How to Copy File Content to Clipboard on Linux

On Linux, the command line interface is a powerful tool that can be used to perform a wide variety of tasks. One such task is copying the contents of a file to the clipboard. This can be particularly useful when working with large amounts of data or when you need to transfer data between different applications. In this how-to guide, we will explore how to copy the contents of a file to the clipboard from the command line on Linux.

Using xclip

xclip is a command-line utility for copying and pasting text between the clipboard and the terminal. It is commonly used on Linux and Unix-like operating systems to copy text from the terminal to the clipboard, or to paste text from the clipboard into the terminal.

Step 1: Open Terminal

Open the terminal by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on your keyboard or by searching for it in the applications menu.

Step 2: Install xclip

To install xclip from the command line:

On Debian/Ubuntu-based distros, run:

sudo apt install xclip

On Fedora/RPM-based distros, run:

sudo dnf install xclip

On Arch-based distros, run:

sudo pacman -S xclip

Once installed, you can use the xclip command to manipulate the clipboard contents.

Step 3: Copy Contents

To copy the content of a file to the clipboard, use the xclip command with the -selection option and the c flag:

xclip -selection c < file.txt

This will copy the contents of file.txt to the clipboard.

You can then paste the contents of the file into another application using the standard paste command (Ctrl+V or right-click and select Paste).

That’s it! You have now copied the content of a file to the clipboard from the command line on Linux.