Any idea how to access the Windows clipboard using a batch file?
To set the contents of the clipboard, as Chris Thornton, klaatu, and bunches of others have said, use %windir%\system32\clip.exe
.
For a quick one-liner, you could do something like this:
powershell -sta "add-type -as System.Windows.Forms; [windows.forms.clipboard]::GetText()"
Capture and parse with a for /F
loop if needed. This will not execute as quickly as the JScript solution below, but it does have the advantage of simplicity.
Thanks Jonathan for pointing to the capabilities of the mysterious htmlfile
COM object for retrieving the clipboard. It is possible to invoke a batch + JScript hybrid to retrieve the contents of the clipboard. In fact, it only takes one line of JScript, and a cscript
line to trigger it, and is much faster than the PowerShell / .NET solution offered earlier.
@if (@CodeSection == @Batch) @then
@echo off
setlocal
set "getclip=cscript /nologo /e:JScript "%~f0""
rem // If you want to process the contents of the clipboard line-by-line, use
rem // something like this to preserve blank lines:
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('%getclip% ^| findstr /n "^"') do (
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set "line=%%I" & set "line=!line:*:=!"
echo(!line!
endlocal
)
rem // If all you need is to output the clipboard text to the console without
rem // any processing, then remove the "for /f" loop above and uncomment the
rem // following line:
:: %getclip%
goto :EOF
@end // begin JScript hybrid chimera
WSH.Echo(WSH.CreateObject('htmlfile').parentWindow.clipboardData.getData('text'));
It is possible to retrieve clipboard text from the Windows console without any 3rd-party applications by using .NET. If you have powershell
installed, you can retrieve the clipboard contents by creating an imaginary textbox and pasting into it. (Source)
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms
$tb = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$tb.Multiline = $true
$tb.Paste()
$tb.Text
If you don't have powershell
, you can still compile a simple .NET application to dump the clipboard text to the console. Here's a C# example. (Inspiration)
using System;
using System.Threading;
using System.Windows.Forms;
class dummy {
[STAThread]
public static void Main() {
if (Clipboard.ContainsText()) Console.Write(Clipboard.GetText());
}
}
Here's a batch script that combines both methods. If powershell
exists within %PATH%
, use it. Otherwise, find the C# compiler / linker and build a temporary .NET application. As you can see in the batch script comments, you can capture the clipboard contents using a for /f
loop or simply dump them to the console.
:: clipboard.bat
:: retrieves contents of clipboard
@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
:: Does powershell.exe exist within %PATH%?
for %%I in (powershell.exe) do if "%%~$PATH:I" neq "" (
set getclip=powershell "Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms;$tb=New-Object System.Windows.Forms.TextBox;$tb.Multiline=$true;$tb.Paste();$tb.Text"
) else (
rem :: If not, compose and link C# application to retrieve clipboard text
set getclip=%temp%\getclip.exe
>"%temp%\c.cs" echo using System;using System.Threading;using System.Windows.Forms;class dummy{[STAThread]
>>"%temp%\c.cs" echo public static void Main^(^){if^(Clipboard.ContainsText^(^)^) Console.Write^(Clipboard.GetText^(^)^);}}
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('dir /b /s "%windir%\microsoft.net\*csc.exe"') do (
if not exist "!getclip!" "%%I" /nologo /out:"!getclip!" "%temp%\c.cs" 2>NUL
)
del "%temp%\c.cs"
if not exist "!getclip!" (
echo Error: Please install .NET 2.0 or newer, or install PowerShell.
goto :EOF
)
)
:: If you want to process the contents of the clipboard line-by-line, use
:: something like this to preserve blank lines:
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('%getclip% ^| findstr /n "^"') do (
set "line=%%I" & set "line=!line:*:=!"
echo(!line!
)
:: If all you need is to output the clipboard text to the console without
:: any processing, then remove the above "for /f" loop and uncomment the
:: following line:
:: %getclip%
:: Clean up the mess
del "%temp%\getclip.exe" 2>NUL
goto :EOF