[SOLVED] Bring existing KDE Konsole into focus instead of launching if one exists

I use KDE on arch and would like to achieve the following behavior:

Whatever way I launch Konsole, I want it to check whether there already is a Konsole instance. If one exists, it should be brought into focus, and if no instance exists, one should be launched.

I am unable to find such an option in the Konsole settings, even though I found a roughly 1 year old forum entry mentioning such a setting. Was it removed or am I just blind? Or do I need some optional dependency?

Alternatively, it would be fine if this could simply kick in when I use my Super+K shortcut, which I've set up. Maybe there's a way to call Konsole from the terminal like that? I tried using konsole --force-reuse but it didn't seem to do the trick, and konsole --new-tab does not bring Konsole into the foreground.

Edit: Here's a script that does this, by @Audalin@lemmy.world

#!/bin/bash
WIN="$(kdotool search --class org.kde.konsole | head -1)"
if [[ "$WIN" != "" ]]; then 
    kdotool windowactivate "$WIN"
else 
    konsole
fi

kdotool is available in AUR as kdotool-git

32 points · 13 comments · view on lemmy.world

13 Comments

Audalin@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y (6 replies)

If you don't find such a setting, you can try writing a script that checks if it's running already (e.g. with pgrep), activates the window if found (no idea how to do that in Wayland properly) and launches a new instance otherwise. Then use a custom .desktop launcher for Konsole.

meekah@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y (5 replies)

Thanks for your reply :) I might look into it if I don't find anything easier

Audalin@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 2y (4 replies)

Here's a KDE-specific script with kdotool (Wayland always needs custom solutions for simple things):

#!/bin/bash
WIN="$(kdotool search --class org.kde.konsole | head -1)"
if [[ "$WIN" != "" ]]; then 
    kdotool windowactivate "$WIN"
else 
    konsole
fi

meekah@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y

sweet! thank you so much!

d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz · 1 pts · 2y (2 replies)

[ removed ]

Audalin@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y

Well, that's exactly what I did. My point was rather that there's no single consistent way to do this across different DEs with different Wayland implementations - and that's supposedly considered a feature from Wayland design's perspective.

meekah@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y

How have you read the part you quoted without reading the package name right in front of it?

johsny@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y (2 replies)

I would like to know too. Subscribed.

meekah@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y (1 reply)

in case you weren't notified despite subscribing to the post, there is a solution now :)

johsny@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y

Thank you!!

meekah@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y (3 replies)

@mods: If I should cool it on the questions today, let me know.

catloaf@lemm.ee · 2 pts · 2y (2 replies)

I'm not a mod here, but two should be fine. Just don't keep asking simple questions day after day or week after week. That's when it gets annoying.

meekah@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Is this a simple question? It's hard to tell from my inexperienced position. I have a few friends who are more experienced with linux than I am, and they help me out from time to time. But when they are not available and I am unable to find something on google after 15-30 minutes, I tend to start posting to forums haha

johsny@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y

Google search is so useless these days too!