8

I would like to execute the shell command "cmatrix" whenever I open a terminal. How to go about achieving this?

0

3 Answers 3

14

You can add cmatrix command in your ~/.bashrc file located at home folder:

echo 'cmatrix' >> ~/.bashrc 

NOTE: Please ensure that you use >>, the append operator. If you use >, it will replace your whole ~/.bashrc with cmatrix only.

4
  • 3
    Please make very sure that you use >> (two arrows!) and not only >. Otherwise this will replace your file and delete the old one. You could also open the file with any text editor and manually append the line.
    – Byte Commander
    Sep 29, 2015 at 11:14
  • 3
    @snoop i would safely use $gedit ~/.bashrc. Thanks for the caution :) Sep 29, 2015 at 11:32
  • 4
    Of course this is a good answer, but just to be exact, this way the command will be executed each time a bash instance is spawned by the user, so not only in gnome-terminal.
    – kos
    Sep 29, 2015 at 11:33
  • Or you can edit the .bashrc file with gedit ~/.bashrc & Sep 30, 2015 at 5:59
7

Because you tagged your question with gnome-terminal, you can also use a a custom command for your gnome-terminal profile. The advantage, the command is executed only for a specific profile and not always when the bash is started somewhere.

But first install dconf-editor. If you make a mistake in the steps below, you will need this tool

sudo apt-get install dconf-editor

Now open gnome-terminal and edit your profile settings and use this command

sh -c "cmatrix;bash"

as you can see in the screenshot below. If you don't use the bash, replace bash with your shell.

enter image description here


If you made a mistake and gnome-terminal is unusable, use use dconf-editor to correct your problem:

Start dconf-editor and navigate to the settings of GNOME terminal and change the values for custom-command and use-custom-command in the settings for your gnome-terminal profile

7
  • 1
    If the user makes a mistake, they may not be able to pull up a terminal in the first place.
    – Kevin
    Sep 29, 2015 at 13:59
  • @Kevin therefore the last part in my answer.
    – A.B.
    Sep 29, 2015 at 14:05
  • Where are they supposed to type sudo apt-get install dconf-editor?
    – Kevin
    Sep 29, 2015 at 14:05
  • @kevin good point, thank you. I have changed my answer.
    – A.B.
    Sep 29, 2015 at 14:16
  • @kevin But there is always tty1 and so on. ;)
    – A.B.
    Sep 29, 2015 at 14:19
-1

I'm using Fedora with XFCE desktop. I encountered problems when Fedora boots, by using the solution provided by @snoop, and the solution provided by @AB gave me the "Failed to execute child process (no such file or directory)" error. Searching for a solution, finally I used a script saved as ~/bin/cmatrix_launcher.sh with this content:

#!/bin/bash
cmatrix -baC cyan
/bin/bash

throwing then it as a custom command in the xfce4-terminal settings (screenshot attached)

xfce4-terminal with custom command

1
  • 1
    [ "xfce4-terminal" ] is always true.
    – muru
    Sep 13, 2017 at 9:28

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .