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Expo Clipboard

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A universal library that allows getting and setting Clipboard content.

expo-clipboard provides an interface for getting and setting Clipboard content on Android, iOS, and Web.

Platform Compatibility

Android Device	Android Emulator	iOS Device	iOS Simulator	Web

Installation

Terminal

- npx expo install expo-clipboard

If you are installing this in an existing React Native app, start by installing expo in your project. Then, follow the additional instructions as mentioned by the library's README under "Installation in bare React Native projects" section.

Usage

Clipboard

import { useState } from 'react';
import { View, Text, Button, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import * as Clipboard from 'expo-clipboard';

export default function App() {
  const [copiedText, setCopiedText] = useState('');

  const copyToClipboard = async () => {
    await Clipboard.setStringAsync('hello world');
  };

  const fetchCopiedText = async () => {
    const text = await Clipboard.getStringAsync();
    setCopiedText(text);
  };

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Button title="Click here to copy to Clipboard" onPress={copyToClipboard} />
      <Button title="View copied text" onPress={fetchCopiedText} />
      <Text style={styles.copiedText}>{copiedText}</Text>
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: 'center',
    alignItems: 'center',
  },
  copiedText: {
    marginTop: 10,
    color: 'red',
  },
});

API

import * as Clipboard from 'expo-clipboard';

On Web, this module uses the AsyncClipboard API, which might behave differently between browsers or not be fully supported. Especially on WebKit, there's an issue which makes this API unusable in asynchronous code. Click here for more details.

Component

`ClipboardPasteButton`

Type: React.Element<ClipboardPasteButtonProps>

This component displays the UIPasteControl button on your screen. This allows pasting from the clipboard without requesting permission from the user.

You should only attempt to render this if Clipboard.isPasteButtonAvailable is true. This component will render nothing if it is not available, and you will get a warning in development mode (__DEV__ === true).

The properties of this component extend from View; however, you should not attempt to set backgroundColor, color or borderRadius with the style property. Apple restricts customisation of this view. Instead, you should use the backgroundColor and foregroundColor properties to set the colors of the button, the cornerStyle property to change the border radius, and the displayMode property to change the appearance of the icon and label. The word "Paste" is not editable and neither is the icon.

Make sure to attach height and width via the style props as without these styles, the button will not appear on the screen.

See: Apple Documentation for more details.

ClipboardPasteButtonProps

`acceptedContentTypes`

Optional • Type: AcceptedContentType[] • Default: ['plain-text', 'image']

An array of the content types that will cause the button to become active.

Do not include plain-text and html at the same time as this will cause all text to be treated as html.

`backgroundColor`

Optional • Type: string | null

The backgroundColor of the button. Leaving this as the default allows the color to adjust to the system theme settings.

`cornerStyle`

Optional • Type: CornerStyle | null • Default: 'capsule'

The cornerStyle of the button.

See: Apple Documentation for more details.

`displayMode`

Optional • Type: DisplayMode | null • Default: 'iconAndLabel'

The displayMode of the button.

See: Apple Documentation for more details.

`foregroundColor`

Optional • Type: string | null • Default: 'white'

The foregroundColor of the button.

`imageOptions`

Optional • Type: GetImageOptions | null

The options to use when pasting an image from the clipboard.

`onPress`

Type: (data: PasteEventPayload) => void

A callback that is called with the result of the paste action. Inspect the type property to determine the type of the pasted data.

Can be one of text or image.

Example

  onPress={(data) => {
    if (data.type === 'image') {
      setImageData(data);
   } else {
      setTextData(data);
    }
  }}

`style`

Optional • Type: StyleProp<Omit<ViewStyle, 'backgroundColor' | 'borderRadius' | 'color'>>

The custom style to apply to the button. Should not include backgroundColor, borderRadius or color properties.

Inherited Props

ViewProps

Constants

`isPasteButtonAvailable`

Type: boolean

Property that determines if the ClipboardPasteButton is available.

This requires the users device to be using at least iOS 16.

true if the component is available, and false otherwise.

Methods

`getImageAsync(options)`

Parameter	Type	Description
options	`GetImageOptions`	A `GetImageOptions` object to specify the desired format of the image.

Gets the image from the user's clipboard and returns it in the specified format. Please note that calling this method on web will prompt the user to grant your app permission to "see text and images copied to the clipboard."

Returns:

Promise<ClipboardImage | null>

If there was an image in the clipboard, the promise resolves to a ClipboardImage object containing the base64 string and metadata of the image. Otherwise, it resolves to null.

Example

const img = await Clipboard.getImageAsync({ format: 'png' });
// ...
<Image source={{ uri: img?.data }} style={{ width: 200, height: 200 }} />

`getStringAsync(options)`

Parameter	Type	Description
options (optional)	`GetStringOptions`	Options for the clipboard content to be retrieved. Default:`{}`

Gets the content of the user's clipboard. Please note that calling this method on web will prompt the user to grant your app permission to "see text and images copied to the clipboard."

Returns:

Promise<string>

A promise that resolves to the content of the clipboard.

Only for:

iOS

`getUrlAsync()`

Gets the URL from the user's clipboard.

Returns:

Promise<string | null>

A promise that fulfills to the URL in the clipboard.

`hasImageAsync()`

Returns whether the clipboard has an image content.

On web, this requires the user to grant your app permission to "see text and images copied to the clipboard".

Returns:

Promise<boolean>

A promise that fulfills to true if clipboard has image content, resolves to false otherwise.

`hasStringAsync()`

Returns whether the clipboard has text content. Returns true for both plain text and rich text (e.g. HTML).

On web, this requires the user to grant your app permission to "see text and images copied to the clipboard".

Returns:

Promise<boolean>

A promise that fulfills to true if clipboard has text content, resolves to false otherwise.

Only for:

iOS

`hasUrlAsync()`

Returns whether the clipboard has a URL content.

Returns:

Promise<boolean>

A promise that fulfills to true if clipboard has URL content, resolves to false otherwise.

`setImageAsync(base64Image)`

Parameter	Type	Description
base64Image	`string`	Image encoded as a base64 string, without MIME type.

Sets an image in the user's clipboard.

Returns:

Promise<void>

Example

const result = await ImagePicker.launchImageLibraryAsync({
  mediaTypes: ImagePicker.MediaTypeOptions.Images,
  base64: true,
});
await Clipboard.setImageAsync(result.base64);

Deprecated Use setStringAsync() instead.

`setString(text)`

Parameter	Type
text	`string`

Sets the content of the user's clipboard.

Returns:

void

On web, this returns a boolean value indicating whether or not the string was saved to the user's clipboard. On iOS and Android, nothing is returned.

`setStringAsync(text, options)`

Parameter	Type	Description
text	`string`	The string to save to the clipboard.
options (optional)	`SetStringOptions`	Options for the clipboard content to be set. Default:`{}`

Sets the content of the user's clipboard.

Returns:

Promise<boolean>

On web, this returns a promise that fulfills to a boolean value indicating whether or not the string was saved to the user's clipboard. On iOS and Android, the promise always resolves to true.

Only for:

iOS

`setUrlAsync(url)`

Parameter	Type	Description
url	`string`	The URL to save to the clipboard.

Sets a URL in the user's clipboard.

This function behaves the same as setStringAsync(), except that it sets the clipboard content type to be a URL. It lets your app or other apps know that the clipboard contains a URL and behave accordingly.

Returns:

Promise<void>

Event Subscriptions

`addClipboardListener(listener)`

Parameter	Type	Description
listener	`(event: ClipboardEvent) => void`	Callback to execute when listener is triggered. The callback is provided a single argument that is an object containing information about clipboard contents.

Adds a listener that will fire whenever the content of the user's clipboard changes. This method is a no-op on Web.

Returns:

Subscription

Example

Clipboard.addClipboardListener(({ contentTypes }: ClipboardEvent) => {
  if (contentTypes.includes(Clipboard.ContentType.PLAIN_TEXT)) {
    Clipboard.getStringAsync().then(content => {
      alert('Copy pasta! Here\'s the string that was copied: ' + content)
    });
  } else if (contentTypes.includes(Clipboard.ContentType.IMAGE)) {
    alert('Yay! Clipboard contains an image');
  }
});

`removeClipboardListener(subscription)`

Parameter	Type	Description
subscription	`Subscription`	The subscription to remove (created by addClipboardListener).

Removes the listener added by addClipboardListener. This method is a no-op on Web.

Returns:

void

Example

const subscription = addClipboardListener(() => {
  alert('Copy pasta!');
});
removeClipboardListener(subscription);

Name	Type	Description
content	`string`	Deprecated Returns empty string. Use `getStringAsync()` instead to retrieve clipboard content.
contentTypes	`ContentType[]`	An array of content types that are available on the clipboard.

`ClipboardImage`

Name Type Description

Name	Type	Description
data	`string`	A Base64-encoded string of the image data. Its format is dependent on the `format` option. You can use it directly as the source of an `Image` element. NOTE: The string is already prepended with `data:image/png;base64,` or `data:image/jpeg;base64,` prefix. Example `<Image source={{ uri: clipboardImage.data }} style={{ width: 200, height: 200 }} />`
size	`{ height: number, width: number }`	Dimensions (`width` and `height`) of the image pasted from clipboard.

data

string

A Base64-encoded string of the image data. Its format is dependent on the format option. You can use it directly as the source of an Image element.

NOTE: The string is already prepended with data:image/png;base64, or data:image/jpeg;base64, prefix.

Example

<Image
  source={{ uri: clipboardImage.data }}
  style={{ width: 200, height: 200 }}
/>

size

{
  height: number, 
  width: number
}

Dimensions (width and height) of the image pasted from clipboard.

Name	Type	Description
format	`'png' \| 'jpeg'`	The format of the clipboard image to be converted to.
jpegQuality (optional)	`number`	Specify the quality of the returned image, between `0` and `1`. Defaults to `1` (highest quality). Applicable only when `format` is set to `jpeg`, ignored otherwise. Default:`1`

`GetStringOptions`

Name	Type	Description
preferredFormat (optional)	`StringFormat`	The target format of the clipboard string to be converted to, if possible. Default:`StringFormat.PLAIN_TEXT`

`ImagePasteEvent`

Type: ClipboardImage extended by:

Name	Type	Description
type	`'image'`	-

`PasteEventPayload`

Literal Type: multiple types

Acceptable values are: TextPasteEvent | ImagePasteEvent

`SetStringOptions`

Name	Type	Description
inputFormat (optional)	`StringFormat`	The input format of the provided string. Adjusting this option can help other applications interpret copied string properly. Default:`StringFormat.PLAIN_TEXT`

`Subscription`

Name	Type	Description
remove	`() => void`	A method to unsubscribe the listener.

`TextPasteEvent`

Name	Type	Description
text	`string`	-
type	`'text'`	-

iOS