Unlike other editors, vim stores copied text in its own clipboard. So, it's very hard for me to copy some text from a webpage and paste it into the current working file. It so happens I have to either open gedit or type it manually.
Can I make vim paste from and to the system's clipboard?
The "* and "+ registers are for the system's clipboard (:help registers). Depending on your system, they may do different things. For instance, on systems that don't use X11 like OSX or Windows, the "* register is used to read and write to the system clipboard. On X11 systems both registers can be used. See :help x11-selection for more details, but basically the "* is analogous to X11's PRIMARY selection (which usually copies things you select with the mouse and pastes with the middle mouse button) and "+ is analogous to X11's CLIPBOARD selection (which is the clipboard proper).
If all that went over your head, try using "*yy or "+yy to copy a line to your system's clipboard. Assuming you have the appropriate compile options, one or the other should work. You might like to remap this to something more convenient for you. For example, you could put vnoremap <C-c> "*y in your ~/.vimrc so that you can visually select and press Ctrl+c to yank to your system's clipboard.
Be aware that copying/pasting from the system clipboard will not work if :echo has('clipboard') returns 0. In this case, vim is not compiled with the +clipboard feature and you'll have to install a different version or recompile it. Some linux distros supply a minimal vim installation by default, but generally if you install the vim-gtk or vim-gtk3 package you can get the extra features.
You also may want to have a look at the 'clipboard' option described at :help cb. In this case you can :set clipboard=unnamed or :set clipboard=unnamedplus to make all yanking/deleting operations automatically copy to the system clipboard. This could be an inconvenience in some cases where you are storing something else in the clipboard as it will override it.
To paste you can use "+p or "*p (again, depending on your system and/or desired selection) or you can map these to something else. I type them explicitly, but I often find myself in insert mode. If you're in insert mode you can still paste them with proper indentation by using <C-r><C-p>* or <C-r><C-p>+. See :help i_CTRL-R_CTRL-P.
It's also worth mentioning vim's paste option (:help paste). This puts vim into a special "paste mode" that disables several other options, allowing you to easily paste into vim using your terminal emulator or multiplexer's familiar paste shortcut. Simply type :set paste to enable it, paste your content and then type :set nopaste to disable it. Alternatively, you can use the pastetoggle option to set a keycode that toggles the mode (:help pastetoggle). I recommend using registers instead of these options, but if they are still too scary this can be a convenient workaround while you're perfecting your vim chops.
See :help clipboard for more detailed information.
"*p? Do I press Shift-', then Shift-8, then p, etc.?
– T. Brian Jones
Nov 7 '13 at 2:09
dd for example. The first d enters operator pending mode, then the second d finishes the command and deletes the line. If you type dG, however, the G makes it delete to the end of the file instead of the just deleting the line. Registers use this same principal to allow various commands to use them.
– Conner
Nov 7 '13 at 5:44
vim-gtk package (under Debian, at least), to get vim that is compiled with +xterm_clipboard. Took me 40mn to find this out, and only a few seconds to sudo apt-get install vim-gtk.
– Dominykas Mostauskis
Apr 9 '14 at 15:38
vim-gnome also works and has +xterm_clipboard enabled.
– Chev
Oct 14 '14 at 1:43
You can copy into vim by gnome-terminal's shortcut for paste. Make the file in insert mode and use
Ctrl+Shift+v.
Remember beforehand to
:set paste
to avoid messing with the indentation.
On my Linux system, the + and * registers map to an X11 selection, which can be pasted with the middle mouse button. When :set clipboard=unnamed and :set clipboard=unnamedplus are used, then the registers map to the clipboard, and can be pasted with CTRL-V.
The specifics seem to be somewhat configuration and system dependent, so your mileage will definitely vary. It should definitely get you pointed in the right direction, though.
* maps to X11 primary register (which is normally pasted by mouse). + maps to X11 clipboard register normally pasted by shortcuts.
– ZyX
Jul 15 '12 at 6:45
* for primary and + for clipboard X11 registers, you can see this in the vim source: these values are set there and never modified, and clip_star and clip_plus are always used for * and + registers respectively.
– ZyX
Jul 15 '12 at 7:23
For my that configuration works for copying and pasting
" copy and paste
vmap <C-c> "+yi
vmap <C-x> "+c
vmap <C-v> c<ESC>"+p
imap <C-v> <ESC>"+pa
This would be the lines you need in your vimrc for this purpose:
set clipboard+=unnamed " use the clipboards of vim and win
set paste " Paste from a windows or from vim
set go+=a " Visual selection automatically copied to the clipboard
I believe that this question deserves a more objective answer.
Entering Paste Mode
Leaving Paste Mode
You pasted the text and you're able to type again.
:set nopaste does nothing. What is it supposed to do? Why do I need it?
– Marko Avlijaš
Apr 26 '18 at 15:57
:set nopaste, you're telling the editor that you don't want to paste anymore. And whe you hit i, you're returning to the edit mode :).
– ivanleoncz
Apr 26 '18 at 16:51
:set paste enabled?
– Marko Avlijaš
Apr 30 '18 at 18:23
clipboard
There is a special register for storing this selection, it is the "* register. Nothing is put in here unless the information about what text is selected is about to change (e.g. with a left mouse click somewhere), or when another application wants to paste the selected text. Then the text is put in the "* register. For example, to cut a line and make it the current selection/put it on the CLIPBOARD:
"*dd
Similarly, when you want to paste a selection from another application, e.g., by clicking the middle mouse button, the selection is put in the "* register first, and then 'put' like any other register. For example, to put the selection (contents of the CLIPBOARD):
"*p
registers E354
> There are nine types of registers:
> 1. The unnamed register ""
> 2. 10 numbered registers "0 to "9
> 3. The small delete register "-
> 4. 26 named registers "a to "z or "A to "Z
> 5. four read-only registers ":, "., "% and "#
> 6. the expression register "=
> 7. The selection and drop registers "*, "+ and "~
> 8. The black hole register "_
> 9. Last search pattern register "/
Paste from clipboard
1. Clipboard: Copy
2. Vim insertmode, middle mouse key
Check for X11-clipboard support in terminal
When you like to run Vim in a terminal you need to look for a version of Vim that was compiled with clipboard support. Check for X11-clipboard support, from the console, type:
% vim --version
If you see "+xterm_clipboard", you are good to go.
http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Accessing_the_system_clipboard
The X server maintains three selections, called:
PRIMARY, SECONDARY and CLIPBOARD
The PRIMARY selection is conventionally used to implement copying and pasting via the middle mouse button. The SECONDARY and CLIPBOARD selections are less frequently used by application programs.
I tried the suggestions above and none of them worked in my environment. (Windows PuTTY clone over ssh)
Some additional googling turned up: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/110684/copy-paste-into-sshd-vim-from-local-windows-clipboard
One of the comments suggested using SHIFT+INSERT which did the trick for pasting from my desktop's clipboard into Vim's buffer. Ctrl-C was already working to copy to the desktop's clipboard from Vim.
SHIFT+INSERT works because it is the paste option for your terminal (or in your case PuTTY); however, indentation will likely be wrong. Check out the last paragraph of my answer about the paste option to correct this.
– Conner
Jan 21 '15 at 14:59
SHIFT+INS works from a linux host to ssh vim as well as does the mouse third click.
– tuk0z
Jul 26 '17 at 22:29
Didn't have +clipboard so I came up with this alternative solution using xsel:
Add to your ~/.vimrc:
vnoremap <C-C> :w !xsel -b<CR><CR>
vnoremap <C-C> :w !xclip -i -sel c<CR><CR>
– andy
Dec 3 '15 at 11:05
A quick note for people whose vim installation does not support the * and + registers. It is not necessary to download a new vim installation to paste from the clipboard. Here is an alternative method:
1) Install parcellite (a clipboard manager with a low memory footprint);
2) In your .vimrc file, add the following:
command Clip r !parcellite -c
3) Restart vim.
Now when you type in :Clip as an ex command, the contents of the clipboard will be pasted in at the cursor. You can also map the new command to a function key so as to be able to do this with one keystroke.
This works for me: Ctrl+Shift+V
The simplest solution to this, that also works between different Linux machines through ssh is:
Check whether vim supports X-11 clipboard: vim --version | grep clipboard. If it reports back -clipboard and -xterm_clipboard you should install either vim-gtk or vim-gnome (gvim on arch linux)
Add the following lines to your .vimrc:
set clipboard=unnamedplus set paste
ssh -Y machineNow copying and pasting should work exactly as expected on a single, and across different machines by only using y for yank and p for paste. NB modify .vimrc on all machines where you want to use this feature.
Following on from Conner's answer, which was great, but C-R C-p + and C-R C-p * in insert mode is a bit inconvenient. Ditto "*p and "+p from command mode.
a VIM guru suggested the following to map C-v to what C-r C-p + does.
You could have
:inoremap <C-v> <C-o>"+pfor insert mode onlyif you really wanted to override blockwise visual mode (not recommended by him as visual mode is good) you could have
map <C-v> "+p
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 --with-lua --with-override-system-vim
install gui verion of vim:
brew install macvim --with-lua --with-override-system-vim
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.
I ran into this issue on a mid-2017 Macbook Pro running vim within iTerm2 as my primary development environment.
As other answers have suggested, I ran vim --version and noticed that it returns -clipboard, which means that the version of vim that shipped with my machine hasn't been compiled with the clipboard option.
The homebrew package for vim appears to compile with the clipboard option, so the fix for me was to:
brew install vimset clipboard+=unnamed to my ~/.vimrc fileiTerm2
On top of the setting :set clipboard=unnamed, you should use mvim -v which you can get with brew install macvim if you're using vim on Terminal.app on Mac OS X 10.9. Default vim does not support clipboard option.
It may also be worth mentioning, on OSX using Vim, you can select text with the mouse, Cmd-C to copy to OSX system clipboard, and the copied text will be available in the clipboard outside of Vim.
In other words, OSX treats it like it were a regular window, and this is where the much-maligned Apple "Command" button comes in handy.
B-30
Based on @lis2 answer, I use a simpler configuration that will not force Insert mode at the end:
" Copy and paste
if has('clipboard') && !has('gui_running')
vnoremap <C-c> "+y
vnoremap <C-x> "+d
vnoremap <C-v> "+p
inoremap <C-v> <C-r><C-o>+
endif
Mind that all these override default Vim mappings:
v_CTRL-C: stop Visual modev_CTRL-X: subtract [count] from numberv_CTRL-V: blockwise Visual modei_CTRL-V: insert next non-digit literally, which is also mapped to i_CTRL-QAs an alternative, one can use keys inspired in the "yank", "delete" and "put" Vim verbs: <C-y>, <C-d> and <C-p> respectively. These would only override one default mapping:
i_CTRL-P: backwards search keyword for completionThe other solutions are good if you want to change your vimrc, etc... However I wanted an simple way to copy from vim to my system keyboard. This is what I came up with.
v: (it will automatically expand to show :'<,'>)y * or y + (depending on your system) to yank the selected text to the system clipboardIf you are using a mouse first do
:set paste
Then right click mouse and the contents in buffer will be pasted
With Vim 8+ on Linux or Mac, you can now simply use the OS' native paste (ctrl+shift+V on Linux, cmd+V on Mac). Do not press i for Insert Mode.
It will paste the contents of your OS clipboard, preserving the spaces and tabs without adding autoindenting. It's equivalent to the old :set paste, i, ctrl+shift+V, esc, :set nopaste method.
You don't even need the +clipboard or +xterm_clipboard vim features installed anymore. This feature is called "bracketed paste". For more details, see Turning off auto indent when pasting text into vim
Copy To OS Clipboard
Select text in visual mode, press "*y
Paste From OS Clipboard
Press "*p
When I use my Debian vim that is not integrated with Gnome (vim --version | grep clip # shows no clipboard support), I can copy to the clipboard after holding the Shift key and selecting the text with the mouse, just like with any other curses program. As I figured from a comment by @Conner, it's the terminal (gnome-terminal in my case) that turns off its mouse event reporting when it senses my Shift press. I guess curses-based programs can receive mouse events after sending a certain Escape sequence to the terminal.
If you are on windows and you want to paste contents of system clipboard using p then type this command.
:set clipboard = unnamed
This solved my problem.
There are two simple ways to do this. Make your file in insert mode and 1) press the middle button (the scroll wheel) in your mouse, or 2) Ctrl + Shift + V
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 to copy.
And "Space+p or " Space*p to paste.
Since vim 8 right click enables visual mode by default. This prevents the "normal" copy & paste (call it a "defect by design" https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/1326). Fix it by doing:
echo "set mouse-=a" >> ~/.vimrc .
Exit and restart vim.
I used the answer of NM Pennypacker and installed vim via homebrew for an early 2011 MacBook Pro:
brew install vim
Now I can also use the "* register to copy and paste text within vim. I even didn't have to change something within my ~/.vimrc file or the $PATH. Homebrew added symlinks in /usr/local/bin, e.g. vim -> ../Cellar/vim/8.1.2350/bin/vim.
The alternative, which worked before, is to copy some lines of text within vim by marking it with the mouse and using copy and paste (cmd + c, cmd + v) on a mac. This option only works if the text you want to copy and paste is less in size than the window size of vim. If you want to copy all text within vim by marking the whole window or using cmd + a, this will copy other parts of the console, written before starting vim, which is very annoying.
So, I am happy having found the new method using the clippboard register.
sudo apt-get install vim-gnomewhich will add that functionality to inbuilt vim of using system's clipboard. – Harnirvair Singh Apr 16 '16 at 16:15vim-gnomeis probably overkill or simply unavailable in their OS/distro, whereas I suspectvim-gtkand preferablyvim-gtk3are 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). – underscore_d Oct 29 '16 at 0:43