Johnny Matthews | Copy file contents to clipboard.

Copying files is fun. Most of the time.

1. Open the RC file for your shell. I’m using ZSH, so I need to open ~/.zshrc.

2. Create a new function called copy:

   function copy() {
   
   }
   

3. Within the function, use cat to return the contents of a file:

   function copy() {
       cat $1 
   }
   

   We’re using the $1 variable since we’re going to pass in the file that we want to copy.

4. Pipe the output of cat to xclip:

   function copy() {
       cat $1 | xclip -i
   }
   

   The -i option tells xclip to expect content from standard input.

5. Tell xclip that we want to add this content to the secondary clipboard:

   function copy() {
       cat $1 | xclip -i -seletion clipboard
   }
   

   In Ubuntu/Debian based Linux distributions, the main clipboard is accessed using the middle mouse button. Since I never use a mouse, this functionality is useless to me, so I need to address the regular clipboard.

6. Save and exit the RC file.

7. Source the file to get the updates:

   source ~/.zshrc
   

   Make sure to source your actual RC file. The destination might be different to what I’ve got here.

8. You should now be able to copy the contents of a file using copy filename:

   echo "This is a test." >> test.txt
   copy test.txt
   

   Pressing ctrl + v should now paste This is a test.! Don’t forget to add your RC file to version control like Git!