A new pipe function that can be used to pipe the contents of the screen and scrollback buffer to any desired program running in a new window, tab or overlay window.

docs/changelog.rst

@@ -6,13 +6,17 @@ Changelog
 0.12.2 [future]
 ------------------------------
 
-- Add a new ``last_used_layout`` function that can be mapped to a shortcut to
+- A new ``last_used_layout`` function that can be mapped to a shortcut to
   switch to the previously used window layout (:iss:`870`)
 
-- Add new ``neighboring_window`` and ``move_window`` functions to switch to
+- New ``neighboring_window`` and ``move_window`` functions to switch to
   neighboring windows in the current layout, and move them around, similar to
   window movement in vim (:iss:`916`)
 
+- A new ``pipe`` function that can be used to pipe the contents of the screen
+  and scrollback buffer to any desired program running in a new window, tab or
+  overlay window. (:iss:`933`)
+
 - Add a new :option:`kitty --start-as` command line flag to start kitty
   fullscreen/maximized/minimized. This replaces the ``--start-in-fullscreen``
   flag introduced in the previous release (:iss:`935`)

kitty/boss.py

@@ -48,6 +48,23 @@ def listen_on(spec):
     return s.fileno()
 
 
+def data_for_at(w, arg):
+    if arg == '@selection':
+        return w.text_for_selection()
+    if arg == '@ansi':
+        return w.as_text(as_ansi=True, add_history=True)
+    if arg == '@text':
+        return w.as_text(add_history=True)
+    if arg == '@screen':
+        return w.as_text()
+    if arg == '@ansi_screen':
+        return w.as_text(as_ansi=True)
+    if arg == '@alternate':
+        return w.as_text(alternate_screen=True)
+    if arg == '@ansi_alternate':
+        return w.as_text(as_ansi=True, alternate_screen=True)
+
+
 class DumpCommands:  # {{{
 
     def __init__(self, args):
@@ -774,29 +791,50 @@ def previous_tab(self):
         if tm is not None:
             tm.next_tab(-1)
 
+    def special_window_for_cmd(self, cmd, window=None, stdin=None, cwd_from=None, as_overlay=False):
+        w = window or self.active_window
+        if stdin:
+            stdin = data_for_at(w, stdin)
+            if stdin is not None:
+                stdin = stdin.encode('utf-8')
+        cmdline = []
+        for arg in cmd:
+            if arg == '@selection':
+                arg = data_for_at(w, arg)
+                if not arg:
+                    continue
+            cmdline.append(arg)
+        overlay_for = w.id if as_overlay and w.overlay_for is None else None
+        return SpecialWindow(cmd, stdin, cwd_from=cwd_from, overlay_for=overlay_for)
+
+    def pipe(self, source, dest, exe, *args):
+        cmd = [exe] + list(args)
+        window = self.active_window
+        cwd_from = window.child.pid if window else None
+
+        def create_window():
+            return self.special_window_for_cmd(
+                cmd, stdin=source, as_overlay=dest == 'overlay', cwd_from=cwd_from)
+
+        if dest == 'overlay' or dest == 'window':
+            tab = self.active_tab
+            if tab is not None:
+                return tab.new_special_window(create_window())
+        elif dest == 'tab':
+            tm = self.active_tab_manager
+            if tm is not None:
+                tm.new_tab(special_window=create_window(), cwd_from=cwd_from)
+        else:
+            import subprocess
+            subprocess.Popen(cmd)
+
     def args_to_special_window(self, args, cwd_from=None):
         args = list(args)
         stdin = None
         w = self.active_window
 
-        def data_for_at(arg):
-            if arg == '@selection':
-                return w.text_for_selection()
-            if arg == '@ansi':
-                return w.as_text(as_ansi=True, add_history=True)
-            if arg == '@text':
-                return w.as_text(add_history=True)
-            if arg == '@screen':
-                return w.as_text()
-            if arg == '@ansi_screen':
-                return w.as_text(as_ansi=True)
-            if arg == '@alternate':
-                return w.as_text(alternate_screen=True)
-            if arg == '@ansi_alternate':
-                return w.as_text(as_ansi=True, alternate_screen=True)
-
         if args[0].startswith('@') and args[0] != '@':
-            stdin = data_for_at(args[0]) or None
+            stdin = data_for_at(w, args[0]) or None
             if stdin is not None:
                 stdin = stdin.encode('utf-8')
             del args[0]
@@ -804,7 +842,7 @@ def data_for_at(arg):
         cmd = []
         for arg in args:
             if arg == '@selection':
-                arg = data_for_at(arg)
+                arg = data_for_at(w, arg)
                 if not arg:
                     continue
             cmd.append(arg)

kitty/config.py

@@ -163,6 +163,16 @@ def move_window(func, rest):
     return func, [rest]
 
 
+@func_with_args('pipe')
+def pipe(func, rest):
+    import shlex
+    rest = shlex.split(rest)
+    if len(rest) < 3:
+        log_error('Too few arguments to pipe function')
+        rest = ['none', 'none', 'true']
+    return func, rest
+
+
 def parse_key_action(action):
     parts = action.split(' ', 1)
     func = parts[0]

kitty/config_data.py

@@ -825,13 +825,23 @@ def macos_titlebar_color(x):
 k('scroll_home', 'kitty_mod+home', 'scroll_home', _('Scroll to top'))
 k('scroll_end', 'kitty_mod+end', 'scroll_end', _('Scroll to bottom'))
 k('show_scrollback', 'kitty_mod+h', 'show_scrollback', _('Browse scrollback buffer in less'), long_text=_('''
-You can send the contents of the current screen + history buffer as stdin to an arbitrary program using
-the placeholders @text (which is the plain text) and @ansi (which includes text styling escape codes).
-For only the current screen, use @screen or @ansi_screen. For the secondary screen, use
-@alternate and @ansi_alternate.
-For example, the following command opens the scrollback buffer in less in a new window::
 
-    map kitty_mod+y new_window @ansi less +G -R
+You can pipe the contents of the current screen + history buffer as
+:file:`STDIN` to an arbitrary program using the ``pipe`` function. For example,
+the following opens the scrollback buffer in less in an overlay window::
+
+    map f1 pipe @ansi overlay less +g -R
+
+Placeholders available are: @text (which is plain text) and @ansi (which
+includes text styling escape codes). For only the current screen, use @screen
+or @ansi_screen. For the secondary screen, use @alternate and @ansi_alternate.
+Note that the secondary screen is not currently displayed. For example if you
+run a fullscreen terminal application, the secondary screen will be the screen
+you return to when quitting the application.
+
+To open in a new window or tab use ``window`` or ``tab`` respectively. You can
+also use ``none`` in which case the data will be piped into the program without
+creating any windows.
 '''))