notify-send.sh

notify-send.sh is a drop-in replacement for notify-send (from libnotify) with ability to update and close existing notifications.

The dependencies are bash and gdbus (shipped with glib2).

In Debian and Ubuntu you can ensure all dependencies are installed with the following command:

$ sudo apt-get install bash libglib2.0-bin

For Arch Linux users notify-send.sh is available in AUR.

Usage

notify-send.sh has all command line options of notify-send with a few additional ones:

Usage:
  notify-send.sh [OPTION...] <SUMMARY> [BODY] - create a notification

Help Options:
  -?|--help                         Show help options

Application Options:
  -u, --urgency=LEVEL               Specifies the urgency level (low, normal, critical).
  -t, --expire-time=TIME            Specifies the timeout in milliseconds at which to expire the notification.
  -f, --force-expire                Forcefully closes the notification when the notification has expired.
  -a, --app-name=APP_NAME           Specifies the app name for the icon.
  -i, --icon=ICON[,ICON...]         Specifies an icon filename or stock icon to display.
  -c, --category=TYPE[,TYPE...]     Specifies the notification category.
  -h, --hint=TYPE:NAME:VALUE        Specifies basic extra data to pass. Valid types are int, double, string and byte.
  -o, --action=LABEL:COMMAND        Specifies an action. Can be passed multiple times. LABEL is usually a button's label. COMMAND is a shell command executed when action is invoked.
  -d, --default-action=COMMAND      Specifies the default action which is usually invoked by clicking the notification.
  -l, --close-action=COMMAND        Specifies the action invoked when notification is closed.
  -p, --print-id                    Print the notification ID to the standard output.
  -r, --replace=ID                  Replace existing notification.
  -R, --replace-file=FILE           Store and load notification replace ID to/from this file.
  -s, --close=ID                    Close notification.
  -v, --version                     Version of the package.

So, for example, to notify a user of a new email we can run:

$ notify-send.sh --icon=mail-unread --app-name=mail --hint=string:sound-name:message-new-email Subject Message

To replace or close existing message first we should know its id. To get id we have to run notify-send.sh with --print-id:

$ notify-send.sh --print-id Subject Message
10

Now we can update this notification using --replace option:

$ notify-send.sh --replace=10 --print-id "New Subject" "New Message"
10

Now we may want to close the notification:

$ notify-send.sh --close=10

Use --replace-file to make sure that no more than one notification is created per file. For example, to increase volume by 5% and show the current volume value you can run:

$ notify-send.sh --replace-file=/tmp/volumenotification "Increase Volume" "$(amixer sset Master 5%+ | awk '/[0-9]+%/ {print $2,$5}')"

You can add a button to the notification with -o or --default-action=:

$ notify-send.sh "Subject" "Message" -o "Show another notification:notify-send.sh 'new Subject' 'New Message'"

You can specify multiple actions by passing -o multiple times. Use -d or --default-action for action which is usually invoked when notification area is clicked. Use -l or --close-action for action performed when notification is closed.

$ notify-send.sh "Subject" "Message" \
    -d "notify-send.sh 'Default Action'" \
    -o "Button Action:notify-send.sh 'Button Action'" \
    -l "notify-send.sh 'Close Action'"