NAME

       xclip - command line interface to X selections (clipboard)

SYNOPSIS

       xclip [OPTION] [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION

       Reads  from  standard  in, or from one or more files, and makes the data available as an X
       selection for pasting into X applications. Prints current X selection to standard out.

       -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

       -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
              show quick summary of options

       -selection
              specify which  X  selection  to  use,  options  are  "primary"  to  use  XA_PRIMARY
              (default), "secondary" for XA_SECONDARY or "clipboard" for XA_CLIPBOARD

       -version
              show 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.

       xclip was designed to allow  tighter  integration  of  X  applications  and  command  line
       programs.  The  default  action  is  to  silently  wait  in the background for X selection
       requests (pastes) until another X application places data in the clipboard, at which point
       xclip  exits  silently.  You can use the -verbose option to see if and when xclip actually
       receives selection requests from other X applications.

       Options can be abbreviated as long as they remain unambiguous. For example, it is possible
       to  use  -d  or  -disp  instead  of  -display.  However, -v couldn't be used because it is
       ambiguous (it could be short for -verbose or -version), so it would be  interpreted  as  a
       filename.

       Note  that  only the first character of the selection specified with the -selection option
       is important. This means that "p", "sec" and "clip" would have the same  effect  as  using
       "primary", "secondary" or "clipboard" respectively.

EXAMPLES

       I hate man pages without examples!

       uptime | xclip

       Put your uptime in the X selection. Then middle click in an X application to paste.

       xclip -loops 10 -verbose /etc/motd

       Exit  after  /etc/motd  (message  of  the  day)  has  been  pasted 10 times. Show how many
       selection requests (pastes) have been processed.

       xclip -o > helloworld.c

       Put the contents of the selection into a file.

       xclip -t text/html index.html

       Middle click in an X application supporting HTML to paste the contents of the  given  file
       as HTML.

ENVIRONMENT

       DISPLAY
              X display to use if none is specified with the -display option.

REPORTING BUGS

       Please report any bugs, problems, queries, experiences, etc. directly to the author.

AUTHORS

       Kim Saunders <kims@debian.org> Peter Åstrand <astrand@lysator.liu.se>

                                                                                         XCLIP(1)