Hi, I don't have pkg-config and the alternative Makefile Makefile.no-pkg-config doesn't seem to be included in any of the archives. Can you tell me where I can find it?

Oops. It'll be included in future releases. I put it here:

http://www.semicomplete.com/files/xdotool/Makefile.no-pkg-config

Alternatively, in my svn repo:

http://www.semicomplete.com/svnweb/xdotool/Makefile.no-pkg-config?view=markup

Hi,
great program!
exactly what I was looking for :)
I'm running ubuntu, and whenever I execute xdotool, it gives me a xdo_type error for every argument given..

like this :
"%./xdotool type 'hello'
helloxdo_type reported an error
%hello"

(wether I type 'hello' or "hello" doesn't change a thing)
any idea on what's wrong? :-/

@dilly

Thanks for the bug report! I confirmed this on my ubuntu box. It's due to me forgetting to put return statements at the end of a few funtions ;)

Fixed, and I've uploaded a new release.

Thanks for such a great tool!

A quick question, any possibility of adding an option to get the id of the currently focused window?

I'm working on an application that will let me send events to X applications based on actions from a input events (in particular, a 3DConnexion Space Navigator 6D mouse). Between this and xte, I've got just about everything I need.

I was getting the "xdo_type reported an error" message as well (hence using xte) hopefully this new release will take care of it.

Thanks,
-Lee

Hi Jordan,

I made a modification to xdotool to get the current focused window so it can be restored from scripts.

xdotool getwindowfocus

I'm not up to date on SVN, my C is really rusty but everything seems to work fine. If you're interested, the modified source is here.

http://www.leeland.net /lib/leeland/xdotool-20070722-lee.tar.gz

Thanks,
-Lee

@Lee, thanks! Great idea :)

I looked at your changes and added them to my copy with some tiny modifications.

I put a new release up.

Thanks Jordan!
Like i said, my C is rusty, outside of some perl XS stuff, the last time I used C with any regularity was a decade ago (Watcom anyone?). And X11, as far as dev, this is my first foray, though I have a feeling I'll be learning a bit in the near future.

Now I just have to look and see what I did wrong ;)

Your code wasn't bad at all :)

The only changes I made were purely style changes (spacing) and stuff to my own preferences.

Specifically, the xdo_window_get_focus takes a window pointer now instead of returning the window. It returns success/error code and modifies the window pointer with the currently-focused window.

Thanks Jordan,

You know what else might be useful? Being able to retrieve the location and size of a given window.

I explicitly didn't implement this. There are a few tools that already query information about a given window: xwininfo and xprop.

Here's an example of how to get info on the currently focused window:

% ./xdotool getwindowfocus | xargs xwininfo -id

xwininfo: Window id: 0x400000e "[0] xdotool getwindowfocus | xargs xwinin... - kenya2(/usr/home/jls/projects/xdotool)  "

  Absolute upper-left X:  603
  Absolute upper-left Y:  322
  Relative upper-left X:  3
  Relative upper-left Y:  18
... more stuff here snipped ...


Does this help?

Yes it does. Though I'm thinking down the line the combination of both would be a handy Perl XS module.

There's an Xlib Perl module (X11::Protocol?) that may do what you want here.

Actually I started with the X11::* modules, but for most of them the docs are lacking to say the least. That's how I ended up here :)

Maybe now that I've grokked thing a bit better, I should take another look.

Hi, great program, though I am searching for some way to also specify the xserver I want this key event to be executed, not just to send keys from within my x session.

Reason is: I just got a new mobile that is WLAN-capable, I also have an asterisk server running at home which my mobile connnects perfectly to with SIP. And now, I was thinking of using

my mobile as a remote control ;-) !

by calling my asterisk server and then sending keytrokes to my x session by simply executing a command like yours from within asterisk server.

Quite weird idea, I know, but i already have the asterisk server running fo real phone calls, so why not use it for something like this, too :-) ?

could you extend your program to specifyling an xserver or do you know some program that could do this trick, havent found one yet.


thanks and great work!

@sven,

You can use the 'DISPLAY' environment variable to achieve this. For example, if you have your server 'foo' that you want to control, you can ssh in and do:

DISPLAY=:0 ./xdotool [stuff]

on 'foo' and it will talk to the local X server (again, on foo)

I've been looking for something like this for quite a while.  I see this as a must have for any type of gui programming and have been surpised to find so little on it.

Are you intending on releasing this as public domain, gpl, or other?

Thanks, this is very col.

you might try the make command first, and get something like this:

xdo.h:8:22: error: X11/XLib.h: No such file or directory. 

If you get that, you're missing the XLib library as I was.  Installation instructions below.

if you lack the XTEST library, the error might look like:
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lXtst
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

For those who swing by and are using Debian or Ubuntu, here is a touch more detail about the commands I used to get it built:

sudo apt-get install libx11-dev
sudo apt-get install libxtst-dev
make xdotool

If you're new to debian (as I am) you'll probably want to know about how to find out what packages are available.  The command for that is

apt-cache search <name>

by using this, i was able to pick out the two packages mentioned above, which Jordan relies on.

Thank you Jordan!

You are my hero!

Thank you for such a lovely utility. :-)

Hello all.
Thanks for this great piece of software.
I would like to propose a modification to the function xdo_window_raise included in xdo.c for making it work with Gnome2. Its purpose is to make an arbitrary window stay on top of all the others.
This code compile and works with me. I am using Ubuntu feisty.

int xdo_window_raise(xdo_t *xdo, int wid) {
  int ret;
//  ret = XRaiseWindow(xdo->xdpy, wid);
//  XFlush(xdo->xdpy);

  Display *disp = xdo->xdpy;

  XEvent ev;
  memset(&ev,0,sizeof(ev));
  ev.type=ClientMessage;
  ev.xclient.type = ClientMessage;
  ev.xclient.message_type = InternAtom(disp,  "_NET_WM_STATE", 0);
  ev.xclient.display=disp;
  ev.xclient.window=wid;
  ev.xclient.format=32;
  ev.xclient.data.l[0]= 1;
  ev.xclient.data.l[1]=XInternAtom(disp, "_NET_WM_STATE_STAYS_ON_TOP", 0); // *_STAYS_ON_TOP is probably KDE-specific
  XLockDisplay(disp);
  XSendEvent(disp, XDefaultRootWindow(disp), 0, SubstructureRedirectMask | SubstructureNotifyMask, &ev);

  ev.xclient.data.l[1]=XInternAtom(disp, "_NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE", 0); //to work with some non-KDE WMs we should use _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE
  XSendEvent(disp, XDefaultRootWindow(disp), 0, SubstructureRedirectMask | SubstructureNotifyMask, &ev);
  XUnlockDisplay(disp);

  return _is_success("XRaiseWindow", ret);
}

A call to window_raise and then to window_focus can make any wanted window active and on top, with focus.
I got the informations on this URL:
http://www.nabble.com/Always-on-top,-aka-Keep-Above-Others-(a-solution-for-Windows-and-Linux)-t3995328.html

Luca

This is a very intriguing tool.  Are you interested in seeing it in debian?  I'd be up for maintaining the debian package, if you're willing to license it under a license that debian can accept.  I couldn't find any licensing info in the tarball.

Whatever you decide about the licensing, thanks for writing this up and publishing it.  There's good ideas in here, and it's kind of hard to believe we've been without a tool this fundamental! (i couldn't find any older one, anyway)

My release script didn't include the COPYRIGHT file (bsd license), oops. I fixed that and put up a new version. No changes except adding the file with a license.

Thanks for the tool, I just started thinking on writing a limited tool for personal use when I come across your good work. Thanks again.

a great alternative to irxevent, let's me run irexec while still being able to utilize irxevent-like functionality via xdotool; better, more general, than irxevent of course. thanks!

Getting strange results with 'type' subcommand under KDE konsole:

$ xdotool type 'this is rather big string to type'

konsole shows:
this is rather biigg  stttrnoype

Some synchronization problems?
(BTW, the same command works perfectly from xterm)

Thank you for very useful tool. I used it in a script to automaticaly fill password in wined Lotus Notes. The tool can be used like autoit on windows.

Is there a way to press control buttons: up, down, left, right?

You can tell it any key to use with 'xdotool key'. For example 'xdotool
key Up' will send the up arrow.

Hi Jordan

I would love to send KeyCodes from /usr/share/X11/XKeysymDB to my Xorg.

But i don't seem to do it right. It is possible with xdotool or any other tool you know?

I have no luck with:
./xdotool key XF86Book
No such key 'XF86Book'. Ignoring it.
No such key 'XF86Book'. Ignoring it.

nor with XK_Find from /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h
./xdotool key "XK_Find"
(symbol) No such key name 'XK_Find'. Ignoring it.
(symbol) No such key name 'XK_Find'. Ignoring it.

Thanks for any hint,
Alfons

Great work!  Extremely useful.

thank you for this great tool. That's what i am looking for.There is a little trouble.When i use Redhat 9.0 in VM,the 'xdotool mousemove' doesn't work.Please email me about it in your sparetime

Hi!

This is exactly the tool I'm looking for!
But I can't get it to work :(

When I run a second command the windowfocus goes back to my console so the fake key event ends op in my console window.

e.g.:
beau@hal ~ $ xdotool windowfocus 10485766
beau@hal ~ $ xdotool getwindowfocus
33554437

The windowfocus command works though, the window gets highlighted on the taskbar.

I'm running KDE 3.5.9 and Xorg-x11 7.3

What could I be doing wrong?

I haven't tested with KDE. It's likely there needs to be some extra message sent so that KDE knows to focus it.

I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the report ;)

Hi, has someone write a script, which paste the actual Date. I've tried it, but i collapsed.

J. Kleis

This should work:
xdotool type "`date`"

(It works for me)

Hi! I was very happy to find your tool ;) But I've a problem with it on Fedora 8. I installed everything, but "using" it with "xdotool" in terminal brings me a "command not found" return.
When I try to reinstall it, everything returns is "xdotool is already up-to-date" How can I get it to work?

thanks for the tool dude.
@pille: try running ./xdotool

How can I get window Id of all open X windows? Also, how can I get Id of previously focused window than current cursor positioned window?

Great work, I was looking for something like this with python xlib .. I'm really happy that I found this little tool, It would be nice addition to python if anyone knows how to port it

I just found that there is an older tool called wit which does similar things .. you should take a look

Brilliant.  Exactly what I was looking for.  There are at least 5 problems I can fix immediately with this now.

It took me forever to find this, partially because terms like "X11" "click" "mouse event" and "inject" are so generic that Google gets lost in the mess.  If you don't mind, I'm going to make a post on my site about this, and use some english sentences to describe what it does so that hopefully others can find it by searching the same terms that were failing me for so long.

This is a very important tool.

I wonder if there is a chance that the Xorg maintainers could include it and make it part of the official xorg? I for one very much would favour such a decision.

Hello

i try xdotool-20080601.tar.gz
if i do "xdotool keyup e", xev show "KeyPress event" and "KeyRelease event".
is possible to simulate only "KeyRelease event" ?

Thank

Hmm, I see the same thing. I'll look into it.

Looks like the previous version did this too.

When I send a keydown, then a keyup, 'keyup' only causes a KeyRelease event. However, if the key isn't down in the first place, it sends both KeyPress and KeyRelease. This happens outside of my code and likely outside of my control.

Assuming it's out of my control, there may be a way around it: when 'keyup' is sent we could try to snag the KeyPress event that is sent before another client receives it, doing this seems kludgy and unreliable.

If you really need only KeyRelease to show up when 'keyup' is given, even if there the key you are sending is not currently pressed, let me know, and I'll see what I can do.

I thought that I needed it but i don't, at the moment i use it for the mouse (i don't have the same problem with mouse button).
But one day I shall need it (i'm sure).
keydown => it is truly keydown
keyup => it must be truly keyup

Thank
PS : i'm french, my english is bad

sorry...i dun know how to use it please teach..

Hi,
nice programm.
Can someone please tell me how to call the "tab" key?
i tried this:
xdotool key TAB  (also tab, Tab etc)

another question,
how to have an "@" symbol typed?
xdotool type "someone@somewhere.com"
did typed all but @ .

/edit
found a way to get the @ working with:
xdotool type "someone"
xdotool key Mode_switch+q
xdotool type "somewhere.com"

but if there is an easier way please let me know.

thanks

i got this.. if placed in cron.. y?

Error: Can't open display: 0.0
Failed creating new xdo instance
Error: Can't open display: 0.0
Failed creating new xdo instance
Error: Can't open display: 0.0
Failed creating new xdo instance
Error: Can't open display: 0.0
Failed creating new xdo instance

@SomeGuy:

The following presses the 'tab' key for me:
% xdotool key Tab

To your second question, it looks like there's some issue with typing shifted keys.

This lets me type '@':
% xdotool key shift+2
also:
% xdotool key shift+at

Ideally, you should only have to do 'xdotool key at' but this doesn't work. I'll work on a fix, thanks for the report :)

@Jordan

thanks for reply.
xdotool key Tab
now works, dont know why it didnt worked yesterday,guess i made an mistake ;)

im working with a german keyboard, where @ is normaly Alt_R+q (and Alt_R = Mode_switch)(shift+2 = " , shift+at = Q and at = q)
So i guess for my german keyboard the
xdotool key at
will even if fixed not be working for me?

Dont know if its important, the key works, but i got error messages in Konsole:
xdo_keysequence reported an error for string 'Mode_switch+q'
xdo_keysequence reported an error for string 'Tab'
xdo_keysequence reported an error for string 'Return'
but as long the keys are working i shouldnt be afraid of it, right?

btw: a forum for this cool program would be nice :)

There's a user group noted at the top of the page. You can access it on the web by going to:
http://groups.google.com/group/xdotool-users

I'll do my best to make 'xdotool key at' work as expected. I'll post an update here and probably on the mailing list when the next version is up.

Thanks for making such a great tool public.

Just thought I'd pass on a little unexpected feature I found: on line 549 of xdo.c (version 20080606) ret is not being initialized to 0. On my system this results in xdo_keysequence reporting an error when in fact everything has (as far as I can tell) worked fine.

Cheers.

Hi!


Thanks for this great tool again :)

I searched for sth. like that for a long time. It is extremely useful!

I wrote a program to remote control amarok, vlc and some system function via an bt-enabled mobile phone (java on both sides). [did not published it yet, some tests need to be done. around octobre this year i'll be done, working on my thesis right now]

Now i think maybe i should extend my tool to make use of xdotool, combined it should be no problem to - for example - move the mouse using the mobile's joysticks or arrow keys :)

i am not familiar with all that licensing stuff yet, have to read into that... no problems if i make xdotool a dependency of my program?

would you mind if i (maybe) make a gentoo ebuild (visit gentoo.org) for my local portage overlay?


Cheers!


p.s.: i am experiencing the same issues vito described above using the type command with a "long" string in konsole/yakuake (whcih is based on konsole)

more details about that problem:
xdotool type 'this is rather big string to type'

=>ttttthhiiiisss  rrraeebggnoyp

I was recently aware of xdotool, and I find it very useful. I used other
similar tools, but I think this one is more convenient.
As far I know, it is currently not possible to send keystroke events
to a unfocused window (or even a minimized window). To simulate this,
I use a "workaround", something like (in a bash script):

target_window=<definition of the target window, using, e.g., xdotool
search ...>
......
current_window=`xdotool getwindowfocus`
xdotool windowfocus $target_window
xdotool key <keystroke>
xdotool windowfocus $current_window
......

It works, but it has its disadvantages. Do you plan to add such a
functionality in xdotool? Maybe something like:

xdotool <window ID> key <keystroke>

Keep up the good work!

Hello, has anyone got xdotool working on Ubuntu Hardy (with libXCB installed)?

I found I had to use the no-pkg-config makefile, and replace the -lXtst with /usr/lib/libXtst.so.6 (the actual path to the library, which could not be found for some reason.)

It now all works, except for windowactivate,
"XGetWindowProperty[_NET_WM_DESKTOP] failed (code=1)"
This may be normal, due to my window manager (awesomeWM).

All other xdotool commands work well :)

I've also tried the firefox example, I can make it work if i change ctrl+j to ctrl+l (hasn't it always been ctrl+L? I think that needs fixing.) and windowactivate to windowfocus.

Excellent program. Had to load

LinXtst-dev to get the library.

Great program.  Compiles fine under OSX 10.5 with update XQuartz.  One strange issue I noticed, however, when using getwindowfocus: when Emacs windows are focussed, the emacs window itself is not returned, but instead a child 1x1 pixel window without name.  I'm attempting a vertical resize script for X11, but without the ability to pull off the focussed window, it's a bit challenging.

Anyone else see this?  Is this an unusual Emacs use of X11?

This looks cool.  Is there a python version available somewhere?

Thank you so much.

I have been scouring the net for a way to focus on a window on a separate x-screen without moving the mouse over there and clicking on it. (alt-tab won't get me there)

"xdotool windowfocus"

seems to do the trick, now I just need to automate it.

One question though: lets say a startup script runs at boot time and opens a terminal-emulator.  Can one force that window to always have a certain WID?  Or, alternately, is there a way to get the WID of that window and store it for later use?