Linux: Add Keyboard Shortcut to Switch App

Suppose you want to have F8 switch to browser. Here's how.

First, install wmctrl.

wmctrl is a command line util to {switch, close, move, resize, set title, list, …} windows.

# install wmctrl
sudo apt-get install wmctrl

Example use:

• wmctrl -xa firefox → switch to the window class name that contains “firefox”. (use this to switch apps.
• wmctrl -a firefox → switch to the window whose name contains “firefox”
• wmctrl -c firefox → Close a window whose name contains “firefox”
• wmctrl -l → list all windows

Type xprop in terminal to find the name of a app's window class name. [see Linux: Commands Related to GUI Apps])

here's some popular app's window class name:

• Firefox
• google-chrome-stable → Google Chrome browser
• gnome-terminal
• emacs

Now, create a keyboard shortcut to the command.

In your Linux desktop {Gnome, KDE, Ubuntu, Xfce, …}, there's usually a keyboard setting tool in the control panel to set a key to execute command. Use that.

Here's a example from xfce:

LXDE / OpenBox

For LXDE or OpenBox, you need to modify a config file. See: Linux: LXDE/Openbox, Change Keyboard Shortcuts

Misc

xdotool

Here's another method.

Here's what you can do with xdotool to switch/launch app.

This is what I came up with to switch between my editor/browser/terminal using surplus numpad keys. (Tried wmctrl -xa first but it switches to the first terminal on the first desktop it finds.)

"xdotool search --onlyvisible --class  Geany   windowraise windowfocus"
    Print

"xdotool search --onlyvisible --class  Firefox   windowraise windowfocus"
    Scroll_Lock

"xdotool search --onlyvisible --class  Sakura   windowraise windowfocus"
    Pause

That's in 〔~/.xbindkeysrc〕 … I started using xbindkeys so I can switch WMs without redoing all my hotkeys.

P.S. - found a switch-or-launch script for Linux: https://github.com/mkropat/jumpapp Doesn't work well with systray apps but my goal is to banish those.. map them to W-F1 etc.

JumpApp

https://github.com/mkropat/jumpapp → A faster way to launch applications and switch between them

The idea is simple — bind a key for any given application that will:

• launch the application, if it's not already running, or
• focus the application's window, if it is running
• Pressing the key again will cycle to the application's next window, if there's more than one.

2012-09-15 Thanks to {Yuri Khan, Vadim Atlygin, Evan Cofsky} for help.

2014-11-30 Thanks to Tom Novelli for help.

Mac and Microsoft Windows

How to Set Key to Switch to Browser