I use this everyday

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About this video

NetworkChuck shows how to get Mac-style pbcopy and pbpaste commands working in a Linux or WSL terminal so command output can be piped straight to the clipboard and clipboard contents piped into other commands. He demonstrates the payoff first: catting a large file into the clipboard, and piping a whole web article into Fabric for summarisation. Macs have these commands built in; on Linux he installs a small command-line clipboard utility with apt, then tests copying with its input/clipboard form and pasting with its output form. Because those commands are long, he shortens them with aliases defined at the top of ~/.bashrc, aliasing pbcopy and pbpaste to the utility’s copy and paste forms, then reloads the shell with source ~/.bashrc and verifies echo piped into pbcopy comes back via pbpaste. He then extends the setup to remote servers: install the same utility on the server, confirm X11 forwarding is set to yes in /etc/ssh/sshd_config (editing and restarting SSH if not), add the same aliases on the server, disconnect, and reconnect with ssh -X so X11 forwarding carries the clipboard. He notes this works Linux-to-Linux and WSL-to-Linux, but not from plain Windows, and says he uses it daily, especially with Fabric.

Key takeaways

pbcopy and pbpaste are built into macOS but must be recreated on Linux and WSL with a command-line clipboard utility
Pipe any command output into pbcopy, and use pbpaste to send clipboard contents into a file or another command like Fabric
Define pbcopy/pbpaste as aliases in ~/.bashrc and run source ~/.bashrc to activate them
For remote servers: install the utility there, enable X11 forwarding in sshd_config, add the aliases, and reconnect with ssh -X
The remote trick works Linux-to-Linux and WSL-to-Linux, but not from plain Windows into Linux

Episode details: published May 17, 2024 · 6:25 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are NetworkChuck’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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