i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

Switch focus between monitors

Tue, 14 Jan 2014 08:13:13 +0000

Is there any way to switch focus between two monitors, without having to manually switch to the numbered workspace you want to to go?

Answer by Adaephon for
Is there any way to switch focus between two monitors, without having to manually switch to the numbered workspace you want to to go?

Tue, 14 Jan 2014 09:56:58 +0000

You can use the command `focus output |output>` for that (see [User's Guide, Section 6.4](http://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html#_focusing_moving_containers)). I myself use this: bindsym Mod4+dead_circumflex focus output left There is a wrap around so it seems to toggle between my two monitors. You can also target a specific output by issuing its name: bindsym Mod4+Control+1 focus output DP-1 You can use `xrandr` on the command line to get the names of your outputs.

Comment by FSund for

You can use the command focus output <left|right|down|up>|output> for that (see User's Guide, Section 6.4).

I myself use this:

bindsym Mod4+dead_circumflex focus output left

There is a wrap around so it seems to toggle between my two monitors.

You can also target a specific output by issuing its name:

bindsym Mod4+Control+1 focus output DP-1

You can use xrandr on the command line to get the names of your outputs.

Tue, 14 Jan 2014 10:24:17 +0000

Thanks a lot, this was exactly what I was looking for. I've read parts of the User's Guide, but didn't think of searching for "focus"...

Answer by paramnesioid for
Is there any way to switch focus between two monitors, without having to manually switch to the numbered workspace you want to to go?

Tue, 14 Jan 2014 09:37:47 +0000

If you have python and i3-py then you can use the script below. Save it as output.py or something, and then run it by typing python /wherever/youve/saved/the/script/output.py --output 0 or --output 1 To add it to your i3 config just put 'bindsym [shortcut] exec' in front of the line above.

#!/usr/bin/python2.7

import i3
import argparse

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='i3 output switcher')
parser.add_argument('-o','--output', required=True)

args = vars(parser.parse_args())

outputs = i3.get_outputs()

if args['output'] == '0': i3.workspace(outputs[0]['current_workspace'])
if args['output'] == '1': i3.workspace(outputs[1]['current_workspace'])

i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

Switch focus between monitors

Answer by Adaephon for Is there any way to switch focus between two monitors, without having to manually switch to the numbered workspace you want to to go?

Answer by paramnesioid for Is there any way to switch focus between two monitors, without having to manually switch to the numbered workspace you want to to go?

Answer by Adaephon for
Is there any way to switch focus between two monitors, without having to manually switch to the numbered workspace you want to to go?

Answer by paramnesioid for
Is there any way to switch focus between two monitors, without having to manually switch to the numbered workspace you want to to go?