How to Show Network Speed in Emacs Mode Line

Copy this file as network-speed.el. Place it where emacs can find it (see load-path variable).

Configure your .emacs file:

;; network-speed configuration:
(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/network-speed.el")
(require 'network-speed)
(network-speed-start) 

Reload your .emacs file: M-x load-file RET /path/to/.emacs

To stop showing network speed in mode line execute:
M-x network-speed-stop

;;; network-speed.el --- display network speed information  -*- coding: mule-utf-8 -*-

;; Copyright (C) 2009 Vicente Hernando Ara

;; Author: Vicente Hernando Ara 

;; Created: 1 Jan 2010

;; Keywords: hardware

;; This file is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
;; it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
;; the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
;; (at your option) any later version.

;; This file is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
;; but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS 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 GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.



;;; Commentary:

;; network-speed.el package displays network speed in emacs mode line for the interfaces the user selects.


;; There are several configurable options:

;;   network-speed-update_interval: time interval after which speed is calculated.

;;   network-speed-interface-list: list containing all network interfaces we want to show data about.

;;   network-speed-precision: every floating point number will show this number of figures after decimal point.

;;   network-speed-format-string: customizable string to be shown in the mode line.
;;   There are several scape strings which will be sustituted by data.
;;     %NI == network interface
;;     %RX == received bytes speed 
;;     %TX == transmitted bytes speed
;;     %AX == received + transmitted bytes speed
;;     %RB == total received bytes
;;     %TB == total transmitted bytes
;;     %AB == total received plus transmitted bytes
;;     %%% == % character"

;; After this file is loaded, it is necessary to call `network-speed-start' function.
;; To stop network-speed working  you need to call `network-speed-stop' function.

;;      
;; A lot of ideas were taken from `battery.el.gz' file.


;;; NETWORK-SPEED CONFIGURATION
;;
;; Add something like this in your .emacs file:
;;
;; ;; Custom variables:
;;  '(network-speed-update-interval 2)   ; Shows network speed every 2 seconds.
;;  '(network-speed-interface-list (list "ppp0" "eth0"))  ; Network interfaces to be shown in mode line.
;;  '(network-speed-precision 1)  ; Number of figures after decimal point.
;;  '(network-speed-format-string " [%NI total: %AX] ") ; String format.
;;
;; ;; network-speed configuration:
;; (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/network-speed.el")
;; (require 'network-speed)
;; (network-speed-start) ; 
;;
;; ;; to stop network-speed, call "network-speed-stop" interactive function.
;; ;; (network-speed-stop)


;;; Code:

;;; CUSTOM VARIABLES:

;; Network interface list to be shown in mode line.  
;;   E.g: `(list "ppp0" "eth0" "ppp1")'
(defcustom network-speed-interface-list (list "eth0") "Network interface list to be shown in mode line."
:type '(repeat string) )

(defcustom network-speed-update-interval 1 "Network speed is calculated every network-speed-update-interval seconds."
:type 'number )

(defcustom network-speed-precision 2 "Number of digits after point in numbers shown in mode line."
:type 'integer )

;; String used to build the output string shown in emacs mode line.
(defcustom network-speed-format-string " [%NI rx:%RX tx:%TX] " "Format string. 
%NI == network interface
%RX == received bytes speed 
%TX == transmitted bytes speed
%AX == received + transmitted bytes speed
%RB == total received bytes
%TB == total transmitted bytes
%AB == total received plus transmitted bytes
%%% == % character"
:type 'string
)


(defvar network-speed-update-timer nil)

;; List that contains vectors like this: [ network-interface-string received-bytes transmitted-bytes rx-speed tx-speed ]
;; This variable is only for internal use.
(defvar network-speed-data-list nil) 

;; We will parse /proc/net/dev file using the returned regexp.
(defun network-speed-get-regex (network-interface)
"Returns the right regular expression needed to find received and transmitted bytes for NETWORK-INTERFACE."
(concat "^\\( *" network-interface ":[ ]*\\)"
"\\([0-9]+\\)" ; received bytes.
"\\( +[0-9]+\\)\\{7\\} +"
"\\([0-9]+\\)"))  ; transmitted bytes.


(defun network-speed-get-rx-tx-bytes ()
"Gets received and transmitted bytes for every required network interface and calculates received and transmitted speeds.
Received and transmitted bytes are read from `/proc/net/dev' file"
(mapc
(lambda (network-speed-data)
(with-temp-buffer
(ignore-errors (insert-file-contents "/proc/net/dev")) 
(cond ((re-search-forward (network-speed-get-regex (aref network-speed-data 0)) (point-max) t)
(let ((old-received-bytes (aref network-speed-data 1)) ; get old received bytes.
(old-transmitted-bytes (aref network-speed-data 2)) ; get old transmitted bytes.
(received-bytes (string-to-number (match-string 2))) ; get updated received bytes.
(transmitted-bytes (string-to-number (match-string 4)))) ; get updated transmitted bytes.

;; Save received and transmitted bytes.
(aset network-speed-data 1 received-bytes) 
(aset network-speed-data 2 transmitted-bytes)

;; Save received and transmitted speed.
(aset network-speed-data 3 (/ (float (- received-bytes old-received-bytes)) network-speed-update-interval))
(aset network-speed-data 4 (/ (float (- transmitted-bytes old-transmitted-bytes)) network-speed-update-interval))))
(t 
(aset network-speed-data 3 -1 ) ; There is no network interface available.
(aset network-speed-data 4 -1 ))))) ; There is no network interface available.

network-speed-data-list))


(defun network-speed-add-units (speed)
"Returns speed in adequate units e.g: B/s, KB/s or MB/s."
(cond 
((< speed 0) (format "*")) ; Network interface not available right now.
((< speed 1000) (format "%d B/s" speed))  
((< speed 1000000) (format (concat "%." (number-to-string network-speed-precision) "f KB/s") (/ speed 1000)))
(t (format (concat "%." (number-to-string network-speed-precision) "f MB/s") (/ speed 1000000)))))


(defun network-speed-parse-format (vector-data)
"Substitute %XX sequences in network-speed-format-string."
(replace-regexp-in-string 
;;;   "%NI\\|%RX\\|%TX\\|%AX\\|%RB\\|%TB\\|%%%"
"%\\(NI\\|RX\\|TX\\|AX\\|RB\\|TB\\|AB\\|%%\\)"
(lambda (str)
(cond 
((equal str "%NI") (aref vector-data 0))  ; network interface.
((equal str "%RX") (network-speed-add-units (aref vector-data 3)))  ; received bytes speed.
((equal str "%TX") (network-speed-add-units (aref vector-data 4)))  ; transmitted bytes speed.
((equal str "%AX") (network-speed-add-units (+ (aref vector-data 3) (aref vector-data 4)))) ; received + transmitted speed.
((equal str "%RB") (format "%d" (aref vector-data 1))) ; received bytes.
((equal str "%TB") (format "%d" (aref vector-data 2))) ; transmitted bytes.
((equal str "%AB") (format "%d" (+ (aref vector-data 1) (aref vector-data 2)))) ; received + transmitted bytes.
((equal str "%%%") "%") ; % character.
)
)
network-speed-format-string t t)
)


(defun network-speed-update-handler()
"This function is called every `network-speed-update-interval' seconds to calculate data and show network speed in modeline."
(network-speed-get-rx-tx-bytes)

(setq network-speed-mode-line-string "")
(mapc 
(lambda (network-speed-data)
(setq network-speed-mode-line-string 
(concat network-speed-mode-line-string 
(network-speed-parse-format network-speed-data))))  ; Obtains the string we will show.
network-speed-data-list)

(force-mode-line-update)
(sit-for 0))


(defun network-speed-start ()
"Shows network speed in mode line. 
This function initializes all needed data. 
Speed is not shown inmediately but after `network-speed-update-interval' seconds when first correct value is calculated."
(interactive)

;; Adding network-speed-mode-line-string to global mode line.
(setq network-speed-mode-line-string "")
(add-to-list 'global-mode-string 'network-speed-mode-line-string t)

;; Initialize all needed vectors in `network-speed-data-list'.
(setq network-speed-data-list ())
(mapc 
(lambda (x)
(add-to-list 'network-speed-data-list (vector x 0 0 0 0) t))  ; Initialices and element of network-speed-data list.
network-speed-interface-list)

;; Calculate speeds.
(network-speed-get-rx-tx-bytes)

;; Create network-speed-update-timer. 
(and network-speed-update-timer (cancel-timer network-speed-update-timer))
;; This does not inmediately show speeds but it waits `network-speed-update-interval' seconds to start showing it.
(setq network-speed-update-timer (run-at-time network-speed-update-interval network-speed-update-interval 'network-speed-update-handler)))


(defun network-speed-stop ()
"Stops displaying network speed in mode line."
(interactive)
;; Delete the text from global mode line.
(setq global-mode-string (delq 'network-speed-mode-line-string global-mode-string))

;; Cancel timer.
(and network-speed-update-timer (cancel-timer network-speed-update-timer)))


(provide 'network-speed)

;;; filename ends here