Clipboard

The clipboard is a short-lived holding area managed by the operating system. When you copy or cut text, an image, or files, the data goes to the clipboard, and paste reads it back into another place.

Why it matters

The clipboard moves data between apps without saving files. It normally holds only the latest item, though some systems offer a history. Because other programs can read it, passwords and tokens copied there may be exposed, and malicious sites or apps can try to change what you paste.

On the command line, tools like pbcopy on macOS and clip on Windows connect output to it.

Example

$ cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub | pbcopy      # macOS
C:\> type key.pub | clip                    # Windows

Both copy a public key to the clipboard without opening the file.

Common mistakes

• Pasting commands from a web page into a terminal without checking them first.
• Leaving passwords on the clipboard or in clipboard history.
• Expecting a copied item to survive a restart.

Related

• Command Line (CLI)
• Shell
• File Path
• Process

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