slop

Interactive screen region selection for X11

TLDR

Get a screen selection and output geometry

$ slop

Double click instead of click-and-drag

$ slop -D

Highlight selection instead of outline

$ slop -l

Specify output format

$ slop -f "%g"

Set selection color

$ slop -c [red],[green],[blue],[alpha]

Set border size

$ slop -b [thickness]

slop (Select Operation) queries the user for a screen region selection and outputs the geometry to stdout. Users can click and drag to create a selection rectangle, or select an existing window. The output format is configurable for integration with other tools.Common use cases include screenshot region selection, window geometry capture, and integration with screen recording tools. The output can be parsed by scripts to perform operations on the selected area.

PARAMETERS

-f, --format string

Output format using specifiers: %x, %y, %w, %h, %i (window ID), %c (cancel), %g (geometry)

-b, --bordersize float

Selection rectangle border thickness

-p, --padding float

Padding around selection (negative values shrink)

-c, --color r,g,b,a

Selection box color as RGBA floats (0.0-1.0)

-t, --tolerance float

Pixel threshold to distinguish click from drag

-D, --nodrag

Use two-click mode instead of click-and-drag

-l, --highlight

Fill selection area instead of drawing outline

-n, --nodecorations int

Window decoration removal aggressiveness (0-2)

-k, --nokeyboard

Disable keyboard cancellation

-q, --quiet

Suppress warning messages

-r, --shader string

Custom shader from ~/.config/slop

-o, --noopengl

Disable OpenGL acceleration

-x, --xdisplay display

Specify X display to use

-v, --version

Display version

-h, --help

Display help

INSTALL

sudo apt install slop

sudo dnf install slop

sudo pacman -S slop

sudo apk add slop

sudo zypper install slop

nix profile install nixpkgs#slop

CAVEATS

Requires X11; does not work on Wayland without XWayland. OpenGL acceleration requires appropriate drivers. Custom shaders must be placed in ~/.config/slop directory. Selection may include window decorations unless -n flag is used.

HISTORY

slop was created by naelstrof as a successor to the selection functionality in scrot. The tool is designed to be modular and integrate with other utilities via shell pipelines. It is commonly used alongside maim for screenshots and various screen recording tools.