#hs.pasteboard

Inspect/manipulate pasteboards (more commonly called clipboards). Both the system default pasteboard and custom named pasteboards can be interacted with.

This module is based partially on code from the previous incarnation of Mjolnir by Steven Degutis.

#Submodules

hs.pasteboard.watcher

#API Overview

Functions - API calls offered directly by the extension

allContentTypes
callbackWhenChanged
changeCount
clearContents
contentTypes
deletePasteboard
getContents
pasteboardTypes
readAllData
readArchiverDataForUTI
readColor
readDataForUTI
readImage
readPListForUTI
readSound
readString
readStyledText
readURL
setContents
typesAvailable
uniquePasteboard
writeAllData
writeArchiverDataForUTI
writeDataForUTI
writeObjects
writePListForUTI

#API Documentation

#Functions

#allContentTypes


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.allContentTypes([name]) -> table`
Type	Function
Description	An array whose elements are a table containing the content types for each element on the clipboard.
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard.
Returns	an array with each index representing an object on the pasteboard. If the pasteboard contains only one element, this is equivalent to `{ hs.pasteboard.contentTypes(name) }`.
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 256

#callbackWhenChanged


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.callbackWhenChanged([name], [timeout], callback) -> None`
Type	Function
Description	Invokes callback when the specified pasteboard has changed or the timeout is reached.
Parameters	`name` - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. `timeout` - an optional number, default 2.0, specifying the time in seconds that this function should wait for a change to the specified pasteboard before timing out. `callback` - a required callback function that will be invoked when either the specified pasteboard contents have changed or the timeout has been reached. The function should expect one boolean argument, true if the pasteboard contents have changed or false if timeout has been reached.
Returns	None
Notes	This function can be used to capture the results of a copy operation issued programmatically with `hs.application:selectMenuItem` or `hs.eventtap.keyStroke` without resorting to creating your own timers: ~~~ hs.eventtap.keyStroke({"cmd"}, "c", 0) -- or whatever method you want to trigger the copy hs.pasteboard.callbackWhenChanged(5, function(state) if state then local contents = hs.pasteboard.getContents() -- do what you want with contents else error("copy timeout") -- or whatever fallback you want when it times out end end) ~~~
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/pasteboard.lua line 64

#changeCount


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.changeCount([name]) -> number`
Type	Function
Description	Gets the number of times the pasteboard owner has changed
Parameters	name - An optional string containing the name of the pasteboard. Defaults to the system pasteboard
Returns	A number containing a count of the times the pasteboard owner has changed
Notes	This is useful for seeing if the pasteboard has been updated by another process
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 209

#clearContents


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.clearContents([name])`
Type	Function
Description	Clear the contents of the pasteboard
Parameters	name - An optional string containing the name of the pasteboard. Defaults to the system pasteboard
Returns	None
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 149

#contentTypes


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.contentTypes([name]) -> table`
Type	Function
Description	Return the UTI strings of the data types for the first pasteboard item on the specified pasteboard.
Parameters	name - An optional string containing the name of the pasteboard. Defaults to the system pasteboard
Returns	a table containing the UTI strings of the data types for the first pasteboard item.
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 185

#deletePasteboard


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.deletePasteboard(name)`
Type	Function
Description	Deletes a custom pasteboard
Parameters	name - A string containing the name of the pasteboard
Returns	None
Notes	You can not delete the system pasteboard, this function should only be called on custom pasteboards you have created
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 226

#getContents


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.getContents([name]) -> string or nil`
Type	Function
Description	Gets the contents of the pasteboard
Parameters	name - An optional string containing the name of the pasteboard. Defaults to the system pasteboard
Returns	A string containing the contents of the pasteboard, or nil if an error occurred
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 56

#pasteboardTypes


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.pasteboardTypes([name]) -> table`
Type	Function
Description	Return the pasteboard type identifier strings for the specified pasteboard.
Parameters	name - An optional string containing the name of the pasteboard. Defaults to the system pasteboard
Returns	a table containing the pasteboard type identifier strings
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 165

#readAllData


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.readAllData([name]) -> table`
Type	Function
Description	Returns all values in the first item on the pasteboard in a table that maps a UTI value to the raw data of the item
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard.
Returns	a mapping from a UTI value to the raw data
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/pasteboard.lua line 21

#readArchiverDataForUTI


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.readArchiverDataForUTI([name], uti) -> any`
Type	Function
Description	Returns the first item on the pasteboard with the specified UTI. The data on the pasteboard must be encoded as a keyed archive object conforming to NSKeyedArchiver.
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. uti - a string specifying the UTI of the pasteboard item to retrieve.
Returns	a lua item representing the archived data if it can be decoded. Generates an error if the data is in the wrong format.
Notes	NSKeyedArchiver specifies an architecture-independent format that is often used in OS X applications to store and transmit objects between applications and when storing data to a file. It works by recording information about the object types and key-value pairs which make up the objects being stored. Only objects which have conversion functions built into Hammerspoon can be converted. A string representation describing unrecognized types wil be returned. If you find a common data type that you believe may be of interest to Hammerspoon users, feel free to contribute a conversion function or make a request in the Hammerspoon Google group or GitHub site. Some applications may define their own classes which can be archived. Hammerspoon will be unable to recognize these types if the application does not make the object type available in one of its frameworks. You may be able to load the necessary framework with `package.loadlib("/Applications/appname.app/Contents/Frameworks/frameworkname.framework/frameworkname", "*")` before retrieving the data, but a full representation of the data in Hammerspoon is probably not possible without support from the Application's developers.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 413

#readColor


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.readColor([name], [all]) -> hs.drawing.color table or array of hs.drawing.color tables`
Type	Function
Description	Returns one or more `hs.drawing.color` tables from the clipboard, or nil if no compatible objects are present.
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. all - an optional boolean indicating whether or not all (true) of the colors on the clipboard should be returned, or just the first (false). Defaults to false.
Returns	By default the first color on the clipboard, or a table of all colors on the clipboard if the `all` parameter is provided and set to true. Returns nil if no colors are present.
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 820

#readDataForUTI


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.readDataForUTI([name], uti) -> string`
Type	Function
Description	Returns the first item on the pasteboard with the specified UTI as raw data
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. uti - a string specifying the UTI of the pasteboard item to retrieve.
Returns	a lua string containing the raw data of the specified pasteboard item
Notes	The UTI's of the items on the pasteboard can be determined with the hs.pasteboard.allContentTypes and hs.pasteboard.contentTypes functions.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 331

#readImage


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.readImage([name], [all]) -> hs.image object or array of hs.image objects`
Type	Function
Description	Returns one or more `hs.image` objects from the clipboard, or nil if no compatible objects are present.
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. all - an optional boolean indicating whether or not all (true) of the urls on the clipboard should be returned, or just the first (false). Defaults to false.
Returns	By default the first image on the clipboard, or a table of all images on the clipboard if the `all` parameter is provided and set to true. Returns nil if no images are present.
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 732

#readPListForUTI


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.readPListForUTI([name], uti) -> any`
Type	Function
Description	Returns the first item on the pasteboard with the specified UTI as a property list item
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. uti - a string specifying the UTI of the pasteboard item to retrieve.
Returns	a lua item representing the property list value of the pasteboard item specified
Notes	The UTI's of the items on the pasteboard can be determined with the hs.pasteboard.allContentTypes and hs.pasteboard.contentTypes functions. Property lists consist only of certain types of data: tables, strings, numbers, dates, binary data, and Boolean values.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 371

#readSound


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.readSound([name], [all]) -> hs.sound object or array of hs.sound objects`
Type	Function
Description	Returns one or more `hs.sound` objects from the clipboard, or nil if no compatible objects are present.
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. all - an optional boolean indicating whether or not all (true) of the urls on the clipboard should be returned, or just the first (false). Defaults to false.
Returns	By default the first sound on the clipboard, or a table of all sounds on the clipboard if the `all` parameter is provided and set to true. Returns nil if no sounds are present.
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 688

#readString


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.readString([name], [all]) -> string or array of strings`
Type	Function
Description	Returns one or more strings from the clipboard, or nil if no compatible objects are present.
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. all - an optional boolean indicating whether or not all (true) of the urls on the clipboard should be returned, or just the first (false). Defaults to false.
Returns	By default the first string on the clipboard, or a table of all strings on the clipboard if the `all` parameter is provided and set to true. Returns nil if no strings are present.
Notes	almost all string and styledText objects are internally convertible and will be available with this method as well as hs.pasteboard.readStyledText. If the item is actually an `hs.styledtext` object, the string will be just the text of the object.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 284

#readStyledText


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.readStyledText([name], [all]) -> hs.styledtext object or array of hs.styledtext objects`
Type	Function
Description	Returns one or more `hs.styledtext` objects from the clipboard, or nil if no compatible objects are present.
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. all - an optional boolean indicating whether or not all (true) of the urls on the clipboard should be returned, or just the first (false). Defaults to false.
Returns	By default the first styledtext object on the clipboard, or a table of all styledtext objects on the clipboard if the `all` parameter is provided and set to true. Returns nil if no styledtext objects are present.
Notes	almost all string and styledText objects are internally convertible and will be available with this method as well as hs.pasteboard.readString. If the item on the clipboard is actually just a string, the `hs.styledtext` object representation will have no attributes set
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 641

#readURL


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.readURL([name], [all]) -> string or array of strings representing file or resource urls`
Type	Function
Description	Returns one or more strings representing file or resource urls from the clipboard, or nil if no compatible objects are present.
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. all - an optional boolean indicating whether or not all (true) of the urls on the clipboard should be returned, or just the first (false). Defaults to false.
Returns	By default the first url on the clipboard, or a table of all urls on the clipboard if the `all` parameter is provided and set to true. Returns nil if no urls are present.
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 776

#setContents


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.setContents(contents[, name]) -> boolean`
Type	Function
Description	Sets the contents of the pasteboard
Parameters	contents - A string to be placed in the pasteboard name - An optional string containing the name of the pasteboard. Defaults to the system pasteboard
Returns	True if the operation succeeded, otherwise false
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 91

#typesAvailable


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.typesAvailable([name]) -> table`
Type	Function
Description	Returns a table indicating what content types are available on the pasteboard.
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard.
Returns	a table which may contain any of the following keys set to the value true: string - at least one element which can be represented as a string is on the pasteboard styledText - at least one element which can be represented as an `hs.styledtext` object is on the pasteboard sound - at least one element which can be represented as an `hs.sound` object is on the pasteboard image - at least one element which can be represented as an `hs.image` object is on the pasteboard URL - at least one element on the pasteboard represents a URL, either to a local file or a remote resource color - at least one element on the pasteboard represents a color, representable as a table as described in `hs.drawing.color`
Notes	almost all string and styledText objects are internally convertible and will return true for both keys if the item on the clipboard is actually just a string, the `hs.styledtext` object representation will have no attributes set if the item is actually an `hs.styledtext` object, the string representation will be the text without any attributes.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 974

#uniquePasteboard


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.uniquePasteboard() -> string`
Type	Function
Description	Returns the name of a new pasteboard with a name that is guaranteed to be unique with respect to other pasteboards on the computer.
Parameters	None
Returns	a unique pasteboard name
Notes	to properly manage system resources, you should release the created pasteboard with hs.pasteboard.deletePasteboard when you are certain that it is no longer necessary.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 955

#writeAllData


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.writeAllData([name], table) -> boolean`
Type	Function
Description	Stores in the pasteboard a given table of UTI to data mapping all at once
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. a mapping from a UTI value to the raw data
Returns	True if the operation succeeded, otherwise false (which most likely means ownership of the pasteboard has changed)
Notes	None
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/pasteboard.lua line 38

#writeArchiverDataForUTI


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.writeArchiverDataForUTI([name], uti, data, [add]) -> boolean`
Type	Function
Description	Sets the pasteboard to the contents of the data and assigns its type to the specified UTI. The data will be encoded as an archive conforming to NSKeyedArchiver.
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. uti - a string specifying the UTI of the pasteboard item to set. data - any type representable in Lua which will be converted into the appropriate NSObject types and archived with NSKeyedArchiver. All Lua basic types are supported as well as those NSObject types handled by Hammerspoon modules (NSColor, NSStyledText, NSImage, etc.) add - an optional boolean value specifying if data with other UTI values should retain. This value must be strictly either true or false if given, to avoid ambiguity with preceding parameters.
Returns	True if the operation succeeded, otherwise false (which most likely means ownership of the pasteboard has changed)
Notes	NSKeyedArchiver specifies an architecture-independent format that is often used in OS X applications to store and transmit objects between applications and when storing data to a file. It works by recording information about the object types and key-value pairs which make up the objects being stored. Only objects which have conversion functions built into Hammerspoon can be converted. A full list of NSObjects supported directly by Hammerspoon is planned in a future Wiki article.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 458

#writeDataForUTI


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.writeDataForUTI([name], uti, data, [add]) -> boolean`
Type	Function
Description	Sets the pasteboard to the contents of the data and assigns its type to the specified UTI.
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. uti - a string specifying the UTI of the pasteboard item to set. data - a string specifying the raw data to assign to the pasteboard. add - an optional boolean value specifying if data with other UTI values should retain. This value must be strictly either true or false if given, to avoid ambiguity with preceding parameters.
Returns	True if the operation succeeded, otherwise false (which most likely means ownership of the pasteboard has changed)
Notes	The UTI's of the items on the pasteboard can be determined with the hs.pasteboard.allContentTypes and hs.pasteboard.contentTypes functions.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 521

| | | | --------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Signature | hs.pasteboard.writeObjects(object, [name]) -> boolean | | Type | Function | | Description | Sets the pasteboard contents to the object or objects specified. | | Parameters |

object - an object or table of objects to set the pasteboard to. The following objects are recognized: a lua string, which can be received by most applications that can accept text from the clipboard hs.styledtext object, which can be received by most applications that can accept a raw NSAttributedString (often converted internally to RTF, RTFD, HTML, etc.) hs.sound object, which can be received by most applications that can accept a raw NSSound object hs.image object, which can be received by most applications that can accept a raw NSImage object a table with the url key and value representing a file or resource url, which can be received by most applications that can accept an NSURL object to represent a file or a remote resource a table with keys as described in hs.drawing.color to represent a color, which can be received by most applications that can accept a raw NSColor object an array of one or more of the above objects, allowing you to place more than one object onto the clipboard.
name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard.

| | Returns |

true or false indicating whether or not the clipboard contents were updated.

| | Notes |

Most applications can only receive the first item on the clipboard. Multiple items on a clipboard are most often used for intra-application communication where the sender and receiver are specifically written with multiple objects in mind.

#writePListForUTI


Signature	`hs.pasteboard.writePListForUTI([name], uti, data, [add]) -> boolean`
Type	Function
Description	Sets the pasteboard to the contents of the data and assigns its type to the specified UTI.
Parameters	name - an optional string indicating the pasteboard name. If nil or not present, defaults to the system pasteboard. uti - a string specifying the UTI of the pasteboard item to set. data - a lua type which can be represented as a property list value. add - an optional boolean value specifying if data with other UTI values should retain. This value must be strictly either true or false if given, to avoid ambiguity with preceding parameters.
Returns	True if the operation succeeded, otherwise false (which most likely means ownership of the pasteboard has changed)
Notes	The UTI's of the items on the pasteboard can be determined with the hs.pasteboard.allContentTypes and hs.pasteboard.contentTypes functions. Property lists consist only of certain types of data: tables, strings, numbers, dates, binary data, and Boolean values.
Examples	None
Source	extensions/pasteboard/libpasteboard.m line 580