NAME¶

conky - A system monitor for X

SYNOPSIS¶

conky [ options ]

DESCRIPTION¶

Conky is a system monitor for X originally based on torsmo. Since its inception, Conky has changed significantly from its predecessor, while maintaining simplicity and configurability. Conky can display just about anything, either on your root desktop or in its own window. Not only does Conky have many built-in objects, it can also display just about any piece of information by using scripts and other external programs.

Conky has more than 250 built in objects, including support for a plethora of OS stats (uname, uptime, CPU usage, mem usage, disk usage, "top" like process stats, and network monitoring, just to name a few), built in IMAP and POP3 support, built in support for many popular music players (MPD, XMMS2, Audacious), and much much more. Conky can display this info either as text, or using simple progress bars and graph widgets, with different fonts and colours.

We are always looking for help, whether its reporting bugs, writing patches, or writing docs. Please use the facilities on GitHub to make bug reports, feature requests, and submit patches.

Thanks for your interest in Conky.

COMPILING¶

For users compiling from source on a binary distro, make sure you have the X development libraries installed (Unless you configure your build without X11). This should be a package along the lines of "libx11-dev" or "xorg-x11-dev" for X11 libs, and similar "-dev" format for the other libs required (depending on your build options). You should be able to see which extra packages you need to install by reading errors that you get from running `cmake'. The easiest way to view the available build options is to run `ccmake' or `cmake-gui' from the source tree, but be careful when disabling certain features as you may lose desired functionality. E.g., with BUILD_MATH disabled you won't get errors but logarithmic graphs will be normal graphs and gauges will miss their line.

Conky has (for some time) been available in the repositories of most popular distributions. Here are some installation instructions for a few:

Gentoo users -- Conky is in Gentoo's Portage... simply use "emerge app-admin/conky" for installation.

Debian, etc. users -- Conky should be in your repositories, and can be installed by doing "aptitude install conky".

Example to compile and run Conky with default components (note that some build options may differ for your system):

cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:string=/usr .
make
make install # Optional
src/conky

Conky has been tested to be compatible with C99 C and C++0x C++, however it has not been tested with anything other than gcc, and is not guaranteed to work with other compilers.

TIP: Try configuring Conky with `ccmake' or `cmake-gui' instead of just `cmake'.

YOU SHOULD KNOW¶

Conky is generally very good on resources. That said, the more you try to make Conky do, the more resources it is going to consume.

An easy way to force Conky to reload your ~/.config/conky/conky.conf: "killall -SIGUSR1 conky". Saves you the trouble of having to kill and then restart.

OPTIONS¶

Command line options override configurations defined in configuration file.

-a | --alignment= ALIGNMENT: Text alignment on screen, {top,bottom,middle}_{left,right,middle} or none. Can also be abbreviated with first chars of position, ie. tr for top_right. Only available with build flag BUILD_X11 enabled.
-b | --double-buffer: Use double buffering (eliminates "flicker"). Only available with build flag BUILD_X11 enabled.
-c | --config= FILE: Config file to load instead of ~/.config/conky/conky.conf.
-C | --print-config: Print builtin default config to stdout. See also the section EXAMPLES for more information. Only available with build flag BUILD_BUILTIN_CONFIG enabled.
-d | --daemonize: Daemonize Conky, aka fork to background.
-D | --debug: Increase debugging output, ie. -DD for more debugging.
-f | --font= FONT: Font to use. Only available with build flag BUILD_X11 enabled.
-h | --help: Prints command line help and exits.
-i COUNT: Number of times to update Conky (and quit).
-o | --own-window: Create own window to draw. Only available with build flag BUILD_X11 enabled.
-p | --pause= SECONDS: Time to pause/wait before actually starting Conky.
-q | --quiet: Run Conky in 'quiet mode' (ie. no output).
-t | --text= TEXT: Text to render, remember single quotes, like -t ' $uptime '.
-u | --interval= SECONDS: Update interval.
-v | -V | --version: Prints version, build information and general info. Exits after printing.
-w | --window-id= WIN_ID: Window id to draw. Only available with build flag BUILD_X11 enabled.
-x X_COORDINATE: X position.
-X | --display= DISPLAY: X11 display to use. Only available with build flag BUILD_X11 enabled.
-y Y_COORDINATE: Y position.

CONFIGURATION SETTINGS¶

This is a listing of global configuration options for Conky. These are placed in the conky.config section of your configuration file, before conky.text.

The default configuration file location is ~/.config/conky/conky.conf or ${sysconfdir}/conky/conky.conf. On most systems, $sysconfdir is /etc, and you can find the sample config file there in /etc/conky/conky.conf.

You might want to copy the default config to ~/.config/conky/conky.conf and then start modifying it. User configs can be found at https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky/wiki/Configs.

Optional arguments are generally denoted with paretheses (i.e., (optional)).

alignment: Aligned position on screen, may be none or one of:

top_left (or tl)	top_middle (or tm)	top_right (or tr)
middle_left (or ml)	middle_middle (or mm)	middle_right (or mr)
bottom_left (or bl)	bottom_middle (or bm)	bottom_right (or br)

In case of panel and dock windows, it might make more sense to use one of the following aliases:

Alias	Value
top	top_middle
left	middle_left
right	middle_right
bottom	bottom_middle
center	middle_middle

OBJECTS/VARIABLES¶

To configure what Conky displays, you must supply some variables in the conky.text section of your configuration. In this secton you’ll find a listing of the available variables. Some of them may require build options to be enabled at compile time for them to work.

Colours are parsed using XParseColor(), there might be a list of them: /usr/share/X11/rgb.txt. Colour can be also in #rrggbb format (hex).

Some objects may create threads, and sometimes these threads will not be destroyed until Conky terminates. There is no way to destroy or clean up threads while Conky is running. For example, if you use an MPD variable, the MPD thread will keep running until Conky dies. Some threaded objects will use one of the parameters as a key, so that you only have 1 relevant thread running (for example, the $curl, and $rss objects launch one thread per URI).

Optional arguments are generally denoted with paretheses (i.e., (optional)).

acpiacadapter (adapter): ACPI AC adapter state. On linux, the adapter option specifies the subfolder of /sys/class/power_supply containing the state information (tries AC and ADP1 if there is no argument given). Non-linux systems ignore it.
acpifan: ACPI fan state.
acpitemp: ACPI temperature in C.
addr (interface): IP address for an interface, or “No Address” if no address is assigned.
addrs (interface): IP addresses for an interface (if one - works like addr). Linux only.
adt746xcpu: CPU temperature from therm_adt746x.
adt746xfan: Fan speed from therm_adt746x.
alignc (num): Align text to centre.
alignr (num): Right-justify text, with space of N.
apcupsd host port: Sets up the connection to apcupsd daemon. Prints nothing.

Default: localhost:3551

apcupsd_cable: Prints the UPS connection type.
apcupsd_charge: Current battery capacity in percent.
apcupsd_lastxfer: Reason for last transfer from line to battery.
apcupsd_linev: Nominal input voltage.
apcupsd_load: Current load in percent.
apcupsd_loadbar: Bar showing current load.
apcupsd_loadgauge (height),(width): Gauge that shows current load.
apcupsd_loadgraph (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m value): History graph of current load.
apcupsd_model: Prints the model of the UPS.
apcupsd_name: Prints the UPS user-defined name.
apcupsd_status: Prints current status (on-line, on-battery).
apcupsd_temp: Current internal temperature.
apcupsd_timeleft: Time left to run on battery.
apcupsd_upsmode: Prints the UPS mode (e.g. standalone).
apm_adapter: Display APM AC adapter status. FreeBSD, OpenBSD only.
apm_battery_life: Display APM battery life in percent. FreeBSD, OpenBSD only.
apm_battery_time: Display remaining APM battery life in hh:mm:ss or “unknown” if AC adapterstatus is on-line or charging. FreeBSD, OpenBSD only.
audacious_bar (height),(width): Progress bar.
audacious_bitrate: Bitrate of current tune.
audacious_channels: Number of audio channels of current tune.
audacious_filename: Full path and filename of current tune.
audacious_frequency: Sampling frequency of current tune.
audacious_length: Total length of current tune as MM:SS.
audacious_length_seconds: Total length of current tune in seconds.
audacious_main_volume: The current volume fetched from Audacious.
audacious_playlist_length: Number of tunes in playlist.
audacious_playlist_position: Playlist position of current tune.
audacious_position: Position of current tune (MM:SS).
audacious_position_seconds: Position of current tune in seconds.
audacious_status: Player status (Playing/Paused/Stopped/Not running).
audacious_title (max length): Title of current tune with optional maximum length specifier.
battery (num): Battery status and remaining percentage capacity of ACPI or APM battery. ACPI battery number can be given as argument.

Default: BAT0

battery_bar (height),(width) (num): Battery percentage remaining of ACPI battery in a bar. ACPI battery number can be given as argument (use all to get the mean percentage remaining for all batteries).

Default: BAT0

battery_percent (num): Battery percentage remaining for ACPI battery. ACPI battery number can be given as argument (use all to get the mean percentage remaining for all batteries).

Default: BAT0

battery_power_draw (num): Battery power draw in watts

Default: BAT0

battery_short (num): Battery status and remaining percentage capacity of ACPI or APM battery. ACPI battery number can be given as argument. This mode display a short status, which means that C is displayed instead of charging, D for discharging, F for full, N for not present, E for empty and U for unknown.

Default: BAT0

battery_status (num): Battery status for ACPI battery. ACPI battery number can be given as arguments.

Default: BAT0

battery_time (num): Battery charge/discharge time remaining of ACPI battery. ACPI battery number can be given as argument.

Default: BAT0

blink text_and_other_conky_vars: Let `text_and_other_conky_vars' blink on and off.
buffers: Amount of memory buffered.
cached: Amount of memory cached.
cat file: Reads a file and displays the contents in conky. This is useful if you have an independent process generating output that you want to include in conky.
catp file: Reads a file and displays the contents in conky. This is useful if you have an independent process generating output that you want to include in conky. This differs from $cat in that it parses the contents of the file, so you can insert things like `${color red}hi!${color}` in your file and have it correctly parsed by Conky.
cmdline_to_pid string: PID of the first process that has string in its commandline.
cmus_aaa: Print aaa status of cmus (all/artist/album).
cmus_album: Prints the album of the current cmus song.
cmus_artist: Prints the artist of the current cmus song.
cmus_curtime: Current time of the current cmus song.
cmus_date: Print the date of the current cmus song.
cmus_file: Print the file name of the current cmus song.
cmus_genre: Print the genre name of the current cmus song.
cmus_percent: Percent of song’s progress.
cmus_progress (height),(width): cmus’ progress bar.
cmus_random: Random status of cmus (on/off).
cmus_repeat: Repeat status of cmus (song/all/off).
cmus_state: Current state of cmus (playing, paused, stopped etc).
cmus_timeleft: Time left of the current cmus song.
cmus_title: Prints the title of the current cmus song.
cmus_totaltime: Total length of the current cmus song.
cmus_track: Print track number of current cmus song.
color (color): Change drawing color to color which is a name of a color or a hexcode preceded with #, e.g. #0A1B2C. If you use ncurses only the following colors are supported: red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, black, and white.
colorN: Change drawing color to colorN configuration option, where N is a digit between 0 and 9, inclusively.
combine var1 var2: Places the lines of var2 to the right of the lines of var1 separated by the chars that are put between var1 and var2. For example: ${combine ${head /proc/cpuinfo 2} - ${head /proc/meminfo 1}} gives as output cpuinfo_line1 - meminfo_line1 on line 1 and cpuinfo_line2 - on line 2. $combine vars can also be nested to place more vars next to each other.
conky_build_arch: CPU architecture Conky was built for.
conky_version: Conky version.
cpu (cpuN): CPU usage in percents. For SMP machines, the CPU number can be provided as an argument. ${cpu cpu0} is the total usage, and ${cpu cpuX} (X >= 1) are individual CPUs.
cpubar (cpuN) (height),(width): Bar that shows CPU usage, height is bar’s height in pixels. See $cpu for more info on SMP.
cpugauge (cpuN) (height),(width): Elliptical gauge that shows CPU usage, height and width are gauge’s vertical and horizontal axis respectively. See $cpu for more info on SMP.
cpugovernor (cpuN): The active CPU scaling governor, defaulting to the first core. See $cpu for more info on SMP. Linux only.
cpugraph (cpuN) (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m value): CPU usage graph, with optional colours in hex, minus the #. See $cpu for more info on SMP. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when you use the -l switch. Takes the switch `-t' to use a temperature gradient, which makes the gradient values change depending on the amplitude of a particular graph value (try it and see). The flag `-x' inverts the x axis and `-y' inverts the y axis of the graph. The flag `-m' sets a nonzero minimum/lowerbound, ensuring that all values are at least the specified minimum (excluding zero).
curl url (interval_in_minutes): Download data from URI using Curl at the specified interval. The interval may be a positive floating point value (0 is allowed), otherwise defaults to 15 minutes. Most useful when used in conjunction with Lua and the Lua API. This object is threaded, and once a thread is created it can’t be explicitly destroyed. One thread will run for each URI specified. You can use any protocol that Curl supports.
desktop: Number of the desktop on which conky is running or the message “Not running in X” if this is the case.
desktop_name: Name of the desktop on which conky is running or the message “Not running in X” if this is the case.
desktop_number: Number of desktops or the message “Not running in X” if this is the case.
disk_protect device: Disk protection status, if supported (needs kernel-patch). Prints either “frozen” or “free” (note the padding).
diskio (device): Displays current disk IO. Device is optional, and takes the form of sda for /dev/sda. A block device label can be specified with label:foo and a block device partuuid can be specified with partuuid:40000000-01.
diskio_read (device): Displays current disk IO for reads. Device as in diskio.
diskio_write (device): Displays current disk IO for writes. Device as in diskio.
diskiograph (device) (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m value): Disk IO graph, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when you use -l switch. Takes the switch `-t' to use a temperature gradient, which makes the gradient values change depending on the amplitude of a particular graph value (try it and see). The flag `-x' inverts the x axis and `-y' inverts the y axis of the graph. The flag `-m' sets a nonzero minimum/lowerbound, ensuring that all values are at least the specified minimum (excluding zero).
diskiograph_read (device) (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m value): Disk IO graph for reads, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph. Device as in diskio. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when you use -l switch. Takes the switch `-t' to use a temperature gradient, which makes the gradient values change depending on the amplitude of a particular graph value (try it and see). The flag `-x' inverts the x axis and `-y' inverts the y axis of the graph. The flag `-m' sets a nonzero minimum/lowerbound, ensuring that all values are at least the specified minimum (excluding zero).
diskiograph_write (device) (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m value): Disk IO graph for writes, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If scale is non-zero, it becomes the scale for the graph. Device as in diskio. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when you use -l switch. Takes the switch `-t' to use a temperature gradient, which makes the gradient values change depending on the amplitude of a particular graph value (try it and see). The flag `-x' inverts the x axis and `-y' inverts the y axis of the graph. The flag `-m' sets a nonzero minimum/lowerbound, ensuring that all values are at least the specified minimum (excluding zero).
distribution: The name of the distribution. It could be that some of the untested distributions will show up wrong or as “unknown”, if that’s the case post a bug on sourceforge, make sure it contains the name of your distribution, the contents of and if there is a file that only exists on your distribution, also add the path of that file in the bug. If there is no such file, please add another way which we can use to identify your distribution.
downspeed (net): Download speed in suitable IEC units.
downspeedf (net): Download speed in KiB with one decimal.
downspeedgraph (netdev) (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m): Download speed graph, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If scale is non-zero, it defines the maximum value of the graph (in bytes per second). Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when you use -l switch. Takes the switch `-t' to use a temperature gradient, which makes the gradient values change depending on the amplitude of a particular graph value (try it and see). The flag `-x' inverts the x axis and `-y' inverts the y axis of the graph. The flag `-m' sets a nonzero minimum/lowerbound, ensuring that all values are at least the specified minimum (excluding zero).
draft_mails (maildir) (interval): Number of mails marked as draft in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not. Only maildir type mailboxes are supported, mbox type will return -1.
else: Text to show if any of the above are not true.
endif: Ends an $if block.
entropy_avail: Current entropy available for crypto freaks.
entropy_bar (height),(width): Normalized bar of available entropy for crypto freaks.
entropy_perc: Percentage of entropy available in comparison to the poolsize.
entropy_poolsize: Total size of system entropy pool for crypto freaks.
eval string: Evaluates given string according to the rules of conky.text interpretation, i.e. parsing any contained text object specifications into their output, any occurring `$′intoasingle′' and so on. The output is then being parsed again.
exec command: Executes a shell command and displays the output in conky. Warning: this takes a lot more resources than other variables. I’d recommend coding wanted behaviour in C/C++ and posting a patch.
execbar (height),(width) command: Same as exec, except if the first value returned is a value between 0-100, it will use that number to draw a horizontal bar. The height and width parameters are optional, and default to the default_bar_height and default_bar_width config settings, respectively.
execgauge (height),(width) command: Same as exec, except if the first value returned is a value between 0-100, it will use that number to draw a round gauge (much like a vehicle speedometer). The height and width parameters are optional, and default to the default_gauge_height and default_gauge_width config settings, respectively.
execgraph command (height),(width) (gradient color 1) (gradient color 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m value): Draws a horizontally scrolling graph with values from 0-100 plotted on the vertical axis. All parameters following the command are optional. Gradient colors can be specified as hexadecimal values with no 0x or # prefix. Use the -t switch to enable a temperature gradient, so that small values are “cold” with color 1 and large values are “hot” with color 2. Without the -t switch, the colors produce a horizontal gradient spanning the width of the graph. The scale parameter defines the maximum value of the graph. Use the -l switch to enable a logarithmic scale, which helps to see small values. The default size for graphs can be controlled via the default_graph_height and default_graph_width config settings. The flag `-x' inverts the x axis and `-y' inverts the y axis of the graph. The flag `-m' sets a nonzero minimum/lowerbound, ensuring that all values are at least the specified minimum (excluding zero).

If you need to execute a command with spaces, you have a couple options:

1.: wrap your command in double-quotes, or
2.: put your command into a separate file, such as ~/bin/myscript.sh, and use that as your execgraph command.

Remember to make your script executable!

In the following example, we set up execgraph to display seconds (0-59) on a graph that is 50px high and 200px wide, using a temperature gradient with colors ranging from red for small values (FF0000) to yellow for large values (FFFF00). We set the scale to 60.

${execgraph ~/seconds.sh 50,200 FF0000 FFFF00 60 -t}

execi interval command: Same as exec, but with a specific interval in seconds. The interval can’t be less than the update_interval in your configuration. See also $texeci.
execibar interval (height),(width) command: Same as execbar, but with an interval.
execigauge interval (height),(width) command: Same as execgauge, but with an interval.
execigraph interval command (height),(width) (gradient color 1) (gradient color 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m value): Same as execgraph, but with an interval.
execp command: Executes a shell command and displays the output in conky. Warning: this takes a lot more resources than other variables. I’d recommend coding wanted behaviour in C/C++ and posting a patch. This differs from $exec in that it parses the output of the command, so you can insert things like `${color red}hi!${color}` in your script and have it correctly parsed by Conky. Caveats: Conky parses and evaluates the output of $execp every time Conky loops, and then destroys all the objects. If you try to use anything like $execi within an $execp statement, it will functionally run at the same interval that the $execp statement runs, as it is created and destroyed at every interval.
execpi interval command: Same as execp, but with an interval. Note that the output from the $execpi command is still parsed and evaluated at every interval.
flagged_mails (maildir) (interval): Number of mails marked as flagged in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not. Only maildir type mailboxes are supported, mbox type will return -1.
font (font): Specify a different font. This new font will apply to the current line and everything following. You can use a $font with no arguments to change back to the default font (much like with $color).
fontN: Change font to fontN configuration option, where N is a digit between 0 and 9, inclusively.
format_time seconds format: Format time given in seconds. This var only works when the times_in_seconds configuration setting is on. Format is a string that should start and end with a double quote " character. The quote characters are not part of the output, ,,,(,) and \ are replaced by weeks,days,hours,minutes,seconds,(,) and . If you leave out a unit, it’s value will be expressed in the highest unit lower than the one left out. Text between ()-chars will not be visible if a replaced unit in this text is 0. If seconds is a decimal number then you can see the numbers behind the point by using followed by a number that specifies the amount of digits behind the point that you want to see (maximum 9). You can also place a `x' behind so you have all digits behind the point and no trailing zero’s. (also maximum 9).
forwarded_mails (maildir) (interval): Number of mails marked as forwarded in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not. Only maildir type mailboxes are supported, mbox type will return -1.
free_bufcache: Amount of memory cached or buffered, as reported by free. Linux only.
free_cached: Amount of memory cached, as reported by free. Linux only.
freq (n): Returns CPU #n’s frequency in MHz. CPUs are counted from 1.

Default: 1

freq2 (n): Returns CPU #n’s clock speed from assembly in MHz. CPUs are counted from 1.

Default: 1

freq_g (n): Returns CPU #n’s frequency in GHz. CPUs are counted from 1.

Default: 1

fs_bar (height),(width) fs: Bar that shows how much space is used on a file system. height is the height in pixels. fs is any file on that file system.
fs_bar_free (height),(width) fs: Bar that shows how much space is free on a file system. height is the height in pixels. fs is any file on that file system.
fs_free (fs): Free space on a file system available for users.
fs_free_perc (fs): Free percentage of space on a file system available for users.
fs_size (fs): File system size.
fs_type (fs): File system type.
fs_used (fs): File system used space.
fs_used_perc (fs): Percent of file system used space.
gid_name gid: Name of group with this gid.
github_notifications: Number of GitHub notifications.
goto x: The next element will be printed at position `x'.
gw_iface: Displays the default route’s interface or “multiple”/“none” accordingly.
gw_ip: Displays the default gateway’s IP or “multiple”/“none” accordingly.
hddtemp (dev): Displays temperature of a selected hard disk drive as reported by the hddtemp daemon. Use hddtemp_host and hddtemp_port to specify a host and port for all hddtemp objects. If no dev parameter is given, the first disk returned by the hddtemp daemon is used.
head logfile lines (next_check): Displays first N lines of supplied text file. The file is checked every `next_check' update. If next_check is not supplied, Conky defaults to 2. Max of 30 lines can be displayed, or until the text buffer is filled.
hr (height): Horizontal line, height is the height in pixels.
hwmon (dev) type n (factor offset): Hwmon sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). Parameter dev can be: 1. Number. e.g 1 means hwmon1. 2. Module name. e.g. k10temp means the first hwmon device whose module name is `k10temp. 3. Omitted. Then the first hwmon device (hwmon0) will be used.

Parameter type is either in or vol meaning voltage; fan meaning fan; temp meaning temperature. Parameter n is number of the sensor. See /sys/class/hwmon/ on your local computer. The optional arguments factor and offset allow precalculation of the raw input, which is being modified as follows: input = input * factor + offset. Note that they have to be given as decimal values (i.e. contain at least one decimal place).

i2c (dev) type n (factor offset): I2C sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). Parameter dev may be omitted if you have only one I2C device. Parameter type is either in or vol meaning voltage; fan meaning fan; temp meaning temperature. Parameter n is number of the sensor. See /sys/bus/i2c/devices/ on your local computer. The optional arguments factor and offset allow precalculation of the raw input, which is being modified as follows: input = input * factor + offset. Note that they have to be given as decimal values (i.e. contain at least one decimal place).
i8k_ac_status: If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays whether ac power is on, as listed in /proc/i8k (translated to human-readable). Beware that this is by default not enabled by i8k itself.
i8k_bios: If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays the bios version as listed in /proc/i8k.
i8k_buttons_status: If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays the volume buttons status as listed in /proc/i8k.
i8k_cpu_temp: If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays the cpu temperature in Celsius, as reported by /proc/i8k.
i8k_left_fan_rpm: If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays the left fan’s rate of rotation, in revolutions per minute as listed in /proc/i8k. Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans in reverse order.
i8k_left_fan_status: If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays the left fan status as listed in /proc/i8k (translated to human-readable). Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans in reverse order.
i8k_right_fan_rpm: If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays the right fan’s rate of rotation, in revolutions per minute as listed in /proc/i8k. Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans in reverse order.
i8k_right_fan_status: If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays the right fan status as listed in /proc/i8k (translated to human-readable). Beware, some laptops i8k reports these fans in reverse order.
i8k_serial: If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays your laptop serial number as listed in /proc/i8k.
i8k_version: If running the i8k kernel driver for Inspiron laptops, displays the version formatting of /proc/i8k.
ibm_brightness: If running the IBM ACPI, displays the brigtness of the laptops’s LCD (0-7).
ibm_fan: If running the IBM ACPI, displays the fan speed.
ibm_temps N: If running the IBM ACPI, displays the temperatures from the IBM temperature sensors (N=0..7) Sensor 0 is on the CPU, 3 is on the GPU.
ibm_thinklight: If running the IBM ACPI, displays the status of your ThinkLight™. Value is either `on', `off' or `unknown'.
ibm_volume: If running the IBM ACPI, displays the “master” volume, controlled by the volume keys (0-14).
ical number file: Shows title of event number `number' in the ical (RFC 5545) file `file'. The events are first ordered by starting time, events that started in the past are ignored. The events that are shown are the VEVENTS, the title that is shown is the SUMMARY and the starting time used for sorting is DTSTART.
iconv_start codeset_from codeset_to: Convert text from one codeset to another using GNU iconv. Needs to be stopped with iconv_stop.
iconv_stop: Stop iconv codeset conversion.
if_empty (var): if conky variable VAR is empty, display everything between $if_empty and the matching $endif.
if_existing file (string): if FILE exists, display everything between if_existing and the matching $endif. The optional second parameter checks for FILE containing the specified string and prints everything between $if_existing and the matching $endif.
if_gw: if there is at least one default gateway, display everything between $if_gw and the matching $endif.
if_match expression: Evaluates the given boolean expression, printing everything between $if_match and the matching $endif depending on whether the evaluation returns true or not. Valid expressions consist of a left side, an operator and a right side. Left and right sides are being parsed for contained text objects before evaluation.

Recognised left and right side types are:

•: double: Argument consists of only digits and a single dot.
•: long: Argument consists of only digits.
•: string: Argument is enclosed in quotation marks (").

Valid operands are:

•: < or >
•: <= or >=
•: == or !=

if_mixer_mute (mixer): If mixer exists, display everything between $if_mixer_mute and the matching $endif. If no mixer is specified, “Vol” is used.
if_mounted (mountpoint): if MOUNTPOINT is mounted, display everything between $if_mounted and the matching $endif.
if_mpd_playing: if mpd is playing or paused, display everything between $if_mpd_playing and the matching $endif.
if_pa_sink_muted: If Pulseaudio’s default sink is muted, display everything between $if_pa_sink_muted and the corresponding $else or $endif.
if_pa_source_muted: If Pulseaudio’s default source (e.g. your microphone) is muted, display everything between $if_pa_source_muted and the corresponding $else or $endif.
if_pa_source_running: If Pulseaudio’s default source is running (e.g. a program is accessing your microphone), display everything between $if_pa_source_running and the corresponding $else or $endif.
if_running (process): If PROCESS is running, display everything between $if_running and the corresponding $else or $endif. Note that PROCESS may be either a full command line with arguments (without the directory prefix), or simply the name of an executable. For example, either of the following will be true if there is a running process with the command line /usr/bin/conky -u 5: * ${if_running conky -u 5} or * ${if_running conky}

It is important not to include trailing spaces. For example, ${if_running conky } will be false.

if_smapi_bat_installed (INDEX): when using smapi, if the battery with index INDEX is installed, display everything between $if_smapi_bat_installed and the matching $endif.
if_up (interface): if INTERFACE exists and is up, display everything between $if_up and the matching $endif.
if_updatenr (updatenr): If it’s the UPDATENR-th time that conky updates, display everything between $if_updatenr and the matching $endif. The counter resets when the highest UPDATENR is reached.

Example: {$if_updatenr 1}foo$endif{$if_updatenr 2}bar$endif{$if_updatenr 4}$endif shows foo 25% of the time followed by bar 25% of the time followed by nothing the other half of the time.

if_xmms2_connected: Display everything between $if_xmms2_connected and the matching $endif if xmms2 is running.
iface (number): Display interface names starting from 1, eg ${iface 1}.
image (-p x,y) (-s WxH) (-n) (-f interval): Renders an image from the path specified using Imlib2. Takes 4 optional arguments: a position, a size, a no-cache switch, and a cache flush interval. Changing the x,y position will move the position of the image, and changing the WxH will scale the image. If you specify the no-cache flag (-n), the image will not be cached. Alternately, you can specify the -f int switch to specify a cache flush interval for a particular image. Example: ${image /home/brenden/cheeseburger.jpg -p 20,20 -s 200x200} will render `cheeseburger.jpg' at (20,20) scaled to 200x200 pixels. Conky does not make any attempt to adjust the position (or any other formatting) of images, they are just rendered as per the arguments passed. The only reason $image is part of the conky.text section, is to allow for runtime modifications, through $execp $lua_parse, or some other method.
imap_messages (args): Displays the number of messages in your global IMAP inbox by default. You can define individual IMAP inboxes separately by passing arguments to this object. Arguments are: “host user pass [-i interval (in seconds)] [-f `folder'] [-p port] [-e `command'] [-r retries]”. Default port is 143, default folder is `INBOX', default interval is 5 minutes, and default number of retries before giving up is 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’, you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
imap_unseen (args): Displays the number of unseen messages in your global IMAP inbox by default. You can define individual IMAP inboxes separately by passing arguments to this object. Arguments are: “host user pass [-i interval (in seconds)] [-f `folder'] [-p port] [-e `command'] [-r retries]”. Default port is 143, default folder is `INBOX', default interval is 5 minutes, and default number of retries before giving up is 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’, you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
intel_backlight: Display the brightness of your Intel backlight in percent.
ioscheduler disk: Prints the current ioscheduler used for the given disk name (i.e. e.g. “hda” or “sdb”).
irc server(:port) #channel (max_msg_lines): Shows everything that’s being told in #channel on IRCserver `server'. TCP-port 6667 is used for the connection unless `port' is specified. Shows everything since the last time or the last `max_msg_lines' entries if specified.
journal lines (type): Displays last N lines of the systemd journal. The optional type can be `user' or `system' which will show only the user or system journal respectively. By default, all journal lines visible to the user are shown. A maximum of 200 lines can be displayed, or until the text buffer is filled.
kernel: Kernel version.
key_caps_lock: An indicator for Capital Lock key.
key_num_lock: An indicator for Number Lock key.
key_scroll_lock: An indicator for Scrolling Lock key.
keyboard_layout: Display keyboard layout.
laptop_mode: The value of /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode.
legacymem: Amount of memory used, calculated the same way as in the free program.
lines textfile: Displays the number of lines in the given file.
loadavg (1|2|3): System load average, 1 is for past 1 minute, 2 for past 5 minutes and 3 for past 15 minutes. Without argument, prints all three values separated by whitespace.
loadgraph (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m value): Load1 average graph, similar to xload, with optional colours in hex, minus the #. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when you use the -l switch. Takes the switch `-t' to use a temperature gradient, which makes the gradient values change depending on the amplitude of a particular graph value (try it and see). The flag `-x' inverts the x axis and `-y' inverts the y axis of the graph. The flag `-m' sets a nonzero minimum/lowerbound, ensuring that all values are at least the specified minimum (excluding zero).
lowercase text: Converts all letters into lowercase.
lua function_name (function parameters): Executes a Lua function with given parameters, then prints the returned string. See also `lua_load' on how to load scripts. Conky puts `conky_' in front of function_name to prevent accidental calls to the wrong function unless you place `conky_' in front of it yourself.
lua_bar (height,width) function_name (function parameters): Executes a Lua function with given parameters and draws a bar. Expects result value to be an integer between 0 and 100. See also `lua_load' on how to load scripts. Conky puts `conky_' in front of function_name to prevent accidental calls to the wrong function unless you place `conky_' in front of it yourself.
lua_gauge (height,width) function_name (function parameters): Executes a Lua function with given parameters and draws a gauge. Expects result value to be an integer between 0 and 100. See also `lua_load' on how to load scripts. Conky puts `conky_' in front of function_name to prevent accidental calls to the wrong function unless you place `conky_' in front of it yourself.
lua_graph function_name (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m value): Executes a Lua function with and draws a graph. Expects result value to be any number, and by default will scale to show the full range. See also `lua_load' on how to load scripts. Takes the switch `-t' to use a temperature gradient, which makes the gradient values change depending on the amplitude of a particular graph value (try it and see). Conky puts `conky_' in front of function_name to prevent accidental calls to the wrong function unless you put you place `conky_' in front of it yourself. The flag `-x' inverts the x axis and `-y' inverts the y axis of the graph. The flag `-m' sets a nonzero minimum/lowerbound, ensuring that all values are at least the specified minimum (excluding zero).
lua_parse function_name (function parameters): Executes a Lua function with given parameters as per $lua, then parses and prints the result value as per the syntax for the conky.text section. See also `lua_load' on how to load scripts. Conky puts `conky_' in front of function_name to prevent accidental calls to the wrong function unless you place `conky_' in front of it yourself.
machine: Machine, e.g. i686, x86_64.
mails (mailbox) (interval): Mail count in the specified mailbox or your mail spool if not. Both mbox and maildir type mailboxes are supported. You can use a program like fetchmail to get mails from some server using your favourite protocol. See also new_mails.
mboxscan (-n number of messages to print) (-fw from width) (-sw subject width) mbox: Print a summary of recent messages in an mbox format mailbox. mbox parameter is the filename of the mailbox (can be encapsulated using ’“’, ie. ${mboxscan -n 10”/home/brenden/some box”}
mem: Amount of memory in use.
memactive: Amount of active memory. FreeBSD only.
memavail: Amount of available memory as recorded in /proc/meminfo. Linux 3.14+ only.
membar (height),(width): Bar that shows amount of memory in use.
memdirty: Amount of “dirty” memory. Linux only.
memeasyfree: Amount of free memory including the memory that is very easily freed (buffers/cache).
memfree: Amount of free memory.
memgauge (height),(width): Gauge that shows amount of memory in use (see cpugauge).
memgraph (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m value): Memory usage graph. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when you use the -l switch. Takes the switch `-t' to use a temperature gradient, which makes the gradient values change depending on the amplitude of a particular graph value (try it and see). The flag `-x' inverts the x axis and `-y' inverts the y axis of the graph. The flag `-m' sets a nonzero minimum/lowerbound, ensuring that all values are at least the specified minimum (excluding zero).
meminactive: Amount of inactive memory. FreeBSD only.
memlaundry: Amount of memory in the laundry queue. FreeBSD only.
memmax: Total amount of memory.
memperc: Percentage of memory in use.
memwired: Amount of wired memory. FreeBSD only.
memwithbuffers: Amount of memory in use, including that used by system buffers and caches.
memwithbuffersbar (height),(width): Bar that shows amount of memory in use (including memory used by system buffers and caches).
memwithbuffersgraph (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m value): Memory usage graph including memory used by system buffers and cache. Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when you use the -l switch. Takes the switch `-t' to use a temperature gradient, which makes the gradient values change depending on the amplitude of a particular graph value (try it and see). The flag `-x' inverts the x axis and `-y' inverts the y axis of the graph. The flag `-m' sets a nonzero minimum/lowerbound, ensuring that all values are at least the specified minimum (excluding zero).
mixer (device): Prints the mixer value as reported by the OS. On Linux, this variable uses the OSS emulation, so you need the proper kernel module loaded. Default mixer is “Vol”, but you can specify one of the available OSS controls: “Vol”, “Bass”, “Trebl”, “Synth”, “Pcm”, “Spkr”, “Line”, “Mic”, “CD”, “Mix”, “Pcm2”, “Rec”, “IGain”, “OGain”, “Line1”, “Line2”, “Line3”, “Digital1”, “Digital2”, “Digital3”, “PhoneIn”, “PhoneOut”, “Video”, “Radio” and “Monitor”.

Default: Vol

mixerbar (device): Displays mixer value in a bar as reported by the OS. See docs for $mixer for details on arguments.
mixerl (device): Prints the left channel mixer value as reported by the OS. See docs for $mixer for details on arguments.
mixerlbar (device): Displays the left channel mixer value in a bar as reported by the OS. See docs for $mixer for details on arguments.
mixerr (device): Prints the right channel mixer value as reported by the OS. See docs for $mixer for details on arguments.
mixerrbar (device): Displays the right channel mixer value in a bar as reported by the OS. See docs for $mixer for details on arguments.
moc_album: Album of the current MOC song.
moc_artist: Artist of the current MOC song.
moc_bitrate: Bitrate in the current MOC song.
moc_curtime: Current time of the current MOC song.
moc_file: File name of the current MOC song.
moc_rate: Rate of the current MOC song.
moc_song: The current song name being played in MOC.
moc_state: Current state of MOC; playing, stopped etc.
moc_timeleft: Time left in the current MOC song.
moc_title: Title of the current MOC song.
moc_totaltime: Total length of the current MOC song.
monitor: Number of the monitor on which conky is running or the message “Not running in X” if this is the case.
monitor_number: Number of monitors or the message “Not running in X” if this is the case.
mouse_speed: Display mouse speed.
mpd_album: Album in current MPD song.
mpd_albumartist: Artist of the album of the current MPD song.
mpd_artist: Artist in current MPD song must be enabled at compile.
mpd_bar (height),(width): Bar of mpd’s progress.
mpd_bitrate: Bitrate of current song.
mpd_comment (max length): Comment of current MPD song.
mpd_date: Date of current song.
mpd_elapsed: Song’s elapsed time.
mpd_file: Prints the file name of the current MPD song.
mpd_length: Song’s length.
mpd_name: Prints the MPD name field.
mpd_percent: Percent of song’s progress.
mpd_random: Random status (On/Off).
mpd_repeat: Repeat status (On/Off).
mpd_smart (max length): Prints the song name in either the form “artist - title” or file name, depending on whats available.
mpd_status: Playing, stopped, et cetera.
mpd_title (max length): Title of current MPD song.
mpd_track: Prints the MPD track field.
mpd_vol: MPD’s volume.
mysql query: Shows the first field of the first row of the result of the query.
nameserver (index): Print a nameserver from /etc/resolv.conf.
new_mails (mailbox) (interval): Unread mail count in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not. Both mbox and maildir type mailboxes are supported.
no_update text: Shows text and parses the vars in it, but doesn’t update them. Use this for things that do not change while conky is running, like $machine, $conky_version,... By not updating this you can save some resources.
nodename: Hostname.
nodename_short: Short hostname (same as `hostname -s' shell command).
nvidia argument (GPU_ID): Nvidia graphics card information via the XNVCtrl library.

Temperatures are printed as float, all other values as integers.

GPU_ID: Optional parameter to choose the GPU to be used as 0,1,2,3,.. Default parameter is 0

Possible arguments:

Argument	Alias	Description
gputemp	temp	GPU temperature
gputempthreshold	threshold	Temperature threshold where the GPU will reduce its clock speed
ambienttemp	ambient	Ambient temperature outside the graphics card
gpufreqcur	gpufreq	Current GPU clock speed
gpufreqmin		Minimum GPU clock speed
gpufreqmax		Maximum GPU clock speed
memfreqcur	memfreq	Current memory clock speed
memfreqmin		Minimum memory clock speed
memfreqmax		Maximum memory clock speed
mtrfreqcur	mtrfreq	Current memory transfer rate clock speed
mtrfreqmin		Minimum memory transfer rate clock speed
mtrfreqmax		Maximum memory transfer rate clock speed
perflevelcur	perflevel	Current performance level
perflevelmin		Lowest performance level
perflevelmax		Highest performance level
perfmode		Performance mode
gpuutil		GPU utilization %
membwutil		Memory bandwidth utilization %
videoutil		Video engine utilization %
pcieutil		PCIe bandwidth utilization %
memused	mem	Amount of used memory
memfree	memavail	Amount of free memory
memmax	memtotal	Total amount of memory
memutil	memperc	Memory utilization %
fanspeed		Fan speed
fanlevel		Fan level %
imagequality		Image quality
modelname		Model name of the GPU card
driverversion		Driver version

nvidiabar (height),(width) argument (GPU_ID): Same as nvidia, except it draws its output in a horizontal bar. The height and width parameters are optional, and default to the default_bar_height and default_bar_width config settings, respectively.

GPU_ID: Optional parameter to choose the GPU to be used as 0,1,2,3,.. Default parameter is 0

Note the following arguments are incompatible:

•: gputempthreshold (threshold)
•: gpufreqmin
•: gpufreqmax
•: memfreqmin
•: memfreqmax
•: mtrfreqmin
•: mtrfreqmax
•: perflevelmin
•: perflevelmax
•: perfmode
•: memtotal (memmax)
•: fanspeed

nvidiagauge (height),(width) argument (GPU_ID): Same as nvidiabar, except a round gauge (much like a vehicle speedometer). The height and width parameters are optional, and default to the default_gauge_height and default_gauge_width config settings, respectively.

GPU_ID: Optional parameter to choose the GPU to be used as 0,1,2,3,.. Default parameter is 0

For possible arguments see nvidia and nvidiabar.

nvidiagraph argument (height),(width) (gradient color 1) (gradient color 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m) GPU_ID: Same as nvidiabar, except a horizontally scrolling graph with values from 0-100 plotted on the vertical axis. The height and width parameters are optional, and default to the default_graph_height and default_graph_width config settings, respectively.

GPU_ID: NOT optional. This parameter allows to choose the GPU to be used as 0,1,2,3,..

For possible arguments see nvidia and nvidiabar. To learn more about the -t -l -x -y and gradient color options, see execgraph.

offset (pixels): Move text over by N pixels. See also $voffset.
outlinecolor (color): Change outline color.
pa_card_active_profile: Pulseaudio’s default card active profile.
pa_card_name: Pulseaudio’s default card name.
pa_sink_active_port_description: Pulseaudio’s default sink active port description.
pa_sink_active_port_name: Pulseaudio’s default sink active port name.
pa_sink_description: Pulseaudio’s default sink description.
pa_sink_volume: Pulseaudio’s default sink volume percentage.
pa_sink_volumebar: Pulseaudio’s default sink volume bar.
password (length): Generate random passwords.
pb_battery item: If running on Apple powerbook/ibook, display information on battery status. The item parameter specifies, what information to display. Exactly one item must be specified. Valid items are:

Item	Description
status	Display if battery is fully charged, charging, discharging or absent (running on AC)
percent	Display charge of battery in percent, if charging or discharging. Nothing will be displayed, if battery is fully charged or absent.
time	Display the time remaining until the battery will be fully charged or discharged at current rate. Nothing is displayed, if battery is absent or if it’s present but fully charged and not discharging.

pid_chroot pid: Directory used as rootdirectory by the process (this will be “/” unless the process did a chroot syscall).
pid_cmdline pid: Command line this process was invoked with.
pid_cwd pid: Current working directory of the process.
pid_egid pid: The effective gid of the process.
pid_environ pid varname: Contents of a environment-var of the process.
pid_environ_list pid: List of environment-vars that the process can see.
pid_euid pid: The effective uid of the process.
pid_exe pid: Path to executed command that started the process.
pid_fsgid pid: The file system gid of the process.
pid_fsuid pid: The file system uid of the process.
pid_gid pid: The real gid of the process.
pid_nice pid: The nice value of the process.
pid_openfiles pid: List of files that the process has open.
pid_parent pid: The pid of the parent of the process.
pid_priority pid: The priority of the process (see `priority' in “man 5 proc”).
pid_read pid: Total number of bytes read by the process.
pid_sgid pid: The saved set gid of the process.
pid_state pid: State of the process.
pid_state_short pid: One of the chars in “RSDZTW” representing the state of the process where R is running, S is sleeping in an interruptible wait, D is waiting in uninterruptible disk sleep, Z is zombie, T is traced or stopped (on a signal), and W is paging.
pid_stderr pid: Filedescriptor binded to the STDERR of the process.
pid_stdin pid: Filedescriptor binded to the STDIN of the process.
pid_stdout pid: Filedescriptor binded to the STDOUT of the process.
pid_suid pid: The saved set uid of the process.
pid_thread_list pid: List with pid’s from threads from this process.
pid_threads pid: Number of threads in process containing this thread.
pid_time pid: Sum of $pid_time_kernelmode and $pid_time_usermode.
pid_time_kernelmode pid: Amount of time that the process has been scheduled in kernel mode in seconds.
pid_time_usermode pid: Amount of time that the process has been scheduled in user mode in seconds.
pid_uid pid: The real uid of the process.
pid_vmdata pid: Data segment size of the process.
pid_vmexe pid: Text segment size of the process.
pid_vmhwm pid: Peak resident set size (“high water mark”) of the process.
pid_vmlck pid: Locked memory size of the process.
pid_vmlib pid: Shared library code size of the process.
pid_vmpeak pid: Peak virtual memory size of the process.
pid_vmpte pid: Page table entries size of the process.
pid_vmrss pid: Resident set size of the process.
pid_vmsize pid: Virtual memory size of the process.
pid_vmstk pid: Stack segment size of the process.
pid_write pid: Total number of bytes written by the process.
platform (dev) type n (factor offset): Platform sensor from sysfs (Linux 2.6). Parameter dev may be omitted if you have only one platform device. Platform type is either in or vol meaning voltage; fan meaning fan; temp meaning temperature. Parameter n is number of the sensor. See /sys/bus/platform/devices/ on your local computer. The optional arguments factor and offset allow precalculation of the raw input, which is being modified as follows: input = input * factor + offset. Note that they have to be given as decimal values (i.e. contain at least one decimal place).
pop3_unseen (args): Displays the number of unseen messages in your global POP3 inbox by default. You can define individual POP3 inboxes separately by passing arguments to this object. Arguments are: “host user pass [-i interval (in seconds)] [-p port] [-e `command'] [-r retries]”. Default port is 110, default interval is 5 minutes, and default number of retries before giving up is 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’, you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
pop3_used (args): Displays the amount of space (in MiB, 2^20) used in your global POP3 inbox by default. You can define individual POP3 inboxes separately by passing arguments to this object. Arguments are: “host user pass [-i interval (in seconds)] [-p port] [-e `command'] [-r retries]”. Default port is 110, default interval is 5 minutes, and default number of retries before giving up is 5. If the password is supplied as ’*’, you will be prompted to enter the password when Conky starts.
processes: Total processes (sleeping and running).
read_tcp (host) port: Connects to a tcp port on a host (default is localhost), reads every char available at the moment and shows them.
read_udp (host) port: Connects to a udp port on a host (default is localhost), reads every char available at the moment and shows them.
replied_mails (maildir) (interval): Number of mails marked as replied in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not. Only maildir type mailboxes are supported, mbox type will return -1.
rss uri interval_in_seconds action (num_par (spaces_in_front)): Download and parse RSS feeds. The interval may be a (floating point) value greater than 0. Action may be one of the following: feed_title, item_title (with num par), item_desc (with num par) and item_titles (when using this action and spaces_in_front is given conky places that many spaces in front of each item). This object is threaded, and once a thread is created it can’t be explicitly destroyed. One thread will run for each URI specified. You can use any protocol that Curl supports.
rstrip text: Strips all trailing whitespace from input.
running_processes: Running processes (not sleeping). Requires Linux 2.6.
running_threads: Number of running (runnable) threads. Linux only.
scroll (direction) length (step) (interval) text: Scroll `text' by `step' characters to the left or right (set `direction' to `left' or `right' or `wait') showing `length' number of characters at the same time. The text may also contain variables. `step' is optional and defaults to 1 if not set. `direction' is optional and defaults to left if not set. When direction is `wait' then text will scroll left and wait for `interval' itertations at the beginning and end of the text. If a var creates output on multiple lines then the lines are placed behind each other separated with a `|'-sign. If you change the textcolor inside $scroll it will automatically have it’s old value back at the end of $scroll. The end and the start of text will be separated by `length' number of spaces unless direction is `wait'.
seen_mails (maildir) (interval): Number of mails marked as seen in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not. Only maildir type mailboxes are supported, mbox type will return -1.
shadecolor (color): Change shading color.
shmem: Amount of shared memory. Linux only.
sip_status (switch): Prints info regarding System Integrity Protection (SIP) on macOS. If no switch is provided, prints SIP status (enabled / disabled), else, status of the specific SIP feature corresponding to the switch provided.

Below are shown the available switches:

SWITCH	RESULT	STATUS
0	apple internal	YES/NO
1	forbid untrusted kexts	YES/NO
2	forbid task-for-pid	YES/NO
3	restrict filesystem	YES/NO
4	forbid kernel-debugger	YES/NO
5	restrict dtrace	YES/NO
6	restrict nvram	YES/NO
7	forbid device-configuration	YES/NO
8	forbid any-recovery-os	YES/NO
9	forbid user-approved-kexts	YES/NO

uses unsupported configuration?: If yes, prints “unsupported configuration, beware!” Else, prints “configuration is ok”.

USAGE:

$ conky -t '${sip_status}'
# print SIP status
$ conky -t '${sip_status 0}'
# print allows apple-internal? Yes or No?

NOTES:

•: Available for all macOS versions (even the ones prior El Capitan where SIP was first introduced)
•: If run on versions prior El Capitan SIP is unavailable, so all you will get is “unsupported”.

smapi (ARGS): When using smapi, display contents of the /sys/devices/platform/smapi directory. ARGS are either (FILENAME) or bat (INDEX) (FILENAME) to display the corresponding files’ content. This is a very raw method of accessing the smapi values. When available, better use one of the smapi_* variables instead.
smapi_bat_bar (INDEX),(height),(width): when using smapi, display the remaining capacity of the battery with index INDEX as a bar.
smapi_bat_perc (INDEX): when using smapi, display the remaining capacity in percent of the battery with index INDEX. This is a separate variable because it supports the `use_spacer' configuration option.
smapi_bat_power INDEX: when using smapi, display the current power of the battery with index INDEX in watt. This is a separate variable because the original read out value is being converted from mW. The sign of the output reflects charging (positive) or discharging (negative) state.
smapi_bat_temp INDEX: when using smapi, display the current temperature of the battery with index INDEX in degree Celsius. This is a separate variable because the original read out value is being converted from milli degree Celsius.
sony_fanspeed: Displays the Sony VAIO fanspeed information if sony-laptop kernel support is enabled. Linux only.
startcase text: Capitalises the start of each word.
stippled_hr (space): Stippled (dashed) horizontal line.
stock symbol data: Displays the data of a stock symbol. The following data is supported:

Name	Description
1ytp	1 yr Target Price
200ma	200-day Moving Average
50ma	50-day Moving Average
52weekhigh
52weeklow
52weekrange
adv	Average Daily Volume
ag	Annualized Gain
ahcrt	After Hours Change realtime
ask
askrt	ask realtime
asksize
bid
bidrt	bid realtime
bidsize
bookvalue
c200ma	Change From 200-day Moving Average
c50ma	Change From 50-day Moving Average
c52whigh	Change from 52-week high
c52wlow	Change From 52-week Low
change
changert	change realtime
cip	change in percent
commission
cprt	change percent realtime
dayshigh
dayslow
dpd	Dividend Pay Date
dr	day’s range
drrt	day’s range realtime
ds	dividend/share
dvc	Day’s Value Change
dvcrt	Day’s Value Change realtime
dy	Dividend Yield
ebitda
edv	Ex-Dividend Date
ei	error indication
epsecy	EPS Estimate Current Year
epsenq	EPS Estimate Next Quarter
epseny	EPS Estimate Next Year
es	earnings/share
floatshares
hg	Holdings Gain
hgp	Holdings Gain Percent
hgprt	Holdings Gain Percent realtime
hgrt	Holdings Gain realtime
hl	high limit
hv	Holdings Value
hvrt	Holdings Value realtime
ll	low limit
ltd	Last Trade Date
ltp	last trade price
lts	Last Trade Size
ltt	Last Trade Time
mc	Market Capitalization
mcrt	Market Cap realtime
moreinfo
name
notes
obrt	Order Book realtime
open
pb	price/book
pc	previous close
pc200ma	Percent Change From 200-day Moving Average
pc50ma	Percent Change From 50-day Moving Average
pc52whigh	percent change from 52-week high
pc52wlow	Percent Change From 52-week Low
pegr	PEG Ratio
pepsecy	Price/EPS Estimate Current Year
pepseny	Price/EPS Estimate Next Year
per	P/E Ratio
perrt	P/E Ratio realtime
pricepaid
ps	price/sales
se	Stock Exchange
sharesowned
shortratio
symbol
tradedate
tradelinks
tt	Ticker Trend
volume

swap: Amount of swap in use.
swapbar (height),(width): Bar that shows amount of swap in use.
swapfree: Amount of free swap.
swapmax: Total amount of swap.
swapperc: Percentage of swap in use.
sysctlbyname (name): Print sysctl value by name. FreeBSD only.
sysname: System name, e.g. Linux.
tab (width, (start)): Puts a tab of the specified width, starting from column `start'. The unit is pixels for both arguments.
tail logfile lines (next_check): Displays last N lines of supplied text file. The file is checked every `next_check' update. If next_check is not supplied, Conky defaults to 2. Max of 30 lines can be displayed, or until the text buffer is filled.
tcp_ping host (port): Displays the number of microseconds it takes to get a reply on a ping to to tcp `port' on `host'. `port' is optional and has 80 as default. This works on both open and closed ports, just make sure that the port is not behind a firewall or you will get `down' as answer. It’s best to test a closed port instead of an open port, you will get a quicker response.
tcp_portmon port_begin port_end item (index): TCP port (both IPv6 and IPv4) monitor for specified local ports. Port numbers must be in the range 1 to 65535. Valid items are:

Item	Description
count	Total number of connections in the range
rip	Remote ip address
rhost	Remote host name
rport	Remote port number
rservice	Remote service name from /etc/services
lip	Local ip address
lhost	Local host name
lport	Local port number
lservice	Local service name from /etc/services

The connection index provides you with access to each connection in the port monitor. The monitor will return information for index values from 0 to n-1 connections. Values higher than n-1 are simply ignored. For the count item, the connection index must be omitted. It is required for all other items.

Examples:

Example	Description
${tcp_portmon 6881 6999 count}	Displays the number of connections in the bittorrent port range
${tcp_portmon 22 22 rip 0}	Displays the remote host ip of the first sshd connection
${tcp_portmon 22 22 rip 9}	Displays the remote host ip of the tenth sshd connection
${tcp_portmon 1 1024 rhost 0}	Displays the remote host name of the first connection on a privileged port
${tcp_portmon 1 1024 rport 4}	Displays the remote host port of the fifth connection on a privileged port
${tcp_portmon 1 65535 lservice 14}	Displays the local service name of the fifteenth connection in the range of all ports

Note that port monitor variables which share the same port range actually refer to the same monitor, so many references to a single port range for different items and different indexes all use the same monitor internally. In other words, the program avoids creating redundant monitors.

templateN (arg1) (arg2) (arg3 ...): Evaluate the content of the templateN configuration variable (where N is a value between 0 and 9, inclusively), applying substitutions as described in the documentation of the corresponding configuration variable. The number of arguments is optional, but must match the highest referred index in the template. You can use the same special sequences in each argument as the ones valid for a template definition, e.g. to allow an argument to contain a whitespace. Also simple nesting of templates is possible this way.

Here are some examples of template definitions, note they are placed between [[ ... ]] instead of ...:

template0 = [[$12]]
template1 = [[1: ${fs_used 2} / ${fs_size 2}]]
template2 = [[1 2]]

The following list shows sample usage of the templates defined above, with the equivalent syntax when not using any template at all:

Using template	Same without template
${template0 node name}	$nodename
${template1 root /}	root: ${fs_free /} / ${fs_size /}
${template1 ${template2 disk root} /}	disk root: ${fs_free /} / ${fs_size /}
———————————————	——————————————

texeci interval command: Runs a command at an interval inside a thread and displays the output. Same as $execi, except the command is run inside a thread. Use this if you have a slow script to keep Conky updating. You should make the interval slightly longer than the time it takes your script to execute. For example, if you have a script that take 5 seconds to execute, you should make the interval at least 6 seconds. See also $execi. This object will clean up the thread when it is destroyed, so it can safely be used in a nested fashion, though it may not produce the desired behaviour if used this way.
texecpi interval command: Same as execpi, except the command is run inside a thread.
threads: Total threads.
time (format): Local time, see “man strftime” to get more information about format.
to_bytes size: If `size' is a number followed by a size-unit (kilobyte,mb,GiB,...) then it converts the size to bytes and shows it without unit, otherwise it just shows `size'.
top type num: This takes arguments in the form:top (name) (number) Basically, processes are ranked from highest to lowest in terms of cpu usage, which is what (num) represents. The types are: “name”, “pid”, “cpu”, “mem”, “mem_res”, “mem_vsize”, “time”, “uid”, “user”, “io_perc”, “io_read” and “io_write”. There can be a max of 10 processes listed.
top_io type num: Same as top, except sorted by the amount of I/O the process has done during the update interval.
top_mem type num: Same as top, except sorted by mem usage instead of cpu.
top_time type num: Same as top, except sorted by total CPU time instead of current CPU usage.
totaldown (net): Total download, overflows at 4 GB on Linux with 32-bit arch and there doesn’t seem to be a way to know how many times it has already done that before conky has started.
totalup (net): Total upload, this one too, may overflow.
trashed_mails (maildir) (interval): Number of mails marked as trashed in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not. Only maildir type mailboxes are supported, mbox type will return -1.
tztime (timezone (format)): Local time for specified timezone, see man strftime to get more information about format. The timezone argument is specified in similar fashion as TZ environment variable. For hints, look in /usr/share/zoneinfo. e.g. US/Pacific, Europe/Zurich, etc.
uid_name uid: Username of user with this uid.
unflagged_mails (maildir) (interval): Number of mails not marked as flagged in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not. Only maildir type mailboxes are supported, mbox type will return -1.
unforwarded_mails (maildir) (interval): Number of mails not marked as forwarded in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not. Only maildir type mailboxes are supported, mbox type will return -1.
unreplied_mails (maildir) (interval): Number of mails not marked as replied in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not. Only maildir type mailboxes are supported, mbox type will return -1.
unseen_mails (maildir) (interval): Number of new or unseen mails in the specified mailbox or mail spool if not. Only maildir type mailboxes are supported, mbox type will return -1.
updates Number of updates: for debugging.
uppercase text: Converts all letters into uppercase.
upspeed (net): Upload speed in suitable IEC units.
upspeedf (net): Upload speed in KiB with one decimal.
upspeedgraph (netdev) (height),(width) (gradient colour 1) (gradient colour 2) (scale) (-t) (-l) (-x) (-y) (-m): Upload speed graph, colours defined in hex, minus the #. If scale is non-zero, it defines the maximum value of the graph (in bytes per second). Uses a logarithmic scale (to see small numbers) when you use the -l switch. Takes the switch `-t' to use a temperature gradient, which makes the gradient values change depending on the amplitude of a particular graph value (try it and see). The flag `-x' inverts the x axis and `-y' inverts the y axis of the graph. The flag `-m' sets a nonzero minimum/lowerbound, ensuring that all values are at least the specified minimum (excluding zero).
uptime: Uptime.
uptime_short: Uptime in a shorter format.
user_names: Lists the names of the users logged in.
user_number: Number of users logged in.
user_terms: Lists the consoles in use.
user_time console: Lists how long the user for the given console has been logged in for.
user_times: Lists how long users have been logged in for.
utime (format): Display time in UTC (universal coordinate time).
v6addrs (-n) (-s) (interface): IPv6 addresses for an interface, followed by netmask if -n is specified and scope with -s. Scopes are Global(G), Host-local(H), Link-local(L), Site-local(S), Compat(C) and Unspecified(/). Linux only.
version: Git version number. DragonFly only.
voffset (pixels): Change vertical offset by N pixels. Negative values will cause text to overlap. See also $offset.
voltage_mv (n): Returns CPU #n’s voltage in mV. CPUs are counted from 1.

Default: 1

voltage_v (n): Returns CPU #n’s voltage in V. CPUs are counted from 1.

Default: 1

wireless_ap (net): Wireless access point MAC address. Linux only.
wireless_bitrate (net): Wireless bitrate (ie 11 Mb/s). Linux only.
wireless_channel (net): WLAN channel on which device `net' is listening.
wireless_essid (net): Wireless access point ESSID. Linux only.
wireless_freq (net): Frequency on which device `net' is listening.
wireless_link_bar (height),(width) (net): Wireless link quality bar. Linux only.
wireless_link_qual (net): Wireless link quality. Linux only.
wireless_link_qual_max (net): Wireless link quality maximum value. Linux only.
wireless_link_qual_perc (net): Wireless link quality in percents. Linux only.
wireless_mode (net): Wireless mode (Managed/Ad-Hoc/Master). Linux only.
words textfile: Displays the number of words in the given file.
xmms2_album: Album in current XMMS2 song.
xmms2_artist: Artist in current XMMS2 song.
xmms2_bar (height),(width): Bar of XMMS2’s progress.
xmms2_bitrate: Bitrate of current song.
xmms2_comment: Comment in current XMMS2 song.
xmms2_date: Returns song’s date.
xmms2_duration: Duration of current song.
xmms2_elapsed: Song’s elapsed time.
xmms2_genre: Genre in current XMMS2 song.
xmms2_id: XMMS2 id of current song.
xmms2_percent: Percent of song’s progress.
xmms2_playlist: Returns the XMMS2 playlist.
xmms2_size: Size of current song.
xmms2_smart: Prints the song name in either the form “artist - title” or file name, depending on whats available.
xmms2_status: XMMS2 status (Playing, Paused, Stopped, or Disconnected).
xmms2_timesplayed: Number of times a song was played (presumably).
xmms2_title: Title in current XMMS2 song.
xmms2_tracknr: Track number in current XMMS2 song.
xmms2_url: Full path to current song.

LUA API¶

Conky features a Lua Programming API, and also ships with Lua bindings for some useful libraries. Note that the bindings require tolua++, which currently only compiles against Lua 5.1.

To use Lua Conky, you first need to make sure you have a version of Conky with Lua support enabled (conky -v will report this). Conky defines certain global functions and variables which can be accessed from Lua code running in Conky. Scripts must first be loaded using the lua_load configuration option. You then call functions in Lua via Conky’s $lua, $lua_read, and Lua hooks.

Be careful when creating threaded objects through the Lua API. You could wind up with a whole bunch of threads running if a thread is created with each iteration.

NOTE: In order to accommodate certain features in the cairo library’s API, Conky will export a few additional functions for the creation of certain structures. These are documented below.

RsvgDimensionData:create(): Call this method to return a new RsvgDimensionData structure. A creation function for this structure is not provided by the Rsvg API.

After calling this, you should use tolua.takeownership(rect) on the return value to ensure ownership is passed properly.

RsvgDimensionData:destroy(): Call this method to free memory allocated by RsvgDimensionData:create.

You should call tolua.releaseownership(dd) before calling this function to avoid double-frees, but only if you previously called tolua.takeownership(dd)

RsvgDimensionData:get(): Gets the values of an existing RsvgDimensionData.
RsvgDimensionData:set(x, y, width, height): Sets the values of an existing RsvgDimensionData.
RsvgRectangle:create(): Call this method to return a new RsvgRectangle structure. A creation function for this structure is not provided by the Rsvg API.

After calling this, you should use tolua.takeownership(rect) on the return value to ensure ownership is passed properly.

RsvgRectangle:destroy(): Call this method to free memory allocated by RsvgRectangle:create.

You should call tolua.releaseownership(rect) before calling this function to avoid double-frees, but only if you previously called tolua.takeownership(rect)

RsvgRectangle:get(): Gets the values of an existing RsvgRectangle.
RsvgRectangle:set(x, y, width, height): Sets the values of an existing RsvgRectangle.
cairo_font_extents_t:create(): Call this function to return a new cairo_font_extents_t structure. A creation function for this structure is not provided by the cairo API.

After calling this, you should use tolua.takeownership(cfe) on the return value to ensure ownership is passed properly.

cairo_font_extents_t:destroy(structure): Call this function to free memory allocated by cairo_font_extents_t:create.

You should call tolua.releaseownership(cfe) before calling this function to avoid double-frees, but only if you previously called tolua.takeownership(cfe)

cairo_matrix_t:create(): Call this function to return a new cairo_matrix_t structure. A creation function for this structure is not provided by the cairo API.

After calling this, you should use tolua.takeownership(cm) on the return value to ensure ownership is passed properly.

cairo_matrix_t:destroy(structure): Call this function to free memory allocated by cairo_matrix_t:create.

You should call tolua.releaseownership(cm) before calling this function to avoid double-frees, but only if you previously called tolua.takeownership(cm)

cairo_place_image(file, cr, x, y, width, height, alpha): Renders an image onto a cairo_t, using imlib2. In some cases using a cairo_t and exact coordinates is more useful.

Argument	Description
file	Path to the image to render.
cr	The cairo_t to render to.
x,y	Position to render the image.
width, height	The width and height to draw the image
alpha	The transparency of the image 1.0 is solid 0.0 is fully translucent.

require(`cairo_imlib2_helper') in your lua file.

cairo_text_extents_t:create(): Call this function to return a new cairo_text_extents_t structure. A creation function for this structure is not provided by the cairo API.

After calling this, you should use tolua.takeownership(cte) on the return value to ensure ownership is passed properly.

cairo_text_extents_t:destroy(structure): Call this function to free memory allocated by cairo_text_extents_t:create.

You should call tolua.releaseownership(cte) before calling this function to avoid double-frees, but only if you previously called tolua.takeownership(cte)

conky_build_arch: A string containing the build architecture for this particular instance of Conky.
conky_build_info: A string containing the build info for this particular instance of Conky, including the version, build date, and architecture.
conky_config: A string containing the path of the current Conky configuration file.
conky_info: This table contains some information about Conky’s internal data. The following table describes the values contained:

Key	Value
update_interval	Conky’s update interval (in seconds).

conky_parse(string): This function takes a string that is evaluated as per Conky’s TEXT section, and then returns a string with the result.
conky_set_update_interval(number): Sets Conky’s update interval (in seconds) to `number'.
conky_version: A string containing the version of the current instance of Conky.
conky_window: This table contains some information about Conky’s window. The following table describes the values contained:

Key	Value
drawable	Window’s drawable (Xlib Drawable), requires Lua extras enabled at compile time.
visual	Window’s visual (Xlib Visual), requires Lua extras enabled at compile time.
display	Window’s display (Xlib Display), requires Lua extras enabled at compile time.
width	Window width (in pixels).
height	Window height (in pixels).
border_inner_margin	Window’s inner border margin (in pixels).
border_outer_margin	Window’s outer border margin (in pixels).
border_width	Window’s border width (in pixels).
text_start_x	The x component of the starting coordinate of text drawing.
text_start_y	The y component of the starting coordinate of text drawing.
text_width	The width of the text drawing region.
text_height	The height of the text drawing region.

NOTE: This table is only defined when X support is enabled.

ret_scale_x,ret_scale_y:cairo_draw_image(file, cs, x, y, scale_x, scale_y): Renders an image onto a cairo_surface_t, using imlib2. Returns the amount the image was scaled by

Argument	Description
file	Path to the image to render.
cs	The cairo_surface_t to render to.
x,y	Position to render the image.
scale_x, scale_y	The amount to scale the image, 1.0 provides no scaling, 2.0 for twice the size and
	0.5 for half size etc.
	Default value: No Scaling (1.0,1.0)

require(`cairo_imlib2_helper') in your lua file.

EXAMPLES¶

conky -t '${time %D %H:%M}' -o -u 30: Start Conky in its own window with date and clock as text and 30 sec update interval.
conky -a top_left -x 5 -y 500 -d: Start Conky to background at coordinates (5, 500).
conky -C > ~/.config/conky/conky.conf: Do not start Conky, but have it output the builtin default config file to ~/.config/conky/conky.conf for later customising.

FILES¶

${sysconfdir}/conky/conky.conf: Default system-wide configuration file. The value of ${sysconfdir} depends on the compile-time options (most likely /etc).
~/.config/conky/conky.conf: Default personal configuration file.

BUGS¶

Drawing to root or some other desktop window directly doesn't work with all window managers. Especially doesn't work well with Gnome and it has been reported that it doesn't work with KDE either. Nautilus can be disabled from drawing to desktop with program gconf-editor. Uncheck show_desktop in /apps/nautilus/preferences/. There is -w switch in Conky to set some specific window id. You might find xwininfo -tree useful to find the window to draw to. You can also use -o argument which makes Conky to create its own window. If you do try running Conky in its own window, be sure to read up on the own_window_type settings and experiment.

COPYING¶

Copyright (c) 2005-2024 Brenden Matthews, Philip Kovacs, et. al. Any original torsmo code is licensed under the BSD license (see LICENSE.BSD for a copy). All code written since the fork of torsmo is licensed under the GPL (see LICENSE.GPL for a copy), except where noted differently (such as in portmon and audacious code which are LGPL, and prss which is an MIT-style license).

AUTHORS¶

The Conky dev team (see AUTHORS for a full list of contributors).

2024-08-13

Source file:	conky.1.en.gz (from conky-std 1.21.8-1)
Source last updated:	2024-11-20T10:00:07Z
Converted to HTML:	2024-12-01T09:01:09Z

NAME¶

SYNOPSIS¶

DESCRIPTION¶

COMPILING¶

YOU SHOULD KNOW¶

OPTIONS¶

CONFIGURATION SETTINGS¶

OBJECTS/VARIABLES¶

LUA API¶

EXAMPLES¶

FILES¶

BUGS¶

SEE ALSO¶

COPYING¶

AUTHORS¶