i3 FAQ - Individual question feedhttps://faq.i3wm.org/questions/Frequently asked questions and answers about the i3 window managerenCopyright i3, 2012Wed, 25 Sep 2013 17:47:01 +0000command chaining in i3-input?https://faq.i3wm.org/question/2581/command-chaining-in-i3-input/I want to bind a key to query for input and perform a "complex" action based on that. Specifically, I want to both mark a window with a user-specified name AND send it to the scratchpad. I tried both of the following options, and both did not work as intended: bindsym $mod+Shift+minus exec --no-startup-id i3-input -P 'Mark window as:' -F "mark %s"; move to scratchpad The problem with the above is that it sends the focused window the the scratchpad, and then marks the *remaining*, newly-focused window with the provided name. For some reason it does not wait for i3-input to return prior to performing the next action in the chain I also tried: bindsym $mod+Shift+minus exec --no-startup-id i3-input -P 'Mark window as:' -F "mark %s; move to scratchpad" Here i3 does not parse the line well, as it is confused by the ; inside the quotes. Any tips on how to resolve this? Wed, 25 Sep 2013 17:36:27 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/2581/command-chaining-in-i3-input/Answer by Michael for <p>I want to bind a key to query for input and perform a "complex" action based on that. Specifically, I want to both mark a window with a user-specified name AND send it to the scratchpad.</p> <p>I tried both of the following options, and both did not work as intended:</p> <pre><code>bindsym $mod+Shift+minus exec --no-startup-id i3-input -P 'Mark window as:' -F "mark %s"; move to scratchpad </code></pre> <p>The problem with the above is that it sends the focused window the the scratchpad, and then marks the <em>remaining</em>, newly-focused window with the provided name. For some reason it does not wait for i3-input to return prior to performing the next action in the chain</p> <p>I also tried:</p> <pre><code>bindsym $mod+Shift+minus exec --no-startup-id i3-input -P 'Mark window as:' -F "mark %s; move to scratchpad" </code></pre> <p>Here i3 does not parse the line well, as it is confused by the ; inside the quotes.</p> <p>Any tips on how to resolve this?</p> https://faq.i3wm.org/question/2581/command-chaining-in-i3-input/?answer=2582#post-id-2582You need to quote the exec argument so that the parser skips the semicolon: bindsym $mod+Shift+minus exec --no-startup-id "i3-input -P 'Mark window as:' -F 'mark %s; move to scratchpad'" Wed, 25 Sep 2013 17:42:31 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/2581/command-chaining-in-i3-input/?answer=2582#post-id-2582Comment by yoav for <p>You need to quote the exec argument so that the parser skips the semicolon:</p> <pre><code>bindsym $mod+Shift+minus exec --no-startup-id "i3-input -P 'Mark window as:' -F 'mark %s; move to scratchpad'" </code></pre> https://faq.i3wm.org/question/2581/command-chaining-in-i3-input/?comment=2583#comment-2583Great, thanks, working perfectly now! (and also thanks for this really cool wm!)Wed, 25 Sep 2013 17:47:01 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/2581/command-chaining-in-i3-input/?comment=2583#comment-2583