Ttyjfyk

I'm trying to create some scripts using xev and xdotool to allow me to record and re-play macros in linux. I've got the recording working with xev, and the replaying mostly works but appears to leave my X session in a weird state. I've got a macro file like this:

keydown e
keyup e
keydown c
keydown h
keyup c
keydown o
keyup h
keyup o
keydown space
keyup space
keydown apostrophe
keyup apostrophe
keydown h
keydown i
keyup h
keyup i
keydown apostrophe
keyup apostrophe

and I'm trying to use it with cat macro.txt | xargs xdotool. This types out my text in the terminal, but after it finishes, most of my keys don't work anymore; they either print out control characters, or they just don't do anything. I've had to restart my computer a couple times to get it re-set. Any idea how I can avoid this or what is going on? Or even what a good linux macro tool might be?

I made my own custom macro using Linux Mint's Keyboard Shortcuts and adding a custom shortcut. I managed to get it to work by using --clearmodifiers, like so:

xdotool key --clearmodifiers Up

See if that helps.

Also, here's what the manual says on it:

CLEARMODIFIERS
Any command taking the --clearmodifiers flag will attempt to clear any active input modifiers during the command and restore them
afterwards.

 For example, if you were to run this command:
 xdotool key a

 The result would be 'a' or 'A' depending on whether or not you were holding the shift key on your keyboard. Often it is undesirable to have any modifiers active, so you can tell xdotool to clear any active modifiers.

 The order of operations if you hold shift while running 'xdotool key --clearmodifiers a' is this:

 1. Query for all active modifiers (finds shift, in this case)
 2. Try to clear shift by sending 'key up' for the shift key
 3. Runs normal 'xdotool key a'
 4. Restore shift key by sending 'key down' for shift

 The --clearmodifiers flag can currently clear of the following:

 · any key in your active keymap that has a modifier associated with it. (See xmodmap(1)'s 'xmodmap -pm' output)

 · mouse buttons (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5)

 · caps lock