[SOLVED] How to restore traditional X11 copy-paste when using vim?

colinh2 · 08-22-2017, 10:30 AM

I recently installed Slackware 14.2-64 and am using xfce4.

I'm running vim in an xfce4-terminal.

If I try to paste text into vim, while in insert mode, using middle-click (actually 2-finger tap), it seems to be the equivalent of doing ^V. Similarly, if I select text in vi
I can't then paste it to a terminal.

Is there a good explanation somewhere about X11 buffers, clipboards, left-click select/middle-click paste, ^X ^C ^V
etc?

I'd just like it to work the same way it did the last 25 years...

Diantre · 08-22-2017, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colinh2

If I try to paste text into vim, while in insert mode, using middle-click (actually 2-finger tap), it seems to be the equivalent of doing ^V. Similarly, if I select text in vi
I can't then paste it to a terminal.

Try using Shift-Middle Click. To copy text from vim to another terminal I press Shift, select the text with the mouse, and then press Shift-Insert in the other terminal window to paste. Or you can select the text inside vim then press "*yy or "+yy to copy text to the system clipboard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by colinh2

Is there a good explanation somewhere about X11 buffers, clipboards, left-click select/middle-click paste, ^X ^C ^V
etc?

Read the vim help file with :help x11-selection first. There's also plenty of info out there. Here's two pages with more information:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...tems-clipboard

https://unix.stackexchange.com/quest...ternal-program

Hope that helps.

GazL · 08-22-2017, 03:03 PM

Adding set mouse="" to your vimrc will do what you want, and is what I do to restore that functionality.

kjhambrick · 08-22-2017, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GazL

Adding set mouse="" to your vimrc will do what you want, and is what I do to restore that functionality.

Same here more-or-less:

Code:

set mouse=

Really didn't like the 'windowification' of vim myself ... I thought that was what gvim was all about ...

-- kjh

EDIT: I forgot this one ( from the manual: This prevents Vim from auto-indenting the pasted code )

Code:

set paste

GazL · 08-22-2017, 05:18 PM

I spent so much time turning unwanted vim features off that I actually decided to try emacs instead.

jmccue · 08-22-2017, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GazL

I spent so much time turning unwanted vim features off that I actually decided to try emacs instead.

This is exactly what I have been doing, every vim release I need to increase the size of my ~/.vimrc to get back to 'sane' defaults. What really pushed me over the edge is when I had to add:

Quote:

set scrolloff=0

when vim set yet another new default, took me a while to find that one.

For the interested, these are the settings I have had to append to ~/.vimrc since the release of 7.x
pastebin

Edit forgot: what I have for copy/paste while in gvim

X-buffer, copy/paste:

Quote:

map <F9> "*y
map <S-F9> "*P

Windows type, copy/paste:

Quote:

map <F10> "+y
map <S-F10> "+gP

John

colinh2 · 08-22-2017, 09:26 PM

Ahhh. Thanks everyone!

Huh. Now I see all the similar threads. My googling wasn't very effective :-(

dugan · 08-23-2017, 09:23 AM

I rebuild vim with

Code:

--with-x

And then I add the following to my .vimrc:

Code:

set ttymouse=xterm2

Gerard Lally · 08-23-2017, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GazL

I spent so much time turning unwanted vim features off that I actually decided to try emacs instead.

With emacs and evil you get the best of both worlds. With emacs you get org-mode, an insanely powerful RPN calculator, a built-in shell, a file browser, a web browser, and Tramp for remote editing; and with evil you get Vim's far superior modal editing and keys. Evil's vi(m) emulation is almost flawless.

caffe · 10-03-2017, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dugan

I rebuild vim with

Code:

--with-x

Just fyi, you don't have to recompile vim. Pat kindly compiles vim twice (vim and vim-gvim packages). However, you don't have to use gvim's gui. It works just fine in the console (launch with -v). You then get x11 copy/paste without recompiling. I use this everyday with this in my bashrc:

Code:

[[ ! -z "$DISPLAY" ]] && alias vim="gvim -v"