How can I assign keyboard shortcut for nautilus scripts?

I've setup a Nautilus Script. I've put the script in /home/sumeet/.local/share/nautilus/scripts and it does appear in right click menu. and also works as expected. I just want to assign a shortcut to the script.

How can I create keyboard shortcuts for my nautilus scripts?

Answers given in the question above target a specific release and are completely outdated, and I couldn't find anything other than this question concerning this topic.

Solution 1:

How it can be done

When you right- click a file or folder for a nautilus script, the selected file is passed as an argument to the script. In most cases by something like:

import os
subject = os.getenv("NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_CURRENT_URI")

...using python3, in its simplest form.

If you replace this by:

import pyperclip

subprocess.call(["xdotool", "key", "Control_L+c"])
subject = pyperclip.paste()

...the currently selected file is used inside the script as an argument

What you need

To use this solution (16.04 and up), you need to install both xdotooland python3-pyperclip:

sudo apt-get install python3-pyperclip xdotool

The complete script, mentioned in comments

then becomes:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess
import os
import sys
import pyperclip

# --- set the list of valid extensions below (lowercase)
# --- use quotes, *don't* include the dot!
ext = ["jpg", "jpeg", "png", "gif", "icns", "ico"]
# --- set the list of preferred filenames
# --- use quotes
specs = ["folder.png", "cover.png", "monkey.png"]
# ---

# retrieve the path of the targeted folder
subprocess.call(["xdotool", "key", "Control_L+c"])
dr = pyperclip.paste()

for root, dirs, files in os.walk(dr):
    for directory in dirs:
        folder = os.path.join(root, directory)
        fls = os.listdir(folder)
        try:
            first = [p for p in fls if p in specs]
            first = first[0] if first else min(
                p for p in fls if p.split(".")[-1].lower() in ext
                )
        except ValueError:
            pass
        else:
            subprocess.Popen([
                "gvfs-set-attribute", "-t", "string",
                os.path.abspath(folder), "metadata::custom-icon",
                "file://"+os.path.abspath(os.path.join(folder, first))
                ])

Adding this to a shortcut key will set the icons for all directories inside the selected one.

Adding it to a shortcut key (!)

Adding shortcut keys, running (scripts using-) xdotool commands to press another key combination can be tricky. To prevent both key combinations to interfere with each other, use:

/bin/bash -c "sleep 1 && python3 /path/to/script.py"

Explanation

When Ctrl+C is pressed while a file is selected, the path to the file is copied to the clipboard. We are simulating the key press with:

subprocess.call(["xdotool", "key", "Control_L+c"])

python's pyperclip module simply produces the path, stripped from file:// when using pyperclip.paste() (this will not literally paste, but make the path available inside the script).

Solution 2:

If the goal is to select files and execute actions it's possible to do it using just shell script with xdotool and xclip. So first install them:

sudo apt-get install xdotool xclip

And then create the following script with the actions inside the loop:

#!/bin/bash
file=$(mktemp)

xdotool key "Control_L+c"
variable="$( xclip -out -selection clipboard)"
variable="$( echo -e "$variable" | \
            awk 'BEGIN { FS = "\n" } { printf "\"%s\" ", $1 }' | \
            sed -e s#\"\"## | \
            sed 's/" "/"\n"/g')"

echo "$variable" > $file

if [ -s "$file" ]; then
   while read absolute_path_file; do
      absolute_path_file="$(eval echo "$absolute_path_file")"
      base_name="$(basename "$absolute_path_file")"
      ### Execute the actions with the selected files here
      ### echo "$absolute_path_file"
      ### echo "$base_name"
   done < $file
fi

This script doesn't rely on the NAUTILUS variables and you can create a shortcut with it:

/bin/bash -c "sleep 1 && /path/script.bash"