This can be done with either
xsel
or
xclip
command line utilities. Since neither program comes with Ubuntu by default you'll need to first install them via Ubuntu Software or the terminal. Here's how to install them using the terminal (but remember you only need one of these two):
sudo apt install xsel
sudo apt install xclip
Note: If you're using Ubuntu in Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) see this Snap Shot's answer instead.
Now some examples. If you want to copy the output of ls
to the clipboard here's what you'd do:
With xsel
:
ls | xsel -ib
With xclip
:
ls | xclip -sel clip
This can of course be utilized for other terminal commands as well. Let's say you want to paste your network info into a help forum.
Make this even easier with a new bash alias!
Edit your ~/.bash_aliases
file (if it doesn't exist yet create it first with touch ~/.bash_aliases
).
Then add one (depending on which program you decided to go with) of the following:
alias copy='xclip -sel clip'
or
alias copy='xsel -ib'
Then save and close.
Now (after restarting your terminal) you can send standard output to the clipboard just by piping it to copy
(or whatever you decide to name your new alias).
For example:
ls | copy