Provided by: jgmenu_4.4.1-1_amd64 
NAME
jgmenu - A simple X11 menu
SYNOPSIS
jgmenu [--no-spawn] [--checkout=<tag>] [--config-file=<file>]
[--icon-size=<size>] [--at-pointer] [--hide-on-startup]
[--simple] [--vsimple] [--csv-file=<file>]
[--csv-cmd=<command>] [--die-when-loaded]
[--center] [--persistent]
Use these commands to get started
jgmenu_run
Launch menu
jgmenu_run init
Create config file ~/.config/jgmenu/jgmenurc
jgmenu_run init -i
Interactive setup
man jgmenututorial
Step-by-step tutorial
DESCRIPTION
jgmenu is a simple menu for Linux/BSD. It reads CSV menu data from a file and generates a
graphical menu on an X11 window.
Fields
Each line of CSV menu data is parsed into the following fields using comma as a field
separator:
(1) description
(2) command
(3) icon
(4) working directory
(5) metadata
(6) execute without “sh -c” wrapper
For example:
printf "Terminal,xterm\\nWeb Browser,firefox" | jgmenu --vsimple
Special Characters at beginning of line
# Ignore line
. A line beginning with a dot followed by a space, will source the file specified by
the string following the dot
@ Treat as widget
Special Characters in fields
, As commas are used as field separators, individual fields can only contain commas
if they are triple quoted. For example:
foo,""“^pipe(find . -printf `%f,display %p,%p\n')”""
< > & The description field is parsed as pango markup, so <, >, and & need to be escaped
as <, >, and & respectively.
Markup
The syntax ^foo(bar) is used to carry out action foo with argument bar. We refer to bar
as the inner value.
The following markup is supported in the description field
sep() Define a separator. If an inner value is provided, the separator will appear as a
title. If no inner value is provided, the separator will simply be a horizontal
line
The following markup is supported in the command field
^tag() Define the beginning of a new menu structure node.
The lines following ^tag(whatever) will not show in the top level menu, but can be
opened by using ^checkout() or ^root().
item0.0
item0.1
submenu1,^checkout(1)
submenu2,^root(2)
^tag(1)
item1.0
item1.1
^tag(2)
item2.0
item2.1
^checkout()
Open the tag specified by the inner value as a submenu in a new window
^root()
Open the tag specified by the inner value in the root window, replacing the current
menu
^sub() Draw a submenu arrow. This can be useful for creating submenus with stay_alive=0.
For example:
item0.0
item0.1
submenu1,^sub(echo "item1.0" | jgmenu --simple)
^back()
Check-out parent menu
^term()
Run program in terminal
^pipe()
Execute sub-process and checkout a menu based on its stdout.
^filter()
Invoke search
^quit()
Quit
Icons
Icons will be displayed if the third field is populated, for example:
Terminal,xterm,utilities-terminal
Firefox,firefox,firefox
OPTIONS
--no-spawn
Redirect command to stdout rather than execute it.
--checkout=<tag>
Checkout submenu on startup.
--config-file=<file>
Read config file.
--icon-size=<size>
Specify icon size (22 by default). If set to 0, icons will not be loaded.
--at-pointer
Launch menu at mouse pointer.
--hide-on-startup
Start menu is hidden state.
--simple
Ignore tint2 settings; Run in short-lived mode (i.e. exit after mouse click or
enter/escape); read menu items from stdin.
--vsimple
Same as --simple, but also disables icons and ignores jgmenurc.
--csv-file=<file>
Specify menu file (in jgmenu flavoured CSV format). If file cannot be opened,
input is reverted to stdin.
--csv-cmd=<command>
Specify command to produce menu data, for example jgmenu_run pmenu
--die-when-loaded
Open menu and then exit(0). Useful for debugging and testing.
--center
Center align menu horizontally and vertically.
--persistent
Same as the persistent config option. See config option section below for details.
USER INTERFACE
Up, Down
Select previous/next item
Left. Right
Move to parent/sub menu
PgUp, PgDn
Scroll up/down
Home, End
Select first/last item
Enter Select an item or open a submenu
F5 Restart
F8 Print node tree to stderr
F9 exit(1)
F10 exit(0)
Backspace
Return to parent menu
Type any string to invoke a search. Words separated by space will be searched for using
OR logic (i.e. the match of either word is sufficient to display an item).
WIDGETS
Lines beginning with `@' in jgmenu flavoured CSV files are parsed in accordance with the
following syntax:
@type,action,x,y,w,h,r,halign,valign,fgcol,bgcol,content
type The widget type, which can be one of the following:
rect Rectangle with a 1px thick border drawn using fgcol
search Search box showing the current filter (what the user has typed) or the
specified text if no filter has been invoked.
icon Icon
action The action to take when selected. This can either be a shell command or a menu
action such ^root().
x, y Horizontal and vertical margin of widget
w, h Width and height of widget
r Corner radius
fgcol, bgcol
Foreground and background colours using syntax rrggbb #aa fgcol accepts auto to use
the jgmenurc’s color_norm_fg
content
icon_path for icon widgets text for all other widget types
halign, valign
Horizontal and vertical alignment of widget. This has not yet been implemented,
but defaults to top and left
CONFIGURATION FILE
If no file is specified using the –config-file= option, the XDG Base Directory
Specification is adhered to. I.e:
• Global config in ${XDG_CONFIG_DIRS:-/etc/xdg}
• User config override in ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}
For most users ~/.config/jgmenu/jgmenurc is appropriate.
Global config variables are set in the following order (i.e. bottom of list has higher
precedence):
• built-in defaults (config.c)
• tint2rc config file (can be specified by TINT2_CONFIG environment variable)
• jgmenurc config file (can be specified by –config-file=)
• command line arguments
Syntax
Lines beginning with # are ignored.
All other lines are recognised as setting variables in the format
key = value
White spaces are mostly ignored.
Values
Unless otherwise specified, values as treated as simple strings.
Here follow some specific types:
boolean
When a variable takes a boolean value, only 0 and 1 are accepted. 0 means false; 1
means true.
integer
When a variable takes an integer value, only numerical values are accepted. The
only valid characters are digits (0-9) and minus-sign. All integer variables
relating to geometry and position are interpreted as pixel values unless otherwise
specified.
color When a variable takes a color value, only the syntax #rrggbb aaa is recognised,
where rr, gg and bb represent hexadecimal values (00-ff) for the colours red, green
and blue respectively; and aaa stands for the alpha channel value expressed as a
percentage (0-100) (i.e. 100 means no transparency and 0 means fully transparent.)
For example #ff0000 100 represents red with no transparency, whereas #000088 50
means dark blue with 50% transparency.
pathname
When a variable takes a pathname value, it is evaluated as a string. If the first
character is tilde (~), it will be replaced by the the environment variable $HOME
just as a shell would expand it.
Variables
verbosity = integer (default 0)
General verbosity: (0) warnings only; (1) basic info; (2) more info; (3) max info
Additional specific topics: (4) IPC
Note: Some IPC messages need environment variable JGMENU_VERBOSITY=4 too
stay_alive = boolean (default 1)
If set to 1, the menu will “hide” rather than “exit” when the following events
occur: clicking on menu item; clicking outside the menu; pressing escape. When in
the hidden mode, a USR1 signal will “un-hide” the menu.
persistent = boolean (default 0)
If set to 1, the menu will not exit nor hide when the following events occur:
clicking on menu item; clicking outside the menu; pressing escape. Use in
conjunction with the ^quit() markup.
hide_on_startup = boolean (default 0)
If set to 1, jgmenu start in “hidden” mode. This is useful for starting jgmenu
during the boot process and then sending a killall -SIGUSR1 jgmenu to show the
menu.
csv_cmd = string (default apps)
Defines the command to produce the jgmenu flavoured CSV for jgmenu. Accpetable
keyword include apps, pmenu, lx, and ob. If a value is given other than these
keywords, it will be executed in a shell (so be careful!). If left blank, jgmenu
will read from stdin. Examples:
csv_cmd = lx
csv_cmd = jgmenu_run lx --no-dirs
csv_cmd = cat ~/mymenu.csv
tint2_look = boolean (default 0)
Read tint2rc and parse config options for colours, dimensions and alignment.
position_mode = (fixed | ipc | pointer | center) (default fixed)
Define menu positioning mode.
fixed Align to margin_{x,y} and respect _NET_WORKAREA.
ipc Use IPC to read environment variables set by panel. See Inter-Process
Communication for further info.
pointer
Launch at pointer whilst respecting both _NET_WORKAREA and edge_snap_x.
center Launch at center of screen and ignore _NET_WORKAREA. Take precedence over
menu_{v,h}align.
edge_snap_x = integer (default 30)
Specify the distance (in pixels) from the left hand edge, within which the menu
will snap to the edge. Note that this only applies in at_pointer mode.
terminal_exec = string (default x-terminal-emulator)
Define terminal to use for commands with ^term() markup
terminal_args = string (default -e)
The values of these two variables are used to build a string to launch programs
requiring a terminal to run. With the default values, the string would become: x-
terminal-emulator -e 'some_command with arguments'. terminal_args must finish with
-e or equivalent, where -e refers to the meaning of -e in xterm -e.
monitor = integer (default 0)
Specify a particular monitor as an index starting from 1. If 0, the menu will be
launched on the monitor where the mouse is.
hover_delay = integer (default 100)
Time (in milliseconds) from hovering over an item until a submenu is opened.
hide_back_items = boolean (default 1)
If enabled, all ^back() items will be suppressed. As a general rule, it should be
set to 1 for a multi-window menu, and 0 when in single-window mode.
columns = integer (default 1)
Number of columns in which to show menu items
tabs = integer (default 120)
Specify the position is pixels of the first tab
menu_margin_x = integer (default 0)
Distance between the menu (=X11 window) and the edge of the screen. See note on
_NET_WORKAREA under menu_{v,h}align variables.
menu_margin_y = integer (default 0)
Vertical equilvalent of menu_margin_x
menu_width = integer (default 200)
Minimum menu width of the menu. The menu width will adjust to the longest item in
the current (sub)menu. If a filter is applied (e.g. by the user typing) the menu
width will not adjust.
menu_height_min = integer (default 0)
Set the minimum height of the root menu. If menu_height_min and menu_height_max
these are set to the same value, the menu height will be fixed at that value. If
set to zero, they will be ignored.
menu_height_max = integer (default 0)
Minimum height of the root menu. See menu_height_min
menu_height_mode = (static | dynamic) (default static)
Mode of menu height
static Height of the initial root menu will be used for any subsequent ^root()
action
dynamic
Root menu height will be re-calculated every time a new tag is opened using
^root().
menu_padding_top = integer (default 5)
Distance between top border and item/widget
menu_padding_right = integer (default 5)
Distance between right border and item/widget
menu_padding_bottom = integer (default 5)
Distance between bottom border and item/widget
menu_padding_left = integer (default 5)
Distance between left border and item/widget
menu_radius = integer (default 1)
Radius of rounded corners of menu
menu_border = integer (default 0)
Thickness of menu border
menu_halign = (left | right | center) (default left)
Horizontal alignment of menu. If not set, jgmenu will try to guess the alignment
reading _NET_WORKAREA, which is a freedesktop EWMH root window property. Not all
Window Managers and Panels respect _NET_WORKAREA. The following do: openbox,
xfwm4, tint2 and polybar. The following do NOT: awesome, i3, bspwm and plank
menu_valign = (top | bottom | center) (default bottom)
Vertical alignment of menu. See menu_halign.
menu_gradient_pos = (none | top | right | bottom | left | top_left | top_right |
bottom_left | bottom_right ) (default none)
Start position of menu window gradient. The end position is at the opposite side
or corner. Colors color_menu_bg and color_menu_bg_to specify the start (from) and
finish (to).
sub_spacing = integer (default 1)
Horizontal space between windows. A negative value results in each submenu window
overlapping its parent window.
sub_padding_top = integer (default auto)
Same as menu_padding_top but applies to submenu windows only. It understands the
keyword auto which means that the smallest of the four menu_padding_* variables
will be used.
sub_padding_right = integer (default auto)
See sub_padding_top
sub_padding_bottom = integer (default auto)
See sub_padding_top
sub_padding_left = integer (default auto)
See sub_padding_top
sub_hover_action = integer (default 1)
Open submenu when hovering over item (only works in multi-window mode).
item_margin_x = integer (default 3)
Horizontal distance between items and the edge of the menu.
item_margin_y = integer (default 3)
Vertical distance between items and the edge of the menu.
item_height = integer (default 25)
Height of menu items.
item_padding_x = integer (default 4)
Horizontal distance between item edge and its content (e.g. text or icon)
item_radius = integer (default 1)
Radius of rounded corners of items
item_border = integer (default 0)
Thickness of item border
item_halign = (left | right) (default left)
Horizontal alignment of menu items. If set to right, the option arrow_string
should be changed too.
sep_height = integer (default 5)
Height of separator without text (defined by ^sep()). Separators with text use
item_height
sep_halign = (left | center | right) (default left)
Horizontal alignment of separator text
sep_markup = string (unset by default)
If specified, <span $sep_markup>foo</span> will be passed to pango for ^sep(foo).
See the following link for pango attributes:
<https://developer.gnome.org/pango/stable/pango-Markup.html>
Keywords include (but are not limited to):
• font
• size (x-small, small, medium, large, x-large) - style (normal, oblique, italic)
• weight (ultralight, light, normal, bold, ultrabold, heavy
• foreground (using format #rrggbb or a colour name)
• underline (none, single, double)
Example:
sep_markup = font="Sans Italic 12" foreground="blue"
font = string (unset by default)
Font description for menu items. font accepts a string such as Cantarell 10 or
UbuntuCondensed 11. The font description without a specified size unit is
interpreted as points. If px is added, it will be read as pixels. Using “points”
enables consistency with other applications.
font_fallback = string (default xtg)
Same as icon_theme_fallback, except that the xsettings variable Gtk/FontName is
read.
icon_size = integer (default 22)
Size of icons in pixels. If set to 0, icons will be disabled.
icon_text_spacing = integer (default 10)
Distance between icon and text within a menu item
icon_norm_alpha = integer (default 100)
Opacity of menu item icons, expressed as a percentage (0-100).
icon_sel_alpha = integer (default 100)
Opacity of the currently selected menu item’s icon, expressed as a percentage
(0-100).
icon_theme = string (unset by default)
Name of icon theme. E.g. Adwaita, breeze, Paper, Papirus and Numix. See ls
/usr/share/icons/ (or similar) for available icon themes on your system.
icon_theme_fallback = string (default xtg)
Fallback sources of the icon theme in order of precedence, where the left-most
letter designates the source with highest precedence. The following characters are
acceptable: x=xsettings Net/IconThemeName; t=tint2; g=gtk3.0. icon_theme takes
priority if set. In order to increase consistency with tint2, xsettings variables
will only be read if the tint2rc variable launcher_icon_theme_override is 0.
arrow_string = string (default ▸)
String to be used to indicate that an item will open submenu. See jgmenuunicode(7)
for examples
arrow_width = integer (default 15)
Width allowed for arrow_string. Set to 0 to hide arrow.
color_menu_bg = color (default #000000 100)
Background colour of menu window. If gradients are enabled, this will be the
`from' color.
color_menu_bg_to = color (default #000000 100)
Background `to' colour of menu window - for use with gradients
color_menu_border = color (default #eeeeee 8)
Border colour of menu window
color_norm_bg = color (default #000000 0)
Background colour of menu items, except the one currently selected.
color_norm_fg = color (default #eeeeee 100)
Font (foreground) colour of menu items, except the one currently selected.
color_sel_bg = color (default #ffffff 20)
Background color of the currently selected menu item.
color_sel_fg = color (default #eeeeee 100)
Font (foreground) color of the currently selected menu item.
color_sel_border = color (default #eeeeee 8)
Border color of the currently selected menu item.
color_sep_fg = color (default #ffffff 20)
Font (foreground) colour of separators without text
color_title_fg = color (default #eeeeee 50)
Font (foreground) colour of separators with text. The font colour can be
overridden by sep_markup
color_title_bg = color (default #000000 0)
Background colour of separators with text.
color_title_border = color (default #000000 0)
Border colour of separators with text.
color_scroll_ind = color (default #eeeeee 40)
Colour of scroll indicator lines (which show if there are menu items above or below
those which are visible).
CSV generator variables
The following variables begin with csv_ which denotes that they set environment variables
which are used by the CSV generators.
csv_name_format = string (default %n (%g))
Defines the format of the name field for CSV generators. Supported by apps and lx.
It understands the following two fields:
%n Application name
%g Application generic name. If a generic name does not exist or is the same
as the name, %n will be used without any formatting.
csv_single_window = boolean (default 0)
If set, csv-generators will output ^root() instead of ^checkout(). This results in
a single window menu, where submenus appear in the same window. This is supported
by apps and pmenu.
csv_no_dirs = boolean (default 0)
If set, csv-generators will output applications without any directory structure.
This is supported by apps, pmenu and lx.
csv_i18n = string (no default)
Look for a translation file in the specified file or directory. See `jgmenu-
i18n(1) for further details. Supported by apps and ob.
csv_no_duplicates = boolean (default 0)
Restrict applications to appear in one directory only. Supported by apps.
Inter-Process Communication (IPC)
IPC can be used to align jgmenu to a panel launcher in real-time. This is currently
supported by tint2 and xfce-panel. It works as follows:
jgmenu_run reads the environment variables listed below and passes them via a unix socket
to the long-running instance of jgmenu.
If position_mode=ipc, jgmenu aligns to these variables every times it is launched.
The following four environment variables define the extremities of the panel:
TINT2_BUTTON_PANEL_X1, TINT2_BUTTON_PANEL_X2, TINT2_BUTTON_PANEL_Y1,
TINT2_BUTTON_PANEL_Y2.
(X1,Y1)
╔══════════════════════╗
║ panel ║
╚══════════════════════╝
(X2,Y2)
The following environment variables define the position of the launcher. These are
interpreted differently depending on panel alignment.
In the case of a horizontal panel:
• TINT2_BUTTON_ALIGNED_X1 and TINT2_BUTTON_ALIGNED_X2 define the launcher button’s
horizontal extremities to align to.
• TINT2_BUTTON_ALIGNED_Y1 and TINT2_BUTTON_ALIGNED_Y2 define the edge of the panel to
align to. These shall be the same.
In the case or a vertical panel, the same rules apply with X and Y reversed.
If the above variables are not set, menu_margin_x and menu_margin_y are used.
DIAGRAMS
General Notes
margin Refers to space outside an object
padding
Refers to space inside an object (between border and content)
Vertical Menu
╔════════════════════════╗
║ 1 ║
╟────────────────────────╢
║ 2 ║
╟────────────────────────╢
║ item ║
╟────────────────────────╢
║ 2 ║
╟────────────────────────╢
║ item ║
╟────────────────────────╢
║ 2 ║
╟────────────────────────╢
║ 3 ║
╚════════════════════════╝
1. menu_padding_top
2. item_margin_y
3. menu_padding_bottom
Horizontal Menu
╔═╤═╤════════════════╤═╤═╗
║ │ │ │ │ ║
║ │ ├────────────────┤ │ ║
║ │ │icon text >│ │ ║
║ │ ├────────────────┤ │ ║
║2│1│ │1│3║
║ │ ├────┬─┬───────┬─┤ │ ║
║ │ │ 4 │5│ │6│ │ ║
║ │ ├────┴─┴───────┴─┤ │ ║
║ │ │ │ │ ║
║ │ │ │ │ ║
╚═╧═╧════════════════╧═╧═╝
1. item_margin_x
2. padding_left
3. padding_right
4. icon_size
5. icon_to_text_spacing
6. arrow_width
External to menu
screen
╔════════════════════════╗
║ 2 ║
║ ┌──────┐ ║
║ │ root │ ┌──────┐ ║
║1│ menu │ │ sub │ ║
║ │ │3│ menu │ ║
║ └──────┘ │ │ ║
║ └──────┘ ║
║ ║
║ ║
║ ║
╚════════════════════════╝
1. menu_margin_x
2. menu_margin_y
3. sub_spacing
HOOKS
A hook in jgmenu is a rule which optionally triggers a command and then performs a restart
if a file or directory has has changed since the last time the instance of jgmenu was
mapped (=made visible - normally by running jgmenu_run).
Hooks are specified in the file $HOME/.config/jgmenu/hooks are take the format
<file>,<command>
For example, to synchronise with the GTK theme, use this hook:
~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini,jgmenu_run gtktheme
Leave the <command> empty to just restart.
A number of restart-hooks are built-in by default, for example
~/.config/jgmenu/{jgmenurc,append.csv,prepend.csv} and /usr/share/applications.
To list all the built-in hooks, use the keyword print in the hook file (on a line on its
own). In order to remove all the built-in hooks, use the keyword clear.
STARTUP SCRIPT
Unless the --vsimple argument is used, the file ~/.config/jgmenu/startup is executed on
initial startup.
SEE ALSO
• jgmenu_run(1)
• jgmenututorial(7)
• jgmenuunicode(7)
The jgmenu source code and documentation can be downloaded from
<https://github.com/johanmalm/jgmenu/>
AUTHORS
Johan Malm.
2 January, 2021 JGMENU(1)