Is it possible to copy to clipboard directly from Vim? yy
only copies stuff to Vim's internal buffer. I want to copy to the OS's clipboard. Is there any such command in Vim or you can only yank stuff within Vim?
sudo apt-get install vim-gnome
before applying these commands below or you will get Invalid Register Error!
vim-gnome
is probably overkill or simply unavailable in their OS/distro, whereas I suspect vim-gtk
and preferably vim-gtk3
are more likely to exist and pull fewer dependencies, while still providing clipboard integration (at least for those still on X11; I'm not sure how this all interacts with Wayland).
The *
register will do this. In Windows, +
and *
are equivalent. In unix there is a subtle difference between +
and *
:
Under Windows, the * and + registers are equivalent. For X11 systems, though, they differ. For X11 systems, * is the selection, and + is the cut buffer (like clipboard). http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Accessing_the_system_clipboard
*
is probably what you want most of the time, so I use *
because it functions as I expect it to in both environments.
In Linux distros you have to install vim-gtk
(aka gvim
) first to gain clipboard functionality. This is because non-gtk vim is typically compiled without X11 support. This is to allow it to run on console only machines (often servers).
And for those confused about how to use registers when yanking or putting, you merely write "
then the name of the register. So for copying something to the clipboard register you type "*y
and then to put you type "*p
(credit: Kyle Mathews)
On Mac OSX
copy selected part: visually select text(type v or V in normal mode) and type :w !pbcopy
copy the whole file :%w !pbcopy
paste from the clipboard :r !pbpaste
On most Linux Distros, you can substitute:
pbcopy above with xclip -i -sel c or xsel -i -b
pbpaste using xclip -o -sel -c or xsel -o -b -- Note: In case neither of these tools (xsel and xclip) are preinstalled on your distro, you can probably find them in the repos
vnoremap <C-c> :w !pbcopy<CR><CR> noremap <C-v> :r !pbpaste<CR><CR>
To use this mapping, if you want to copy, highlight text in visual mode and hit Ctrl-c to copy. To paste from the system clipboard, hit Ctrl-v.
vnoremap <C-C> :w !xclip -i -sel c<CR><CR>
:w !pbcopy
or :%w !pbcopy
copies the entire file
In your vimrc file you can specify to automatically use the system clipboard for copy and paste.
On Windows set:
set clipboard=unnamed
On Linux set (vim 7.3.74+):
set clipboard=unnamedplus
NOTE: You may need to use an up to date version of Vim for these to work.
http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Accessing_the_system_clipboard
+xterm_clipboard
feature (visible when you run vim --version
). This was the case for me (running Kubuntu 12.10). I had to install the vim-gui-common
package to get the correct functionality.
set clipboard=unnamed
works in Mac OS 10.11.6 (El Capitan) with vim 7.4
ggvGGy
set clipboard^=unnamed,unnamedplus
will solve it for Windows and Linux. Not sure about Mac.
Use the register "+
to copy to the system clipboard (i.e. "+y
instead of y
).
Likewise you can paste from "+
to get text from the system clipboard (i.e. "+p
instead of p
).
+
/*
difference is SELECTION
vs PRIMARY
copy buffers (can't recall which is which atm)
"+yy
(copy line to clipboard) and "+yy
(copy line to selection); "+p
(paste from clipboard) and "*p
(paste from selection). "
is to select register which is vim's own internal register by default (the way yy
and p
would work without referencing any type of register). PS: I wonder if there's a character for Vim's own internal register something like "&yy
which turns to yy
by default.
@Jacob Dalton has mentioned this in a comment, but nobody seems to have mentioned in an answer that vim has to be compiled with clipboard support for any of the suggestions mentioned here to work. Mine wasn't configured that way on Mac OS X by default and I had to rebuild vim. Use this the command to find out whether you have it or not vim --version | grep 'clipboard'
. +clipboard
means you're good and the suggestions here will work for you, while -clipboard
means you have to recompile and rebuild vim.
brew install vim
. On Ubuntu, you can use sudo apt-get install vim-gnome
. On other (non-GNOME) Linux distros you may rather install vim-gtk
or vim-athena
.
vim
and install gvim
wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Vim#Installation
brew install vim
I added set clipboard=unnamed
to .vimrc. Run source ~/.vimrc
in command line. In .bash_profile I added alias vim="/usr/local/bin/vim"
then run source ~/.bash_profile
. Now in vim just use y
and p
to copy/paste
Summing up and make it easier for newbies,
To copy the current line, in command mode type:
"*yy
To copy the whole file/buffer, in command mode, first go to the beginning via gg
, then type
"*yG
As noted, this requires +clipboard
out of vim --version
, which indicate the availability of clipboard support, -clipboard
means no.
"*5yy
says 5 lines yanked
but nothing in the clipboard? os/x.
nnoremap <leader>c "*
in .vimrc
works quite well as a "copy" of sorts, followed by a motion to grab the text object you want to copy into your OS clipboard.
vim-gtk
to turn -clipboard
into +clipboard
, than "+yy
is working.
"+yG
instead.
For Ubuntu - July 2018
Use the register "+ to copy to the system clipboard (i.e. "+y instead of y).
Likewise you can paste from "+ to get text from the system clipboard (i.e. "+p instead of p).
You have to also make sure that vim is compiled with support for the clipboard. Try:
vim --version | grep .xterm_clipboard -o
and if it's -xterm_clipboard (a minus prefix) then you do not have support.
Here are some instructions for swapping out with a working version of vim that has clipboard support.
$ sudo apt-get purge vim
$ sudo apt-get autoremove (removes any extraneous vim dependency packages from system)
$ sudo apt-get install vim-gnome (or sudo apt-get install vim-gtk3 for newer Ubuntu versions)
Check again with vim --version | grep .xterm_clipboard -o
and you can confirm the clipboard is now available (ie. +xterm_clipboard)
Good luck.
set clipboard=unnamedplus
in my .vimrc
file for the yank to work. I am using Ubuntu 18.04.
If you are using vim in MAC OSX, unfortunately it comes with older verion, and not complied with clipboard options. Luckily, homebrew can easily solve this problem.
install vim:
brew install vim
install gui verion of vim:
brew install macvim
restart the terminal to take effect.
append the following line to ~/.vimrc
set clipboard=unnamed
now you can copy the line in vim with yy
and paste it system-wide.
Updated Method:
I was never satisfied with set clipboard method for years. The biggest drawback is it will mess up your clipboard history, even when you use x
for deletion. Here is a better and more elegant solution.
Copy the text [range] of vim into the system clipboard. (Hint: use v or V to select the range first, and then type the colon : to activate the Ex command): :[line-range]yank + e.g., :5,10y * (copy/yank lines 5-10 to the system clipboard * register) Paste the content from the system clipboard into vim on a new line: :put +
Note:
If you select a word range, the above will not work. use "*y or "+y to save this visual block to clipboard. However this is hard to type, I am still thinking about alternatives. :help "* or :help *+ for more informations brew info vim will be able to see other options for installing vim. Currrently it does not have any other options.
--with-override-system-vim
should be --with-override-system-vi
I wasn't able to copy to my clipboard's system because I had this in my ~/.vimrc file:
if has('mouse')
set mouse=a
endif
But if you add this line next, it will allow you to simply Ctrl+c to get whatever you have selected into your clipboard.
vmap <C-c> "+y
Original discussion and more details: Copy text out of vim with set mouse=a enabled
This answer is specific to MAC users.
The default VIM available with MAC does not come with clipboard option enabled. You need that option to access the system clipboard.
To check if your vim has that option enabled use the below command
vim --version
In the result, you should have +clipboard
. If it is -clipboard
, then your VIM does NOT have the option to access the system clipboard.
You need to MAKE and install your VIM with the option you need. Following are the commands.
# Create the directories you need
$ sudo mkdir -p /opt/local/bin
# Download, compile, and install the latest Vim
$ cd ~
$ git clone https://github.com/vim/vim.git
$ cd vim
$ ./configure --prefix=/opt/local
$ make
$ sudo make install
# Add the binary to your path, ahead of /usr/bin
$ echo 'PATH=/opt/local/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bash_profile
# Reload bash_profile so the changes take effect in this window
$ source ~/.bash_profile"
The above will install the latest VIM with the option +clipboard
enabled.
Now you need to set the system clipboard. Append the following line to ~/.vimrc
set clipboard=unnamed
Now you can yank text to system clipboard. Below steps explains how to yank.
In vim command mode press v, this will switch you to VISUAL mode. Move the cursor around to select the text or lines you need to copy. Press y, this will copy the selected text to clipboard. Go to any external application and CMD + v to paste.
I use MACBook Pro with macOS Mojave and the above works in it.
In vim under ubuntu terminal only,
press shift + drag mouse
to select a text in vim then ctrl + shift + c
on the terminal
then ctrl + v
on other editor
the solution for me was to install additional vim that has the clipboard option included:
sudo apt-get install vim-gnome
"+y
suggestion only worked with vim-gnome
. Using Linux Mint 18.2.
You can find the answers here Arch Wiki
For Linux: First of all you have to enable Clipboard in your vim version by installing gvim
.
Next you have to put this line on your .vimrc
file.
set clipboard=unnamedplus
If you are using GVim, you can also set guioptions+=a
. This will trigger automatic copy to clipboard of text that you highlight in visual mode.
Drawback: Note that advanced clipboard managers (with history) will in this case get all your selection history…
This question already has a lot of answers. I am adding my way which I think is quick.
Quickly, you can press V
(Shift + v) to active visual mode. In visible mode, you can use j
and k
to select the text you want to copy. After selection, use
"*y
Now, selected text is copied to clipboard.
I have been using these for many years now:
nnoremap Y "+y
vnoremap Y "+y
nnoremap yY ^"+y$
You can now just use upper case Y
to copy to clipboard, and lowercase y
won't be affected e.g. as by set clipboard=unnamed
so you can still choose if the copy will go to the clipboard or not.
Tested on ubuntu 21.04, vim 8.2.
vim
on Manjaro Linux and the clipboard
was not supported by the package, therefor keymaps did not work for me, so I replaced my vim
package with vim-clipboard
package then clipboard is available now and keymaps are working.
If you have xclip an easy way of copying text to the clipboard is as follows:
Yank text you want to copy. (y command in vanilla vim) Type in :call system("xclip -selection clipboard", @")
:call system()
runs a terminal command. It takes two arguments, the first the command, the second what to pipe to that command. For example :echom system("head -1", "Hello\nWorld")
returns Hello (With some padding). echom returns the output of a command, call doesn't.
xclip -selection clipboard
just copies text into the system clipboard as opposed to the default X clipboard, (Accessed by the middle moue button).
@"
returns the last yanked text. " is the default register, but you could use any register. To see the contents of all registers, type :registers
.
:call system("pbcopy",@")
. One can bind this command to a key.
If your vim happens to be compiled without +xterm_clipboard
option like it is by default in Debian and I guess Ubuntu, you can pipe selection or entire buffer to external program that handles desktop clipboard. For xclip
(which you may need to install previously), the command will be :w !xclip -sel clip
-xterm_clipboard
in the flags shown when I vim --version
.
I've been struggling with this for months till now on MacOsX using keyboard shortcuts. I know question isn't about using keyboard shorts. But this might help someone with the same concern.
I found that if you uncheck:
View -> Allow Mouse Reporting
from Terminal menu, you'll be able to copy to clipboard using
command + c
again.
⌘ + R
= "View -> Allow Mouse Reporting" 👍🏻
Put set clipboard=unnamed in your vimrc. Select what you want to copy in Visual mode (Press v to enter). Back to Normal mode (Press escape[esc]), press y to copy. If you want to paste something from OS's clipboard, press p/P in Vim Normal mode.
I'm a Vim newby but, to copy all the text to system clipboard (e.g if you want to paste it to a word processor or another text editor like gedit, mousepad etc...), in normal mode:
ggVGy
or, more simply:
:%y
As suggested, I also installed vim-gtk and put
set clipboard=unnamedplus
in my .vimrc
and everything works fine
If you want to copy only a portion of text, use visual mode (v), select the text you want to copy and press y.
Finally, I suggest a clipboard program like Clipman (my favorite), Clipit, Parcellite or similar.
(I'm using vim 8.0 in Debian Stretch Xfce)
FORGIVE ME FOR MY ENGLISH! :-)
My solution was putting the following line to .vimrc:
map <C-y> :w !xclip -sel c <CR><CR>
The script copies the selected line (trough visual mode) or the file content (if none is selected) to the clipboard using Ctrl + y. I'm using Manjaro Linux if that matters.
vi
/vim
on macOS
Maybe someone will find it useful. I wanted to stay independent from X clipboard, and still be able to copy and paste some text between two running vims. This little code save the selected text in temp.txt file for copying. Put the code below into your .vimrc. Use CTRL-c CTRL-v to do the job.
vnoremap :w !cp /dev/null ~/temp.txt && cat > ~/temp.txt
noremap :r !cat ~/temp.txt
In case you don't want to use any graphical interface for vim and you prefer to just stick with terminal emulator there may be a much simpler approach to this problem. Instead of using yank or anything like this, first take a look at documentation of terminal you use. I've been struggling with the same issue (trying to use +clipboard and xclip and so on) and in the end it turned out that in my terminal emulator it's enough to just press shift and select any text you want to copy. That's it. Quite simple and no need for messing with configuration. (I use urxvt by the way).
I had issue because my vim was not supporting clipboard:
vim --version | grep clip
-clipboard +insert_expand +path_extra +user_commands
+emacs_tags -mouseshape +startuptime -xterm_clipboard
I installed vim-gnome (which support clipboard) and then checked again:
vim --version | grep clipboard
+clipboard +insert_expand +path_extra +user_commands
+emacs_tags +mouseshape +startuptime +xterm_clipboard
Now I am able to copy and paste using "+y and "+p respectively.
I'm on mac osx (10.15.3) and new to vim. I found this so frustrating and all the answers on here too complicated and/or didn't apply to my situation. I ended up getting this working in 2 ways:
key mapping that uses pbcopy: works on the old version of vim that ships with mac. Add vmap '' :w !pbcopy
I wrote a simple line in my .vimrc to get copy working. Hope this helps someone. My vim is not installed with Clipboard support, unfortunately, so none of these suggestions worked for me. Basically, paste this line in your .vimrc:
map <C-c> y:e ~/clipsongzboard<CR>P:w !pbcopy<CR><CR>:bdelete!<CR>
If you'd like to read details about what this does, you can read about this on my blog
For some international keyboards, you may need to press "+Space to get a "
.
So in those case you would have to press "Space+y or "Space*y
for OSX, like the 10342 answers above made clear, you need to make sure that vim supports the clipboard feature, said the the one that comes pre-shipped with OSX does NOT support clipboard, and that if you run brew install vim
it would work.
Except that running vi will still make you run the preshipped OSX version, not the one you installed from brew.
to get over this, I simply aliased my vim command to the brew version, not the OSX default one:
alias vim="/usr/local/Cellar/vim/8.0.1100_1/bin/vim"
and now i'm golden
In my instance selecting text by highlighting (clicking and dragging) with my mouse was causing vim to enter into visual mode.
On a mac anyway, the easiest solution is to use fn + mouse click and drag
to avoid entering into visual mode.
If you wish to avoid this behavior by default you can edit your vimrc
Success story sharing
vim --version|grep .xterm_clipboard -o
and if it's-
then you do not have support. Download a different version as per ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1686955+
register. For example, if you wanna copy three lines into system's clipboard, use commands likev3j"+y
, and then you can paste them into another application more another VIM. Using*
register under Linux can only copy and paste between different VIM applications.