slop

slrn

slrn (Select Region) 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.

features

• Hovering over a window will cause a selection rectangle to appear over it.
• Clicking on a window makes slrn 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, x display, padding, click tolerance, etc. )

practical applications

slrn can be used to create a video recording script in only two lines of code.

#!/bin/bash
eval `slrn`
ffmpeg -f x11grab -s "$W"x"$H" -i :0.0+$X,$Y -f alsa -i pulse ~/myfile.webm

slrn 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.