How to use the command "wl-copy" (with examples)

“wl-copy” is a command-line tool used for manipulating the clipboard in a Wayland session. It is often used to copy text or images to the clipboard, clear the clipboard, or perform other clipboard-related operations. This article will provide examples of how to use the “wl-copy” command for various use cases.

Use case 1: Copy the text to the clipboard

Code:

wl-copy "text"

Motivation: The motivation behind using this example is to copy a specific text to the clipboard. This can be useful when you want to quickly copy a piece of text and paste it elsewhere.

Explanation: The command “wl-copy” is followed by the text that you want to copy enclosed in double quotation marks. Here, we are copying the text “text” to the clipboard.

Example output: The text “text” will be copied to the clipboard.

Use case 2: Pipe the command output to the clipboard

Code:

ls | wl-copy

Motivation: This example can be used when you want to copy the output of a command to the clipboard. By piping the command output to “wl-copy”, you can copy the resulting text to the clipboard for further use.

Explanation: The command “ls” lists the contents of a directory. By using the pipe operator “|” to redirect the output of “ls” to “wl-copy”, the resulting output will be copied to the clipboard.

Example output: The directory listing will be copied to the clipboard.

Use case 3: Copy for only one paste and then clear it

Code:

wl-copy --paste-once "text"

Motivation: This example can be useful when you want to copy a text to the clipboard for a single paste operation. After the text is pasted, the clipboard will be cleared automatically.

Explanation: The argument “–paste-once” is used to indicate that the copied text should only be available for a single paste operation. After the text is pasted, the clipboard will be cleared automatically. Here, we are copying the text “text” to the clipboard.

Example output: The text “text” will be copied to the clipboard, and it will be automatically cleared after the first paste.

Use case 4: Copy an image

Code:

wl-copy < path/to/image

Motivation: This example can be used when you want to copy an image to the clipboard. It can be useful when you want to easily share an image with others by copying it to the clipboard and then pasting it into a messaging app or document.

Explanation: The input redirection operator “<” is used to provide the path to the image file that you want to copy. Here, we are copying the image located at “path/to/image” to the clipboard.

Example output: The image located at “path/to/image” will be copied to the clipboard.

Use case 5: Clear the clipboard

Code:

wl-copy --clear

Motivation: This example is useful when you want to clear the contents of the clipboard. This can be necessary when you want to remove any sensitive or unwanted data from the clipboard.

Explanation: The argument “–clear” is used to clear the contents of the clipboard. When executed, all the data currently stored in the clipboard will be removed.

Example output: The clipboard will be cleared, and any previously copied data will be removed.

Conclusion:

In this article, we explored various use cases of the “wl-copy” command. We learned how to copy text to the clipboard, pipe command output to the clipboard, copy for a single paste and clear it, copy images, and clear the clipboard. The “wl-copy” command provides a convenient way to manipulate the Wayland clipboard for various purposes.