astrand/xclip

WHAT IS XCLIP?
==============

xclip is a command line utility that is designed to run on any system with an
X11 implementation. It provides an interface to X selections ("the clipboard")
from the command line. It can read data from standard in or a file and place it
in an X selection for pasting into other X applications. xclip can also print
an X selection to standard out, which can then be redirected to a file or
another program.

USING XCLIP
===========

Here are some ideas for things you can do with xclip:

	Copy your uptime into the selection for pasting:
	uptime | xclip

	Copy your password file for pasting:
	xclip /etc/passwd

	Save some text you have Edit | Copied in a web browser:
	xclip -o -sel clip > webpage.txt

	Open a URL selected in an email client
	mozilla `xclip -o`

	Copy XA_PRIMARY to XA_CLIPBOARD
	xclip -o | xclip -sel clip

	In command mode in vim, select some lines of text, then press shift-:
	for an ex prompt, and use this command to copy the selected lines of
	text to the primary X selection:
	!xclip -f


USING XCLIP FOR MOVING FILES
============================

The programs xclip-copyfile, xclip-pastefile, and xclip-cutfile can be
used for copying and moving files between different directories and
even machines, assuming that you have a working X11 connection. Here
are some examples:

# Copying a file to a remote host
[maggie.lkpg.cendio.se ~]$ echo "A file created on ${HOSTNAME}" > file1
[maggie.lkpg.cendio.se ~]$ xclip-copyfile file1
[sofie.homeip.net ~/doc]$ xclip-pastefile
file1
[sofie.homeip.net ~/doc]$ cat file1
A file created on maggie.lkpg.cendio.se


# Copying an entire tree structure
[sofie.homeip.net ~]$ xclip-copyfile doc
[maggie.lkpg.cendio.se ~/tmp]$ xclip-pastefile
doc/
doc/letter-mom-april.txt
doc/file1
doc/letter-dad-march.txt


# Copying files with preserved path information
[maggie.lkpg.cendio.se ~]$ xclip-copyfile -p /etc/sysconfig/grub
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
[sofie.homeip.net ~/tmp]$ xclip-pastefile
etc/sysconfig/grub
[sofie.homeip.net ~/tmp]$ ls etc/sysconfig/grub
etc/sysconfig/grub


# Moving files
[sofie.homeip.net ~]$ ls letter-brother-may.txt
letter-brother-may.txt
[sofie.homeip.net ~]$ xclip-cutfile letter-brother-may.txt
[sofie.homeip.net ~]$ ls letter-brother-may.txt
ls: cannot access letter-brother-may.txt: No such file or directory
[sofie.homeip.net ~]$ cd doc
[sofie.homeip.net ~/doc]$ xclip-pastefile
letter-brother-may.txt


FEATURES
========

* Reads data piped to standard in or files given as arguments
* Prints contents of selection to standard out
* Accesses the XA_PRIMARY, XA_SECONDARY or XA_CLIPBOARD selection
* Accesses the cut-buffers
* Supports the INCR mechanism for large transfers
* Connects to the X display in $DISPLAY, or specified with -display host:0
* Waits for selection requests in the background

SELECTIONS
==========

For a good overview of what selections are about, have a look at
<https://specifications.freedesktop.org/clipboards-spec/clipboards-latest.txt>. Short version:

* XA_PRIMARY contains the last text you highlighted
* Middle click pastes XA_PRIMARY
* XA_CLIPBOARD contains text explicitly copied with Edit | Copy, Ctrl-C etc.
* Edit | Paste pastes XA_CLIPBOARD
* xclip uses XA_PRIMARY unless you specify otherwise with -selection

CAN I HELP?
===========

Glad you asked! At this stage, I'm pretty happy with the features and
implementation, so if you have anything at all that should be done, I want to
hear about it. Doesn't matter how small, compiler warnings, segfaults, spelling
mistakes, whatever, I want to get it sorted out. xclip is not a big project,
I'd like to get all these things sorted out and then declare it "complete".

LICENSE
=======

GNU GPL, see the COPYING file for details.

CONTACT
=======

Web:
https://github.com/astrand/xclip

Email:
[email protected]

Please email me about problems, experiences, patches, fixes, etc.