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I want to search and cut text from command output in a terminal so I can use it in subsequent command line invocations or just in an editor session.

Is there any way to easily run a regular expression against the output of a terminal and cutting results without touching the mouse?

My requirements are:

  • it should work while working with remote machines through ssh. In those machines I can not install extra software there so the solution must be local.
  • if possible, it must be "always present". For instance, if I'm running a long process and suddenly it fails I'd like to be able to grep through the output without having to start the process again with a prepared environment.
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Please remember to accept/upvote the best answer to your question (tick/check mark on the left). This way, the question is marked as "answered" and future readers can refer to it knowing the solution works. Thank you...:) – izx Jul 8 '12 at 3:35

2 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

screen(1) allows you to copy/paste using the keyboard, but it requires that you run your shell/process inside screen.

To copy, hit Ctrl+A [, move the cursor (using the arrow keys) to the start point and hit ⏎ (RETURN), move the cursor to the end point and hit ⏎. The marked text is now copied.

To paste, hit Ctrl+A ]

This solution also applies to Byobu, since Byobu is just a wrapper around screen.

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xclip and grep and pipes!

  • Install the xclip utility (sudo apt-get install xclip)

    • By default, xclip is set to copy piped input to the clipboard
    • xclip -o will "paste" the contents of the clipboard into your terminal (i.e. standard output)

  • For regular expressions, just pipe the command to grep; the -P switch will give you full Perl regex functionality.

  • Example: ls -lR | grep -P "anc.*" | xclip to copy to clipboard

    • Use tee xclip instead so that it gets displayed AND copied.
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I didn't know about xclip and it seems useful but it doesn't solve my current problem. See the updated question. – ancechu Jun 27 '12 at 7:33
@ancechu: Well, that's why you should explain as much of the context as possible in the question to start with. Do you ssh from Windows, if so which program? Or just from gnome-terminal, etc.? – izx Jun 27 '12 at 9:55
I'm working from a Linux machine, mainly using terminator and ssh-ing to remote boxes – ancechu Jun 27 '12 at 13:54

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