Selecting text in Tmux copy mode

Question

I run Tmux in Vi mode. Vi-like navigation in copy mode works fine. However, I can't select any text. Neither v nor V switches to Vi-like text selecting mode.

What am I missing?

By the way, is it possible to display line numbers in copy mode?

P.S.: I'm running Tmux on Mac OS with Z shell

score 135 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 21 '22 at 15:40

Short answer: space starts selection and enter copies.

For future reference, I got this from the tmux man page:

       Function                vi             emacs
       Back to indentation     ^              M-m
       Clear selection         Escape         C-g
       Copy selection          Enter          M-w
       Cursor down             j              Down
       Cursor left             h              Left
       Cursor right            l              Right
       Cursor to bottom line   L
       Cursor to middle line   M              M-r
       Cursor to top line      H              M-R
       Cursor up               k              Up
       Delete entire line      d              C-u
       Delete to end of line   D              C-k
       End of line             $              C-e
       Goto line               :              g
       Half page down          C-d            M-Down
       Half page up            C-u            M-Up
       Next page               C-f            Page down
       Next word               w              M-f
       Paste buffer            p              C-y
       Previous page           C-b            Page up
       Previous word           b              M-b
       Quit mode               q              Escape
       Scroll down             C-Down or J    C-Down
       Scroll up               C-Up or K      C-Up
       Search again            n              n
       Search backward         ?              C-r
       Search forward          /              C-s
       Start of line           0              C-a
       Start selection         Space          C-Space
       Transpose chars                        C-t

Update: The tmux list-keys command will also list any custom key bindings you have.

Additional tip, you can check which tmux copy mode you are currently using with: tmux show-options -gw | grep mode-keys. If you want to change the mode permanently, add this line to ~/.tmux.conf: setw -g mode-keys vi (or emacs). Then run tmux source ~/.tmux.conf to apply it. — wisbucky, Jul 10 '20 at 18:47
for some reason w does not respect punctuation and enter does not copy on Mac — Alexei Sosin, Aug 30 '22 at 15:45
How do you paste the text afterwards, after tmux exits copy mode? — szx, Oct 11 '22 at 12:47

score 112 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 17 '13 at 21:57

112

You use space bar for the beginning of the selection and enter for the end.

copy:

Ctrlb[
Space
Enter

paste:

Ctrlb]

edited Aug 17 '13 at 21:57

Yang

169

answered Jun 06 '11 at 18:26

nonameentername

1,121

2

This should be the answer. It could be improved by explaining entering/leaving copy mode. – mcsilvio Mar 25 '15 at 01:19
3

Great, brief answer. Just a note to fellow vi[m] neophytes: If you're using a modal editor or command line, you're going to want to make sure you're in insert mode before attempting to paste using the aformentioned Ctrl+b+]. Obvious in retrospect, but sent me back and forth a few times until I cottoned on. – J.M. Janzen Aug 07 '16 at 19:32
I think the formatting and conciseness would be an awesome replacement for the the "short answer" section in my answer. Is there a way to combine answers that gives credit where credit is due? – jmhmccr Oct 28 '17 at 21:45
hmm... thinking further, I guess two answers are more appropriate, would just like to have this above the fold somehow. – jmhmccr Oct 28 '17 at 21:53
is this expected to work with nano? When I press space, I just get the cursor on the bottom of the tmux panel. – YakovL Jun 07 '22 at 11:17
The ctrl + b is leader key, which may vary on someone's laptop, for me which is ctrl+a. Just a note. – d0zingcat Feb 03 '23 at 10:48
Works fine after :setw -g mode-keys vi (see: https://waylonwalker.com/tmux-copy-mode/) – keocra Apr 05 '23 at 07:56

score 38 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 30 '17 at 13:55

38

Upstream (2.4+) tmux changed how to bind for begin selection. To create a binding for what the OP is asking use -T and send-keys with -X:

# Use v to trigger selection    
bind-key -T copy-mode-vi v send-keys -X begin-selection

# Use y to yank current selection
bind-key -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-selection-and-cancel

answered Apr 30 '17 at 13:55

p1100i

990

My tmux copy-mode just stopped working completely and I couldn't work it out, this fixed it. – GTF May 09 '17 at 13:35
2

tmux upgrades break my configs more often than I'd like... :-( – Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com Sep 25 '17 at 07:49

score 30 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 08 '20 at 20:15

30

You can also set up your .tmux.conf file by adding :

bind-key -t vi-copy 'v' begin-selection
bind-key -t vi-copy 'y' copy-selection

which will enable 'v' and 'y' to enter visual mode and copy, like in vim.

(Source)

edited Aug 08 '20 at 20:15

DavidPostill

156,873

answered Apr 18 '12 at 07:31

Manur

401

1

I'm getting "command not found: bind-key" in tmux 1.9a – Olivier Lalonde Jan 09 '15 at 07:01
1

Oops, I put it in my .zshrc by accident, nvm :) – Olivier Lalonde Jan 09 '15 at 07:06
16

This stuff's changed in newer Tmux versions. It's now bind-key -T copy-mode-vi ... – Steven Lu Jan 20 '17 at 19:11
2

see above https://superuser.com/a/1204738/48390 for up-to-date solution with newer Tmux versions – abernier Oct 19 '21 at 14:07

Paul · Answer 5 · 2017-02-27T16:11:26.453

5

I find entering vi mode easily to be my bottleneck for which I use the following:

setw -g mode-keys vi
set-window-option -g mode-keys vi  
unbind [
bind-key -n F2 copy-mode

edited Feb 27 '17 at 16:11

answered Nov 23 '15 at 20:44

Paul

181

Selecting text in Tmux copy mode

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