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I have created a custom shortcut and bound the shutter -s to it:

enter image description here

Then I tried to find out where this command is stored and checked settings by dconf-editor. But there are no information about the shutter -s bound command and Shift + Print combination:

enter image description here

Thus, the questions:

  1. Where full information about key bindings is stored? Does a way exist to say: this key combination is using this command? For example, I want to see the default screenshot command which is executed on the Print press.
  2. What happens when I press Print key? How this key press achieves a screenshot utility? For example:
    • some tty gets this key
    • GNOME Shell is connected to this tty, so it gets the key as input.
    • then GNOME Shell looks at some database (dconf?) and executes the command bound to the Print key.

I have read similar questions, like

but haven't found an answer to my questions.

MiniMax
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  • did you have a look on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Keybindings – d1bro Jun 17 '20 at 20:03
  • @db429 Yes. But haven't found answers to my questions there. – MiniMax Jun 17 '20 at 20:08
  • whats the output of bash-autocomplete (double pressing Tabulator) of gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings – d1bro Jun 17 '20 at 20:15
  • @db429 Have used gsettings too. As well as I have looked at org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings before, through dconf-editor. Now, I run gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings | less and don't see bound commands. – MiniMax Jun 17 '20 at 20:29
  • @db429 gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings and double Tab does nothing. – MiniMax Jun 17 '20 at 20:31
  • well for the regular PrintButton command on my system I get quiet a lot with gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys | grep Print – d1bro Jun 17 '20 at 20:36
  • @db429 1) But these are just action names, aren't? Like org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys screenshot 'Print'. I can't launch screenshot program from the bash. 2) Do you see any custom shortcuts, which mapped to a command with arguments, like shutter -s? For example, bind libreoffice to some key combination and try to find this shortcut by gsettings. – MiniMax Jun 17 '20 at 21:26

2 Answers2

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Okay, after alot of back-and-forth in the comments, I believe I found the proper way to find the settings:

It is described in https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Keybindings

To find all (system) key bindings:

lets just add all three mentioned commands:

gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings ; gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys ; gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power

To find a special key you would pipe the output of each command through grep -i <what you're looking for> (the -i flag is to ignore case of letters) - so if you look for print it would look like this:

gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings | grep -i print ; gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys | grep -i print ; gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power | grep -i print

with some bash-magic this clearly could look nicer - but it works ;)

Regarding custom Shortcuts

Custom Shortcuts

Custom shortcuts are stored in dconf using a "relocatable schema". The schema name is "org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding". Each custom key binding has three properties: name, command, and binding. Because of the relocatable schema, it is harder to use "gsettings" with custom shortcuts. Here is an example of getting the name of the first custom keybinding:

gsettings get org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom0/ name

Please note, that the last part custom0/refers to the first custom set key binding.

With following command gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom0/ you'll get something like:

org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding command 'libreoffice' org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding name 'libreoffice' org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding binding 'l'

To find the correct entry you might have to increase the number in custom0.

To change e.g. the command use:

gsettings get org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom0/ command '<your command>'

This will also work for name or binding.

To "clear" a custom key binding you could use: gsettings reset-recursively org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom0/- this would clear the entries inside, yet the entry will still exist in the Gnome-Settings as empty entry, but are 'deactivated', sort of.

How it works with gsettings - the second question: Have a look here: https://developer.gnome.org/gio/stable/GSettings.html

Good Night and Good Luck! ;)

d1bro
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  • Thanks, now I have found shutter -s too. But what about default screenshot application? I can launch it through Show Application button by typing screenshot in the search bar. So, it looks like a separate program and it should be bound to Print key somehow, because when I press Print key, the same application is running. My initial purpose was to find the name of this default application and see its command arguments, which is executed on Print press. Then I want to launch it by bash. – MiniMax Jun 18 '20 at 08:33
  • It seems, that default screenshot application is different from standalone applications like libreoffice or shutter, maybe it is Gnome extension and can be launched by GUI only. And screencast utility the same. – MiniMax Jun 18 '20 at 08:36
  • I looked into the Gnome Shell source and it approves that I have said in the previous comment. This is why I couldn't find a default screenshot program - because it is built-in Gnome Shell's functionality. – MiniMax Jun 18 '20 at 10:43
  • @MiniMax "My initial purpose was to find the name of this default application and see its command arguments, which is executed on Print press. Then I want to launch it by bash. " You never wrote that. - I would appreciate if you'd mark this question as solved. – d1bro Jun 18 '20 at 11:02
  • It was written in the 1-st question ;). – MiniMax Jun 18 '20 at 11:24
  • @MiniMax you were asking about key bindings (and used screenshot functionality as exampple) - not about how to use screenshot functionality in a script - or am I mistaken? – d1bro Jun 18 '20 at 11:30
  • Generally, I wanted a way to determine which command is bound to some arbitrary shortcut. Custom and default. To be able to see a command's name and passed options. And we have solved this task: you found out custom shortcuts storage scheme, I found out that default Gnome applications (screenshot, screencast) are built-in. The second question was auxiliary. So, now I have known what I wanted, thanks for help. – MiniMax Jun 18 '20 at 11:49
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For custom keybindings the command is:

for i in $(gsettings get org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys custom-keybindings | awk -F"'" '{ for (i=2;i<=NF;i+=2) print $i }'); do
    echo "$(dconf read ${i}binding) $(dconf read ${i}command)"
done

For a specific custom keybinding, try:

for i in $(gsettings get org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys custom-keybindings | awk -F"'" '{ for (i=2;i<=NF;i+=2) print $i }'); do
    echo "$(dconf read ${i}binding) $(dconf read ${i}command)"
done | grep -i '<Super>A'

For other keybinding, the command is:

for schema in $(gsettings list-schemas |  grep -E 'keybindings|media-keys')
do
 gsettings list-recursively $schema
done

To find out what a specific key is bound to (not custom commands), run:

for schema in $(gsettings list-schemas | grep -E 'keybindings|media-keys')
do
    gsettings list-recursively $schema 
done | grep -i '<Primary><Super>Up'
Ahmad Ismail
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