Get current window title with Python and Xorg

Question

After stackoverflow answered my previous question on here about my Wiimote left/right click issue, Not only can I move the mouse cursor, I can now left/right click on things. I now have one more question.

What do I use in python to get the title of the current active window? After googling 'X11 Python Window Title', 'Linux Python Window Title' and things similar, All I've found is win32 and tkinker (again?), which isn't what I need.

If you could help, That would be awesome!

killown · Accepted Answer · 2010-09-04T22:35:35.967

EDIT

best way:

import gtk
import wnck
import glib

class WindowTitle(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.title = None
        glib.timeout_add(100, self.get_title)

    def get_title(self):
        try:
            title = wnck.screen_get_default().get_active_window().get_name()
            if self.title != title:
                self.title  = title
                print title
        except AttributeError:
            pass
        return True

WindowTitle()
gtk.main()

Alternative way:

from subprocess import PIPE, Popen
import time

title = ''
root_check = ''

while True:
    time.sleep(0.6)
    root = Popen(['xprop', '-root'],  stdout=PIPE)

    if root.stdout != root_check:
        root_check = root.stdout

        for i in root.stdout:
            if '_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW(WINDOW):' in i:
                id_ = i.split()[4]
                id_w = Popen(['xprop', '-id', id_], stdout=PIPE)

        for j in id_w.stdout:
            if 'WM_ICON_NAME(STRING)' in j:
                if title != j.split()[2]:
                    title = j.split()[2]
                    print "current window title: %s" % title

this only gives me the title of the window that it's running on. :( — dbdii407, Aug 24 '10 at 00:12
just put a time.sleep and change for other window and you will get the title of the current window. this get the title of current window, and not only the window where it's running — killown, Aug 24 '10 at 00:42
Actually, I did set a time.sleep(3), It still was the same title — dbdii407, Aug 24 '10 at 00:50

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 20 '18 at 12:07

6

I noticed that wnck requires GTK event loop to update the active window. There is no such problem with Xlib:

import Xlib
import Xlib.display
disp = Xlib.display.Display()
window = disp.get_input_focus().focus

# Get active window class and name
window.get_wm_class()
window.get_wm_name()

answered Jul 20 '18 at 12:07

Andrzej Pronobis

33,828
17
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92

This is short and nice! fully descriptive names / class names will not always be as descriptive as one would like them to be of course. – matanster May 04 '20 at 19:38
3

For me these both return None. – Rena Apr 07 '21 at 23:09

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 23 '11 at 09:00

3

killown's xprop-based solution can be compacted into a single (though lengthy) statement:

import subprocess
def GetActiveWindowTitle():
    return subprocess.Popen(["xprop", "-id", subprocess.Popen(["xprop", "-root", "_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW"], stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0].strip().split()[-1], "WM_NAME"], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0].strip().split('"', 1)[-1][:-1]

answered Jun 23 '11 at 09:00

KeyJ

39
1

I have the error : TypeError: a bytes-like object is required, not 'str' – sangorys Oct 25 '21 at 21:08

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 11 '20 at 13:45

2

With ewmh:

from ewmh import EWMH
wm = EWMH()
win = wm.getActiveWindow()
win_name = win.get_wm_name()
print(win_name)

answered Jun 11 '20 at 13:45

Eyal Levin

16,271
6
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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 12 '13 at 06:23

0

My solution:

import wnck
disp=Display()
default_screen=wnck.screen_get_default()
default_screen.force_update()

active_window=disp.create_resource_object('window', default_screen.get_active_window().get_xid())
title=active_window.get_wm_name()

answered Mar 12 '13 at 06:23

diyism

12,477
5
46
46

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 23 '10 at 23:32

0

I think python-wnck might be useful if you want to handle Windows & workspaces & such. I can't find the Python docs immediately, but according to the docs for the libwnck C library that it wraps, it has a wnck_screen_get_active_window() method.

answered Aug 23 '10 at 23:32

JanC

1,264
9
6

score -1 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 23 '10 at 23:26

-1

Is the problem to find out which window is active or what the title is? Getting a window's title is easy:

MainWindow.title()

,where MainWindow is the window's name. No idea about active window though. Never had multiple windows.

answered Aug 23 '10 at 23:26

Rawing

19
1
1
2

I need to get the name of the active window, The one in the foreground – dbdii407 Aug 23 '10 at 23:59
What is `MainWindow`? Is it a package or a class or an object or a variable? – Nagabhushan S N Sep 18 '21 at 08:50

Get current window title with Python and Xorg

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