📄→📋→📄 clipboard-tools for terminal

A set of command-line utilities for reliable file handling through the system clipboard in Linux.

Key Feature: automatic filename preservation when copying and restoring it when pasting - no manual specification required!

Package Contents

Utility	Purpose
cf	Copy File - copy file to clipboard
pf	Paste File - paste from clipboard to file with original name

Features

• ✅ Automatic detection of binary files (images, PDFs, archives)
• ✅ Binary data encoding in base64 for reliable transfer
• ✅ Original filename preservation in metadata
• ✅ Tab-completion for filenames in Zsh
• ✅ Protection against accidental file overwrites
• ✅ Support for outputting clipboard content to terminal (pf -)

Quick Start

# 1. Installation
git clone https://github.com/psqlmaster/clipboard-tools.git && \
cd clipboard-tools && \
chmod +x ./install.sh && \
sudo ./install.sh

2. Usage

cf document.pdf          # Copy file to clipboard
pf                       # Paste as document.pdf
pf report.txt            # Paste under different name
pf - | grep "error"      # Output clipboard content to terminal

Usage Examples

Copy and paste with filename preservation

cf ~/Downloads/screenshot.png
# ✓ Binary file 'screenshot.png' encoded and copied

pf
# ✓ Binary data saved to 'screenshot.png'

Working with text files

cf ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
pf public_key.txt
# ✓ Text saved to 'public_key.txt'

Force overwrite

pf -f existing_file.pdf

Viewing clipboard content

pf - | head -20

Requirements

Component	Purpose	Installation (Debian/Ubuntu)
xclip	Clipboard operations	sudo apt install xclip
base64	Binary data encoding	included in coreutils
file	File type detection	pre-installed

🔧 Project Structure

clipboard-tools/
├── bin/                          # executable wrappers
├── lib/                          # main logic
├── share/zsh/vendor-completions/ # Zsh completions
├── install.sh                    # installer
├── README.md                     # documentation
└── LICENSE                       # license

Installation and Removal

# Installation (requires sudo)
sudo ./install.sh

# Check dependencies without installation
./install.sh --check

# Removal
sudo ./install.sh --uninstall

Tips

• Zsh completions: After installation, run once:

autoload -Uz compinit && compinit

• Metadata: Information about the last copied file is stored in ~/.cache/clipboard-meta

• Safety: Binary files are always encoded in base64 - no risk of data corruption

License

BSD 3-Clause License - see license file

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Designed for professionals who value efficiency and reliability in daily terminal work.