tmux-yank

Copy to the system clipboard in tmux.

Supports:

• Linux
• macOS
• Cygwin
• Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

Installing

Via TPM (recommended)

The easiest way to install tmux-yank is via the Tmux Plugin Manager.

1. Add plugin to the list of TPM plugins in .tmux.conf:

   set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-yank'

2. Use prefix–I install tmux-yank. You should now be able to tmux-yank immediately.

3. When you want to update tmux-yank use prefix–U.

Manual Installation

1. Clone the repository

   $ git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tmux-yank ~/clone/path

2. Add this line to the bottom of .tmux.conf

   run-shell ~/clone/path/yank.tmux

3. Reload the tmux environment

   # type this inside tmux
   $ tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf

You should now be able to use tmux-yank immediately.

Requirements

In order for tmux-yank to work, there must be a program that store data in the system clipboard.

macOS

• reattach-to-user-namespace

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

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:

1. Go into iTerm2's preferences.

2. Go to the "General" tab.

3. Check "Applications in terminal may access clipboard"

4. In tmux, ensure set-clipboard is turned on:

   $ tmux show-options -g -s set-clipboard
   set-clipboard on

HomeBrew (recommended)

$ brew install reattach-to-user-namespace

MacPorts

$ sudo port install tmux-pasteboard

Linux

• xsel (recommended) or xclip.

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.

Debian & Ubuntu

$ sudo apt-get install xsel # or xclip

RedHat & CentOS

$ sudo yum install xsel # or xclip

Cygwin

• (optional) putclip which is part of the cygutils-extra package.

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

• clip.exe is shipped with Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Configuration

Key bindings

• Normal Mode

  • prefix–y — copies text from the command line to the clipboard.

    Works with all popular shells/repls. Tested with:

    • shells: bash, zsh (with bindkey -e), tcsh
    • repls: irb, pry, node, psql, python, php -a, coffee
    • remote shells: ssh, mosh
    • vim/neovim command line (requires vim-husk or vim-rsi plugin)

  • 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.

Default and Preferred Clipboard Programs

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 Clipboards

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'

Mouse Support

When making a selection using tmux with mode-mouse on or mode-mouse copy-mode, you cannot rely on the default 'release mouse after selection to copy' behavior.

Instead, press y before releasing mouse.

vi mode support

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.

Screen-cast

Note: The screen-cast uses Control–y for "put selection". Use Y in v2.0.0 and later.

Other tmux plugins

• tmux-copycat - a plugin for regular expression searches in tmux and fast match selection
• tmux-open - a plugin for quickly opening highlighted file or a URL
• tmux-continuum - automatic restoring and continuous saving of tmux environment.

License

MIT