Ubuntu – Add “open in terminal” shortcut

shortcut-keys

I would like to create a Keyboard shortcut in order to open the terminal when browsing a given folder. I am using nautilus and Ubuntu 12.04.3

If we right click in a folder there is the option "Open in terminal".

I tried by adding in the "System Settings > Keyboard > Shortcut" a new shortcut. As name I put "Open in Terminal" and as command for example I did "Ctrl+Super+t" but it does not work.

Best Answer

The best way I have found to do this without removing my hands from the keyboard:

Most keyboards nowadays have a "right click" key (don't know if it has an official name), located between the right alt and right ctrl, looks like an icon of a menu. Clicking on that opens up the right click menu of the current window (your mouse doesn't have to be in the window itself).

Therefore, the shortcut is Keyboard Right Click Key + E.

BTW, If you don't have a right click button on keyboard, you can right click using: SHIFT+F10, and then press E. Less intuitive, but also works...

How it can be done

When you right- click a file or folder for a nautilus script, the selected file is passed as an argument to the script. In most cases by something like:

import os
subject = os.getenv("NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_CURRENT_URI")

...using python3, in its simplest form.

If you replace this by:

import pyperclip

subprocess.call(["xdotool", "key", "Control_L+c"])
subject = pyperclip.paste()

...the currently selected file is used inside the script as an argument

What you need

To use this solution (16.04 and up), you need to install both xdotooland python3-pyperclip:

sudo apt-get install python3-pyperclip xdotool

The complete script, mentioned in comments

then becomes:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess
import os
import sys
import pyperclip

# --- set the list of valid extensions below (lowercase)
# --- use quotes, *don't* include the dot!
ext = ["jpg", "jpeg", "png", "gif", "icns", "ico"]
# --- set the list of preferred filenames
# --- use quotes
specs = ["folder.png", "cover.png", "monkey.png"]
# ---

# retrieve the path of the targeted folder
subprocess.call(["xdotool", "key", "Control_L+c"])
dr = pyperclip.paste()

for root, dirs, files in os.walk(dr):
    for directory in dirs:
        folder = os.path.join(root, directory)
        fls = os.listdir(folder)
        try:
            first = [p for p in fls if p in specs]
            first = first[0] if first else min(
                p for p in fls if p.split(".")[-1].lower() in ext
                )
        except ValueError:
            pass
        else:
            subprocess.Popen([
                "gvfs-set-attribute", "-t", "string",
                os.path.abspath(folder), "metadata::custom-icon",
                "file://"+os.path.abspath(os.path.join(folder, first))
                ])

Adding this to a shortcut key will set the icons for all directories inside the selected one.

Adding it to a shortcut key (!)

Adding shortcut keys, running (scripts using-) xdotool commands to press another key combination can be tricky. To prevent both key combinations to interfere with each other, use:

/bin/bash -c "sleep 1 && python3 /path/to/script.py"

Explanation

When Ctrl+C is pressed while a file is selected, the path to the file is copied to the clipboard. We are simulating the key press with:

subprocess.call(["xdotool", "key", "Control_L+c"])

python's pyperclip module simply produces the path, stripped from file:// when using pyperclip.paste() (this will not literally paste, but make the path available inside the script).