dwww Home | Manual pages | Find package

XSEL(1x)                                                              XSEL(1x)

NAME
       xsel - manipulate the X selection.

SYNOPSIS
       xsel [OPTION]...

DESCRIPTION
       Retrieve and set the X selection.

       The  X server maintains three selections, called PRIMARY, SECONDARY and
       CLIPBOARD. The PRIMARY selection is conventionally  used  to  implement
       copying  and  pasting  via  the  middle mouse button. The SECONDARY and
       CLIPBOARD selections are less frequently used by application  programs.
       This  program operates on the PRIMARY selection unless otherwise speci-
       fied.

       By default, this program outputs the selection without modification  if
       both  standard  input  and standard output are terminals (ttys). Other-
       wise, the current selection is output if standard output is not a  ter-
       minal  (tty),  and the selection is set from standard input if standard
       input is not a terminal (tty). If any input or output options are given
       then the program behaves only in the requested mode.

       If  both  input  and  output is required then the previous selection is
       output before being replaced by the contents of standard input.

       Input options

       -a, --append
              append standard input to the selection. Implies -i.

       -f, --follow
              append to selection as standard input grows. Implies -i.

       -i, --input
              read standard input into the selection.

       Output options

       -o, --output
              write the selection to standard output.

       Action options

       -c, --clear
              clear the selection. Overrides all input options.

       -d, --delete
              Request that the current selection be  deleted.  This  not  only
              clears  the selection, but also requests to the program in which
              the selection resides that the  selected  contents  be  deleted.
              Overrides all input options.

       Selection options

       -p, --primary
              operate on the PRIMARY selection (default).

       -s, --secondary
              operate on the SECONDARY selection.

       -b, --clipboard
              operate on the CLIPBOARD selection.

       -k, --keep
              Do not modify the selections, but make the PRIMARY and SECONDARY
              selections persist even after the programs they were selected in
              exit. (Conventionally, the CLIPBOARD selection is persisted by a
              separate special purpose program such as xclipboard(1)). Ignores
              all input and output options.

       -x, --exchange
              exchange the PRIMARY and SECONDARY selections. Ignores all input
              and output options.

       X options

       --display displayname
              specify the server to use; see X(1).

       -t ms, --selectionTimeout ms
              Specify the timeout in milliseconds within which  the  selection
              must be retrieved. In --input mode, the background process exits
              after this amount of time. A value  of  0  (zero)  specifies  no
              timeout (default).

       Miscellaneous options

       -l filename, --logfile filename
              Specify  the  file  to  log  errors  to  when detached. (Default
              $HOME/.xsel.log)

       -n, --nodetach
              Do not detach from the controlling terminal.  Without  this  op-
              tion,  xsel  will  fork to become a background process in input,
              exchange and keep modes.

       -h, --help
              display usage information and exit

       -v, --verbose
              Print informative messages. Additional instances of -v raise the
              debugging level, ie. print more information.

       --version
              output version information and exit

NOTES
       There  is  no  X selection buffer. The selection mechanism in X11 is an
       interclient communication mediated by the X server each time  any  pro-
       gram  wishes  to  know  the selection contents, eg. to perform a middle
       mouse button paste. In order to implement modification  of  the  selec-
       tion(s)  (in input, keep and exchange modes) this program detaches from
       the terminal, spawning a child process to supply the  new  selection(s)
       on  demand.  This  child exits immediately when any other program takes
       over the selection(s), eg. when the user next selects some  text  in  a
       terminal window or by running xsel -c.

STANDARDS
       xsel conforms to the Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual Ver-
       sion 2.0 (ICCCM2).

SEE ALSO
       X(7), Xserver(1), xset(1), xclipboard(1), xpaste(1)

AUTHOR
       Conrad Parker <conrad@vergenet.net>, July 2001

                                 January 2008                         XSEL(1x)

Generated by dwww version 1.15 on Fri Jun 14 23:08:46 CEST 2024.