Copy Shell Output via the Command Line
Oftentimes I'll want to copy the output of a shell command execution but can't get the whole output because it's larger than the terminal's buffer length, so I'll need to write to file for easy viewing, or I'll simply be annoyed that I have to click-hold-drag to copy the output. Shouldn't there be an easier way? There is: pbcopy and clip. Using pbcopy within the shell, the output of an execution can automatically be added to the copy queue (or clipboard):
# Copy the source of davidwalsh.name to the clipboard on Mac
curl davidwalsh.name | pbcopy
# Copy the source of davidwalsh.name to the clipboard on Windows
curl davidwalsh.name | clip
Piping pbcopy at the end of the command makes this magic possible. So what do I look forward to using this for? My colleague Luke showed me how he gets the commit hash from the master branch without needing to go to GitHub to get it:
alias ghash='git rev-parse HEAD && git rev-parse HEAD | pbcopy'
I look forward to using pbcopy more -- an excellent utility to allow me to avoid lame cursor click-hold-drag to get the output I want!
![Conquering Impostor Syndrome]()
Two years ago I documented my struggles with Imposter Syndrome and the response was immense. I received messages of support and commiseration from new web developers, veteran engineers, and even persons of all experience levels in other professions. I've even caught myself reading the post...
![I’m an Impostor]()
This is the hardest thing I've ever had to write, much less admit to myself. I've written resignation letters from jobs I've loved, I've ended relationships, I've failed at a host of tasks, and let myself down in my life. All of those feelings were very...
![Simple Image Lazy Load and Fade]()
One of the quickest and easiest website performance optimizations is decreasing image loading. That means a variety of things, including minifying images with tools like ImageOptim and TinyPNG, using data URIs and sprites, and lazy loading images. It's a bit jarring when you're lazy loading images and they just...
![Save Text Size Preference Using MooTools 1.2]()
Last time posting here I taught you how to change text-size with JavaScript. The problem with using the solution I presented as Ian Lloyd pointed out:
Increase the font size, follow a link to another web page on same site and … back...
It may be silly to notice that this isn’t for Windows…
Might be worth adding instructions using
xcopyon Linux, andclipon WindowsI am on Linux and I use http://www.vergenet.net/~conrad/software/xsel/
Use it like this:
curl davidwalsh.name | xsel –clipboard –input
You can also alias is so you can use pbcopy
To do that add alias pbcopy=’xsel –clipboard –input’ to your ~/:bashrc
windows would be curl davidwalsh.name | clip
assuming you had curl for windows installed ;)