NST.CONF(5)

📦
version 1.1 · 2 versions
, in opensuse-leap 16.0

💅 NAME 💅

Okay so this manual page is NST.CONF(5), and it’s literally all about nst.conf — the configuration file for the nst(1) terminal emulator. Bestie, it’s giving “make your terminal behave exactly how you want” energy. ✨

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

nst.conf is the config file for the nst(1) terminal emulator. It lets you change a whole range of settings so you can override the compiled-in defaults during runtime. Iconic behavior, no cap. 💖

The configuration file is read once during startup of nst(1). Multiple configuration files get looked up in this exact order:

  • /etc/nst.conf for system-wide configuration.
  • $HOME/.config/nst.conf for user-specific configuration.
  • the file specified via the --config command line switch.
  • the file specified in the NST_CONFIG environment variable.

The settings found in the configuration files are accumulated. Settings from configuration files that are parsed at a later time will override previously seen settings, if they overlap. So yeah — later files can absolutely steal the spotlight. 👑

The configuration file is parsed line by line. Lines starting with a # character (after stripping leading whitespace) will be treated as comments and will be ignored. There is no support for line continuation — neither in comments nor in configuration lines.

⚠️ No line continuation anywhere, bestie. Not in comments, not in config lines. Periodt. 💀

All configuration lines follow the format "<key> = <value>".

  • <key> is an alphanumerical string containing only ASCII characters, underscores, and no whitespace.
  • Leading and trailing whitespace is stripped.
  • <key> items that are unknown to nst(1) will be parsed for syntax errors but will be ignored otherwise.

<value> can be one of the following formats, depending on the configuration <key>:

  • a UTF8 encoded unicode string surrounded by double quotes. To embed double quotes in the string, minimal backslash escape sequences are supported, namely \" to embed a double quote and \\ to embed a literal backslash character.
  • an unsigned 32-bit integer consisting of only numerical characters.
  • a boolean value consisting either of the string true or false (without using quotes).

Parse errors will be diagnosed by nst(1) on stderr, but will not cause the terminal emulator to abort. That said, bad configuration settings (on a logical level) can still lead to a non-functional nst(1). So like… syntax errors won’t kill it, but chaotic logic can still ruin the vibe. 😭

The available configuration keys, along with a description and their compiled-in defaults, can be found in the template configuration file installed in /etc/nst.conf. Go check it out, it’s lowkey the cheat sheet. 🦋

🌈 FILES 🌈

  • /etc/nst.conf
  • $HOME/.config/nst.conf

Dated 09/10/2025, straight from NST.CONF(5) — bye bestie, go slay your config 🫶💖

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