edotool

Simulate keystrokes.
Like xdotool, with support for both X11 and Wayland.

Screengrab

Using edotool keystrokes can be sent remotely to the active window.

$ sleep 10; for i in `seq 1 5`; do  ./edotool -i /dev/input/event9 -e "$i: She sells seasells, at the seashore. ${RANDOM}";   ./edotool -i /dev/input/event9 -e "KEY_ENTER"; echo "Sent $i"; done

edotool.mp4

mp4 | gif

Setup

Either download the release, or clone this repo and build it yourself.

Usage

$ ./edotool -h
Usage: ./edotool
  -h  --help             print this usage and exit
  -v  --version          print version information and exit
  -d  --debug            show verbose output
  -k  --keys             show available keys
  -i  /dev/input/event1  inputDevice device to use
  -e  --events           events to relay
  -a  --available        show available devices
  -r  --record           record from inputDevice
  -p  --playback         play recorded events [root] 
  --mouseAbs 100x100     move mouse to absolute coordinates [root] 
  --mouseRel 100x100     move mouse to relative coordinates [root]

Show available devices

Use the -a option to see available input devices:

$ ./edotool -a
Available: 21 devices
/dev/input/event0:	Power Button
/dev/input/event1:	Power Button
/dev/input/event2:	Video Bus
/dev/input/event3:	Logitech K850
/dev/input/event4:	Logitech M585/M590
/dev/input/event5:	Shenzhen LogoTech  2.4GHz receiver 
/dev/input/event6:	flirc.tv flirc Keyboard
/dev/input/event7:	flirc.tv flirc Consumer Control
/dev/input/event8:	flirc.tv flirc System Control
/dev/input/event9:	Shenzhen LogoTech  2.4GHz receiver  Mouse
/dev/input/event10:	Shenzhen LogoTech  2.4GHz receiver  Consumer Control
/dev/input/event11:	Shenzhen LogoTech  2.4GHz receiver  System Control
/dev/input/event12:	Sony Interactive Entertainment Controller
/dev/input/event13:	Dell WMI hotkeys
/dev/input/event14:	Microsoft® LifeCam Cinema(TM):
/dev/input/event15:	HDA Intel PCH Rear Mic
/dev/input/event16:	HDA Intel PCH Front Mic
/dev/input/event17:	HDA Intel PCH Line Out
/dev/input/event18:	HDA Intel PCH Front Headphone
/dev/input/event19:	HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=3
/dev/input/event20:	HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=7

Record, Replay events

Use the r option to record events as .skit files, -p with root access to replay your recorded skits:

$ ./edotool -i /dev/input/event3 -r
Recoding device: /dev/input/event3
Recording from /dev/input/event3 to file /tmp/edotool-Recorded-1632874726.skit, duration 10 seconds
Sakioa boalccacd

Done!
Harvested 111 events to /tmp/edotool-Recorded-1632874726.skit

Replaying:

$ sudo  ./edotool -p /tmp/edotool-Recorded-1632874726.skit
Replaying /tmp/edotool-Recorded-1632874726.skit
Sakioa boalccacd

Using /dev/input/eventXX

If you are a member of input group, edotool can be run without root permissions.

sudo gpasswd -a $USER input
newgrp input

In this mode, edotool will try to locate an appropriate input device it can use.

If an appropriate kbd device cannot be found, edotool will ask you to specify a suitable device using the -i option.

$ ./edotool -i /dev/input/event9 -e "She sells seasells, at the seashore."
She sells seasells, at the seashore.

Using /dev/uinput

/dev/uinput requires root permission:

$ ./edotool -i /dev/uinput -e "She sells seasells, at the seashore."
Error opening /dev/uinput: Permission denied

Retrying, with sudo access:

$ sudo ./edotool -i /dev/uinput -e "She sells seasells, at the seashore." 
She sells seasells, at the seashore.

Sending key codes

Specific keystrokes can be sent, either chained together with a + or individually:

$ ./edotool -i /dev/input/event9 -e "KEY_SPACE + KEY_S + KEY_A + KEY_D + KEY_SPACE"
 sad

keys supported:

Use -k option to get a list of supported keys:

$ ./edotool -k | head -10
Available keys:
key -->  KEY_LEFT_UP
key -->  KEY_CHANNELUP
key -->  KEY_FN_1
key -->  KEY_BATTERY
key -->  KEY_UWB
key -->  KEY_WWAN
key -->  KEY_BOOKMARKS
key -->  KEY_F24
./snip/.

Debug mode

Send -d to turn on debugging. This would produce a lot of debug output:

$ ./edotool -d -e " Fun. "
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d Copyright © 2021 Evuraan <evuraan@gmail.com>. All rights reserved.
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d Howdy!
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d Incoming: | Fun. |
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d keyboard device: /dev/input/event3
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [getFd] fd opened: 3
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d translated: KEY_SPACE+KEY_CAPSLOCK + KEY_F + KEY_CAPSLOCK+KEY_U+KEY_N+KEY_DOT+KEY_SPACE
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d key: KEY_SPACE val: 57
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d key: KEY_CAPSLOCK val: 58
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d key: KEY_F val: 33
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d key: KEY_CAPSLOCK val: 58
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d key: KEY_U val: 22
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d key: KEY_N val: 49
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d key: KEY_DOT val: 52
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d key: KEY_SPACE val: 57
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d combo: true
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 57
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 57
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 58
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 58
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 33
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 33
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 58
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 58
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 22
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 22
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 49
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 49
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 52
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 52
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 57
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 1 code 57
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [emit] emitted 24 bytes type 0 code 0
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 [C] [handleComboEvents] Handled 8 events
Sat Aug 21 12:20:25 2021 edotool/1.03d Bye bye!
 Fun.

Optional: Build

If you prefer to build yourself, you will need the Go Programming Language installed on your Linux System.

Go into the src folder and build as:

go build

Swipe Gestures on Linux

evuraan/edotool