Modules Title

Title

Print the title, including your username and hostname

Module type	title
Default order	1 — only used by --gen-config
Module source	src/modules/title/title.c
Detection source	— (reads FFPlatform, no per-module detection code)

Prints a single line, user@host, on top of the module list:

user@my-pc

It has no key by default: the initial key is a single space, which hides both the key and its separator (see Pitfalls). With display.key.type left at its default (string) and a key such as "Title" the line becomes Title: user@my-pc.

Platform support

Platform	Implementation	Notes
Linux	src/common/impl/FFPlatform_unix.c	Common code, nothing Linux-specific
Android	src/common/impl/FFPlatform_unix.c	userShell is usually empty
FreeBSD / NetBSD / OpenBSD / DragonFly / MidnightBSD	src/common/impl/FFPlatform_unix.c
Solaris	src/common/impl/FFPlatform_unix.c
Haiku	src/common/impl/FFPlatform_unix.c
macOS	src/common/impl/FFPlatform_unix.c	fullUserName comes from the account database
Windows	src/common/impl/FFPlatform_windows.c	userShell is resolved from SHELL, then a few fallbacks

The module itself is platform independent — it only reads the already-populated instance.state.platform (see Implementation).

Configuration

Option	Type	Default	Description
key	string	" "	Key text. Default is a single space, i.e. the key is hidden.
keyColor	color	–	Overrides display.color.keys.
keyIcon	string	built-in glyph	The icon printed when display.key.type includes the icon bit. Set it to any glyph you like, or to "" to print none.
keyWidth	integer	–	Overrides display.key.width.
outputColor	color	–	Overrides display.color.output. Only affects format; the default user@host uses color below.
format	string	–	Output format string. See Format string.
fqdn	boolean	false	Print the fully qualified domain name instead of truncating at the first ..
color.user	color	–	Color of the user name. Falls back to display.color.title.
color.at	color	–	Color of the @.
color.host	color	–	Color of the host name.
condition	object	–	See Configuration.

Notes:

• color.* only apply to the default user@host layout. If you set format, use the {user-name-colored}, {at-symbol-colored} and {host-name-colored} variables to get the same effect — they are the only pre-colored variables in fastfetch.
• With fqdn: false the host name is cut at the first ., so my-pc.local prints as my-pc. hostName in the JSON output is not truncated.
• The icon is purely cosmetic and exists only to look good in a Nerd Font; replace it or set "keyIcon": "" to drop it.
• Module options are JSON-config only. Since 2.52.0 there are no --title-* command line flags (see Global).

{
  "modules": [
    {
      "type": "title",
      "key": "Title",
      "fqdn": true,
      "color": { "user": "blue", "at": "white", "host": "green" }
    }
  ]
}

Format string

Run fastfetch -h title-format for the authoritative list.

Variable	Description
{user-name}	User name
{host-name}	Host name (respects fqdn)
{home-dir}	Home directory, as reported by the OS (usually with a trailing slash)
{exe-path}	Absolute path of the running fastfetch binary
{user-shell}	The user's login shell
{user-name-colored}	User name, wrapped in color.user
{at-symbol-colored}	@, wrapped in color.at
{host-name-colored}	Host name (respects fqdn), wrapped in color.host
{full-user-name}	Full / display name from the account database
{user-id}	UID on Unix, SID on Windows (see Pitfalls)
{pid}	PID of the running fastfetch process
{cwd}	Current working directory with the home directory replaced by ~

JSON output

{
  "type": "Title",
  "result": {
    "userId": 1000,
    "userName": "user",
    "fullUserName": "Jane Doe",
    "hostName": "my-pc.local",
    "homeDir": "/home/user/",
    "exePath": "/usr/local/bin/fastfetch",
    "userShell": "/bin/bash",
    "pid": 1234,
    "cwd": "/home/user/projects/"
  }
}

userId is a number on Unix and a string on Windows, where it carries the SID.

Examples

Hide the key completely and print a fully qualified host name:

{ "modules": [ { "type": "title", "key": " ", "fqdn": true } ] }

Colored user and host names without touching color.*:

{
  "modules": [
    { "type": "title", "format": "{user-name-colored} at {host-name-colored}" }
  ]
}

Print the title with a user-provided format string:

{ "modules": [ { "type": "title", "format": "{user-name} in {cwd} on {host-name}" } ] }

user in /home/user/projects on my-pc

Pitfalls

• The default key is a single space, not empty. key: " " hides the key and the separator. Setting key: "" does the opposite of hiding: it falls back to the localized module name (Title: …). This is the same convention as every other module — see Global.
• {user-id} changes type across platforms. On Unix it is a UID (number); on Windows it is a SID string. Anything that parses the JSON output must accept both.
• A missing fqdn does not affect {host-name}'s JSON counterpart. result.hostName is always the full name.
• {cwd} collapsing is prefix-based and case-sensitive. It compares cwd against homeDir, which the OS reports with a trailing slash. A cwd that equals the home directory without that slash is printed in full instead of ~. On Windows the comparison is case-insensitive and the result uses a forward slash (~/sub).
• {cwd} is trimmed of trailing slashes (except for the root /), so it does not always read back as result.cwd from the JSON output.
• The Title module has a side effect. It stores fqdn into instance.state.titleFqdn, which the Separator module reads to size its automatic rule. If you print a separator without a title, the separator sizes itself from a non-FQDN host name.
• fqdn: true on Windows prints the full computer name (e.g. PC.domain.local), which is usually not what users expect from a "hostname".

Implementation

ffPrintTitle() (src/modules/title/title.c) has two branches:

1. Default layout. Builds three string buffers (userNameColored, atColored, hostNameColored) with the private appendText() helper, then ffPrintLogoAndKey() + ffStrbufWriteTo() for each part.

   appendText() emits FASTFETCH_TEXT_MODIFIER_BOLT when display.brightColor is on, then \e[<color>m, then the text, then a reset. Everything ANSI-related is skipped when display.pipe is set (--pipe), so the pipe output is plain text.

   The @ gets special treatment: it is only colored when color.at is non-empty, and unlike the other two parts it does not fall back to display.color.title.

2. format branch. Computes a tilde-collapsed cwd first, then calls FF_PRINT_FORMAT_CHECKED with the 12 format arguments. The tilde collapse is a ffStrbufStartsWith (case-insensitive on Windows) against platform.homeDir; the leading part is replaced with ~/ and trailing slashes are trimmed while length > 1.

ffGenerateTitleJsonResult() writes nine fields straight out of instance.state.platform and hardcodes the sid/uid split with #ifdef _WIN32.

instance.state.titleFqdn is assigned on every call, before any output, so the Separator module sees the current value even in --structure title:separator.