Clip

Draft: written, not yet checked by a person Operation · clip

Cuts vector features to the area of a mask layer, keeping only the parts inside it.

Pitfall. Attributes such as lengths and areas are copied, not recalculated, for the clipped parts.

About this operation
Also called	Pairwise Clip, cookie cutter, extract by polygon
Group	`vector/overlay`
Checks	`crs.agreement, geometry.valid, extent.plausible`
Pitfalls	1 listed above
Columbus tool	`vector_op · clip`
Notes	Not stated
Status	active
Broader	Not stated
Narrower	Not stated
Related	`intersect` `clip-raster`

Parameters

Not stated

Direction	Name	Type	Geometry	Note
Input	`layer`	vector	Not stated	Not stated
Input	`mask`	vector	polygon	Not stated
Output	`output`	vector	Not stated	Not stated

Engine	Tool	Parameters	Differences
`dask-geopandas`	`dask_geopandas.clip`	`layer` → `gdf` `mask` → `mask`	Lazy: works on a dask GeoDataFrame and returns one; call compute() for the result. The mask must be an ordinary GeoDataFrame, GeoSeries or geometry, not a dask one.
`gdal`	`gdal vector clip`	`layer` → `input` `mask` → `like` `output` → `output`	Can also clip to a bbox or to a geometry given as WKT, instead of a mask layer.
`geopandas`	`geopandas.clip`	`layer` → `gdf` `mask` → `mask`	The mask may also be a shapely geometry or a bounding box.
`grass`	`v.clip`	`layer` → `input` `mask` → `clip` `output` → `output`	None noted
`postgis`	`st_intersection`	`layer` → `geom1` `mask` → `geom2`	Per pair of geometries: union the mask first, or join on ST_Intersects and intersect each pair.
`qgis`	`native:clip`	`layer` → `INPUT` `mask` → `OVERLAY` `output` → `OUTPUT`	None noted
`sf`	`sf::st_intersection`	`layer` → `x` `mask` → `y`	Adds y's attributes to the result (a clip keeps only x's); drop them afterwards. st_crop cuts to a bounding box instead.
`shapely`	`shapely.intersection`	`layer` → `a` `mask` → `b`	Per pair of geometries (or element by element in arrays): union the mask first to cut by all of it.
`terra`	`terra::crop`	`layer` → `x` `mask` → `y`	Keeps only x's attributes; y can also be an extent.
`whiteboxtools`	`Clip`	`layer` → `input` `mask` → `clip` `output` → `output`	None noted