Taking a screenshot (within X)

Question

How can I take a screenshot in X.org?

I am unsure if the Print Screen button will "just work" and I don't know how I would go about testing it.

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 16 '12 at 19:56

8

The most commonly used Linux application for taking screen-shots is called scrot

You can install it with for Debian:

sudo apt-get install scrot

Or for Arch:

sudo pacman -S scrot

A screenshot is taken by typing:

scrot output-file.png

If you want to bind scrot to the print screen key then that will need to be controlled by your window manager.

answered Jun 16 '12 at 19:56

Jivings

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1

Scrot is quicker and smaller than ImageMagick - 1MB compared to 43MB. – Jun 16 '12 at 23:26

score 6 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:33

6

I found a great answer to this question here, it is worth repeating.

This can be achieved with ImageMagick. Install by running the command
sudo apt-get install imagemagick
To grab all desktop just type
import -window root screen.png
Or you can do it with a delay of 5 seconds
sleep 5; import -window root screen.png

edited May 23 '17 at 11:33

Community

1

answered Jun 16 '12 at 18:54

Andrew Fogg

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I wonder whether we could bind this to a key combo; anyone? – Alex Chamberlain Jun 16 '12 at 19:22
@AlexChamberlain: This is dependant on the WM that is being used. – Jivings Jun 16 '12 at 21:03
@AlexChamberlain there is an answer as to how to do that [here](http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/a/391/181) – Jun 17 '12 at 13:54
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-1 I despise ImageMagick and all of its derivatives/relatives. It's a kick in the pants to install, and it's even worse to fix if something breaks. – Andrew Larsson Jun 18 '12 at 17:21
@Jivings I guess if you're using your window manager's keybindings; I would think most people use `xbindkeys` though – Michael Mrozek Jul 09 '12 at 18:37
FYI: https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-1749/Imagemagick.html – duanev Jul 08 '21 at 16:02

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 18 '18 at 21:01

0

I use 'xwd'. For example, one I just did: xwd | xwdtopnm > dw.ppm The only downside I know of with xwd is that you need some other utility to convert its output to something understood by anything other than 'xwud'.

answered May 18 '18 at 21:01

Mark Wood

101

Mimosinnet · Answer 4 · 2019-04-21T10:52:55.747

This is the perl6 script I use to take root area window or delay ScreenShots using import:

#!/usr/bin/env perl6
use v6;

sub message(Str $file) {
  run <xmessage -nearmouse -timeout 3>, "Screenshot saved in $file";
}

sub print_window(Str $file) {
  qx{xprop -root | grep "_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW(WINDOW)"} ~~ /(0x\d*).*$/;
  run <import -window>, $0, $file;
  message($file);
}

sub MAIN( Str $option where $option ∈ <root area window delay> ) {
  my $today = DateTime.now( formatter => { 
        sprintf "%04d_%02d_%02d_%02d:%02d:%02d", 
                .year, .month, .day, .hour, .minute, .second 
       } );
  my $file  = "$*HOME/Dades/Imatges/ScreenShots/$today.png";

  given $option {
    when 'root'   { run <import -window root>, $file; message($file) }
    when 'area'   { run "import", $file             ; message($file) }
    when 'window' { print_window($file)                              }
    when 'delay'  { sleep 5; print_window($file)                     }
    default       { say 'Something went wrong'      ; exit           }
  }
}

These are the key bindings in i3 to run the script:

bindsym $mod+Print exec Print_Screen root 
bindsym --release $mod+Shift+Print exec Print_Screen area
bindsym $mod+Mod1+Print exec Print_Screen delay
bindsym $mod+Control+Print exec Print_Screen window

Taking a screenshot (within X)

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