1scrot(1) command line screen capture utility scrot(1)
2
6 scrot - command line screen capture utility
7
9 scrot [-bcfhimopuvz] [-a X,Y,W,H] [-C NAME] [-D DISPLAY] [-d SEC] [-e CMD]
10 [-F FILE] [-k OPT] [-l STYLE] [-M NUM] [-n OPTS] [-q NUM] [-S CMD] [-s OPTS]
11 [-t NUM | GEOM] [FILE]
12
15 scrot (SCReenshOT) is a simple command line screen capture utility, it
16 uses imlib2 to grab and save images.
17 scrot has many useful features:
19 • Support for multiple image formats: JPG, PNG, GIF, and oth‐
21 ers.
22 • The screenshot's quality is configurable.
24 • It is possible to capture a specific window or a rectangular
26 area on the screen.
27 Because scrot is a command line utility, it can easily be scripted and
29 put to novel uses. For instance, scrot can be used to monitor an X
30 server in absence.
31 scrot is free software under the MIT-advertising license.
33
35 -a, --autoselect X,Y,W,H
36 Non-interactively choose a rectangle starting at position X,Y
37 and of W by H resolution.
38 -b, --border
40 When selecting a window, grab the WM's border too. Use with -s
41 to raise the focus of the window.
42 -C, --class NAME
44 NAME is a window class name. Associative with -k.
45 -c, --count
47 Display a countdown when used with -d.
48 -D, --display DISPLAY
50 DISPLAY is the display to use; see X(7).
51 -d, --delay SEC
53 Wait SEC seconds before taking a shot.
54 -e, --exec CMD
56 Execute CMD on the saved image.
57 -F, --file
59 File name. See SPECIAL STRINGS.
60 -f, --freeze
62 Freeze the screen when -s is used.
63 -h, --help
65 Display help and exit.
66 -i, --ignorekeyboard
68 Don't exit for keyboard input. ESC still exits.
69 -k, --stack OPT
71 Capture stack/overlapped windows and join them. A running Com‐
72 posite Manager is needed. OPT it's optional join letter: v/h
73 (vertical/horizontal). Default: h
74 -l, --line STYLE
76 STYLE indicates the style of the line when the -s option is
77 used; see SELECTION STYLE.
78 -M, --monitor NUM
80 Capture Xinerama monitor number NUM.
81 -m, --multidisp
83 For multiple heads, screenshot all of them in order.
84 -n, --note OPTS
86 OPTS is a collection of options which specify notes to bake into
87 the image. See NOTE FORMAT.
88 -o, --overwrite
90 By default scrot does not overwrite the output FILE, use this
91 option to enable it.
92 -p, --pointer
94 Capture the mouse pointer.
95 -q, --quality NUM
97 NUM must be between 1 and 100. For lossless output formats, a
98 higher value represents better but slower compression. For lossy
99 output formats, a higher value represents higher quality and
100 larger file size. Default: 75.
101 -S, --script CMD
103 CMD is an imlib2 script.
104 -s, --select OPTS
106 Interactively select a window or rectangle with the mouse, use
107 the arrow keys to resize. See the -l and -f options. OPTS it's
108 optional; see SELECTION MODE
109 -t, --thumb NUM | GEOM
111 Also generate a thumbnail. The argument is the resolution of the
112 thumbnail, it may be a percentage NUM or a resolution GEOM. Ex‐
113 amples: 10, 25, 320x240, 500x200.
114 -u, --focused
116 Use the currently focused window.
117 -v, --version
119 Output version information and exit.
120 -z, --silent
122 Prevent beeping.
123 - Redirection to standard output. The output image format is PNG.
125
127 -e, -F and FILE parameters can take format specifiers that are expanded
128 by scrot when encountered. There are two types of format specifier:
129 Characters preceded by a '%' are interpreted by strftime(2). The second
130 kind are internal to scrot and are prefixed by '$'. The following spec‐
131 ifiers are recognised by scrot:
132 $$ A literal '$'.
134 $a The system's hostname.
135 $f The image's full path (ignored when used in the filename).
136 $h The image's height.
137 $m The thumbnail's full path (ignored when used in the filename).
138 $n The image's basename (ignored when used in the filename).
139 $p The image's pixel size.
140 $s The image's size in bytes (ignored when used in the filename).
141 $t The image's file format (ignored when used in the filename).
142 $w The image's width.
143 $W The name of the window (only for --select and --focused).
144 \n A literal newline (ignored when used in the filename).
145 Example:
147 $ scrot '%Y-%m-%d_$wx$h.png' -e 'optipng $f'
149 This would create a PNG file with a name similar to
151 2000-10-30_2560x1024.png and optimize it with optipng(1).
152
154 When using -s, optionally you can indicate the action to perform with
155 the selection area. Some actions allow optional parameters too.
156 capture Capture the selection area, this action is by default and
158 does not need to be specified.
159 hole Highlight the selected area overshadowing the rest of the capture.
161 hide,IMAGE Hide the selection area by drawing an area of color (or image) over it.
163 Optionally indicate name of the image to use as cover.
164 Image has priority over color.
165 blur,AMOUNT Blurs the selection area.
167 Optionally you can specify the amount of blur.
168 Amount,range: 1..30, default: 18
169 In modes 'hole' and 'hide' the color of the area is indicated by
171 'color' property of the line style and the opacity of the color (or im‐
172 age) is indicated by property 'opacity', SELECTION STYLE
173 If the 'hide' mode uses an image that does not have an alpha channel,
175 the opacity parameter will be ignored and it will be drawn fully
176 opaque.
177 Examples:
179 $ scrot --select=hide
181 $ scrot -shole --line color="Dark Salmon",opacity=200
182 $ scrot -sblur,10
183 $ scrot -shide,stamp.png --line opacity=120
184
187 When using -s, you can indicate the style of the line with -l.
188 -l takes a comma-separated list of specifiers as argument:
190 style=STYLE STYLE is either "solid" or "dash" without quotes.
192 width=NUM NUM is a pixel count between 1 and 8 inclusive.
194 color="COLOR" Color is a hexadecimal HTML color code or the name of
196 a color. HTML color codes are composed of a pound
197 sign '#' followed by a sequence of 3 2-digit
198 hexadecimal numbers which represent red, green, and
199 blue respectively. Examples: #FF0000 (red), #E0FFFF
200 (light cyan), #000000 (black).
201 opacity=NUM NUM is between 0 and 255 inclusive. 255 means
203 100% opaque, 0 means 100% transparent. For the
204 opacity of the line this is only effective if a
205 Composite Manager is running.
206 mode=MODE MODE is either "edge" or "classic" without quotes.
208 edge is the new selection, classic uses the old one.
209 "edge" ignores the style specifier and the -f flag,
210 "classic" ignores the opacity specifier.
211 Without the -l option, a default style is used:
213 mode=classic,style=solid,width=1,opacity=100
215 Example:
217 $ scrot -l style=dash,width=3,color="red" -s
219
222 The -n option's argument is more arguments:
223 -f 'FontName/size'
225 -t 'text'
226 -x position (optional)
227 -y position (optional)
228 -c color(RGBA, range 0..255) (optional)
229 -a angle (optional)
230 Example:
232 $ scrot -n "-f '/usr/share/fonts/TTF/DroidSans-Bold/40' -x 10
234 -y 20 -c 255,0,0,255 -t 'Hi'"
235
238 optipng(1)
239
241 scrot was originally developed by Tom Gilbert.
242 Currently, source code is maintained by volunteers. Newer versions are
244 available at https://github.com/resurrecting-open-source-projects/scrot
245scrot-1.8.1 20 Jan 2023 scrot(1)