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https://github.com/astrand/xclip

Command line interface to the X11 clipboard
https://github.com/astrand/xclip

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Command line interface to the X11 clipboard

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README 

        
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

. 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.