Name

       kitten-@-get-text - Get text from the specified window

Usage

       kitten @ get-text

Description

       Get text from the specified window

Options

       --match, -m
              The window to match. Match specifications are of the form: field:query. Where field can be one of:
              id,  title,  pid,  cwd,  cmdline, num, env, var, state, neighbor, session and recent. query is the
              expression to match. Expressions can be either a number  or  a  regular  expression,  and  can  be
              combined using Boolean operators.

              The special value all matches all windows.

              For  numeric  fields:  id,  pid,  num and recent, the expression is interpreted as a number, not a
              regular expression. Negative values for id match from the highest id number down,  in  particular,
              -1 is the most recently created window.

              The  field  num  refers to the window position in the current tab, starting from zero and counting
              clockwise (this is the same as the order in which the windows are reported  by  the  kitten  @  ls
              command).

              The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

              The  field  recent  refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being
              the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

              The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can
              be: left, right, top or bottom.

              The field session matches windows that were created in the specified session. Use  the  expression
              ^$ to match windows that were not created in a session and . to match the currently active session
              and  ~  to match either the currently active sesison or the last active session when no session is
              active.

              When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only  the  environment
              variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

              Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name
              and value as with the env field.

              The  field  state  matches  on  the  state  of  the window. Supported states are: active, focused,
              needs_attention, parent_active, parent_focused, focused_os_window, self,  overlay_parent.   Active
              windows  are the windows that are active in their parent tab. There is only one focused window and
              it is the window to which keyboard events are delivered. If no window is focused, the last focused
              window is matched. The value focused_os_window matches all windows in  the  currently  focused  OS
              window.  The  value  self matches the window in which the remote control command is run. The value
              overlay_parent matches the window that is under the self  window,  when  the  self  window  is  an
              overlay.

              Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

       --extent [=screen]
              What  text to get. The default of screen means all text currently on the screen. all means all the
              screen+scrollback and selection means  the  currently  selected  text.  first_cmd_output_on_screen
              means  the output of the first command that was run in the window on screen. last_cmd_output means
              the output of the last command that was run in the window. last_visited_cmd_output means the first
              command output below the last scrolled position via scroll_to_prompt. last_non_empty_output is the
              output from the last command run in the window that had some  non  empty  output.  The  last  four
              require shell_integration to be enabled.

              Choices:   screen,   all,   first_cmd_output_on_screen,   last_cmd_output,  last_non_empty_output,
              last_visited_cmd_output, selection

       --ansi [=no]
              By default, only plain text is returned. With this flag, the text will include the ANSI formatting
              escape codes for colors, bold, italic, etc.

       --add-cursor [=no]
              Add ANSI escape codes specifying the cursor position and style to the end of the text.

       --add-wrap-markers [=no]
              Add carriage returns at every line wrap location (where long lines are wrapped at screen edges).

       --clear-selection [=no]
              Clear the selection in the matched window, if any.

       --self [=no]
              Get text from the window this command is run in, rather than the active window.

       --help, -h [=no]
              Show help for this command

Global options

       --to   An address for the kitty instance to control. Corresponds  to  the  address  given  to  the  kitty
              instance  via the --listen-on option or the listen_on setting in kitty.conf. If not specified, the
              environment variable KITTY_LISTEN_ON is checked. If that is also not found, messages are  sent  to
              the  controlling terminal for this process, i.e. they will only work if this process is run within
              a kitty window.

       --password
              A password to use when contacting kitty. This will cause kitty to ask the user for  permission  to
              perform the specified action, unless the password has been accepted before or is pre-configured in
              kitty.conf. To use a blank password specify --use-password as always.

       --password-file [=rc-pass]
              A  file  from  which  to  read  the  password.  Trailing whitespace is ignored. Relative paths are
              resolved from the kitty configuration directory. Use - to read from STDIN. Use fd:num to read from
              the file descriptor num. Used if no --password is supplied. Defaults to checking for  the  rc-pass
              file in the kitty configuration directory.

       --password-env [=KITTY_RC_PASSWORD]
              The  name  of  an  environment  variable  to read the password from. Used if no --password-file is
              supplied. Defaults to checking the environment variable KITTY_RC_PASSWORD.

       --use-password [=if-available]
              If no password is available, kitty will usually just send the remote  control  command  without  a
              password. This option can be used to force it to always or never use the supplied password. If set
              to always and no password is provided, the blank password is used.

              Choices: if-available, always, never

0.44.0                                            Nov 26, 2025                              kitten-@-get-text(1)