epgsearchmenu.conf(5)        EPGSearch Version 2.4.6       epgsearchmenu.conf(5)

NAME
     epgsearchmenu.conf – configuration of EPG menus

DESCRIPTION
     The display of selected EPGSearch menus can be customized to your own pref‐
     erences. The configuration is done using this file.

     The  file  epgsearchmenu.conf is not reloaded with every plugin call, since
     this is only useful when testing the configuration file itself.   To  acti‐
     vate  permanent  reloading  the file during testing a configuration change,
     add the start parameter '−r'  or  '−−reloadmenuconf'  in  the  VDR's  start
     script (e.g., runvdr).

SYNTAX
     Each line configures the display of a certain menu. The entries specify the
     layouts for the following menus:

     MenuWhatsOnNow
         Template for the menu 'Now'.

     MenuWhatsOnNext
         Template for the menu 'Next'.

     MenuWhatsOnElse
         Template for the menu of a user-defined time.

     MenuSchedule
         Template for the menu 'Schedule'.

     MenuSearchResults
         Template for the menu 'Search results'.

     MenuFavorites
         Template for the menu 'Favorites'.

     Without a respective entry, EPGSearch uses a menu's default layout.

     The  entry  'MenuSearchResults' has a special feature: If different layouts
     for search results are desired depending on  the  search,  additional  menu
     templates  can  be  provided. Just add an entry for each template, with the
     template name directly appended to 'MenuSearchResults', like 'MenuSearchRe‐
     sultsTip of the Day'. If more than one entry starting  with  'MenuSearchRe‐
     sults'  exists, the menu 'Edit search' will be extended by a menu item 'Re‐
     sult menu layout' that allows choosing between the menu's default  template
     and own templates.

VARIABLES
     The following variables exist (case ignored):

     %Time%
         An event's start time in 'HH:MM' format.

     %TimeEnd%
         An event's stop time in 'HH:MM' format.

     %Time_D%
         An event's start date in 'DD' format.

     %Time_W%
         Name of the weekday on which an event starts.

     %Time_Lng%
         An  event's  start date and time in Epoch encoding (i.e., seconds since
         1970-01-01 00:00 UTC).

     %TimeSpan%
         Time span til the start of an event (like 'in  15m')  or  the  time  an
         event is already running (like '10m').

     %Date%
         An event's start date in 'DD.MM.YY' format.

     %DateSh%
         An event's start date in 'DD.MM' format.

     %Date_ISO%
         An event's start date in 'YYYY-MM-DD' format.

     %Day%
         An event's start day (1..31).

     %Week%
         Calendar week of an event's start date (01..53).

         According  to the ISO 8601 standard, Monday is the first day of a week.
         Calendar week 1 is the first week where four or more days  fall  within
         the  new  year, that is, the first week that contains a Thursday or has
         January 4 in it.

     %Month%
         An event's start month (1..12).

     %Year%
         An event's start year (1970..2038, or even later).

     %EventID%
         An event's numeric identifier.

     %LiveEventID%
         An event's identifier as used in the front end live.

     %Title%
         An event's title.

     %Subtitle%
         An event's subtitle.

     %Summary%
         An event's summary.

     %Aux%
         An event's auxiliary information.

     %HtmlSummary%
         An event's summary with all line feeds replaced by '<br />'.

         Caution: The HTML reserved characters '<&">' will not  be  replaced  by
         their substitutes '&lt;', '&amp;', '&quot;' and '&gt;'.

     %<EPG Category>%
         An  event's  value  of  the  respective  EPG  category  as specified in
         epgsearchcats.conf, like '%Genre%' or '%Category%'.

     %Length%
         An event's length in seconds.

     %Status%
         An event's status (the same as '%T_Status%%V_Status%%R_Status%').

     %T_Status%
         A timer's status ('T', 't', or 'R'), else a space.

     %V_Status%
         An event's VPS status ('V'), else a space.

     %R_Status%
         An event's running status ('*'), else a space.

     For the menus of user-defined times and the menu  'Search  results',  there
     are also:

     %ChNr%
         An event's channel number.

     %ChSh%
         The short name of an event's channel.

     %ChLng%
         The long name of an event's channel.

     %ChData%
         The      VDR's      internal      channel     representation     (e.g.,
         'S19.2E-1-1101-28106').

     %Progr%
         A graphical progress bar; not available for the menu 'Search results'.

         Note: The VDRSymbols font must be installed to display the graphics.

     %ProgrT2S%
         A progress bar in text2skin style; not available for the  menu  'Search
         results'.

     And, finally, some common variables:

     %TimeNow%
         The current time in 'HH:MM' format.

     %DateNow%
         The current date in 'DD.MM.YY' format.

     %DateShNow%
         The current date in 'DD.MM' format.

     %Date_ISO_Now%
         The current date in 'YYYY-MM-DD' format.

     %VideoDir%
         The VDR's video directory (e.g., /video).

     %PlugConfDir%
         The VDR's plugin configuration directory (e.g., /etc/vdr/plugins).

     %EPGSearchDir%
         The    EPGSearch    configuration   directory   (e.g.,   /etc/vdr/plug‐
         ins/epgsearch)

     %Colon%
         The ':' character.

     You  can  also  use  variables  for  extended  EPG  categories  defined  in
     epgsearchcats.conf  or  use  your  own  variables defined in epgsearchuser‐
     vars.conf. Variable names are not case sensitive.

     An entry consists of up to six table columns, separated  with  '|'  charac‐
     ters.   The  last entry of each table row should declare the table width in
     characters, separated with a ':' character.

     When using characters like '~', '−' or '#' to separate items  (e.g.,  '%Ti‐
     tle%  ~ %Subtitle%') with trailing elements being empty, EPGSearch will at‐
     tempt to remove orphaned spaces and separators.

     To enable icons from the font VDRSymbols, simply add the following line  to
     the file:

         WarEagleIcons=1

     The  font  VDRSymbols  can  be  downloaded  from <http://andreas.vdr-devel‐
     oper.org/fonts/download.html>.

     Note: Once a file epgsearchmenu.conf is present and includes an entry for a
     certain menu, the default settings for displaying this menu are ignored.

EXAMPLE
     A sample  epgsearchmenu.conf  is  provided  in  the  subdirectory  conf  of
     EPGSearch.  For quickly trying out, copy the file to the EPGSearch configu‐
     ration directory (e.g., /etc/vdr/plugins/epgsearch).

         MenuWhatsOnNow=%chnr%:3|%progrt2s%:5| %time% %t_status%:8|%category%:6| %title% ~ %subtitle%:35
         MenuWhatsOnNext=%chnr%:3|%time% %t_status%:8|%category%:8| %title% ~ %subtitle%:35
         MenuWhatsOnElse=%chnr%:3|%time% %t_status%:8|%category%:8| %title% ~ %subtitle%:35
         MenuSchedule=%time% %t_status%:8|%genre%:14| %title% ~ %subtitle%:35
         MenuFavorites=%chnr%:3|%time%:6|%timespan%:7|%t_status%:14|%genre%:8| %title%%colon%%subtitle%:35
         MenuSearchResults=%chnr%:3|%datesh% %time% %t_status%:14|%genre%:8| %title%%colon% %subtitle%:35

     The entry 'MenuWhatsOnNow' instructs EPGSearch how to format a line for the
     menu 'Now'. The menu line starts with the channel  number,  followed  by  a
     progress  bar in text2skin style, a single space, the start time, the timer
     status, the EPG category (like "movie") and, finally, the title and  subti‐
     tle.

     Furthermore, suppose the following entry gets added:

         MenuSearchResultsTip of the Day=%chnr%:3|%time_w%:4|%t_status%:3|%genre%:10|%title%%colon% %subtitle%:35

     This  will  result  in  an additional menu item 'Result menu layout' in the
     menu 'Edit search' that allows choosing between the menu's default template
     and own templates. For the example above, 'Tip of the Day' will  be  listed
     as  additional  option,  since  EPGSearch simply strips the prefix 'MenuSe‐
     archResults'. When displaying the search results, the chosen layout will be
     used instead of the default one.

     You should adapt the column-width values to fit your needs, since the  lay‐
     out often depends on the selected skin.

AUTHORS (man pages)
     Originally provided by Mike Constabel <epgsearch (at) constabel (dot) net>.

     Revised and adapted to recent plugin features by the current maintainers.

PROJECT SITE
     The plugin is maintained as GitHub project:

     <https://github.com/vdr-projects/vdr-plugin-epgsearch/>

REPORTING BUGS
     Issues  can  be  reported, and features be suggested, through the project's
     bug tracker:

     <https://github.com/vdr-projects/vdr-plugin-epgsearch/issues/>

COPYRIGHT and LICENSE
     Copyright (C) 2004-2010 Christian Wieninger

     Copyright © 2011-2025 TomJoad (VDR-Portal), et al.

     This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it un‐
     der the terms of the GNU General Public License as published  by  the  Free
     Software  Foundation;  either version 2 of the License, or (at your option)
     any later version.

     This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
     ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or  FIT‐
     NESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more
     details.

     You  should  have  received  a copy of the GNU General Public License along
     with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,  51
     Franklin  Street,  Fifth  Floor,  Boston,  MA 02110-1301 USA Or, point your
     browser to <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html>

     The original author can be reached via cwieninger@gmx.de.

     Current maintainers can be reached  via  the  project's  GitHub  site  (see
     above).

     The  MD5 code has been derived from the MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm of RSA
     Data Security, Inc.

SEE ALSO
     epgsearch(1), epgsearchcats.conf(5), epgsearchuservars.conf(5)

perl v5.40.1                       2026-04-19              epgsearchmenu.conf(5)
