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@amanusk
Last active August 7, 2023 01:46
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Easily change between laptop and external displays in i3 + dmenu
#!/bin/bash
# This script is intended to make switching between laptop and external displays easier when using i3+dmenu
# To run this script, map it to some shortcut in your i3 config, e.g:
# bindsym $mod+p exec --no-startup-id $config/display.sh
# IMPORTANT: run chmod +x on the script to make it executable
# The result is 4 options appearing in dmenu, from which you can choose
# This is your default laptop screen, detect by running `xrandr`
INTERNAL_OUTPUT="LVDS-1"
# choices will be displayed in dmenu
choices="laptop\ndual\nexternal\nclone"
# Your choice in dmenu will determine what xrandr command to run
chosen=$(echo -e $choices | dmenu -i)
# This is used to determine which external display you have connected
# This may vary between OS. e.g VGA1 instead of VGA-1
if [ `xrandr | grep VGA-1 | grep -c ' connected '` -eq 1 ]; then
EXTERNAL_OUTPUT="VGA-1"
fi
if [ `xrandr | grep DVI-1 | grep -c ' connected '` -eq 1 ]; then
EXTERNAL_OUTPUT="DVI-1"
fi
if [ `xrandr | grep HDMI-1 | grep -c ' connected '` -eq 1 ]; then
EXTERNAL_OUTPUT="HDMI-1"
fi
if [ `xrandr | grep HDMI-2 | grep -c ' connected '` -eq 1 ]; then
EXTERNAL_OUTPUT="HDMI-2"
fi
if [ `xrandr | grep HDMI-3 | grep -c ' connected '` -eq 1 ]; then
EXTERNAL_OUTPUT="HDMI-3"
fi
if [ `xrandr | grep DP1 | grep -c ' connected '` -eq 1 ]; then
EXTERNAL_OUTPUT="DP-1"
fi
if [ `xrandr | grep DP-2 | grep -c ' connected '` -eq 1 ]; then
EXTERNAL_OUTPUT="DP-2"
fi
if [ `xrandr | grep DP-3 | grep -c ' connected '` -eq 1 ]; then
EXTERNAL_OUTPUT="DP-3"
fi
# xrander will run and turn on the display you want, if you have an option for 3 displays, this will need some modifications
case "$chosen" in
external) xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT --off --output $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto --primary ;;
laptop) xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto --primary --output $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT --off ;;
clone) xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto --output $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto --same-as $INTERNAL_OUTPUT ;;
dual) xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto --output $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto --right-of $INTERNAL_OUTPUT --primary ;;
esac
@AlexeyPogorelov
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Thank you for this script. I found that you made a mistake on line 42. Just replace "DP-2" to "DP-3" to fix it.

@amanusk
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Author

amanusk commented Jan 16, 2020

Thanks for the fix notice! Glad this helps.

@AlexeyPogorelov
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Thanks for the fix notice! Glad this helps.

also I found misspelling in 'wihch' word))

@amatgil
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amatgil commented Nov 28, 2020

Quick question, why did you write "chosen=$(echo -e $choices | dmenu -i)" instead of "chosen=$(echo $choices | dmenu -i) in line 16? The "-e" makes the laptop option not work. Just wondering.
Amazing script tho, thanks

@benjaminvdb
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benjaminvdb commented Apr 9, 2021

My external screen is called DP-1, and my internal screen e-DP-1 is matched by grep DP-1. Therefore I needed to make the expression more specific: grep '^DP-1', so it matches only my external screen. I modified the other expressions for HDMI-1, VGA-1, etc. in the same way, just in case.

Thanks for the script! 🙏 It works really great.

@xhlar
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xhlar commented Jun 7, 2022

Thanks for the script!

@qburst-akhilsathish
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Thank you 🙏 Amazing script

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