XDOTOOL(1) XDOTOOL(1)
NAME
xdotool - command-line X11 automation
tool
SYNOPSIS
xdotool cmd args...
Notation: Some documentation uses
[window] to denote an optional window
argument. This case means that the
argument, if not present, will default to
"%1". See "WINDOW STACK" for what "%1"
means.
DESCRIPTION
xdotool lets you programatically (or
manually) simulate keyboard input and
mouse activity, move and resize windows,
etc. It does this using X11's XTEST
extension and other Xlib functions.
There is some support for Extended Window
Manager Hints (aka EWMH or NetWM). See
the "EXTENDED WINDOW MANAGER HINTS"
section for more information.
KEYBOARD COMMANDS
key [options] keystroke [keystroke ...]
Options:
--window window
Send keystrokes to a specific
window id. You can use "WINDOW
STACK" references like "%1" and
"%@" here. If there is a window
stack, then "%1" is the default,
otherwise the current window is
used.
See also: "SENDEVENT NOTES" and
"WINDOW STACK"
--clearmodifiers
Clear modifiers before sending
keystrokes. See CLEARMODIFIERS
below.
--delay milliseconds
Delay between keystrokes. Default
is 12ms.
Type a given keystroke. Examples
being "alt+r", "Control_L+J",
"ctrl+alt+n", "BackSpace".
Generally, any valid X Keysym string
will work. Multiple keys are
separated by '+'. Aliases exist for
"alt", "ctrl", "shift", "super", and
"meta" which all map to Foo_L, such
as Alt_L and Control_L, etc.
In cases where your keyboard doesn't
actually have the key you want to
type, xdotool will automatically find
an unused keycode and use that to
type the key.
With respect to "COMMAND CHAINING",
this command consumes the remainder
of the arguments or until a new
xdotool command is seen, because no
xdotool commands are valid
keystrokes.
Example: Send the keystroke "F2"
xdotool key F2
Example: Send 'a' with an accent over
it (not on english keyboards, but
still works with xdotool)
xdotool key Aacute
Example: Send ctrl+l and then
BackSpace as separate keystrokes:
xdotool key ctrl+l BackSpace
Example: Send ctrl+c to all windows
matching title 'gdb' (See "COMMAND
CHAINING")
xdotool search --name gdb key ctrl+c
keydown [options] keystroke
Same as above, except only keydown
(press) events are sent.
keyup keystroke
Same as above, except only keyup
(release) events are sent.
type [options] something to type
Options:
--window windowid
Send keystrokes to a specific
window id. See "SENDEVENT NOTES"
below. The default, if no window
is given, depends on the window
stack. If the window stack is
empty the current window is typed
at using XTEST. Otherwise, the
default is "%1" (see "WINDOW
STACK").
--delay milliseconds
Delay between keystrokes. Default
is 12ms.
--clearmodifiers
Clear modifiers before sending
keystrokes. See CLEARMODIFIERS
below.
Types as if you had typed it.
Supports newlines and tabs (ASCII
newline and tab). Each keystroke is
separated by a delay given by the
--delay option.
With respect to "COMMAND CHAINING",
this command consumes the remainder
of the arguments and types them. That
is, no commands can chain after
'type'.
Example: to type 'Hello world!' you
would do:
xdotool type 'Hello world!'
MOUSE COMMANDS
mousemove [options] x y OR 'restore'
Move the mouse to the specific X and
Y coordinates on the screen.
You can move the mouse to the
previous location if you specify
'restore' instead of an X and Y
coordinate. Restoring only works if
you have moved previously in this
same command invocation. Further, it
does not work with the --window
option.
For example, to click the top-left
corner of the screen and move the
mouse to the original position before
you moved it, use this:
xdotool mousemove 0 0 click 1
mousemove xdorestore
--window WINDOW
Specify a window to move relative
to. Coordinates 0,0 are at the
top left of the window you
choose.
"WINDOW STACK" references are
valid here, such as %1 and %@.
Though, using %@ probably doesn't
make sense.
--screen SCREEN
Move the mouse to the specified
screen to move to. This is only
useful if you have multiple
screens and ARE NOT using
Xinerama.
The default is the current
screen. If you specify --window,
the --screen flag is ignored.
--polar
Use polar coordinates. This makes
'x' an angle (in degrees, 0-360,
etc) and 'y' the distance.
Rotation starts at 'up' (0
degrees) and rotates clockwise:
90 = right, 180 = down, 270 =
left.
The origin defaults to the center
of the current screen. If you
specify a --window, then the
origin is the center of that
window.
--clearmodifiers
See CLEARMODIFIERS
--sync
After sending the mouse move
request, wait until the mouse is
actually moved. If no movement is
necessary, we will not wait. This
is useful for scripts that depend
on actions being completed before
moving on.
Note: We wait until the mouse
moves at all, not necessarily
that it actually reaches your
intended destination. Some
applications lock the mouse
cursor to certain regions of the
screen, so waiting for any
movement is better in the general
case than waiting for a specific
target.
mousemove_relative [options] x y
Move the mouse x,y pixels relative to
the current position of the mouse
cursor.
--polar
Use polar coordinates. This makes
'x' an angle (in degrees, 0-360,
etc) and 'y' the distance.
Rotation starts at 'up' (0
degrees) and rotates clockwise:
90 = right, 180 = down, 270 =
left.
--sync
After sending the mouse move
request, wait until the mouse is
actually moved. If no movement is
necessary, we will not wait. This
is useful for scripts that depend
on actions being completed before
moving on.
Note that we wait until the mouse
moves at all, not necessarily
that it actually reaches your
intended destination. Some
applications lock the mouse
cursor to certain regions of the
screen, so waiting for any
movement is better in the general
case than waiting for a specific
target.
--clearmodifiers
See CLEARMODIFIERS
click [options] button
Send a click, that is, a mousedown
followed by mouseup for the given
button with a short delay between the
two (currently 12ms).
Buttons generally map this way: Left
mouse is 1, middle is 2, right is 3,
wheel up is 4, wheel down is 5.
--clearmodifiers
Clear modifiers before clicking.
See CLEARMODIFIERS below.
--repeat REPEAT
Specify how many times to click.
Default is 1. For a double-click,
use '--repeat 2'
--delay MILLISECONDS
Specify how long, in
milliseconds, to delay between
clicks. This option is not used
if the --repeat flag is set to 1
(default).
--window WINDOW
Specify a window to send a click
to. See "SENDEVENT NOTES" below
for caveats. Uses the current
mouse position when generating
the event.
The default, if no window is
given, depends on the window
stack. If the window stack is
empty the current window is typed
at using XTEST. Otherwise, the
default is "%1" (see "WINDOW
STACK").
mousedown [options] button
Same as click, except only a mouse
down is sent.
mouseup [options] button
Same as click, except only a mouse up
is sent.
getmouselocation [--shell]
Outputs the x, y, screen, and window
id of the mouse cursor. Screen
numbers will be nonzero if you have
multiple monitors and are not using
Xinerama.
--shell
This makes getmouselocation
output shell data you can eval.
Example:
% xdotool getmouselocation --shell
X=880
Y=443
SCREEN=0
WINDOW=16777250
% eval $(xdotool getmouselocation --shell)
% echo $X,$Y
714,324
behave_screxdoen_edge [options] where
command ...
Bind an action to events when the
mouse hits the screen edge or corner.
Options are:
--delay MILLISECONDS
Delay in milliseconds before
running the command. This allows
you to require a given edge or
corner to be held for a short
period before your command will
run. If you leave the edge or
corner before the delay expires
then the time will reset.
--quiesce MILLISECONDS
Delay in milliseconds before the
next command will run. This helps
prevent accidentally running your
command extra times; especially
useful if you have a very short
--delay (like the default of 0).
Event timeline
* Mouse hits an edge or corner.
* If delay is nonzero, the mouse must stay in this edge or corner until delay time expires.
* If still in the edge/corner, trigger.
* If quiesce is nonzero, then there is a cool-down period where the next
trigger cannot occur
Valid 'where' values are:
left
top-left
top
top-right
right
bottom-left
bottom
bottom-right
Examples:
# Activate google-chrome when you
move the mouse to the bottom-left
corner:
xdotool behave_screen_edge bottom-
left
search --class google-chrome
windowactivate
# Go to the next workspace (right). Known to work in GNOME (metacity and compiz)
xdotool behave_screen_edge --delay 500 bottom-right key XF86Forward
# Activate firefox and do a web search in a new tab for text in your clipboard
xdotool behave_screen_edge --delay 1000 top-left
search --classname Navigator
windowactivate --sync key --delay 250 ctrl+t ctrl+k ctrl+v Return
WINDOW COMMANDS
search [options] pattern
Search for windows with titles,
names, or classes with a regular
expression pattern. The output is
line-delimited list of X window
identifiers. If you are using
"COMMAND CHAINING", the search
command will only write window ids to
stdout if it is the last (or only)
command in the chain; otherwise, it
is silent.
The result is saved to the window
stack for future chained commands.
See "WINDOW STACK" and "COMMAND
CHAINING" for details.
The default options are "--name
--class --classname" (unless you
specify one one or more of --name
--class or --classname).
The options available are:
--class
Match against the window class.
--classname
Match against the window
classname.
--maxdepth N
Set recursion/child search depth.
Default is -1, meaning infinite.
0 means no depth, only root
windows will be searched. If you
only want toplevel windows, set
maxdepth of 1 (or 2, depending on
how your window manager does
decorations).
--name
Match against the window name.
This is the same string that is
displayed in the window titlebar.
--onlyvisible
Show only visible windows in the
results. This means ones with map
state IsViewable.
--pid PID
Match windows that belong to a
specific process id. This may not
work for some X applications that
do not set this metadata on its
windows.
--screen N
Select windows only on a specific
screen. Default is to search all
screens. Only meaningful if you
have multiple displays and are
not using Xinerama.
--desktop N
Only match windows on a certain
desktop. 'N' is a number. The
default is to search all
desktops.
--limit N
Stop searching after finding N
matching windows. Specifying a
limit will help speed up your
search if you only want a few
results.
The default is no search limit
(which is equivalent to '--limit
0')
--title
DEPRECATED. See --name.
--all
Require that all conditions be
met. For example:
xdotool search --all --pid 1424 --name "Hello World"
This will match only windows that
have "Hello World" as a name and
are owned by pid 1424.
--any
Match windows that match any
condition (logically, 'or'). This
is on by default. For example:
xdotool search --any --pid 1424 --name "Hello World"
This will match any windows owned
by pid 1424 or windows with name
"Hello World"
--sync
Block until there are results.
This is useful when you are
launching an application want
want to wait until the
application window is visible.
For example:
google-chrome &
xdotool search --sync --onlyvisible --class "google-chrome"
selectwindow
Get the window id (for a client) by
clicking on it. Useful for having
scripts query you humans for what
window to act on. For example,
killing a window by clicking on it:
xdotool selectwindow windowkill
behave window action command ...
Bind an action to an event on a
window. This lets you run additional
xdotool commands whenever a matched
event occurs.
The command run as a result of the
behavior is run with %1 being the
window that was acted upon. Examples
follow after the event list.
The following are valid events:
mouse-enter
Fires when the mouse enters a
window. This is similar to 'mouse
over' events in javascript, if
that helps.
mouse-leave
Fires when the mouse leaves a
window. This is the opposite of
'mouse-enter'
mouse-click
Fires when the mouse is clicked.
Specifically, when the mouse
button is released.
focus
Fires when the window gets input
focus.
blur
Fires when the window loses
focus.
Examples:
# Print the cursor location whenever the mouse enters a currently-visible
# window:
xdotool search --onlyvisible . behave %@ mouse-enter getmouselocation
# Print the window title and pid whenever an xterm gets focus
xdotool search --class xterm behave %@ focus getwindowname getwindowpid
# Emulate focus-follows-mouse
xdotool search . behave %@ mouse-enter windowfocus
getwindowpid [window]
Output the PID owning a given window.
This requires effort from the
application owning a window and may
not work for all windows. This uses
_NET_WM_PID property of the window.
See "EXTENDED WINDOW MANAGER HINTS"
below for more information.
If no window is given, the default is
'%1'. If no windows are on the stack,
then this is an error. See "WINDOW
STACK" for more details.
Example: Find the PID for all xterms:
xdotool search --class xterm
getwindowpid %@
getwindowname [window]
Output the name of a given window,
also known as the title. This is the
text displayed in the window's
titlebar by your window manager.
If no window is given, the default is
'%1'. If no windows are on the stack,
then this is an error. See "WINDOW
STACK" for more details.
getwindowgeometry [options] [window]
Output the geometry (location and
position) of a window. The values
include: x, y, width, height, and
screen number.
--shell
Output values suitable for 'eval'
in a shell.
getwindowfocus [-f]
Prints the window id of the currently
focused window. Saves the result to
the window stack. See "WINDOW STACK"
for more details.
If the current window has no WM_CLASS
property, we assume it is not a
normal top-level window and traverse
up the parents until we find a window
with a WM_CLASS set and return that
window id.
If you really want the window
currently having focus and don't care
if it has a WM_CLASS setting, then
use 'getwindowfocus -f'
windowsize [options] [window] width
height
Set the window size of the given
window. If no window is given, %1 is
the default. See "WINDOW STACK" and
"COMMAND CHAINING" for more details.
Percentages are valid for width and
height. They are relative to the
geometry of the screen the window is
on. For example, to make a window the
full width of the screen, but half
height:
xdotool windowsize I<window> 100% 50%
Percentages are valid with --usehints
and still mean pixel-width relative
to the screen size.
The options available are:
--usehints
Use window sizing hints (when
available) to set width and
height. This is useful on
terminals for setting the size
based on row/column of text
rather than pixels.
--sync
After sending the window size
request, wait until the window is
actually resized. If no change is
necessary, we will not wait. This
is useful for scripts that depend
on actions being completed before
moving on.
Note: Because many window
managers may ignore or alter the
original resize request, we will
wait until the size changes from
its original size, not necessary
to the requested size.
Example: To set a terminal to be
80x24 characters, you would use:
xdotool windowsize --usehints
some_windowid 80 24
windowmove [options] [window] x y
Move the window to the given
position. If no window is given, %1
is the default. See "WINDOW STACK"
and "COMMAND CHAINING" for more
details.
If the given x coordinate is
literally 'x', then the window's
current x position will be unchanged.
The same applies for 'y'.
Examples:
xdotool getactivewindow windowmove 100 100 # Moves to 100,100
xdotool getactivewindow windowmove x 100 # Moves to x,100
xdotool getactivewindow windowmove 100 y # Moves to 100,y
xdotool getactivewindow windowmove 100 y # Moves to 100,y
--sync
After sending the window move
request, wait until the window is
actually moved. If no movement is
necessary, we will not wait. This
is useful for scripts that depend
on actions being completed before
moving on.
--relative
Make movement relative to the
current window position.
windowfocus [options] [window]
Focus a window. If no window is
given, %1 is the default. See "WINDOW
STACK" and "COMMAND CHAINING" for
more details.
Uses XSetInputFocus which may be
ignored by some window managers or
programs.
--sync
After sending the window focus
request, wait until the window is
actually focused. This is useful
for scripts that depend on
actions being completed before
moving on.
windowmap [options] [window]
Map a window. In X11 terminology,
mapping a window means making it
visible on the screen. If no window
is given, %1 is the default. See
"WINDOW STACK" and "COMMAND CHAINING"
for more details.
--sync
After requesting the window map,
wait until the window is actually
mapped (visible). This is useful
for scripts that depend on
actions being completed before
moving on.
windowminimize [options] [window]
Minimize a window. In X11
terminology, this is called
'iconify.' If no window is given, %1
is the default. See "WINDOW STACK"
and "COMMAND CHAINING" for more
details.
--sync
After requesting the window
minimize, wait until the window
is actually minimized. This is
useful for scripts that depend on
actions being completed before
moving on.
windowraise [window_id=%1]
Raise the window to the top of the
stack. This may not work on all
window managers. If no window is
given, %1 is the default. See "WINDOW
STACK" and "COMMAND CHAINING" for
more details.
windowreparent [source_window]
destination_window
Reparent a window. This moves the
source_window to be a child window of
destination_window. If no source is
given, %1 is the default. "WINDOW
STACK" window references (like %1)
are valid for both source_window and
destination_window See "WINDOW STACK"
and "COMMAND CHAINING" for more
details.
windowkill [window]
Kill a window. This action will
destroy the window and kill the
client controlling it. If no window
is given, %1 is the default. See
WINDOW STACK and "COMMAND CHAINING"
for more details.
windowunmap [options] [window_id=%1]
Unmap a window, making it no longer
appear on your screen. If no window
is given, %1 is the default. See
"WINDOW STACK" and "COMMAND CHAINING"
for more details.
--sync
After requesting the window
unmap, wait until the window is
actually unmapped (hidden). This
is useful for scripts that depend
on actions being completed before
moving on.
set_window [options] [windowid=%1]
Set properties about a window. If no
window is given, %1 is the default.
See "WINDOW STACK" and "COMMAND
CHAINING" for more details.
Options:
--name newname
Set window WM_NAME (the window
title, usually)
--icon-name newiconname
Set window WM_ICON_NAME (the
window title when minimized,
usually)
--role newrole
Set window WM_WINDOW_ROLE
--classname newclassname
Set window class name (not to be
confused with window class)
--class newclass
Set window class (not to be
confused with window class name)
--overrideredirect value
Set window's override_redirect
value. This value is a hint to
the window manager for whether or
not it should be managed. If the
redirect value is 0, then the
window manager will draw borders
and treat this window normally.
If the value is 1, the window
manager will ignore this window.
If you change this value, your
window manager may not notice the
change until the window is mapped
again, so you may want to issue
'windowunmap' and 'windowmap' to
make the window manager take
note.
DESKTOP AND WINDOW COMMANDS
These commands follow the EWMH standard.
See the section "EXTENDED WINDOW MANAGER
HINTS" for more information.
windowactivate [options] [window]
Activate the window. This command is
different from windowfocus: if the
window is on another desktop, we will
switch to that desktop. It also uses
a different method for bringing the
window up. I recommend trying this
command before using windowfocus, as
it will work on more window managers.
If no window is given, %1 is the
default. See "WINDOW STACK" and
"COMMAND CHAINING" for more details.
--sync
After sending the window
activation, wait until the window
is actually activated. This is
useful for scripts that depend on
actions being completed before
moving on.
getactivewindow
Output the current active window.
This command is often more reliable
than getwindowfocus. The result is
saved to the window stack. See
"WINDOW STACK" for more details.
set_num_desktops number
Changes the number of desktops or
workspaces.
get_num_desktops
Output the current number of
desktops.
get_desktop_viewport [--shell]
Report the current viewport's
position. If --shell is given, the
output is friendly to shell eval.
Viewports are sometimes used instead
of 'virtual desktops' on some window
managers. A viewport is simply a view
on a very large desktop area.
set_desktop_viewport x y
Move the viewport to the given
position. Not all requests will be
obeyed - some windowmangers only obey
requests that align to workspace
boundaries, such as the screen size.
For example, if your screen is
1280x800, you can move to the 2nd
workspace by doing:
xdotool set_desktop_viewport 1280 0
set_desktop [options] desktop_number
Change the current view to the
specified desktop.
--relative
Use relative movements instead of
absolute. This lets you move
relative to the current desktop.
get_desktop
Output the current desktop in view.
set_desktop_for_window [window]
desktop_number
Move a window to a different desktop.
If no window is given, %1 is the
default. See "WINDOW STACK" and
"COMMAND CHAINING" for more details.
get_desktop_for_window [window]
Output the desktop currently
containing the given window. Move a
window to a different desktop. If no
window is given, %1 is the default.
See WINDOW STACK and "COMMAND
CHAINING" for more details.
MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS
exec [options] command [...]
Execute a program. This is often
useful when combined with
behave_screen_edge to do things like
locking your screen.
Options:
--sync
Block until the child process
exits. The child process exit
status is then passed to the
parent process (xdotool) which
copies it.
Examples:
# Lock the screen when the mouse
sits in the top-right corner
xdotool behave_screen_edge --delay
1000 top-right
exec gnome-screensaver-command
--lock
# Substitute 'xscreensaver-command
-lock' if you use that program.
# The following will fail to move the mouse because we use '--sync' and
# /bin/false exits nonzero:
xdotool exec --sync /bin/false mousemove 0 0
# This succeeds, though, since we do not use --sync on the exec command.
xdotool exec /bin/false mousemove 0 0
sleep seconds
Sleep for a specified period.
Fractions of seconds (like 1.3, or
0.4) are valid, here.
SCRIPTS
xdotool can read a list of commands via
stdin or a file if you want. A script
will fail when any command fails.
Truthfully, 'script' mode isn't fully
fleshed out and may fall below your
expectations. If you have suggestions,
please email the list or file a bug (See
CONTACT).
Scripts can use positional arguments
(Represented by $1, $2, ...) and
environment variables (like $HOME or
$WINDOWID). Quoting arguments should work
as expected.
Scripts are processed for parameter and
environment variable expansion and then
run as if you had invoked xdotool with
the entire script on one line (using
COMMAND CHAINING).
· Read commands from a file:
xdotool filename
· Read commands from stdin:
xdotool -
· Read commands from a redirected file
xdotool - < myfile
You can also write scripts that only
execute xdotool. Example:
#!/usr/local/bin/xdotool
search --onlyvisible --classname $1
windowsize %@ $2 $3
windowraise %@
windowmove %1 0 0
windowmove %2 $2 0
windowmove %3 0 $3
windowmove %4 $2 $3
This script will take all windows matched
by the classname query given by arg1 ($1)
and sizes/moves them into a 2x2 grid with
windows sized by the 2nd and 3rd
parameters.
Here's an example usage:
% ./myscript xterm 600 400
Running it like this will take 4 visible
xterms, raise them, and move them into a
2x2 tile grid with each window 600x400
pixels in size.
CLEARMODIFIERS
Any command taking the --clearmodifiers
flag will attempt to clear any active
input modifiers during the command and
restore them afterwards.
For example, if you were to run this
command:
xdotool key a
The result would be 'a' or 'A' depending
on whether or not you were holding the
shift key on your keyboard. Often it is
undesirable to have any modifiers active,
so you can tell xdotool to clear any
active modifiers.
The order of operations if you hold shift
while running 'xdotool key
--clearmodifiers a' is this:
1. Query for all active modifiers (finds
shift, in this case)
2. Try to clear shift by sending 'key up'
for the shift key
3. Runs normal 'xdotool key a'
4. Restore shift key by sending 'key
down' for shift
The --clearmodifiers flag can currently
clear of the following:
· any key in your active keymap that
has a modifier associated with it.
(See xmodmap(1)'s 'xmodmap -pm'
output)
· mouse buttons (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5)
· caps lock
SENDEVENT NOTES
If you are trying to send key input to a
specific window, and it does not appear
to be working, then it's likely your
application is ignoring the events
xdotool is generating. This is fairly
common.
Sending keystrokes to a specific window
uses a different API than simply typing
to the active window. If you specify
'xdotool type --window 12345 hello'
xdotool will generate key events and send
them directly to window 12345. However,
X11 servers will set a special flag on
all events generated in this way (see
XEvent.xany.send_event in X11's manual).
Many programs observe this flag and
reject these events.
It is important to note that for key and
mouse events, we only use XSendEvent when
a specific window is targeted. Otherwise,
we use XTEST.
Some programs can be configured to accept
events even if they are generated by
xdotool. Seek the documentation of your
application for help.
Specific application notes (from the
author's testing): * Firefox 3 seems to
ignore all input when it does not have
focus. * xterm can be configured while
running with ctrl+leftclick, 'Allow
SendEvents' * gnome-terminal appears to
accept generated input by default.
WINDOW STACK
Certain commands (search,
getactivewindow, getwindowfocus) will
find windows for you. These results
generally printed to stdout, but they are
also saved to memory for future use
during the lifetime of the xdotool
process. See "COMMAND CHAINING" for more
information.
The only modifications support for the
window stack are to replace it. That is,
two of two sequential searches, only the
last one's results will be the window
stack.
COMMAND CHAINING
xdotool supports running multiple
commands on a single invocation.
Generally, you'll start with a search
command (see "WINDOW STACK") and then
perform a set of actions on those
results.
To query the window stack, you can use
special notation "%N" where N is a number
or the '@' symbol. If %N is given, the
Nth window will be selected from the
window stack. Generally you will only
want the first window or all windows.
Note that the order of windows in the
window stack corresponds to the window
stacking order, i.e. the bottom-most
window will be reported first (see
XQueryTree(3)). Thus the order of the
windows in the window stack may not be
consistent across invocations.
The notation described above is used as
the "window" argument for any given
command.
For example, to resize all xterms to
80x24:
xdotool search --class xterm -- windowsize --usehints %@ 80 24
Resize move the current window:
xdotool getactivewindow windowmove 0 0
In all cases, the default window
argument, if omitted, will default to
"%1". It is obviously an error if you
omit the window argument and the window
stack is empty. If you try to use the
window stack and it is empty, it is also
an error.
To activate the first firefox window
found:
xdotool search --class firefox windowactivate
These would error:
xdotool windowactivate
xdotool windowactivate %1
xdotool windowactivate %@
When xdotool exits, the current window
stack is lost.
Additinally, commands that modify the
"WINDOW STACK" will not print the results
if they are not the last command. For
example:
# Output the active window:
% xdotool getactivewindow
20971533
# Output the pid of the active window, but not the active window id:
% xdotool getactivewindow getwindowpid
4686
EXTENDED WINDOW MANAGER HINTS
The following pieces of the EWMH standard
are supported:
_NET_SUPPORTED
Asks the window manager what is
supported
_NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP
Query and set the current desktop.
Support for this enables these
commands: "set_desktop",
"get_desktop".
_NET_WM_DESKTOP
Query and set what desktop a window
is living in. Support for this
enables these commands:
"set_desktop_for_window",
"get_desktop_for_window".
_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW
Allows you to query and set the
active window by asking the window
manager to bring it forward. Support
for this enables these commands:
"windowactivate", "getactivewindow".
_NET_WM_PID
This feature is application
dependent, not window-manager
dependent. Query the PID owning a
given window. Support for this
enables these commands:
"getwindowpid".
SUPPORTED FEATURES
xdotool (and libxdo) will try to function
under all circumstances. However, there
may be some cases where functionality is
not provided by your X server or by your
window manager. In these cases, xdotool
will try to detect and tell you if an
action requires a feature not currently
supported by your system.
For window-manager specific features, see
"EXTENDED WINDOW MANAGER HINTS".
XTEST
If your X server does not support
XTEST, then some typing and mouse
movement features may not work.
Specifically, typing and mouse
actions that act on the "current
window" (window 0 in libxdo) are
unlikely to work.
In most cases, XTEST is a feature you
can enable on your X server if it is
not enabled by default.
You can see the list of supported X
extensions by typing 'xdpyinfo' and
looking the text 'number of
extensions: ...'
BUGS
Typing unusual symbols under non-us
keybindings is known to occasionally send
the wrong character.
SEE ALSO
xprop(1), xwininfo(1),
Project site:
<http://www.semicomplete.com/projects/xdotool>
Google Code:
<http://semicomplete.googlecode.com/>
EWMH specification:
<http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.3.html>
CONTACT
Please send questions to
xdotool-users@googlegroups.com. File bugs
and feature requests at the following
URL:
<http://code.google.com/p/semicomplete/issues/list>
Alternately, if you prefer email, feel
free to file bugs by emailing the list.
What works for you :)
AUTHOR
xdotool was written by Jordan Sissel.
This manual page was written originally
by Daniel Kahn Gillmor
<dkg@fifthhorseman.net> for the Debian
project (but may be used by others). It
is maintained by Jordan Sissel.
Patches, ideas, and other contributions
by many, nice folks. See the CHANGELIST
file for who provided what.
2013-01-10 XDOTOOL(1)
还需要再琢磨琢磨。。。。，不会用