How to copy and paste things between vim and system clipboard

speck · 02-20-2010, 12:30 AM

On a pretty stock Slackware 12.0, the "set mouse=r" option is all I need to provide. I ran the following test from an Xterm just to make sure (but I'm using Openbox only, not KDE).

Code:

1. mv -i ~/.vimrc ~/.vimrc.bak

2. vim /tmp/tmp.txt
    Highlighting in Firefox and middle click pasting into Vim does not work
    Highlighting in Vim and middle click pasting into Firefox does not work

3. echo "set mouse=r" > ~/.vimrc

4. vim /tmp/tmp.txt
    Highlighting in Firefox and middle click pasting into Vim now works
    Highlighting in Vim and middle click pasting into Firefox now works

raju.mopidevi · 02-20-2010, 04:24 AM

I am using openSuSE, i had klipper (clip board tool) at the tray. When ever i select some text at any window and press copy ---- then it automatically copied and shown at klipper. Now i can see what are copied. Klipper has history manager. My klipper shows last 7 copied texts.

T3slider · 02-20-2010, 04:12 PM

This is an odd and needlessly complex discussion...

Hold shift while hilighting in vim to copy to the clipboard and then middle-click in any other app. When trying to paste *into* vim, just use Shift+Insert assuming you've copied to the system clipboard (the clipboard situation is very messy by default in Linux and is one of the worst designs IMO...to rectify this in WMs that don't handle this stuff as well as klipper or whatever other tool you may use, I always just set my terminal to copy to the primary buffer. urxvt makes this easy with perl extensions). The set mouse=a/r will work as well but you don't have to change that on-the-fly and exclude yourself from VISUAL mode...just hold shift.

Of course the real reason that this thread exists is that you cannot perform proper copying/pasting in vim using *registers* because it wasn't compiled with --with-x (which is annoying). It works properly in gvim but not in console vim, and the only way to fix this (so the clipboard is accessible using the system register in vim) is by recompiling.

Why has this thread reached so many pages?

[edit] Just checked, and shift+middle click works to paste into vim as well. So just hold shift while doing any standard hilighting/middle-clicking in vim and you're golden, and you can still use visual mode. Of course this is still incredibly stupid since it should have been compiled with --with-x in the first place, but I guess they were trying not to exclude those without X on their system. [/edit]

grissiom · 02-20-2010, 08:35 PM

Thanks T3slider. The Shift modifier works like a charm

So I will set mouse to a instead of r from now on. I've no idea why this thread got so loong(Oh, 3 pages). Maybe Shift is broken in the past

armorsmith42 · 06-04-2010, 08:59 AM

What I did on debian Lenny:

1) sudo apt-get install vim-full
2) insert the following into my .vimrc
"""
set clipboard=unnamed
vnoremap y "*y
vnoremap Y "*Y
nnoremap p "*p
nnoremap P "*P
"""

now to copy, I press 'v' to enter visual highlight mode,
highlight the area I want to copy,
and press 'y' to yank it into the clipboard

to paste, I press 'p' from normal/command mode.

----
What this does:
vim uses multiple registers. I'm sure there are some ninjas out there who
switch between registers, but I only use one. the '*' register is the clipboard, so the last 4 commands just specify using that whenever you try to yank or paste.
I dont know if the first line is needed and I don't care.

Richard Cranium · 06-04-2010, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by armorsmith42

What I did on debian Lenny:

1) sudo apt-get install vim-full
2) insert the following into my .vimrc
"""
set clipboard=unnamed
vnoremap y "*y
vnoremap Y "*Y
nnoremap p "*p
nnoremap P "*P
"""

now to copy, I press 'v' to enter visual highlight mode,
highlight the area I want to copy,
and press 'y' to yank it into the clipboard

to paste, I press 'p' from normal/command mode.

----
What this does:
vim uses multiple registers. I'm sure there are some ninjas out there who
switch between registers, but I only use one. the '*' register is the clipboard, so the last 4 commands just specify using that whenever you try to yank or paste.
I dont know if the first line is needed and I don't care.

While you undoubtedly happy using Debian Lenny, this is a Slackware forum. A solution that starts off with the "apt-get" command in a Slackware forum thread won't be very relevant. Not to mention other differences between Slackware and Debian.

bk322 · 07-22-2011, 09:55 AM

Well I'm on Kubuntu I put
set clipboard=unnamed
in .vimrc - and it enables me to interact with clipboard. All copy/paste commands - like dd - all work well through the clipboard.

Xeratul · 09-28-2013, 03:50 AM

Hi

how to paste from the clipboard to VIM in xterm ?
(vim and not gvim)

this does not work

Code:

Some basic clipboard commands:
"+2yy – copy two lines to X11 clipboard
"+dd – cut line to X11 clipboard
"+p – paste X11 clipboard

http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Accessing_...stem_clipboard

It is normal since most version havent this clipboard in compiled vim.

This does not work. Is there a workaround working based on xclip -o?

thanks

catkin · 09-28-2013, 04:32 AM

Could this be a case of imagining the solution rather than solving the need?

If the need is "I want to copy text from vim running in an xterm to the clipboard and vice versa", it can be done using xterm's clipboard copy and paste facilities. For copying from vim, this method is limited to a screenful at a time and line numbers have to be off, though

Xeratul · 09-28-2013, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catkin

Could this be a case of imagining the solution rather than solving the need?

If the need is "I want to copy text from vim running in an xterm to the clipboard and vice versa", it can be done using xterm's clipboard copy and paste facilities. For copying from vim, this method is limited to a screenful at a time and line numbers have to be off, though

Code:

Func UniversalPaster()
  ! xclip -o ~/.unimyclip
  :r ~/.unimyclip
Endfunc

map <ctrl-v> UniversalPaster

what about this for the vim into the console?

Geist · 09-29-2013, 08:34 AM

For a completely different workaround:

Install xclip (though I think Slackware comes with it or something similar, xclipboard perhaps).
Copy anything from your X application, switch to Vim. :r!xclip -o and it will read the content into the buffer.
If you want to copy from Vim, simply :w !xclip (the space between w and ! is important) and it will write the buffer into xclip, or any other program. visual selection followed by :!xclip works too but it deletes the selected text.

Xeratul · 09-29-2013, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geist

For a completely different workaround:

Install xclip (though I think Slackware comes with it or something similar, xclipboard perhaps).
Copy anything from your X application, switch to Vim. :r!xclip -o and it will read the content into the buffer.
If you want to copy from Vim, simply :w !xclip (the space between w and ! is important) and it will write the buffer into xclip, or any other program. visual selection followed by :!xclip works too but it deletes the selected text.

Many thanks !!

this is alsmost working

Code:

function Xclipcopy()
  :w /tmp/clip.txt
  silent execute '!  cat /tmp/clip.txt | xclip -i  '
endfunction

" COPY To X11 CLipboard
" vmap <F5> :!xclip -f -sel clip<CR> <----- not working!!!!
" may work too? map <F7> :-1r !xclip -o -sel clip<CR> <--- not  working
vmap <F5> :call Xclipcopy()<cr>


" below this is very well working
" Paste From X11 CLipboard
" map <F6> :w !xclip<CR><CR>
" vmap <F6> "*y <-- not working
map <F6> :r!xclip -o<CR>
vmap <F6> :r!xclip -o<CR>


" hey, note, here we talk about vim (not gvim)

Code:

 screen --version####################
Screen version 4.00.03jw4 (FAU) 2-May-06

only COPY with F5 is not working !!

xclip -i shall do it

cat /tmp/file | xclip -i shall make it but how...

###
:!xclip NOT working
The text is selected with v in visual
this is brillantly not working

since it tries to save to file.

Code:

~$ vim /tmp/tetimedia:~[No write since last change]

Stephen Morgan · 09-29-2013, 01:38 PM

It works for me. I highlight using visual mode, then (still in visual mode) hit

Code:

:w !xclip

Then `xclip -o` prints what i highlighted.

Mind you, it shows up in the middle-click clipboard.

EDIT: Try

Code:

:w !xclip -selection clip -i

That puts it in the right clipboard to show with ^V, rather than middle-click.

Xeratul · 09-30-2013, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen Morgan

It works for me. I highlight using visual mode, then (still in visual mode) hit

Code:

:w !xclip

Then `xclip -o` prints what i highlighted.

Mind you, it shows up in the middle-click clipboard.

EDIT: Try

Code:

:w !xclip -selection clip -i

That puts it in the right clipboard to show with ^V, rather than middle-click.

I would desire the real clipboard (x11) not the middle moues click.

I will try :

Code:

:w !xclip -selection clip -i

.

to be continued

Code:

:w !xclip -selection clip -i

Press ENTER or type command to continue:w !xclip -selection clip -i

Press ENTER or type command to continue

it seems to work, but it is not silent copy

Code:

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