wclip - Windows CLI clipping tool

wclip is a command line tool to copy data to the windows clipboard. It can take data from a file or stdin, e.g. using the pipe.

wclip adds the --secret option to tell ClipMate, AceText and other clipboard viewers not to capture the copied data. This way the clipboard history can be kept free from passwords copied from a password manager like password-store.

wclip is used in pass-extension-wclip, an extension for password-store.

Usage

wclip - command line interface to the windows clipboard

usage: wclip [option] [file]

Reads from standard in when no file is given or a file and makes the data available in the clipboard.

   -v, --version    show version information
   -h, --help       show usage information
   -o, --out        prints the copied data to stdout
   -s, --secret     hides the copied data from clipboard history tools
                    (generally used for passwords)

Example

pass some/secret/password | wclip --secret

Copies the password to the clipboard without having it stored in the clipboard history.

How to build

wclip is build with CMake and Visual Studio, preferably using the command line.

Environment setup

Open a VS2015 x64 Native Tools Command Prompt and change to your working directory

Add cmake to the PATH if necessary.

Get the sources

Clone the wclip repository

git clone  https://github.com/palortoff/wclip.git

Enter the project folder

cd wclip

Run CMake

Create and enter the build folder

mkdir build
cd build

Create NMake make files for the Release configuration:

cmake -G "NMake Makefiles" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..

or the Debug configuration:

cmake -G "NMake Makefiles" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ..

Or create a Visual Studio solution file:

cmake -G "Visual Studio 12 2013 Win64" ..

Building the binary

To compile wclip now run:

nmake

To build with Visual Studio open the wclip.sln solution file and build in Release or Debug configuration.

The binary will be written to

<repository root>/dist/release

or

<repository root>/dist/debug

Testing

The wclip tests are written with Bats and use the wclip.exe in Release configuration from dist/release.

Bats requires a bash to run Open a bash shell (like the git bash for windows) in the wclip repository root. If you don't have bats already configured, run bats like this:

<path to bats repository root>/libexec/bats tests

This tests the complete wclip functionality except for the --secret parameter, as this is not possible with simple shell capabilities.

Install

As windows does not have a designated location to put binaries that are available in the path, simply copy the wclip.exe from dist/release to a location available in the path. Wclip is linked statically so there is no need to install a runtime or other libraries.

Acknowledgements / Links

wclip is based on this xlip port to windows: https://gist.github.com/Rapptz/9664773178da1bc397cf

Ignoring Clipboard Updates with the CF_CLIPBOARD_VIEWER_IGNORE Clipboard Format