How to use the command 'feh' (with examples)

Feh is a lightweight image viewing utility that allows you to view images locally or from a URL. It offers a variety of options to customize your image viewing experience. This article will guide you through several use cases of the ‘feh’ command, showcasing its versatility.

Use case 1: View images locally or using a URL

Code:

feh path/to/images

Motivation: This use case is useful when you want to quickly view one or more images without any additional configuration. It allows you to display images stored locally on your computer or directly fetch images from a URL.

Explanation: The ‘feh’ command is followed by the path to the images you want to view. It can accept multiple image paths, separated by a space.

Example output: The specified images will be displayed in the feh image viewer window, allowing you to navigate through them using keyboard shortcuts.

Use case 2: View images recursively

Code:

feh --recursive path/to/images

Motivation: When you have a directory with subdirectories containing images, this use case is handy to automatically explore all images within the given directory and its subdirectories.

Explanation: The ‘–recursive’ flag instructs ‘feh’ to scan subdirectories recursively and display all the images it finds. This command needs to be followed by the path to the directory containing the images.

Example output: The images located in the specified directory and its subdirectories are displayed in the feh image viewer window for easy browsing.

Use case 3: View images without window borders

Code:

feh --borderless path/to/images

Motivation: If you prefer a distraction-free image viewing experience, this use case allows you to remove the window borders around the images.

Explanation: The ‘–borderless’ flag instructs ‘feh’ to display the images without any window borders, providing a clean and minimalistic viewing environment.

Example output: The specified images are displayed without any window borders, allowing you to focus solely on the images.

Use case 4: Exit after the last image

Code:

feh --cycle-once path/to/images

Motivation: This use case is designed for situations when you want to automatically exit the ‘feh’ image viewer after displaying the last image.

Explanation: The ‘–cycle-once’ flag tells ‘feh’ to only cycle through the images once and then exit the program.

Example output: The specified images are displayed one by one in the ‘feh’ image viewer window, and once the last image is shown, the ‘feh’ program automatically closes.

Use case 5: Set the slideshow cycle delay

Code:

feh --slideshow-delay seconds path/to/images

Motivation: When viewing images in a slideshow format, you may want to control the time duration each image remains on the screen. This use case allows you to specify the delay in seconds.

Explanation: The ‘–slideshow-delay’ flag followed by the number of seconds sets the delay between each image transition in the slideshow.

Example output: The specified images are displayed in a slideshow format, with each image remaining on the screen for the specified delay duration.

Use case 6: Set your wallpaper

Code:

feh --bg-center|fill|max|scale|tile path/to/image

Motivation: This use case enables you to set an image as your desktop wallpaper and configure its placement based on your preference.

Explanation: The ‘–bg-center’, ‘–bg-fill’, ‘–bg-max’, ‘–bg-scale’, and ‘–bg-tile’ flags determine how the image should be displayed on the desktop. Choose the desired flag followed by the path to the image you want to set as wallpaper.

Example output: The specified image is set as the desktop wallpaper, centered, filled, maximized, scaled or tiled, according to the flag used.

Use case 7: Create a montage of all images within a directory

Code:

feh --montage --thumb-height 150 --thumb-width 150 --index-info "%nn%wx%h" --output path/to/montage_image.png

Motivation: This use case allows you to create a visual montage of all the images within a directory, providing a quick overview.

Explanation: The ‘–montage’ flag tells ‘feh’ to create a montage of the images. The ‘–thumb-height’ and ‘–thumb-width’ flags set the dimensions of the thumbnail images in the montage. The ‘–index-info’ flag specifies the information to be displayed on each thumbnail, using the provided format string. Finally, the ‘–output’ flag followed by the desired output path determines where the resulting montage image will be saved.

Example output: A montage image is generated, comprising thumbnail representations of the images within the specified directory. Each thumbnail displays the image index, width, and height information.

Conclusion:

The ‘feh’ command is a versatile image viewing utility that provides numerous options to enhance your image viewing experience. Whether you want to view images locally or from a URL, customize the display, set wallpapers, create montages, or more, ‘feh’ has you covered. With the help of this article, you can now make the most out of the ‘feh’ command and enjoy a seamless image viewing experience.