How do I change a custom keyboard shortcut from the command line?

[Paddy Landau]

In Ubuntu, I can go to Settings > Keyboard > View and Customise Shortcuts > Custom Shortcuts. There, I can add, delete or change custom keyboard shortcuts.

What I'd like to know is how to do this on the command line (so that I can use it in a script)? I know BASH, but no other language.

I've searched online for the solution but found nothing.

Thank you

[him610]

Hello Paddy,

Have you considered an alias defined in .bash_aliases to implement your desired shortcut?

[Paddy Landau]

Have you considered an alias defined in .bash_aliases to implement your desired shortcut?

Thanks, but keyboard shortcuts are for the GUI, not for the terminal. It's those keyboard shortcuts that I wish to change, but using a script instead of using the GUI.

[dragonfly41]

Would it be acceptable to have a UI automation script to flash through this process via Settings in a blink of an eye?

[Paddy Landau]

Would it be acceptable to have a UI automation script to flash through this process via Settings in a blink of an eye?

Um… Sorry, I don't understand what you're saying?

To clarify with an example:

Suppose that I have a keyboard shortcut Super+F11 to open VirtualBox. Now, I want Super+F11 to open GIMP instead. I can manually make this change by going to Settings > Keyboard > View and Customise Shortcuts > Custom Shortcuts, and making the change there. But, what I really want is a script to do make that change. In other words, how can I change the shortcut using a CLI command?

[dragonfly41]

I was attempting to suggest that you can "drive" established processes using commands ..

Settings > Keyboard > View and Customise Shortcuts > Custom Shortcuts, and making the change there. But, what I really want is a script to do make that change.

That is leverage proven tools to automate such actions. I know that CLI is the holy grail but if there are UI tools around I use them to speed up proven workflows rather than replacing them with Bash scripts.

I will give one example. Install Albert, ensure it is in tool bar, then hit Ctrl+Space (I don't know why but it is required twice on my desktop). You are presented with a popup query field and that can be your sole portal into the Ubuntu galaxy rather than the usual launch terminal and run bash script. Just saying ...

[Holger_Gehrke]

I can't really speak about main-line Ubuntu and Gnome, but in XUbuntu / XFCE keyboard shortcuts are stored in xfconf and can be viewed and changed with xfconf-query.

xfconf-query -c xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts -p /commands/custom/'<Primary><Alt>e' -n -s xeyes -t string

This assigns Ctrl-Alt-e to starting xeyes. XFCE monitors xfconf and reacts to changes made to it's properties. I'd think that there's something similar in Gnome, probably gsettings.

Holger

[Paddy Landau]

probably gsettings

Thank you — you might be onto something here. I'll have to search to find out how to specify key bindings with gsettings. (I don't have xfconf, nor is it in the standard repositories. It's obviously only for XFCE and LXDE.)

[dragonfly41]

Gnome Tweaks?

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1289...cific-keyboard

[Paddy Landau]

Gnome Tweaks?
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1289...cific-keyboard

Thanks for the link. Gnome Tweaks is a GUI. The answer given is about changing keys at a hardware level, which is not what I'm after.