[#]: subject: "Send desktop notifications and reminders from Linux terminal" [#]: via: "https://opensource.com/article/22/1/linux-desktop-notifications" [#]: author: "Tomasz Waraksa https://opensource.com/users/tomasz" [#]: collector: "lujun9972" [#]: translator: " " [#]: reviewer: " " [#]: publisher: " " [#]: url: " " Send desktop notifications and reminders from Linux terminal ====== This Linux tutorial demonstrates how to use script commands to send yourself desktop notifications and reminders. ![Person using a laptop][1] Sometimes it's useful to get visual feedback from a script. For example, when a script or cron job completes, a long-running build fails, or there is an urgent problem during script execution. Desktop applications can do this with popup notifications, but it can be done from a script too! You can use script commands to send yourself desktop notifications and reminders. ![Example notification][2] (Tomasz Waraksa, CC BY-SA 4.0) The below code has been written and tested on Linux. It can also be done on macOS with a bit of effort. See the last section for some [hints and tips][3]. ### Sending notifications from the Linux terminal To send notifications from the Linux terminal, use the [`notify-send`][4] command. Run `which ``notify-send` to see if it's present on your system. If not, install it with your package manager of choice. On Fedora, type: ``` `$ sudo dnf install notify-send` ``` On Debian-based distributions, type: ``` `$ sudo apt install notify-send` ``` A few examples of simple notifications: ``` $ notify-send "Dinner ready!" $ notify-send "Tip of the Day" "How about a nap?" ``` You can customize the notification with options such as urgency level, custom icon, etc. Find out more with `man notify-send`. You can use a small set of HTML tags in the notification body to give your messages a nice touch. On top of that, URLs are rendered as clickable. For example: ``` $ notify-send -u critical \   "Build failed!" \   "There were <b>123</b> errors. Click here to see the results: " ``` ![Build fail notification][5] (Tomasz Waraksa, CC BY-SA 4.0) Sent notifications are picked up by the desktop environment and displayed just like any other notification. They will have the same consistent look, feel, and behavior. ### Combine notify-send with at Cron is commonly used to schedule commands at regular intervals. The `at` command schedules the single execution of a command at a specified time. If you run it like this, it starts in interactive mode, where you can enter commands to execute at a given time: ``` `$ at 12:00` ``` This isn't useful for scripts. Luckily, `at` accepts parameters from standard input so that we can use it this way: ``` $ echo "npm run build" | at now + 1 minute $ echo "backup-db" | at 13:00 ``` There are many ways of specifying time. From absolute time, such as `10:00` through relative time, such as `now + 2 hours`, to special times such as `noon` or `midnight`. We can combine it with `notify-send` to show ourselves reminders at some time in the future. For example: ``` `$ echo "notify-send 'Stop it and go home now?' 'Enough work for today.' -u critical" | at now` ``` ![Stop for the day notification][6] (Tomasz Waraksa, CC BY-SA 4.0) ### The remind command Now, build a custom Bash command for sending yourself reminders. How about something as simple and human-friendly as: ``` $ remind "I'm still here" now $ remind "Time to wake up!" in 5 minutes $ remind "Dinner" in 1 hour $ remind "Take a break" at noon $ remind "It's Friday pints time!" at 17:00 ``` This is better than Alexa! How to get this goodness? See the code below. It defines a shell function called **remind**, which supports the above syntax. The actual work is done in the last two lines. The rest is responsible for help, parameter validation, etc., which roughly matches the proportion of useful code vs. necessary white-noise in any large application. Save the code somewhere, for example, in the `~/bin/remind` file, and source the function in your `.bashrc` profile so that it's loaded when you log in: ``` `$ source ~/bin/remind` ``` Reload the terminal, then type remind to see the syntax. Enjoy! ``` #!/usr/bin/env bash function remind () {   local COUNT="$#"   local COMMAND="$1"   local MESSAGE="$1"   local OP="$2"   shift 2   local WHEN="$@"   # Display help if no parameters or help command   if [[ $COUNT -eq 0 || "$COMMAND" == "help" || "$COMMAND" == "--help" || "$COMMAND" == "-h" ]]; then     echo "COMMAND"     echo "    remind <message> <time>"     echo "    remind <command>"     echo     echo "DESCRIPTION"     echo "    Displays notification at specified time"     echo     echo "EXAMPLES"     echo '    remind "Hi there" now'     echo '    remind "Time to wake up" in 5 minutes'     echo '    remind "Dinner" in 1 hour'     echo '    remind "Take a break" at noon'     echo '    remind "Are you ready?" at 13:00'     echo '    remind list'     echo '    remind clear'     echo '    remind help'     echo     return   fi   # Check presence of AT command   if ! which at >/dev/null; then     echo "remind: AT utility is required but not installed on your system. Install it with your package manager of choice, for example 'sudo apt install at'."     return   fi   # Run commands: list, clear   if [[ $COUNT -eq 1 ]]; then     if [[ "$COMMAND" == "list" ]]; then       at -l     elif [[ "$COMMAND" == "clear" ]]; then       at -r $(atq | cut -f1)     else       echo "remind: unknown command $COMMAND. Type 'remind' without any parameters to see syntax."     fi     return   fi   # Determine time of notification   if [[ "$OP" == "in" ]]; then     local TIME="now + $WHEN"   elif [[ "$OP" == "at" ]]; then     local TIME="$WHEN"   elif [[ "$OP" == "now" ]]; then     local TIME="now"   else     echo "remind: invalid time operator $OP"     return   fi   # Schedule the notification   echo "notify-send '$MESSAGE' 'Reminder' -u critical" | at $TIME 2>/dev/null   echo "Notification scheduled at $TIME" } ``` ### Easy notifications With these few simple open source commands, you can integrate your own scripts, applications, and tasks with your desktop. Try it out! * * * _This article has been adapted with the author's permission from the original article, found [here][7]._ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- via: https://opensource.com/article/22/1/linux-desktop-notifications 作者：[Tomasz Waraksa][a] 选题：[lujun9972][b] 译者：[译者ID](https://github.com/译者ID) 校对：[校对者ID](https://github.com/校对者ID) 本文由 [LCTT](https://github.com/LCTT/TranslateProject) 原创编译，[Linux中国](https://linux.cn/) 荣誉推出 [a]: https://opensource.com/users/tomasz [b]: https://github.com/lujun9972 [1]: https://opensource.com/sites/default/files/styles/image-full-size/public/lead-images/laptop_screen_desk_work_chat_text.png?itok=UXqIDRDD (Person using a laptop) [2]: https://opensource.com/sites/default/files/buyeggs.png (Example notification) [3]: https://opensource.com/article/22/1/linux-desktop-notifications/#script-notifications-on-macOS [4]: https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/xenial/man1/notify-send.1.html [5]: https://opensource.com/sites/default/files/buildfail.png (Build fail notification) [6]: https://opensource.com/sites/default/files/stop-it.png (Stop for the day notification) [7]: https://letsdebug.it/post/30-linux-desktop-notifications/