docs » hs.console

Some functions for manipulating the Hammerspoon console.

These functions allow altering the behavior and display of the Hammerspoon console. They should be considered experimental, but have worked well for me.

API Overview

API Documentation

Deprecateds

asHSDrawing
Signature hs.console.asHSDrawing() -> hs.drawing object
Type Deprecated
Description Because use of this function can easily lead to a crash, useful methods from `hs.drawing` have been added to the `hs.console` module itself. If you believe that a useful method has been overlooked, please submit an issue.
Source extensions/console/init.lua
asHSWindow
Signature hs.console.asHSWindow() -> hs.window object
Type Deprecated
Description Returns an hs.window object for the console so that you can use hs.window methods on it.
Source extensions/console/init.lua

Constants

defaultToolbar
Signature hs.console.defaultToolbar
Type Constant
Description Default toolbar for the Console window
Notes
Source extensions/_coresetup/init.lua

Functions

alpha
Signature hs.console.alpha([alpha]) -> currentValue
Type Function
Description Get or set the alpha level of the console window.
Parameters
  • alpha - an optional number between 0.0 and 1.0 specifying the new alpha level for the Hammerspoon console.
Returns
  • the current, possibly new, value.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
behaviorAsLabels
Signature hs.console.behaviorAsLabels(behaviorTable) -> currentValue
Type Function
Description Get or set the window behavior settings for the console using labels defined in `hs.drawing.windowBehaviors`.
Parameters
  • behaviorTable - an optional table of strings and/or numbers specifying the desired window behavior for the Hammerspoon console.
Returns
  • the current (possibly new) value.
Notes
  • Window behaviors determine how the console is handled by Spaces and Exposé. See hs.drawing.windowBehaviors for more information.
Source extensions/console/init.lua
clearConsole
Signature hs.console.clearConsole() -> nil
Type Function
Description Clear the Hammerspoon console output window.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • None
Notes
  • This is equivalent to hs.console.setConsole()
Source extensions/console/init.lua
consoleCommandColor
Signature hs.console.consoleCommandColor([color]) -> color
Type Function
Description Get or set the color that commands displayed in the Hammerspoon console are displayed with.
Parameters
  • color - an optional table containing color keys as described in hs.drawing.color
Returns
  • the current color setting as a table
Notes
  • See the hs.drawing.color entry in the Dash documentation, or type help.hs.drawing.color in the Hammerspoon console to get more information on how to specify a color.
  • Note this only affects future output -- anything already in the console will remain its current color.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
consoleFont
Signature hs.console.consoleFont([font]) -> fontTable
Type Function
Description Get or set the font used in the Hammerspoon console.
Parameters
  • font - an optional string or table describing the font to use in the console. If a string is specified, then the default system font size will be used. If a table is specified, it should contain a name key-value pair and a size key-value pair describing the font to be used.
Returns
  • the current font setting as a table containing a name key and a size key.
Notes
  • See the hs.drawing.color entry in the Dash documentation, or type help.hs.drawing.color in the Hammerspoon console to get more information on how to specify a color.
  • Note this only affects future output -- anything already in the console will remain its current font.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
consolePrintColor
Signature hs.console.consolePrintColor([color]) -> color
Type Function
Description Get or set the color that regular output displayed in the Hammerspoon console is displayed with.
Parameters
  • color - an optional table containing color keys as described in hs.drawing.color
Returns
  • the current color setting as a table
Notes
  • See the hs.drawing.color entry in the Dash documentation, or type help.hs.drawing.color in the Hammerspoon console to get more information on how to specify a color.
  • Note this only affects future output -- anything already in the console will remain its current color.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
consoleResultColor
Signature hs.console.consoleResultColor([color]) -> color
Type Function
Description Get or set the color that function results displayed in the Hammerspoon console are displayed with.
Parameters
  • color - an optional table containing color keys as described in hs.drawing.color
Returns
  • the current color setting as a table
Notes
  • See the hs.drawing.color entry in the Dash documentation, or type help.hs.drawing.color in the Hammerspoon console to get more information on how to specify a color.
  • Note this only affects future output -- anything already in the console will remain its current color.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
darkMode
Signature hs.console.darkMode([state]) -> bool
Type Function
Description Set or display whether or not the Console window should display in dark mode.
Parameters
  • state - an optional boolean which will set whether or not the Console window should display in dark mode.
Returns
  • A boolean, true if dark mode is enabled otherwise false.
Notes
  • Enabling Dark Mode for the Console only affects the window background, and doesn't automatically change the Console's Background Color, so you will need to add something similar to:
    if hs.console.darkMode() then
    hs.console.outputBackgroundColor{ white = 0 }
    hs.console.consoleCommandColor{ white = 1 }
    hs.console.alpha(.8)
end
.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
getConsole
Signature hs.console.getConsole([styled]) -> text | styledText
Type Function
Description Get the text of the Hammerspoon console output window.
Parameters
  • styled - an optional boolean indicating whether the console text is returned as a string or a styledText object. Defaults to false.
Returns
  • The text currently in the Hammerspoon console output window as either a string or an hs.styledtext object.
Notes
  • If the text of the console is retrieved as a string, no color or style information in the console output is retrieved - only the raw text.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
getHistory
Signature hs.console.getHistory() -> array
Type Function
Description Get the Hammerspoon console history as an array.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • an array containing the history of commands entered into the Hammerspoon console.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
hswindow
Signature hs.console.hswindow() -> hs.window object
Type Function
Description Get an hs.window object which represents the Hammerspoon console window
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • an hs.window object
Source extensions/console/internal.m
inputBackgroundColor
Signature hs.console.inputBackgroundColor([color]) -> color
Type Function
Description Get or set the color for the background of the Hammerspoon Console's input field.
Parameters
  • color - an optional table containing color keys as described in hs.drawing.color
Returns
  • the current color setting as a table
Notes
  • See the hs.drawing.color entry in the Dash documentation, or type help.hs.drawing.color in the Hammerspoon console to get more information on how to specify a color.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
level
Signature hs.console.level([theLevel]) -> currentValue
Type Function
Description Get or set the console window level
Parameters
  • theLevel - an optional parameter specifying the desired level as an integer, which can be obtained from hs.drawing.windowLevels.
Returns
  • the current, possibly new, value
Notes
  • see the notes for hs.drawing.windowLevels
Source extensions/console/internal.m
outputBackgroundColor
Signature hs.console.outputBackgroundColor([color]) -> color
Type Function
Description Get or set the color for the background of the Hammerspoon Console's output view.
Parameters
  • color - an optional table containing color keys as described in hs.drawing.color
Returns
  • the current color setting as a table
Notes
  • See the hs.drawing.color entry in the Dash documentation, or type help.hs.drawing.color in the Hammerspoon console to get more information on how to specify a color.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
printStyledtext
Signature hs.console.printStyledtext(...) -> none
Type Function
Description A print function which recognizes `hs.styledtext` objects and renders them as such in the Hammerspoon console.
Parameters
  • Any number of arguments can be specified, just like the builtin Lua print command. If an argument matches the userdata type of hs.styledtext, the text is rendered as defined by its style attributes in the Hammerspoon console; otherwise it is rendered as it would be via the traditional print command within Hammerspoon.
Returns
  • None
Notes
  • This has been made as close to the Lua print command as possible. You can replace the existing print command with this by adding the following to your init.lua file:
Source extensions/console/internal.m
setConsole
Signature hs.console.setConsole([styledText]) -> none
Type Function
Description Clear the Hammerspoon console output window.
Parameters
  • styledText - an optional hs.styledtext object containing the text you wish to replace the Hammerspoon console output with. If you do not provide an argument, the console is cleared of all content.
Returns
  • None
Notes
  • You can specify the console content as a string or as an hs.styledtext object in either userdata or table format.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
setHistory
Signature hs.console.setHistory(array) -> nil
Type Function
Description Set the Hammerspoon console history to the items specified in the given array.
Parameters
  • array - the list of commands to set the Hammerspoon console history to.
Returns
  • None
Notes
  • You can clear the console history by using an empty array (e.g. hs.console.setHistory({})
Source extensions/console/internal.m
smartInsertDeleteEnabled
Signature hs.console.smartInsertDeleteEnabled([flag]) -> bool
Type Function
Description Determine whether or not objects copied from the console window insert or delete space around selected words to preserve proper spacing and punctuation.
Parameters
  • flag - an optional boolean value indicating whether or not "smart" space behavior is enabled when copying from the Hammerspoon console.
Returns
  • the current value
Notes
  • this only applies to future copy operations from the Hammerspoon console -- anything already in the clipboard is not affected.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
titleVisibility
Signature hs.console.titleVisibility([state]) -> current value
Type Function
Description Get or set whether or not the "Hammerspoon Console" text appears in the Hammerspoon console titlebar.
Parameters
  • state - an optional string containing the text "visible" or "hidden", specifying whether or not the console window's title text appears.
Returns
  • a string of "visible" or "hidden" specifying the current (possibly changed) state of the window title's visibility.
Notes
  • When a toolbar is attached to the Hammerspoon console (see the hs.webview.toolbar module documentation), this function can be used to specify whether the Toolbar appears underneath the console window's title ("visible") or in the window's title bar itself, as seen in applications like Safari ("hidden"). When the title is hidden, the toolbar will only display the toolbar items as icons without labels, and ignores changes made with hs.webview.toolbar:displayMode.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
windowBackgroundColor
Signature hs.console.windowBackgroundColor([color]) -> color
Type Function
Description Get or set the color for the background of the Hammerspoon Console's window.
Parameters
  • color - an optional table containing color keys as described in hs.drawing.color
Returns
  • the current color setting as a table
Notes
  • See the hs.drawing.color entry in the Dash documentation, or type help.hs.drawing.color in the Hammerspoon console to get more information on how to specify a color.
Source extensions/console/internal.m

Methods

behavior
Signature hs.console.behavior([behavior]) -> currentValue
Type Method
Description Get or set the window behavior settings for the console.
Parameters
  • behavior - an optional number representing the desired window behaviors for the Hammerspoon console.
Returns
  • the current, possibly new, value.
Notes
  • Window behaviors determine how the webview object is handled by Spaces and Exposé. See hs.drawing.windowBehaviors for more information.
Source extensions/console/internal.m
toolbar
Signature hs.console.toolbar([toolbar]) -> toolbarObject | currentValue
Type Method
Description Get or attach/detach a toolbar to/from the Hammerspoon console.
Parameters
  • toolbar - if an hs.webview.toolbar object is specified, it will be attached to the Hammerspoon console. If an explicit nil is specified, the current toolbar will be removed from the console.
Returns
  • if a toolbarObject or explicit nil is specified, returns the toolbarObject; otherwise returns the current toolbarObject or nil, if no toolbar is attached to the console.
Notes
  • this method is a convenience wrapper for the hs.webview.toolbar.attachToolbar function.
Source extensions/console/init.lua