Tiny, display-server‑agnostic clipboard helpers for the terminal.

copy writes text to the system clipboard, and past prints the clipboard back to stdout. Together they form a Linux/Unix‑friendly alternative to macOS pbcopy / pbpaste, with transparent Wayland/X11 support.

• Wayland & X11 support

  • Wayland: uses wl-copy / wl-paste (from wl-clipboard).
  • X11: falls back to xclip or xsel.

• Stream‑friendly

  • copy reads from stdin or command‑line arguments.
  • past writes directly to stdout with no extra newline.

• Shell‑friendly API

  • Designed to be called as plain executables or sourced as shell functions.
  • Exit codes are predictable and stable for scripting.

• Zero Python/GUI dependencies

  • Plain Bash + standard clipboard tools.

• Works well in both desktop sessions and TTYs

  • As long as a clipboard backend is available.

• POSIX‑like system (Linux, BSD, WSL with X/Wayland, etc.).

• Bash (the scripts rely on Bash features).

• At least one clipboard backend installed:

  • Wayland: wl-clipboard (wl-copy, wl-paste).
  • X11: xclip or xsel.

copy and past automatically detect the session type via WAYLAND_DISPLAY / XDG_SESSION_TYPE and pick the best available backend.

Assuming you have cloned or downloaded the repository containing copy.sh and past.sh.

chmod +x copy.sh past.sh

You can either rename the scripts or create symlinks to expose short command names (copy and past).

mv copy.sh copy
mv past.sh past
chmod +x copy past
sudo mv copy past /usr/local/bin/

chmod +x /path/to/copy.sh /path/to/past.sh
ln -s /path/to/copy.sh /usr/local/bin/copy
ln -s /path/to/past.sh /usr/local/bin/past

Make sure /usr/local/bin is listed in your $PATH.

source /path/to/copy.sh
source /path/to/past.sh

With the commands available as copy and past:

# Copy literal text
copy 'Hello from the terminal!'

# Copy current working directory path
pwd | copy

# Paste clipboard content into the terminal
past

# Use clipboard content inside another command
cd "$(past)"

copy takes text from stdin or from arguments and writes it to the system clipboard.

copy [text...]

# or

echo 'text' | copy

If data is piped in via stdin, that stream takes precedence over any arguments.

• Pipe mode (recommended for scripts)

  echo 'some text' | copy
  journalctl -n 100 | copy

  copy reads stdin until EOF and passes it verbatim to the backend tool. It does not append a newline on its own.

• Argument mode (interactive convenience)

  copy Hello world
  copy 'line 1' 'line 2'

  Arguments are joined with single spaces (similar to echo "$*"). The result is then sent to the backend.

• 0 - success.
• 1 - COPY_ERR_GENERAL - generic error.
• 2 - COPY_ERR_USAGE - invalid usage / no input provided.
• 3 - COPY_ERR_NO_BACKEND - no suitable clipboard utility found.
• 4 - COPY_ERR_BACKEND_FAILED - backend tool returned non‑zero.

past prints the current clipboard contents to stdout, without altering it.

past
past --help

Typical patterns:

# Save clipboard to a file
past > clipboard.txt

# Use clipboard in a command substitution
echo "Clipboard: $(past)"

# Pipe clipboard through another tool
past | jq .

• Uses the same backend selection logic as copy:

  • wl-paste --no-newline on Wayland.
  • xclip -selection clipboard -out or xsel --clipboard --output on X11.

• Does not append any trailing newline beyond what is already in the clipboard.

• 0 - success.
• 1 - PAST_ERR_GENERAL - generic error.
• 3 - PAST_ERR_NO_BACKEND - no suitable clipboard utility found.
• 4 - PAST_ERR_BACKEND_FAILED - backend tool returned non‑zero.

Because both tools talk to the same clipboard, they combine well:

# Copy some text
printf 'some text' | copy

# Paste it back into another command
printf 'You copied: %s\n' "$(past)"

# Round-trip through a transformation
past | tr 'a-z' 'A-Z' | copy

# Yank a path once and reuse it many times
ls | fzf | copy     # choose a path
cd "$(past)"       # jump there later

You can also integrate them into aliases or shell functions, for example:

alias cpath='pwd | copy'
alias pp='echo "$(past)"'

• "No clipboard backend found"

  • Install one of:

    • Wayland: wl-clipboard (wl-copy, wl-paste).
    • X11: xclip or xsel.

  • Make sure the tools are in your $PATH.

• Running over SSH

  • Clipboard access usually targets the remote display/session. You may need extra configuration (X11 forwarding, Wayland remoting, or an SSH tunnel to a local clipboard service).

• Clipboard managers (KDE Klipper, GNOME, etc.)

  • These tools work fine alongside clipboard managers - they simply populate the CLIPBOARD selection, which managers then track.

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Issues and pull requests are welcome. If you propose enhancements (new flags, additional backends, etc.), please include concrete examples and a short rationale so the tools stay small, focused, and easy to reason about 😇