Name

       kitten-@-get-text - Get text from the specified window

Usage

       kitten @ get-text

Description

       Get text from the specified window

Options

       --match, -m
              The window to match. Match specifications are of the form: field:query. Where field can be one of:
              id,  title, pid, cwd, cmdline, num, env, var, state, neighbor, and recent. query is the expression
              to match. Expressions can be either a number or a regular expression, and can  be  combined  using
              Boolean operators.

              The special value all matches all windows.

              For  numeric  fields:  id,  pid,  num and recent, the expression is interpreted as a number, not a
              regular expression. Negative values for id match from the highest id number down,  in  particular,
              -1 is the most recently created window.

              The  field  num  refers to the window position in the current tab, starting from zero and counting
              clockwise (this is the same as the order in which the windows are reported  by  the  kitten  @  ls
              command).

              The window id of the current window is available as the KITTY_WINDOW_ID environment variable.

              The  field  recent  refers to recently active windows in the currently active tab, with zero being
              the currently active window, one being the previously active window and so on.

              The field neighbor refers to a neighbor of the active window in the specified direction, which can
              be: left, right, top or bottom.

              When using the env field to match on environment variables, you can specify only  the  environment
              variable name or a name and value, for example, env:MY_ENV_VAR=2.

              Similarly, the var field matches on user variables set on the window. You can specify name or name
              and value as with the env field.

              The  field  state  matches  on  the  state  of  the window. Supported states are: active, focused,
              needs_attention, parent_active, parent_focused, self,  overlay_parent.   Active  windows  are  the
              windows that are active in their parent tab. There is only one focused window and it is the window
              to  which  keyboard  events  are  delivered.  If  no window is focused, the last focused window is
              matched. The value self matches the window in which the remote control command is run.  The  value
              overlay_parent  matches  the  window  that  is  under  the self window, when the self window is an
              overlay.

              Note that you can use the kitten @ ls command to get a list of windows.

       --extent [=screen]
              What text to get. The default of screen means all text currently on the screen. all means all  the
              screen+scrollback  and  selection  means  the  currently selected text. first_cmd_output_on_screen
              means the output of the first command that was run in the window on screen. last_cmd_output  means
              the output of the last command that was run in the window. last_visited_cmd_output means the first
              command output below the last scrolled position via scroll_to_prompt. last_non_empty_output is the
              output  from  the  last  command  run  in the window that had some non empty output. The last four
              require shell_integration to be enabled.

              Choices:  screen,   all,   first_cmd_output_on_screen,   last_cmd_output,   last_non_empty_output,
              last_visited_cmd_output, selection

       --ansi By default, only plain text is returned. With this flag, the text will include the ANSI formatting
              escape codes for colors, bold, italic, etc.

       --add-cursor
              Add ANSI escape codes specifying the cursor position and style to the end of the text.

       --add-wrap-markers
              Add carriage returns at every line wrap location (where long lines are wrapped at screen edges).

       --clear-selection
              Clear the selection in the matched window, if any.

       --self Get text from the window this command is run in, rather than the active window.

       --help, -h
              Show help for this command

Global options

       --to   An  address  for  the  kitty  instance  to  control. Corresponds to the address given to the kitty
              instance via the --listen-on option or the listen_on setting in kitty.conf. If not specified,  the
              environment  variable  KITTY_LISTEN_ON is checked. If that is also not found, messages are sent to
              the controlling terminal for this process, i.e. they will only work if this process is run  within
              a kitty window.

       --password
              A  password  to use when contacting kitty. This will cause kitty to ask the user for permission to
              perform the specified action, unless the password has been accepted before or is pre-configured in
              kitty.conf.

       --password-file [=rc-pass]
              A file from which to read the  password.  Trailing  whitespace  is  ignored.  Relative  paths  are
              resolved  from  the kitty configuration directory. Use - to read from STDIN. Used if no --password
              is supplied. Defaults to checking for the rc-pass file in the kitty configuration directory.

       --password-env [=KITTY_RC_PASSWORD]
              The name of an environment variable to read the password  from.  Used  if  no  --password-file  is
              supplied. Defaults to checking the environment variable KITTY_RC_PASSWORD.

       --use-password [=if-available]
              If  no  password  is  available, kitty will usually just send the remote control command without a
              password. This option can be used to force it to always or never use the supplied password.

              Choices: if-available, always, never

0.32.2                                            Jun 25, 2025                              kitten-@-get-text(1)