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el_gallo_azul
Asked: 2018-10-20 15:17:05 +0800 CST

How can I paste a specific string into my text by a shortcut key?

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I want to use keyboard combination Alt-E to write my email address, rather than have to type it out all the time.

I know how to create a custom key in

unity-control-center
  • Keyboard
  • Shortcuts
  • Custom Shortcuts

...but I can't figure out what to write in the Command: field. I've tried:

echo "[email protected]"

and

cat "[email protected]"

and

sed "[email protected]"

... but as you can tell, I don't know what I'm doing. I've just been trying things from a websearch "linux custom key output specified text".

It doesn't seem as if a macro would be necessary, nor the installation of another application. I've found a couple of other solutions here that both involve installing another application (autokey, xdotool). It seems to me that there would be a command on Linux that I would be able to use in the Command: field. Could that be true?

command-line shortcut-keys text-processing

2 Answers

  1. I'm not sure if you can run a command almost essentially in a terminal and have it auto-type to any application window that happens to be open & selected.

    Autokey does, and works great and is very simple to just type some keys, essentially just use 

    keyboard.send_keys("[email protected]")

    and set a hotkey and you're done.

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  2. Simplest solution

    "It seems to me that there would be a command on Linux that I would be able to use in the Command: field. Could that be true?" No, not without installing anything additionally, but

    ..Make xdotool type it for you.
    You have several options and tools, but the easiest / simplest solution is to add the following command to a shortcut:

    /bin/bash -c "sleep 0.2 && xdotool type '[email protected]'"

    The sleep 0.2 is to prevent your actual keypress (shortcut) to interfere with the virtual keypress by xdotool.

    Note

    Depending on what else you have installed, you might need to install xdotool:

    sudo apt install xdotool
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