You can use this module with the following in your ~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs:

    import XMonad
    import XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog

If you just want a quick-and-dirty status bar with zero effort, try the xmobar or dzen functions:

 main = xmonad =<< xmobar conf

There is also statusBar if you'd like to use another status bar, or would like to use different formatting options. The xmobar, dzen, and statusBar functions are preferred over the other options listed below, as they take care of all the necessary plumbing -- no shell scripting required!

Alternatively, you can choose among several default status bar formats (dynamicLog or dynamicLogXinerama) by simply setting your logHook to the appropriate function, for instance:

 main = xmonad $ defaultConfig {
    ...
    logHook = dynamicLog
    ...
  }

For more flexibility, you can also use dynamicLogWithPP and supply your own pretty-printing format (by either defining one from scratch, or customizing one of the provided examples). For example:

    -- use sjanssen's pretty-printer format, but with the sections
    -- in reverse
    logHook = dynamicLogWithPP $ sjanssenPP { ppOrder = reverse }

Note that setting the logHook only sets up xmonad's output; you are responsible for starting your own status bar program (e.g. dzen or xmobar) and making sure xmonad's output is piped into it appropriately, either by putting it in your .xsession or similar file, or by using spawnPipe in your main function, for example:

 import XMonad.Util.Run   -- for spawnPipe and hPutStrLn

 main = do
     h <- spawnPipe "xmobar -options -foo -bar"
     xmonad $ defaultConfig {
       ...
       logHook = dynamicLogWithPP $ defaultPP { ppOutput = hPutStrLn h }

If you use spawnPipe, be sure to redefine the ppOutput field of your pretty-printer as in the example above; by default the status will be printed to stdout rather than the pipe you create.

Even if you don't use a statusbar, you can still use dynamicLogString to show on-screen notifications in response to some events. For example, to show the current layout when it changes, you could make a keybinding to cycle the layout and display the current status:

    , ((mod1Mask, xK_a     ), sendMessage NextLayout >> (dynamicLogString myPP >>= \d->spawn $"xmessage "++d))

Run xmonad with a dzen status bar set to some nice defaults.

 main = xmonad =<< dzen conf

The intent is that the above config file should provide a nice status bar with minimal effort.

If you wish to customize the status bar format at all, you'll have to use the statusBar function instead.

The binding uses the XMonad.Hooks.ManageDocks module to automatically handle screen placement for dzen, and enables 'mod-b' for toggling the menu bar.

Run xmonad with a xmobar status bar set to some nice defaults.

 main = xmonad =<< xmobar conf

This works pretty much the same as dzen function above.

An example log hook, which prints status information to stdout in the default format:

 1 2 [3] 4 7 : full : title

That is, the currently populated workspaces, the current workspace layout, and the title of the focused window.

To customize the output format, see dynamicLogWithPP.

Workspace logger with a format designed for Xinerama:

 [1 9 3] 2 7

where 1, 9, and 3 are the workspaces on screens 1, 2 and 3, respectively, and 2 and 7 are non-visible, non-empty workspaces.

Unfortunately, at the present time, the current layout and window title are not shown, and there is no way to incorporate the xinerama workspace format shown above with dynamicLogWithPP. Hopefully this will change soon.

Strip xmobar markup. Useful to remove ppHidden color from ppUrgent field. For example:

     , ppHidden          = xmobarColor "gray20" "" . wrap "<" ">"
     , ppUrgent          = xmobarColor "dark orange" "" .  xmobarStrip

Strip dzen formatting or commands. Useful to remove ppHidden formatting in ppUrgent field. For example:

     , ppHidden          = dzenColor "gray20" "" . wrap "(" ")"
     , ppUrgent          = dzenColor "dark orange" "" .  dzenStrip

• incorporate dynamicLogXinerama into the PP framework somehow
• add an xmobarEscape function