i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

How to open a program to float mode with specific dimensions?

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 22:24:34 +0000

As the title says. :) But just only once. When normally opened the program would go tiled. I need this on my config which will run that program at startup. (the program is urxvtc, and yes, it has that geometry setting which can do the magic I need, but I ask this because if I needed some other program to open that way)

Answer by dkeg for
As the title says. :) But just only once. When normally opened the program would go tiled.

I need this on my config which will run that program at startup.

(the program is urxvtc, and yes, it has that geometry setting which can do the magic I need, but I ask this because if I needed some other program to open that way)

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:26:13 +0000

you can have it set in either your autostart or as a set keybinding. Either or both will work as stated above you can specify

for_window [class='Urxvt'] floating enable

then specify a keybinding

bindsym $MOD+Enter exec urxvt -g 78x24

and / or specify a position on the screen

bindysm $MOD+Enter exec urxvt -g [height]x[width][+,-]x[+,-]y
bindsym $MOD+Enter exec urxvt -g 78x24+50+20

The above will put in in the upper left

Comment by dkeg for

you can have it set in either your autostart or as a set keybinding. Either or both will work

as stated above you can specify

for_window [class='Urxvt'] floating enable

then specify a keybinding

bindsym $MOD+Enter exec urxvt -g 78x24

and / or specify a position on the screen

bindysm $MOD+Enter exec urxvt -g [height]x[width][+,-]x[+,-]y
bindsym $MOD+Enter exec urxvt -g 78x24+50+20

The above will put in in the upper left

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:01:18 +0000

yes, you are correct, I had realized later at some point and / or may have just read through your post to quickly, don't remember which.

Comment by Zucca for

you can have it set in either your autostart or as a set keybinding. Either or both will work

as stated above you can specify

for_window [class='Urxvt'] floating enable

then specify a keybinding

bindsym $MOD+Enter exec urxvt -g 78x24

and / or specify a position on the screen

bindysm $MOD+Enter exec urxvt -g [height]x[width][+,-]x[+,-]y
bindsym $MOD+Enter exec urxvt -g 78x24+50+20

The above will put in in the upper left

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:53:54 +0000

-g switch is only valid with most terminal apps and some other simple X apps. (-g is not i3 related switch) That will not work with Audacious for example.

Answer by Michael for
As the title says. :) But just only once. When normally opened the program would go tiled.

I need this on my config which will run that program at startup.

(the program is urxvtc, and yes, it has that geometry setting which can do the magic I need, but I ask this because if I needed some other program to open that way)

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 23:43:26 +0000

You can use urxvt’s -name property and then match on that: # autostart urxvt with instance set to "foo" exec urxvtc -name foo for_window [instance="^foo$"] floating enable Also make sure you know about the scratchpad functionality (see the userguide), maybe that already does what you want (you don’t specify what you want…)

Comment by Zucca for

You can use urxvt’s -name property and then match on that:

# autostart urxvt with instance set to "foo"
exec urxvtc -name foo

for_window [instance="^foo$"] floating enable

Also make sure you know about the scratchpad functionality (see the userguide), maybe that already does what you want (you don’t specify what you want…)

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 22:07:10 +0000

That alone won't force an application window to a centain (user spicified) size. :\