Keep and exchange modes) this program detaches from the terminal, spawning a child process to supply the new selection(s) on demand. In order to implement modification of the selection(s) (in input, The selection mechanism in X11 is an interclient communication mediated by the X server each time any program wishes version output version information and exit Notes Additional instances of -v raise the debugging level, ie. h, -help display usage information and exit Without this option, xsel will fork to become a background process in input, exchange and n, -nodetach Do not detach from the controlling terminal. Miscellaneous options -l filename, -logfile filename Specify the file to log errors to when detached. A value of 0 (zero) specifies no timeout (default). t ms, -selectionTimeout ms Specify the timeout in milliseconds within which the selection must be retrieved. X options -d displayname, -display displayname specify the server to use see X(1). x, -exchange exchange the PRIMARY and SECONDARY selections. The CLIPBOARD selection is persisted by a separate special purpose program such as xclipboard(1)).

k, -keep Do not modify the selections, but make the PRIMARY and SECONDARY selections persist even after the programs they were selected in exit. b, -clipboard operate on the CLIPBOARD selection. s, -secondary operate on the SECONDARY selection. Selection options -p, -primary operate on the PRIMARY selection (default). This not only clears the selection, but also requests to the program in which the selection resides that the

d, -delete Request that the current selection be deleted. Output options -o, -output write the selection to standard output.Īction options -c, -clear clear the selection. i, -input read standard input into the selection. f, -follow append to selection as standard input grows. Input options -a, -append append standard input to the selection. If both input and output is required then the previous selection is output before being replaced by the contents of standard input. Input or output options are given then the program behaves only in the requested mode. Selection is output if standard output is not a terminal (tty), and the selection is set from standard input if standard input is not a terminal (tty). Program operates on the PRIMARY selection unless otherwise specified.īy default, this program outputs the selection without modification if both standard input and standard output are terminals (ttys). The SECONDARY and CLIPBOARD selections are less frequently used by application programs. Implement copying and pasting via the middle mouse button. The PRIMARY selection is conventionally used to The X server maintains three selections, called PRIMARY, SECONDARY and CLIPBOARD.

Man xclipboard