How to open a GUI app from Terminal without losing terminal input

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How to clean launch a GUI app via the Terminal (so it doesn't wait for termination)?

If I have a terminal open in X-window, I can start a GUI app from the terminal. If I give Ctrl+C, the GUI app closes and you get back the prompter in the terminal so you can write commands again.

For example: If I run gedit, it starts but it doesn't return control to that console so I cannot reuse it for other commands, If I want to regain control I need to do Ctrl+C, but that closes the GUI app. I need the GUI app to keep running but also to use further the console to start other apps or run other commands.

How to start a X-window app from terminal console, without leaving that console occupied solely by that app?

Solution 1

Simply add & to your call to start it as background process.

Example:

gedit sometext.txt &

Solution 2

I advise you to use gksudo if that app needs administrative access with the &

gksudo gedit sometext.txt &

Comments

[Evandro Silva]

cool, this one I didn't know :)

[Eduard Florinescu]

What is really cool about it, is that if you run the first gedit in background & the subsequent gedit can be ran without the & if gedit is still open.