Take a screenshot via a Python script on Linux

Question

I want to take a screenshot via a python script and unobtrusively save it.

I\'m only interested in the Linux solution, and should support any X based environment.

Answer 1

Cross platform solution using wxPython:

import wx
wx.App()  # Need to create an App instance before doing anything
screen = wx.ScreenDC()
size = screen.GetSize()
bmp = wx.EmptyBitmap(size[0], size[1])
mem = wx.MemoryDC(bmp)
mem.Blit(0, 0, size[0], size[1], screen, 0, 0)
del mem  # Release bitmap
bmp.SaveFile('screenshot.png', wx.BITMAP_TYPE_PNG)

Answer 2

It's an old question. I would like to answer it using new tools.

Works with python 3 (should work with python 2, but I haven't test it) and PyQt5.

Minimal working example. Copy it to the python shell and get the result.

from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication
app = QApplication([])
screen = app.primaryScreen()
screenshot = screen.grabWindow(QApplication.desktop().winId())
screenshot.save('/tmp/screenshot.png')

Answer 3

From this thread:

 import os
 os.system("import -window root temp.png")