Ubuntu – xdotool – how to select text using shift+Home or shift+End

keyboardshortcut-keysxdotool

I'm trying to get text selection working the way I want on my laptop using Ubuntu 16.04. I don't have home/end keys on my laptop, so I installed xdotool and using the keyboard settings I mapped Super+left to xdotool getactivewindow key Home and Super+right to xdotool getactivewindow key End.

This is working as expected. However, I'd also like to have Shift+Super+Left select text from my cursor to the beginning of the line, and similarly Shift+Super+Right select to the end of the line. I tried mapping these combinations to xdotool using xdotool getactivewindow key shift+Home but this doesn't seem to work.

I've also tried running sleep 4 && xdotool key shift+Home in a terminal and then switching to my text editor, and it seems like only the Home key is firing – no text is selected. So it seems like a xdotool problem and not my keyboard. Does anyone know the proper key combination for xdotool to select text to the beginning/end of a line?

Update:

Runningsleep 4 && xdotool key Shift+Home with a capital S for shift works. Text is highlighted in my text editor from my cursor to the beginning of the line. However, it's still not working as a shortcut even with a capital S. So now I'm thinking there is something else wrong with the way I'm inputting the xdotool command into Ubuntu's keyboard settings.

Best Answer

Try the following:

xdotool keyup Shift+Super+Left key shift+Home

The keyup statement will release the hotkey you are pressing before simulating pressing the key combination shift+Home.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – set fn + arrow to represent ‘home’ and ‘end’

I definitely understand why you want to do this! Here's my bet what I have done:

Launch a terminal and run 'xev'. Place your mouse cursor over the Event Tester window and press fn+right/left. You should get a read-out like:

    KeyRelease event, serial 36, synthetic NO, window 0x5200001,
root 0xb2, subw 0x0, time 89989888, (98,124), root:(1007,175),
state 0x0, keycode 171 (keysym 0x1008ff17, XF86AudioNext), same_screen YES,
XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
XFilterEvent returns: False

This is for my keyboard and fn+right. Find the keycode -- here it's 171.

Now go edit your .bashrc file in your home directory. It's hidden, so pres Ctrl+H in Nautilus to show. Then add lines

    xmodmap -e "keycode 171 = Home"
    xmodmap -e "keycode xxx = End"

where you replace the 171 and xxx with the obtained keycodes. Then save and close the file. Close all your terminals, open one, and you should be ready to go!

Now, there is one draw-back: you have to activate this on every boot. You do that by opening a terminal, and that's it. You can close it again immediately. Or you can try fixing it to do it automatically, as described here. I just run the terminal using a shortcut and then kill it...

Ubuntu – How to change Shift + behavior

I finally found out there was a standard ubuntu option to set this :

Open "keyboard preferences" ; in the "Layouts" tab, click the "Options..." buton
Look for the "Miscellaneous compatibility options" group
Select the "Shift with numeric keypad keys work as in MS Windows" checkbox.

EDIT 1: In newer versions (eg.Ubuntu 18.04) look at Tweaks> Keyboard and Mouse>Additional Layout options>Miscellaneous compatibility options>"Num Lock on: digits; Shift for arrow keys. Num Lock off: arrow keys (as in Windows)"

EDIT 2: Or, as suggested in XUbuntu: Make Shift+NumPad work like Windows

Use the following command as workaround:
setxkbmap -option 'numpad:microsoft'

In order to run the above command automatically when starting the graphical desktop environment, create an Application Startup entry:
Search for Startup Applications > Add

Name: Make Shift+NumPad work like MS Windows
Description: whatsoever
Command:setxkbmap -option 'numpad:microsoft'

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