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How can I take a screenshot in X.org?

I am unsure if the Print Screen button will "just work" and I don't know how I would go about testing it.

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migrated from raspberrypi.stackexchange.com Jul 9 '12 at 18:36

2 Answers

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The most commonly used Linux application for taking screen-shots is called scrot

You can install it with for Debian:

sudo apt-get install scrot

Or for Arch:

sudo pacman -S scrot

A screenshot is taken by typing:

scrot output-file.png

If you want to bind scrot to the print screen key then that will need to be controlled by your window manager.

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Scrot is quicker and smaller than ImageMagick - 1MB compared to 43MB. – Andrew Fogg Jun 16 '12 at 23:26
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I found a great answer to this question here, it is worth repeating.

This can be achieved with ImageMagick. Install by running the command

sudo apt-get install imagemagick

To grab all desktop just type

import -window root screen.png

Or you can do it with a delay of 5 seconds

sleep 5; import -window root screen.png
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I wonder whether we could bind this to a key combo; anyone? – Alex Chamberlain Jun 16 '12 at 19:22
@AlexChamberlain: This is dependant on the WM that is being used. – Jivings Jun 16 '12 at 21:03
@AlexChamberlain there is an answer as to how to do that here – Andrew Fogg Jun 17 '12 at 13:54
-1 I despise ImageMagick and all of its derivatives/relatives. It's a kick in the pants to install, and it's even worse to fix if something breaks. – Andrew Larsson Jun 18 '12 at 17:21
@Jivings I guess if you're using your window manager's keybindings; I would think most people use xbindkeys though – Michael Mrozek♦ Jul 9 '12 at 18:37

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