---
name: "wcopy"
section: "1x"
platform: "linux"
package: "wmaker"
version: "0.80.0-4.2"
release: "Debian 3.0 (Woody)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/wcopy"
---

# wcopy(1x)

copy to and paste from an X11 cut buffer

## NAME

wcopy, wpaste - copy to and paste from an X11 cut buffer

## SYNOPSIS

**wcopy \[ \[0-9\]... \] \[wxcopy's normal args\]**

## DESCRIPTION

**wcopy** reads from standard input and copies it to the nominated X11 cut buffers. The default is the first cut buffer.

**wpaste** pastes the nominated X11 cut buffers(s) to standard output. The default is the first cut buffer.

Note that the cut buffers are numbered starting from 0.

Simple integer arguments pick a cut-buffer.

For **wcopy**,  the argument number picks a cut-buffer to copy the standard input to. (Subsequent copies are taken from the first nominated buffer - it does not try to re-read the input!))

## EXAMPLES

- **echo fred \| wcopy 1 2**

  This puts the word "fred" into the 2nd and 3rd cut-buffers.

- **wpaste \| tr A-Z a-z \| wcopy 1**

  This copies the clipboard then translates all upper case letters to lower in the 1st cut buffer and copies the result into the 2nd.

- **wpaste 0 \| fmt -w 66 \| sed 's/^/\> /' \| wcopy 1**

  This reformats the clipboard to paragraphs with lines no longer than 66 characters, inserts typical email quoting characters, and copies the output to the 2nd cut-buffer.

- **wpaste \| sed 's/^\> \*//' \| wcopy**

  This removes email quotes from the start of lines in the clipboard and replaces the clipboard with the un-quoted material.

- **wpaste \> ~/.myclipboard**

  Copies the clipboard into a location where it can be pixked up from other computers (e.g. even from a Windows machine) - as per the file permissions you choose for the ".myclipboard" file.

## ENVIRONMENT

If WXCOPY\_DEFS or WXPASTE\_DEFS are defined in your environment, they will always be provided as the first argument(s) to the respective underlying command.

## BUGS

Don't use "-cutbuffer N" notation as per wxcopy/wxpaste: stick to just using the plain unadorned number(s) that wcopy/wpaste expect.

## SEE ALSO

[wxcopy(1)](/wxcopy/1.md), [wxpaste(1)](/wxpaste/1.md), [xcb(1)](/xcb/1.md)

## AUTHOR

Luke Kendall