1. Install libnotify-bin which provides notify-send

   sudo apt-get install libnotify-bin
   

2. Create new script:

   import time
   import subprocess
   
   #no need
   #keyboard.release_key("<ctrl>")
   
   # wait_for_keypress does not return any thing to distinguish between target key pressed or timeout reached.
   # So if time is less than the timeout then it was key press.
   start_time = time.time()
   keyboard.wait_for_keypress("1", timeOut=1)
   if (time.time()-start_time < 0.9):
       time.sleep(0.2)
       window.activate("gnu screen")
       time.sleep(0.1)
       active_title = window.get_active_title()
       # if it doesn't get same title, then no window titled as gnu screen
       # it sends a notify message otherwise send the key sequence.
       if (active_title == "gnu screen"):
           keyboard.press_key("<ctrl>")
           keyboard.send_key("a")
           keyboard.release_key("<ctrl>")
           keyboard.send_key("1")
       else:
           subprocess.Popen(['notify-send', "Couldn't find destination window"])
   

3. Setup its hot key as: Ctrl+a

To trigger it: Ctrl+a then 1 (in <1sec)

Debug

1. Launch X Event Tester in separate terminal window

   xev -event keyboard
   

2. Check it's window title, mine shows Event Tester

   $ wmctrl -l
   0x03000012 -1       N/A Desktop — Plasma
   0x030000c1 -1       N/A Desktop — Plasma
   0x0300001b -1       N/A Plasma
   0x06a00098  0        PC User User - Ask Ubuntu - Mozilla Firefox
   0x01a00067  0       N/A user : screen
   0x01a000cd  0       N/A user : xev
   0x04600001  0       N/A Event Tester
   0x01e0015d  0        PC AutoKey
   

3. Modify script to target Event Tester window.

   import time
   import subprocess
   
   start_time = time.time()
   keyboard.wait_for_keypress("1", timeOut=1)
   if (time.time()-start_time < 0.9):
       time.sleep(0.2)
       window.activate("Event Tester")
       time.sleep(0.1)
       keyboard.press_key("<ctrl>")
       keyboard.send_key("a")
       keyboard.release_key("<ctrl>")
       keyboard.send_key("1")
   

4. If xev receives the key sequence. Its output should be some thing similar to:

   KeyPress event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x4600001,
       root 0xb2, subw 0x0, time 55057700, (1053,140), root:(945,303),
       state 0x0, keycode 105 (keysym 0xffe4, Control_R), same_screen YES,
       XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
       XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
       XFilterEvent returns: False
   
   KeyPress event, serial 34, synthetic YES, window 0x4600001,
       root 0xb2, subw 0x0, time 0, (1,1), root:(1,1),
       state 0x0, keycode 38 (keysym 0x61, a), same_screen YES,
       XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (61) "a"
       XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (61) "a"
       XFilterEvent returns: False
   
   KeyRelease event, serial 35, synthetic YES, window 0x4600001,
       root 0xb2, subw 0x0, time 0, (1,1), root:(1,1),
       state 0x0, keycode 38 (keysym 0x61, a), same_screen YES,
       XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (61) "a"
       XFilterEvent returns: False
   
   KeyRelease event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0x4600001,
       root 0xb2, subw 0x0, time 55057701, (1053,140), root:(945,303),
       state 0x4, keycode 105 (keysym 0xffe4, Control_R), same_screen YES,
       XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
       XFilterEvent returns: False
   
   KeyPress event, serial 35, synthetic YES, window 0x4600001,
       root 0xb2, subw 0x0, time 0, (1,1), root:(1,1),
       state 0x0, keycode 10 (keysym 0x31, 1), same_screen YES,
       XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (31) "1"
       XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (31) "1"
       XFilterEvent returns: False
   
   KeyRelease event, serial 35, synthetic YES, window 0x4600001,
       root 0xb2, subw 0x0, time 0, (1,1), root:(1,1),
       state 0x0, keycode 10 (keysym 0x31, 1), same_screen YES,
       XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (31) "1"
       XFilterEvent returns: False
   

Note, I have removed the if condition to check active title. The script activates/raises xev window but the check doesn't find the correct title. I got just the notification message.

Note: this may not work in a Wayland session!

Texpander:

Texpander is a simple text expander for Linux. It is sort of like Autokey, except it works off of text files that you put in your ~/.texpander directory. Texpander is a bash script that uses xclip, xdotool, and zenity to let you type an abbreviation for something and it expands to whatever you have in the matching text file.

Download the .zip file and extract the contents.

Copy texpander.sh over to ~/bin. Make it executable.

Use your distro's method to assign Ctrl+Shift+~, for example, to texpander.sh. (Note that ~/bin should be in your $PATH.)

Install xsel, not xclip, and xdotool using sudo apt install.

Create a folder ~/.texpander.

In that folder, create the following three files: au.txt, off-topic.txt and os.txt with the following contents:

au.txt

Welcome to Ask Ubuntu!

off-topic.txt

Questions about distros other than Ubuntu or other official flavors are off-topic here.

os.txt

OS: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS

Open a text editor and press the assigned shortcut to launch texpander.sh. You'll get a Zenity window like this:

If you have a longer list, there'll be a handy scrollbar or just type the first letter of a listed item to jump down the list to that item.

Select the one you want and press Enter or click OK.

Troubleshooting: If things don't work, try increasing the sleep values in lines 45 and 61 of texpander.sh. xdotool on older machines may benefit.