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foot Cheatsheet

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foot is a fast, lightweight and minimalistic Wayland terminal emulator.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Basic Navigation

  • Shift+PageUp - Scroll up in history
  • Shift+PageDown - Scroll down in history
  • Ctrl+Shift+C or XF86Copy - Copy selected text to clipboard
  • Ctrl+Shift+V or XF86Paste - Paste from clipboard
  • Shift+Insert - Paste from primary selection

Font Size

  • Ctrl++ or Ctrl+= - Increase font size
  • Ctrl+- - Decrease font size
  • Ctrl+0 - Reset font size

Terminal Management

  • Ctrl+Shift+N - Spawn a new terminal (respects current working directory if OSC 7 enabled)
  • Ctrl+Shift+U - Enter URL mode (visible URLs can be activated)
  • Ctrl+Shift+Z - Jump to previous prompt (shell integration needed)
  • Ctrl+Shift+X - Jump to next prompt (shell integration needed)

Scrollback Search

  • Ctrl+Shift+R - Enter scrollback search mode
  • Ctrl+R - Search backward for next match (in search mode)
  • Ctrl+S - Search forward (in search mode)
  • Ctrl+Left/Right - Move by word in search input
  • Alt+F - Move forward by word
  • Alt+B - Move backward by word
  • Alt+Backspace - Delete word before cursor
  • Ctrl+Backspace - Delete word before cursor (alternative)
  • Return - Finish search and copy match to primary selection
  • Escape, Ctrl+C, or Ctrl+G - Cancel search

Mouse Shortcuts

Selection

  • Single-click - Select text (drag to adjust), copy to primary selection on release
  • Shift+Click - Force selection even if client has mouse tracking enabled
  • Ctrl+Click - Block selection
  • Double-click - Select word under cursor
  • Ctrl+Double-click - Extend selection to next space-separated region
  • Triple-click - Select entire line
  • Quad-click - Select entire line (alternative)

Clipboard

  • Middle-click - Paste from primary selection

Scrolling and Font

  • Wheel - Scroll through history
  • Ctrl+Wheel - Adjust font size

Configuration

Config File Location

  • ~/.config/foot/foot.ini (user config)
  • /etc/xdg/foot/foot.ini (system config)

Example Key Bindings

Customize shortcuts in [key-bindings] section:

[key-bindings]
# Remap font size controls
font-increase=Ctrl+Shift+Plus
font-decrease=Ctrl+Shift+Minus

# Custom scrollback
scrollback-up-page=Shift+Home
scrollback-down-page=Shift+End

# Additional clipboard bindings
clipboard-copy=Ctrl+Shift+C XF86Copy
clipboard-paste=Ctrl+Shift+V XF86Paste

Example Mouse Bindings

Customize mouse behavior in [mouse-bindings] section:

[mouse-bindings]
# Block selection with Ctrl+drag
select-begin-block=Control+BTN_LEFT
select-extend-character-wise=Control+BTN_RIGHT

Tips

  • Use include= directive to include other config files (e.g., themes)
  • Font names accept comma-separated fontconfig-style names for fallbacks
  • Size can be in points or pixel size; DPI awareness affects point size
  • Use colors-dark and colors-light for theme switching (colors and colors2 are deprecated)
  • Shell integration enables prompt jumping (Ctrl+Shift+Z/X)
  • URL mode (Ctrl+Shift+U) allows activating visible URLs
  • Primary selection (middle-click paste) works independently of clipboard
  • Block selection (Ctrl+drag) is useful for columnar data
  • Scrollback search copies matches to primary selection automatically

Resources

  • Project: https://codeberg.org/dnkl/foot
  • Manual: man foot
  • Config manual: man foot.ini

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