clip-view

Render specific local pages

$ clip-view [path/to/page1.clip path/to/page2.clip ...]

$ clip-view [page_name1 page_name2 ...]

$ clip-view --render [tldr|tldr-colorful|docopt|docopt-colorful] [page_name1 page_name2 ...]

$ clip-view --theme [path/to/local_theme.yaml|remote_theme_name] [page_name1 page_name2 ...]

$ clip-view --clear-[page|theme]-cache

$ clip-view --help

$ clip-view --version

As clip-view is not a standard command, its syntax is custom-defined.
Typically, it would serve as a wrapper or alias for commands like xclip, with a common usage pattern:
clip-view [OPTIONS]
Which internally might execute:
xclip [SELECTION_OPTIONS] -o [OTHER_OPTIONS] | DISPLAY_COMMAND

-o
    When wrapping xclip, this option outputs the content of the X selection to standard output. This is the core functionality that a clip-view command would utilize.

-selection {primary|secondary|clipboard}
    When wrapping xclip, this specifies which X selection to operate on. primary is the default (mouse selection), clipboard is for Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V content, and secondary is less common. A clip-view often targets clipboard.

-d {display_name}
    When wrapping xclip, specifies the X display to use. Useful when working across multiple displays or in a complex X setup.

-noutf8
    When wrapping xclip, disables UTF-8 encoding for output, which can be useful for compatibility with legacy applications or specific character sets.

The clip-view command is not a standard or widely distributed utility in common Linux distributions. It is most likely a custom alias, a shell script, or part of a niche application created by users to simplify the process of viewing the current content of the X selection (clipboard).

In the absence of a dedicated clip-view executable, users typically rely on tools like xclip or xsel to interact with the X clipboard from the command line. For instance, the command xclip -o -selection clipboard (for the conventional Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V clipboard) or xclip -o (for the primary mouse selection) is commonly used to output the clipboard's content to standard output. This output can then be piped to other commands for display (e.g., less, cat, nvim -R -).

Graphical desktop environments also provide built-in clipboard viewers or history managers (like Klipper in KDE or GNOME Clipboard Indicator), but clip-view implies a command-line approach.

The most significant caveat is that clip-view is not a standard Linux command. Its presence and behavior depend entirely on whether a user or system administrator has created it as a custom script or alias on a particular system. If you encounter this command, its exact functionality, available options, and underlying dependencies (e.g., on xclip or xsel) will vary.

It will only function correctly within an X Window System environment as it directly interacts with the X server's clipboard mechanisms. For headless servers or non-X environments, there is no direct equivalent of a system-wide graphical clipboard.

A common implementation of clip-view as a shell alias or function might look like:
alias clip-view='xclip -o -selection clipboard | less'
or as a slightly more complex script:
#!/bin/bash
xclip -o -selection clipboard "$@" | less
The specific choice of X selection (primary vs. clipboard) and the final display command (like less, cat, or a text editor) would depend entirely on the creator's preference and workflow.

On the X Window System, there are typically three types of selections (often referred to as clipboards):

• PRIMARY selection: Content is automatically copied when text is highlighted/selected with the mouse. It is commonly pasted by middle-clicking. This is xclip's default selection for output.
• CLIPBOARD selection: Content is copied explicitly using standard keybindings like Ctrl+C (or equivalent menu actions). It is pasted with Ctrl+V. This is the most common 'clipboard' for user-initiated copy/paste operations, and what a clip-view command would typically target.
• SECONDARY selection: This selection is less commonly used by general applications and often reserved for specific, application-defined purposes.

The concept of a shared clipboard in the X Window System dates back to its early days, with mechanisms for selections (primary, secondary, and clipboard) being fundamental. Tools like xclip and xsel emerged as robust command-line interfaces to these X selections, enabling scripts and terminal users to interact with the clipboard.

While these underlying tools have been stable for a long time, the specific wrapper clip-view is a relatively modern, user-created convention. It reflects the desire for simpler, more memorable aliases for common clipboard inspection tasks in a command-line environment, abstracting away the specifics of xclip or xsel syntax.

xclip(1), xsel(1), less(1), cat(1)