6 conky - A system monitor for X originally based on the torsmo code, but
7 more kickass. It just keeps on given’er. Yeah.
10 1mconky 22m[4moptions24m]
13 Conky is a system monitor for X originally based on torsmo. Since its
14 inception, Conky has changed significantly from its predecessor, while
15 maintaining simplicity and configurability. Conky can display just
16 about anything, either on your root desktop or in its own window. Not
17 only does Conky have many built-in objects, it can also display just
18 about any piece of information by using scripts and other external pro‐
21 Conky has more than 250 built in objects, including support for a
22 plethora of OS stats (uname, uptime, CPU usage, mem usage, disk usage,
23 "top" like process stats, and network monitoring, just to name a few),
24 built in IMAP and POP3 support, built in support for many popular music
25 players (MPD, XMMS2, BMPx, Audacious), and much much more. Conky can
26 display this info either as text, or using simple progress bars and
27 graph widgets, with different fonts and colours.
29 We are always looking for help, whether its reporting bugs, writing
30 patches, or writing docs. Please use the facilities at SourceForge to
31 make bug reports, feature requests, and submit patches, or stop by
32 #conky on irc.freenode.net if you have questions or want to contribute.
34 Thanks for your interest in Conky.
37 For users compiling from source on a binary distro, make sure you have
38 the X development libraries installed. This should be a package along
39 the lines of "libx11-dev" or "xorg-x11-dev" for X11 libs, and similar
40 "-dev" format for the other libs required (depending on your configure
43 Conky has (for some time) been available in the repositories of most
44 popular distributions. Here are some installation instructions for a
47 Gentoo users -- Conky is in Gentoo’s Portage... simply use "emerge app-
48 admin/conky" for installation. There is also usually an up-to-date
49 ebuild within Conky’s package or in SVN.
51 Debian, etc. users -- Conky should be in your repositories, and can be
52 installed by doing "aptitude install conky".
54 Example to compile and run Conky with all optional components (note
55 that some configure options may differ for your system):
57 1msh autogen.sh # Only required if building from SVN0m
59 1m./configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --in‐0m
60 1mfodir=/usr/share/info --datadir=/usr/share --sysconfdir=/etc --local‐0m
61 1mstatedir=/var/lib --disable-own-window --enable-audacious[=yes|no|lega‐0m
62 1mcy] --enable-bmpx --disable-hddtemp --disable-mpd --enable-xmms2 --dis‐0m
63 1mable-portmon --disable-network --enable-debug --disable-x11 --dis‐0m
64 1mable-double-buffer --disable-xdamage --disable-xft0m
68 1mmake install # Optional0m
72 Conky has been tested to be compatible with C99 C, however it has not
73 been tested with anything other than gcc, and is not guaranteed to work
78 Conky is generally very good on resources. That said, the more you try
79 to make Conky do, the more resources it is going to consume.
81 An easy way to force Conky to reload your ~/.conkyrc: "killall -SIGUSR1
82 conky". Saves you the trouble of having to kill and then restart. You
83 can now also do the same with SIGHUP.
86 Command line options override configurations defined in configuration
89 1m-v | -V | --version0m
90 Prints version and exits
94 Run Conky in ’quiet mode’ (ie. no output)
97 1m-a | --alignment=ALIGNMENT0m
98 Text alignment on screen, {top,bottom,middle}_{left,right,mid‐
102 1m-b | --double-buffer0m
103 Use double buffering (eliminates "flicker")
106 1m-c | --config=FILE0m
107 Config file to load instead of $HOME/.conkyrc
111 Daemonize Conky, aka fork to background
119 Prints command line help and exits
122 1m-o | --own-window0m
123 Create own window to draw
127 Text to render, remember single quotes, like -t ’ $uptime ’
130 1m-u | --interval=SECONDS0m
134 1m-w | --window-id=WIN_ID0m
147 Number of times to update Conky (and quit)
150 1mCONFIGURATION SETTINGS0m
151 Default configuration file location is $HOME/.conkyrc or
152 ${sysconfdir}/conky/conky.conf. On most systems, sysconfdir is /etc,
153 and you can find the sample config file there (/etc/conky/conky.conf).
155 You might want to copy it to $HOME/.conkyrc and then start modifying
156 it. Other configs can be found at http://conky.sf.net/
159 Aligned position on screen, may be top_left, top_right, top_mid‐
160 dle, bottom_left, bottom_right, bottom_middle, middle_left, mid‐
161 dle_right, or none (also can be abreviated as tl, tr, tm, bl,
166 Boolean value, if true, Conky will be forked to background when
171 Border margin in pixels
175 Border width in pixels
178 1mcolorN 22mPredefine a color for use inside TEXT segments. Substitute N by
179 a digit between 0 and 9, inclusively. When specifying the color
180 value in hex, omit the leading hash (#).
184 The number of samples to average for CPU monitoring
188 If true, cpu in top will show usage of one processor’s power. If
189 false, cpu in top will show the usage of all processors’ power
194 Default color and border color
197 1mdefault_outline_color0m
198 Default outline color
201 1mdefault_shade_color0m
202 Default shading color and border’s shading color
206 Use the Xdbe extension? (eliminates flicker) It is highly recom‐
207 mended to use own window with this one so double buffer won’t be
212 Draw borders around text?
215 1mdraw_graph_borders0m
216 Draw borders around graphs?
227 1mfont 22mFont name in X, xfontsel can be used to get a nice font
230 1mgap_x 22mGap, in pixels, between right or left border of screen, same as
231 passing -x at command line, e.g. gap_x 10
234 1mgap_y 22mGap, in pixels, between top or bottom border of screen, same as
235 passing -y at command line, e.g. gap_y 10.
239 How strict should if_up be when testing an interface for being
240 up? The value is one of up, link or address, to check for the
241 interface being solely up, being up and having link or being up,
242 having link and an assigned IP address.
245 1mimap 22mDefault global IMAP server. Arguments are: "host user pass [-i
246 interval] [-f folder] [-p port] [-e command] [-r retries]". De‐
247 fault port is 143, default folder is ’INBOX’, default interval
248 is 5 minutes, and default number of retries before giving up is
249 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’, you will be prompted to
250 enter the password when Conky starts.
254 Mail spool for mail checking
257 1mmax_port_monitor_connections0m
258 Allow each port monitor to track at most this many connections
259 (if 0 or not set, default is 256)
263 Maximum number of special things, e.g. fonts, offsets, aligns,
264 etc. (default is 512)
267 1mmax_user_text bytes0m
268 Maximum size of user text buffer, i.e. layout below TEXT line in
269 config file (default is 16384 bytes)
272 1mtext_buffer_size bytes0m
273 Size of the standard text buffer (default is 256 bytes). This
274 buffer is used for intermediary text, such as individual lines,
275 output from $exec vars, and various other variables. Increasing
276 the size of this buffer can drastically reduce Conky’s perfor‐
277 mance, but will allow for more text display per variable. The
278 size of this buffer cannot be smaller than the default value of
282 1mmaximum_width pixels0m
283 Maximum width of window
286 1mminimum_size width (height)0m
287 Minimum size of window
302 1mmusic_player_interval0m
303 Music player thread update interval (defaults to Conky’s update
308 The number of samples to average for net data
312 Substract (file system) buffers from used memory?
315 1moverride_utf8_locale0m
316 Force UTF8? requires XFT
320 Boolean, create own window to draw?
324 Manually set the WM_CLASS name. Defaults to "Conky".
327 1mown_window_colour colour0m
328 If own_window_transparent no, set a specified background colour
329 (defaults to black). Takes either a hex value (#ffffff) or a
330 valid RGB name (see /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt)
333 1mown_window_hints undecorated,below,above,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager0m
334 If own_window is yes, you may use these window manager hints to
335 affect the way Conky displays. Notes: Use own_window_type desk‐
336 top as another way to implement many of these hints implicitly.
337 If you use own_window_type override, window manager hints have
338 no meaning and are ignored.
342 Manually set the window name. Defaults to "<hostname> - conky".
345 1mown_window_transparent0m
346 Boolean, set pseudo-transparency?
350 if own_window is yes, you may specify type normal, desktop, dock
351 or override (default: normal). Desktop windows are special win‐
352 dows that have no window decorations; are always visible on your
353 desktop; do not appear in your pager or taskbar; and are sticky
354 across all workspaces. Override windows are not under the con‐
355 trol of the window manager. Hints are ignored. This type of win‐
356 dow can be useful for certain situations.
360 Print text to stdout.
364 Pad percentages to this many decimals (0 = no padding)
367 1mpop3 22mDefault global POP3 server. Arguments are: "host user pass [-i
368 interval] [-p port] [-e command] [-r retries]". Default port is
369 110, default interval is 5 minutes, and default number of re‐
370 tries before giving up is 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’,
371 you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
375 Shortens units to a single character (kiB->k, GiB->G, etc.). De‐
380 Shows the maximum value in scaled graphs.
384 Shows the time range covered by a graph.
388 Border stippling (dashing) in pixels
392 Define a template for later use inside TEXT segments. Substitute
393 N by a digit between 0 and 9, inclusively. The value of the
394 variable is being inserted into the stuff below TEXT at the cor‐
395 responding position, but before some substitutions are applied:
400 ’\N’ -> template argument N
404 Total number of times for Conky to update before quitting. Zero
405 makes Conky run forever
409 Update interval in seconds
413 Boolean value, if true, text is rendered in upper case
417 Adds spaces around certain objects to stop them from moving oth‐
418 er things around. Arguments are left, right, and none (default).
419 The old true/false values are deprecated and default to
420 right/none respectively. Note that this only helps if you are
421 using a mono font, such as Bitstream Vera Sans Mono.
425 Use Xft (anti-aliased font and stuff)
429 Alpha of Xft font. Must be a value at or between 1 and 0.
436 1mTEXT 22mAfter this begins text to be formatted on screen
440 Colors are parsed using XParsecolor(), there might be a list of them:
441 /usr/share/X11/rgb.txt. Also, ⟨http://sedition.com/perl/rgb.html⟩.
442 Color can be also in #rrggbb format (hex).
445 IP address for an interface, or "No Address" if no address is
450 IP addresses for an interface (if one - works like addr). Linux
455 ACPI ac adapter state.
463 ACPI temperature in C.
467 ACPI temperature in F.
471 CPU temperature from therm_adt746x
475 Fan speed from therm_adt746x
479 Right-justify text, with space of N
487 Display APM AC adapter status (FreeBSD only)
491 Display APM battery life in percent (FreeBSD only)
495 Display remaining APM battery life in hh:mm:ss or "unknown" if
496 AC adapterstatus is on-line or charging (FreeBSD only)
499 1maudacious_bar (height),(width)0m
503 1maudacious_bitrate0m
504 Bitrate of current tune
507 1maudacious_channels0m
508 Number of audio channels of current tune
511 1maudacious_filename0m
512 Full path and filename of current tune
515 1maudacious_frequency0m
516 Sampling frequency of current tune
520 Total length of current tune as MM:SS
523 1maudacious_length_seconds0m
524 Total length of current tune in seconds
527 1maudacious_playlist_position0m
528 Playlist position of current tune
531 1maudacious_playlist_length0m
532 Number of tunes in playlist
535 1maudacious_position0m
536 Position of current tune (MM:SS)
539 1maudacious_position_seconds0m
540 Position of current tune in seconds
544 Player status (Playing/Paused/Stopped/Not running)
547 1maudacious_title (max length)0m
548 Title of current tune with optional maximum length specifier
552 Battery status and remaining percentage capacity of ACPI or APM
553 battery. ACPI battery number can be given as argument (default
557 1mbattery_bar (height),(width) (num)0m
558 Battery percentage remaining of ACPI battery in a bar. ACPI bat‐
559 tery number can be given as argument (default is BAT0).
562 1mbattery_percent (num)0m
563 Battery percentage remaining for ACPI battery. ACPI battery num‐
564 ber can be given as argument (default is BAT0).
567 1mbattery_time (num)0m
568 Battery charge/discharge time remaining of ACPI battery. ACPI
569 battery number can be given as argument (default is BAT0).
573 Artist in current BMPx track
577 Album in current BMPx track
581 Title of the current BMPx track
585 Track number of the current BMPx track
589 Bitrate of the current BMPx track
593 URI of the current BMPx track
597 Amount of memory buffered
600 1mcached 22mAmount of memory cached
604 Change drawing color to color
607 1mcolorN 22mChange drawing color to colorN configuration option, where N is
608 a digit between 0 and 9, inclusively.
620 CPU architecture Conky was built for
624 CPU usage in percents. For SMP machines, the CPU number can be
625 provided as an argument. ${cpu cpu0} is the total usage, and
626 ${cpu cpuX} (X >= 1) are individual CPUs.
629 1mcpubar (cpu number) (height),(width)0m
630 Bar that shows CPU usage, height is bar’s height in pixels. See
631 $cpu for more info on SMP.
634 1mcpugraph normal|log (cpu number) (height),(width) (gradient colour 1)0m
635 1m(gradient colour 2)0m
636 CPU usage graph, with optional colours in hex, minus the #. See
637 $cpu for more info on SMP. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see
638 small numbers) when you use "log" instead of "normal".
642 Displays current disk IO. Device is optional, and takes the form
643 of sda for /dev/sda. Individual partitions are allowed.
646 1mdiskiograph normal|log (device) (height),(width) (gradient colour 1)0m
647 1m(gradient colour 2) (scale)0m
648 Disk IO graph, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If scale is
649 non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph. Uses a logarithmic
650 scale (to see small numbers) when you use "log" instead of "nor‐
654 1mdiskio_read (device)0m
655 Displays current disk IO for reads. Device as in diskio.
658 1mdiskiograph_read normal|log (device) (height),(width) (gradient colour0m
659 1m1) (gradient colour 2) (scale)0m
660 Disk IO graph for reads, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If
661 scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph. Device as
662 in diskio. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when
663 you use "log" instead of "normal".
666 1mdiskio_write (device)0m
667 Displays current disk IO for writes. Device as in diskio.
670 1mdiskiograph_write normal|log (device) (height),(width) (gradient colour0m
671 1m1) (gradient colour 2) (scale)0m
672 Disk IO graph for writes, colours defined in hex, minus the #.
673 If scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph. Device
674 as in diskio. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small numbers)
675 when you use "log" instead of "normal".
678 1mdisk_protect device0m
679 Disk protection status, if supported (needs kernel-patch).
680 Prints either "frozen" or "free " (note the padding).
684 Download speed in KiB
688 Download speed in KiB with one decimal
691 1mdownspeedgraph normal|log net (height),(width) (gradient colour 1)0m
692 1m(gradient colour 2) (scale)0m
693 Download speed graph, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If
694 scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph. Uses a
695 logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when you use "log" in‐
699 1melse 22mText to show if any of the above are not true
703 Current entropy available for crypto freaks
706 1mentropy_bar (height),(width)0m
707 Normalized bar of available entropy for crypto freaks
711 Total size of system entropy pool for crypto freaks
715 Executes a shell command and displays the output in conky. warn‐
716 ing: this takes a lot more resources than other variables. I’d
717 recommend coding wanted behaviour in C and posting a patch.
721 Same as exec, except if the first value return is a value be‐
722 tween 0-100, it will use that number for a bar. The size for the
723 bar is currently fixed, but that may change in the future.
726 1mexecgraph (normal|log) command0m
727 Same as execbar, but graphs values. Uses a logaritmic scale when
728 the log option is given (to see small numbers). Values still
729 have to be between 0 and 100.
732 1mexeci interval command0m
733 Same as exec but with specific interval. Interval can’t be less
734 than update_interval in configuration. See also $texeci
737 1mexecibar interval command0m
738 Same as execbar, except with an interval
741 1mexecigraph interval command0m
742 Same as execgraph, but takes an interval arg graphs values
746 Executes a shell command and displays the output in conky. warn‐
747 ing: this takes a lot more resources than other variables. I’d
748 recommend coding wanted behaviour in C and posting a patch. This
749 differs from $exec in that it parses the output of the command,
750 so you can insert things like ${color red}hi!${color} in your
751 script and have it correctly parsed by Conky. Caveats: Conky
752 parses and evaluates the output of $execp every time Conky
753 loops, and then destroys all the objects. If you try to use any‐
754 thing like $execi within an $execp statement, it will function‐
755 ally run at the same interval that the $execp statement runs, as
756 it is created and destroyed at every interval.
759 1mexecpi interval command0m
760 Same as execp but with specific interval. Interval can’t be less
761 than update_interval in configuration. Note that the output from
762 the $execpi command is still parsed and evaluated at every in‐
767 Specify a different font. This new font will apply to the cur‐
768 rent line and everything following. You can use a $font with no
769 arguments to change back to the default font (much like with
774 Returns CPU #n’s frequency in MHz. CPUs are counted from 1. If
775 omitted, the parameter defaults to 1.
779 Returns CPU #n’s frequency in GHz. CPUs are counted from 1. If
780 omitted, the parameter defaults to 1.
784 Returns CPU #n’s frequency in MHz (defaults to 1), but is calcu‐
785 lated by counting to clock cycles to complete an instruction.
786 Only available for x86/amd64.
790 Returns CPU #n’s frequency in GHz (defaults to 1), but is calcu‐
791 lated by counting to clock cycles to complete an instruction.
792 Only available for x86/amd64.
795 1mfs_bar (height),(width) fs0m
796 Bar that shows how much space is used on a file system. height
797 is the height in pixels. fs is any file on that file system.
801 Free space on a file system available for users.
804 1mfs_free_perc (fs)0m
805 Free percentage of space on a file system available for users.
817 File system used space
820 1mgoto x 22mThe next element will be printed at position ’x’.
824 Displays the default route’s interface or "multiple"/"none" ac‐
828 1mgw_ip 22mDisplays the default gateway’s IP or "multiple"/"none" accord‐
832 1mhddtemp dev, (host,(port))0m
833 Displays temperature of a selected hard disk drive as reported
834 by the hddtemp daemon running on host:port. Default host is
835 127.0.0.1, default port is 7634.
838 1mhead logfile lines (interval)0m
839 Displays first N lines of supplied text text file. If interval
840 is not supplied, Conky assumes 2x Conky’s interval. Max of 30
841 lines can be displayed, or until the text buffer is filled.
845 Horizontal line, height is the height in pixels
848 1mhwmon (dev) type n0m
849 Hwmon sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). Parameter dev may be omit‐
850 ted if you have only one hwmon device. Parameter type is either
851 ’in’ or ’vol’ meaning voltage; ’fan’ meaning fan; ’temp’ (Cel‐
852 sius) or ’tempf’ (Fahrenheit) meaning temperature. Parameter n
853 is number of the sensor. See /sys/class/hwmon/ on your local
857 1miconv_start codeset_from codeset_to0m
858 Convert text from one codeset to another using GNU iconv. Needs
859 to be stopped with iconv_stop.
863 Stop iconv codeset conversion.
867 I2C sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). Parameter dev may be omitted
868 if you have only one I2C device. Parameter type is either ’in’
869 or ’vol’ meaning voltage; ’fan’ meaning fan; ’temp’ (Celsius) or
870 ’tempf’ (Fahrenheit) meaning temperature. Parameter n is number
871 of the sensor. See /sys/bus/i2c/devices/ on your local computer.
875 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
876 whether ac power is on, as listed in /proc/i8k (translated to
877 human-readable). Beware that this is by default not enabled by
882 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
883 the bios version as listed in /proc/i8k.
886 1mi8k_buttons_status0m
887 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
888 the volume buttons status as listed in /proc/i8k.
892 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
893 the cpu temperature in Celsius, as reported by /proc/i8k.
897 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
898 the cpu temperature in Fahrenheit, as reported by /proc/i8k.
902 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
903 the left fan’s rate of rotation, in revolutions per minute as
904 listed in /proc/i8k. Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans
908 1mi8k_left_fan_status0m
909 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
910 the left fan status as listed in /proc/i8k (translated to human-
911 readable). Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans in re‐
915 1mi8k_right_fan_rpm0m
916 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
917 the right fan’s rate of rotation, in revolutions per minute as
918 listed in /proc/i8k. Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans
922 1mi8k_right_fan_status0m
923 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
924 the right fan status as listed in /proc/i8k (translated to hu‐
925 man-readable). Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans in
930 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
931 your laptop serial number as listed in /proc/i8k.
935 If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays
936 the version formatting of /proc/i8k.
940 If running the IBM ACPI, displays the fan speed.
944 If running the IBM ACPI, displays the temperatures from the IBM
945 temperature sensors (N=0..7) Sensor 0 is on the CPU, 3 is on the
950 If running the IBM ACPI, displays the "master" volume, con‐
951 trolled by the volume keys (0-14).
955 If running the IBM ACPI, displays the brigtness of the laptops’s
960 if conky variable VAR is empty, display everything between
961 $if_empty and the matching $endif
964 1mif_gw 22mif there is at least one default gateway, display everything be‐
965 tween $if_gw and the matching $endif
968 1mif_running (process)0m
969 if PROCESS is running, display everything $if_running and the
973 1mif_existing file (string)0m
974 if FILE exists, display everything between if_existing and the
975 matching $endif. The optional second paramater checks for FILE
976 containing the specified string and prints everything between
977 $if_existing and the matching $endif.
980 1mif_mounted (mountpoint)0m
981 if MOUNTPOINT is mounted, display everything between $if_mounted
982 and the matching $endif
985 1mif_smapi_bat_installed (INDEX)0m
986 when using smapi, if the battery with index INDEX is installed,
987 display everything between $if_smapi_bat_installed and the
991 1mif_up (interface)0m
992 if INTERFACE exists and is up, display everything between $if_up
993 and the matching $endif
996 1mimap_messages (args)0m
997 Displays the number of messages in your global IMAP inbox by de‐
998 fault. You can define individual IMAP inboxes seperately by
999 passing arguments to this object. Arguments are: "host user pass
1000 [-i interval] [-p port] [-e command] [-r retries]". Default port
1001 is 143, default interval is 5 minutes, and default number of re‐
1002 tries before giving up is 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’,
1003 you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
1006 1mimap_unseen (args)0m
1007 Displays the number of unseen messages in your global IMAP inbox
1008 by default. You can define individual IMAP inboxes seperately by
1009 passing arguments to this object. Arguments are: "host user pass
1010 [-i interval] [-p port] [-e command] [-r retries]". Default port
1011 is 143, default interval is 5 minutes, and default number of re‐
1012 tries before giving up is 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’,
1013 you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
1016 1mioscheduler disk0m
1017 Prints the current ioscheduler used for the given disk name
1018 (i.e. e.g. "hda" or "sdb")
1021 1mkernel 22mKernel version
1025 The value of /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode
1029 (1,2,3)> System load average, 1 is for past 1 minute, 2 for past
1030 5 minutes and 3 for past 15 minutes.
1033 1mloadgraph normal|log (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient0m
1035 Load1 average graph, similar to xload, with optional colours in
1036 hex, minus the #. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small num‐
1037 bers) when you use "log" instead of "normal".
1041 Displays the number of lines in the given file
1045 Machine, i686 for example
1048 1mmails (mailbox) (interval)0m
1049 Mail count in the specified mailbox or your mail spool if not.
1050 Both mbox and maildir type mailboxes are supported. You can use
1051 a program like fetchmail to get mails from some server using
1052 your favourite protocol. See also new_mails.
1055 1mmboxscan (-n number of messages to print) (-fw from width) (-sw subject0m
1057 Print a summary of recent messages in an mbox format mailbox.
1058 mbox parameter is the filename of the mailbox (can be encapsu‐
1059 lated using ’"’, ie. ${mboxscan -n 10 "/home/brenden/some box"}
1062 1mmem 22mAmount of memory in use
1065 1mmembar (height),(width)0m
1066 Bar that shows amount of memory in use
1069 1mmemgraph normal|log (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient0m
1071 Memory usage graph. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small num‐
1072 bers) when you use "log" instead of "normal".
1076 Amount of free memory including the memory that is very easily
1077 freed (buffers/cache)
1081 Amount of free memory
1084 1mmemmax 22mTotal amount of memory
1088 Percentage of memory in use
1092 Prints the mixer value as reported by the OS. Default mixer is
1093 "vol", but you can specify one of the following optional argu‐
1094 ments: "vol", "bass", "treble", "synth", "pcm", "speaker",
1095 "line", "mic", "cd", "mix", "pcm2", "rec", "igain", "ogain",
1096 "line1", "line2", "line3", "dig1", "dig2", "dig3", "phin",
1097 "phout", "video", "radio", "monitor". Refer to the definition of
1098 SOUND_DEVICE_NAMES in <linux/soundcard.h> (on Linux), <sound‐
1099 card.h> (on OpenBSD), or <sys/soundcard.h> to find the exact op‐
1100 tions available on your system.
1103 1mmixerbar (device)0m
1104 Displays mixer value in a bar as reported by the OS. See docs
1105 for $mixer for details on arguments.
1109 Prints the right channel mixer value as reported by the OS. See
1110 docs for $mixer for details on arguments.
1113 1mmixerrbar (device)0m
1114 Displays the right channel mixer value in a bar as reported by
1115 the OS. See docs for $mixer for details on arguments.
1119 Prints the left channel mixer value as reported by the OS. See
1120 docs for $mixer for details on arguments.
1123 1mmixerlbar (device)0m
1124 Displays the left channel mixer value in a bar as reported by
1125 the OS. See docs for $mixer for details on arguments.
1129 Current state of MOC; playing, stopped etc.
1133 File name of the current MOC song
1137 Title of the current MOC song
1141 Artist of the current MOC song
1145 The current song name being played in MOC.
1149 Album of the current MOC song
1153 Total length of the current MOC song
1157 Time left in the current MOC song
1161 Current time of the current MOC song
1165 Bitrate in the current MOC song
1169 Rate of the current MOC song
1173 Number of the monitor on which conky is running
1181 Artist in current MPD song must be enabled at compile
1185 Album in current MPD song
1188 1mmpd_bar (height),(width)0m
1189 Bar of mpd’s progress
1193 Bitrate of current song
1197 Playing, stopped, et cetera.
1200 1mmpd_title (max length)0m
1201 Title of current MPD song
1217 Percent of song’s progress
1221 Random status (On/Off)
1225 Repeat status (On/Off)
1229 Prints the MPD track field
1233 Prints the MPD name field
1237 Prints the file name of the current MPD song
1240 1mmpd_smart (max length)0m
1241 Prints the song name in either the form "artist - title" or file
1242 name, depending on whats available
1246 if mpd is playing or paused, display everything between
1247 $if_mpd_playing and the matching $endif
1250 1mnameserver (index)0m
1251 Print a nameserver from /etc/resolv.conf. Index starts at and
1255 1mnew_mails (mailbox) (interval)0m
1256 Unread mail count in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not.
1257 Both mbox and maildir type mailboxes are supported.
1264 1mnvidia threshold temp gpufreq memfreq imagequality0m
1265 Nvidia graficcard support for the XNVCtrl library. Each option
1266 can be shortened to the least significant part. Temperatures
1267 are printed as float, all other values as integer.
1269 1mthreshold22m: the thresholdtemperature at which the gpu slows down
1270 1mtemp22m: gives the gpu current temperature
1271 1mgpufreq22m: gives the current gpu frequency
1272 1mmemfreq22m: gives the current mem frequency
1273 1mimagequality22m: which imagequality should be choosen by OpenGL ap‐
1277 1moutlinecolor (color)0m
1278 Change outline color
1282 If running on Apple powerbook/ibook, display information on bat‐
1283 tery status. The item parameter specifies, what information to
1284 display. Exactly one item must be specified. Valid items are:
1286 1mstatus22m: Display if battery is fully charged, charging, discharg‐
1287 ing or absent (running on AC)
1288 1mpercent22m: Display charge of battery in percent, if charging or
1289 discharging. Nothing will be displayed, if battery is fully
1291 1mtime22m: Display the time remaining until the battery will be fully
1292 charged or discharged at current rate. Nothing is displayed, if
1293 battery is absent or if it’s present but fully charged and not
1297 1mplatform (dev) type n0m
1298 Platform sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). Parameter dev may be
1299 omitted if you have only one platform device. Platform type is
1300 either ’in’ or ’vol’ meaning voltage; ’fan’ meaning fan; ’temp’
1301 (Celsius) or ’tempf’ (Fahrenheit) meaning temperature. Parameter
1302 n is number of the sensor. See /sys/bus/platform/devices/ on
1303 your local computer.
1306 1mpop3_unseen (args)0m
1307 Displays the number of unseen messages in your global POP3 inbox
1308 by default. You can define individual POP3 inboxes seperately by
1309 passing arguments to this object. Arguments are: "host user pass
1310 [-i interval] [-p port] [-e command] [-r retries]". Default port
1311 is 110, default interval is 5 minutes, and default number of re‐
1312 tries before giving up is 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’,
1313 you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
1316 1mpop3_used (args)0m
1317 Displays the amount of space (in MiB, 2^20) used in your global
1318 POP3 inbox by default. You can define individual POP3 inboxes
1319 seperately by passing arguments to this object. Arguments are:
1320 "host user pass [-i interval] [-p port] [-e command] [-r re‐
1321 tries]". Default port is 110, default interval is 5 minutes, and
1322 default number of retries before giving up is 5. If the password
1323 is supplied as ’*’, you will be prompted to enter the password
1327 1mpre_exec shell command0m
1328 Executes a shell command one time before conky displays anything
1329 and puts output as text.
1333 Total processes (sleeping and running)
1336 1mrunning_processes0m
1337 Running processes (not sleeping), requires Linux 2.6
1340 1mscroll length (step) text0m
1341 Scroll ’text’ by ’step’ characters showing ’length’ number of
1342 characters at the same time. The text may also contain vari‐
1343 ables. ’step’ is optional and defaults to 1 if not set. If a var
1344 creates output on multiple lines then the lines are placed be‐
1345 hind each other separated with a ’|’-sign. Do NOT use vars that
1346 change colors or otherwise affect the design inside a scrolling
1347 text. If you want spaces between the start and the end of
1348 ’text’, place them at the end of ’text’ not at the front ("foo‐
1349 bar" and " foobar" can both generate "barfoo" but "foobar " will
1350 keep the spaces like this "bar foo").
1353 1mshadecolor (color)0m
1354 Change shading color
1358 when using smapi, display contents of the /sys/devices/plat‐
1359 form/smapi directory. ARGS are either ’(FILENAME)’ or ’bat (IN‐
1360 DEX) (FILENAME)’ to display the corresponding files’ content.
1361 This is a very raw method of accessing the smapi values. When
1362 available, better use one of the smapi_* variables instead.
1365 1msmapi_bat_bar (INDEX),(height),(width)0m
1366 when using smapi, display the remaining capacity of the battery
1367 with index INDEX as a bar.
1370 1msmapi_bat_perc (INDEX)0m
1371 when using smapi, display the remaining capacity in percent of
1372 the battery with index INDEX. This is a separate variable be‐
1373 cause it supports the ’use_spacer’ configuration option.
1376 1msmapi_bat_power INDEX0m
1377 when using smapi, display the current power of the battery with
1378 index INDEX in watt. This is a separate variable because the
1379 original read out value is being converted from mW. The sign of
1380 the output reflects charging (positive) or discharging (nega‐
1384 1msmapi_bat_temp INDEX0m
1385 when using smapi, display the current temperature of the battery
1386 with index INDEX in degree Celsius. This is a separate variable
1387 because the original read out value is being converted from mil‐
1391 1mstippled_hr (space)0m
1392 Stippled (dashed) horizontal line
1395 1mswapbar (height),(width)0m
1396 Bar that shows amount of swap in use
1399 1mswap 22mAmount of swap in use
1403 Total amount of swap
1407 Percentage of swap in use
1411 System name, Linux for example
1414 1mtcp_portmon port_begin port_end item (index) 4m22m(ip424m 4monly24m 4mat24m 4mpresent)0m
1415 TCP port monitor for specified local ports. Port numbers must be
1416 in the range 1 to 65535. Valid items are:
1418 1mcount 22m- total number of connections in the range
1419 1mrip 22m- remote ip address
1420 1mrhost 22m- remote host name
1421 1mrport 22m- remote port number
1422 1mrservice 22m- remote service name from /etc/services
1423 1mlip 22m- local ip address
1424 1mlhost 22m- local host name
1425 1mlport 22m- local port number
1426 1mlservice 22m- local service name from /etc/services
1428 The connection index provides you with access to each connection
1429 in the port monitor. The monitor will return information for in‐
1430 dex values from 0 to n-1 connections. Values higher than n-1 are
1431 simply ignored. For the "count" item, the connection index must
1432 be omitted. It is required for all other items.
1435 1m${tcp_portmon 6881 6999 count} 22m- displays the number of connec‐
1436 tions in the bittorrent port range
1437 1m${tcp_portmon 22 22 rip 0} 22m- displays the remote host ip of the
1438 first sshd connection
1439 1m${tcp_portmon 22 22 rip 9} 22m- displays the remote host ip of the
1440 tenth sshd connection
1441 1m${tcp_portmon 1 1024 rhost 0} 22m- displays the remote host name of
1442 the first connection on a privileged port
1443 1m${tcp_portmon 1 1024 rport 4} 22m- displays the remote host port of
1444 the fifth connection on a privileged port
1445 1m${tcp_portmon 1 65535 lservice 14} 22m- displays the local service
1446 name of the fifteenth connection in the range of all ports
1448 Note that port monitor variables which share the same port range
1449 actually refer to the same monitor, so many references to a sin‐
1450 gle port range for different items and different indexes all use
1451 the same monitor internally. In other words, the program avoids
1452 creating redundant monitors.
1454 1mtexeci interval command0m
1455 Runs a command at an interval inside a thread and displays the
1456 output. Same as $execi, except the command is run inside a
1457 thread. Use this if you have a slow script to keep Conky updat‐
1458 ing. You should make the interval slightly longer then the time
1459 it takes your script to execute. For example, if you have a
1460 script that take 5 seconds to execute, you should make the in‐
1461 terval at least 6 seconds. See also $execi.
1465 Move text over by N pixels. See also $voffset.
1468 1mrss url delay_in_minutes action item_num0m
1469 Download and parse RSS feeds. Action may be one of the follow‐
1470 ing: feed_title, item_title (with num par), item_desc (with num
1471 par) and item_titles.
1474 1mtab (width, (start))0m
1475 Puts a tab of the specified width, starting from column ’start’.
1478 1mtail logfile lines (interval)0m
1479 Displays last N lines of supplied text text file. If interval is
1480 not supplied, Conky assumes 2x Conky’s interval. Max of 30 lines
1481 can be displayed, or until the text buffer is filled.
1484 1mtemplateN (arg1) (arg2) (arg3 ...)0m
1485 Evaluate the content of the templateN configuration variable
1486 (where N is a value between 0 and 9, inclusively), applying sub‐
1487 stitutions as described in the documentation of the correspond‐
1488 ing configuration variable. The number of arguments is option‐
1489 al, but must match the highest referred index in the template.
1490 You can use the same special sequences in each argument as the
1491 ones valid for a template definition, e.g. to allow an argument
1492 to contain a whitespace. Also simple nesting of templates is
1495 Here are some examples of template definitions:
1498 template1 \1: ${fs_used \2} / ${fs_size \2}
1501 The following list shows sample usage of the templates defined
1502 above, with the equivalent syntax when not using any template at
1505 using template same without template
1506 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1507 ${template0 node name} $nodename
1508 ${template1 root /} root: ${fs_free /} /
1510 ${template1 ${template2\ disk\ root} /} disk root: ${fs_free /} / ${fs_size /}
1514 Local time, see man strftime to get more information about for‐
1519 Display time in UTC (universal coordinate time).
1522 1mtztime (timezone) (format)0m
1523 Local time for specified timezone, see man strftime to get more
1524 information about format. The timezone argument is specified in
1525 similar fashion as TZ environment variable. For hints, look in
1526 /usr/share/zoneinfo. e.g. US/Pacific, Europe/Zurich, etc.
1530 Total download, overflows at 4 GB on Linux with 32-bit arch and
1531 there doesn’t seem to be a way to know how many times it has al‐
1532 ready done that before conky has started.
1536 This takes arguments in the form:top (name) (number) Basically,
1537 processes are ranked from highest to lowest in terms of cpu us‐
1538 age, which is what (num) represents. The types are: "name",
1539 "pid", "cpu", "mem", "mem_res", "mem_vsize", and "time". There
1540 can be a max of 10 processes listed.
1543 1mtop_mem type, num0m
1544 Same as top, except sorted by mem usage instead of cpu
1548 Total upload, this one too, may overflow
1551 1mupdates Number of updates0m
1560 Upload speed in KiB with one decimal
1563 1mupspeedgraph normal|log net (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gra‐0m
1564 1mdient colour 2) (scale)0m
1565 Upload speed graph, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If
1566 scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph. Uses a
1567 logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when you use "log" in‐
1575 Uptime in a shorter format
1579 Number of users logged in
1583 Lists the names of the users logged in
1587 Lists the consoles in use
1591 Lists how long users have been logged in for
1594 1mvoffset (pixels)0m
1595 Change vertical offset by N pixels. Negative values will cause
1596 text to overlap. See also $offset.
1600 Returns CPU #n’s voltage in mV. CPUs are counted from 1. If
1601 omitted, the parameter defaults to 1.
1605 Returns CPU #n’s voltage in V. CPUs are counted from 1. If omit‐
1606 ted, the parameter defaults to 1.
1609 1mwireless_essid net0m
1610 Wireless access point ESSID (Linux only)
1613 1mwireless_mode net0m
1614 Wireless mode (Managed/Ad-Hoc/Master) (Linux only)
1617 1mwireless_bitrate net0m
1618 Wireless bitrate (ie 11 Mb/s) (Linux only)
1622 Wireless access point MAC address (Linux only)
1625 1mwireless_link_qual net0m
1626 Wireless link quality (Linux only)
1629 1mwireless_link_qual_max net0m
1630 Wireless link quality maximum value (Linux only)
1633 1mwireless_link_qual_perc net0m
1634 Wireless link quality in percents (Linux only)
1637 1mwireless_link_bar (height), (width) net0m
1638 Wireless link quality bar (Linux only)
1642 Displays the number of words in the given file
1646 Artist in current XMMS2 song
1650 Album in current XMMS2 song
1654 Title in current XMMS2 song
1658 Genre in current XMMS2 song
1662 Comment in current XMMS2 song
1670 Transport plugin used
1674 Full path to current song
1678 Track number in current XMMS2 song
1682 Bitrate of current song
1686 XMMS2 id of current song
1690 Duration of current song
1698 Size of current song
1702 Percent of song’s progress
1706 XMMS2 status (Playing, Paused, Stopped, or Disconnected)
1709 1mxmms2_bar (height),(width)0m
1710 Bar of XMMS2’s progress
1714 Prints the song name in either the form "artist - title" or file
1715 name, depending on whats available
1718 1meve api_userid api_key character_id0m
1719 Fetches your currently training skill from the Eve Online API
1720 servers (http://www.eve-online.com/) and displays the skill
1721 along with the remaining training time.
1725 conky 1m-t ’${time %D %H:%M}’ -o -u 300m
1726 Start Conky in its own window with date and clock as text and 30
1727 sec update interval.
1729 conky 1m-a top_left -x 5 -y 500 -d0m
1730 Start Conky to background at coordinates (5, 500).
1733 4m~/.conkyrc24m default configuration file
1736 Drawing to root or some other desktop window directly doesn’t work with
1737 all window managers. Especially doesn’t work well with Gnome and it has
1738 been reported that it doesn’t work with KDE either. Nautilus can be
1739 disabled from drawing to desktop with program gconf-editor. Uncheck
1740 show_desktop in /apps/nautilus/preferences/. There is -w switch in
1741 Conky to set some specific window id. You might find xwininfo -tree
1742 useful to find the window to draw to. You can also use -o argument
1743 which makes Conky to create its own window. If you do try running Conky
1744 in its own window, be sure to read up on the own_window_type settings
1748 ⟨http://conky.sourceforge.net/⟩
1750 ⟨http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/conky⟩
1752 #conky on irc.freenode.net
1755 Copyright (c) 2005-2008 Brenden Matthews, Philip Kovacs, et. al. Any
1756 original torsmo code is licensed under the BSD license (see LICENSE.BSD
1757 for a copy). All code written since the fork of torsmo is licensed un‐
1758 der the GPL (see LICENSE.GPL for a copy), except where noted different‐
1759 ly (such as in portmon code, timed thread code, and audacious code
1760 which are LGPL, and prss which is an MIT-style license).
1763 The Conky dev team (see AUTHORS for a full list of contributors).