Clipboard

React Native · Reference cheat sheet

📋 Overview

Read and write the system clipboard. In modern RN / Expo, use @react-native-clipboard/clipboard or expo-clipboard — the core Clipboard API was removed from the RN core package.

🔧 Core concepts

• setString(text) — copy to clipboard.
• getString() — async read (may need permission prompts on some platforms).
• Expo — import * as Clipboard from "expo-clipboard".
• Security — don’t log clipboard contents; treat as sensitive.

💡 Examples

import * as Clipboard from "expo-clipboard";
import { Pressable, Text, Alert } from "react-native";

export function CopyButton({ value }: { value: string }) {
  async function copy() {
    await Clipboard.setStringAsync(value);
    Alert.alert("Copied");
  }
  return (
    <Pressable onPress={copy} accessibilityRole="button" accessibilityLabel="Copy">
      <Text>Copy</Text>
    </Pressable>
  );
}

import Clipboard from "@react-native-clipboard/clipboard";

async function paste() {
  const text = await Clipboard.getString();
  return text;
}

⚠️ Pitfalls

• Using deprecated react-native Clipboard import.
• Expecting sync getString — it’s async.
• Copying secrets into clipboard without user intent.

🔗 Related

• share.md — system share sheet
• storage.md — persistent storage
• permissions.md — platform permissions
• Expo/plugins.md — Expo modules