Allows to quickly swap two workspaces with one another.

swapper.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
#
#   Allows to quickly swap two workspaces with one another.
#
#   Requirements:
#       i3, jq
#
#   i3 config example:
#       set $exec_nsi exec --no-startup-id
#
#       set $swapper path/to/swapper.sh
#       set $swapper_mode Workspace swapper
#       bindsym $mod+s mode "$swapper"
#       mode "$swapper_mode" {
#           bindsym 1 $exec_nsi $swapper $ws1; mode "default"
#           bindsym 2 $exec_nsi $swapper $ws2; mode "default"
#           bindsym 3 $exec_nsi $swapper $ws3; mode "default"
#           bindsym 4 $exec_nsi $swapper $ws4; mode "default"
#           bindsym 5 $exec_nsi $swapper $ws5; mode "default"
#           bindsym 6 $exec_nsi $swapper $ws6; mode "default"
#           bindsym 7 $exec_nsi $swapper $ws7; mode "default"
#           bindsym 8 $exec_nsi $swapper $ws8; mode "default"
#           bindsym 9 $exec_nsi $swapper $ws9; mode "default"
#           bindsym 0 $exec_nsi $swapper $ws0; mode "default"
#
#           bindsym Return mode "default"
#           bindsym Escape mode "default"
#       }


# Path to jq binary. Can be obtained from:
# https://stedolan.github.io/jq/
JQ_BIN='./jq'

# Name used for a temporary workspace while swapping.
WS_TMP="_tmp_"


cd "$(dirname "$0")"

ws_target="$1"
if [ -z "$ws_target" ]; then
    echo "usage: $0 [target]"
    exit 1
fi

# Get all workspaces
workspaces="$(i3-msg -t get_workspaces)"

# Get current workspace
ws_current=$(echo "$workspaces" | \
             $JQ_BIN -r '.[] | select(.focused == true).name')

# Check if moving to same workspace
if [ "$ws_target" == "$ws_current" ]; then
    exit 0
fi

# Check if the target workspace already exists
to_node=$(echo "$workspaces" | \
          $JQ_BIN -r ".[] | select(.name == \"$ws_target\")")

# Either swap current with target or simply rename current
if [ -z "$to_node" ]; then
    i3-msg "rename workspace to \"$ws_target\""
else
    i3-msg "rename workspace \"$ws_current\" to \"$WS_TMP\""
    i3-msg "rename workspace \"$ws_target\" to \"$ws_current\""
    i3-msg "rename workspace \"$WS_TMP\" to \"$ws_target\""
fi