Ubuntu – How to we get the command line of a running application

command line

In Ubuntu, applications can be opened from a terminal. But sometimes it isn't clear what the appropriate command is to do this.

So, having an application open, how can I get the command used to launch it, without having to search anywhere (just by looking at it)?

Best Answer

I just made the following script which use the application window title to find out the right command which opens the respective application from terminal (I named it appcmd):

#!/bin/bash

#appcmd - script which use the application window title to find out the right command which opens the respective application from terminal

#Licensed under the standard MIT license:
#Copyright 2013 Radu Rădeanu (http://askubuntu.com/users/147044/).
#Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
#The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
#THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE

#check if wmctrl is installed
if [ ! -n "$(dpkg -s wmctrl 2>/dev/null | grep 'Status: install ok installed')" ]; then
    echo -e "The package 'wmctrl' must to be installed before to run $(basename $0).\nUse 'sudo apt-get install wmctrl' command to install it."
    exit
fi

window_title=$(echo $@ | awk '{print tolower($0)}')
windows=$(mktemp)
pids=$(mktemp)
pid_found=""

wmctrl -l | awk '{$2=$3=""; print $0}' > $windows

cat $windows | while read identity window; do
    if [[ $(echo $window | awk '{print tolower($0)}') == *$window_title* ]]; then
        wmctrl -lp | grep -e "$identity.*$window" | awk '{$1=$2=$4=""; print $0}'
    fi
done > $pids

while read pid window; do
    if [ "$pid" != "0" -a "$window" != "Desktop" ]; then
        echo -e "Application window title:\t$window"
        echo -e "Command to open from terminal:\t\$ $(ps -o command $pid | tail -n 1)\n"
        pid_found="$pid"
    fi
done < $pids

if [ "$pid_found" = "" ]; then
    echo "There is no any opened application containing '$@' in the window title."
fi

Save this script in your ~/bin directory and don't forget to make it executable:

chmod +x ~/bin/appcmd

Usage:

  • When the script is runed without any argument, the script will return all commands for all windows opened corresponding.

  • If any argument is given, the script will try to find an open application window containing in its title that argument and will return the command corresponding. For example if Chromium browser is open, you can find out the command which opens it from terminal using only:

    appcmd chromium
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