Konsole

Konsole is the terminal emulator for the KDE platform

Feature Overview

X Terminal emulator
Makes using the command line easier
Use different profiles for different tasks
Set scrollback limit and save contents to file
Right-click on links to open in user's default web browser
Open current path in user's file manager
Translucent background available when desktop effects are enabled
The unique value of the environmental variable SHELL_SESSION_ID persists across all desktop sessions

Konsole is an X terminal emulator for the KDE platform, allowing users to have a convenient way to use the command line. Aside from providing a way to use a powerful shell, Konsole also offers features that make it easier or more pleasurable to work in the command line, such as profile management, scrollback, and color schemes, including translucency for effects.

Konsole also provides an embedded KPart terminal which is used by apps such as Yakuake, Dolphin, and Kate, giving users a consistent and familiar interface when working in the command line.

Tutorials and Tips

Language

With Konsole you can change the language to plain English (to see bugs info for example) by command:

export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Shortcuts

Switch tab: Shift + Left, Shift + Right (not like X-Chat, Firefox, Quanta, Kdevelop).

Note

Quanta and Kdevelop use Alt + Left, Alt + Right. However, Shift + Direction has the advantage of being reachable with one hand on virtually all keyboard layouts, while Alt keys are sometimes only on the left of the keyboard (e.g. in Germany).

New tab: Shift + Ctrl + T.

Label your Tabs

If you regularly use a lot of tabs, you'll sometimes find it convenient to label them. Just double-click on the tab and you'll get a re-name dialogue.

Profile Management

To add a new profile go to Settings -> Profile Management -> New Profile
On the General tab, enter the new profile name and change the icon if desired.
If this is to be a root konsole, enter the command /bin/su -

Tip

This command will not work on any distro that uses sudo (like Ubuntu). On such distributions use:
sudo su
or just prepend all your commands that requires superuser privileges with sudo.

Font size can also be changed on the Appearance tab.

On the Manage Profiles screen you can add or remove a star, which controls whether that profile is to be offered on the File menu.

Padding

You can change the padding between the border and the contents of Konsole (the "margin" or "gutters" between window border and text) by editing your profile file in .local/share/konsole/[name of profile] and adding:

TerminalMargin=7

The number after "TerminalMargin" can be edited to whatever size you prefer. After that you need to log out and then log in to show the changes.

Per Konsole tab Bash history

If you want each Konsole tab to remember its own individual bash history, and restore it with the session after a reboot or log out/in, add the following line in your ~/.bashrc:

HISTFILE="$HOME/.bash_history.${KONSOLE_DBUS_SESSION##*/}"

Related Sites

Help with Development

If you are interested in helping with Konsole's development, check out how to help the Konsole team.

Keywords

Terminal emulator, command line, CLI, shell