How to use the command st (with examples)

st is a simple terminal emulator for the X Window System. It provides a lightweight and minimalistic approach to creating and managing terminal windows. This article will illustrate various use cases of the st command.

Use case 1: Open a terminal

Code:

st

Motivation: The motivation for using this example is to open a new terminal window.

Explanation: This command opens a new terminal window using the default settings.

Example output: A new terminal window is displayed.

Use case 2: Open a terminal with a specific title

Code:

st -T title

Motivation: The motivation for using this example is to open a terminal window with a custom title.

Explanation: This command opens a new terminal window with a specific title. The “title” argument can be replaced with any desired title.

Example output: A new terminal window is displayed with the specified title in the window’s title bar.

Use case 3: Open a terminal, execute a given command, and write the output to a file

Code:

st -o path/to/file -e command argument1 argument2

Motivation: The motivation for using this example is to execute a command in a terminal window and save the output to a file.

Explanation: This command opens a new terminal window, executes the specified command with the provided arguments, and writes the output to the specified file path.

Example output: The output of the executed command is saved to the specified file.

Use case 4: Increase/decrease the font size

Code:

Ctrl + Shift + Page Up

Motivation: The motivation for using this example is to adjust the font size of the terminal window.

Explanation: Pressing Ctrl + Shift + Page Up increases the font size of the terminal window.

Example output: The font size of the terminal window is increased.

Use case 5: Copy/paste from the clipboard

Code:

Ctrl + Shift + C (to copy)
Ctrl + Shift + V (to paste)

Motivation: The motivation for using this example is to copy and paste text from the clipboard within the terminal window.

Explanation: Pressing Ctrl + Shift + C copies the selected text to the clipboard. Pressing Ctrl + Shift + V pastes the contents of the clipboard at the current cursor position.

Example output: The selected text is copied to the clipboard and can be pasted at the desired location within the terminal window.

Conclusion:

The st command provides a simple and lightweight way to create and manage terminal windows in the X Window System. With the various use cases illustrated in this article, users can fully utilize the functionality of st to enhance their terminal experience.