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Functions

Send keypresses to an X application

Terminal - Send keypresses to an X application
xvkbd -xsendevent -text "Hello world"
2009-03-20 18:58:05
User: Alanceil
15
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Send keypresses to an X application

This is a (last resort) way to automate applications that provide no other ways for automation, it would send 'Hello world' to the currently active window. See the manpage (and the -text and -window entries) for how to send special characters and target specific windows.

An example:

Using xwininfo, I get the id of my XPlanet background window:

[email protected]:19:51:0:~> xwininfo

xwininfo: Please select the window about which you

would like information by clicking the

mouse in that window.

xwininfo: Window id: 0x3600001 "Xplanet 1.2.0"

Absolute upper-left X: 0

(..etc..)

Now I use xvkbd to tell it to close itself:

xvkbd -xsendevent -window 0x3600001 -text "Q"

Obviously, the best way is to put these commands in a shellscript - just make sure to include a short sleep (sleep .1 should suffice) after each xvkbd call, or some programs will become confused.

Add to favourites | Report as malicious

Alternatives

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Terminal - Alternatives

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What others think

thanks a lot! i was looking for this command. now i can use a hotkey to send customized messages to an app window i was troubled with. thanks again! :)

Comment by asit 309 weeks and 5 days ago

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