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Jonas Lindeløv
Asked: 2015-02-14 01:31:18 +0800 CST

Set F1 to close windows

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I try to optimize everything. One thing I do frequently is closing windows and closing tabs. Is it possible to set the F1 button to close windows in Ubuntu 14.04? (i.e. same behavior as ALT+F4) And scroll lock or F2 to close tabs (i.e. same behavior as CTRL+W)

Using the Keyboard --> Shortcuts, the F1 simply opens the help menu for the keyboard application. It cannot set it as shortcut "value". And there's no entry for closing tabs.

The latter may be application-specific. So a keyboard intercepter solution may be the way to go. If possible, I'd like ALT+F4 etc. to keep working.

14.04

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    You can keep the Alt+F4 shortcut if you define a new custom shortcut. Here are three possible solutions:

    Using xbindkeys and xdotool

    1. Install the packages by opening a terminal and type:

      sudo apt-get install xdotool xbindkeys xbindkeys-config

    2. Run xbindkeys-config from the terminal

      enter image description here

    3. Press New create a new key binding.

    4. Write F1 in the Key field to the left or press Get Key to grab a key or key combinations. Note that this may create a lot of gibberish such as Mod2 + F1 | m:0x10 + c:67 but it still works.

    5. Enter into the Action field to the left:

       xdotool getwindowfocus key alt+F4

      .... or whatever other key combination you want to execute.

    6. Press Apply. It works now.

    Using Keyboard Settings and xdotool

    1. Install the xdotool package, open a terminal and type:

      sudo apt-get install xdotool

    2. Now define a custom keyboard shortcut using the System Settings Menu:

      enter image description here

      Set the command to xdotool getwindowfocus key alt+F4

    3. The next step requires to go back to the command line as you can't type F1 to define a new accelerator. So list all the defined custom shorcuts with:

      $ dconf list /org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/
custom0/
custom1/

      The one you've just created should be the last one, here custom1. Type the following command to assign F1 to close the active window:

      dconf write /org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom1/binding "'F1'"

      Adjust the custom<id> to match yours.

    Your new F1 shortcut is ready to use (needless to log out or restart your system) and Alt+F4 still works.

    Using Keyboard Settings and xte

    For keys without special meaning to the Keyboard-application (like F2), you don't have to go through command line to do the key binding:

    1. Install xte:

      sudo apt-get install xautomation

    2. Create your new shortcut using the System Setting menu as explained for F1 just above but with the following command instead:

      xte 'keydown Control_L' 'keydown w' 'keyup Control_L' 'keyup w'

    3. Assign F2 to the shortcut, it works from the Shortcut window this time.

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