INTRODUCTION

XSel is a command-line program for getting and setting the contents of the X selection. Normally this is only accessible by manually highlighting information and pasting it with the middle mouse button.

To read a file into the X selection:

    xsel < file

after which you can paste the file's contents into any X application with the middle mouse button, as though you had highlighted its text. XSel will read in the file contents exactly, whereas manual highlighting invariably breaks lines and transforms tabs into spaces. This is especially handy for copying in large files.

To write the X selection to a file:

    xsel > file

after which file will contain exactly the contents of the X selection, without trailing newlines and spaces and crap.

XSel is more than just cat for the X selection.

Append to the X selection:

    xsel --append < file

To follow a growing file:

    xsel --follow < file

to make the X selection follow standard input as it grows (like tail -f).

ADVANCED FEATURES

XSel also lets you access some of the more esoteric features of the X selection:

Delete the contents of the selection

    xsel --delete

Will cause the program in which text is selected to delete that text. This really works, you can try it on xedit to remotely delete text in the editor window.

Manipulate the secondary selection

The X Window System maintains two selections, the usual primary selection and a secondary, which isn't used much ... XSel lets you use the secondary selection, for example:

    To get and set the secondary selection:
    ---------------------------------------

    xsel --secondary < file
    xsel --secondary > file

    To swap the primary and secondary selections:
    ---------------------------------------------
    xsel --exchange

So for example you can store useful text in the secondary selection and retrieve it later.

Manipulate the clipboard selection

Similarly, X has a clipboard selection. You can use the standard xclipboard program to manage a history of selected text, and you can use xsel to actually get text into that clipboard:

    xsel --clipboard < file

Make the selection contents persist in memory

Normally the X selection only exists as long as the program it was selected in is running. Further, some buggy applications tend to forget their selection text after a little while. If you run:

    xsel --keep

after selecting some important text, xsel will copy the text into its own memory so you can paste it elsewhere even if the original program exits or crashes.

Further information

Naturally all these options have single character equivalents, and

    xsel --help

provides usage information. For complete details, see the xsel(1x) man page.

DOWNLOAD

New versions of XSel are distributed in source form from:

    http://www.vergenet.net/~conrad/software/xsel/

STANDARDS

X11 ICCCM2

XSel conforms to the X Window System Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual Version 2.0 (ICCCM2), including correct handling of TARGETS, MULTIPLE, TIMESTAMP, and DELETE targets, INCR properties and large data transfers.

My thoughts on ICCCM are available at:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20110720132303/https://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/July/msg00054.html

(Warning: explicit language).

LICENSE

Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. No representations are made about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.