Break

Break

Print an empty line

Module type	break
Default order	72 — only used by --gen-config
Module source	src/modules/break/break.c
Detection source	—

Prints exactly one empty line. It is the blank-line separator for a long structure:

Date & Time: 2026-01-01 09:00:00

OS: Linux 6.12.0
Shell: /bin/bash

This is the module with the fewest moving parts in the whole registry: no key, no icon, no format string, and no options at all. The only keys it accepts are type and condition.

Platform support

Platform	Implementation	Notes
Everywhere	src/modules/break/break.c	Platform independent — no detection layer

Because it has no detection layer, it is one of the few modules that work on every platform, including the ones where a detection backend is only a stub. There is nothing to configure per platform.

Configuration

Option	Type	Default	Description
condition	object	–	Prints the empty line only when the condition matches. See Global.

That is the complete list. key, keyColor, keyIcon, keyWidth, outputColor and format are not accepted; writing any of them is an unknown key (see Pitfalls).

Format string

None. The module does not call the format engine at all, and asking for its variable list fails:

$ fastfetch -h break-format
Error: Module 'Break' doesn't support output formatting

The message goes to stderr and the exit status is still 0. format is an unknown key here, so a config that carries one prints a warning and the empty line.

JSON output

There is no JSON representation:

{ "type": "Break", "error": "Unsupported for JSON format" }

--structure break --format json therefore produces an error object where a result would normally be. In a full run the object still occupies its position in the top-level array, with error in place of result.

Examples

A blank line between two blocks:

{
  "modules": [
    { "type": "host" },
    { "type": "os" },
    { "type": "break" },
    { "type": "kernel" },
    { "type": "uptime" }
  ]
}

Several blank lines are several break entries — there is no times option:

{ "modules": [ { "type": "break" }, { "type": "break" } ] }

A blank line that only appears on Linux:

{ "type": "break", "condition": { "system": "Linux" } }

Pitfalls

• A break is a blank line, not a rule. Use Separator when you want a visible horizontal line; break prints nothing but the newline.

• One line, and only one. break has no count option, so two blank lines need two entries.

• The line is printed even when the module reports an unknown key. The parse pass runs first, so { "type": "break", "key": "X" } prints

  Break: Unknown JSON key key
  

  and then still prints its empty line. The message only appears when display.showErrors is true (see Global).

• A condition that does not match prints nothing at all — not even the empty line. Like every other module, the entry is skipped before it is dispatched, and the skip is silent even with display.showErrors enabled.

• break cannot be hidden or renamed. There is no key to hide with key: " " and no name to replace, so --structure-disabled is the only way to take it out of a structure that already contains it.

• It always succeeds. ffPrintBreak() returns true unconditionally, so a following { "condition": { "succeeded": true } } is never suppressed by a break.

• Order matters as much as anywhere else. break occupies a slot in the structure like any other module, so a break placed first produces a leading blank line above the logo's first line.

Implementation

The module is a three-line print function (src/modules/break/break.c):

bool ffPrintBreak(FFBreakOptions* options) {
    ffLogoPrintLine();
    putchar('\n');
    return true;
}

ffLogoPrintLine() (src/logo/logo.c) is the same call every other module makes before printing its key: it emits the next line of a side logo and pads to the logo's width, so the blank line lines up with the rest of the output instead of overwriting part of an image logo. With --logo none it produces nothing at all, which is why -s break is exactly one newline.

ffParseBreakJsonObject() accepts type and condition and rejects everything else. ffInitBreakOptions() and ffDestroyBreakOptions() are both empty, and the registry entry carries neither formatArgs nor generateJsonResult — that is the whole reason -h break-format and --format json fail for this module.