terminator_config - Man Page

the config file for Terminator terminal emulator

Description

This file contains the configuration for terminator(1). Terminator manages its configuration file via the ConfigObj library to combine flexibility with clear, human editable files.
Terminator offers a full GUI preferences editor which automatically saves its config file so you don’t need to write a config file by hand.

File Location

Normally the config file will be ~/.config/terminator/config, but it may be overridden with $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (in which case it will be $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/terminator/config).

File Format

This is what a Terminator config file should look like:

# This is a comment
[global_config]
  focus = system

[keybindings]
  full_screen = <Ctrl><Shift>F11

[profiles]
  [[default]]
    font = Fixed 10
    background_color = "#000000" # A comment
    foreground_color = "#FFFFFF" # Note that hex colour values must be quoted
    scrollback_lines = '500' #More comment. Single quotes are valid too
    cursor_blink = True
    custom_command = "echo \"foo#bar\"" #Final comment - this will work as expected.

[layouts]
  [[default]]
    [[[window0]]]
      type = Window
      parent = ""
    [[[child1]]]
      type = Terminal
      parent = window0

[plugins]

Global_config

These are the options Terminator currently supports in the global_config section.

Window Behavior & Appearance

window_state = string: Control how the Terminator window opens. 'normal' to open normally. 'maximise' to open in a maximised state. 'fullscreen' to open in a fullscreen state. 'hidden' to stay hidden.
Default value: normal
always_on_top = boolean: If set to True, the window will always stay on top of other windows.
Default value: False
sticky = boolean: If set to True, the window will be visible on all workspaces.
Default value: False
hide_on_lose_focus = boolean: If set to True, the window will be hidden when focus is lost.
Default value: False
hide_from_taskbar = boolean: If set to True, the window will be hidden from the taskbar.
Default value: False
geometry_hinting = boolean: If set to True, the window will resize in step with font sizes.
Default value: False
ask_before_closing = string: Specify when to ask for confirmation before closing a window or a tab. Can be any of: 'always', 'multiple_terminals', 'never'. Default value: multiple_terminals
borderless = boolean: If set to True, the window will be started without window borders.
Default value: False

Tab Behavior & Appearance

tab_position = string

Specify where tabs are placed. Can be any of: 'top', 'left', 'right', 'bottom', 'hidden'. If set to 'hidden', the tab bar will not be shown. Hiding the tab is not recommended, as it can be very confusing.
Default value: top

close_button_on_tab = boolean

If set to True, tabs will have a close button on them.
Default value: True

scroll_tabbar = boolean

If set to True, the tab bar will not fill the width of the window. The titlebars of the tabs will only take as much space as is necessary for the text they contain. Except, that is, if the tabs no longer fit the width of the window - in that case scroll buttons will appear to move through the tabs.
Default value: False

Terminal Behavior & Appearance

focus = string: Specify how focus is given to terminals. 'click' means the focus only moves to a terminal after you click in it. 'sloppy' means the focus will follow the mouse pointer. 'system' means the focus will match that used by a GNOME window manager.
Default value: click
always_split_with_profile = boolean: Specify whether splits/tabs will continue to use the profile of their peer terminal. If set to False, they will always use the default profile.
Default value: False
link_single_click = boolean: If set to True, clicking a link will open it even if Ctrl is not pressed.
Default value: False
putty_paste_style = boolean: If set to True, right-click will paste text, while middle-click will popup the context menu. The source for the pasted text depends on the value of putty_paste_style_source_clipboard.
Default value: False
putty_paste_style_source_clipboard = boolean: If set to True, the Clipboard will be used as source for pasting in PuTTY style. Otherwise, the Primary Selection will be used.
This option is ignored unless putty_paste_style is set to True.
Default value: False
disable_mouse_paste = boolean: If set to True, mouse pasting will be disabled.
Default value: False
smart_copy = boolean: If set to True, and there is no selection, the shortcut is allowed to pass through. This is useful for overloading Ctrl-C to copy a selection, or send the SIGINT to the current process if there is no selection. If False, the shortcut does not pass through at all, and the SIGINT does not get sent.
Default value: True
clear_select_on_copy = boolean: If set to True, text selection will be cleared after copying using the copy keybinding.
Default value: False
handle_size = integer: Specify the width of the separator between terminals. Anything outside the range 0-20 (inclusive) will be ignored and the default theme value will be used instead.
Default value: 1
inactive_color_offset = float: Specify how much to reduce the color values of fonts in terminals that do not have focus.
Default value: 0.8
inactive_bg_color_offset = float: Specify how much to reduce the color values of the background in terminals that do not have focus.
Default value: 1.0
cell_width = float: Specify the horizontal scale of character cells in the terminal.
Default value: 1.0
cell_height = float: Specify the vertical scale of character cells in the terminal.
Default value: 1.0
title_at_bottom = boolean: If set to True, the terminal’s titlebar will be drawn at the bottom instead of the top.
Default value: False

Miscellaneous

dbus = boolean: Specify whether Terminator will load its DBus server. When this server is loaded, running Terminator multiple times will cause the first Terminator process to open additional windows. If this configuration item is set to False, or the python dbus module is unavailable, running Terminator multiple times will run a separate Terminator process for each invocation.
Default value: True
extra_styling = boolean: If set to True, Terminator may load an additional CSS styling file, depending on the theme.
Default value: True
broadcast_default = string: Specify the default broadcast behavior. Can be any of: 'all', 'group', 'off'.
Default value: group
use_custom_url_handler = boolean: If set to True, URL handling will be given over entirely to the program specified by 'custom_url_handler'.
Default value: False
custom_url_handler = string: Specify the path to a program which accepts a URI as an argument and does something relevant with it. This option is ignored unless use_custom_url_handler is set to True.
case_sensitive = boolean: If set to True, uppercase and lowercase characters will be considered different when searching text in the terminal.
Default value: True
invert_search = boolean: If set to True, the search direction will be inverted (bottom to top) when searching text in the terminal.
Default value: False
enabled_plugins = list of strings: Specify which plugins will be loaded by default. All other plugin classes will be ignored.
Default value: ['LaunchpadBugURLHandler', 'LaunchpadCodeURLHandler', 'APTURLHandler']

Keybindings

These are the options Terminator currently supports in the keybindings section.

Creation & Destruction

split_horiz: Split the current terminal horizontally.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>O
split_vert: Split the current terminal vertically.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>E
split_auto: Split the current terminal automatically, along the longer side.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>A
new_tab: Open a new tab.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>T
new_window: Open a new window as part of the existing process.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>I
new_terminator: Spawn a new Terminator process.
Default value: <Super>I
layout_launcher: Open the layout launcher.
Default value: <Alt>L
close_term: Close the current terminal.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>W
close_window: Close the current window.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Q

Navigation

cycle_next: Focus the next terminal. This is an alias for go_next.
Default value: <Ctrl>Tab
cycle_prev: Focus the previous terminal. This is an alias for go_prev.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Tab
go_next: Focus the next terminal.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>N
go_prev: Focus the previous terminal.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>P
go_up: Focus the terminal above the current one.
Default value: <Alt>Up
go_down: Focus the terminal below the current one.
Default value: <Alt>Down
go_left: Focus the terminal to the left of the current one.
Default value: <Alt>Left
go_right: Focus the terminal to the right of the current one.
Default value: <Alt>Right
page_up: Scroll the terminal up one page.
page_down: Scroll the terminal down one page.
page_up_half: Scroll the terminal up half a page.
page_down_half: Scroll the terminal down half a page.
line_up: Scroll the terminal up one line.
line_down: Scroll the terminal down one line.
next_tab: Move to the next tab.
Default value: <Ctrl>Page_Down
prev_tab: Move to the previous tab.
Default value: <Ctrl>Page_Up
switch_to_tab_1, switch_to_tab_2, ... switch_to_tab_10: Move to the Nth tab. Note that <Alt><Shift>1 may be provided as <Alt>! or similar, depending on the keyboard layout.

Organisation

resize_up: Move the parent dragbar up.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Up
resize_down: Move the parent dragbar down.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Down
resize_left: Move the parent dragbar left.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Left
resize_right: Move the parent dragbar right.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Right
rotate_cw: Rotate terminals clockwise.
Default value: <Super>R
rotate_ccw: Rotate terminals counter+clockwise.
Default value: <Super><Shift>R
move_tab_right: Move the current tab to the right by swapping position with the next tab.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Page_Down
move_tab_left: Move the current tab to the left by swapping position with the previous tab.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Page_Up

Focus

full_screen: Toggle window to fullscreen.
Default value: F11
toggle_zoom: Toggle maximisation of the current terminal.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>X
scaled_zoom: Toggle maximisation of the current terminal and scale the font when maximised.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>Z
hide_window: Hide/Show all Terminator windows.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift><Alt>A

Grouping & Broadcasting

create_group: Create a new group.
group_all: Group all terminals together.
Default value: <Super>G
ungroup_all: Ungroup all terminals.
group_all_toggle: Toggle grouping of all terminals.
group_win: Group all terminals in the current window together.
ungroup_win: Ungroup all terminals in the current window.
Default value: <Super><Shift>W
group_win_toggle: Toggle grouping of all terminals in the current window.
group_tab: Group all terminals in the current tab together.
Default value: <Super>T
ungroup_tab: Ungroup all terminals in the current tab.
Default value: <Super><Shift>T
group_tab_toggle: Toggle grouping of all terminals in the current tab.
broadcast_off: Turn broadcasting off.
broadcast_group: Broadcast to all terminals in the same group as the current terminal.
broadcast_all: Broadcast to all terminals.

Miscellaneous

help: Open the full HTML manual in the browser.
Default value: F1
preferences: Open the Preferences window.
preferences_keybindings: Open the Preferences window and show the Keybindings tab.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>K
copy: Copy the selected text to the Clipboard.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>C
paste: Paste the current contents of the Clipboard.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>V
paste_selection: Paste the current contents of the Primary Selection.
toggle_scrollbar: Toggle the scrollbar.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>S
search: Search for text in the terminal scrollback history.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>F
reset: Reset the terminal state.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>R
reset_clear: Reset the terminal state and clear the terminal window.
Default value: <Ctrl><Shift>G
zoom_in: Increase the font size by one unit.
Default value: <Ctrl>plus
zoom_out: Decrease the font size by one unit.
Default value: <Ctrl>minus
zoom_normal: Restore the original font size.
Default value: <Ctrl>0
zoom_in_all: Increase the font size by one unit for all terminals.
zoom_out_all: Decrease the font size by one unit for all terminals.
zoom_normal_all: Restore the original font size for all terminals.
edit_window_title: Rename the current window.
Default value: <Ctrl><Alt>W
edit_tab_title: Rename the current tab.
Default value: <Ctrl><Alt>A
edit_terminal_title: Rename the current terminal.
Default value: <Ctrl><Alt>X
insert_number: Insert the current terminal’s number, i.e. 1 to 12.
Default value: <Super>1
insert_padded: Insert the current terminal’s number, but zero padded, i.e. 01 to 12.
Default value: <Super>0
next_profile: Switch to the next profile.
previous_profile: Switch to the previous profile.

Profiles

These are the options Terminator currently supports in the profiles section. Each profile should be its own subsection with a header in the format [[name]].

General

allow_bold = boolean: If set to True, text in the terminal can displayed in bold.
Default value: True
copy_on_selection = boolean: If set to True, text selections will be automatically copied to the Clipboard, in addition to being copied to the Primary Selection.
Default value: False
disable_mousewheel_zoom = boolean: If set to True, Ctrl+mouse_wheel will not zoom or unzoom the terminal.
Default value: False
word_chars = string: Specify the characters that will be considered part of a single word when selecting text by word. Hyphen and alphanumerics do not need to be specified. Ranges can be given, e.g. "A-Z".
For example, if word_chars = "," then "foo,bar" is considered a single word.
Default value: -,./?%&#:_
mouse_autohide = boolean: If set to True, the mouse pointer will be hidden when typing.
Default value: True
term = string: Specify the value Terminator will assign to the 'TERM' environment variable.
Default value: xterm-256color
colorterm = string: Specify the value Terminator will assign to the 'COLORTERM' environment variable.
Default value: truecolor
split_to_group = boolean: If set to True, the terminal created by splitting will be inserted in the current terminal’s group.
Default value: False
autoclean_groups = boolean: If set to True, empty groups will be removed.
Default value: True
use_system_font = boolean: If set to True, the system default font will be used for text in the terminal. Otherwise, the value of font will be used.
Default value: True
font = string: Specify which font to use for text in the terminal. This option is ignored unless use_system_font is set to False.
Default value: Mono 10
cursor_blink = boolean: If set to True, the cursor will blink when not typing.
Default value: True
cursor_shape = string: Specify the shape of the cursor. Can be any of: 'block', 'underline', 'ibeam'.
Default value: block
cursor_color_default = boolean: If set to True, the background and foreground colors of the terminal will be used as foreground and background colors for the cursor, respectively.
Default value: True
cursor_fg_color = color string: Specify the foreground color to use for the cursor. This option is ignored unless cursor_color_default is set to False.
cursor_bg_color = color string: Specify the background color to use for the cursor. This option is ignored unless cursor_color_default is set to False.
audible_bell = boolean: If set to True, a sound will be played when an application writes the escape sequence for the terminal bell.
Default value: False
visible_bell = boolean: If set to True, the terminal will flash when an application writes the escape sequence for the terminal bell.
Default value: False
urgent_bell = boolean: If set to True, the window’s urgency hint will be set when an application writes the escape sequence for the terminal bell.
Default value: False
icon_bell = boolean: If set to True, a small icon will be shown on the terminal titlebar when an application writes the escape sequence for the terminal bell.
Default value: True
force_no_bell = boolean: If set to True, the terminal bell will be completely disabled.
Default value: False

Command

login_shell = boolean: If set to True, the terminal will run the default shell (or the command specified by custom_command) as a login shell. This means the first argument passed to the shell/command will be '-l'.
Default value: False
use_custom_command = boolean: If set to True, the value of custom_command will be used instead of the default shell.
Default value: False
custom_command = string: Specify the command to execute instead of the default shell. This option is ignored unless use_custom_command is set to True.
exit_action = string: Specify the action to perform when the terminal is closed. 'close' to remove the terminal. 'restart' to restart the shell (or the command specified by custom_command). 'hold' to keep the terminal open, even if the process in it has terminated.
Default value: close

Colors

use_theme_colors = boolean: If set to True, the theme’s foreground and background colors will be used for the terminal. Otherwise, the values of foreground_color and background_color will be used.
Default value: False
foreground_color = color string: Specify the foreground color to use for the terminal. This option is ignored unless use_theme_colors is set to False.
Default value: #AAAAAA
background_color = color string: Specify the background color to use for the terminal. This option is ignored unless use_theme_colors is set to False.
Default value: #000000
palette = string list of colors: Specify the 16-color palette to use for the terminal. The value must be a string containing a colon-separated list of colors in hex format.
For example, "#000000:#cd0000:#00cd00: ... ".
bold_is_bright = boolean: If set to True, bold text will have brighter colors.
Default value: False

Background

background_darkness = float: Specify the transparency of the background color. The value must be between 0.0 and 1.0. This option is ignored unless background_type is set to 'transparent' or 'image'.
Default value: 0.5
background_type = string: Specify what type of background the terminal will have. 'solid' for a solid (opaque) background. 'transparent' for a transparent background. 'image' for a background image.
If this is set to 'transparent', the transparency of the background will be the value of background_darkness. If this is set to 'image', the image specified by background_image will be the background; the background color will then be drawn on top of it, with a transparency specified by background_darkness.
Default value: solid
background_image = path string: Specify the path to an image that will be used as background. This option is ignored unless background_type is set to 'image'.
background_image_mode = string: Specify how the background image will be drawn. 'stretch_and_fill' to fill the terminal entirely, without necessarily maintaining aspect ratio. 'scale_and_fit' to fit the image inside the terminal, eventually leaving blank bars, while maintaining aspect ratio. 'scale_and_crop' to fill the terminal entirely, eventually cropping the image, while maintaining aspect ratio. 'tiling' to repeat the image as to fill the terminal. This option is ignored unless background_type is set to 'image'.
Default value: stretch_and_fill
background_image_align_horiz = string: Specify the horizontal alignment of the background image. Can be any of: 'left', 'center', 'right'. This option is ignored unless background_type is set to 'image'.
Default value: center
background_image_align_vert = string: Specify the vertical alignment of the background image. Can be any of: 'top', 'middle', 'bottom'. This option is ignored unless background_type is set to 'image'.
Default value: middle

Scrolling

scrollbar_position = string: Specify where the terminal scrollbar is put. Can be any of: 'left', 'right', 'hidden'.
Default value: right
scroll_on_output = boolean: If set to True, the terminall will scroll to the bottom when an application writes text to it.
Default value: False
scroll_on_keystroke = boolean: If set to True, the terminal will scroll to the bottom when typing.
Default value: True
scrollback_infinite = boolean: If set to True, the terminal will keep the entire scrollback history.
Default value: False
scrollback_lines = integer: Specify how many lines of scrollback history will be kept by the terminal. Lines that don’t fit in the scrollback history will be discarted. Note that setting large values can slow down rewrapping and resizing. This option is ignored unless scrollback_infinite is set to False.
Default value: 500

Compatibility

backspace_binding = string

Specify what code will be generated by the backspace key. The value can be: 'ascii-del' for the ASCII DEL character; 'control-h' for the ASCII BS character (Ctrl+H); 'escape-sequence' for the escape sequence typically bound to backspace or delete; 'automatic' for letting the terminal automatically decide the character sequence to use.
Default value: ascii-del

delete_binding = string

Specify what code will be generated by the delete key. The value can be: 'ascii-del' for the ASCII DEL character; 'control-h' for the ASCII BS character (Ctrl+H); 'escape-sequence' for the escape sequence typically bound to backspace or delete; 'automatic' for letting the terminal automatically decide the character sequence to use.
Default value: escape-sequence

Titlebar

show_titlebar = boolean: If set to True, the terminal will have a titlebar showing the current title of that terminal.
Default value: True
title_hide_sizetext = boolean: If set to True, the size of the terminal will not be written on its titlebar.
Default value: False
title_use_system_font = boolean: If set to True, the system default font will be used for text in the terminal’s titlebar. Otherwise, the value of title_font will be used.
Default value: True
title_font = string: Specify which font to use for text in the terminal’s titlebar. This option is ignored unless title_use_system_font is set to False.
Default value: Sans 9
title_transmit_fg_color = color string: Specify the foreground color to use for the terminal’s titlebar in case the terminal is focused.
Default value: #ffffff
title_transmit_bg_color = color string: Specify the background color to use for the terminal’s titlebar in case the terminal is focused.
Default value: #c80003
title_inactive_fg_color = color string: Specify the foreground color to use for the terminal’s titlebar in case the terminal is unfocused.
Default value: #000000
title_inactive_bg_color = color string: Specify the background color to use for the terminal’s titlebar in case the terminal is unfocused.
Default value: #c0bebf
title_receive_fg_color = color string: Specify the foreground color to use for the terminal’s titlebar in case the terminal is in a group and is receiving input while unfocused.
Default value: #ffffff
title_receive_bg_color = color string: Specify the background color to use for the terminal’s titlebar in case the terminal is in a group and is receiving input while unfocused.
Default value: #0076c9

Layouts

The layouts section contains all the saved layouts. Each layout should be its own subsection with a header in the format [[name]].

Each object in a layout is a named sub-sub-section with various properties.

type = string

Can be any of: 'Window', 'Notebook', 'HPaned', 'VPaned', 'Terminal'.

parent = string

Specify which object is the parent of the component being defined. All objects, except those of type Window, must specify a parent.

This is an example of a layouts section containing only the layout named "default".

[layouts]
  [[default]]
    [[[window0]]]
      type = Window
      parent = ""
    [[[child1]]]
      type = Terminal
      parent = window0

Plugins

Terminator plugins can add their own configuration to the config file, and it will appear as a subsection. Please refer to the documentation of individual plugins for more information.

Referenced By

terminator(1).

2023-10-10 Manual for Terminator

Description

File Location

File Format

Global_config

Window Behavior & Appearance

Tab Behavior & Appearance

Terminal Behavior & Appearance

Miscellaneous

Keybindings

Creation & Destruction

Navigation

Organisation

Focus

Grouping & Broadcasting

Miscellaneous

Profiles

General

Command

Colors

Background

Scrolling

Compatibility

Titlebar

Layouts

Plugins

See Also

Referenced By