description: >
cmus music player essential commands and keybindings.
title: "cmus"
Table of Contents
Basics
| Description | Command |
|----------------|----------------|
| quit cmus | `:q` |
| cancel command | `ESC` or `C-c` |
| auto-complete | `TAB` |
Navigation
| Description | Key Binding |
|--------------------|-------------|
| up | `k` |
| down | `j` |
| expand selection | `SPC` |
| play selected song | `ENTER` |
Manage Music
Add a directory:
> :a /path/to/music
Clear playlist or library
> :c
Save playlist
> :save <playlist.pls>
Load playlist
> :load <playlist.pls>
Search for <keyword>
> /<keyword>ENTER
Go to next <keyword> occurrence
> n
Views
| View | Key Binding |
|----------|-------------|
| Library | `1` |
| Playlist | `3` |
| Queue | `4` |
| Explorer | `5` |
| Settings | `7` |
Library
| Description | Key Binding |
|---------------------------|-------------|
| switch tab | `TAB` |
| previous track | `z` |
| play | `x` |
| pause | `c` |
| stop | `v` |
| next track | `b` |
| shuffle | `s` |
| Decrease volume | `-` |
| Increase volume | `+` |
| add selection to playlist | `y` |
| queue selection | `e` |
Rebind Keys
In Settings
view, we need to scroll up to the keybinding we wish to change.
Hit Enter
then
> :bind -f common <key> <action>
Preferences
We set preferences using the formula:
> :set <option>=<value>
| Description | Option |
|-----------------------------|-----------------------|
| Repeat all | `replaygain=1` |
| Change output plugin | `output_plugin=oss` |
| Reshuffle when finished | `auto_reshuffle=true` |
| Shuffle library or playlist | `shuffle=true` |
| Use software volume control | `softvol=true` |
We can save our preferences to ~/.config/cmus/rc
. For instance, in Linux:
set output_plugin=alsa
set dsp.alsa.device=default
set mixer.alsa.device=default
set mixer.alsa.channel=Master
set softvol=true
Resources