How to work with clipboard in Selene?#

This is the latest development version

Some features documented on this page may not yet be available in the published stable version.

Summary#

Selene works with clipboard via the pyperclip package. And there is only one command in Selene that uses it under the hood – command.paste(text). In other cases you can use pyperclip directly to achieve your goals via paperclip.copy(text) and paperclip.paste(text).

Let's consider the main scenarios to work with clipboard...

Main Scenarios#

Copy a text into clipboard#

import pyperclip
...

pyperclip.copy('text to copy')

Copy a text of element into clipboard#

from selene import browser, query
import pyperclip
...

pyperclip.copy(browser.element('.message').get(query.text))

Copy a value of an input element into clipboard#

from selene import browser, query
import pyperclip
...

pyperclip.copy(browser.element('input').get(query.value))

Copy currently selected text on the page into clipboard via OS-based shortcut#

from selene import browser, command
...

browser.perform(command.copy)

Paste into currently focused element a text from the clipboard via OS-based shortcut#

from selene import browser, command
...

browser.perform(command.paste)

Put a text in the clipboard, then paste it into currently focused element via OS-based shortcut#

from selene import browser, command
...

browser.perform(command.paste('some text to put into clipboard first'))

Select value of an input element, then copy it into clipboard via OS-based shortcut#

from selene import browser, command
...

browser.element('input').select_all().copy()
# OR:
browser.element('input').select_all().perform(command.copy)

Type a text stored in the clipboard into text input at the current cursor position#

from selene import browser
import pyperclip
...

browser.element('input').type(pyperclip.paste())

Set a new value to the text input getting this value from the clipboard#

from selene import browser
import pyperclip
...

browser.element('input').set_value(pyperclip.paste())

Paste via OS-based shortcut a text stored in the clipboard into text input at the current cursor position#

from selene import browser, command
...

browser.element('input').paste()
# OR:
browser.element('input').perform(command.paste)

Paste via OS-based shortcut a text stored in the clipboard into text input substituting the current text via "select all" OS-based shortcut#

from selene import browser, command
...

browser.element('input').select_all().paste()
# OR:
browser.element('input').select_all().perform(command.paste)

Copy a text into clipboard, then paste it via OS-based shortcut into text input at the current cursor position#

from selene import browser, command
...
text = 'text to append'
browser.element('input').paste(text)
# OR:
browser.element('input').perform(command.paste(text))

Copy a text into clipboard, then paste it via OS-based shortcut into text input substituting the current text via "select all" OS-based shortcut#

from selene import browser, command
...
text = 'new text value'
browser.element('input').select_all().paste(text)
# OR:
browser.element('input').select_all().perform(command.paste(text))