Keyboard shortcut to copy current command from terminal to clipboard

Question

Is there any way to copy current command (line typed in bash prompt) in terminal to X-clipboard without involving a mouse?

What is the “current command”? If you know what to copy, you can use xclip. — Marco, Jul 24 '13 at 10:01
@Marco - Thank you - I expanded question. As for xclip, I am a newbie and do not know what it about. Could you explain? — Loom, Jul 24 '13 at 10:09
@Gilles - Frankly, I do not really understand how the knowledge of how to put the selected text to the clipboard can help with putting the current command to the clipboard. Is there a keyboard shortcut, that allows to select the current command from bash prompt? — Loom, Jul 25 '13 at 07:28
@Loom How does the copy_line_to_x_clipboard function in my answer differ from what you're asking? If you're asking for a shortcut out of the box, then no, it doesn't exist, that's why I wrote a function. You can bind this function to whatever key you like (I also show how to do this in my answer). — Gilles 'SO- stop being evil', Jul 25 '13 at 11:27

Kartik · Answer 1 · 2013-07-25T05:49:49.710

7

Yes, first you have to install xclip. (sudo apt-get install xclip)

Then to copy previous line:

echo !! | xclip

To Paste: Middle click or

xclip -o

For example:

date
Wed Jul 24 15:46:54 IST 2013
echo !! | xclip

xclip -o
date

To copy Output of any command: <command> | xclip

However, this may fail if the command has special characters.

edited Jul 25 '13 at 05:49

answered Jul 24 '13 at 10:15

Kartik

5

That fails if the command contains just about any special character. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Jul 24 '13 at 22:02
Just add :q to !! of your command and it is fixed: echo !!:q | xclip. :q makes sure your variable is expanded and only then quoted. (Single quotes, so that nothing is interpreted by the shell.) – Hielke Walinga Sep 28 '18 at 16:49

1 Answers1