Move windows to specific screens using the command line

Moving all windows of a specific window class to a specific screen by (screen-) name

The script below will send windows, belonging to a specific WM_CLASS (application), to a specific screen, by the screen's name. How that is done is explained in the script and also further below.

The script assumes the screens are arranged horizontally, and more or less top- aligned (with a difference < 100 PX).

The script

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess
import sys

# just a helper function, to reduce the amount of code
get = lambda cmd: subprocess.check_output(cmd).decode("utf-8")

# get the data on all currently connected screens, their x-resolution
screendata = [l.split() for l in get(["xrandr"]).splitlines() if " connected" in l]
screendata = sum([[(w[0], s.split("+")[-2]) for s in w if s.count("+") == 2] for w in screendata], [])

def get_class(classname):
    # function to get all windows that belong to a specific window class (application)
    w_list = [l.split()[0] for l in get(["wmctrl", "-l"]).splitlines()]
    return [w for w in w_list if classname in get(["xprop", "-id", w])]

scr = sys.argv[2]

try:
    # determine the left position of the targeted screen (x)
    pos = [sc for sc in screendata if sc[0] == scr][0]
except IndexError:
    # warning if the screen's name is incorrect (does not exist)
    print(scr, "does not exist. Check the screen name")
else:
    for w in get_class(sys.argv[1]):
        # first move and resize the window, to make sure it fits completely inside the targeted screen
        # else the next command will fail...
        subprocess.Popen(["wmctrl", "-ir", w, "-e", "0,"+str(int(pos[1])+100)+",100,300,300"])
        # maximize the window on its new screen
        subprocess.Popen(["xdotool", "windowsize", "-sync", w, "100%", "100%"])

How to use

1. The script needs both wmctrl and xdotool:

   sudo apt-get install xdotool wmctrl
   

2. Copy the script below into an empty file, save it as move_wclass.py

3. Run it by the command:

   python3 /path/to/move_wclass.py <WM_CLASS> <targeted_screen>
   

   for example:

   python3 /path/to/move_wclass.py gnome-terminal VGA-1
   

For the WM_CLASS, you may use part of the WM_CLASS, like in the example. The screen's name needs to be the exact and complete name.

How it is done (the concept)

The explanation is mostly on the concept, not so much on the coding.

In the output of xrandr, for every connected screen, there is a string/line, looking like:

VGA-1 connected 1280x1024+1680+0

This line gives us information on the screen's position and its name, as explained here.

The script lists the information for all screens. When the script is run with the screen and the window class as arguments, it looks up the (x-) position of the screen, looks up all windows (-id's) of a certain class (with the help of wmctrl -l and the output of xprop -id <window_id>.

Subsequently, the script moves all windows, one by one, to a position on the targeted screen (using wmctrl -ir <window_id> -e 0,<x>,<y>,<width>,<height>) and maximizes it (with xdotool windowsize 100% 100%).

Note

The script worked fine on the tests I ran it with. Using wmctrl, and even xdotool, on Unity can have some stubborn peculiarities however that sometimes need to be solved by experiment rather than reasoning. If you might run into exceptions, please mention.

I've rewrited @jacobs python code to simple bash and make it works (I tested this on ubuntu 16 cinnamon).

I had to add remove,maximized_vert, remove,maximized_horz without that windows didn't move.

#!/bin/bash

if [ ! -z "$1" ] || [ -z "$2" ]; then
    command=$(wmctrl -l | grep $1 | cut -d" " -f1)

    if [ ! -z "$command" ]; then
        position=$(xrandr | grep "^$2" | cut -d"+" -f2)

        if [ ! -z "$position" ]; then
            for window in $command; do 
               wmctrl -ir $window -b remove,maximized_vert
               wmctrl -ir $window -b remove,maximized_horz 
               wmctrl -ir $window -e 0,$position,0,1920,1080
               wmctrl -ir $window -b add,maximized_vert
               wmctrl -ir $window -b add,maximized_horz 
            done
        else
            echo -e "not found monitor with given name"
        fi
    else
        echo -e "not found windows with given name"
    fi
else
    echo -e "specify window and monitor name;\nmove.sh window-name monitor-name"
fi

1. sudo apt-get install xdotool wmctrl
2. /path/to/script.sh "window-name" "monitor-name"

For the record, here is what I use for the combination of this question and Restore multiple monitor settings:

# configure multiple displays and
# move the windows to their appropriate displays

import subprocess
import os
import wmctrl
import re

mydisplays = [("VGA1",0,"left"),
              ("eDP1",1080,"normal"),
              ("HDMI1",3000,"left")]

# https://askubuntu.com/questions/702002/restore-multiple-monitor-settings
def set_displays ():
    subprocess.check_call(" && ".join([
        "xrandr --output %s --pos %dx0  --rotate %s" % d for d in mydisplays]),
                          shell=True)

# https://askubuntu.com/questions/702071/move-windows-to-specific-screens-using-the-command-line
mywindows = [("/emacs$","VGA1"),
             ("/chrome$","HDMI1"),
             ("gnome-terminal","eDP1")]
def max_windows ():
    didi = dict([(d,x) for d,x,_ in mydisplays])
    for w in wmctrl.Window.list():
        try:
            exe = os.readlink("/proc/%d/exe" % (w.pid))
            for (r,d) in mywindows:
                if re.search(r,exe):
                    x = didi[d]
                    print "%s(%s) --> %s (%d)" % (r,exe,d,x)
                    w.set_properties(("remove","maximized_vert","maximized_horz"))
                    w.resize_and_move(x,0,w.w,w.h)
                    w.set_properties(("add","maximized_vert","maximized_horz"))
                    break
        except OSError:
            continue

def cmdlines (cmd):
    return subprocess.check_output(cmd).splitlines()

def show_displays ():
    for l in cmdlines(["xrandr"]):
        if " connected " in l:
            print l

if __name__ == '__main__':
    show_displays()
    set_displays()
    show_displays()
    max_windows()

you would need to use wmctrl version 0.3 or later (because of my pull request).

Based on @AndrzejPiszczek's answer, here's a way to move all windows to a specific screen:

function move_win {
    if [ -z "$1" ]; then
        echo -e "Specify a screen, possible options: "
        echo -e $(xrandr | grep " connected " | cut -d'-' -f1)
        return
    fi

    MONITOR=$1

    # get all relevant windows on all screens
    windows=$(wmctrl -l | egrep -v " -1 " | cut -d" " -f1)

    if [ ! -z "$windows" ]; then
        # get the necessary metrics from the screen the windows should be moved to 
        # will contain: width, height, offsetX, offsetY
        screen_values=($(xrandr | grep "^$MONITOR-.* connected" | grep -Eo '[0-9]+x[0-9]+\+[0-9]+\+[0-9]+' | sed 's/x/ /g; s/+/ /g'))

        if (( ${#screen_values[@]} )); then
            # get the start/end position of the screen so we can later determine
            # if the window is already on the screen or not
            screen_start_pos=$(( ${screen_values[2]} ))
            screen_end_pos=$(( ${screen_values[2]} + ${screen_values[0]} ))

            for window in $windows; do
                # get the window name
                window_name=$(wmctrl -lG | grep "$window" | awk -F "$HOSTNAME " '{print $2}')
                # extract relevant window geometry values such as x, y, width, height
                window_values=($(wmctrl -lG | grep "$window" | awk -F " " '{print $3, $5, $6}'))

                # if the window's X origin position is already inside the screen's 
                # total width then don't move it (this won't work exactly for windows only partially on the screen)
                if (( ${window_values[0]} >= $screen_end_pos || ${window_values[0]} < $screen_start_pos )); then
                    echo -e "Moving to screen $MONITOR: $window_name"
                  
                    wmctrl -ir $window -b remove,maximized_vert
                    wmctrl -ir $window -b remove,maximized_horz
                    # the -e parameters are gradient,x,y,width,height
                    # move window to (X,Y) -> (0,0) of new screen and the same window dimensions
                    wmctrl -ir $window -e 0,$screen_start_pos,0,${window_values[1]},${window_values[2]}
                else
                    echo -e "Already on screen $MONITOR: $window_name"
                fi
            done
        else 
            echo -e "No screen found"
        fi
    else
        echo -e "No windows found"
    fi
}