how to copy and paste text directly from the terminal using keyboard and mouse without writing commands?

sandyiitism · 08-23-2017, 01:58 AM

newbie

Turbocapitalist · 08-23-2017, 02:30 AM

Do you mean a terminal as in a graphical terminal emulation program you run on your desktop to let you access the shell? On many desktops you can get to that with ctrl-alt-t There is also the console, which you can get to by ctrl-alt-f1 and so on. Returning from the terminal is usually ctrl-alt-f7

If you have a terminal then you can highlight the text to be copied, move the cursor with the keyboard and then press the middle key on the mouse to paste it in.

If you want to stay wholly within the shell for that, you can go to the beginning of what you want to copy and press ctrl-k That will cut from the cursor to the end of the line. Then you can move the cursor with the keyboard and press ctrl-y to paste in what was copied.

If you are using a terminal multiplexer like tmux (or screen) then there are a few more options.

Kirppu21 · 08-23-2017, 03:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandyiitism

newbie

I usually just ctrl+shift+c after highlighting with a mouse and paste ctrl+shift+v

MadeInGermany · 08-23-2017, 06:17 AM

You can try the Motif way: mark the desired portion of text with the left mouse button, move pointer to the destination, and paste with the middle mouse button. This method does not make use of a clipboard (but some graphic tools couple the marked text with a clipboard nevertheless).

sweepnine · 09-02-2017, 07:15 AM

In case you want to copy an argument of a previous command you can use the alt-dot-thing.

Assume before you did this.

Code:

cp /mnt/some/thing /tmp/right/here

Now you want changed permission on the second argument of the cp call. Then type

Code:

chmod u+x <alt>-2-.

It becomes

Code:

chmod u+x /tmp/right/here

However, if there were other commands inbetween your need press an extra dot for each of them. For example

Code:

chmod u+x <alt>-2-.-.-.

if there were two command between the cp and the chmod call.

hazel · 09-02-2017, 07:24 AM

Try gpm. It works both on text consoles and in X. When the gpm server is running, a block cursor linked to the mouse appears on your text console. Drag the mouse over text and it will be highlighted. Right-click and the highlighted text is copied to the current position of your typing cursor. You can use this to copy and paste between two text consoles too.

In an Xterm you don't see the block cursor, but you can still copy and paste without using the clipboard; in this case however, you need to middle-click, not right-click.

onebuck · 09-02-2017, 09:07 AM

Hi,

Adding to what Hazel stated. You can double click a word/phrase that will highlight the text. You can then pick a place with the left button then press your mouse wheel/middle button to place that marked text into place. 'man gpm';

Quote:

NAME
gpm - a cut and paste utility and mouse server for virtual consoles

SYNOPSIS
gpm [ options ]

DESCRIPTION
This package tries to be a useful mouse server for applications running on the Linux console. It is based on the "selection" package, and some of
its code comes from selection itself. This package is intended as a replacement for "selection" as a cut-and-paste mechanism; it also provides addi‐
tional facilities. The "selection" package offered the first cut-and-paste implementation for Linux using two mouse buttons, and the cut buffer is
still called "selection buffer" or just "selection" throughout this document. The information below is extracted from the texinfo file, which is
the preferred source of information.

The gpm executable is meant to act like a daemon (thus, gpmd would be a better name for it). This section is meant to describe the command-line
options for gpm, while its internals are outlined in the next section.

Due to restrictions in the ioctl(TIOCLINUX) system call, gpm must be run by the superuser. The restrictions have been added in the last 1.1 kernels
to fix a security hole related to selection and screen dumping.

The server can be configured to match the user's taste, and any application using the mouse will inherit the server's attitude. From release 1.02 up
to 1.19.2 is was possible for any user logged on the system console to change the mouse feeling using the -q option. This is no longer possible for
security reasons.

As of 0.97 the server program puts itself in the background. To kill gpm you can just reinvoke it with the -k cmdline switch, although killall gpm
can be a better choice.

SPECIAL COMMANDS
Version 1.10 adds the capability to execute special commands on certain circumstances. Special commands default to rebooting and halting the system,
but the user can specify his/her personal choice. The capability to invoke commands using the mouse is a handy one for programmers, because it
allows to issue a clean shutdown when the keyboard is locked and no network is available to restore the system to a sane state.

Special commands are toggled by triple-clicking the left and right button -- an unlikely event during normal mouse usage. The easiest way to triple-
click is pressing one of the buttons and triple-click the other one. When special processing is toggled, a message appears on the console (and the
speaker beeps twice, if you have a speaker); if the user releases all the buttons and presses one of them again within three seconds, then the spe‐
cial command corresponding to the button is executed.

Look at this thread for additional commands; 20 Linux Command Tips and Tricks That Will Save You A Lot of Time

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!