ABOOKRC(5)

🎀 ABOOKRC(5) 🎀

ok so you've met abook(1) and now you wanna customize it?? bestie, welcome to the rc file era 💅 this page is all about the manual page for abookrc — the config file situation — and we're gonna go through literally every single knob together.

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✨ NAME ✨

$HOME/.abook/abookrc — it's the configuration file for the abook address book program, and it's about to be your new fave little text file 🫶

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So abookrc is the (optional, no pressure) configuration file for use with the abook(1) address book program.

Where does it live? It's stored in a user's $HOME/.abook or XDG_DATA_HOME/abook directory. Pick your fighter 💖

The format is a whole vibe: set option=value. That's it. That's the whole grammar. The info below lists each of these options and the values they may take, so like, read on.

And here's the good part: if a variable is not set in abookrc, a sensible default — listed with the description below, iykyk — will be used. no cap, it just handles it for you ✨

Comments in abookrc are on lines beginning with '#'. go off, annotate your heart out.

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💜 COMMANDS 💜

• set option = value — the classic. sets an option to a value. iconic behavior.
• field identifier = human_readable_name [ , type ] — defines a new custom field 🦋 type can be one of 'string' (default), 'emails', 'list', or 'date'.
• view view name = field1 [ , field2, ... ] — defines a view/tab, with fieldN being the identifier of a field declared with the field command, or the identifier of a standard field.

🌈 Standard fields

lowkey the VIP list, here they are:

name, email,
address, address2, city, state, zip, country,
phone, workphone, fax, mobile,
nick, url, notes, anniversary

Note: if you don't define any view, abook will use a default display based on the above standard fields. so like, it's got you either way 🫶

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⭐ VARIABLES ⭐

• autosave=[true|false] — Defines whether the addressbook is automatically saved on exit. Default is true. (bestie please leave this on, the way I would simply pass away if I lost an entry 😭)
• preserve_fields=[all|standard|none] — Specifies how fields not declared with the field command nor in a view should be preserved while loading an abook database.
  • all — preserve any completely unknown field.
  • standard — only preserve the standard fields (see a list in the description of the view command) and the legacy 'custom[1-5]' fields.
  • none — discards any unknown field.
  • Default is standard.
• index_format=format_string — Defines the way entries are displayed in the main list. This is a string containing field names enclosed between braces, with an optional width limit specified by a number (right alignment if negative) after the field name and a colon, and an arbitrary number of alternative fields (first with non empty content is to be displayed) separated by vertical bars. For instance:
  • {name:22} — displays the name field with a maximal width of 22 characters.
  • {phone:-12|workphone|mobile} — displays (right aligned within a width of 13 characters), either the phone, workphone or mobile field, whichever being the first to be non-empty.
  • Default is " {name:22} {email:40} {phone:12|workphone|mobile}"
• show_all_emails=[true|false] — Defines whether all email addresses for a contact are shown in the main list view. Default is true.
• emailpos
• extra_column
• extra_alternative
• extrapos

— all four of these are Obsoleted by index_format. rest in peace, legends 💀 (don't use them, they're giving legacy.)

• mutt_return_all_emails=[true|false] — Defines whether to return all email addresses matching the search criteria to a mutt query. Default is true.
• print_command=command — Defines the command to used when printing the addressbook. Default is "lpr".
• www_command=command — Defines the command used to start the web browser to view a contact's URL. Default is "lynx".
• address_style=[eu|uk|us] — Defines the style of address formatting to be used when exporting as text / printing the database (European, UK, or USA). Default is European ("eu").
• use_ascii_only=[true|false] — This option allows you to force Abook use only ASCII characters. This option is useful if your terminal doesn't support non-ASCII characters. Default is false.
• add_email_prevent_duplicates=[true|false] — Defines whether to avoid adding addresses already in data. Default is false.
• sort_field=field — Defines the field to be used by the "sort by field" command. Default is "nick" (Nickname/Alias).
• show_cursor=[true|false] — Defines if the cursor is visible in main display. Default is false.
• use_mouse=[true|false] — Defines if navigation via the mouse is activated. Default is false. Most terminals can also inhibit ncurses mouse events at runtime by holding the Shift key (restoring mouse-selection behavior). so if the mouse stuff is being weird, hold shift and slay 🖱️
• scroll_speed=lines — Defines the number of lines the address list is scrolled by on a mouse wheel action. This option only takes effect if use_mouse is enabled. Default is 2.
• use_colors=[true|false] — Defines if the output of abook is colorized. Default is false. (turn this on, the aesthetic potential is unmatched 🔥)

🎨 Color settings

These are the ones that make your address book look like a main character. Foreground and background for literally everything:

• color_header_fg=color — Foreground color for header bar
• color_header_bg=color — Background color for header bar
• color_footer_fg=color — Foreground color for footer bar
• color_footer_bg=color — Background color for footer bar
• color_list_even_fg=color — Foreground color for normal list entries with even index in the list (starting with index 0)
• color_list_even_bg=color — Background color for normal list entries with even index in the list (starting with index 0)
• color_list_odd_fg=color — Foreground color for normal list entries with odd index in the list (starting with index 0)
• color_list_odd_bg=color — Background color for normal list entries with odd index in the list (starting with index 0)
• color_list_header_fg=color — Foreground color for the list header
• color_list_header_bg=color — Background color for the list header
• color_list_highlight_fg=color — Foreground color for highlighted list entries
• color_list_highlight_bg=color — Background color for highlighted list entries
• color_tab_border_fg=color — Foreground color for tab borders on details page
• color_tab_border_bg=color — Background color for tab borders on details page
• color_tab_label_fg=color — Foreground color for tab labes on details page
• color_tab_label_bg=color — Background color for tab labes on details page
• color_field_name_fg=color — Foreground color for field names on details page
• color_field_name_bg=color — Background color for field names on details page
• color_field_value_fg=color — Foreground color for field values on details page
• color_field_value_bg=color — Background color for field values on details page

And where color can be: default, black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white 🌈

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🧚 SAMPLE CONFIGURATION FILE 🧚

here's a whole mood board of a config, copy away bestie:

# sample abook configuration file
#

# Declare a few custom fields
field pager = Pager
field address_lines = Address, list
field birthday = Birthday, date

# Define how fields should be displayed in tabs
view CONTACT = name, email
view ADDRESS = address_lines, city, state, zip, country
view PHONE = phone, workphone, pager, mobile, fax
view OTHER = url, birthday

# Preserve any unknown field while loading an abook database
set preserve_fields=all

# Automatically save database on exit
set autosave=true

# Format of entries lines in list
set index_format=" {name:22} {email:40} {phone:12|workphone|mobile}"

# Show all email addresses in list
set show_all_emails=true

# Command used to start mutt
set mutt_command=mutt

# Return all email addresses to a mutt query
set mutt_return_all_emails=true

# Command used to print
set print_command=lpr

# Command used to start the web browser
set www_command=lynx

# Address style [eu|us|uk]
set address_style=eu

# Use ASCII characters only
set use_ascii_only=false

# Prevent double entry
set add_email_prevent_duplicates=false

# Field to be used with "sort by field" command
set sort_field=nick

# Show cursor in main display
set show_cursor=false

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

abook(1). that's the one. go read it, it's the whole reason this file exists 💖

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

This manual page was written by Alan Ford <alan@whirlnet.co.uk> and expanded by Cedric Duval <cedricduval@free.fr>. kings, both of them 🫡

abook was written by Jaakko Heinonen <jheinonen@users.sourceforge.net>

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and that's the whole page!! this one's from the File Formats Manual, dated Oct 25, 2005, and it's ABOOKRC(5) — like, that's the section 5 file formats manual entry for abookrc, bestie. go configure something iconic 💅✨🎀