The Alt->F2 shortcut in KDE is one of the least used (by new users) and most useful functions in the KDE environment. It is the KDE Run Command and not only can you use it to start applications but it can be used to automate searches, get help, and much much more. I am dedicating this post to some of the lesser known functions. Try typing some of these commands:
- <command> Start an application without leaving the keyboard.
- kdesu <command> Run a command as root without leaving keyboard.
- </path/to/directory> Opens a konqueror window in the specified directory.
- gg: <search> Does a google search and displays the results.
- dict: <word> Look up an English word in the dictionary.
- wp: <topic> Lookup topic material in an online encyclopedia.
- help: <appname> Get application specific help.
- man|info: <sys tool> Tool help (in a nice KDE GUI) throught the unix man or info pages.
The enhanced browsing functions are wonderful. Some of the others I use are rf: (rpm find), bug: (find a specific bug report for KDE), ggi: (google image search), ggg: (google groups search), fm: (freshmeat search), cpan: (CPAN perl search) and many many more. You can find the full list of browsing enhancements in the KDE control center “Enhanced Browsing” Section.
Thanks for this one, Bobster. I have never even looked at this ALT-F2 thing before. I always cus at it because I am constantly bringing it up as I am trying to go to TTY2. I usually just close it, say a few cus words, and then do the CTRL-ALT-F2 I was supposed to do from X.