
Print the bemenu version number to standard output and exit.

-w, --wrap
Advancing past the end of the list returns you to the start.

-x, --password
Hide filter text.

--binding
Use alternative key bindings. Available options: vim

--fork
Always fork(2) before executing the selections. Disabled by default when using the terminal backend.

--no-exec
Print the selected items to standard output instead of executing them.

--scrollbar none|always|autohide
Specify when to show a scrollbar for vertical lists:
┌──────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ none │ Never display a scrollbar (the default). │
├──────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ always │ Always display a scrollbar. │
├──────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ autohide │ Only display a scrollbar when the number of items exceeds the number of lines. │
└──────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Backend options
These options are only available on backends specified in the parentheses:

-b, --bottom (Wayland, X11)
The list will appear at the bottom of the screen.

-f, --grab (Wayland, X11)
Show the bemenu window whilst reading the items.

-H, --line-height <height> (Wayland, X11)
Specify the height in point size to make each entry.

-m, --monitor <index> (Wayland, X11)
Specify the monitor index where the list should appear. Monitor indices start at zero. The
interpretation of the given argument depends on the utilized backend. With X11 and Wayland, a value
of ‘-1’ or focused indicates that the current monitor should be used (the default). With Wayland, the
index should be a string specifying a specific monitor name. The value ‘-2’ or all indicates that the
list should appear on all monitors.

-n, --no-overlap (Wayland)
Set the bemenu window to be on top of any other panels.

-M, --margin <margin> (Wayland, X11)
Specify the margin (empty space) in pixels to leave between menu and vertical view borders. bemenu
will reduce it's size to fit in space between gaps.

-W, --width-factor <factor> (Wayland, X11)
Specify the relative width factor as a floating point number. It makes sense to set it between 0 and
1 to define how much of the screen width bemenu will use. However, bemenu will still respect margin,
so if resulting size is greater than space between gaps, bemenu will ignore factor and use available
space instead.

--fn <name [size]> (Wayland, X11)
Specify the font family name and size to be used. For more options, consult the Pango Reference
Manual for pango_font_description_from_string().

The following options control the colours for various parts of the list for the Wayland and X11 backends.
Each takes an argument in the form of:

#RGB[A]

where R, G, B and A are hexadecimal integers from 00–FF that control the red, green, blue and alpha-
transparency channels.

--tb <color> Title background.

--tf <color> Title foreground.

--fb <color> Filter background.

--ff <color> Filter foreground

--cb <color> Cursor background.

--cf <color> Cursor foreground

--nb <color> Normal background.

--nf <color> Normal foreground.

--hb <color> Highlighted background.

--hf <color> Highlighted foreground.

--fbb <color> Feedback background.

--fbf <color> Feedback foreground.

--sb <color> Selected background.

--sf <color> Selected foreground.

--ab <color> Alternating background color.

--af <color> Alternating foreground color.

--scb <color> Scrollbar background.

--scf <color> Scrollbar foreground.

KEYBOARD COMMANDS

       bemenu supports keyboard commands to move around the list and edit the filter. In the following examples,
       C-x means <control-x>, M-x means <alt-x> and S-x means <shift-x>:

       <cursor-up>, S-<cursor-left>, C-p, M-j, M-l
           Highlight the previous item.

       <cursor-down>, <tab>, C-n, M-h, M-k
           Highlight the next item.

       PageUp, M-v, M-u
           Show  the  previous  page  of  items,  preserving  the  offset  of the currently highlighted item, if
           possible.

       PageDown, C-v, M-d
           Show the next page of items, preserving the offset of the currently highlighted item, if possible.

       S-M-<, S-PageUp
           Highlight the first item in the list.

       S-M->, S-PageDown
           Highlight the last item in the list.

       S-<tab>
           Copy the highlighted item to the filter.

       <escape>, C-g
           Terminate bemenu without printing items.

       C-<carriage-return>, C-m
           Print selected items and the currently highlighted one, and exit. Items are printed in the order they
           were selected, with the currently highlighted item printed last.

       S-<carriage-return>, Insert
           Print the filter text to standard output and exit.

       C-l, <cursor-left>
           Move cursor left.

       C-f, <cursor-right>
           Move cursor right.

       C-a, Home
           Move cursor to the start.

       C-e, End
           Move cursor to the end.

       <backspace> C-h
           Remove character before the cursor.

       <delete>
           Remove character at the cursor.

       C-u, S-<delete>
           Remove all characters before the cursor.

       C-k
           Remove all characters after the cursor.

       C-w
           Clear the filter.

       C-y
           Paste the clipboard.

       M-[1-9]
           Print selected items and exit with a custom error code 10 (M-1) through 18 (M-9), see EXIT STATUS.

       M-0
           Print selected items and exit with the custom error code 19, see EXIT STATUS.

ENVIRONMENT

       ┌──────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
       │ BEMENU_OPTS      │ An alternative way to pass command line arguments to bemenu.                       │
       ├──────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
       │ BEMENU_BACKEND   │ Force a backend to be used. If empty, one of the GUI backends (Wayland, X11)  will │
       │                  │ be selected automatically. The accepted values are curses, wayland and x11.        │
       ├──────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
       │ BEMENU_RENDERER  │ Force a backend by loading its shared object from the set value.                   │
       ├──────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
       │ BEMENU_RENDERERS │ Override   the   backend   search   path   to   the   set   value.   Defaults   to │
       │                  │ /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/bemenu.                                                  │
       ├──────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
       │ BEMENU_SCALE     │ Override the rendering scale factor for the GUI backends.                          │
       └──────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

EXIT STATUS

       0
           bemenu ran successfully.

       1
           The user exited without selecting, or bemenu encountered an error.

       10-19
           The user specified a custom exit code with M-[0-9], see KEYBOARD COMMANDS.

AUTHORS

       bemenu  is  written  and  maintained  by  Jari  Vetoniemi  <mailroxas@gmail.com> with the help of various
       contributors.

                                                   2024-03-31                                          bemenu(1)