The script below shows how to use xinput and sed to enable and disable the trackpad and, when the script is assigned to a shortcut key, it makes it quite handy. The script uses the sed pattern “s/(.+)(id=)(.+)[(.+)/\3/" to retrieve the correct trackpad ID.
Please note that you will need the following programs installed before the script will run:
- sed
- awk
- xinput
- dunst
$$
#!/usr/bin/env bash
me=$(uname -a | awk '{print $2}')
if [[ $me == 'void-linux' ]] || [[ $me == 'CHROMEBOOK' ]] || [[ $me == 'dell' ]]; then
searcher='Touchpad'
else
searcher='bcm5974'
fi
myID=$(xinput list | grep $searcher | sed -E "s/(.+)(id=)(.+)\[(.+)/\3/")
state=$(xinput list-props $myID | grep 'Device Enabled' | sed 's/^\(.\+\)Enabled.\+\(.\+\)$/\2/')
if [[ ($state == '1') ]]; then
xinput disable $myID
dunstify "TrackPad is disabled"
else
xinput enable $myID
dunstify "TrackPad is enabled"
fi
$$