Firefox refresh current tab from command-line

Question

I'd like to trigger a tab refresh on Firefox from a command line. I'm working on a web app and the refresh goes after the app compiles. I trigger the compile from a command in my IDE. It's not a fixed url, nor can it be derived from the open file in the IDE. Thus, the currently open url in the active tab.

The thing is, I'm in a double headed box with no Xinerama support, which means I can't alt+tab to Firefox, instead I must move the mouse to the other screen, click on Firefox and then Ctrl+R. That can't be right.

I tried some sort of bookmarklet stuff, like DISPLAY=':0.1' firefox -remote 'openurl(javascript:alert(1);)' , but FF wouldn't run that.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

You can use xdotool for automation. Install on Ubuntu with

sudo aptitude install xdotool 

Then you can search for windows and send keys or mouse events, see man xdotool for the full documentation. I use following script on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS during development:

WID=`xdotool search --name "Mozilla Firefox" | head -1` xdotool windowactivate $WID xdotool key F5 

Note: in the older versions, e.g. Ubuntu 14.04 the flag is --title instead of --name.

See also the xdotool project site.

Answer 2

Here's an updated version of @geekQ's script that will return focus to the previous program (however, the firefox window will still be pulled to the top).

#!/bin/bash  CURRENT_WID=$(xdotool getwindowfocus)  WID=$(xdotool search --name "Mozilla Firefox") xdotool windowactivate $WID xdotool key F5  xdotool windowactivate $CURRENT_WID