What I wanted to copy into clipbard

[LM21]

I selected a component name and pressed CTRL-C to see and check what it really was, but instead of getting the text into clipboard, I got

(sheet_instances
(path “/” (page “4”))
)
That was not very intuitive IMO.

[paulvdh]

Same here, but only for KiCad-nightly V5.99, and that is not the current stable version of KiCad.

If you want the text of some item, then first edit the item, select the text and copy that to the clipboard.

You can select a schematic symbol, copy that to the clipboard and paste it in a text editor.

The “sheet_instances” text seems a bit weird to be put on the clipboard, maybe it can be considered a bug, but I can’t find it very important, because such a loose sub-part can’t be pasted sensibly in KiCad anywhere. (Edit: But apparently KiCad knows what to do with it if it can be pasted. So that’s all right with me).

If you select a refdes in KiCad-nightly V5.99 in the PCB editor:

and copy it to the clipboard, and paste it in a text editor, it looks like:

(kicad_pcb (version 20210824) (generator pcbnew)

(layers
  (0 "F.Cu" signal)
  (31 "B.Cu" signal)
  (32 "B.Adhes" user "B.Adhesive")
  (33 "F.Adhes" user "F.Adhesive")
  (34 "B.Paste" user)
  (35 "F.Paste" user)
  (36 "B.SilkS" user "B.Silkscreen")
  (37 "F.SilkS" user "F.Silkscreen")
  (38 "B.Mask" user)
  (39 "F.Mask" user)
  (40 "Dwgs.User" user "User.Drawings")
  (41 "Cmts.User" user "User.Comments")
  (42 "Eco1.User" user "User.Eco1")
  (43 "Eco2.User" user "User.Eco2")
  (44 "Edge.Cuts" user)
  (45 "Margin" user)
  (46 "B.CrtYd" user "B.Courtyard")
  (47 "F.CrtYd" user "F.Courtyard")
  (48 "B.Fab" user)
  (49 "F.Fab" user)
  (50 "User.1" user)
  (51 "User.2" user)
  (52 "User.3" user)
  (53 "User.4" user)
  (54 "User.5" user)
  (55 "User.6" user)
  (56 "User.7" user)
  (57 "User.8" user)
  (58 "User.9" user)
)

(net 0 "")
(net 1 "Net-(R2-Pad1)")
(net 2 "Net-(R2-Pad2)")
(net 3 "Net-(R10-Pad1)")
(net 4 "Net-(R11-Pad1)")


  (gr_text "R10" (at 0 0) (layer "F.SilkS") (tstamp 98d6a03e-35a7-423f-85cb-363e0184ac7c)
    (effects (font (size 1 1) (thickness 0.15)))
  )

)

[LM21]

Heh. I see you understand what I meant. Unfortunately I have to use these a bit less stable versions, because I have to modify Raspberry V4 IO board, and I read that it is only possible with nightly versions. Let’s hope that it will get better some day.

[craftyjon]

It is intentional that if you copy something in KiCad you get enough information on the clipboard that lets you paste the same thing into KiCad. This ends up being more useful more of the time because it allows you to copy/paste things while preserving their formatting, etc. It also allows you to copy/paste things between two different PCBs. You could open a feature request for a special “copy plain text” action if desired.

[paulvdh]

I find first editing an item, and then then copying the text string a good method. I would not even call it a workaround.

I used this for years if I wanted for example copy a filename from a GUI file manager:

1. Select a file.
2. Press [F2] in the file manager to edit the filename.
3. Press [Ctrl + c ] to copy the text to the clipboard.
4. Press [Esc] to cancel the “edit filename” function.