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Xclip

Xclip is a command-line utility that provides an interface to the X Window System clipboard. It allows you to copy and paste text between the terminal and graphical applications.

Installation

MacOS

# Use pbcopy/pbpaste instead (built-in)
# Or install xclip via:
brew install xclip

Debian

apt install xclip

Examples

Copy text to clipboard

echo "text" | xclip -selection clipboard

Copy file contents to clipboard

xclip -selection clipboard < file.txt

Paste from clipboard

xclip -selection clipboard -o

Copy command output to clipboard

ls -la | xclip -selection clipboard

Copy file path to clipboard

pwd | xclip -selection clipboard

Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc: 

alias xc='xclip -selection clipboard'
alias xp='xclip -selection clipboard -o'

Then use: 

echo "text" | xc
xp

Copy primary selection (middle-click paste)

echo "text" | xclip

Paste from primary selection

xclip -o

Copy to both clipboard and primary

echo "text" | tee >(xclip) | xclip -selection clipboard

Copy multiple lines to clipboard

cat << EOF | xclip -selection clipboard
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
EOF

Copy screenshot path to clipboard

import screenshot.png && echo "screenshot.png" | xclip -selection clipboard

Clear clipboard

echo -n | xclip -selection clipboard

Monitor clipboard changes

while true; do xclip -o -selection clipboard; sleep 1; done

Copy SSH public key to clipboard

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | xclip -selection clipboard

Copy current directory path

pwd | xclip -selection clipboard

Copy last command output

!! | xclip -selection clipboard

MacOS Equivalents

Copy to clipboard (MacOS)

echo "text" | pbcopy

Paste from clipboard (MacOS)

pbpaste

Copy file contents (MacOS)

pbcopy < file.txt

Common Use Cases

Copy grep results

grep "pattern" file.txt | xclip -selection clipboard

Copy find results

find . -name "*.txt" | xclip -selection clipboard

Copy IP address

ip addr show | grep "inet " | awk '{print $2}' | xclip -selection clipboard

Copy current Git branch

git branch --show-current | xclip -selection clipboard

Copy base64 encoded file

base64 file.bin | xclip -selection clipboard

Copy without newline

echo -n "text" | xclip -selection clipboard

Help output

Usage: xclip [OPTION] [FILE]...
Access an X server selection for reading or writing.

  -i, -in          read text into X selection from standard input or files
                   (default)
  -o, -out         print the selection to standard out (generally for piping
                   to a file or program)
  -f, -filter      when xclip is invoked in the in mode with output level set
                   to silent (the defaults), the filter option will cause xclip
                   to print the text piped to standard in back to standard out
                   unmodified
  -r, -rmlastnl    when the last character of the selection is a newline
                   character, remove it. Newline characters that are not the
                   last character in the selection are not affected. If the
                   selection does not end with a newline character, this option
                   has no effect. This option is useful for copying one-line
                   output
  -l, -loops       number of X selection requests (pastes into X applications)
                   to wait for before exiting, with a value of 0 (default)
                   causing xclip to wait for an unlimited number of requests
                   until another application (possibly another invocation of
                   xclip) takes ownership of the selection
  -t, -target      specify a particular data format using the given target atom.
                   With -o the special target atom name "TARGETS" can be used
                   to get a list of valid target atoms for this selection.
                   For more information about target atoms refer to ICCCM
                   section 2.6.2
  -d, -display     X display to use (e.g. "localhost:0"), xclip defaults to
                   the value in $DISPLAY if this option is omitted
  -h, -help        usage information
      -selection   selection to access ("primary", "secondary", "clipboard" or
                   "buffer-cut")
      -version     version information
      -silent      fork into the background to wait for requests, no
                   informational output, errors only (default)
      -quiet       show informational messages on the terminal and run in the
                   foreground
      -verbose     provide a running commentary of what xclip is doing
      -noutf8      operate in legacy (i.e. non UTF-8) mode for backwards
                   compatibility (Use this option only when really necessary,
                   as the old behavior was broken)

xclip reads text from standard in or files and makes it available to other
X applications for pasting as an X selection (traditionally with the middle
mouse button). It reads from all files specified, or from standard in if no
files are specified. xclip can also print the contents of a selection to
standard out with the -o option.

Examples:
  Copy file contents to clipboard:
    cat file | xclip -selection clipboard

  Copy command output to clipboard:
    ls | xclip -selection clipboard

  Paste from clipboard:
    xclip -selection clipboard -o

  Copy to primary selection (middle-click):
    echo "text" | xclip

Report bugs to <astrand@lysator.liu.se>