4

Is there a way to get Ctrl+Alt+T to open a terminal tab, if you already have an open terminal, instead of another terminal window?

I have already changed my preferences to open new terminals in tab. (I still want the key binding to open a terminal if none are open.)

Jacob Vlijm
  • 83,767
KT12
  • 235

1 Answers1

3

Here is what I've done and it did the job pretty good.

  1. change gnome-terminal preferences to default if you have changed it.
    so, set the Ctrl+Shift+t as shortcut for opening a new tab.

    enter image description here

  2. We need xdotool (it's around 30KB) install it via:

    sudo apt install xdotool

  3. Now create a file (e.g in your home named .custom-terminal-key.sh) and put these lines in it (Thanks to Jacob Vlijm):

    #!/bin/bash

if [[ "$(xprop -id "$(xdotool getactivewindow)" WM_CLASS)" == *"gnome-terminal"* ]]; then
  sleep 0.1
  xdotool key ctrl+shift+t
elif ! pgrep 'gnome-terminal'; then
  gnome-terminal
fi

    Every time we run it, if any gnome-terminal was open, it will simulate a Ctrl+Shift+t key binding, otherwise it runs gnome-terminal.

  4. Finally we change the default behavior of Ctrl+Alt+t, instead of opening a terminal every time you press these, it will run our script.

    gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.default-applications.terminal exec '/home/USER/.custom-terminal-key.sh'

    Change USER with your real username.

  5. Don't forget to give our script the executable bit:

    chmod +x ~/.custom-terminal-key.sh

We are done.

Rollback

Whenever you changed your mind just run:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.default-applications.terminal exec 'gnome-terminal'

Remove our script rm ~/.custom-terminal-key.sh and xdotool: sudo apt remove xdotool.

Getting active window name

Jacob Vlijm
  • 83,767
Ravexina
  • 55,668
  • 25
  • 164
  • 183
  • maybe add a condition to check if the gnome-terminal window is the active one, raise it if not. Else the command might end up on the wrong application. – Jacob Vlijm Apr 27 '17 at 18:13
  • Still it works when the window is active, but not if it isn't. I don't think the answer you use in the link is the best on that question though :) – Jacob Vlijm Apr 27 '17 at 19:58
  • Yeah, and I think it shouldn't; About finding the window name, I used it to get the process name (command) easier ;) – Ravexina Apr 27 '17 at 20:03
  • Bash is not really my thing, but if that's your decision, this http://paste.ubuntu.com/24468812/ might be shorter. You can simply chain xdotool window commands. – Jacob Vlijm Apr 27 '17 at 20:25
  • Ah wait, you'd still have to launch the terminal if not running: http://paste.ubuntu.com/24468949/. Furthermore, I don't have the key org.gnome.desktop.default-applications.terminal (unity/16.04) You might want to mention the manual way, using Settings > keyboard. – Jacob Vlijm Apr 27 '17 at 20:58
  • @JacobVlijm thanks updated with a minor edit ;) Are you sure about the key? cause when I run : gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.default-applications.terminal exec it gives me x-terminal-emulator on 16.04 unity. – Ravexina Apr 28 '17 at 09:41
  • Huh? you are right! I must be blind or something, but I don't see it in dconf-editor. From cli, it is there. Anyway, nice concept :) Thanks for editing, +1 – Jacob Vlijm Apr 28 '17 at 09:48
  • Based on this, I placed the .sh file in usr/local/bin and changed steps 4 and 5 accordingly. Unfortunately, couldn't get it to work. :/ – KT12 Apr 28 '17 at 16:11
  • @KT12 Do exactly as the instructions, use the full path. it'll works. – Ravexina Apr 28 '17 at 16:18
  • Unfortunately, couldn't get it to work, but since others did, will award the correct answer to yours. Thank you! – KT12 May 03 '17 at 01:05
  • @KT12 You should diagnose what is not working for you, e.g set another program (say gedit) instead of our script to see if our key binding are working ... first find which part does not work for you so we can work on it. – Ravexina May 03 '17 at 04:54