slop (Select Operation) is an application that querys for a selection from the user and prints the region to stdout. It grabs the mouse and turns it into a crosshair, lets the user click and drag to make a selection (or click on a window) while drawing a pretty box around it, then finally prints the selection's dimensions to stdout.
- Hovering over a window will cause a selection rectangle to appear over it.
- Clicking on a window makes slop return the dimensions of the window.
- Clicking and dragging causes a selection rectangle to appear, renders pretty well (compared to scrot). And will return the dimensions of that rectangle in absolute screen coords.
- On startup it turns your cursor into a crosshair, then adjusts the cursor into angles as you drag the selection rectangle.
- Supports simple arguments:
- Change selection rectangle border size.
- Select X display.
- Set padding size, even negative padding sizes!
- Set click tolerance for if you have a shaky mouse.
- Set the color of the selection rectangles to match your theme! (Even supports transparency!)
- Remove window decorations from selections.
- Supports OpenGL hardware acceleration.
- Supports textured themes.
- Supports programmable shaders.
- Supports a magnifying glass.
slop can be used to create a video recording script in only two lines of code.
#!/bin/bash
eval $(slop)
ffmpeg -f x11grab -s "$W"x"$H" -i :0.0+$X,$Y -f alsa -i pulse ~/myfile.webmslop lets you select a region or window and ffmpeg will record it in the format of your choice! Combined with keybinds and a server on your filesystem you can make a really neat and unobtrusive screenshooter.
You can also take images using imagemagick like so:
#!/bin/bash
eval $(slop)
import -window root -crop $G ~/myimage.pngIf you don't like ImageMagick's import: Check out maim for a better screenshot utility.
You can see my implementation of slop in a screenshooter here: https://gist.github.com/naelstrof/6530959
For those of you who don't want eval to be an integral part of slop (Could be dangerous if I were evil!): You can change the output format and parse it manually like so:
#!/bin/bash
read -r X Y W H G ID < <(slop -f "%x %y %w %h %g %i")
maim -g "$G" -i "$ID"
ffmpeg -f x11grab -s "$W"x"$H" -i ":0.0+$X,$Y" -f alsa -i pulse ~/myfile.webmOk. Here's a comparison between 'scrot -s's selection and slop's:
You can see scrot leaves garbage lines over the things you're trying to screenshot! While slop not only looks nicer, it's impossible for it to end up in screenshots or recordings because it waits for DestroyNotify events before completely shutting down. Only after the window is completely destroyed can anything take a screenshot.
- Arch Linux: community/slop
- Void Linux: slop
- FreeBSD: x11/slop
- OpenBSD: graphics/slop
- CRUX: 6c37/slop
- Gentoo: x11-misc/slop::fkmclane
- Please make a package for slop on your favorite system, and make a pull request to add it to this list.
Note: Dependencies should be installed first: libxext, imlib2, mesa, libxrender, libxrandr, glew and glm.
git clone https://github.com/naelstrof/slop.git
cd slop
cmake -DCMAKE_OPENGL_SUPPORT=true ./
make && sudo make installMake sure to check out and install maim too if you want a proper screenshot utility.
Ever since slop had OpenGL support, it now has quite a few customizations that can be done.
Note: Configuration directories are located at ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/slop or ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/share/slop, whichever comes first. These will be refferred to as ~/.config/slop and /usr/share/slop respectively from here on.
Click for video
Slop supports shaders that are loaded from the configuration directories. They're all completely programmable, but they do lack some features like chaining right now. To configure the shaders or create your own, first copy the global configuration folder to your ~/.config folder like so:
cp -r /usr/share/slop ~/.configThen edit or add new shaders at ~/.config/slop as if you were editing the originals, slop will reflect the changes on restart. If there's any missing features in the shaders: don't hesitate to make an issue to request them, and feel free to make your own shaders and submit a pull request to see if it can be officially included!
slop --opengl --theme gothic.
To create your own you'll have to copy the configuration directory, just like with the shaders above, like so:
cp -r /usr/share/slop ~/.configThe theme names are taken from the folder names, the files inside represent the corresponding textures. For example ~/config/gothic/corner_tr.png would correspond to the top right square texture in a gothic themed selection. The theming is still missing offset configuration, and is quite limiting in design. Themes probably won't be flushed out further unless someone makes an issue to request more features. Feel free to make your own themes and submit a pull request to see if it can be officially included!
slop v4.3.21
Copyright (C) 2014 Dalton Nell, Slop Contributors
(https://github.com/naelstrof/slop/graphs/contributors)
Usage: slop [options]
slop (Select Operation) is an application that queries for a selection from the
user and prints the region to stdout.
-h, --help Print help and exit
-V, --version Print version and exit
Options
--xdisplay=hostname:number.screen_number
Sets the x display.
--nokeyboard Disables the ability to cancel selections with
the keyboard. (default=off)
-b, --bordersize=INT Set the selection rectangle's thickness. Does
nothing when --highlight is enabled.
(default=`5')
-p, --padding=INT Set the padding size of the selection. Can be
negative. (default=`0')
-t, --tolerance=INT How far in pixels the mouse can move after
clicking and still be detected as a normal
click instead of a click and drag. Setting
this to 0 will disable window selections.
(default=`2')
-g, --gracetime=FLOAT Set the amount of time before slop will check
for keyboard cancellations in seconds.
(default=`0.4')
-c, --color=FLOAT,FLOAT,FLOAT,FLOAT
Set the selection rectangle's color. Supports
RGB or RGBA values.
(default=`0.5,0.5,0.5,1')
-n, --nodecorations Attempt to select child windows in order to
avoid window decorations. (default=off)
--min=INT Set the minimum output of width or height
values. This is useful to avoid outputting 0.
Setting min and max to the same value
disables drag selections. (default=`0')
--max=INT Set the maximum output of width or height
values. Setting min and max to the same value
disables drag selections. (default=`0')
-l, --highlight Instead of outlining selections, slop
highlights it. This is only useful when
--color is set to a transparent color.
(default=off)
--opengl Enable hardware acceleration. Only works with
modern systems that are also running a
compositor. (default=off)
--magnify Display a magnifying glass when --opengl is
also enabled. (default=off)
--magstrength=FLOAT Sets how many times the magnification window
size is multiplied. (default=`4')
--magpixels=INT Sets how many pixels are displayed in the
magnification. The less pixels the bigger the
magnification. (default=`64')
--theme=STRING Sets the theme of the selection, using textures
from ~/.config/slop/ or /usr/share/.
(default=`none')
--shader=STRING Sets the shader to load and use from
~/.config/slop/ or /usr/share/.
(default=`simple')
-f, --format=STRING Set the output format string. Format specifiers
are %x, %y, %w, %h, %i, %g, and %c.
(default=`X=%x\nY=%y\nW=%w\nH=%h\nG=%g\nID=%i\nCancel=%c\n')
Examples
$ # Gray, thick, transparent border for maximum visiblity.
$ slop -b 20 -c 0.5,0.5,0.5,0.8
$ # Remove window decorations.
$ slop --nodecorations
$ # Disable window selections. Useful for selecting individual pixels.
$ slop -t 0
$ # Classic Windows XP selection.
$ slop -l -c 0.3,0.4,0.6,0.4
$ # Wiggle wiggle!
$ slop --opengl --shader wiggle
$ # Edgy textures or something.
$ slop --opengl --theme gothic
$ # Change output format to use safer parsing
$ slopoutput=$(slop -f "%x %y %w %h")
$ X=$(echo $slopoutput | awk '{print $1}')
$ Y=$(echo $slopoutput | awk '{print $2}')
$ W=$(echo $slopoutput | awk '{print $3}')
$ H=$(echo $slopoutput | awk '{print $4}')
Tips
* You can use the arrow keys to move the starting point of a
drag-selection, just in case you missed it by a few pixels.
* If you don't like a selection: you can cancel it by right-clicking
regardless of which options are enabled or disabled for slop.
* If slop doesn't seem to select a window accurately, the problem could be
because of decorations getting in the way. Try enabling the --nodecorations
flag.