TIP: How to Automate Screen Capture Using Bash screencapture Command

Tips & Tutorials
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1

Just coming back to this thread and wanted to double down on what @peternlewis said. For anybody wanting to automate screen capture in macOS, you really should check out screencapture

Here's the help:

usage: screencapture [-icMPmwsWxSCUtoa] [files]
  -c         force screen capture to go to the clipboard
  -b         capture Touch Bar - non-interactive modes only
  -C         capture the cursor as well as the screen. only in non-interactive modes
  -d         display errors to the user graphically
  -i         capture screen interactively, by selection or window
               control key - causes screen shot to go to clipboard
               space key   - toggle between mouse selection and
                             window selection modes
               escape key  - cancels interactive screen shot
  -m         only capture the main monitor, undefined if -i is set
  -D<display> screen capture or record from the display specified. -D 1 is main display, -D 2 secondary, etc.
  -o         in window capture mode, do not capture the shadow of the window
  -p         screen capture will use the default settings for capture. The files argument will be ignored
  -M         screen capture output will go to a new Mail message
  -P         screen capture output will open in Preview or QuickTime Player if video
  -I         screen capture output will open in Messages
  -B<bundleid> screen capture output will open in app with bundleid
  -s         only allow mouse selection mode
  -S         in window capture mode, capture the screen not the window
  -J<style>  sets the starting of interfactive capture
               selection       - captures screen in selection mode
               window          - captures screen in window mode
               video           - records screen in selection mode
  -t<format> image format to create, default is png (other options include pdf, jpg, tiff and other formats)
  -T<seconds> take the picture after a delay of <seconds>, default is 5
  -w         only allow window selection mode
  -W         start interaction in window selection mode
  -x         do not play sounds
  -a         do not include windows attached to selected windows
  -r         do not add dpi meta data to image
  -l<windowid> capture this windowsid
  -R<x,y,w,h> capture screen rect
  -v        capture video recording of the screen
  -V<seconds> limits video capture to specified seconds
  -A<id>    captures audio during a video recording using default input. Optional specify the id of the audio source
  -k        show clicks in video recording mode
  -U        Show interactive toolbar in interactive mode
  -u        present UI after screencapture is complete. files passed to command line will be ignored
  files   where to save the screen capture, 1 file per screen
2 Likes
2

Thanks for sharing this. I have moved it to the "Tips" section so that it will be easier to find.

3

Thanks fot sharing

4

Thanks again for sharing this. Do you know of a way to allow the user to draw a rectangle, like with screencapture, but then just output the rectangle coordinates instead of an image?

1 Like