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https://github.com/cdown/clipmenu

Clipboard management using dmenu
https://github.com/cdown/clipmenu

c clipboard clipboard-buffer clipboard-management dmenu simple suckless

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Clipboard management using dmenu

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README 

        
clipmenu is a simple clipboard manager using [dmenu][] (or [rofi][] with

`CM_LAUNCHER=rofi`) and [xsel][].



# Demo



![Demo](https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/660663/24079784/6f76da94-0c88-11e7-8251-40b1f02ebf3c.gif)



# Usage



## clipmenud



Start `clipmenud`, then run `clipmenu` to select something to put on the

clipboard. For systemd users, a user service called `clipmenud` is packaged as

part of the project.



For those using a systemd unit and not using a desktop environment which does

it automatically, you must import `$DISPLAY` so that `clipmenud` knows which X

server to use. For example, in your `~/.xinitrc` do this prior to launching

clipmenud:



    systemctl --user import-environment DISPLAY



## clipmenu



You may wish to bind a shortcut in your window manager to launch `clipmenu`.



All args passed to clipmenu are transparently dispatched to dmenu. That is, if

you usually call dmenu with args to set colours and other properties, you can

invoke clipmenu in exactly the same way to get the same effect, like so:



    clipmenu -i -fn Terminus:size=8 -nb '#002b36' -nf '#839496' -sb '#073642' -sf '#93a1a1'



For a full list of environment variables that clipmenud can take, please see

`clipmenud --help`.



# Features



The behavior of `clipmenud` can be customized through environment variables.

Despite being only <300 lines, clipmenu has many useful features, including:



* Customising the maximum number of clips stored (default 1000)

* Disabling clip collection temporarily with `clipctl disable`, reenabling with

  `clipctl enable`

* Not storing clipboard changes from certain applications, like password

  managers

* Taking direct ownership of the clipboard

* ...and much more.



Check `clipmenud --help` to view all possible environment variables and what

they do. If you manage `clipmenud` with `systemd`, you can override the

defaults by using `systemctl --user edit clipmenud` to generate an override

file.



# Supported launchers



Any dmenu-compliant application will work, but here are `CM_LAUNCHER`

configurations that are known to work:



- `dmenu` (the default)

- `fzf`

- `rofi`

- `rofi-script`, for [rofi's script

  mode](https://github.com/davatorium/rofi-scripts/tree/master/mode-scripts)



# Installation



Several distributions, including Arch and Nix, provide clipmenu as an official

package called `clipmenu`.



## Manual installation



If your distribution doesn't provide a package, you can manually install using

`make install` (or better yet, create a package for your distribution!). You

will need `xsel` and `clipnotify` installed, and also `dmenu` unless you plan

to use a different launcher.



# How does it work?



clipmenud is less than 300 lines, and clipmenu is less than 100, so hopefully

it should be fairly self-explanatory. However, at the most basic level:



## clipmenud



1. `clipmenud` uses [clipnotify](https://github.com/cdown/clipnotify) to wait

   for new clipboard events.

2. If `clipmenud` detects changes to the clipboard contents, it writes them out

   to the cache directory and an index using a hash as the filename.



## clipmenu



1. `clipmenu` reads the index to find all available clips.

2. `dmenu` is executed to allow the user to select a clip.

3. After selection, the clip is put onto the PRIMARY and CLIPBOARD X

   selections.



[dmenu]: http://tools.suckless.org/dmenu/

[rofi]: https://github.com/DaveDavenport/Rofi

[xsel]: http://www.vergenet.net/~conrad/software/xsel/