---
name: "clipboard"
section: "n"
platform: "linux"
package: "tk"
version: "8.6.16-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/clipboard/n"
---

# clipboard(n)

Manipulate Tk clipboard

```

```

## NAME

clipboard - Manipulate Tk clipboard

## SYNOPSIS

**clipboard** *option* ?*arg arg ...*?

```

```

## DESCRIPTION

This command provides a Tcl interface to the Tk clipboard, which stores data for later retrieval using the selection mechanism (via the **-selection CLIPBOARD** option). In order to copy data into the clipboard, **clipboard clear** must be called, followed by a sequence of one or more calls to **clipboard** **append**.  To ensure that the clipboard is updated atomically, all appends should be completed before returning to the event loop.

The first argument to **clipboard** determines the format of the rest of the arguments and the behavior of the command.  The following forms are currently supported:

- **clipboard append** ?**-displayof** *window*? ?**-format** *format*? ?**-type** *type*? ?**--**? *data*

  Appends *data* to the clipboard on *window*'s display in the form given by *type* with the representation given by *format* and claims ownership of the clipboard on *window*'s display.

  *Type* specifies the form in which the selection is to be returned (the desired “target” for conversion, in ICCCM terminology), and should be an atom name such as **STRING** or **FILE\_NAME**; see the Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual for complete details. *Type* defaults to **STRING**.

  The *format* argument specifies the representation that should be used to transmit the selection to the requester (the second column of Table 2 of the ICCCM), and defaults to **STRING**.  If *format* is **STRING**, the selection is transmitted as 8-bit ASCII characters.  If *format* is **ATOM**, then the *data* is divided into fields separated by white space; each field is converted to its atom value, and the 32-bit atom value is transmitted instead of the atom name.  For any other *format*,  *data* is divided into fields separated by white space and each field is converted to a 32-bit integer; an array of integers is transmitted to the selection requester.  Note that strings passed to **clipboard append** are concatenated before conversion, so the caller must take care to ensure appropriate spacing across string boundaries.  All items appended to the clipboard with the same *type* must have the same *format*.

  The *format* argument is needed only for compatibility with clipboard requesters that do not use Tk.  If the Tk toolkit is being used to retrieve the **CLIPBOARD** selection then the value is converted back to a string at the requesting end, so *format* is irrelevant.

  A **--** argument may be specified to mark the end of options:  the next argument will always be used as *data*. This feature may be convenient if, for example, *data* starts with a **-**.

- **clipboard clear** ?**-displayof** *window*?

  Claims ownership of the clipboard on *window*'s display and removes any previous contents.  *Window* defaults to “.”. Returns an empty string.

- **clipboard get** ?**-displayof** *window*? ?**-type** *type*?

  Retrieve data from the clipboard on *window*'s display. *Window* defaults to “.”. *Type* specifies the form in which the data is to be returned and should be an atom name such as **STRING** or **FILE\_NAME**.  *Type* defaults to **STRING**.  This command is equivalent to “**selection get** **-selection CLIPBOARD**”.

  Note that on modern X11 systems, the most useful type to retrieve for transferred strings is not **STRING**, but rather **UTF8\_STRING**.

## EXAMPLES

Get the current contents of the clipboard.

```
if {[catch {clipboard get} contents]} {
    # There were no clipboard contents at all
}
```

Set the clipboard to contain a fixed string.

```
clipboard clear
clipboard append "some fixed string"
```

You can put custom data into the clipboard by using a custom **-type** option. This is not necessarily portable, but can be very useful. The method of passing Tcl scripts this way is effective, but should be mixed with safe interpreters in production code.

```
# This is a very simple canvas serializer;
# it produces a script that recreates the item(s) when executed
proc getItemConfig {canvas tag} {
   set script {}
   foreach item [$canvas find withtag $tag] {
      append script {$canvas create } [$canvas type $item]
      append script { } [$canvas coords $item] { }
      foreach config [$canvas itemconf $item] {
         lassign $config name - - - value
         append script [list $name $value] { }
      }
      append script \n
   }
   return [string trim $script]
}
# Set up a binding on a canvas to cut and paste an item
set c [canvas .c]
pack $c
$c create text 150 30 -text "cut and paste me"
bind $c <<Cut>> {
   clipboard clear
   clipboard append -type TkCanvasItem \
         [getItemConfig %W current]
   # Delete because this is cut, not copy.
   %W delete current
}
bind $c <<Paste>> {
   catch {
      set canvas %W
      eval [clipboard get -type TkCanvasItem]
   }
}
```

## SEE ALSO

[interp(n)](/interp/n.md), [selection(n)](/selection/n.md)

## KEYWORDS

clear, format, clipboard, append, selection, type