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Rafael Muynarsk
Asked: 2019-06-09 10:06:34 +0800 CST

Is it possible to copy a variable to the Shift+Insert clipboard from the command line?

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When I create scripts, I use the xclip command to copy a variable to the clipboard, so I can paste it using CTRL+V or automate my script to paste it with xdotool. The command that I use to copy a variable to the clipboard is this one:

echo -n "$clipboard" | xclip -selection clipboard

It works fine for pasting with CTRL+V... However, many times I want to paste things on a terminal window and only Shift+Insert works for that. For some reason xclip doesn't copy variables to the clipboard that Shift+Insert uses, it only happens when I copy some text manually with CTRL+C. Does anyone know if there's a way of programmatically copying a variable to the same clipboard that Shift+Insert uses?

command-line bash clipboard xclip

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Shift+Insert uses the XA_PRIMARY selection. So:

    echo -n "$clipboard" | xclip -selection primary

    or just

    echo -n "$clipboard" | xclip

    (since XA_PRIMARY is the default).

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