How To Open Terminal with Multiple Tabs and Execute an Application in Linux

In this article, we will walk you through the steps to open a terminal with multiple tabs and execute an application in each tab on a Linux system. This approach is particularly useful when you need to run multiple instances of an application or script simultaneously.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, ensure that you have the following:

1. A Linux system with a terminal emulator installed. We will use GNOME Terminal in this guide, but the steps should be similar for other terminal emulators.
2. Basic knowledge of Linux commands and shell scripting.

Understanding the Shell Script

We will use a shell script to automate the process of opening multiple tabs and executing commands. Here is the script:

#!/bin/bash

tab="--tab"
cmd="bash -c 'java RunRTSPClient';bash"
foo=""

for i in 1 2 3 4 5; do
 foo+=($tab -e "$cmd") 
done

gnome-terminal "${foo[@]}"

exit 0

Let’s break down this script:

• #!/bin/bash: This line specifies the interpreter for the script, which is bash in this case.
• tab="--tab": This line defines a variable tab that holds the --tab option for the gnome-terminal command. This option instructs gnome-terminal to open a new tab.
• cmd="bash -c 'java RunRTSPClient';bash": This line defines a variable cmd that holds the command to execute in each tab. Replace 'java RunRTSPClient' with your desired command.
• foo="": This line defines an empty array foo.
• for i in 1 2 3 4 5; do ... done: This loop runs five times, adding five elements to the foo array. Each element consists of the --tab option and the command to execute.
• gnome-terminal "${foo[@]}": This line opens a new gnome-terminal window with five tabs and executes the specified command in each tab.
• exit 0: This line ends the script.

Running the Script

To run the script, follow these steps:

1. Open a text editor and paste the script. Save the file with a .sh extension, for example, open_tabs.sh.
2. Open a terminal and navigate to the directory where you saved the script.
3. Make the script executable by running the command chmod +x open_tabs.sh.
4. Run the script with the command ./open_tabs.sh.

You should now see a new terminal window open with five tabs, each running the specified command.

Conclusion

In this guide, we showed you how to open a terminal with multiple tabs and execute a command in each tab on a Linux system. This method can be a great time-saver when you need to run multiple instances of an application or script. Remember to replace 'java RunRTSPClient' with your desired command in the script. Happy scripting!

For more information on shell scripting, check out the Bash Guide for Beginners on The Linux Documentation Project.