---
# System prepended metadata

title: xclip on Ubuntu

---

# xclip on Ubuntu

* refference:[How to Copy Any Text To Clipboard From Terminal In Ubuntu?](http://sandipbgt.com/2015/10/22/copy-text-to-clipboard-from-terminal-in-ubuntu/)

## Introduce the xclip

* xclip is a tool on Ubuntu

## Installing xclip

```linux
$sudo apt-get install xclip
```

## Using xclip

### Coppy the command output

* To copy the output of a command into the clipboard, pipe the command into xclip as below:
 
> [color=#d82b8d]"pipe" the "|" symbol on a computer keyboard

* Long version

```linux
$ls -la | xclip -selection clipboard
```


* Short version

```linux
$ls -la | xclip -sel clip
```

* This puts the output of ls -la command into the clipboard, and you can now paste the output into any other program (eg. a text editor) with Ctrl + V outside terminal and Ctrl + Shift + V inside terminal.

---

### Copy the contents of a file

* To copy the contents of a file (eg. /etc/apt/sources.list) into the clipboard:

* Long version

```linux
$ xclip -selection clipboard -in /etc/apt/sources.list
```

* Short version

```linux
$xclip -sel clip -i /etc/apt/sources.list
```

---
### Print the contents of the clipboard

* Long version

```linux
$xclip -selection clipboard -out
```

* Short version

```linux
$xclip -sel clip -o
```

---

### Save the contents of the clipboard to a file


* Long version 
```linux
$xclip -selection clipboard -out > ~/myfile.txt
```

* Short version

```linux
$xclip -sel clip -o > ~/myfile.txt
```