XDOTOOL(1)

NAME
xdotool - command-line X11 automation tool

SYNOPSIS
xdotool cmd args...

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 keystroke
    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.

    Example: Send the keystroke "F2"
     xdotool key F2

keydown keystroke
    Same as above, except only keydown events are sent.

keyup keystroke
    Same as above, except only keyup events are sent.

type something to type
    Types a series of letters. In order, as fast as possible.

    Example: to type 'Hello world!' you would do:
     xdotool type 'Hello world!'

MOUSE COMMANDS

mousemove x y
    Move the mouse to the specific X and Y coordinates on the screen

mousedown button
    Send 'mouse down' for the given button. 1 == left, 2 == middle, 3 == right, etc.

mouseup button
    Send 'mouse up for the given button

click button
    Send mousedown followed by mouseup for the given button

getmouselocation
    Outputs the x, y, and screen location of the mouse cursor. Screen numbers will be nonzero if you have multiple monitors and are not using Xinerama.

WINDOW COMMANDS

search [options] somestring
    Search for windows with titles, names, or classes matching somestring. The output is line-delimited list of X window identifiers

    The options available are:

    --onlyvisible - Show only visible windows in the results.
    --title - Match against the window title
    --name - Match against the window name
    --class - Match against the window class

    The default options are "--title --name --class"

getwindowfocus [-f]
    Prints the window id of the currently focused window.

    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] windowid width height
    Set the window size of the given window

    The options available are:

    --usehints - Use window sizing hints when setting width and height. This is useful on terminals.

    Example: To set a terminal to be 80x24 characters, you would use: "xdotool windowsize --usehints windowid 80 24"

windowmove windowid x y
    Move the window to the given position

windowfocus windowid
    Focus the window

windowmap window_id
    Map a window. In X11 terminology, mapping a window means making it visible on the screen.

windowraise window_id
    Raise the window to the top of the stack. This may not work on all window managers.

windowunmap window_id
    Unmap a window, making it no longer appear on your screen.

DESKTOP AND WINDOW COMMANDS
These commands follow the EWMH standard. See the section "EXTENDED WINDOW MANAGER HINTS" for more information.

windowactivate windowid
    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.

getactivewindow
    Output the current active window. This command is often more reliable than getwindowfocus.

set_num_desktops number
    Changes the number of desktops or workspaces.

get_num_desktops
    Output the current number of desktops.

set_desktop desktop_number
    Change the current view to the specified desktop.

get_desktop
    Output the current desktop in view.

set_desktop_for_window window_id desktop_number
    Move a window to a different desktop.

get_desktop_for_window window_id
    Output the desktop currently containing the given window.

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".

SEE ALSO
xprop(1), xwininfo(1),

Project site: <http://www.semicomplete.com/projects/xdotool>

Google Code: <http://semicomplete.googlecode.com/>

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>

AUTHOR
xdotool was written by Jordan Sissel.

This manual page was written originally by Daniel Kahn Gillmor <dkg-debian.org@fifthhorseman.net> for the Debian project (but may be used by others). It is maintained by Jordan Sissel.