R/readClip.R

In sebastian-c/overflow: Utility functions for answering R question on StackOverflow

#' Read clipboard regardless of OS
#' 
#' Different operating systems have different ways of handling the clipboard. 
#' Given the frequency with which text is copied to the clipboard to place in
#' an answer on StackOverflow, this utility is provided.
#' 
#' @return character string containing text on the clipboard.
#' 

readClip <- function(){
  OS <- Sys.info()["sysname"]
  
  cliptext <- switch(OS,
                   Darwin = {
                     con <- pipe("pbpaste")
                     text <- readLines(con)
                     close(con)
                     text
                   },
                   Windows = readClipboard(),
                   readLines("clipboard"))
    cliptext
}