Configurations

Availability

Depending on how your installation of Conky was compiled, not all of the options listed below may be available. Use conky -v to see the enabled options of your Conky installation. If you want to alter your options, you have to recompile Conky. If you installed Conky as a package, you can contact the maintainer and ask to add a build flag or compile Conky from source.

Settings

Settings are used to configure the way Conky looks and behaves. See man -P "less -p 'CONFIGURATION SETTINGS'" conky for a complete list of Conky settings. You can read manual in your browser too: man -H conky.

Variables

Variables are used to make Conky display information. See man -P "less -p 'OBJECTS/VARIABLES'" conky for a complete list of Conky variables. You can read manual in your browser too: man -H conky.

Syntax

Converting old configs to 1.10

• Download the script. convert.lua

• Make a backup first.

• Run ./convert.lua your_config.conf in your terminal.

• The script is not always flawless. You might need to tweak it somewhat if it does not work. Otherwise, the script should already take care of the more annoying and tedious work (i.e. syntax change) for you.

1.9 and earlier versions

Outdated

• Settings should start with its name, followed by a space and the argument.

• Settings without arguments uses the word yes or no.

• TEXT line is a boundary line between settings and variables.

• Variables without arguments should be written like this: $var or ${var}.

• Variables with arguments should be written like this: ${var arg1 arg2}.

  update_interval 10
  out_to_console yes
  out_to_stderr no
  
  TEXT
  I am on ${wireless_ap wlan0} and there
  are ${user_number} users on my system
  

1.10 and later versions

• 1.10 Configuration uses Lua syntax.

• Settings should be inside conky.config = { and };.

• Setting begins with its name, followed by a =, and the arguments.

• Setting arguments should be enclosed in quotes unless it is a boolean or a number. Settings without arguments can use true or false.

• Settings should be separated by a comma. The last setting should not have a comma at the end, although the syntax is forgiving.

• Setting templateN uses the [[ ]] brackets.

• Variables should be inside conky.text = [[ and ]].

• Variables without arguments should be written like this: $var or ${var}.

• Variables with arguments should be written like this: ${var arg1 arg2}.

  conky.config={
      update_interval=10,
      out_to_console=true,
      out_to_stderr=false,
      template0 = [[${top_mem name \1}${alignr}${top_mem mem \1}%]]
  };
  
  conky.text = [[
  I am on ${wireless_ap wlan0} and there
  are ${user_number} users on my system
  ]]

• Comments start with -- this is a comment. You can have multiline comments by using:

  --[[
  first comment line
  second comment line
  ]]

• Comments starting with # can be inside conky.text = [[text section]].

• Colors do not use the # any more, so #DCDCDC becomes DCDCDC (e.g. ${color DCDCDC} and color0 = 'DCDCDC').