In this article I'm going to share a simple bash function that makes dealing with system clipboard easier on linux:

clb () { TMP='/tmp/.clb.tmp' if [[ $1 = 'e' ]] then clb > $TMP $EDITOR $TMP cat $TMP | clb rm $TMP elif [[ -t 0 ]] then xsel -b -o else xsel -b -i fi }

You need to install xsel on your system.

Usage

It automatically determines whether it's supposed to output the current clipboard or overwrite the clipboard based on its location in the pipeline:
clb | rg '^//' # Search clipboard for comments cat program.cc | rg '^//' | clb # Copy all comments in a file clb | sed 's/C++/Rust/g' | clb # modify clipboard contents
It will open the clipboard content in your EDITOR if invoked as clb e. Clipboard will be updated when you exit the editor.