i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

Obtain info on current workspace etc.

Thu, 25 Jun 2015 12:37:43 +0000

How do I just get info about current settings like current workspace? For example, from a script I want to decide based on name of the current desktop, The background is that I have $mod+b for web browser, but I have 2 profiles: home and work. I also have a dedicated set of home and work worplaces. So I want to use a browser launcher that will choose the browser profile based on which workspace I am on. (I'm OK with the fact that the window may get moved later). So is there a generic way (ie a i3-msg command) for getting info?

Answer by Alois Mahdal for
How do I just get info about current settings like current workspace?

For example, from a script I want to decide based on name of the current desktop,

The background is that I have $mod+b for web browser, but I have 2 profiles: home and work. I also have a dedicated set of home and work worplaces. So I want to use a browser launcher that will choose the browser profile based on which workspace I am on. (I'm OK with the fact that the window may get moved later).

So is there a generic way (ie a i3-msg command) for getting info?

Thu, 25 Jun 2015 13:47:03 +0000

As addition to @Airblader's answer, here's the code to get *focused workspace name* using `i3-msg` and `jq` ([an awesome command-line JSON processor][1]): #!/bin/sh i3-msg -t get_workspaces \ | jq '.[] | select(.focused==true).name' \ | cut -d"\"" -f2 *Update:* Reduced (and hardened) the command pipe even more with @Airblader's help [1]: http://stedolan.github.io/jq

Comment by Vidar for

As addition to @Airblader's answer, here's the code to get focused workspace name using i3-msg and jq (an awesome command-line JSON processor):

#!/bin/sh
i3-msg -t get_workspaces \
  | jq '.[] | select(.focused==true).name' \
  | cut -d"\"" -f2

Update: Reduced (and hardened) the command pipe even more with @Airblader's help

Thu, 26 Nov 2015 18:51:45 +0000

jq has a "-r" option that'll achieve the same as the "cut", so unless I'm missing something you can do just i3-msg -t get_workspaces | jq -r '.[] | select(.focused==true).name'

Comment by Airblader for

As addition to @Airblader's answer, here's the code to get focused workspace name using i3-msg and jq (an awesome command-line JSON processor):

#!/bin/sh
i3-msg -t get_workspaces \
  | jq '.[] | select(.focused==true).name' \
  | cut -d"\"" -f2

Update: Reduced (and hardened) the command pipe even more with @Airblader's help

Thu, 25 Jun 2015 20:01:53 +0000

You can shrink that down a lot with i3-msg -t get_workspaces | jq '.[] | select(.focused==true).name' | cut -d"\"" -f2

Answer by Airblader for
How do I just get info about current settings like current workspace?

For example, from a script I want to decide based on name of the current desktop,

The background is that I have $mod+b for web browser, but I have 2 profiles: home and work. I also have a dedicated set of home and work worplaces. So I want to use a browser launcher that will choose the browser profile based on which workspace I am on. (I'm OK with the fact that the window may get moved later).

So is there a generic way (ie a i3-msg command) for getting info?

Thu, 25 Jun 2015 12:52:47 +0000

See [the i3ipc documentation](http://i3wm.org/docs/ipc.html). To find out how to call `i3-msg`, use `man i3-msg`.

Comment by Alois Mahdal for
See the i3ipc documentation. To find out how to call `i3-msg`, use `man i3-msg`.

Thu, 25 Jun 2015 13:19:57 +0000

thanks, that is exactly what I needed. (can't upvote, though--karma<10)

i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

Obtain info on current workspace etc.

Comment by Alois Mahdal for See the i3ipc documentation. To find out how to call i3-msg, use man i3-msg.

Comment by Alois Mahdal for
See the i3ipc documentation. To find out how to call `i3-msg`, use `man i3-msg`.