I have the following scripts in my $PATH: matlab-ctrl.py #!/usr/bin/python2 from subprocess import call from subprocess import check_output import sys wcmd = ["xdotool","search","--name","MatlabT"] w = check_output(wcmd) w = w.replace(' ','') if len(sys.argv) > 1: s = sys.argv[1] cmd = ["xdotool","key","--window",w] for i in range(len(s)): cmd.append(s[i]) cmd.append("Return") call(cmd) matlab-launch.sh