Statements

A block contains zero or more statements; whitespace (including newlines) separates them.

let NAME = EXPR

for NAME in (SOURCE [where EXPR]) { ... }

if EXPR { ... } [else { ... } | else if ... ]

break

continue

COMMAND [ARGS ...]

Expressions

The expression language has no arithmetic and no string operators in v1; it covers what's needed to choose work to do.

Sources

Each iterable source yields records whose fields match the matching show topic JSON (see show windows, show desk, show output, show rules). Common window fields include id, app_id, title, desk, output, layer, focused, iconified, circulate_skip, maximized, width, height, page_col, page_row, current_page, current_desk, current_output, sticky_desk, sticky_page, border_width, title_thickness, squeeze, and squeezed_rect. Common desk fields include nr, name, output, current, active, collected, window_count, page_col, page_row, page_cols, page_rows, page_vx, and page_vy. Common output fields include name, nr, number, geometry, usable geometry, current, current_desk, current_desk_name, and page state. Common rule fields include name, type, global, output, desk, match, and body.

For window records, current_page is relative to that window's output. Use current_output and current_page when matching windows only on the current output's current page.

Inside a rule body, the identifier self resolves to a record for the event's target view; outside a rule body it is unbound.

Examples

Tint titlebars of windows promoted to the top layer:

decor -d top-tint titlebar.active_colour 0xC04030
decor -d normal-tint titlebar.active_colour 0x303030
rule -g -n top-tint -T on-layer-change script {
    if self.layer == 16 {
        decor -a top-tint
    } else {
        decor -a normal-tint
    }
}

Move every mpv window to the top layer:

script {
    for w in (windows where w.app_id == "mpv") {
        winops -t #{w.id} -L =top
    }
}

Iconify every window not on the currently-focused desk:

script {
    for w in (windows where w.focused != true and w.iconified != true) {
        winops -t #{w.id} -i
    }
}

When cow starts, for the output (screen) HDMI-A-1, set every desk to start on page 1,1:

rule -g -T on-start -n startup-pages script {
    let output = "HDMI-A-1"
    for d in (desks where d.output == output) {
        desk -t '#{output}' -d #{d.nr}
        scroll -t '#{output}' -a 1,1
    }
}

Search Order

Unless overridden with -c or $COW_CONFIG, the configuration file is located by searching the following paths in order, stopping at the first that exists:

File Format

The configuration file is plain text. Each line is a cow command, using the Lines beginning with # are comments. A backslash (\) at the end of a line continues the command on the next line.

The include command reads additional commands from another file. Absolute paths are used as-is, paths beginning with ~/ are resolved relative to $HOME, and other relative paths are resolved relative to $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR.

Example:

# This is a comment which cow ignores.
decor -d default border.width 10
decor -d default border.style fvwm
decor -a default

# This command is split over multiple lines for clarity.
bind \
    L+Return \
    exec foot

Source and Target Definitions

Most commands have a target on which the command is going to operate on, and for consistency across those commands, that is the `-t` flag. The same concept exists for for a source window, via `-s`.

The format for both is the following:

That is to say, there's three components -- the delimiters between the parts are literal and must be specified:

output

desk

window

In the case of using a substring, this is run through `fnmatch(3)`

bind [-r] [-x release-action] [contexts:]modifier+key action ... | bind -d pattern

Key bindings are specified as a modifier string immediately followed by + and a keysym name, or - and a numeric keycode:

bind MODIFIERS+keysym  command
bind MODIFIERS-keycode command
bind CONTEXTS:MODIFIERS+keysym command

Without a context prefix the binding is global. A context-qualified binding is enabled only while the pointer is in one of its regions. If the same key has both global and matching contextual bindings, the contextual binding wins; the global binding is the fallback.

For overlapping contextual bindings, the most specific context wins.

Context characters:

Multiple characters combine regions. The context window becomes the command's default target, making window commands act on the window under that region rather than whichever window was previously focused.

-r

-d pattern

-x action

bind -x "menu-destroy AllWindows" A+Tab menu-show AllWindows

Modifier characters:

Modifiers are combined by concatenation: LS means Logo+Shift, LCA means Logo+Control+Alt, and CM means Control+Meta. Use 0 to specify no modifier.

Key symbols and codes can be determined with wev(1).

Examples:

bind L+Return     exec xterm
bind LS+a         winops -c
bind LCA+q        quit
bind 0+F1         action-help
bind -r L+Right   scroll -n           # hold Super+Right to keep paging
bind R:L+Return   exec xterm          # only over the background
bind I:0+Return   winops -i           # restore the icon under the pointer
bind 0:L+Return   window-maximize     # over titlebar button 0

mouse [contexts:]key action ...

Mouse bindings use the same modifier format as the bind command. The button name replaces the keysym:

mouse MODIFIERS+button command
mouse CONTEXTS:MODIFIERS+button command

Button names: left, right, middle, side, extra, forward, back, task.

Bind a pointer button combination to a command. The key format is the same as for bind, but the key name is a button name (see MOUSE BINDINGS). The optional contexts and their precedence are the same as for bind. Contextual commands target the window under the pointer. A matching contextual mouse binding consumes the click before normal pointer interaction, so it overrides a bind-decoration action or titlebar-button action in that region. Without a matching binding, the normal decoration or client click behaviour is unchanged.

In addition to the contexts accepted by bind, mouse bindings accept these non-button SSD decoration contexts:

Multiple characters combine regions, so TF: applies to the titlebar or any frame corner.

Example:

mouse L+left   window-move
mouse L+right  resize
mouse L+middle window-move -C
mouse T:0+left window-move
mouse <:0+left window-resize -e nw
mouse ]:0+left window-resize -e e
mouse I:0+left winops -i
mouse R:0+left menu-show RootMenu

The R context applies to cow's output background surface and does not capture clicks on client windows. It supports the same buttons and modifiers as other mouse contexts and is useful for root-window style menus. See the MENU section for more information.

bind-decoration [-2] region command ...

Bind a primary-button click on a window's decoration to a command. Each window's frame is divided into regions. See the ANATOMY_OF_A_WINDOW section.

When a bound region of the window is clicked on, the attached action runs against that window.

-2

The region argument is case-insensitive and accepts both the compass shorthands and the long form:

The default bindings are:

Double-clicks on edges and corners have no defaults.

If a button has both single- and double-click bindings, CoW waits until the double-click interval has elapsed before running the single-click action. A second click on the same button runs only the double-click action. Other decoration regions retain immediate press-and-hold handling for interactive move and resize actions.

Limitation: River does not expose which button was used when clicking on the window decoration, so currently, only mouse button 1 is usable.

Examples:

# Maximise a window by clicking anywhere on its titlebar
# (replaces the default window-move).
bind-decoration titlebar window-maximize -m

# Re-express the default double-click-shade explicitly.
bind-decoration -2 titlebar window-shade -d titlebar

# Maximise on a click on the north edge.
bind-decoration N window-maximize -m

# Double-click NE corner closes the window (the single-click default
# of starting a corner resize still fires on the first click; bind
# the single-click pair too if you want to suppress it).
bind-decoration -2 NE    winops -c

# Button 0 toggles vertical maximisation on one click and full
# maximisation on two clicks.
bind-decoration 0       window-maximize -T
bind-decoration -2 0    window-maximize -m

# Chain: start a resize then focus the next window.
bind-decoration SE       window-resize -e se ; focus -n

rule -d -n <name> | -g | -t output[:desk] -n <name> -T <event> [-s sel] cmd...

Apply rules (groups of commands) to certain conditions (events).

A rule has a name (via `-n`) which must be specified. Note that rules are globally stored, so any conflicting names will mean that rule will be rejected. It also has a type (via `-T`) which specifies when to run the rule. Multiple rules can be defined against the same type as long as their names are distinct.

The following table shows which events are available:

Specificity of rules are such that global rules (via `-g`) run before any specific defined rules. For example:

# Define a global rule -- this will always run.
rule -g -Ton-map -ng-on-map exec notify-send "A window has appeared."

# Define a rule to change a window property when windows appears on desk 2
decor -d desk2 titlebar.active_colour 0xFF8C00
decor -d desk2 titlebar.inactive_colour 0xB28E4C
decor -d desk2 border.inactive 0xB28E4C
rule -t :2 -Ton-map -ndesk2 decor -a desk2

Rules can be deleted with the `-d` option. Additionally, `-n` is needed to specify the name, example:

rule -d -ndesk2

Defined rules can be seen with the show command.

exec command ...

Execute a shell command. During configuration loading, exec commands are deferred until cow has fully connected to River.

draw-exec [-F expr] command ...

Start an interactive pointer drag. On button release, run command and apply the drawn frame to the first newly mapped window which matches expr. Without -F, the first newly mapped window consumes the frame.

The command is parsed as a CoW command, so launching an application usually uses exec:

mouse M+left draw-exec exec foot
mouse M+middle draw-exec -F 'self.app_id == "foot"' exec foot

If the command is a brace-delimited script block, the surrounding braces are removed before the block is evaluated.

show [-F expr] [topic] [config key]

Query window manager state. The response is a JSON object. When used via moocow(1) the JSON is printed to standard output.

-F expr

Topics:

show windows

show desk

show rules

show output

show keyboard-layout

show config key

quit [-r]

Without any options, cow quits. With -r, reload the configuration from the file cow was started with, instead of quitting.

Keybindings and window decorations are updated immediately on reload.

include _file_

Read and execute commands from file. Absolute paths are used as-is, ~/ is resolved relative to $HOME, and other relative paths are resolved relative to $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR.

keyboard-layout NAME

Set the active XKB layout on every keyboard. NAME must match a descriptive layout name in the keyboard's current keymap. River ignores a name which does not exist.

keyboard-layout 'English (UK)'

list-commands

Return a JSON array of all registered commands, each with name and usage fields.

nop

Do nothing.

decor -d name key value

Define or replace one key in a named, sparse decoration profile. The key is a decoration key without the set prefix.

decor -d alert border.width 8
decor -d alert titlebar.active_colour 0xC04030
decor -d alert border.inactive 0x303030

Theme packs can be split into files and loaded with include, for example:

include themes/fvwm
decor -a fvwm

Titlebar buttons may set their face and vector foreground colours separately for focused and unfocused windows:

decor -d motif titlebar.button.0.active_colour 0xC0C0C0
decor -d motif titlebar.button.0.inactive_colour 0xC0C0C0
decor -d motif titlebar.button.0.active_fg 0x000000
decor -d motif titlebar.button.0.inactive_fg 0xFFFFFF

The foreground properties affect native vector buttons. Image buttons render the colours contained in the image itself.

Image values in a profile may name PNG, SVG, or XPM files. Relative image paths are resolved against the file containing the decor -d command, so a theme directory can keep its config and image assets together.

XPM support covers the XPM3 format, including transparent None pixels, hexadecimal colours, the basic named colours, and gray0 through gray100 (also spelled grey).

decor -a name [-t target]

Apply a named decoration profile. Switching to a different global profile, or applying a profile to an explicit target, resets the target decoration to the base defaults before applying the profile entries. Reapplying the active global profile patches the current decoration in place. Profiles containing only icon.* keys also patch in place. Profiles applied by rules are overlays, so layered rules can compose sparse profiles.

With -t, the target is that window. Without -t, the target is the global decoration defaults and existing windows. Rule bodies use the rule's default window target.

set [-v] key value

Set a configuration option at runtime. -v prints the resulting value.

The specific keys/values for this command are detailed under relevant section in this man page.

However, there are global settings which don't fit into other command settings. These are listed below:

winops [-Icilrs] [-C on|off|toggle] [-L layer] [-t target]

Operate on a window.

-t target

-I

-c

-r

-l

-s

-S

-i

-C on|off|toggle

-L layer

window-move [-C] [-w] [-t target] [-d dir [-n]] [-o output] [-c] [-k 0-9] [-x X] [-y Y] [-P col [row]]

Move a window. With no flags, begin an interactive move using the mouse.

-t target

-d dir

-n

-w

-o output

-C

-P col [row]

-c

-k 0-9

-x X

-y Y

window-resize [-t target] [-gs] [-d dir] [-e edges] [-w width] [-h height]

Resize a window. With no flags, begin an interactive resize operation with the mouse, from the bottom-right corner.

-t target

-g -d dir

-s -d dir

-e edges

-w width

-h height

Viewport units may contain decimals. For example, these bindings place the focused window in the left half and bottom-right quarter respectively:

bind L+Left  window-move -x 0vw -y 0vh ; window-resize -w 50vw -h 100vh
bind L+3     window-move -x 50vw -y 50vh ; window-resize -w 50vw -h 50vh

window-tile [-t target] [-e edges] [-u]

Set or clear the tiled-edge hint for a window. This is mainly useful for scripts which place and size windows exactly, because some clients use the tiled state to ignore normal resize increments.

-t target

-e edges

-u

focus [-npwL] [-F expr] [-l N] [-t target] [-d dir] [-o output] [-A app_id] [-T title] [-i id]

Move keyboard focus.

-n

-p

-F expr

-w

-d dir

-o output

-A app_id

-T pattern

-i id

-L

-l N

window-list [-I] [-n] [-p] [-w] [-F expr] [-f format] [-S sort]

Open a transient list of managed windows, centred on the target output unless -p is used. Press 1 through 9, or 0 for the tenth entry, to select immediately. For longer lists use the arrow keys and Enter. Typing letters performs an incremental, case-insensitive filter over the displayed labels; only matching windows remain visible and the first match is selected. Backspace removes the last search character and expands the list again.

Selecting an entry closes the list, switches to its output, desk, and page, restores it if iconified, activates its container tab if necessary, and focuses it.

-I

-n

-p

-F expr

-f format

-S sort

-w

Examples:

bind L+w window-list
bind LS+w "window-list -F 'self.current_output and self.current_desk'"
bind L+a "window-list -f '%n  [%a] %t'"
bind L+o "window-list -f '%n  %o:%d  %t'"
bind L+s "window-list -S location"
bind L+n "window-list -n"
bind L+i "window-list -I -p"

The popup takes keyboard focus while it is open, so no additional bindings are needed for these keys and normal keyboard input resumes when it closes.

window-expand [-t target] [-d dir] [-T]

Expand a window to fill available space between windows, or the whole monitor if the window is the only window on that monitor.

Use window-maximize -k after expanding to retain the original window position so that it can be unmaximized.

-t target

-d dir

-T

window-maximize [-t target] [-T] [-m] [-u] [-h] [-v] [-k] [-R]

Maximize or restore a window.

-t target

-T

-m

-u

-h

-v

-k

-R

Per-axis maximised state is independent: window-maximize -h followed by window-maximize -v leaves the window maximised on both axes, and each axis can be restored separately with -T -h and -T -v.

Examples:

window-maximize        # full maximise
window-maximize -T     # toggle full maximise
window-maximize -h     # horizontal only
window-maximize -v     # vertical only
window-maximize -T -h  # toggle horizontal maximised state only
window-maximize -u -v  # un-maximise vertical only, keep horizontal
window-maximize -k     # mark maximised without changing size
window-maximize -R     # maximise over panels and other reserved areas

pick-window [-F expr] command ...

Pick a window with the mouse and run command targeting that window. The cursor changes to a crosshair icon, indicating a target window should be selected. Right-click or Escape cancels.

The picked window is passed to command as the default target, so a command without an explicit -t operates on the picked view. Any explicit -t in command takes precedence.

-F expr

Examples:

bind Super+p pick-window winops -c
bind Super+P pick-window { winops -c ; focus -L }
bind Super+o pick-window -F 'self.current_output' focus

window-shade [-t target] -d dir

Shade (roll up) a window in a given direction, hiding its content but leaving its border visible.

-t target

-d dir

window-container [-t target] [-s source] [-arnpNP]

window-container -a

window-container -r [-t target]

window-container -n [-t target]

window-container -p [-t target]

window-container -N [-t target]

window-container -P [-t target]

See also window-move -C, which allows containers to be formed interactively by dragging a window's titlebar onto another. In environments where mouse modifier combinations are unreliable (e.g. VNC), bind container add to a key instead:

bind L+g   window-container -a
bind LS+g  window-container -r
bind L+Tab window-container -n

Container Settings

The following options can be used inside decor -d profile blocks to style container tabs:

icon-placement [-o OUTPUT] box full|WIDTHxHEIGHT±X±Y

icon-placement [-o OUTPUT] fill PRIMARY SECONDARY

icon-placement [-o OUTPUT] grid X Y

icon-placement [-o OUTPUT] compact BOOLEAN

icon-placement [-o OUTPUT] reset

Configure automatic icon placement. Without -o, the setting applies to all outputs. With -o, OUTPUT may be an output name or ordinal such as @2; only properties explicitly set for that output override the global policy.

box GEOMETRY

fill PRIMARY SECONDARY

grid X Y

compact BOOLEAN

reset

Manually dragged icons retain their positions and reserve their rectangles so automatic icons do not overlap them. Placement changes immediately reflow only automatic icons. If a configured box is full, cow searches the full usable area; if that too is full, it uses a deterministic overlapping fallback and logs a warning.

Examples:

The numbered boxes in these diagrams show the order in which free icon positions are considered.

The traditional policy starts at the bottom-left. right is the primary direction and up is the wrapping direction:

icon-placement fill right up

+---------------------------------------+
|                                       |
| [7] [8] [9]                           |
| [4] [5] [6]                 wrap: up  |
| [1] [2] [3]  primary: right           |
+---------------------------------------+

To start at the top-right, fill from top to bottom, and then add columns towards the left:

icon-placement box full
icon-placement fill down left
icon-placement compact false

+---------------------------------------+
|                           [7] [4] [1] |
|                  down: v  [8] [5] [2] |
|       <-- wrap left       [9] [6] [3] |
+---------------------------------------+

The same fill policy can be constrained to a box. In this example, 96x900-0+0 makes a 96 by 900 pixel strip at the top-right of the usable area; -0 anchors its right edge and +0 anchors its top edge:

icon-placement box 96x900-0+0
icon-placement fill down left

+-----------------------------------+-----+
|                                   | [1] |
|                                   | [2] |
|          rest of usable area      | [3] |
|                                   | [4] |
|                                   |  v  |
+-----------------------------------+-----+
                              placement box

Output-specific settings override only the named properties and inherit the remaining global policy:

icon-placement -o @2 box full
icon-placement -o @2 fill right down

# Remove all overrides for the second output.
icon-placement -o @2 reset

icon-reset [-F expr] [-t target]

Reset manual icon positions. Without -t, all saved icon positions are cleared and iconified windows are returned to automatic placement. With -t, the target may be a window, output, or desk; for example -t #id, -t @1, or -t :2.

-F expr

Example:

ICON SETTINGS

The following table shows which settings can be applied to a given (named) decor to change aspects of how icons are controlled:

Defining menus

menu-add [-i ICON] NAME LABEL ACTION

menu-clear NAME

menu-destroy NAME

Showing menus

menu-show NAME [-x N] [-y N]

Menus take keyboard focus while open. Arrow keys navigate, Enter selects, Escape closes, and a menu item's alphanumeric hotkey activates it. Keys listed in menu.repeat_keys repeat while held, using repeat_delay_ms and repeat_interval_ms. Backspace edits the search text in menus such as window-list which support type-ahead. Selecting a submenu item with Up or Down opens it after the same short delay used for pointer hover; Right continues to open it immediately.

The mouse command can bind a menu to cow's output background with the R context:

mouse R:0+left "menu-show RootMenu"

Styling

menu-style KEY VALUE
menu-style -m NAME KEY VALUE
menu-style -m NAME -r KEY

Without -m, sets the global menu style. With -m, sets an override for the named menu; the menu is created if it does not exist yet, so style declarations may precede menu-add. Properties not overridden by a named menu use the current global value.

-r KEY

All style properties may be overridden per menu. Submenus resolve their own named overrides directly against the global style rather than inheriting their parent menu's overrides. menu-clear preserves overrides; menu-destroy removes them with the menu.

The table below shows the possible values:

The default raised selection retains the menu background and derives a lighter top/left edge and darker bottom/right edge from the resolved bg colour. This also applies to per-menu background overrides, including very light and very dark colours; no selection.relief setting is required to enable it.

The flat outer menu border is a solid border.colour. Raised and sunken borders derive light and dark edges from border.colour.

Gradient values use the same syntax as decoration gradients: none, HGradient COLOUR COLOUR, or VGradient COLOUR COLOUR.

For hotkeys, a literal & before a label character marks that character as the item hotkey and underlines it. Use && for a literal ampersand.

When automatic.hotkeys is enabled, cow assigns unique alphanumeric hotkeys to selectable items that do not have an explicit & marker.

When font is not set, menus use the global font.

The menu font can be set globally or per menu. For example:

menu-style font 'Bitstream Vera Sans 17'
menu-style -m WindowOpsMenu font 'monospace 10'

This allows menu and titlebar fonts to be selected independently:

decor -d default titlebar.font 'Bitstream Vera Sans 10'
menu-style font 'Bitstream Vera Sans 17'

For example, these menus share the global geometry and default raised selection relief, but use different colour palettes:

menu-style bg 0xbebebe
menu-style fg 0x000000
menu-style icon.size 16
menu-style icon.gap 4
menu-style icon.path ~/.config/cow/icons

menu-style -m Applications bg        0xd8e0ef
menu-style -m Applications fg        0x182238
menu-style -m Applications title.bg  0x435a82
menu-style -m Applications title.fg  0xffffff
menu-style -m Applications separator 0x8798b8
menu-style -m Applications border.colour 0x293852

menu-style -m WindowOps bg        0xe7d8d2
menu-style -m WindowOps fg        0x321915
menu-style -m WindowOps title.bg  0x8b3a2f
menu-style -m WindowOps title.fg  0xffffff
menu-style -m WindowOps separator 0xb78378
menu-style -m WindowOps border.colour 0x57231d

menu-style -m RootMenu bg        0xd7e4e2
menu-style -m RootMenu fg        0x102b29
menu-style -m RootMenu title.bg  0x0d988c
menu-style -m RootMenu title.fg  0xffffff
menu-style -m RootMenu separator 0x72aaa5
menu-style -m RootMenu border.colour 0x084b46

# Remove only RootMenu's foreground override.
menu-style -m RootMenu -r fg

Example

# Relative icon names are searched below this directory.  This is already
# the default and is shown here to make the lookup explicit.
menu-style icon.path ~/.config/cow/icons

# A "send to desk" sub-menu and a window-ops menu that uses it.
menu-add SendToDesk "Send to Desk" title
menu-add SendToDesk "Desk 1"       "desk 1"
menu-add SendToDesk "Desk 2"       "desk 2"

menu-add WindowOps  "Window"        title
menu-add -i move.svg WindowOps "Move" "window-move"
menu-add WindowOps  "Maximise"      "window-maximize"
menu-add WindowOps  -               -
menu-add WindowOps  "Send To Desk"  "popup SendToDesk"
menu-add WindowOps  "Close"         "winops -c"

menu-add -i windows.svg RootMenu "Window Ops" "popup-pick WindowOps"
menu-add -i terminal.svg RootMenu "Terminal" "exec xterm"
mouse R:0+left "menu-show RootMenu"

# Arrow keys, Enter, Escape, and item hotkeys work while the menu is open.

scroll [-t output] [-w] [-p] _H_ _V_

scroll [-t output] [-a] _col_,_row_

scroll [-t output] -d _left_|_right_|_up_|_down_

scroll [-t output] -n

scroll [-t output] -P

scroll [-t output] [-R] -r

Pan the virtual page viewport for the current desk.

Each page has the logical width and height of its output. Reserved and layer-shell areas affect window placement and maximization, but do not change page dimensions or scroll distances.

Pages can be scrolled in either full pages, or part increments. Additionally, it's possible to in-effect, "drag" the viewport with the mouse to any position.

In the deltas form (H V), H is the horizontal scroll and V the vertical. By default each value is a percentage of one page in that axis: 100 is one full page right (or down), -100 one page left (or up), 50 is half a page, and so on. With -p the values are raw pixels instead.

Options are:

-t output

-w

-p

-a col,row

-d dir

-n

-P

-R

Pages exist only when desktop_size N M is configured with N > 1 or M > 1.

Examples:

# One full page right (clamps at the last column).
scroll 100 0

# Half a page right, a quarter page down.
scroll 50 25

# 200 pixels right.
scroll -p 200 0

# One page right, wrapping at the desk edge.
scroll -w 100 0

# Jump straight to page (col=2, row=0).
scroll -a 2,0

# Jump to the last column in the current row.
scroll -a -1,+0p

# One page right, wrapping; convenient for keybindings.
scroll -d right

# Next / previous page with wrap.
scroll -n
scroll -P

# Bind Ctrl+Meta+Button1 to grab and drag the viewport.
mouse CM+left scroll -r

desk [-t output] [-d N] [-c N] [-np]

Switch or manipulate virtual desks.

-t output

-d N

-n

-p

-c N

desk-name [-t output] N NAME | -d N | -l | -r

Manage the naming of virtual desktops. By default, cow sets ten desktops, whose names default to '0'..'9'. With this command it is possible to change that, either by increasing or decreasing the number of desktops, and/or renaming existing desks.

-t output

N NAME

-d N

-l

-r

The following examples show how this command can be used:

# Three named desks instead of the default ten.
desk-name 0 main
desk-name 1 web
desk-name 2 dev

# Now both forms select the same desk.
focus -t :main
focus -t :0

The minimum number of desks can be set with desks.count. Note that it is possible with the desk-name command to name desks greater than desks.count number, and that this will effectively create this desk.

Desktop / Page Settings

The following options can be used with the set command to change the behaviour of desktops and pages:

NOT£: The reserved. settings are akin to X11's concept of a working-area. That is to say, these settings will reserve parts of the screen to be able to put taskbars, etc.

Keyboard Settings

The following options can be used with the set command to tune repeatable keyboard input:

A binding registered without -r fires exactly once per press, regardless of either setting.