cliptargets 0.1.1

Enumerate multiple X11 clipboard targets.

cliptargets

Enumerate multiple X11 clipboard targets (formats).

Python package for enumerating and accessing multiple clipboard targets (formats) in X11.

Background

In the X Window System, a clipboard can hold data in multiple different formats simultaneously—in superposition. Each format (such as plain text, UTF-8 text, or images) is identified by a target, with a label that is sometiems a MIMEtype.

• The program that owns the clipboard, such as xclip, announces these available targets to other applications.
• When another application wants to paste, it requests the clipboard data in a specific target format.
• The clipboard owner then converts and provides the data in the requested format.
• Although the clipboard owner stores only one original copy of the data, it can supply this data in various formats, depending on what the requesting application needs.

See How It Works for more details

cliptargets handles encoding (some clipboard targets may be non-UTF8) as either a CLI or Python API for inspecting the clipboard's contents across all available formats.

Features

• Comprehensive Target Discovery: Enumerate all available clipboard targets/formats
• Intelligent Encoding Detection: Automatically detects and properly handles various encodings (UTF-8, UTF-16LE, Latin-1)
• Format-Specific Handling: Special handling for Mozilla-specific formats and other binary formats
• Simple CLI: Command-line interface for quick clipboard inspection
• Clean Python API: Programmatic access to clipboard targets
• JSON Output: Option to export all targets and values as JSON
• Zero Dependencies: Core functionality has no external dependencies (beyond xclip)

Installation

pip install cliptargets

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• xclip

Note: The xclip command-line tool must be installed on your system separately.

• On Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install xclip
• On Fedora/RHEL: sudo dnf install xclip
• On Arch Linux: sudo pacman -S xclip

Usage

Command Line

# Print all clipboard targets and their values
cliptargets

# Print as JSON
cliptargets --json

Python API

from cliptargets import get_all_targets, get_target_value, get_targets

# Get a list of all available targets
targets = get_targets()
print(f"Available targets: {targets}")

# Get the value of a specific target
value = get_target_value("STRING")
print(f"STRING value: {value}")

# Get a dictionary of all targets and their values
all_targets = get_all_targets()
for target, value in all_targets.items():
    print(f"{target}: {value}")

Use in Scripts

import cliptargets
import json

# Get HTML content from clipboard if available
html_content = cliptargets.get_target_value("text/html")
if html_content:
    print("HTML content found in clipboard!")
    # Process the HTML...

# Check if a URL is in the clipboard
url = cliptargets.get_target_value("text/x-moz-url-priv")
if url:
    print(f"URL found: {url}")

# Export all clipboard data to a JSON file
all_targets = cliptargets.get_all_targets()
with open("clipboard_data.json", "w") as f:
    json.dump(all_targets, f, indent=2)

Why Use This Library?

X11 clipboard can store data in multiple formats simultaneously, but most tools only access the default text format. This library lets you:

1. Discover Hidden Data: Access formats like HTML, URLs, and application-specific data
2. Debug Copy/Paste Issues: Diagnose why copy/paste operations work differently between applications
3. Handle Encoding Correctly: Avoid encoding problems with UTF-16LE and other formats
4. Access Raw Data: Get direct access to clipboard data without application interference
5. Build Better Tools: Create clipboard managers and data transfer tools with access to all formats

Example Output

STDOUT

Found 9 clipboard targets:

COMPOUND_TEXT            : Hello World
MULTIPLE                 : <not available>
STRING                   : Hello World
TARGETS                  :
TIMESTAMP\nTARGETS\nMULTIPLE\nUTF8_STRING\nCOMPOUND_TEXT\nTEXT\nSTRING\ntext/plain;charset=utf-8\ntext/plain\n
TEXT                     : Hello World
TIMESTAMP                : 62401715\n
UTF8_STRING              : Hello World
text/plain               : Hello World
text/plain;charset=utf-8 : Hello World

JSON

{
  "TIMESTAMP": "62401715\n",
  "TARGETS":
"TIMESTAMP\nTARGETS\nMULTIPLE\nUTF8_STRING\nCOMPOUND_TEXT\nTEXT\nSTRING\ntext/plain;charset=utf-8\ntext/plain\n",
  "MULTIPLE": null,
  "UTF8_STRING": "Hello World",
  "COMPOUND_TEXT": "Hello World",
  "TEXT": "Hello World",
  "STRING": "Hello World",
  "text/plain;charset=utf-8": "Hello World",
  "text/plain": "Hello World"
}

Project Structure

• cliptargets/core.py: Core functionality for handling clipboard targets and encoding
• cliptargets/cli.py: Command-line interface implementation
• cliptargets/__init__.py: Package exports and version information

Common Clipboard Targets

The library works with any clipboard targets, but here are some common ones you might find:

Target	Description	Typical Applications
STRING	Plain text (ISO Latin-1)	Most applications
UTF8_STRING	Unicode text	Modern applications
text/html	HTML content	Web browsers
text/plain	Plain text	Most applications
text/uri-list	URLs	Browsers, file managers
image/png	PNG image data	Image editors
TIMESTAMP	When the selection was made	All applications
TARGETS	List of available targets	All applications

See ICCCM for more details:

• X Consortium: Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual

Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

1. Issues & Discussions: Please open a GitHub issue for bugs, feature requests, or questions.
2. Pull Requests: PRs are welcome!
   • Install the dev dependencies with pip install -e ".[dev]"
   • Make sure tests pass with pytest
   • Format code with pre-commit run --all-files

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Credits

The original inspiration for this tool came from troubleshooting complex clipboard encoding issues with X11 applications. Special thanks to the X.org community and the ICCCM documentation.