Read from terminal screen --- SOLVED thread tools malfunctions

I would like to be able to write to the screen and turn around and read what was written there.
From my dim recollection I recall having done this but it required some trickery which I did not write down.
If anyone has done this please advise me on the method, THANKS.

You should be able to click-drag to hilight text, then middle-click to paste it. I think that should work on most distros.

If you need to be able to copy/paste back and forth between a terminal and GUI applications then look into screen or tmux. I have my tmux configured so I select text with Ctl-A[ (and a few Vim-style keystrokes). The I can copy to the X clipboard with Ctl-AC, or paste from the X clipboard with Ctl-AV. Very configurable.

Sorry my fault I neglected to say I want to do this programmatically. After posting I took another shot at the Internet and found what I had previously done. It involves using the screen buffer. Thanks 4 UR time.