Linux screen resolution script

TL;DR

Change Ubuntu desktop resolution using xandr.

1. Create a script to change resolution

#!/bin/bash
xrandr --output eDP-1-1 --mode $(basename $0)

2. Create "hard" symlinks with resolution as file names

# Make `resolution.sh` executable
# Create hard symlinks on the desktop
chmod +x ./resolution.sh
ln ./resolution.sh ~/Desktop/1920x1080
ln ./resolution.sh ~/Desktop/1280x720

Introduction

During the pandemic, I started playing CS:GO (Counter Strike: Global Offensive) a lot.

When the desktop resolution doesn't match the game resolution, the game looks blurry.
I play at 720p while the desktop is 1080p.

Changing resolution via Nautilus has its annoyance because it displays so many resolution options.

So I decided to write a bash script to change the resolution
with a click of a button.

Scripts

Initially I created two scripts

File Name: 1280x720

#!/bin/bash
xrandr --output eDP-1-1 --mode 1280x720

File Name: 1920x1080

#!/bin/bash
xrandr --output eDP-1-1 --mode 1920x1080

It worked great.
But in Coding Blocks slack channel (#Linux), Dave Follett gave me a tip that I can "abstract" the resolution by reading the file name as the resolution.

And why not?

Abstracting the script

Dave taught me that $0 expands the name of the shell/script and to extract the resolution (file name), I could use basename.

So basically for a file on Desktop, ~/Desktop/1280x720, $0 returns /home/dance2die/Desktop/1280x720 while basename $0 will remove the directory, returning 1280x720.

Then the result 1280x720 is passed to xrandr.

Implementation

This means, I need to create 3 files; One main script, two hard symlinks.

Mainscript: ~/scripts/resolution.sh

#!/bin/bash
xrandr --output eDP-1-1 --mode $(basename $0)

And then create two hard symlinks.

# Make `resolution.sh` executable
chmod +x ./resolution.sh
# Create hard symlinks on the desktop
ln ./resolution.sh ~/Desktop/1920x1080
ln ./resolution.sh ~/Desktop/1280x720

Image by Pexels from Pixabay