This is currently how I copy code from an editor to a search field in VS code using vscodevim.
Select text in editor somehow
Right click to open up the contextual menu (since pressing Ctrl+C does not seem to work on Ubuntu, even when in input mode, and 'p' does not work in the search field) and click copy
Press Ctrl+Shift+F to open the search field
Press Ctrl+V
I'm pretty sure this is not how copying from an editor to search field is intended to work. It it the steps 1 and 2 I would like to change to something better.
What is a more efficient and vim-like sequence?
If you want to search for the word under the cursor
Ctrl-F will do the trick.
Or you can use Vim's * command, which effectively does the same, but jumps to the next occurrence right away by default.
Otherwise
If you need to use the search field for whatever reason, then the standard Vim way to copy stuff to the clipboard works, so you can yank into the * or + registers. The steps will then be:
Select text
"+y (you can create a shortcut for this combination if you want)
Ctrl-Shift-F, Ctrl-V
See also: How to make vim paste from (and copy to) system's clipboard?.
Having said that, the more obvious approach might be to use Vim's built-in search features, so after selecting the text, the remaining steps would be y: (yanking selection to the default register and opening the command-line) then / or ? (search forward or backward), then <C-v> (pasting the yanked selection to the command-line - this works only in the VSCode plugin, while in Vim you should use <C-r>").
I'm new to VIM so there might be a better way using VIM commands but for now this works pretty well.
Go into insert mode with i than select the word you would like to search for (I'm using the mouse) and than just press ctrl + f. Your search window will open as usual containing the selected word in it.
Related
I am trying to paste a string I copied from a webpage in vim. I know that the string is copied in the system clipboard. My vim returns 1 when I run the :echo has('clipboard') command, so I typed :set paste, then positioned the cursor to the desired spot and hit "*p, but this doesn't seem to paste my whole selection. I copied to the clipboard Vader(father figure) but it only pastes Vader. Or is it pasting this because the word behind the cursor is Vader? And finally, what is the easiest way to paste something in vim from the system's clipboard?
I mention that I am using Ubuntu 14.04 (if this has any relevance).
I always use Ctrl+Shift+v in Insert mode, when pasting from system clipboard after doing set paste. Never had any problems doing so.
Otherwise you can use the vim-unimpaired plugin by tim pope and use the yo key mapping set by the plugin to paste. Using yo automatically sets the paste option and after you paste and leave Insert mode, it automatically toggles the set paste option.
Have this line in your .vimrc
set pastetoggle=<F2>
So whenever you press F2 in insert mode you can paste normally with no problems.
For more information refer here.
You only need to set paste if you intend to paste while in insert mode using the middle mouse button or any shortcut your terminal provides.
Now, it is possible that the register you're looking for is quote+. To confirm that just run :registers in order to view the contents of all registers.
I would also advise you to read the following help section :help x11-selection.
I'm currently using the system clipboard in vim as default register in combination with a clipboard manager like Diodon or Klipper (for KDE).
Add this to your vim configuration ~/.vimrc
" Use the system clipboard for yank / delete / paste operations
if has('unnamedplus')
set clipboard=unnamed,unnamedplus
endif
With this configuration vim copy/paste operations (in both directions) behave just like in any other graphical editor (the if has ('unnamedplus') assure that this behaviour is enabled only if vim is compiled with the +clipboard option otherwise behaves as default).
Note: on Windows and MacOS using unnamed or unnamedplus is equivalent.
On Linux are two different entities:
unnamed register is the selection buffer (try to select something with the mouse and then center click or click both sx and dx mouse buttons in another place).
unnamedplus register is actually the system clipboard
So let's say I have two splits open in byobu, side by side. Furthermore, both splits have different files open in vim. I want to highlight text from one file in one split and copy it to a separate file in the other split. Any ideas?
All the results I found while searching for this talked about using the scrollback feature to copy and paste in byobu, however, that only seems to work inside a single split; not across splits.
Looks like I posted to quickly; seemed to have found the solution. I followed the steps found here:
http://linuxcommand.org/lc3_adv_termmux.php
I followed the steps:
shift-f3 - move to split to be copied from
alt-pgup - enter copy mode
space - start selection
cursor through desired text
enter - end selection
shift-f3 - shift focus to split to copy to
ensure receiving vim is in insert mode
alt-insert - paste selected text
If you are using an X Window Server, an alternative mouse-based solution to using the scrollback mode (which involves remembering a lot of keystrokes) is:
Zoom in on the current pane (Shift-F11), bringing this pane to the foreground.
You can now select the relevant text with your mouse without the vertical split getting in the way.
Unzoom the pane (Shift-F11 again)
Switch to other pane or wherever else you want to paste.
Middle click paste.
If your Vim supports the system clipboard (i.e. if vim --version output shows +clipboard), you can copy into the system clipboard from the first Vim and paste from it into the second one. This releaves us of the need to ensure the receiving Vim is in insert mode and has paste set appropriately.
The trick is to use the "+ register. So when you do the copy, prefix whatever yanking command you want to use with "+; and do likewise prefix the put command you use in the receiving Vim with it.
If you're on an X11 system, you can also use the "* register, which is X's "PRIMARY" selection buffer -- the one where text goes if you just highlight it, and which you can paste by pressing the middle button.
See :help gui-selections. GUI selection support generally requires a Vim other than "vim-tiny"; on Debian and Ubuntu the vim-gtk and vim-gnome packages are good choices.
I have a two part question regarding mouse clicks on gvim.
1.) I would like to change my gvim double left mouse click into something similar to the windows environment (ie Notepad, Microsoft Word), wherein it: highlights the current word, and replaces it with whatever I type. This is akin to pressing 'cw' for changeword in vim.
2.) I would like my single mouse click to place a cursor upon the selected text and enter insert mode. Again like how a mouse normally behaves in Windows.
1) nmap <2-LeftMouse> ciw
You could use viw here, which will visually select the current word, but then you will still have to press c to replace it.
2) nmap <LeftMouse> <Leftmouse>i
Or replace the i with an a if you would prefer to append, rather than insert.
You can use behave mswin or so $VIMRUNTIME/mswin.vim so set up a lot of stuff so that it works more like a regular windows program.
The specific setting you are looking for are:
set select=mouse
this causes the mouse to start select mode instead of visual mode. Select mode causes the selection to be deleted and insert mode to be entered when a printable key is pressed.
As in Prince Goulash's answer
nmap <LeftMouse> <LeftMouse>i
will turn on a sort of click-to-type mode.
I'm aware of the vim replace command, which is of the form, eg:
:%s/old/new/gc
But what if either of these strings is long? How can I use something like visual selection mode, the clipboard or vim registers instead of having to type the old/new text in?
You can use q: to bring up a command-line window. This lets you use all the vim editing commands to edit the vim command line, including p to paste. So, you could copy the text into a register, paste it into the command line window, and execute it that way.
I recently discovered this feature via vimcasts.
According to the manual, you can use Ctrl+R to insert the contents of a register into the current position in the command line. The manual also claims that Ctrl+Y inserts the text highlighted with the mouse into the command line. Remember that in X11 and some other systems, you can also paste text into a program from the system clipboard using the middle mouse button or a menu command in your terminal emulator.
I think to avoid have your command line be huge you can use this to solve your issue
:%s/foo/\=#a/g
That replaces "foo" with whatever is in register a.
If you're trying to do a substitute with a long complicated search pattern, here's a good way of going about it:
Try out the search pattern using some test cases and refine it until you have the pattern you want. I find incsearch really helps, especially with complicated regular expressions.
You can then use :%s//new to replace all instances of the last searched for pattern.
If you've entered a pattern and want to copy it out of the search history, you can use q/ to bring up a command line window containing recent search patterns very similar to the q: one that contains recent command history.
On the other hand, if you're asking about how to copy and paste text into the substitute command:
I'd write the pattern out in insert mode and yank the search and replacement into two distinct registers using, say, "ay and "by and then use :%s/<C-R>a/<C-R>b/gc to do the substitute. There are lots of variations of the yank command, but this one should also work automatically when using a visual selection.
If you're copying in text from the clipboard, you can use <C-R>* to paste it's contents in insert mode.
I have the following mapping in my .vimrc
vnoremap <leader>r "ry:%s/^Rr/
So I visually select the thing I want to replace, and hit ,r, type the replacement and hit return. If I want to paste the replacement, I yank it before selecting the text to replace, and then use <C-r>" to paste it as the replacement before hitting return.
Note: to insert ^R in your .vimrc, you actually type <C-v><C-r>.
For instance, copying a configuration section from a web page and then pasting it into a .conf file that you have open in vi.
Enter insert mode (Type i)
Type: Ctrl + Shift + v
Or if you use the system register, you can paste without being in insert mode:
"*p
This will paste the system's clipboard at the point of the cursor. No insert mode needed.
The real answer:
:set paste
Enter Insert Mode: hit i
Paste: Command + v or Control + v
ESC
:set nopaste
One thing to bear in mind: Sometimes Vim auto-indents text. This is mostly fine, but sometimes it messes up text that you paste into a document.
If your indentations are awry, remove the pasted text, type :set paste, paste the text in again, and when you're done, type :set nopaste.
The easiest way is just to copy the text and just right click where you want to paste it in Vim in INSERT mode.
If you are using gVim, hit Ctrl + R and then either * or + in insert mode. It will paste the last copied text.
Ctrl-V/ Apple-V? Just make sure you're in insert mode in vi (i)
Use your systems paste shortcut key while in Insert mode, or if your source is in another file, you can type :r <fileName>, and it will be pasted at the current location of your cursor.
The easiest way on *nix is by selecting it with the mouse and pasting it in Vim with a middle click, after having put vi in insert mode.
The middle click could be a both left-right key if you're using a touchpad.
The quickest way is to paste it using whatever paste key your system uses (e.g. ⌘-v for Macs, Ctrl-V for Windows, etc.) in insert mode.
Some terminals require you to use Shift-Ctrl-V. However you are able to paste onto the command-line is how you should paste into Vim. However, this can cause some problems with indentation, which is where :set paste comes in. The fastest way to get in and out of this is to set a pastetoggle (see :help pastetoggle). For example, I use
set pastetoggle=<leader>p
The reason to use a pastetoggle instead of a mapping is because if you set a mapping insert mode, it will read it literally when in paste mode. Thus if you :set paste, go into insert mode, and type in any imap the mapping will not be completed, but instead the literal characters will be inserted. With pastetoggle you can get around that since it's a built-in feature.
As others have said, if you're in insert mode, you can also use <C-r>*, but why? Your normal pasting flow is most likely better. Understanding the * register and <C-r> is an important skill however. You can read more about them at :help registers and :help i_CTRL-R. You could also use "*p, but if you're faster at typing that than your normal paste I'm impressed.
Of course you could map that to something else, but again... why? You should get used to quickly getting into insert mode with i, I, a, A, o, O, s, S, c, and C so that you can be precise.