Firefox refresh current tab from command-line

Here's an updated version of @geekQ's script that will return focus to the previous program (however, the firefox window will still be pulled to the top).

#!/bin/bash

CURRENT_WID=$(xdotool getwindowfocus)

WID=$(xdotool search --name "Mozilla Firefox")
xdotool windowactivate $WID
xdotool key F5

xdotool windowactivate $CURRENT_WID

For OS X you can do it with these few lines of applescript:

activate application "Firefox"
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "r" using command down

You can use xdotool for automation. Install on Ubuntu with

sudo aptitude install xdotool

Then you can search for windows and send keys or mouse events, see man xdotool for the full documentation. I use following script on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS during development:

WID=`xdotool search --name "Mozilla Firefox" | head -1`
xdotool windowactivate $WID
xdotool key F5

Note: in the older versions, e.g. Ubuntu 14.04 the flag is --title instead of --name.

See also the xdotool project site.