Copy from xterm to text editor........

[Charlie]

Using Debian bookworm updated and upgraded.

Cannot recall what version of Debian stopped copying text in xterm by
Ctrl + C or Shift + Ctrl + C So don't know how to copy from xterm

Unable to paste from xterm into a text editor using Ctrl + V or Shift
+ Ctrl + V

After a few years, am finally sick of attempting to discover how to do
it using all manner of keystrokes. Obviously not the right combination.
So would appreciate any help for something that works. If there is a
way to do it at all?

TIA
--
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***********************************************

Prejudice is opinion without judgement. -----Voltaire

***********************************************

Debian GNU/Linux - just the best way to create magic

-----------------------------------------------------

[Greg Wooledge]

Post by Charlie
Cannot recall what version of Debian stopped copying text in xterm by
Ctrl + C or Shift + Ctrl + C So don't know how to copy from xterm

xterm is a terminal emulator. Pressing Ctrl-C in a terminal emulator
simply passes a byte (0x03) to the application running inside the
terminal, which is usually a shell. But they're interpreted by the
terminal driver layer first. The stty command allows you to see or
change the bindings of control characters by the terminal driver.

Ctrl-C is usually bound to the 'intr' facility in the terminal driver.
Pressing it in a terminal sends the interrupt signal (SIGINT) to all
running foreground processes. It does not copy text. That's a Windows
thing, and you are not in Windows.

Post by Charlie
Unable to paste from xterm into a text editor using Ctrl + V or Shift
+ Ctrl + V

Pressing Ctrl-V in a terminal emulator sends a byte (0x16) to the
application. At the terminal driver layer, Ctrl-V is usually bound
to the 'lnext' facility (literal next). It's like an escape sequence
for keys. The next key you press *after* Ctrl-V will lose its special
meaning, and will just be passed along verbatim.

For example, if you press Ctrl-V Ctrl-C, it won't interrupt foreground
processes. Instead, it will simply pass the literal 0x03 byte to the
application. It becomes data.

hobbit:~$ printf ^C | hd
00000000 03 |.|
00000001

The ^C there is where I pressed Ctrl-V Ctrl-C.

Now, all of that is just background information.

What you wanted to know, I guess, is "how to copy text between terminals".

The first step is to highlight the text with the left mouse button. Drag
the mouse over the text while holding the left button. This creates
a "selection" containing the text you've selected.

Next, click on the window that you want to paste the text *into*. You
need this window to have "focus". Depending on your window manager,
clicking may not actually be needed. Some WMs use "focus follows mouse",
which means the mouse pointer simply has to be inside the window. Others
use "click to focus" which means you have to click.

Once you've focused on the receiving window, press the middle mouse
button to paste the selection into the second window.

(X11 uses three-button mice. Everything is designed around this.)

If your mouse is too new or too Microsoft-tainted to have three buttons,
then things get tricky.

If your mouse is literally an old PS/2 style two-button mouse from the
1980s, you might be in real trouble. There are hacks to try to mimic
the middle button in other ways, but you'll have to read documentation
to learn how to invoke them.

Let's assume that's not the case.

If your mouse has two buttons plus a scroll wheel, you might be able to
press the scroll wheel to act as the middle button. Doing this without
also *turning* the scroll wheel takes practice. It can be done, at
least sometimes.

So, that's how you copy and paste text between windows in X11. You
select with the left button, and paste with the middle button.

Obviously the world can't be that simple. While X11 was developing
this interface around three-button mice, Microsoft was building a
different interface around two-button mice.

In the Microsoft paradigm, you copy by highlighting the text you want
to copy, and then performing a second step. That step might be
right-clicking a menu and selecting "Copy". Or it might be pressing
Ctrl-C (but not in a terminal emulator). Once you've performed this
copy operation, the text is in a "clipboard", which is separate from
the "selection".

Pasting text from the clipboard into a new window under the Microsoft
paradigm is done by pressing Shift-Insert. (Or by right-clicking a
menu and selecting Paste, or by pressing Ctrl-V in some programs, but
not in terminal emulators.)

Some programs that you run on Debian may use the Windows paradigm and
put data into the clipboard instead of the selection. For those
things, you can try Shift-Insert instead of the middle button. It's
just another thing you might need to know/use.

Good luck.

[Aleix Piulachs]

I believe you can to change the options of xterm editor and set up others..

Post by Greg Wooledge

Post by Charlie
Cannot recall what version of Debian stopped copying text in xterm by
Ctrl + C or Shift + Ctrl + C So don't know how to copy from xterm

xterm is a terminal emulator. Pressing Ctrl-C in a terminal emulator
simply passes a byte (0x03) to the application running inside the
terminal, which is usually a shell. But they're interpreted by the
terminal driver layer first. The stty command allows you to see or
change the bindings of control characters by the terminal driver.
Ctrl-C is usually bound to the 'intr' facility in the terminal driver.
Pressing it in a terminal sends the interrupt signal (SIGINT) to all
running foreground processes. It does not copy text. That's a Windows
thing, and you are not in Windows.

Post by Charlie
Unable to paste from xterm into a text editor using Ctrl + V or Shift
+ Ctrl + V

Pressing Ctrl-V in a terminal emulator sends a byte (0x16) to the
application. At the terminal driver layer, Ctrl-V is usually bound
to the 'lnext' facility (literal next). It's like an escape sequence
for keys. The next key you press *after* Ctrl-V will lose its special
meaning, and will just be passed along verbatim.
For example, if you press Ctrl-V Ctrl-C, it won't interrupt foreground
processes. Instead, it will simply pass the literal 0x03 byte to the
application. It becomes data.
hobbit:~$ printf ^C | hd
00000000 03 |.|
00000001
The ^C there is where I pressed Ctrl-V Ctrl-C.
Now, all of that is just background information.
What you wanted to know, I guess, is "how to copy text between terminals".
The first step is to highlight the text with the left mouse button. Drag
the mouse over the text while holding the left button. This creates
a "selection" containing the text you've selected.
Next, click on the window that you want to paste the text *into*. You
need this window to have "focus". Depending on your window manager,
clicking may not actually be needed. Some WMs use "focus follows mouse",
which means the mouse pointer simply has to be inside the window. Others
use "click to focus" which means you have to click.
Once you've focused on the receiving window, press the middle mouse
button to paste the selection into the second window.
(X11 uses three-button mice. Everything is designed around this.)
If your mouse is too new or too Microsoft-tainted to have three buttons,
then things get tricky.
If your mouse is literally an old PS/2 style two-button mouse from the
1980s, you might be in real trouble. There are hacks to try to mimic
the middle button in other ways, but you'll have to read documentation
to learn how to invoke them.
Let's assume that's not the case.
If your mouse has two buttons plus a scroll wheel, you might be able to
press the scroll wheel to act as the middle button. Doing this without
also *turning* the scroll wheel takes practice. It can be done, at
least sometimes.
So, that's how you copy and paste text between windows in X11. You
select with the left button, and paste with the middle button.
Obviously the world can't be that simple. While X11 was developing
this interface around three-button mice, Microsoft was building a
different interface around two-button mice.
In the Microsoft paradigm, you copy by highlighting the text you want
to copy, and then performing a second step. That step might be
right-clicking a menu and selecting "Copy". Or it might be pressing
Ctrl-C (but not in a terminal emulator). Once you've performed this
copy operation, the text is in a "clipboard", which is separate from
the "selection".
Pasting text from the clipboard into a new window under the Microsoft
paradigm is done by pressing Shift-Insert. (Or by right-clicking a
menu and selecting Paste, or by pressing Ctrl-V in some programs, but
not in terminal emulators.)
Some programs that you run on Debian may use the Windows paradigm and
put data into the clipboard instead of the selection. For those
things, you can try Shift-Insert instead of the middle button. It's
just another thing you might need to know/use.
Good luck.

[Charlie]

On Wed, 12 Jun 2024 22:56:34 -0400

Post by Greg Wooledge

Post by Charlie
Cannot recall what version of Debian stopped copying text in xterm
by Ctrl + C or Shift + Ctrl + C So don't know how to copy from
xterm

xterm is a terminal emulator. Pressing Ctrl-C in a terminal emulator
simply passes a byte (0x03) to the application running inside the
terminal, which is usually a shell. But they're interpreted by the
terminal driver layer first. The stty command allows you to see or
change the bindings of control characters by the terminal driver.
Ctrl-C is usually bound to the 'intr' facility in the terminal driver.
Pressing it in a terminal sends the interrupt signal (SIGINT) to all
running foreground processes. It does not copy text. That's a
Windows thing, and you are not in Windows.

Post by Charlie
Unable to paste from xterm into a text editor using Ctrl + V or Shift
+ Ctrl + V

Pressing Ctrl-V in a terminal emulator sends a byte (0x16) to the
application. At the terminal driver layer, Ctrl-V is usually bound
to the 'lnext' facility (literal next). It's like an escape sequence
for keys. The next key you press *after* Ctrl-V will lose its special
meaning, and will just be passed along verbatim.
For example, if you press Ctrl-V Ctrl-C, it won't interrupt foreground
processes. Instead, it will simply pass the literal 0x03 byte to the
application. It becomes data.
hobbit:~$ printf ^C | hd
00000000 03 |.|
00000001
The ^C there is where I pressed Ctrl-V Ctrl-C.
Now, all of that is just background information.
What you wanted to know, I guess, is "how to copy text between
terminals".
The first step is to highlight the text with the left mouse button.
Drag the mouse over the text while holding the left button. This
creates a "selection" containing the text you've selected.
Next, click on the window that you want to paste the text *into*. You
need this window to have "focus". Depending on your window manager,
clicking may not actually be needed. Some WMs use "focus follows
mouse", which means the mouse pointer simply has to be inside the
window. Others use "click to focus" which means you have to click.
Once you've focused on the receiving window, press the middle mouse
button to paste the selection into the second window.
(X11 uses three-button mice. Everything is designed around this.)
If your mouse is too new or too Microsoft-tainted to have three
buttons, then things get tricky.
If your mouse is literally an old PS/2 style two-button mouse from the
1980s, you might be in real trouble. There are hacks to try to mimic
the middle button in other ways, but you'll have to read documentation
to learn how to invoke them.
Let's assume that's not the case.
If your mouse has two buttons plus a scroll wheel, you might be able
to press the scroll wheel to act as the middle button. Doing this
without also *turning* the scroll wheel takes practice. It can be
done, at least sometimes.
So, that's how you copy and paste text between windows in X11. You
select with the left button, and paste with the middle button.
Obviously the world can't be that simple. While X11 was developing
this interface around three-button mice, Microsoft was building a
different interface around two-button mice.
In the Microsoft paradigm, you copy by highlighting the text you want
to copy, and then performing a second step. That step might be
right-clicking a menu and selecting "Copy". Or it might be pressing
Ctrl-C (but not in a terminal emulator). Once you've performed this
copy operation, the text is in a "clipboard", which is separate from
the "selection".
Pasting text from the clipboard into a new window under the Microsoft
paradigm is done by pressing Shift-Insert. (Or by right-clicking a
menu and selecting Paste, or by pressing Ctrl-V in some programs, but
not in terminal emulators.)
Some programs that you run on Debian may use the Windows paradigm and
put data into the clipboard instead of the selection. For those
things, you can try Shift-Insert instead of the middle button. It's
just another thing you might need to know/use.
Good luck.

Thank you to everyone who replied, it is much appreciated. Thank
you Greg, for your comprehensive explanation and good wishes. I
can usually muddle through and discover what I need. Couldn't on
this for too long.

For completeness. Had tried right and left at same time on touchpad of
laptop. As it worked years ago.

Didn't think the touchpad had a middle button. Don't know why?

This works on a Dell Vostro laptop.

Highlight the text in xterm with the left of the touchpad.
Cursor in highlighted text, press bottom middle of touchpad.

This alters the block highlight. By pressing the middle of the
bottom of the touchpad: highlights only the lines in xterm.

Go to text editor, in my instance: Kate. Place cursor where to paste.
Dialogue box comes up. Select paste and it does that.

Doesn't work in LyX but if placed in text editor Kate first, can be
copied Ctrl+C, then in LyX, Ctrl+V.

Thank you all again.

Will send this once I start the generator again.
--
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***********************************************

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
--Voltaire

***********************************************

Debian GNU/Linux - just the best way to create magic

-----------------------------------------------------

[Keith Bainbridge]

Just a note

Some terminal emulators don't automatically copy highlighted text. You need to copy it manually before moving to the target file

It's so long since I've tolerated such terminals I'm not sure but try ctrl-alt-c

Else, right click with the mouse pointer outside of highlighted text and choose copy
--
All the best

Keith Bainbridge

***@gmail.com
[phone]

UTC+ 10:00

From my Aphone

Post by Charlie
On Wed, 12 Jun 2024 22:56:34 -0400

Post by Greg Wooledge

Post by Charlie
Cannot recall what version of Debian stopped copying text in xterm
by Ctrl + C or Shift + Ctrl + C So don't know how to copy from
xterm

xterm is a terminal emulator. Pressing Ctrl-C in a terminal emulator
simply passes a byte (0x03) to the application running inside the
terminal, which is usually a shell. But they're interpreted by the
terminal driver layer first. The stty command allows you to see or
change the bindings of control characters by the terminal driver.
Ctrl-C is usually bound to the 'intr' facility in the terminal driver.
Pressing it in a terminal sends the interrupt signal (SIGINT) to all
running foreground processes. It does not copy text. That's a
Windows thing, and you are not in Windows.

Post by Charlie
Unable to paste from xterm into a text editor using Ctrl + V or Shift
+ Ctrl + V

Pressing Ctrl-V in a terminal emulator sends a byte (0x16) to the
application. At the terminal driver layer, Ctrl-V is usually bound
to the 'lnext' facility (literal next). It's like an escape sequence
for keys. The next key you press *after* Ctrl-V will lose its special
meaning, and will just be passed along verbatim.
For example, if you press Ctrl-V Ctrl-C, it won't interrupt foreground
processes. Instead, it will simply pass the literal 0x03 byte to the
application. It becomes data.
hobbit:~$ printf ^C | hd
00000000 03 |.|
00000001
The ^C there is where I pressed Ctrl-V Ctrl-C.
Now, all of that is just background information.
What you wanted to know, I guess, is "how to copy text between terminals".
The first step is to highlight the text with the left mouse button.
Drag the mouse over the text while holding the left button. This
creates a "selection" containing the text you've selected.
Next, click on the window that you want to paste the text *into*. You
need this window to have "focus". Depending on your window manager,
clicking may not actually be needed. Some WMs use "focus follows
mouse", which means the mouse pointer simply has to be inside the
window. Others use "click to focus" which means you have to click.
Once you've focused on the receiving window, press the middle mouse
button to paste the selection into the second window.
(X11 uses three-button mice. Everything is designed around this.)
If your mouse is too new or too Microsoft-tainted to have three
buttons, then things get tricky.
If your mouse is literally an old PS/2 style two-button mouse from the
1980s, you might be in real trouble. There are hacks to try to mimic
the middle button in other ways, but you'll have to read documentation
to learn how to invoke them.
Let's assume that's not the case.
If your mouse has two buttons plus a scroll wheel, you might be able
to press the scroll wheel to act as the middle button. Doing this
without also *turning* the scroll wheel takes practice. It can be
done, at least sometimes.
So, that's how you copy and paste text between windows in X11. You
select with the left button, and paste with the middle button.
Obviously the world can't be that simple. While X11 was developing
this interface around three-button mice, Microsoft was building a
different interface around two-button mice.
In the Microsoft paradigm, you copy by highlighting the text you want
to copy, and then performing a second step. That step might be
right-clicking a menu and selecting "Copy". Or it might be pressing
Ctrl-C (but not in a terminal emulator). Once you've performed this
copy operation, the text is in a "clipboard", which is separate from
the "selection".
Pasting text from the clipboard into a new window under the Microsoft
paradigm is done by pressing Shift-Insert. (Or by right-clicking a
menu and selecting Paste, or by pressing Ctrl-V in some programs, but
not in terminal emulators.)
Some programs that you run on Debian may use the Windows paradigm and
put data into the clipboard instead of the selection. For those
things, you can try Shift-Insert instead of the middle button. It's
just another thing you might need to know/use.
Good luck.

Thank you to everyone who replied, it is much appreciated. Thank
you Greg, for your comprehensive explanation and good wishes. I
can usually muddle through and discover what I need. Couldn't on
this for too long.
For completeness. Had tried right and left at same time on touchpad of
laptop. As it worked years ago.
Didn't think the touchpad had a middle button. Don't know why?
This works on a Dell Vostro laptop.
Highlight the text in xterm with the left of the touchpad.
Cursor in highlighted text, press bottom middle of touchpad.
This alters the block highlight. By pressing the middle of the
bottom of the touchpad: highlights only the lines in xterm.
Go to text editor, in my instance: Kate. Place cursor where to paste.
Dialogue box comes up. Select paste and it does that.
Doesn't work in LyX but if placed in text editor Kate first, can be
copied Ctrl+C, then in LyX, Ctrl+V.
Thank you all again.
Will send this once I start the generator again.
--
Registered Linux User:- 329524
***********************************************
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
--Voltaire
***********************************************
Debian GNU/Linux - just the best way to create magic
-----------------------------------------------------

[Greg Wooledge]

Post by Charlie
For completeness. Had tried right and left at same time on touchpad of
laptop. As it worked years ago.

Pressing left+right buttons simultaneously was indeed one of the hacks
that people used to mimic the middle button in some X11 setups. I haven't
seen that in practice in quite some time. I think people mostly stopped
implementing it, because two-button mice (without scroll wheels) fell
out of the market.

Post by Charlie
Didn't think the touchpad had a middle button. Don't know why?

I forgot about laptops with touchpads. Unfortunately, this is not
an area that I've had to research, so I don't know what the current X
and Wayland implementations do to emulate three-button mice. Maybe
someone else knows, or maybe you can find some modern-day documentation
about it on the Internet.

Post by Charlie
This works on a Dell Vostro laptop.
Highlight the text in xterm with the left of the touchpad.
Cursor in highlighted text, press bottom middle of touchpad.
This alters the block highlight. By pressing the middle of the
bottom of the touchpad: highlights only the lines in xterm.
Go to text editor, in my instance: Kate. Place cursor where to paste.
Dialogue box comes up. Select paste and it does that.
Doesn't work in LyX but if placed in text editor Kate first, can be
copied Ctrl+C, then in LyX, Ctrl+V.

Since you mention xterm, you might want to read the xterm(1) man page
and what it has to say about SELECT/PASTE and specifically what it
says about the selectToClipboard option. Apparently you can configure
xterm so that what you highlight with the mouse goes into the clipboard
instead of the selection. Then, you could paste it with Shift-Insert
in another application, probably.

I haven't tried that myself.

Another thing you could try (this one, I actually tested):

1) Install the xclip package.
2) Highlight (select) the text with the left button.
3) Run this command, anywhere in your X session:
xclip -o -selection primary | xclip -i -selection clipboard
4) Focus to the target application by clicking/mouse-moving.
5) Press Shift-Insert to paste the clipboard.

Step 3 copies the highlighted text from the selection to the clipboard,
and step 5 pastes from the clipboard. This works in a large number of
programs, including xterm, rxvt-unicode, and Google Chrome.

If you find this useful, you will probably want to shorten step 3.
You could set up a shell alias that runs this, or a shell key binding
that runs it, or a Window Manager key binding that runs it, or any
other clever thing you can come up with.

[Eike Lantzsch ZP5CGE / KY4PZ]

Post by Greg Wooledge

Post by Charlie
For completeness. Had tried right and left at same time on touchpad
of laptop. As it worked years ago.

Pressing left+right buttons simultaneously was indeed one of the hacks
that people used to mimic the middle button in some X11 setups. I
haven't seen that in practice in quite some time. I think people
mostly stopped implementing it, because two-button mice (without
scroll wheels) fell out of the market.

Post by Charlie
Didn't think the touchpad had a middle button. Don't know why?

I forgot about laptops with touchpads. Unfortunately, this is not
an area that I've had to research, so I don't know what the current X
and Wayland implementations do to emulate three-button mice. Maybe
someone else knows, or maybe you can find some modern-day
documentation about it on the Internet.

Dear Greg,

on my TUXEDO Laptop the touchpad is configurable.
e.g. middle mouse button == tap with two fingers
or like I opted for 'tap harder onto the lower right corner' of the
touchpad.

just my 2 cents
and thanks because I learned a lot from your posts!
Kind regards
Eike

[rest skipped]

[Aleix Piulachs]

Excúseme i don’t know the xterm behavior..

Post by Greg Wooledge

Post by Charlie
For completeness. Had tried right and left at same time on touchpad of
laptop. As it worked years ago.

Pressing left+right buttons simultaneously was indeed one of the hacks
that people used to mimic the middle button in some X11 setups. I haven't
seen that in practice in quite some time. I think people mostly stopped
implementing it, because two-button mice (without scroll wheels) fell
out of the market.

Post by Charlie
Didn't think the touchpad had a middle button. Don't know why?

I forgot about laptops with touchpads. Unfortunately, this is not
an area that I've had to research, so I don't know what the current X
and Wayland implementations do to emulate three-button mice. Maybe
someone else knows, or maybe you can find some modern-day documentation
about it on the Internet.

Post by Charlie
This works on a Dell Vostro laptop.
Highlight the text in xterm with the left of the touchpad.
Cursor in highlighted text, press bottom middle of touchpad.
This alters the block highlight. By pressing the middle of the
bottom of the touchpad: highlights only the lines in xterm.
Go to text editor, in my instance: Kate. Place cursor where to paste.
Dialogue box comes up. Select paste and it does that.
Doesn't work in LyX but if placed in text editor Kate first, can be
copied Ctrl+C, then in LyX, Ctrl+V.

Since you mention xterm, you might want to read the xterm(1) man page
and what it has to say about SELECT/PASTE and specifically what it
says about the selectToClipboard option. Apparently you can configure
xterm so that what you highlight with the mouse goes into the clipboard
instead of the selection. Then, you could paste it with Shift-Insert
in another application, probably.
I haven't tried that myself.
1) Install the xclip package.
2) Highlight (select) the text with the left button.
xclip -o -selection primary | xclip -i -selection clipboard
4) Focus to the target application by clicking/mouse-moving.
5) Press Shift-Insert to paste the clipboard.
Step 3 copies the highlighted text from the selection to the clipboard,
and step 5 pastes from the clipboard. This works in a large number of
programs, including xterm, rxvt-unicode, and Google Chrome.
If you find this useful, you will probably want to shorten step 3.
You could set up a shell alias that runs this, or a shell key binding
that runs it, or a Window Manager key binding that runs it, or any
other clever thing you can come up with.

[f***@protonmail.com]

Post by Greg Wooledge

Post by Charlie
For completeness. Had tried right and left at same time on touchpad of
laptop. As it worked years ago.

Pressing left+right buttons simultaneously was indeed one of the hacks
that people used to mimic the middle button in some X11 setups. I haven't
seen that in practice in quite some time. I think people mostly stopped
implementing it, because two-button mice (without scroll wheels) fell
out of the market.

Post by Charlie
Didn't think the touchpad had a middle button. Don't know why?

I forgot about laptops with touchpads. Unfortunately, this is not
an area that I've had to research, so I don't know what the current X
and Wayland implementations do to emulate three-button mice. Maybe
someone else knows, or maybe you can find some modern-day documentation
about it on the Internet.

Post by Charlie
This works on a Dell Vostro laptop.
Highlight the text in xterm with the left of the touchpad.
Cursor in highlighted text, press bottom middle of touchpad.
This alters the block highlight. By pressing the middle of the
bottom of the touchpad: highlights only the lines in xterm.
Go to text editor, in my instance: Kate. Place cursor where to paste.
Dialogue box comes up. Select paste and it does that.
Doesn't work in LyX but if placed in text editor Kate first, can be
copied Ctrl+C, then in LyX, Ctrl+V.

Since you mention xterm, you might want to read the xterm(1) man page
and what it has to say about SELECT/PASTE and specifically what it
says about the selectToClipboard option. Apparently you can configure
xterm so that what you highlight with the mouse goes into the clipboard
instead of the selection. Then, you could paste it with Shift-Insert
in another application, probably.
I haven't tried that myself.
1) Install the xclip package.
2) Highlight (select) the text with the left button.
xclip -o -selection primary | xclip -i -selection clipboard
4) Focus to the target application by clicking/mouse-moving.
5) Press Shift-Insert to paste the clipboard.
Step 3 copies the highlighted text from the selection to the clipboard,
and step 5 pastes from the clipboard. This works in a large number of
programs, including xterm, rxvt-unicode, and Google Chrome.
If you find this useful, you will probably want to shorten step 3.
You could set up a shell alias that runs this, or a shell key binding
that runs it, or a Window Manager key binding that runs it, or any
other clever thing you can come up with.

with screen you can highlight, copy, and paste with just the keyboard
i have not found a way to have screen push selections to the clipboard

[Max Nikulin]

Post by Charlie
Didn't think the touchpad had a middle button. Don't know why?

Middle click can be configured for touchpads as 2 or 3 fingers tap or as
simultaneous press on both hardware buttons (if they exist), see the
libinput(4) man page and
https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/
Desktop environment may provide GUI for configuration.

Perhaps older synaptics driver allowed to treat tap in some corner as
mouse button click.

In its early days wayland did not have primary selection, just
clipboard. Some users and developers hate paste on middle click
considering it insecure. Perhaps there are still wayland implementations
supporting only clipboard.

In xterm you may configure shortcuts for both primary selection and
clipboard copy and paste. Search for copy-selection and insert-selection
in xterm(1). It was discussed in the following thread:

Re: Copy from Firefox and paste into Terminal with Vim. Tue, 6 Feb 2024
18:38:46 +0100.
https://lists.debian.org/msgid-search/***@phare.normalesup.org

[Charles Curley]

On Thu, 13 Jun 2024 12:16:00 +1000

I[s] there is a
way to do it at all?

Yes. Use Mouse-1 (typically the left-hand mouse button) to swipe the
text you want to copy from the xterm. Go to the recipient program, and
use Mouse-2 (typically the middle button on the mouse) to paste.

Note that this is very temporary storage. It will not put the text in
the clipboard, nor will a clipboard stack program like clipman see it.

Ctl-c, ctl-v, etc. (CUA shortcuts) are Microsoft/IBM isms and not native
to Unix or Linux, so older programs like xterm may or may not support
them.

[Vincent Lefevre]

Post by Charles Curley
Note that this is very temporary storage. It will not put the text in
the clipboard, nor will a clipboard stack program like clipman see it.

This can be changed with selectToClipboard:

selectToClipboard (class SelectToClipboard)
Tells xterm whether to use the PRIMARY or CLIPBOARD for SELECT
tokens in the selection mechanism. The set-select action can
change this at runtime, allowing the user to work with programs
that handle only one of these mechanisms. The default is
“false”, which tells it to use PRIMARY.