Scrot+qrdecode

bgstack15 — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 13:14:00 GMT

I forget which small use case I had, but I wanted to view the contents of a qr code. I don't really understand why I would be browsing a website, that wants me to open it up on a mobile browser to continue down an action path. I suppose it's because website/app authors can control a lot more, and read a lot more private info about the user, from a mobile device.

Well, here is my solution for Super+Shift+Q to let me select a region of the screen and pass it to a qr decoder.

files/2026/listings/scrot-qrdecode.sh (Source)

	`#!/bin/sh`
	`# File: scrot-qrdecode.sh`
	`# Location: https://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog`
	`# Author: bgstack15`
	`# SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only`
	`# Startdate: 2026-03-24-3 14:06`
	`# Title: Decode qr Code from Screen`
	`# Purpose: Grab rectangle from screen, and then display the decoded qr code contents, and offer to put in the clipboard.`
	`# Project: scrot-qrdecode`
	`# Usage:`
	`# A keyboard shortcut, e.g., in ~/.fluxbox/keys`
	`# Mod4 Shift Q :Exec scrot-qrdecode.sh`
	# To generate a qr code that can be scanned with this, run `qrencode "hello dolly" -t utf8 -o -`
	`# References:`
	`# man: zbarimg, scrot, parcellite, xclip`
	`# https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=190572`
	`# Improve:`
	`# Alternatives:`
	`# xmessage: zenity or yad`
	`# Dependencies:`
	`# xclip, parcellite, xmessage, scrot zbarimg`

	`result="$( scrot -s -l 'style=dash,width=1' - \| zbarimg -S test-inverted - )"`
	`# -e 'xclip -selection clipboard -t image/png -i $f'`

	`xmessage -nearmouse -buttons "OK:1,Copy to clipboard:2" "${result}"`
	`ec=$?`
	`if test "${ec}" = "2" ;`
	`then`
	`result="$( printf '%s' "${result}" \| sed -r -e "s/^QR-Code://;" )"`
	`# Overkill, because xclip should count. But just to be sure, do it to parcellite directly.`
	`echo "${result}" \| xclip -selection clipboard -t text/plain -in`
	`echo "${result}" \| parcellite`
	`fi`

Here is a qrcode.

Knowledge Base (Posts about qrcode)

Scrot+qrdecode