1CWM(1) BSD General Commands Manual CWM(1)
2
4 cwm — a lightweight and efficient window manager for X11
5
7 cwm [-nv] [-c file] [-d display]
8
10 cwm is a window manager for X11 which contains many features that concen‐
11 trate on the efficiency and transparency of window management, while
12 maintaining the simplest and most pleasant aesthetic.
13 The options are as follows:
15 -c file
17 Specify an alternative configuration file. By default, cwm loads
18 ~/.cwmrc, if present. Any error messages from lines in the con‐
19 figuration file will be sent to stderr; however, cwm will con‐
20 tinue to process the rest of the configuration file.
21 -d display
23 Specify the display to use.
24 -n Configtest mode. Only check the configuration file for validity.
26 -v Verbose mode. Multiple -v options increase the verbosity.
28 cwm actions are initiated either via key or mouse bindings. The follow‐
30 ing notations are used throughout this page:
31 C Control key.
33 M Meta key.
34 S Shift key.
35 4 Mod4 (windows) key.
36 M1 Left mouse button.
37 M2 Middle mouse button.
38 M3 Right mouse button.
39 The default key bindings are:
41 CM-Return Spawn a new terminal.
43 CM-Delete Lock the screen.
44 M-Return Hide current window.
45 M-Down Lower current window.
46 M-Up Raise current window.
47 M-slash Search for windows.
48 C-slash Search for applications.
49 CM-n Label current window.
50 M-Tab Cycle through currently visible windows.
51 MS-Tab Reverse cycle through currently visible windows.
52 CM-x Close current window.
53 CM-[n] Toggle visibility of group n, where n is 1-9.
54 CM-a Toggle visibility of all groups.
55 CM-g Toggle group membership of current window.
56 M-Right Cycle through active groups.
57 M-Left Reverse cycle through active groups.
58 CMS-f Toggle freezing geometry of current window.
59 CM-s Toggle stickiness of current window.
60 CM-f Toggle full-screen mode of current window.
61 CM-m Toggle maximization of current window.
62 CM-equal Toggle vertical maximization of current window.
63 CMS-equal Toggle horizontal maximization of current window.
64 M-[hjkl] Move window by a small amount.
65 MS-[hjkl] Move window by a large amount; see cwmrc(5).
66 CM-[hjkl] Resize window by a small amount.
67 CMS-[hjkl] Resize window by a large amount; see cwmrc(5).
68 M-question Spawn “exec program” dialog.
69 M-period Spawn “ssh to” dialog. This parses
70 $HOME/.ssh/known_hosts to provide host auto-comple‐
71 tion. ssh(1) will be executed via the configured
72 terminal emulator.
73 CM-w Spawn “exec WindowManager” menu, allowing a switch
74 to another window manager.
75 CMS-r Restart.
76 CMS-q Quit.
77 The default mouse bindings are:
79 M-M1 Move current window.
81 CM-M1 Toggle group membership of current window.
82 M-M2 Resize current window
83 M-M3 Lower current window.
84 CMS-M3 Hide current window.
85 The following key bindings may be used to navigate search and exec
87 dialogs:
88 [Return] Select item.
90 [Down], C-s or M-j Next item.
91 [Up], C-r or M-k Previous item.
92 [Backspace] or C-h Backspace.
93 C-u Clear input.
94 C-a List all available items.
95 [Esc] Cancel.
96 cwm rereads its configuration file when it receives a hangup signal,
98 SIGHUP, by executing itself with the name and arguments with which it was
99 started. This is equivalent to the restart function.
100
102 cwm features the ability to search for windows by their current title,
103 old titles, and by their label. The priority for the search results are:
104 label, current title, old titles in reverse order, and finally window
105 class name. cwm keeps a history of the 5 previous titles of a window.
106 When searching, the leftmost character of the result list may show a
108 flag:
109 ! Window is currently focused.
111 & Window is hidden.
112
114 cwm manages a list of applications defined with the command configuration
115 option.
116
118 cwm has the ability to group windows together, and use the groups to per‐
119 form operations on the entire group instead of just one window. Together
120 with the sticky option, this can be used to emulate virtual desktops.
121 To edit groups, use the group selection commands to toggle membership of
123 a group. A blue border will be shown briefly on windows added to the
124 current group, and a red border will be shown on those just removed.
125
127 Menus are recalled by clicking the mouse on the root window:
128 M1 Show list of currently defined windows. Selecting an item
130 will warp to that window, unhiding it if necessary.
131 M2 Show list of currently defined groups. Selecting an item
132 will hide/unhide that group.
133 M3 Show list of applications as defined in the configuration
134 file. Selecting an item will spawn that application.
135
137 DISPLAY cwm starts on this display unless the -d option is given.
138
140 ~/.cwmrc Default cwm configuration file.
141
143 cwmrc(5)
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146 cwm was originally inspired by evilwm, but was rewritten from scratch due
147 to limitations in the evilwm codebase. The from-scratch rewrite borrowed
148 some code from 9wm, however that code has since been removed or rewrit‐
149 ten.
150 cwm first appeared in OpenBSD 4.2.
152
154 cwm was developed by Marius Aamodt Eriksen <marius@monkey.org> with con‐
155 tributions from Andy Adamson <dros@monkey.org>, Niels Provos
156 <provos@monkey.org>, and Antti Nykänen <aon@iki.fi>. Ideas, discussion
157 with many others.
158BSD April 11, 2021 BSD