How can I quickly toggle monitor orientation with a shortcut key?

Question

While looking if someone asked this question before, I landed on this for Windows.

I'd like to do something similar (shortcut or terminal alias/command) on Linux/Ubuntu to be able to quickly switch the external monitor between landscape and portrait mode instead of having to go to Displays setting it and confirming the configuration.

Jacob Vlijm provided a Python script which works. If you have another idea I'd love to know about it.

Update: I have updated Jacob's script to work for two screens if they are connected.

Answer 1

The script below is to toggle rotation of either one of your screens:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess

# --- set the name of the screen and the rotate direction below
screen = "VGA-1"
rotate = "left"
# ---

matchline = [
    l.split() for l in subprocess.check_output(["xrandr"]).decode("utf-8").splitlines()\
    if l.startswith(screen)
    ][0]
s = matchline[
    matchline.index([s for s in matchline if s.count("+") == 2][0])+1
    ]

rotate = "normal" if s == rotate else rotate
subprocess.call(["xrandr", "--output", screen, "--rotate", rotate])

How to use

1. Copy the script into an empty file, save it as toggle-rotate.py

2. In the head section of the script, set:

   • the name of the screen you'd like to toggle (find out by running in a terminal the command xrandr)

   • the rotate direction, either left or right (between quotes, like in the example).

     # --- set the name of the screen and the rotate direction below
     screen = "VGA-1"
     rotate = "left"
     # ---
     

3. Test- run it by the command (two times, from a terminal):

   python3 /path/to/toggle-rotate.py
   

4. If all works fine, add it to a shortcut key. Choose: System Settings > "Keyboard" > "Shortcuts" > "Custom Shortcuts". Click the "+" and add the command:

   python3 /path/to/toggle-rotate.py
   

   to a shortcut of your choice...

That's it.

Explanation

In the output of the command xrandr, the current rotation of your screen (if any) is mentioned directly after the screen's position, for example:

VGA-1 connected 1024x1280+1680+0 left (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 376mm x 301mm

In the example, we see: 1024x1280+1680+0 left. The script looks into the line, corresponding to the screen, mentioned in the head of the script. if the screen is rotated, the script runs the (xrandr) command:

xrandr --output <screen_name> --rotate normal

if not, it runs (for example):

xrandr --output <screen_name> --rotate left

To rotate the screen counter-clockwise

Answer 2

I have been using Jacob's script. However I am now using an adapter so I want to be able to toggle the orientation whether the monitor is connected to HDMI or through the adapter. For this I modified Javob's script and borrowed another function he wrote:

import subprocess

def screens():
    '''
    get connected screens
    '''
    output = [l for l in subprocess.check_output(["xrandr"]).decode("utf-8").splitlines()]
    return [l.split()[0] for l in output if " connected " in l]

# --- set the name of the screen and the rotate direction below
# screen = "HDMI-1" # run "xrandr" to get the screen
rotate = "left" # the desired orientation

if "HDMI-1" in screens():
    screen = "HDMI-1"
elif "DP-1" in screens():
    screen = "DP-1"
else:
    pass
# ---

# only run if screen is declared (i.e. either HDMI-1 or DP-1 are connected)
if screen:

    matchline = [
        l.split() for l in subprocess.check_output(["xrandr"]).decode("utf-8").splitlines()\
        if l.startswith(screen)
        ][0]
    s = matchline[
        matchline.index([s for s in matchline if s.count("+") == 2][0])+1
        ]

    rotate = "normal" if s == rotate else rotate
    subprocess.call(["xrandr", "--output", screen, "--rotate", rotate])