Ubuntu
nautilus package

"open command window here" - Is there an Ubuntu equivalent?

Asked by LEGOManiac

In Windows XP, there is a Microsoft PowerToy available called "Open Command Window Here".

It allows you to use the usual GUI to browse a file system to locate a folder of interest, then right click on the window's title bar to select the context menu and select "Open Command Window Here" from the list. A console window is then opened with it's iniital directory set the folder you were browsing.

I always found this terribly useful but I don't see it in Ubuntu. Is there a way I can add it?

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu nautilus Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Bill Sullivan
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Jon Charge (seropith) said : 		#1

What version Ubuntu are you using. Also, do you use the Gnome or KDE window manager?

Revision history for this message
marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#2

Might be nautilus scripts are what you need from terminal

There are ready made deb packages into repositories, to find them:

aptitude search nautilus

Here the "Open Terminal Here" is what you are looking for http://g-scripts.sourceforge.net/cat-executing.php ...?

Hope this helps

Revision history for this message
juancarlospaco (juancarlospaco) said : 		#3

apt:/nautilus-open-terminal

nautilus-open-terminal is a proof-of-concept Nautilus extension
which allows you to open a terminal in arbitrary local folders.

Revision history for this message
LEGOManiac (bzflaglegomaniac) said : 		#4

I'm using Ubuntu 8.10 with the Gnome desktop.

I've installed the Nautilus-open-terminal but I can't see it anywhere in the Applications menus. I gather Nautilus is a file manager, which isn't really what I was looking for anyway but even so, I can't find it (and yes, the main Nautilus program is installed as well). I don't know how to start it.

What I really want is a simple extension to the desktop's context menu, unless the desktop is, in fact, Nautilus (in the same sense that the desktop in Windows is called "explorer"). If it is the same thing, I'm still not getting anything that implies "open command window here" when I right click on a folder icon or within an open folder window.

Maybe I just don't know how to use it.

Revision history for this message
Best Bill Sullivan (enkrates) said : 		#5

"What I really want is a simple extension to the desktop's context menu, unless the desktop is, in fact, Nautilus (in the same sense that the desktop in Windows is called "explorer")."

Yes, this is exactly how it works. Nautilus is the equivalent of "explorer" and you'll use it to get around the filesystem. It also is what the "Desktop" is, behind the scenes. If you have already installed "nautilus-open-terminal" and you don't see "Open in Terminal" in your context menu, try the command below in Terminal (which is the Ubuntu equivalent of a "command window", I believe, and you can find it under "Applications>Accessories"):

sudo killall nautilus

That will require you to use your password ("sudo" basically allows you to execute commands as the root user and requires your password) and what it does is restarts your nautilus program and reloads any extensions (which is what "nautilus-open-terminal" is).

"Open in Terminal" is toward the bottom of the context menu. Also, you will see the option when you right-click directly on the folder you'd like to open in Terminal. In your original questions you wrote:

"then right click on the window's title bar to select the context menu"

and I'm not sure what the "window's title bar" is exactly, so I wanted to be clear that you should be right clicking on the folder directly.

Let us know how it turns out and we're happy to keep helping if this doesn't straighten things out for you.

Revision history for this message
LEGOManiac (bzflaglegomaniac) said : 		#6

Thanks Bill and Juancarlospaco, that's exactly what I needed.

Bill: I appreciate your detailed explanation of what it is and how to use it. It's perfect for us newbies. I couldn't have applied Juan's solution without it. Thank you.

Revision history for this message
LEGOManiac (bzflaglegomaniac) said : 		#7

Thanks Bill Sullivan, that solved my question.