(Solved) How to get the Number of the current desktop?

[LazY Puppy]

Hi.

I need to find out the number of the current/active desktop.

Any chance, to get it without to use xdotool or wmctrl?

Want to do this from within a bash script.

Thanks.

[rufwoof]

xprop -root _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP|tail -c 3

provides the desktop number (starting from zero = desktop 1)

You might have to adjust that for desktops > 10 ???

[musher0]

Hi.

I need to find out the number of the current/active desktop.

Any chance, to get it without to use xdotool or wmctrl?

Want to do this from within a bash script.

Thanks.

Hi, Lazy.

You'll find a possible answer here.

[LazY Puppy]

No, this wasn't successful.

A search at the page did not return any useful hints.

Tried to post a question as a guest, but the button didn't work for me.

However: thanks for the Link.

[musher0]

Code: Select all

xprop -root | awk '$1 ~ /CURRENT_DESK/ { print $NF }'

If zero you're on desktop 1; if one, you're on desktop 2; and so on.

[LazY Puppy]

Yep, that's it!

Thanks!

[musher0]

Happy I did not help you!

[MochiMoppel]

 
                              <removed>
 
 

[musher0]

Hello all.

I can't imagine why one would need more than 9 workspaces or desktops,
but these three bash lines will pad the first 9 desktop numbers with a "0".

Code: Select all

DESK="`xprop -root | awk '$1 ~ /CURRENT_DESK/ { print $NF }'`"
[ ${#DESK} -lt 10 ] && DESK="0$DESK"
echo $DESK

I'm sure someone can make that more concise, too. But essentially, that's
how padding is done before the number.

BFN.

[rufwoof]

I can't imagine why one would need more than 9 workspaces or desktops

I have a different puppypin for each desktop, so the icons/icon arrangements and wallpaper can all be different on each desktop. If you set the wallpaper to be a month calendar then you can position icons over particular dates - notes, to-do's... whatever. Or copies of work done (zip files etc) on particular days. 12 desktops.

For a busier individual perhaps 52 desktops (weekly calendar backgrounds).

Or you might have a desktop to reflect each of the main menu's 12 to 15 'sections'.

Or you might have 10+ remote PC's that you RemoteDesktop/VNC into, each running on their own desktop.

The limiting factor in other pup's is the same set of icons on each desktop. With that restriction lifted there's a wider range of possibilities.

[some1]

This is good rufwoof:

xprop -root _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP|tail -c 3
provides the desktop number (starting from zero = desktop 1)
You might have to adjust that for desktops > 10 ???

Demonstrates that xprop has an inbuilt query-faclity

Probably the fastest to suck the output into a variable:

Code: Select all

NUM=$(xprop -root _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP);NUM=${NUM##*' '}
echo $NUM

The above,and the next two wont have number-issues.

Code: Select all

time xprop -root _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP|awk '$0=$NF'

Code: Select all

time xprop -root _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP|cut -d ' ' -f3

Code: Select all

time xprop -root _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP|tail -c 3

The 3 above have same runtime

This feeds all the xprop-stuff to awk - and is naturally the slowest.

Code: Select all

time xprop -root | awk '$1 ~ /CURRENT_DESK/ { print $NF }'

Edit: Typo '$0==$NF' corrected to '$0=$NF'

I guess USER wants the desktop-number as 1-based so:

Code: Select all

xprop -root _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP|awk '$0=($NF+1)'

Code: Select all

NUM=$(xprop -root _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP);NUM=$((${NUM##*' '}+1))
echo $NUM

[musher0]

I can't imagine why one would need more than 9 workspaces or desktops

I have a different puppypin for each desktop, so the icons/icon arrangements and wallpaper can all be different on each desktop. If you set the wallpaper to be a month calendar then you can position icons over particular dates - notes, to-do's... whatever. Or copies of work done (zip files etc) on particular days. 12 desktops.

For a busier individual perhaps 52 desktops (weekly calendar backgrounds).

Or you might have a desktop to reflect each of the main menu's 12 to 15 'sections'.

Or you might have 10+ remote PC's that you RemoteDesktop/VNC into, each running on their own desktop.

The limiting factor in other pup's is the same set of icons on each desktop. With that restriction lifted there's a wider range of possibilities.

To each his own, man, to each his own!

[musher0]

@some1:
Thanks for your "variations".

I like padding, though, in a case like this, and

Code: Select all

xprop -root _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP|awk '{ print "0"($0=($NF+1)) }'

pads the number.

BFN.

[amigo]

printf will pad numbers for you -but you'll have to consult the manual for how to do it -I'm only on my second coffee here...

[some1]

Musher0: RTMs as amigo suggests

Various printfs in the universe:
1.The shell printf -inbuilt or not.
2. awks printf - for formatting output
3 awks sprintf - for internal "printing" for usage inside awk - i.e.conversion,formatting.etc

Padded output:

Code: Select all

xprop -root _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP|awk '{ printf "%02d",($NF+1);}'

---

RSH: step has a thing to show you,might help you handling the topless