Copying all lines to clipboard from VIM in cygwin

Question

Has anyone found a good way to copy all lines from VIM in cygwin?
I've tried yanking the lines but it doesn't go to windows clipboard. Any ideas?

This seems to be a solution but it is a lot of work for copy/paste: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Using_the_Windows_clipboard_in_Cygwin_Vim

UPDATE: this works:

echo 'put this on my windows clipboard' > /dev/clipboard

BUT doesn't work for me because I want to copy to clipboard while SSH'd into another machine. So echo'ing/cat'ing to /dev/clipboard will put it on the other machine's clipboard, not mine

Possible duplicate of [How to make vim paste from (and copy to) system's clipboard?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11489428/how-to-make-vim-paste-from-and-copy-to-systems-clipboard) — SibiCoder, Jun 17 '16 at 18:49
@SibiCoder there isn't a single mention of cygwin in that question or any of the answers — Mike Sallese, Jun 17 '16 at 19:28
The question I tagged is a general one related to this question. You might find answer in that question itself. — SibiCoder, Jun 17 '16 at 19:37

C.H. · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-17T15:05:32.673

4

There may be better ways, but here's how I do it:

Use visual mode to highlight lines to be copied to clipboard (From command mode, v, then navigate normally to highlight).

"+y

to copy to clipboard.

Since the question asks how to copy everything:

ggVG"+y

edited Jun 17 '16 at 15:05

answered Jun 17 '16 at 14:58

C.H.

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I do like that. `ggVG"+y` copies everything :) – Camusensei Jun 17 '16 at 15:01
you don't really need to use visual mode to copy everything. `gg"+yG` is enough. – gniourf_gniourf Jun 17 '16 at 15:22
But then, in OP's link, it is clearly specified that `+` doesn't correspond to Windows' clipboard. So this answer will not work for Cygwin. – gniourf_gniourf Jun 17 '16 at 15:23
@gniourf_gniourf I just tried with my cygwin installed version of vim.exe, and gg"+yG successfully copied to windows clipboard – C.H. Jun 17 '16 at 15:30
@C.H. Good to know! then I wonder why vim's wiki states that `"+y`doesn't copy to Windows clipboard… or maybe something has changed recently… – gniourf_gniourf Jun 17 '16 at 16:00
@C.H. Isn't this solution the same thing as yanking but just yanking from visual mode? Which doesn't work for windows clipboard. I tried this and it doesn't work – Mike Sallese Jun 17 '16 at 16:06
@MikeSallese This is yanking to the + buffer, which is the windows clipboard. From what I've been reading you could also use * (but I haven't tested it) – C.H. Jun 17 '16 at 16:15
@C.H. the problem may be that I'm trying to do this while ssh'd into another machine. Because this doesn't work for me. I updated my question – Mike Sallese Jun 17 '16 at 16:28
1

@MikeSallese: Then try `ssh -X`. – gniourf_gniourf Jun 17 '16 at 16:33
@C.H. It gives me an error noise when I do "+. But when I highlight with my mouse and use y it works with the ssh -X – Mike Sallese Jun 17 '16 at 16:47

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 17 '16 at 14:58

0

This is maybe not as easy as you wanted it to be, but here is how I usually do it myself:

:w
:!cat %

This will display your file, and you can copy it from there.

answered Jun 17 '16 at 14:58

Camusensei

1,475
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Copying all lines to clipboard from VIM in cygwin

2 Answers2