Copy to clipboard from iPython on Mac OS X

copy.py

"""
Add copy to clipboard from IPython!
To install, just copy it to your profile/startup directory, typically:

    ~/.ipython/profile_default/startup/

Example usage:

    %copy hello world
    # will store "hello world"
    a = [1, 2, 3]
    %copy a
    # will store "[1, 2, 3]"

You can also use it with cell magic

    In [1]: %%copy
       ...: Even multi
       ...: lines
       ...: work!
       ...:

If you don't have a variable named 'copy' you can rely on automagic:

    copy hey man
    a = [1, 2, 3]
    copy a

"""

import subprocess
import sys

from IPython.core.magic import register_line_cell_magic

def _copy_to_clipboard(output):
    output = str(globals().get(output) or output)
    process = subprocess.Popen(
        'pbcopy', env={'LANG': 'en_US.UTF-8'}, stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
    process.communicate(output.encode('utf-8'))

    print('Copied to clipboard!')

@register_line_cell_magic
def copy(line, cell=None):
    if line and cell:
        cell = '\n'.join((line, cell))

    _copy_to_clipboard(cell or line)

# We delete it to avoid name conflicts for automagic to work
del copy