---
name: "i3-input"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "i3-wm"
version: "4.25.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/i3-input"
---

# i3-input(1)

interactively take a command for i3 window manager

## NAME

i3-input - interactively take a command for i3 window manager

## SYNOPSIS

i3-input \[-s \<socket\>\] \[-F \<format\>\] \[-l \<limit\>\] \[-P \<prompt\>\] \[-f \<font\>\] \[-v\]

## DESCRIPTION

i3-input is a tool to take commands (or parts of a command) composed by the user, and send it/them to i3. This is useful, for example, for the mark/goto command.

You can press Escape to close i3-input without sending any commands.

## OPTIONS

- \-s \<socket\>

  Specify the path to the i3 IPC socket (it should not be necessary to use this option, i3-input will figure out the path on its own).

- \-F \<format\>

  Every occurrence of "%s" in the \<format\> string is replaced by the user input, and the result is sent to i3 as a command. Default value is "%s".

- \-l \<limit\>

  Set the maximum allowed length of the user input to \<limit\> characters. i3-input will automatically issue the command when the user input reaches that length.

- \-P \<prompt\>

  Display the \<prompt\> string in front of user input text field. The prompt string is not included in the user input/command.

- \-f \<font\>

  Use the specified X11 core font (use xfontsel to choose a font).

- \-v

  Show version and exit.

## EXAMPLES

Mark a container with a single character:

```
i3-input -F 'mark %s' -l 1 -P 'Mark: '
```

Go to the container marked with above example:

```
i3-input -F '[con_mark="%s"] focus' -l 1 -P 'Go to: '
```

## ENVIRONMENT

### I3SOCK

i3-input handles the different sources of socket paths in the following order:

• I3SOCK environment variable

• I3SOCK gets overwritten by the -s parameter, if specified

• if neither are available, i3-input reads the socket path from the X11 property, which is the recommended way

• if everything fails, i3-input tries /tmp/i3-ipc.sock

The socket path is necessary to connect to i3 and actually issue the command.

## SEE ALSO

[i3(1)](/i3/1.md)

## AUTHOR

Michael Stapelberg and contributors