Copy to clipboard from php command line script in Windows 7

Question

I have a php (5.5) script which I run from the command line in Windows 7. Something like this:

C:\php-5.5.5\php.exe C:\scripts\putString.php

My question is, is it possible to copy something to windows clipboard from the script? I want users to have some text available in the clipboard after running this script from the command line. How can it be done?

Answer 1

If you want to add some intermediate result to the clipboard, instead of the output of the entire script

//...your script...
$someVar="value";
shell_exec("echo " . escapeshellarg($someVar) . " | clip");
//rest of script...

Answer 2

first i'd like to point out that @chiliNUT's solution is NOT safe, it's vulnerable to shell injection, for example

$someVar="foo | del /S C:\windows\system123";
shell_exec("echo $someVar | clip");

will try to delete your C:\windows\system123 folder, as the command becomes

echo foo | del /S C:\windows\system123 | clip

...

here is a portable function that should work on Windows 7+ (PowerShell 2+), X.org-based linux systems, and MacOS:

function getClipboard():string{
    if(PHP_OS_FAMILY==="Windows"){
    // works on windows 7 + (PowerShell v2 + )
    // TODO: is it -1 or -2 bytes? i think it was -2 on win7 and -1 on win10?
        return substr(shell_exec('powershell -sta "add-type -as System.Windows.Forms; [windows.forms.clipboard]::GetText()"'),0,-1);
    }elseif(PHP_OS_FAMILY==="Linux"){
        // untested! but should work on X.org-based linux GUI's
        return substr(shell_exec('xclip -out -selection primary'),0,-1);
    }elseif(PHP_OS_FAMILY==="Darwin"){
        // untested! 
        return substr(shell_exec('pbpaste'),0,-1);
    }else{
        throw new \Exception("running on unsupported OS: ".PHP_OS_FAMILY." - only Windows, Linux, and MacOS supported.");
    }
}

as for writing TO the clipboard:

function setClipboard(string $new):bool{
    if(PHP_OS_FAMILY==="Windows"){
        // works on windows 7 +
        $clip=popen("clip","wb");
    }elseif(PHP_OS_FAMILY==="Linux"){
        // tested, works on ArchLinux
        $clip=popen('xclip -selection clipboard','wb');
    }elseif(PHP_OS_FAMILY==="Darwin"){
        // untested! 
        $clip=popen('pbcopy','wb');
    }else{
        throw new \Exception("running on unsupported OS: ".PHP_OS_FAMILY." - only Windows, Linux, and MacOS supported.");
    }
    $written=fwrite($clip,$new);
    return (pclose($clip)===0 && strlen($new)===$written);
}