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