Close all open X-windows with a command in UNIX - shell

I have variable stand alone shell routines which I execute one after another automatically. Since every routine produces several X-windows figures I want to close all of them at the end without modifying every single routine. Is there a certain command?
Cheers!

Based on answers to this question. xdotool looks like what you need.
To kill an X11 window given it's title, you can use:
xdotool search "Your window title here" windowkill

Windows are owned by processes. One way to close windows is to kill their owner processes.
Another way is to start another X server, run your scripts with DISPLAY environment variable referring to the display of that X server, then terminate that X server with all windows.

Related

why does command window opens then close then open another window

I know this question looks like dozen of others: but, I am trying to get insight into why this script acts the way it does and if there is any draw back to it like memory leak or other.
The script its simple:
cd "C:\me\python\.venv" && start C:\me\python\.venv\env\Scripts\activate
There is a windows that opens briefly then closes then another command window opens with the virtual environment open as I need. This question is not about the virtual environment in any way. I am trying to understand the command window.
It seems buggy that a command window opens to change directories then closes and then another opens the virtual environment in another window. I can live with this I guess until I run across a seemless way to do this; but, isn't there a better way to do this?
Is the window opening then closing the behavior of the command prompt when changing directories? No! The script could be written simply as:
start C:\me\python\.venv\env\Scripts\activate
and there is still an occurence of a window opening prior to the window with the virtual environment started.
Is there any after affects from doing it this way, like background process open or memory leak or what have you?
Anyone know where to read the "readme" on this behavior?
Thank you much!
Use this code:
cd "C:\me\python\.venv" && C:\me\python\.venv\env\Scripts\activate
the start command is not necessary and that's what opens one more window and lets the previous one close.
This command create a new windows asynchronously.

Bring Terminal in the front with Ruby

I am using Ruby on a mac to open a dozen URLs one at a time with Nokogiri etc.
For each URL I need to let my ruby program know
whether to keep the URL window for further inspection or close it.
But I cannot see the terminal window and its prompt, it is hidden behind
the last URL window.
I have to click on the terminal window in order to bring it to the front, in order to enter my decision on the keyboard.
puts "close webpage?"
if gets =~ /^y/i then 1 ; else; 0; end;
I would like the terminal window to come to the front before it prompts
me for an answer.
I think the question is two fold
Is there a terminal command that tells a terminal window to become
the active one (the one in the front) that would work with mac iTerm.
The Apple script "bringiTermtofront" works in the applescript editor.
tell application "iTerm" to activate
Is there a way to execute a terminal command from ruby.
the ruby code
system "osascript bringiTermtofront.scpt"
brings the iTerm to the front.
For Question 1, one approach would be to write an Applescript to handle the switch, and then use the Terminal command osascript to run it from your Ruby code. You could also check if rb-appscript is still usable (it's no longer supported, but might work).
For Question 2, you have a few choices. Using backticks around the command will let you capture the output of a brief command, if you want to store the result of the command in a variable. (E.g. use grep or something similar).
The system method in Kernel is probably your best choice, though, as it will execute shell commands as if at the terminal.
Per the edit showing what script you're using, you need to execute the script as Applescript, not as a terminal script. You don't even need a separate file as it's just one line. This would be :
command = %q[osascript -e "tell application \"iTerm\" to activate"]
system(command)
You could also put the Applescript in a file and execute it using just
system("osascript bringiTermtofront")
See "Running shell commands from Ruby" for a little more help on how to interact with these methods.

Bash script which works in the background, waiting for the key

I need script which works in the background, waiting for a key to be pressed. I have a script which works when terminal is on. When I try to use & - it's not working correctly. The script works in background but keypress doesn't do anything. When I try use nohup then I have error of read - bad descriptor.
Can someone help me?
When the terminal is on (and is selected, in case of a terminal emulator running on x server), the input (key strokes, etc.) is directed to the terminal; hence, your program works.
Now, consider an example: let's say that you created a script that runs on the background, and it is activated by pressing the letter "a". If pressing "a" triggered your script (with terminal closed), then the user would never be able to (for example) type the letter "a" in a word document or a web search without triggering the script!
Therefore, what you are looking for is a key bind, or a keyboard shortcut, which would bind a key (combination) such as ctl+j+k to launch the script you want.
In Linux, that can be done somewhat easily, see this for Ubuntu or this for Lubuntu.
Important: if your script needs to be root to work, then you generally will have to evoke it via gksu or gksudo, otherwise it will not run

How to display the main window of a process in another Windows session?

When running a Scheduled Task under Windows to launched batch processes under a dedicated account, you could want to see output of theses processes.
These sub-processes could be either or both graphical or character based applications
As there are running in a different Windows Logon session, I cannot find way to display their output. There are like ghost processes
I would expect being able to use the show Window command from Process Explorer, but even via running Process Explorer under the dedicated account used to run the task (via runas), it is not working
Is there a way to do it ?
References : http://www.brianbondy.com/blog/id/100/
I believe that once created, a window cannot be transferred to another window station. Also, I doubt it is possible to open windows in another session. For character-based applications you are better off writing the output to some file and examining that file. For graphical applications you are out of luck with task scheduler. You may want to write a simple VBS script that wakes up at a certain time and runs your graphical task(s) and run it upon user logon, e.g. along the lines of a script from this page:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/scriptcenter/en-US/d9465815-87e2-43df-a0fe-4a23c16dca99/need-a-time-schedule-in-vbs-script-to-execute-something

Run script in background?

Simple question: Is there a way to run a script in the background with out terminal running?
More detail and background: I had an app that read an apps .log file and puled information from it, then provide information and statistics from the information in the log.
An update to the app changed the way the .log file was written and delete information and duplicates the log in a manner that i have been unable to predict.
the app that was designed to interface with the log was not coded to check for such changes. so when it attempts to gather information after the log change it stops working.
A "hack" has been devised to run a tail -f, then hexed the app to point at the new file.
(The "hack" works)
I would like to run the tail in the background so that the user doesn't interrupt it... breaking it...
-sorry for the (possibly) longer than needed description. BUt i figured a more detailed question would get me a precise answer.
Thanks in advance!
~¥oseph
The answer depends on if you need to be able to re-connect to the process after exiting the shell. If the process is non-interactive and can simply be left alone, then "nohup program &" should do the trick. But that won't let you continue to interact with the program after you've closed the shell.
If it's a interactive program, then your best bet is to use screen or one of the other terminal-multiplexers. You start "screen" which gives you a new shell, in this you start whatever program you want, the usual way, say "nano myfile.txt".
When you want to close the shell, but leave the program running, you press C-a d ('Detach') to detach from screen. it keeps running, but in the background, and will keep running even if you log out.
When you then later want to reconnect to screen you open a new shell and type "screen -r" (reconnect), this leaves you right where you where.
Screen also lets you run several different shells in a single terminal-window and is a neat tool overall. Check it out.

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