Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 1, 2026

Wmctrl

wmctrl is a command used to control windows in EWMH- and NetWM-compatible X Window window managers. Some of its common operations are list, resize, and close window. It also has the ability to interact with virtual desktops and give information about the window manager. wmctrl is a command-line program, however, it has some functions that allow the mouse to select a window for an operation.

Last revised
Jun 1, 2026
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wmctrl is a command used to control windows in EWMH- and NetWM-compatible X Window window managers. Some of its common operations are list, resize, and close window. It also has the ability to interact with virtual desktops and give information about the window manager. wmctrl is a command-line program, however, it has some functions that allow the mouse to select a window for an operation.1

Operations

wmctrl operations1

  • List all desktops
  • List all windows
  • Switch desktop of a window
  • Close window
  • Resize window
  • Move window
  • Set window's icon name
  • Set window title
  • Add, remove, or toggle windows properties
    • modal
    • sticky
    • maximized_vert
    • maximized_horz
    • shaded
    • skip_taskbar
    • skip_pager, hidden
    • fullscreen
    • above
    • below
  • Move window to another desktop
  • Change geometry (common size) of desktops
  • Display information about the window manager
  • Change number of desktops

Compatible window managers

Compatible, or mostly compatible, window managers2

References

References

  1. man wmctrl(1)
  2. Home page (archived 2022-11-16)
  3. Koen Vervloesem (2009-08-04). "Mutter: a window manager for GNOME 3".
External links