wmctrl.md

wmctrl

Control windows and get info on them from sh (maximize, minimize, focus, etc.)

Depends on the presence of a window manager.

Very good tutorial: http://spiralofhope.com/wmctrl-examples.html

Get info:

• -d: desktop info
• -m: window manager info

Window choice

In order to act on a window, one must first select it. The ways to do it are:

• default (no special option): case insensitive title substring match.

  In case of multiple matches, the first one is chosen.

  E.g.:

  wmctrl -a '- mozilla firefox'
  

  Will act on a window with title:

  '- mozilla firefox'
  

• -F: case sensitive title substring match.

  E.g.:

  wmctrl -Fa '- Mozilla Firefox'
  

  Will act on a window with title:

  'Google - Mozilla Firefox'
  

  But not on a window with title:

  'Google - mozilla firefox'
  

• -x: choose by window class.

  Every program should set this to something unique and short, but not all do.

  Check with:

  xprop | grep CLASS
  

  E.g.:

  wmctrl -xa 'terminator'
  

actions

Once a window is selected, actions can be done on it.

Go to desktop of given window, bring it forward and maximize it:

wmctrl -a '- mozilla firefox'

Mnemonic: Activate.

Close window:

wmctrl -c '- mozilla firefox'

Resize and reposition window:

wmctrl -r '- mozilla firefox' -e 1,0,0,800,600
                                 1 2 3 4   5

-r selects the window for commands that already take other arguments such as -e

• 1: gravity TODO
• 2 and 3: position.
• 4 and 5: size.

If the window is maximized, this does nothing.

Switch to desktop 1:

wmctrl -s 1

fullscreen

Many apps do that with CLI arguments, and you should prefer that method if available. If not:

wmctrl -xa gvim -b add,fullscreen

TODO: when I hit Alt + Tab, the list of applications does not show anymore on Ubuntu 15.10...

Focus window opened by command

Non-trivial of course because there is no simple bijection between windows and executables:

http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/167379/set-focus-to-newly-open-window