Install xclip with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• xclip
• xclip-copyfile
• xclip-cutfile
• xclip-pastefile

Project history

The source file records copyright by Kim Saunders in 2001 and Peter Astrand in 2007-2008, marking xclip as an older Unix desktop utility that predates modern clipboard abstractions. Its old changelog starts at version 0.01, "Everything. First release, pretty basic, but it worked," then shows a steady evolution through file input, output mode, selection choice, INCR support for large transfers, UTF-8 fixes, man pages, and helper scripts.

Version 0.05 added the ability to access XA_SECONDARY and XA_CLIPBOARD rather than only the default primary selection. Version 0.06 added support for the X INCR mechanism, improving large-data transfers. Version 0.10 moved the build from Imake to Autoconf and added `xclip-copyfile` and `xclip-pastefile`, making the tool useful not only for text snippets but also for copying files over an existing X11 connection.

The project was historically hosted on SourceForge and later moved to GitHub. SourceForge now says the project remains there for historical reasons and points users to the GitHub repository; the GitHub changelog includes a February 2016 commit changing SourceForge URLs to GitHub. The 0.13 GitHub release in September 2016 gathered several years of fixes and small features after the 0.12 line.

Adoption history

xclip became one of the standard small utilities installed when scripts, editors, or terminal workflows need access to the X11 clipboard. Debian describes it as a command-line interface to X selections, and distribution package pages across Debian, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, GNU Guix, OpenBSD ports, and Homebrew carry the same role: a tiny bridge between shell pipelines and desktop selection ownership.

Its adoption is also visible through how other software talks about clipboard support on Linux: command-line tools frequently recommend `xclip` or `xsel` for X11 clipboard integration. That position has persisted even as Wayland gained adoption, because X11 and XWayland sessions still expose the selection model that xclip was written to manipulate.

How it is used

The classic usage is pipeline-oriented: `uptime | xclip` puts command output into the primary selection, `xclip -o -sel clip` writes the clipboard to standard output, and `xclip -o | xclip -sel clip` copies the primary selection into the explicit clipboard. The README also documents use from Vim filters and scripts that open selected URLs or save browser-copied text.

The helper commands `xclip-copyfile`, `xclip-pastefile`, and `xclip-cutfile` use the selection mechanism to move files or directory trees between directories and even between machines when X11 forwarding is available. This is the package-nerd trick that makes xclip more than a text clipboard tool: it can piggyback on an already-authenticated X connection as a lightweight file-transfer path.

Why package nerds care

xclip matters because the X Window System has multiple selections, not just a single clipboard. The README points to the freedesktop.org clipboard specification and summarizes the difference between XA_PRIMARY, middle-click paste, and XA_CLIPBOARD, giving shell users precise control over a desktop feature that GUI applications usually hide.

The tool's design also explains a recurring Unix packaging pattern: a small C program, a man page, and shell helpers become the glue that lets unrelated programs interoperate. For headless or remote workflows it is still bounded by the existence of an X display, but within that boundary it remains the boring, reliable answer for "put this command output where my GUI can paste it."

Timeline

• 2001: xclip source records Kim Saunders copyright, matching the earliest era of the project.
• 0.05: Adds `-selection` support for XA_SECONDARY and XA_CLIPBOARD.
• 0.06: Adds X INCR mechanism support for larger selection transfers.
• 0.10: Adds file-copy helper scripts and switches from Imake to Autoconf.
• 2010: Changelog records version 0.12 maintenance, man pages, and build fixes.
• 2016-02: Project URLs are changed from SourceForge to GitHub.
• 2016-09-13: GitHub release 0.13 collects several years of fixes and features.

Related projects

• xsel is the other commonly cited X11 clipboard CLI and is often mentioned alongside xclip in Linux tooling.
• The freedesktop.org clipboard specification documents the X selection conventions that xclip exposes.

Sources

• https://github.com/astrand/xclip#readme
• https://github.com/astrand/xclip/blob/master/ChangeLog
• https://github.com/astrand/xclip/blob/master/xclip.c
• https://github.com/astrand/xclip/releases
• https://packages.debian.org/sid/xclip
• https://sourceforge.net/projects/xclip/
• https://specifications.freedesktop.org/clipboards-spec/clipboards-latest.txt