Copy to the system clipboard in tmux
.
Supports:
- Linux
- macOS
- Cygwin
- Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
The easiest way to install tmux-yank
is via the Tmux Plugin
Manager.
-
Add plugin to the list of TPM plugins in
.tmux.conf
:set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-yank'
-
Use prefix–I install
tmux-yank
. You should now be able totmux-yank
immediately. -
When you want to update
tmux-yank
use prefix–U.
-
Clone the repository
$ git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tmux-yank ~/clone/path
-
Add this line to the bottom of
.tmux.conf
run-shell ~/clone/path/yank.tmux
-
Reload the
tmux
environment# type this inside tmux $ tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf
You should now be able to use tmux-yank
immediately.
In order for tmux-yank
to work, there must be a program that store data in
the system clipboard.
Note: Some versions of macOS (aka OS X) have been reported to work
without reattach-to-user-namespace
. It doesn't hurt to have it installed.
- OS X 10.8: Mountain Lion – required
- OS X 10.9: Mavericks – required
- OS X 10.10: Yosemite – not required
- OS X 10.11: El Capitan – not required
- macOS 10.12: Sierra – required
- macOS 10.14: Mojave - required
- macOS 10.15: Catalina - not required
The easiest way to use reattach-to-user-namespace
with tmux
is use to
use the tmux-sensible
plugin.
To use it manually, use:
# ~/.tmux.conf
set-option -g default-command "reattach-to-user-namespace -l $SHELL"
If you have tmux
1.5 or newer and are using
iTerm2 version 3 or newer then the y
in copy-mode
and mouse selection will work without tmux-yank
.
To enable this:
-
Go into iTerm2's preferences.
-
Go to the "General" tab.
-
Check "Applications in terminal may access clipboard"
-
In
tmux
, ensureset-clipboard
is turned on:$ tmux show-options -g -s set-clipboard set-clipboard on
HomeBrew (recommended)
$ brew install reattach-to-user-namespace
$ sudo port install tmux-pasteboard
xsel
(recommended) orxclip
(for X).wl-copy
from wl-clipboard (for Wayland)
If you have tmux
1.5 or newer and are using xterm
, the y in
copy-mode
and mouse selection will work without tmux-yank
. See the
tmux(1)
man page entry for the set-clipboard
option.
$ sudo apt-get install xsel # or xclip
$ sudo yum install xsel # or xclip
- (optional)
putclip
which is part of thecygutils-extra
package.
clip.exe
is shipped with Windows Subsystem for Linux.
-
Normal Mode
-
prefix–y — copies text from the command line to the clipboard.
Works with all popular shells/repls. Tested with:
-
prefix–Y — copy the current pane's current working directory to the clipboard.
-
-
Copy Mode
- y — copy selection to system clipboard.
- Y (shift-y) — "put" selection. Equivalent to copying a selection, and pasting it to the command line.
tmux-yank does its best to detect a reasonable choice for a clipboard program on your OS.
If tmux-yank can't detect a known clipboard program then it uses the
@custom_copy_command
tmux option as your clipboard program if set.
If you need to always override tmux-yank's choice for a clipboard program,
then you can set @override_copy_command
to force tmux-yank to use whatever
you want.
Note that both programs must accept STDIN
for the text to be copied.
An example of setting @override_copy_command
:
# ~/.tmux.conf
set -g @custom_copy_command 'my-clipboard-copy --some-arg'
# or
set -g @override_copy_command 'my-clipboard-copy --some-arg'
Linux has several cut-and-paste clipboards: primary
, secondary
, and
clipboard
(default in tmux-yank is clipboard
).
You can change this by setting @yank_selection
:
# ~/.tmux.conf
set -g @yank_selection 'primary' # or 'secondary' or 'clipboard'
With mouse support turned on (see below) the default clipboard for mouse
selections is primary
.
You can change this by setting @yank_selection_mouse
:
# ~/.tmux.conf
set -g @yank_selection_mouse 'clipboard' # or 'primary' or 'secondary'
By default, tmux-yank
will exit copy mode after yanking text. If you wish to
remain in copy mode, you can set @yank_action
:
# ~/.tmux.conf
set -g @yank_action 'copy-pipe' # or 'copy-pipe-and-cancel' for the default
tmux-yank
has mouse support enabled by default. It will only work if tmux
's
built-in mouse support is also enabled (with mouse on
since tmux
2.1, or
mode-mouse on
in older versions).
To yank with the mouse, click and drag with the primary button to begin selection, and release to yank.
If you would prefer to disable this behavior, or provide your own bindings for
the MouseDragEnd1Pane
event, you can do so with:
# ~/.tmux.conf
set -g @yank_with_mouse off # or 'on'
If you want to remain in copy mode after making a mouse selection, set
@yank_action
as described above.
If using tmux
2.3 or older and using vi keys then you'll have add the
following configuration setting:
# ~/.tmux.conf
set -g @shell_mode 'vi'
This isn't needed with tmux
2.4 or newer.
Note: The screen-cast uses Control–y for
"put selection". Use Y in v2.0.0
and later.
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- tmux-continuum - automatic restoring and continuous saving of tmux environment.