Copying to the clipboard in Java [duplicate]

Question

I want to set the user's clipboard to a string in a Java console application. Any ideas?

Retrusion

I tried using AWT to no avail. – Retrusion

then show what you've tried and tell us what exactly didn't work – Putrid

Answer 1

Use the Toolkit to get the system clipboard. Create a StringSelection with the String and add it to the Clipboard.

Simplified:

StringSelection selection = new StringSelection(theString);
Clipboard clipboard = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard();
clipboard.setContents(selection, selection);

Hornwort

It didn't work for me, the clipboard was cleared. I'm using Linux. – Unprovided

it should, maybe consider the second comment on original question, or rado's answer below – Hornwort

Answer 2

Here is a simple SSCCE to accomplish this:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.datatransfer.*;
import java.io.*;

class ClipboardTest
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
        throws UnsupportedFlavorException, IOException
    {
        Clipboard c = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemClipboard();
        StringSelection testData;

        //  Add some test data

        if (args.length > 0)
            testData = new StringSelection( args[0] );
        else
            testData = new StringSelection( "Test Data" );

        c.setContents(testData, testData);

        //  Get clipboard contents, as a String

        Transferable t = c.getContents( null );

        if ( t.isDataFlavorSupported(DataFlavor.stringFlavor) )
        {
            Object o = t.getTransferData( DataFlavor.stringFlavor );
            String data = (String)t.getTransferData( DataFlavor.stringFlavor );
            System.out.println( "Clipboard contents: " + data );
        }

        System.exit(0);
    }
}

Ecstatic

Answer 3

For anyone still stumbling upon this post searching for the JavaFX way to accomplish this, here you go:

ClipboardContent content = new ClipboardContent();
content.putString("Some text");
content.putHtml("<b>Bold</b> text");
Clipboard.getSystemClipboard().setContent(content);

For further information, read the documentation.

Augustaaugustan

Answer 4

If you are on Linux and using OpenJDK, it will not work. You must use the Sun JDK on Linux for it to work.

Weisbart

Why? do you have more information about it? A bug report? You could get some reputation ;) https://mcmap.net/q/138063/-copying-to-global-clipboard-does-not-work-with-java-in-ubuntu/194609 – Burgonet

What will not work? Is this a response to one of the other answers? – Footstep

This is very wrong. Sun JDK isd openjdk build as everything else, and clipoabrd on linux, including java as client, works fine – Tottering

Answer 5

In Linux with xclip:

Runtime run = Runtime.getRuntime();
Process p = null;
String str = "hello";
try {
        p = run.exec(new String[]{"sh", "-c", "echo " + str + " | xclip -selection clipboard"});
}
catch (Exception e) {
    System.out.println(e);
}

Shrink

What if the string contains end-of-line characters? Will it work then? – Footstep

that really defeats the idea of a multi platform programming language.. – Analogy

This is lacking any kind of sanitation. Please don't use this in production code. If someone copies the string " rm -rf $HOME, you've just deleted their home directory. Also, I believe Ubuntu doesn't come with xclip by default. – Got

@Got You're right. That's why I came up with the following solution: String text = "text_to_copy_to_clipboard"; ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("xclip", "-selection", "clipboard"); BufferedWriter bw = null; try { Process process = pb.start(); bw = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(process.getOutputStream())); bw.write(text); } finally {if (bw != null) bw.close();} – Loggerhead