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The "+y , "*y, "+yy and "+d commands to copy to clipboard do not work for me. I want to copy text from vim and paste outside the text editor on my desktop.

Things I have done :

  • I installed vim-gtk3 (the conventional solution to this problem) such that vim --version returns +xterm_clipboard correctly (clipboard function is thereby enabled).
  • :echo has('clipboard') returns 1.
  • sudo apt-get purge vim (removing tiny-vim) performed before sudo apt-get vim-gtk3.
  • sudo apt-get autoremove performed after sudo apt-get purge vim to remove potential remaining files related to tiny-vim.
  • Ubuntu shell restarted.
  • sudo apt-get upgrade performed.

I'm asking this question on here since installing vim-gtk3 seems to be the solution to the vast majority of cases. I have not found an alternative solution given the latter not working.

VIM - Vi IMproved 8.1 (2018 May 18, compiled Apr 15 2020 06:40:31)
Included patches: 1-2269
Modified by team+vim@tracker.debian.org
Compiled by team+vim@tracker.debian.org
Huge version with GTK3 GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
+acl               -farsi             -mouse_sysmouse    -tag_any_white
+arabic            +file_in_path      +mouse_urxvt       +tcl
+autocmd           +find_in_path      +mouse_xterm       +termguicolors
+autochdir         +float             +multi_byte        +terminal
-autoservername    +folding           +multi_lang        +terminfo
+balloon_eval      -footer            -mzscheme          +termresponse
+balloon_eval_term +fork()            +netbeans_intg     +textobjects
+browse            +gettext           +num64             +textprop
++builtin_terms    -hangul_input      +packages          +timers
+byte_offset       +iconv             +path_extra        +title
+channel           +insert_expand     +perl              +toolbar
+cindent           +job               +persistent_undo   +user_commands
+clientserver      +jumplist          +postscript        +vartabs
+clipboard         +keymap            +printer           +vertsplit
+cmdline_compl     +lambda            +profile           +virtualedit
+cmdline_hist      +langmap           -python            +visual
+cmdline_info      +libcall           +python3           +visualextra
+comments          +linebreak         +quickfix          +viminfo
+conceal           +lispindent        +reltime           +vreplace
+cryptv            +listcmds          +rightleft         +wildignore
+cscope            +localmap          -ruby              +wildmenu
+cursorbind        +lua               +scrollbind        +windows
+cursorshape       +menu              +signs             +writebackup
+dialog_con_gui    +mksession         +smartindent       +X11
+diff              +modify_fname      +sound             -xfontset
+digraphs          +mouse             +spell             +xim
+dnd               +mouseshape        +startuptime       +xpm
-ebcdic            +mouse_dec         +statusline        +xsmp_interact
+emacs_tags        +mouse_gpm         -sun_workshop      +xterm_clipboard
+eval              -mouse_jsbterm     +syntax            -xterm_save
+ex_extra          +mouse_netterm     +tag_binary
+extra_search      +mouse_sgr         -tag_old_static
   system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc"
     user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
 2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc"
      user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
  system gvimrc file: "$VIM/gvimrc"
    user gvimrc file: "$HOME/.gvimrc"
2nd user gvimrc file: "~/.vim/gvimrc"
       defaults file: "$VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim"
    system menu file: "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim"
  fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/share/vim"
Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -DFEAT_GUI_GTK  -pthread -I/usr/include/gtk-3.0 -I/usr/include/at-spi2-atk/2.0 -I/usr/include/at-spi-2.0 -I/usr/include/dbus-1.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dbus-1.0/include -I/usr/include/gtk-3.0 -I/usr/include/gio-unix-2.0 -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/fribidi -I/usr/include/harfbuzz -I/usr/include/atk-1.0 -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/pixman-1 -I/usr/include/uuid -I/usr/include/freetype2 -I/usr/include/libpng16 -I/usr/include/gdk-pixbuf-2.0 -I/usr/include/libmount -I/usr/include/blkid -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include -Wdate-time  -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/vim-iU6mZD/vim-8.1.2269=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -D_REENTRANT -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1
Linking: gcc   -Wl,-E  -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed -o vim   -lgtk-3 -lgdk-3 -lpangocairo-1.0 -lpango-1.0 -lharfbuzz -latk-1.0 -lcairo-gobject -lcairo -lgdk_pixbuf-2.0 -lgio-2.0 -lgobject-2.0 -lglib-2.0 -lSM -lICE -lXpm -lXt -lX11 -lXdmcp -lSM -lICE  -lm -ltinfo -lnsl  -lselinux  -lcanberra -lacl -lattr -lgpm -ldl  -L/usr/lib -llua5.2 -Wl,-E  -fstack-protector-strong -L/usr/local/lib  -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl/5.30/CORE -lperl -ldl -lm -lpthread -lcrypt  -L/usr/lib/python3.8/config-3.8-x86_64-linux-gnu -lpython3.8 -lcrypt -lpthread -ldl -lutil -lm -lm -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -ltcl8.6 -ldl -lz -lpthread -lm
hexaquark
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  • Hmm... Are you in an X session? Can you paste from the clipboard into Vim? Can you try it again with vim --clean? – Quasímodo Feb 01 '21 at 16:04
  • @Quasímodo not sure how to tell if I'm in an X session and what that is precisely. "+p command within vim --clean returns Nothing in register " even though I have copied something externally – hexaquark Feb 01 '21 at 16:09
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    Sorry, I should have been more clear. An X session is the graphical session. If pgrep Xorg returns any number, then you are in an X session. The fact that you copied something externally already indicates you are in an X session indeed, so I have no clues left :/ – Quasímodo Feb 01 '21 at 16:12
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    Relevant: :help 'clipboard', :help clipboard and the links there – D. Ben Knoble Feb 01 '21 at 16:54
  • Which desktop environment or window manager are you using? Is there any chance you're using Wayland? I think the clipboard is not supported under Wayland (yet). – Martin Tournoij Feb 02 '21 at 12:28

0 Answers0