ION(1)

NAME
Ion - an X11 window manager

SYNOPSIS
ion3 [options]

DESCRIPTION
Ion is a tiling tabbed window manager designed with keyboard users in mind.

OPTIONS

-display host:display.screen
    X display to manage

-conffile configfile
    Configuration file to use instead of default

-searchdir dir
    Directory to search for configuration files and other scripts

-oneroot
    On X servers with multiple (traditional non-Xinerama) screens, manage only default screen (root window), not all, as given by the -display option or in the DISPLAY environment variable.

-session session_name
    Set session name. This option affects where workspace and other save files are put (~/.ion3/session_name if option set).

-help
    Show help on command line options

-version
    Show version

-about
    Show about text (version, copyright)

BASIC CONCEPTS
This section is an overview of the types objects that appear on an X display managed by Ion and their relationships in a standard setup. This information is necessary to understand the operations and availability of the different key bindings explained below. For a more detailed explanation, needed for writing custom bindings configuration files, see the additional documentation available from the Ion Web page. The top-level objects that matter in the case at hand are screens. They correspond to physical screens. Screens contain workspaces (which are a kind of group), and client windows put into full screen mode. These objects are multiplexed in the sense that only one can be displayed at a time. Workspaces themselves may contain tilings and detached/floating frames. Tilings themselves contain frames tiled to fill the screen, and possibly a statusbar or dock. Akin to screens, frames multiplex other objects, but in this case mostly client window groups. Most of the time, frames are the only trace of Ion you see on the screen. Frames may have border decorations, and they have a tab for each multiplexed object. Queries are boxes that appear at the bottoms of frames or screens to ask you for textual input to execute an action that depends on it. Most queries support tab-completion.

BINDINGS
These are the default key and pointer bindings. (Mod1) depends on your system. On PC:s with XFree86 it is probably bound to the left Alt key (Alt_L). On Suns it is usually bound to the diamond keys (Meta_L, Meta_R). Use xmodmap(1x) to find out. The string in square brackets after a binding group heading below indicates the module that whose configuration file defines these bindings.

  Globally available bindings

Mod1+1, Mod1+2, Mod1+3, Mod1+4, Mod1+5, Mod1+6, Mod1+7, Mod1+8, Mod1+9, Mod1+0
    Switch to n:th object (workspace, full screen client window) within current screen.

Mod1+comma, Mod1+period
    Switch to next/previous object within current screen.

Mod1+K K
    Go to first region demanding attention or previously active one.

Mod1+K T
    Clear all tags.

Mod1+Shift+1, Mod1+Shift+2
    Go to n:th screen on multihead setup.

Mod1+Shift+comma, Mod1+Shift+period
    Go to next/previous screen on multihead setup.

Mod1+F9
    Create a new workspace of chosen default type.

F12, Button3 press
    Display the main menu.

Button2 press
    Display the window list menu.

Mod1+Tab
    Forward-circulate focus.

Mod1+K Tab
    Backward-circulate focus.

Mod1+K R
    Raise focused object, if possible.

  Bindings operating on top-level frames and screens and their children

Mod1+T
    Toggle tag of current object.

F1  Query for manual page to be displayed.

Mod1+F1
    Show the Ion manual page.

F2  Run a terminal emulator.

F3  Query for command line to execute.

Mod1+F3
    Query for Lua code to execute.

F4  Query for host to connect to with SSH.

F5  Query for file to edit.

F6  Query for file to view.

F9  Query for workspace to go to or create a new one.

Mod1+G
    Query for a client window to go to.

Mod1+A
    Query for a client window to attach.

Mod1+M
    Display context menu.

  Bindings operating on frames and screens and their children

Mod1+C
    Close current object.

Mod1+K D
    Detach (float) or reattach an object to its previous location.

  Bindings operating on all frames (including transient) and their children

Mod1+K H, Mod1+K V
    Maximize the frame horizontally/vertically.

Button3 press
    Display context menu.

Mod1+R
    Begin move/resize mode.

Button1 click at tab, Button2 click at tab
    Switch the frame to display the object indicated by the tab.

Button1 drag at border, Mod1+Button3 drag
    Resize the frame.

Mod1+Button1 drag
    Move the frame.

Button1 drag at tab, Button2 drag at tab
    Move objects between frames by dragging and dropping the tab.

  Bindings operating on top-level (non-transient) frames and their children

Mod1+T
    Tag current object within the frame.

Mod1+K 1, Mod1+K 2, Mod1+K 3, Mod1+K 4, Mod1+K 5, Mod1+K 6, Mod1+K 7, Mod1+K 8, Mod1+K 9, Mod1+K 0
    Switch to n:th object within the frame.

Mod1+K N, Mod1+K P
    Switch to next/previous object within the frame.

Mod1+K comma, Mod1+K period
    Move current object within the frame left/right.

Mod1+K H, Mod1+K V
    Maximize the frame horizontally/vertically.

Mod1+K A
    Attach tagged objects to this frame.

  Bindings for floating/detached frames

Button1 double click at tab
    Toggle shade mode

Button1 press at tab, Button1 press at border, Mod1+Button1 click
    Raise the frame.

Mod1+Button3 click
    Lower the frame.

Button1 drag at tab
    Move the frame.

Mod1+K B
    Tile frame, if no tiling exists on the workspace

  Bindings for tilings and tiled frames [mod_tiling]

Mod1+S
    Split current frame vertically.

Mod1+P, Mod1+N, Mod1+Tab, Mod1+K Tab
    Go to frame above/below/right/left of current frame.

Mod1+K S
    Split current frame horizontally.

Mod1+K X
    Destroy current frame.

  Bindings for client windows

Mod1+L
    Nudge the client window. This might help with some programs' resizing problems.

Mod1+K C
    Kill client owning the client window.

Mod1+K Q
    Send next key press to the client window. Some programs may not allow this by default.

Mod1+Return
    Toggle client window group full-screen mode

  Move/resize mode bindings

Escape
    Cancel the resize mode.

Return
    End the resize mode.

Left, Right, Up, Down, F, B, P, N
    Grow in specified direction.

Shift+Left, Shift+Right, Shift+Up, Shift+Down, Shift+F, Shift+B, Shift+P, Shift+N
    Shrink in specified direction.

Mod1+Left, Mod1+Right, Mod1+Up, Mod1+Down, Mod1+F, Mod1+B, Mod1+P, Mod1+N
    Move in specified direction.

  Bindings for message boxes and queries [mod_query]

Escape, Control+G, Control+C
    Close the query/message box, not executing bound actions.

Control+U, Control+V, Page_Up, Page_Down
    Scroll the message or completions up/down.

  Bindings for editing in queries [mod_query]
These bindings are similar to those of the joe(1) text editor. Cut, copy and paste works in a more conventional manner, though, but the keys are equivalent.

Control+F, Control+B, Right, Left
    Move one character forward/backward.

Control+E, Control+A, End, Home
    Go to end/beginning.

Control+X, Control+Z
    Skip one word forward/backward.

Control+D, Delete
    Delete next character.

BackSpace, Control+H
    Delete previous character.

Control+W, Control+O
    Delete one word forward/backward.

Control+J
    Delete to end of line.

Control+Y
    Delete the whole line.

Control+T
    Transpose characters.

Control+P, Control+N, Up, Down, Control+Up, Control+Down
    Select next/previous (matching) history entry.

Button2 click, Control+K C
    Paste from the clipboard.

Control+K B
    Set mark/begin selection.

Control+K Y
    Cut selection.

Control+K K
    Copy selection.

Control+K G
    Clear mark/cancel selection.

Tab, Shift+Tab, Control+Tab
    Try to complete the entered text or cycle through completions.

Control+R, Control+S
    Complete from history

Control+M, Return, KP_Enter
    Close the query and execute bound action.

  Bindings for menus [mod_menu]

Escape, Control+G, Control+C, Left
    Close the menu.

Return, KP_Enter, Control+M, Right
    Activate current menu entry.

Control+N, Control+P, Up, Down
    Select next/previous menu entry.

BackSpace
    Clear the menu's typeahead find buffer.

FILES AND DIRECTORIES

/usr/local/share/examples/ion3/cfg_ion.lua
    System default main configuration files

/usr/local/share/examples/ion3/cfg_*.lua
    Other configuration files.

/usr/local/share/examples/ion3/look_*.lua
    Colour scheme configuration files

~/.ion3/
    User configuration files

~/.ion3/cfg_ion.lua
    User default main configuration file (overrides system default)

SEE ALSO
The Ion home page, http://iki.fi/tuomov/ion/

The document "Ion: Configuring and extending with Lua" found on the Ion home page.

/usr/local/share/doc/ion3/

X(7x), pwm3(1), joe(1)

AUTHOR
Ion was written by Tuomo Valkonen <tuomov at iki.fi>.