zathura

Open a file

$ zathura [path/to/file]

$ [<h>|<j>|<k>|<l>|<ArrowKeys>]

$ <r>

$ <Ctrl r>

$ </>[string]

$ <:>[bmark|bdelete] [bookmark_name]<Enter>

$ <:>blist<Enter>

zathura [options] <file>...

-P <password>
    Specify the password for encrypted PDF documents. This allows opening password-protected files directly from the command line.

-c <command>
    Execute a Zathura command string immediately after startup. This can be used for automation, like jumping to a specific page or setting a view mode.

-e <encoding>
    Set the text encoding for text-based documents or when extracting text. Useful for documents with non-standard encodings.

-p <page>
    Open the document at a specific page number. Pages are 1-indexed.

-s
    Start Zathura in fullscreen mode. This maximizes the viewing area for the document.

-U <uri>
    Open a document from a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), which can be a local file path or a URL for remote documents.

-v
    Display Zathura's version information and exit. Useful for checking the installed version and build details.

Zathura is a highly customizable and functional document viewer for various formats, primarily known for its PDF capabilities. It is designed to be lightweight, fast, and keyboard-driven, drawing significant inspiration from the Vim editor for its navigation and command-line interface. Zathura's minimalistic interface focuses solely on the document content, reducing visual clutter and enhancing readability.

Its extensible architecture relies on a plugin system, allowing it to support different document types such as PDF, PostScript, DjVu, Comic Book Archives (CBZ/CBR), and more, depending on the installed plugins. This design makes the core application very lean. Zathura is particularly popular among users who prefer keyboard-centric workflows and seek a highly configurable and efficient document viewing experience on Linux and other Unix-like systems.

Zathura's ability to open specific document formats is entirely dependent on the availability and installation of its corresponding plugins (e.g., zathura-pdf-poppler for PDFs, zathura-ps for PostScript, zathura-djvu for DjVu). Without the necessary plugin, Zathura will not be able to render the file type. Users new to Zathura might also find its keyboard-driven, modal interface to have a steeper learning curve compared to traditional mouse-centric document viewers.

Zathura is extensively configurable through its configuration file, typically located at ~/.config/zathura/zathurarc. Users can customize virtually every aspect, including keybindings, colors, font settings, and behavior. This file uses a simple syntax, allowing for powerful personalization.

The command features a rich set of default keybindings, heavily inspired by Vim. Users can navigate, search, zoom, rotate, and perform many other actions using only the keyboard. These keybindings are fully customizable within the zathurarc file.

Zathura's modular design means that support for different document formats is provided by separate plugins. This keeps the core application small and efficient. Common plugins include zathura-pdf-poppler (for PDF), zathura-djvu (for DjVu), zathura-ps (for PostScript), and zathura-cb (for comic book archives).

Zathura was developed by Simon Schmeisser and other contributors as a lightweight and highly configurable document viewer, first released around 2009. Its design philosophy emphasizes speed, minimalism, and keyboard control, distinguishing it from more feature-rich, mouse-driven alternatives. It draws significant inspiration from projects like the Vim text editor and the Suckless tools (e.g., surf, dwm) in its approach to simplicity and user control through configuration files and keybindings.

evince(1), okular(1), mupdf(1), vim(1)