I wrote a small C program to accomplish this, as this cannot be done any other way effectively.
You'll need Xcode installed to compile it.
https://github.com/stnvh/cgorigin
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import <ApplicationServices/ApplicationServices.h>
#define MAX_DISPLAYS 10
static CGDisplayCount dispCount = MAX_DISPLAYS;
static CGDirectDisplayID dispOnline[MAX_DISPLAYS];
int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) {
CGDisplayCount dispOnlineCount;
CGDisplayErr errActive = CGGetOnlineDisplayList(dispCount, dispOnline, &dispOnlineCount);
CGDisplayConfigRef configRef;
CGError err = CGBeginDisplayConfiguration(&configRef);
if(!argv[1]) {
printf("usage: [-l | --list] [[-o | --origin] x y index] \n");
return 1;
}
for(int i = 0; i < dispOnlineCount; i++) {
if(dispOnline[i]) {
int dispWidth = CGDisplayPixelsWide(dispOnline[i]);
int dispHeight = CGDisplayPixelsHigh(dispOnline[i]);
CGPoint dispOrigin = CGDisplayBounds(dispOnline[i]).origin;
if(strcmp(argv[1], "--list") == 0 || strcmp(argv[1], "-l") == 0) {
printf("display %d: %dx%d %ldx%ld\n", i, dispWidth, dispHeight, (long)dispOrigin.x, (long)dispOrigin.y);
}
if(strcmp(argv[1], "--origin") == 0 || strcmp(argv[1], "-o") == 0) {
int posX = dispOrigin.x;
int posY = dispOrigin.y;
int dispInd = 1;
if(argv[2]) {
posX = strtol(argv[2], NULL, 0);
}
if(argv[3]) {
posY = strtol(argv[3], NULL, 0);
}
if(argv[4]) {
long _dispInd = strtol(argv[4], NULL, 0);
if(_dispInd < dispOnlineCount) {
dispInd = _dispInd;
}
}
if(dispInd == i) {
err = CGConfigureDisplayOrigin(configRef, dispOnline[i], posX, posY);
}
}
}
}
err = CGCompleteDisplayConfiguration(configRef, kCGConfigurePermanently);
if(err != 0) NSLog(@"Error with applying configuration: %d\n", err);
return 1;
}
Save to a file called main.m
, then run:
clang -Wall -framework Foundation -framework ApplicationServices main.m -o cgorigin
Example (from Github):
assuming we have two monitors connected, both at 1920x1080
cgorigin --origin -1920 0 # positions the second monitor to the left of the main display
cgorigin --origin 0 0 # positions the second monitor to the right of the main display
cgorigin --origin -1920 1080 0 # positions the first monitor below the second display