NAME

       polybar - configuration file for polybar(1)

DESCRIPTION

       The  polybar  configuration  file  defines the behavior and look of polybar. It uses a variant of the INI
       file format.  The exact syntax is described below but first a small snippet  to  get  familiar  with  the
       syntax:

          [section_name]
          ; A comment
          # Another comment

          background = #ff992a
          width = 90%
          monitor = HDMI-0

          screenchange-reload = false

          ; Use double quotes if you want to keep the surrounding space.
          text = " Some text "

       When started polybar will search for the config file in one of several places in the following order:

       • If the -c or --config command line argument is specified, it will use the path given there.

       • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/polybar/config

       • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/polybar/config.ini

       • $HOME/.config/polybar/config

       • $HOME/.config/polybar/config.ini

       • $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/polybar/config.ini

       • /etc/xdg/polybar/config.ini (only if XDG_CONFIG_DIRS is not set)

       • /etc/polybar/config.ini

SYNTAX

       The  entire  config is line-based so everything is constrained to a single line.  This means there are no
       multiline values or other multiline constructs (except for sections).  Each line has one of four types:

       • Empty

       • Comment

       • Section Header

       • Key

       Spaces at the beginning and end of each line will be ignored.

       NOTE:
          In this context "spaces" include the regular space character as well as  the  tab  character  and  any
          other character for which isspace(3) returns true (e.g. \r).

       Any line that doesn't fit into one of these four types is a syntax error.

       NOTE:
          It  is recommended that section header names and key names only use alphanumeric characters as well as
          dashes (-), underscores (_) and forward slashes (/).

          In practice all characters are allowed except for spaces and any of these: "'=;#[](){}:.$\%

   Section Headers
       Sections are used to group config options together. For  example  each  module  is  defined  in  its  own
       section.

       A section is defined by placing the name of the section in square brackets ([ and ]). For example:

          [module/wm]

       This  declares a section with the name module/wm and all keys defined after this line will belong to that
       section until a new section is declared.

       WARNING:
          The first non-empty and non-comment line in the main config file must be a section header.  It  cannot
          be a key because that key would not belong to any section.

       NOTE:
          The following section names are reserved and cannot be used inside the config: self, root, and BAR.

   Keys
       Keys are defined by assigning a value to a name like this:

          name = value

       This  assigns value to the key name in whatever section this line is in.  Key names need to be unique per
       section.  If the value is enclosed by double-quotes ("), the quotes will be ignored.   So  the  following
       still assigns value to name:

          name = "value"

       Spaces around the equal sign are ignored, the following are all equivalent:

          name=value
          name = value
          name =      value

       Because  spaces  at  the  beginning and end of the line are also ignored, if you want your value to begin
       and/or end with a space, the value needs to be enclosed in double-quotes:

          name = " value "

       Here the value of the name key has a leading and trailing whitespace.

       To treat characters with special meaning as literal  characters,  you  need  to  prepend  them  with  the
       backslash (\) escape character:

          name = "value\\value\\value"

       Value of this key name results in value\value\value.

       NOTE:
          The  only  character  with a special meaning right now is the backslash character (\), which serves as
          the escape character.  More will be added in the future.

   Empty Lines & Comments
       Empty lines and comment lines are ignored when reading the config file,  they  do  not  affect  polybar's
       behavior. Comment lines start with either the ; or the # character.

       NOTE:
          Inline  comments  are  not  supported. For example the following line does not end with a comment, the
          value of name is actually set to value ; comment:

              name = value ; comment

AUTHORS

       Polybar was created by Michael Carlberg and is currently maintained by Patrick Ziegler.
       Contributors can be listed on GitHub.

SEE ALSO

       polybar(1), polybar-msg(1)

COPYRIGHT

       2016-2025, Michael Carlberg & contributors

3.7.2                                             Jan 23, 2025                                        POLYBAR(5)