Simulate PrintScreen key press

Question

I want to write a script that changes the window focus, and sends keyboard commands, such as print screen, and arrow keys, to the system. As in I need print screen to capture my desktop, not the script window.

I can do it manually, but it is tedious, as I have a lot of screenshots to take.

I see that I can use xdotool for this. What is the key name for print-screen? (I am away from my Linux terminal, and I can't use xev remotely) alternatively, how can I figure out the names of keys, using something besides xev?

Answer 1

No need to "invoke" the PrtSrn button, if you install ImageMagick then you can do the following in your script:

import -window root output.png

If you want a particular window you can try to find its id first with wmctrl (the following captures the Firefox window displaying this post, the grep-ed string has to be unique.):

id=$(wmctrl -l | grep -F 'bash - simulate' | cut -d ' ' -f 1)
import -window $id window.png

Alternatively, if you know the part of the screen you need is on a particular place, you can grab the whole screen and then use convert -chop to cut out what you need from the desktop image.

ImageMagick is normally installed using a package named imagemagick