Arch Linux Fonts: List, Locate and Install with Fontconfig

List installed font families and files

Fontconfig is the useful starting point for applications that use it. A font file existing on disk and an application selecting that font are different things. The following commands distinguish family names, styles and file locations:

fc-list
fc-list -f '%{family}\n' | sort -u
fc-list -f '%{file}\n' | sort -u
fc-list : family style file

If these commands are unavailable, install the fontconfig package with your normal Arch package workflow. Use the family name reported by Fontconfig in application settings, rather than guessing it from a filename. Fonts with similar filenames can still expose different family or style names.

Find the font an application is likely to select

fc-match monospace
fc-match sans-serif
fc-match "JetBrains Mono"
fc-match -s monospace

fc-match shows Fontconfig’s best match for a pattern. If the requested family is missing, a fallback can be returned; a successful command is therefore not proof that that exact font is installed. Compare its result with fc-list. The sorted list shows fallback candidates, but applications may also have their own selection and rendering rules.

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Install a font for your user

For a user-local font, place your legitimately obtained font file in ~/.local/share/fonts/, rebuild that directory’s cache and restart applications that cached their font list. This keeps your own installation separate from package-managed files in /usr/share/fonts/.

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts
cp /path/to/YourFont.ttf ~/.local/share/fonts/
fc-cache -f ~/.local/share/fonts
fc-list -f '%{family}: %{file}\n'

Replace the source path with your real file. For a repository font package, prefer pacman so upgrades and removal remain package-managed. Do not replace system font files manually just to change a terminal’s font.

Hyprland, terminal fonts and missing symbols

Hyprland does not supply one universal font setting for every application. Configure the terminal, launcher and panel separately. A normal monospace font may lack the icon glyphs used by a prompt; if icons are missing, check whether the prompt expects a Nerd Font and whether the selected family contains those glyphs.

xlsfonts lists X server fonts and is not a replacement for Fontconfig discovery on a modern Wayland desktop. Start with Fontconfig and the affected application’s settings when troubleshooting a Hyprland terminal.

References

fc-list, fc-match, fc-cache, and the Fontconfig user guide.