Forrest logo
back to the maim tool

maim:tldr:0fc92

maim: Capture a screenshot of the selected region and save it in the clipboard (requires `xclip`).
$ maim --select | xclip -selection clipboard -target image/png
try on your machine

This command is used to take a screenshot of a specific area on the screen and copy it to the clipboard as a PNG image.

Here's how the command works:

  • "maim" is a command-line utility for taking screenshots in Linux.
  • "--select" is an option for maim that lets you select a specific area on the screen to capture.
  • The "|" symbol is a pipe, which is used to redirect the output of the first command (maim --select) to the input of the second command (xclip).
  • "xclip" is a command-line tool to manipulate the X11 clipboard.
  • "-selection clipboard" specifies that the image should be copied to the clipboard.
  • "-target image/png" tells xclip to treat the piped data as a PNG image.

So, when you execute this command, it allows you to select a specific area on the screen to capture as a screenshot. After selecting the area, the captured image is converted to PNG format and copied to the clipboard.

This explanation was created by an AI. In most cases those are correct. But please always be careful and never run a command you are not sure if it is safe.
back to the maim tool