tmux copy mode - select text block












34















I'm using tmux with vi keys, and copy/paste works fine as long as you're selecting one line of text, or if you have only one window. When I want to select a block of text (multiple lines, but not full width), then I run into trouble. If I have multiple vim windows opened, then it would select text from all of them, and what I need is to select text only from one window. That is, just like a visual select in vim.



Is this possible to do?






vim tmux







share|improve this question

























  • How do you activate Vi keybindings in tmux?

    – romainl
    Feb 29 '12 at 6:40











  • add "set-window-option -g mode-keys vi" to your ~/.tmux.conf

    – Srećko Toroman
    Apr 29 '13 at 20:45








  • 1





    It looks like the answers aren't getting to your question of using visual block mode - "multiple lines, but not full width" is also what I'm looking for. Did you find your own solution?

    – dmonopoly
    Apr 23 '14 at 14:38











  • Nope, still no solution.

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 14 '15 at 18:37











  • Actually, there is a solution.

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 14 '15 at 18:41
















34















I'm using tmux with vi keys, and copy/paste works fine as long as you're selecting one line of text, or if you have only one window. When I want to select a block of text (multiple lines, but not full width), then I run into trouble. If I have multiple vim windows opened, then it would select text from all of them, and what I need is to select text only from one window. That is, just like a visual select in vim.



Is this possible to do?






vim tmux







share|improve this question

























  • How do you activate Vi keybindings in tmux?

    – romainl
    Feb 29 '12 at 6:40











  • add "set-window-option -g mode-keys vi" to your ~/.tmux.conf

    – Srećko Toroman
    Apr 29 '13 at 20:45








  • 1





    It looks like the answers aren't getting to your question of using visual block mode - "multiple lines, but not full width" is also what I'm looking for. Did you find your own solution?

    – dmonopoly
    Apr 23 '14 at 14:38











  • Nope, still no solution.

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 14 '15 at 18:37











  • Actually, there is a solution.

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 14 '15 at 18:41














34












34








34


16






I'm using tmux with vi keys, and copy/paste works fine as long as you're selecting one line of text, or if you have only one window. When I want to select a block of text (multiple lines, but not full width), then I run into trouble. If I have multiple vim windows opened, then it would select text from all of them, and what I need is to select text only from one window. That is, just like a visual select in vim.



Is this possible to do?






vim tmux







share|improve this question
















I'm using tmux with vi keys, and copy/paste works fine as long as you're selecting one line of text, or if you have only one window. When I want to select a block of text (multiple lines, but not full width), then I run into trouble. If I have multiple vim windows opened, then it would select text from all of them, and what I need is to select text only from one window. That is, just like a visual select in vim.



Is this possible to do?






vim tmux




vim tmux






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Mar 8 '15 at 22:02









Der Hochstapler

67.7k49230284




67.7k49230284










asked Feb 29 '12 at 0:18









Srećko ToromanSrećko Toroman

173125




173125













  • How do you activate Vi keybindings in tmux?

    – romainl
    Feb 29 '12 at 6:40











  • add "set-window-option -g mode-keys vi" to your ~/.tmux.conf

    – Srećko Toroman
    Apr 29 '13 at 20:45








  • 1





    It looks like the answers aren't getting to your question of using visual block mode - "multiple lines, but not full width" is also what I'm looking for. Did you find your own solution?

    – dmonopoly
    Apr 23 '14 at 14:38











  • Nope, still no solution.

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 14 '15 at 18:37











  • Actually, there is a solution.

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 14 '15 at 18:41



















  • How do you activate Vi keybindings in tmux?

    – romainl
    Feb 29 '12 at 6:40











  • add "set-window-option -g mode-keys vi" to your ~/.tmux.conf

    – Srećko Toroman
    Apr 29 '13 at 20:45








  • 1





    It looks like the answers aren't getting to your question of using visual block mode - "multiple lines, but not full width" is also what I'm looking for. Did you find your own solution?

    – dmonopoly
    Apr 23 '14 at 14:38











  • Nope, still no solution.

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 14 '15 at 18:37











  • Actually, there is a solution.

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 14 '15 at 18:41

















How do you activate Vi keybindings in tmux?

– romainl
Feb 29 '12 at 6:40





How do you activate Vi keybindings in tmux?

– romainl
Feb 29 '12 at 6:40













add "set-window-option -g mode-keys vi" to your ~/.tmux.conf

– Srećko Toroman
Apr 29 '13 at 20:45







add "set-window-option -g mode-keys vi" to your ~/.tmux.conf

– Srećko Toroman
Apr 29 '13 at 20:45






1




1





It looks like the answers aren't getting to your question of using visual block mode - "multiple lines, but not full width" is also what I'm looking for. Did you find your own solution?

– dmonopoly
Apr 23 '14 at 14:38





It looks like the answers aren't getting to your question of using visual block mode - "multiple lines, but not full width" is also what I'm looking for. Did you find your own solution?

– dmonopoly
Apr 23 '14 at 14:38













Nope, still no solution.

– Srećko Toroman
Jul 14 '15 at 18:37





Nope, still no solution.

– Srećko Toroman
Jul 14 '15 at 18:37













Actually, there is a solution.

– Srećko Toroman
Jul 14 '15 at 18:41





Actually, there is a solution.

– Srećko Toroman
Jul 14 '15 at 18:41










5 Answers
5






active

oldest

votes


















37














Make sure to check the bottom of this post for necessary bindings that need to go into your .tmux.conf file.



I am assuming your prefix key is C-a:




  • C-a means: press Ctrl + A

  • C-a [ means: press Ctrl + A then press [


To do a rectangle selection of text from (1,1) to (2,2) in tmux:




  • Go to the copy mode: C-a [

  • Move the middle of a line

  • Press C-v

  • Press Space

  • Move the selection with jkhl

  • Once you are happy with your selection press Enter (or y if you have
    the binding in your conf file).

  • You can paste the latest copy buffer by: C-a ]


Notice that pressing space is necessary for rectangle selection.



To select lines like you would normally do, go the copy mode, and press v, select with jkhl keys and press y.



I have these bindings in my .tmux.conf:



Prior to version 2.4 (20 April 2017):



setw -g mode-keys vi

bind-key -t vi-copy 'v' begin-selection     # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -t vi-copy 'C-v' rectangle-toggle  # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -t vi-copy 'y' copy-selection      # Yank selection in copy mode.


After version 2.4:



setw -g mode-keys vi

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'v' send -X begin-selection     # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'C-v' send -X rectangle-toggle  # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'y' send -X copy-selection      # Yank selection in copy mode.


It is important to unbind default rectangle-toggle binding:



unbind-key -t vi-copy v  # Prior to version 2.4

unbind-key -T copy-mode-vi v


Otherwise new 'C-v' binding doesn't work.



Note: to have a single .tmux.conf which works across versions, see this question.






share|improve this answer





















  • 1





    Thank you so much. The emphasis is on your tmux.conf - you could edit the answer to include bind-key -t vi-copy 'C-v' rectangle-toggle at the beginning.

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 14 '15 at 18:42











  • The original question asks how to get rectangular selection working with "mode-keys vi". There is no need to re-bind keys to answer this question. See the other answers; it's just "v" and "space" from selection mode.

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 15 '15 at 8:54



















14














You can select a visual block just like in vi -- type v before starting the selection. In the manpage, this is called "Rectangle toggle".






share|improve this answer



















  • 2





    That exactly what I'm using. But that has a problem which I described above. The rectangle is always full width. I need a VIM-like rectangle (x1, y1) - (x2, y2) :)

    – Srećko Toroman
    Apr 29 '13 at 20:44






  • 1





    @Srećko Toroman what do you mean exactly with full width?

    – gitaarik
    Jan 2 '14 at 16:24





















9














As Lars points out, v actually does what you are asking for by toggling between rectangle mode and full-line selection mode. space and enter are used respectively to start a new selection and copy it. Enter copy mode using your prefix followed by [ and paste your copied selection into any tmux window using ]



This confused me also since v functions in vim as space does in tmux , to begin the selection.



Issuing :list-keys -t vi-copy in tmux will show the full table of commands in copy mode.



bind-key -t vi-copy    C-b page-up                                                      

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-c cancel

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-e scroll-down

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-f page-down

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-h cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  Enter copy-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-y scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy Escape clear-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy  Space begin-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy      $ end-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      , jump-reverse

bind-key -t vi-copy      / search-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      0 start-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      1 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      2 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      3 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      4 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      5 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      6 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      7 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      8 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      9 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      : goto-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      ; jump-again

bind-key -t vi-copy      ? search-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      B previous-space

bind-key -t vi-copy      D copy-end-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      E next-space-end

bind-key -t vi-copy      F jump-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      G history-bottom

bind-key -t vi-copy      H top-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      J scroll-down

bind-key -t vi-copy      K scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy      L bottom-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      M middle-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      N search-reverse

bind-key -t vi-copy      T jump-to-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      W next-space

bind-key -t vi-copy      ^ back-to-indentation

bind-key -t vi-copy      b previous-word

bind-key -t vi-copy      e next-word-end

bind-key -t vi-copy      f jump-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      g history-top

bind-key -t vi-copy      h cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy      j cursor-down

bind-key -t vi-copy      k cursor-up

bind-key -t vi-copy      l cursor-right

bind-key -t vi-copy      n search-again

bind-key -t vi-copy      q cancel

bind-key -t vi-copy      t jump-to-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      v rectangle-toggle

bind-key -t vi-copy      w next-word

bind-key -t vi-copy BSpace cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  NPage page-down

bind-key -t vi-copy  PPage page-up

bind-key -t vi-copy     Up cursor-up

bind-key -t vi-copy   Down cursor-down

bind-key -t vi-copy   Left cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  Right cursor-right

bind-key -t vi-copy   C-Up scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy C-Down scroll-down





share|improve this answer
























  • I don't get it again. Given a Vim window with a vertical split, how do you select a rectangle in the first split only? Here, the multiline rectangle will always wrap the full Tmux pane. It's not like a Vim block selection. I'm using tmux 1.5, maybe it's different in your version?

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 3 '13 at 16:36













  • Yeah, here, v is mapped to begin-selection. The rectangle-toggle is undefined. So I guess both of you are right, I just need to update my client?

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 3 '13 at 16:39













  • If you have a split vim window open in a single tmux pane, can't you use vim's yank and paste ability? If on the other hand you have two tmux panes, each with it's own vim window, tmux select/copy should be able to wrap at the pane edges. I'm using tmux 1.7

    – here
    Jan 28 '14 at 6:13



















5














Since none of the other answers give an optimal solution to the problem, I'm not above necromancy.



There is a way to have block selection work the same way it does in Vim, without having to press space. Just a simple Ctrl-V, ingrained in your muscle memory.

It requires editing your .tmux.conf (but using vi-mode already does so) and I'm not sure it works for tmux < 2.4.



Add this to your .tmux.conf to replicate Vim selection and yank bindings:



# set vi-mode

set-window-option -g mode-keys vi

# keybindings

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi v send-keys -X begin-selection

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi C-v send-keys -X rectangle-toggle ; send -X begin-selection

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-selection-and-cancel

# comment the preceding line and uncomment the following to yank to X clipboard

# bind-key -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "xclip -in -selection clipboard"


Enter selection mode and navigate to where you want to begin the selection. Now v starts regular (character-by character, line-wise) selection, <C-v> starts block selection and V (shift-v) starts line selection. Regardless of the type of selection, y yanks to tmux paste buffer (or X clipboard; see code comments above).



Same as Vim.






share|improve this answer


























  • Worked for me, have an upvote towards your necomancy 👏👏👏

    – mahemoff
    Jan 5 '18 at 12:43



















2














EDIT: After checking the source code, I've re-written my answer completely.



I originally thought this wasn't possible because I couldn't get this to work, but the other answers are correct about v being the correct key for this, but it's not obvious how to use this, especially if you are used to vim.



Also, it wouldn't work for me because I had v bound to begin-selection - I think I must have blindly copied this idea from somewhere else to mimic the vim way to start a character wise selection, not knowing it would cause problems further down the road with block selections.



$ tmux -V

tmux 1.9a

$ tmux list-keys -t vi-copy  | grep " v "

bind-key -t vi-copy      v begin-selection     # suppressed my block selection mode


Once I took away this binding (by commenting out the line in my .tmux.conf and restarting tmux), it started to work, but it's still rather confusing because it's not the same as vim at all.



With default bindings, it should work as follows:




  1. Make sure you have tmux unning with setw -g mode-keys vi in your .tmux.conf.

  2. type C-a [ to start copy mode

  3. move the cursor to where you want to begin the selection

  4. type v

  5. type Space to start the selection

  6. move the cursor and you will see a rectangular selection

  7. you can press v again to toggle the selection back into character-wise selection or vice-versa.


You don't have to type the v before you press Space. You could start the the character-wise selection with Space first and press v afterwards to toggle to rectangular selection mode.



It's quite different from vim in that in tmux you have to type two characters: Space and v to get into rectangular selection mode. In vim you only have to type Ctrl-V.



Also in vim v starts a character-wise selection, not block.



Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a line-wise selection mode in tmux (Shift-v in vim).

EDIT: It looks like Tmux version 2.0 provides a line-wise selection mode with Shift-v (I haven't tried it yet though!)






share|improve this answer


























  • Press "v" and you can select lines. No need for space.

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 14 '15 at 6:02






  • 1





    @AmirH.Sadoughi, that's because (as per your answer) you've changed the defaults and bound "v" to begin the selection instead of "space". If you start with an empty .tmux.conf you should find the behaviour I describe is correct; you have to press "space" to start the selection.

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 14 '15 at 19:13








  • 1





    Thanks for correcting me. To address your last sentence (about line-wise selection), I was trying to say that with my config, I can do a block selection with c-v-space, and I can do a line selection with v. so, pressing "prefix v" allows me to select lines.

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 16 '15 at 4:06













  • I find that very hard to believe because line-wise selection was only added to Tmux recently (Shift-v in release 2.0 March 2015), certainly after my answer and long after your original answer. Perhaps you and I are talking about two different things when we talk about line-wise selection. Please compare with the 3 selection modes in VIM (with v, Shift-v and Ctrl-v).

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 16 '15 at 13:02











  • You are right, I just tested it. My v selection is character wise. I am on version 1.9a and don't have the vim-like line-wise selection. So, with version 2.0, the exact three modes that vim has is possible in tmux too, right?

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 16 '15 at 13:19













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5 Answers
5






active

oldest

votes








5 Answers
5






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









37














Make sure to check the bottom of this post for necessary bindings that need to go into your .tmux.conf file.



I am assuming your prefix key is C-a:




  • C-a means: press Ctrl + A

  • C-a [ means: press Ctrl + A then press [


To do a rectangle selection of text from (1,1) to (2,2) in tmux:




  • Go to the copy mode: C-a [

  • Move the middle of a line

  • Press C-v

  • Press Space

  • Move the selection with jkhl

  • Once you are happy with your selection press Enter (or y if you have
    the binding in your conf file).

  • You can paste the latest copy buffer by: C-a ]


Notice that pressing space is necessary for rectangle selection.



To select lines like you would normally do, go the copy mode, and press v, select with jkhl keys and press y.



I have these bindings in my .tmux.conf:



Prior to version 2.4 (20 April 2017):



setw -g mode-keys vi

bind-key -t vi-copy 'v' begin-selection     # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -t vi-copy 'C-v' rectangle-toggle  # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -t vi-copy 'y' copy-selection      # Yank selection in copy mode.


After version 2.4:



setw -g mode-keys vi

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'v' send -X begin-selection     # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'C-v' send -X rectangle-toggle  # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'y' send -X copy-selection      # Yank selection in copy mode.


It is important to unbind default rectangle-toggle binding:



unbind-key -t vi-copy v  # Prior to version 2.4

unbind-key -T copy-mode-vi v


Otherwise new 'C-v' binding doesn't work.



Note: to have a single .tmux.conf which works across versions, see this question.






share|improve this answer





















  • 1





    Thank you so much. The emphasis is on your tmux.conf - you could edit the answer to include bind-key -t vi-copy 'C-v' rectangle-toggle at the beginning.

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 14 '15 at 18:42











  • The original question asks how to get rectangular selection working with "mode-keys vi". There is no need to re-bind keys to answer this question. See the other answers; it's just "v" and "space" from selection mode.

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 15 '15 at 8:54
















37














Make sure to check the bottom of this post for necessary bindings that need to go into your .tmux.conf file.



I am assuming your prefix key is C-a:




  • C-a means: press Ctrl + A

  • C-a [ means: press Ctrl + A then press [


To do a rectangle selection of text from (1,1) to (2,2) in tmux:




  • Go to the copy mode: C-a [

  • Move the middle of a line

  • Press C-v

  • Press Space

  • Move the selection with jkhl

  • Once you are happy with your selection press Enter (or y if you have
    the binding in your conf file).

  • You can paste the latest copy buffer by: C-a ]


Notice that pressing space is necessary for rectangle selection.



To select lines like you would normally do, go the copy mode, and press v, select with jkhl keys and press y.



I have these bindings in my .tmux.conf:



Prior to version 2.4 (20 April 2017):



setw -g mode-keys vi

bind-key -t vi-copy 'v' begin-selection     # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -t vi-copy 'C-v' rectangle-toggle  # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -t vi-copy 'y' copy-selection      # Yank selection in copy mode.


After version 2.4:



setw -g mode-keys vi

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'v' send -X begin-selection     # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'C-v' send -X rectangle-toggle  # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'y' send -X copy-selection      # Yank selection in copy mode.


It is important to unbind default rectangle-toggle binding:



unbind-key -t vi-copy v  # Prior to version 2.4

unbind-key -T copy-mode-vi v


Otherwise new 'C-v' binding doesn't work.



Note: to have a single .tmux.conf which works across versions, see this question.






share|improve this answer





















  • 1





    Thank you so much. The emphasis is on your tmux.conf - you could edit the answer to include bind-key -t vi-copy 'C-v' rectangle-toggle at the beginning.

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 14 '15 at 18:42











  • The original question asks how to get rectangular selection working with "mode-keys vi". There is no need to re-bind keys to answer this question. See the other answers; it's just "v" and "space" from selection mode.

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 15 '15 at 8:54














37












37








37







Make sure to check the bottom of this post for necessary bindings that need to go into your .tmux.conf file.



I am assuming your prefix key is C-a:




  • C-a means: press Ctrl + A

  • C-a [ means: press Ctrl + A then press [


To do a rectangle selection of text from (1,1) to (2,2) in tmux:




  • Go to the copy mode: C-a [

  • Move the middle of a line

  • Press C-v

  • Press Space

  • Move the selection with jkhl

  • Once you are happy with your selection press Enter (or y if you have
    the binding in your conf file).

  • You can paste the latest copy buffer by: C-a ]


Notice that pressing space is necessary for rectangle selection.



To select lines like you would normally do, go the copy mode, and press v, select with jkhl keys and press y.



I have these bindings in my .tmux.conf:



Prior to version 2.4 (20 April 2017):



setw -g mode-keys vi

bind-key -t vi-copy 'v' begin-selection     # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -t vi-copy 'C-v' rectangle-toggle  # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -t vi-copy 'y' copy-selection      # Yank selection in copy mode.


After version 2.4:



setw -g mode-keys vi

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'v' send -X begin-selection     # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'C-v' send -X rectangle-toggle  # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'y' send -X copy-selection      # Yank selection in copy mode.


It is important to unbind default rectangle-toggle binding:



unbind-key -t vi-copy v  # Prior to version 2.4

unbind-key -T copy-mode-vi v


Otherwise new 'C-v' binding doesn't work.



Note: to have a single .tmux.conf which works across versions, see this question.






share|improve this answer















Make sure to check the bottom of this post for necessary bindings that need to go into your .tmux.conf file.



I am assuming your prefix key is C-a:




  • C-a means: press Ctrl + A

  • C-a [ means: press Ctrl + A then press [


To do a rectangle selection of text from (1,1) to (2,2) in tmux:




  • Go to the copy mode: C-a [

  • Move the middle of a line

  • Press C-v

  • Press Space

  • Move the selection with jkhl

  • Once you are happy with your selection press Enter (or y if you have
    the binding in your conf file).

  • You can paste the latest copy buffer by: C-a ]


Notice that pressing space is necessary for rectangle selection.



To select lines like you would normally do, go the copy mode, and press v, select with jkhl keys and press y.



I have these bindings in my .tmux.conf:



Prior to version 2.4 (20 April 2017):



setw -g mode-keys vi

bind-key -t vi-copy 'v' begin-selection     # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -t vi-copy 'C-v' rectangle-toggle  # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -t vi-copy 'y' copy-selection      # Yank selection in copy mode.


After version 2.4:



setw -g mode-keys vi

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'v' send -X begin-selection     # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'C-v' send -X rectangle-toggle  # Begin selection in copy mode.

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'y' send -X copy-selection      # Yank selection in copy mode.


It is important to unbind default rectangle-toggle binding:



unbind-key -t vi-copy v  # Prior to version 2.4

unbind-key -T copy-mode-vi v


Otherwise new 'C-v' binding doesn't work.



Note: to have a single .tmux.conf which works across versions, see this question.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited Jan 14 at 22:58









sixtyfootersdude

3,170124165




3,170124165










answered Dec 28 '13 at 1:33









Amir H. SadoughiAmir H. Sadoughi

48644




48644








  • 1





    Thank you so much. The emphasis is on your tmux.conf - you could edit the answer to include bind-key -t vi-copy 'C-v' rectangle-toggle at the beginning.

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 14 '15 at 18:42











  • The original question asks how to get rectangular selection working with "mode-keys vi". There is no need to re-bind keys to answer this question. See the other answers; it's just "v" and "space" from selection mode.

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 15 '15 at 8:54














  • 1





    Thank you so much. The emphasis is on your tmux.conf - you could edit the answer to include bind-key -t vi-copy 'C-v' rectangle-toggle at the beginning.

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 14 '15 at 18:42











  • The original question asks how to get rectangular selection working with "mode-keys vi". There is no need to re-bind keys to answer this question. See the other answers; it's just "v" and "space" from selection mode.

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 15 '15 at 8:54








1




1





Thank you so much. The emphasis is on your tmux.conf - you could edit the answer to include bind-key -t vi-copy 'C-v' rectangle-toggle at the beginning.

– Srećko Toroman
Jul 14 '15 at 18:42





Thank you so much. The emphasis is on your tmux.conf - you could edit the answer to include bind-key -t vi-copy 'C-v' rectangle-toggle at the beginning.

– Srećko Toroman
Jul 14 '15 at 18:42













The original question asks how to get rectangular selection working with "mode-keys vi". There is no need to re-bind keys to answer this question. See the other answers; it's just "v" and "space" from selection mode.

– Lqueryvg
Oct 15 '15 at 8:54





The original question asks how to get rectangular selection working with "mode-keys vi". There is no need to re-bind keys to answer this question. See the other answers; it's just "v" and "space" from selection mode.

– Lqueryvg
Oct 15 '15 at 8:54













14














You can select a visual block just like in vi -- type v before starting the selection. In the manpage, this is called "Rectangle toggle".






share|improve this answer



















  • 2





    That exactly what I'm using. But that has a problem which I described above. The rectangle is always full width. I need a VIM-like rectangle (x1, y1) - (x2, y2) :)

    – Srećko Toroman
    Apr 29 '13 at 20:44






  • 1





    @Srećko Toroman what do you mean exactly with full width?

    – gitaarik
    Jan 2 '14 at 16:24


















14














You can select a visual block just like in vi -- type v before starting the selection. In the manpage, this is called "Rectangle toggle".






share|improve this answer



















  • 2





    That exactly what I'm using. But that has a problem which I described above. The rectangle is always full width. I need a VIM-like rectangle (x1, y1) - (x2, y2) :)

    – Srećko Toroman
    Apr 29 '13 at 20:44






  • 1





    @Srećko Toroman what do you mean exactly with full width?

    – gitaarik
    Jan 2 '14 at 16:24
















14












14








14







You can select a visual block just like in vi -- type v before starting the selection. In the manpage, this is called "Rectangle toggle".






share|improve this answer













You can select a visual block just like in vi -- type v before starting the selection. In the manpage, this is called "Rectangle toggle".







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered Feb 29 '12 at 18:48









Lars KotthoffLars Kotthoff

1,332109




1,332109








  • 2





    That exactly what I'm using. But that has a problem which I described above. The rectangle is always full width. I need a VIM-like rectangle (x1, y1) - (x2, y2) :)

    – Srećko Toroman
    Apr 29 '13 at 20:44






  • 1





    @Srećko Toroman what do you mean exactly with full width?

    – gitaarik
    Jan 2 '14 at 16:24
















  • 2





    That exactly what I'm using. But that has a problem which I described above. The rectangle is always full width. I need a VIM-like rectangle (x1, y1) - (x2, y2) :)

    – Srećko Toroman
    Apr 29 '13 at 20:44






  • 1





    @Srećko Toroman what do you mean exactly with full width?

    – gitaarik
    Jan 2 '14 at 16:24










2




2





That exactly what I'm using. But that has a problem which I described above. The rectangle is always full width. I need a VIM-like rectangle (x1, y1) - (x2, y2) :)

– Srećko Toroman
Apr 29 '13 at 20:44





That exactly what I'm using. But that has a problem which I described above. The rectangle is always full width. I need a VIM-like rectangle (x1, y1) - (x2, y2) :)

– Srećko Toroman
Apr 29 '13 at 20:44




1




1





@Srećko Toroman what do you mean exactly with full width?

– gitaarik
Jan 2 '14 at 16:24







@Srećko Toroman what do you mean exactly with full width?

– gitaarik
Jan 2 '14 at 16:24













9














As Lars points out, v actually does what you are asking for by toggling between rectangle mode and full-line selection mode. space and enter are used respectively to start a new selection and copy it. Enter copy mode using your prefix followed by [ and paste your copied selection into any tmux window using ]



This confused me also since v functions in vim as space does in tmux , to begin the selection.



Issuing :list-keys -t vi-copy in tmux will show the full table of commands in copy mode.



bind-key -t vi-copy    C-b page-up                                                      

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-c cancel

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-e scroll-down

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-f page-down

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-h cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  Enter copy-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-y scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy Escape clear-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy  Space begin-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy      $ end-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      , jump-reverse

bind-key -t vi-copy      / search-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      0 start-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      1 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      2 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      3 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      4 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      5 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      6 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      7 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      8 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      9 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      : goto-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      ; jump-again

bind-key -t vi-copy      ? search-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      B previous-space

bind-key -t vi-copy      D copy-end-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      E next-space-end

bind-key -t vi-copy      F jump-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      G history-bottom

bind-key -t vi-copy      H top-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      J scroll-down

bind-key -t vi-copy      K scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy      L bottom-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      M middle-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      N search-reverse

bind-key -t vi-copy      T jump-to-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      W next-space

bind-key -t vi-copy      ^ back-to-indentation

bind-key -t vi-copy      b previous-word

bind-key -t vi-copy      e next-word-end

bind-key -t vi-copy      f jump-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      g history-top

bind-key -t vi-copy      h cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy      j cursor-down

bind-key -t vi-copy      k cursor-up

bind-key -t vi-copy      l cursor-right

bind-key -t vi-copy      n search-again

bind-key -t vi-copy      q cancel

bind-key -t vi-copy      t jump-to-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      v rectangle-toggle

bind-key -t vi-copy      w next-word

bind-key -t vi-copy BSpace cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  NPage page-down

bind-key -t vi-copy  PPage page-up

bind-key -t vi-copy     Up cursor-up

bind-key -t vi-copy   Down cursor-down

bind-key -t vi-copy   Left cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  Right cursor-right

bind-key -t vi-copy   C-Up scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy C-Down scroll-down





share|improve this answer
























  • I don't get it again. Given a Vim window with a vertical split, how do you select a rectangle in the first split only? Here, the multiline rectangle will always wrap the full Tmux pane. It's not like a Vim block selection. I'm using tmux 1.5, maybe it's different in your version?

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 3 '13 at 16:36













  • Yeah, here, v is mapped to begin-selection. The rectangle-toggle is undefined. So I guess both of you are right, I just need to update my client?

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 3 '13 at 16:39













  • If you have a split vim window open in a single tmux pane, can't you use vim's yank and paste ability? If on the other hand you have two tmux panes, each with it's own vim window, tmux select/copy should be able to wrap at the pane edges. I'm using tmux 1.7

    – here
    Jan 28 '14 at 6:13
















9














As Lars points out, v actually does what you are asking for by toggling between rectangle mode and full-line selection mode. space and enter are used respectively to start a new selection and copy it. Enter copy mode using your prefix followed by [ and paste your copied selection into any tmux window using ]



This confused me also since v functions in vim as space does in tmux , to begin the selection.



Issuing :list-keys -t vi-copy in tmux will show the full table of commands in copy mode.



bind-key -t vi-copy    C-b page-up                                                      

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-c cancel

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-e scroll-down

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-f page-down

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-h cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  Enter copy-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-y scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy Escape clear-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy  Space begin-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy      $ end-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      , jump-reverse

bind-key -t vi-copy      / search-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      0 start-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      1 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      2 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      3 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      4 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      5 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      6 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      7 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      8 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      9 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      : goto-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      ; jump-again

bind-key -t vi-copy      ? search-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      B previous-space

bind-key -t vi-copy      D copy-end-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      E next-space-end

bind-key -t vi-copy      F jump-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      G history-bottom

bind-key -t vi-copy      H top-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      J scroll-down

bind-key -t vi-copy      K scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy      L bottom-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      M middle-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      N search-reverse

bind-key -t vi-copy      T jump-to-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      W next-space

bind-key -t vi-copy      ^ back-to-indentation

bind-key -t vi-copy      b previous-word

bind-key -t vi-copy      e next-word-end

bind-key -t vi-copy      f jump-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      g history-top

bind-key -t vi-copy      h cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy      j cursor-down

bind-key -t vi-copy      k cursor-up

bind-key -t vi-copy      l cursor-right

bind-key -t vi-copy      n search-again

bind-key -t vi-copy      q cancel

bind-key -t vi-copy      t jump-to-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      v rectangle-toggle

bind-key -t vi-copy      w next-word

bind-key -t vi-copy BSpace cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  NPage page-down

bind-key -t vi-copy  PPage page-up

bind-key -t vi-copy     Up cursor-up

bind-key -t vi-copy   Down cursor-down

bind-key -t vi-copy   Left cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  Right cursor-right

bind-key -t vi-copy   C-Up scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy C-Down scroll-down





share|improve this answer
























  • I don't get it again. Given a Vim window with a vertical split, how do you select a rectangle in the first split only? Here, the multiline rectangle will always wrap the full Tmux pane. It's not like a Vim block selection. I'm using tmux 1.5, maybe it's different in your version?

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 3 '13 at 16:36













  • Yeah, here, v is mapped to begin-selection. The rectangle-toggle is undefined. So I guess both of you are right, I just need to update my client?

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 3 '13 at 16:39













  • If you have a split vim window open in a single tmux pane, can't you use vim's yank and paste ability? If on the other hand you have two tmux panes, each with it's own vim window, tmux select/copy should be able to wrap at the pane edges. I'm using tmux 1.7

    – here
    Jan 28 '14 at 6:13














9












9








9







As Lars points out, v actually does what you are asking for by toggling between rectangle mode and full-line selection mode. space and enter are used respectively to start a new selection and copy it. Enter copy mode using your prefix followed by [ and paste your copied selection into any tmux window using ]



This confused me also since v functions in vim as space does in tmux , to begin the selection.



Issuing :list-keys -t vi-copy in tmux will show the full table of commands in copy mode.



bind-key -t vi-copy    C-b page-up                                                      

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-c cancel

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-e scroll-down

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-f page-down

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-h cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  Enter copy-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-y scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy Escape clear-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy  Space begin-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy      $ end-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      , jump-reverse

bind-key -t vi-copy      / search-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      0 start-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      1 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      2 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      3 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      4 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      5 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      6 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      7 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      8 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      9 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      : goto-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      ; jump-again

bind-key -t vi-copy      ? search-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      B previous-space

bind-key -t vi-copy      D copy-end-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      E next-space-end

bind-key -t vi-copy      F jump-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      G history-bottom

bind-key -t vi-copy      H top-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      J scroll-down

bind-key -t vi-copy      K scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy      L bottom-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      M middle-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      N search-reverse

bind-key -t vi-copy      T jump-to-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      W next-space

bind-key -t vi-copy      ^ back-to-indentation

bind-key -t vi-copy      b previous-word

bind-key -t vi-copy      e next-word-end

bind-key -t vi-copy      f jump-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      g history-top

bind-key -t vi-copy      h cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy      j cursor-down

bind-key -t vi-copy      k cursor-up

bind-key -t vi-copy      l cursor-right

bind-key -t vi-copy      n search-again

bind-key -t vi-copy      q cancel

bind-key -t vi-copy      t jump-to-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      v rectangle-toggle

bind-key -t vi-copy      w next-word

bind-key -t vi-copy BSpace cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  NPage page-down

bind-key -t vi-copy  PPage page-up

bind-key -t vi-copy     Up cursor-up

bind-key -t vi-copy   Down cursor-down

bind-key -t vi-copy   Left cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  Right cursor-right

bind-key -t vi-copy   C-Up scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy C-Down scroll-down





share|improve this answer













As Lars points out, v actually does what you are asking for by toggling between rectangle mode and full-line selection mode. space and enter are used respectively to start a new selection and copy it. Enter copy mode using your prefix followed by [ and paste your copied selection into any tmux window using ]



This confused me also since v functions in vim as space does in tmux , to begin the selection.



Issuing :list-keys -t vi-copy in tmux will show the full table of commands in copy mode.



bind-key -t vi-copy    C-b page-up                                                      

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-c cancel

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-e scroll-down

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-f page-down

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-h cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  Enter copy-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy    C-y scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy Escape clear-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy  Space begin-selection

bind-key -t vi-copy      $ end-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      , jump-reverse

bind-key -t vi-copy      / search-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      0 start-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      1 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      2 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      3 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      4 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      5 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      6 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      7 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      8 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      9 start-number-prefix

bind-key -t vi-copy      : goto-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      ; jump-again

bind-key -t vi-copy      ? search-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      B previous-space

bind-key -t vi-copy      D copy-end-of-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      E next-space-end

bind-key -t vi-copy      F jump-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      G history-bottom

bind-key -t vi-copy      H top-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      J scroll-down

bind-key -t vi-copy      K scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy      L bottom-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      M middle-line

bind-key -t vi-copy      N search-reverse

bind-key -t vi-copy      T jump-to-backward

bind-key -t vi-copy      W next-space

bind-key -t vi-copy      ^ back-to-indentation

bind-key -t vi-copy      b previous-word

bind-key -t vi-copy      e next-word-end

bind-key -t vi-copy      f jump-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      g history-top

bind-key -t vi-copy      h cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy      j cursor-down

bind-key -t vi-copy      k cursor-up

bind-key -t vi-copy      l cursor-right

bind-key -t vi-copy      n search-again

bind-key -t vi-copy      q cancel

bind-key -t vi-copy      t jump-to-forward

bind-key -t vi-copy      v rectangle-toggle

bind-key -t vi-copy      w next-word

bind-key -t vi-copy BSpace cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  NPage page-down

bind-key -t vi-copy  PPage page-up

bind-key -t vi-copy     Up cursor-up

bind-key -t vi-copy   Down cursor-down

bind-key -t vi-copy   Left cursor-left

bind-key -t vi-copy  Right cursor-right

bind-key -t vi-copy   C-Up scroll-up

bind-key -t vi-copy C-Down scroll-down






share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered May 9 '13 at 22:57









herehere

19113




19113













  • I don't get it again. Given a Vim window with a vertical split, how do you select a rectangle in the first split only? Here, the multiline rectangle will always wrap the full Tmux pane. It's not like a Vim block selection. I'm using tmux 1.5, maybe it's different in your version?

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 3 '13 at 16:36













  • Yeah, here, v is mapped to begin-selection. The rectangle-toggle is undefined. So I guess both of you are right, I just need to update my client?

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 3 '13 at 16:39













  • If you have a split vim window open in a single tmux pane, can't you use vim's yank and paste ability? If on the other hand you have two tmux panes, each with it's own vim window, tmux select/copy should be able to wrap at the pane edges. I'm using tmux 1.7

    – here
    Jan 28 '14 at 6:13



















  • I don't get it again. Given a Vim window with a vertical split, how do you select a rectangle in the first split only? Here, the multiline rectangle will always wrap the full Tmux pane. It's not like a Vim block selection. I'm using tmux 1.5, maybe it's different in your version?

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 3 '13 at 16:36













  • Yeah, here, v is mapped to begin-selection. The rectangle-toggle is undefined. So I guess both of you are right, I just need to update my client?

    – Srećko Toroman
    Jul 3 '13 at 16:39













  • If you have a split vim window open in a single tmux pane, can't you use vim's yank and paste ability? If on the other hand you have two tmux panes, each with it's own vim window, tmux select/copy should be able to wrap at the pane edges. I'm using tmux 1.7

    – here
    Jan 28 '14 at 6:13

















I don't get it again. Given a Vim window with a vertical split, how do you select a rectangle in the first split only? Here, the multiline rectangle will always wrap the full Tmux pane. It's not like a Vim block selection. I'm using tmux 1.5, maybe it's different in your version?

– Srećko Toroman
Jul 3 '13 at 16:36







I don't get it again. Given a Vim window with a vertical split, how do you select a rectangle in the first split only? Here, the multiline rectangle will always wrap the full Tmux pane. It's not like a Vim block selection. I'm using tmux 1.5, maybe it's different in your version?

– Srećko Toroman
Jul 3 '13 at 16:36















Yeah, here, v is mapped to begin-selection. The rectangle-toggle is undefined. So I guess both of you are right, I just need to update my client?

– Srećko Toroman
Jul 3 '13 at 16:39







Yeah, here, v is mapped to begin-selection. The rectangle-toggle is undefined. So I guess both of you are right, I just need to update my client?

– Srećko Toroman
Jul 3 '13 at 16:39















If you have a split vim window open in a single tmux pane, can't you use vim's yank and paste ability? If on the other hand you have two tmux panes, each with it's own vim window, tmux select/copy should be able to wrap at the pane edges. I'm using tmux 1.7

– here
Jan 28 '14 at 6:13





If you have a split vim window open in a single tmux pane, can't you use vim's yank and paste ability? If on the other hand you have two tmux panes, each with it's own vim window, tmux select/copy should be able to wrap at the pane edges. I'm using tmux 1.7

– here
Jan 28 '14 at 6:13











5














Since none of the other answers give an optimal solution to the problem, I'm not above necromancy.



There is a way to have block selection work the same way it does in Vim, without having to press space. Just a simple Ctrl-V, ingrained in your muscle memory.

It requires editing your .tmux.conf (but using vi-mode already does so) and I'm not sure it works for tmux < 2.4.



Add this to your .tmux.conf to replicate Vim selection and yank bindings:



# set vi-mode

set-window-option -g mode-keys vi

# keybindings

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi v send-keys -X begin-selection

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi C-v send-keys -X rectangle-toggle ; send -X begin-selection

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-selection-and-cancel

# comment the preceding line and uncomment the following to yank to X clipboard

# bind-key -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "xclip -in -selection clipboard"


Enter selection mode and navigate to where you want to begin the selection. Now v starts regular (character-by character, line-wise) selection, <C-v> starts block selection and V (shift-v) starts line selection. Regardless of the type of selection, y yanks to tmux paste buffer (or X clipboard; see code comments above).



Same as Vim.






share|improve this answer


























  • Worked for me, have an upvote towards your necomancy 👏👏👏

    – mahemoff
    Jan 5 '18 at 12:43
















5














Since none of the other answers give an optimal solution to the problem, I'm not above necromancy.



There is a way to have block selection work the same way it does in Vim, without having to press space. Just a simple Ctrl-V, ingrained in your muscle memory.

It requires editing your .tmux.conf (but using vi-mode already does so) and I'm not sure it works for tmux < 2.4.



Add this to your .tmux.conf to replicate Vim selection and yank bindings:



# set vi-mode

set-window-option -g mode-keys vi

# keybindings

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi v send-keys -X begin-selection

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi C-v send-keys -X rectangle-toggle ; send -X begin-selection

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-selection-and-cancel

# comment the preceding line and uncomment the following to yank to X clipboard

# bind-key -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "xclip -in -selection clipboard"


Enter selection mode and navigate to where you want to begin the selection. Now v starts regular (character-by character, line-wise) selection, <C-v> starts block selection and V (shift-v) starts line selection. Regardless of the type of selection, y yanks to tmux paste buffer (or X clipboard; see code comments above).



Same as Vim.






share|improve this answer


























  • Worked for me, have an upvote towards your necomancy 👏👏👏

    – mahemoff
    Jan 5 '18 at 12:43














5












5








5







Since none of the other answers give an optimal solution to the problem, I'm not above necromancy.



There is a way to have block selection work the same way it does in Vim, without having to press space. Just a simple Ctrl-V, ingrained in your muscle memory.

It requires editing your .tmux.conf (but using vi-mode already does so) and I'm not sure it works for tmux < 2.4.



Add this to your .tmux.conf to replicate Vim selection and yank bindings:



# set vi-mode

set-window-option -g mode-keys vi

# keybindings

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi v send-keys -X begin-selection

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi C-v send-keys -X rectangle-toggle ; send -X begin-selection

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-selection-and-cancel

# comment the preceding line and uncomment the following to yank to X clipboard

# bind-key -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "xclip -in -selection clipboard"


Enter selection mode and navigate to where you want to begin the selection. Now v starts regular (character-by character, line-wise) selection, <C-v> starts block selection and V (shift-v) starts line selection. Regardless of the type of selection, y yanks to tmux paste buffer (or X clipboard; see code comments above).



Same as Vim.






share|improve this answer















Since none of the other answers give an optimal solution to the problem, I'm not above necromancy.



There is a way to have block selection work the same way it does in Vim, without having to press space. Just a simple Ctrl-V, ingrained in your muscle memory.

It requires editing your .tmux.conf (but using vi-mode already does so) and I'm not sure it works for tmux < 2.4.



Add this to your .tmux.conf to replicate Vim selection and yank bindings:



# set vi-mode

set-window-option -g mode-keys vi

# keybindings

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi v send-keys -X begin-selection

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi C-v send-keys -X rectangle-toggle ; send -X begin-selection

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-selection-and-cancel

# comment the preceding line and uncomment the following to yank to X clipboard

# bind-key -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "xclip -in -selection clipboard"


Enter selection mode and navigate to where you want to begin the selection. Now v starts regular (character-by character, line-wise) selection, <C-v> starts block selection and V (shift-v) starts line selection. Regardless of the type of selection, y yanks to tmux paste buffer (or X clipboard; see code comments above).



Same as Vim.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited Jan 19 '18 at 8:24

























answered Oct 1 '17 at 11:53









andrejrandrejr

5113




5113













  • Worked for me, have an upvote towards your necomancy 👏👏👏

    – mahemoff
    Jan 5 '18 at 12:43



















  • Worked for me, have an upvote towards your necomancy 👏👏👏

    – mahemoff
    Jan 5 '18 at 12:43

















Worked for me, have an upvote towards your necomancy 👏👏👏

– mahemoff
Jan 5 '18 at 12:43





Worked for me, have an upvote towards your necomancy 👏👏👏

– mahemoff
Jan 5 '18 at 12:43











2














EDIT: After checking the source code, I've re-written my answer completely.



I originally thought this wasn't possible because I couldn't get this to work, but the other answers are correct about v being the correct key for this, but it's not obvious how to use this, especially if you are used to vim.



Also, it wouldn't work for me because I had v bound to begin-selection - I think I must have blindly copied this idea from somewhere else to mimic the vim way to start a character wise selection, not knowing it would cause problems further down the road with block selections.



$ tmux -V

tmux 1.9a

$ tmux list-keys -t vi-copy  | grep " v "

bind-key -t vi-copy      v begin-selection     # suppressed my block selection mode


Once I took away this binding (by commenting out the line in my .tmux.conf and restarting tmux), it started to work, but it's still rather confusing because it's not the same as vim at all.



With default bindings, it should work as follows:




  1. Make sure you have tmux unning with setw -g mode-keys vi in your .tmux.conf.

  2. type C-a [ to start copy mode

  3. move the cursor to where you want to begin the selection

  4. type v

  5. type Space to start the selection

  6. move the cursor and you will see a rectangular selection

  7. you can press v again to toggle the selection back into character-wise selection or vice-versa.


You don't have to type the v before you press Space. You could start the the character-wise selection with Space first and press v afterwards to toggle to rectangular selection mode.



It's quite different from vim in that in tmux you have to type two characters: Space and v to get into rectangular selection mode. In vim you only have to type Ctrl-V.



Also in vim v starts a character-wise selection, not block.



Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a line-wise selection mode in tmux (Shift-v in vim).

EDIT: It looks like Tmux version 2.0 provides a line-wise selection mode with Shift-v (I haven't tried it yet though!)






share|improve this answer


























  • Press "v" and you can select lines. No need for space.

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 14 '15 at 6:02






  • 1





    @AmirH.Sadoughi, that's because (as per your answer) you've changed the defaults and bound "v" to begin the selection instead of "space". If you start with an empty .tmux.conf you should find the behaviour I describe is correct; you have to press "space" to start the selection.

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 14 '15 at 19:13








  • 1





    Thanks for correcting me. To address your last sentence (about line-wise selection), I was trying to say that with my config, I can do a block selection with c-v-space, and I can do a line selection with v. so, pressing "prefix v" allows me to select lines.

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 16 '15 at 4:06













  • I find that very hard to believe because line-wise selection was only added to Tmux recently (Shift-v in release 2.0 March 2015), certainly after my answer and long after your original answer. Perhaps you and I are talking about two different things when we talk about line-wise selection. Please compare with the 3 selection modes in VIM (with v, Shift-v and Ctrl-v).

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 16 '15 at 13:02











  • You are right, I just tested it. My v selection is character wise. I am on version 1.9a and don't have the vim-like line-wise selection. So, with version 2.0, the exact three modes that vim has is possible in tmux too, right?

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 16 '15 at 13:19


















2














EDIT: After checking the source code, I've re-written my answer completely.



I originally thought this wasn't possible because I couldn't get this to work, but the other answers are correct about v being the correct key for this, but it's not obvious how to use this, especially if you are used to vim.



Also, it wouldn't work for me because I had v bound to begin-selection - I think I must have blindly copied this idea from somewhere else to mimic the vim way to start a character wise selection, not knowing it would cause problems further down the road with block selections.



$ tmux -V

tmux 1.9a

$ tmux list-keys -t vi-copy  | grep " v "

bind-key -t vi-copy      v begin-selection     # suppressed my block selection mode


Once I took away this binding (by commenting out the line in my .tmux.conf and restarting tmux), it started to work, but it's still rather confusing because it's not the same as vim at all.



With default bindings, it should work as follows:




  1. Make sure you have tmux unning with setw -g mode-keys vi in your .tmux.conf.

  2. type C-a [ to start copy mode

  3. move the cursor to where you want to begin the selection

  4. type v

  5. type Space to start the selection

  6. move the cursor and you will see a rectangular selection

  7. you can press v again to toggle the selection back into character-wise selection or vice-versa.


You don't have to type the v before you press Space. You could start the the character-wise selection with Space first and press v afterwards to toggle to rectangular selection mode.



It's quite different from vim in that in tmux you have to type two characters: Space and v to get into rectangular selection mode. In vim you only have to type Ctrl-V.



Also in vim v starts a character-wise selection, not block.



Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a line-wise selection mode in tmux (Shift-v in vim).

EDIT: It looks like Tmux version 2.0 provides a line-wise selection mode with Shift-v (I haven't tried it yet though!)






share|improve this answer


























  • Press "v" and you can select lines. No need for space.

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 14 '15 at 6:02






  • 1





    @AmirH.Sadoughi, that's because (as per your answer) you've changed the defaults and bound "v" to begin the selection instead of "space". If you start with an empty .tmux.conf you should find the behaviour I describe is correct; you have to press "space" to start the selection.

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 14 '15 at 19:13








  • 1





    Thanks for correcting me. To address your last sentence (about line-wise selection), I was trying to say that with my config, I can do a block selection with c-v-space, and I can do a line selection with v. so, pressing "prefix v" allows me to select lines.

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 16 '15 at 4:06













  • I find that very hard to believe because line-wise selection was only added to Tmux recently (Shift-v in release 2.0 March 2015), certainly after my answer and long after your original answer. Perhaps you and I are talking about two different things when we talk about line-wise selection. Please compare with the 3 selection modes in VIM (with v, Shift-v and Ctrl-v).

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 16 '15 at 13:02











  • You are right, I just tested it. My v selection is character wise. I am on version 1.9a and don't have the vim-like line-wise selection. So, with version 2.0, the exact three modes that vim has is possible in tmux too, right?

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 16 '15 at 13:19
















2












2








2







EDIT: After checking the source code, I've re-written my answer completely.



I originally thought this wasn't possible because I couldn't get this to work, but the other answers are correct about v being the correct key for this, but it's not obvious how to use this, especially if you are used to vim.



Also, it wouldn't work for me because I had v bound to begin-selection - I think I must have blindly copied this idea from somewhere else to mimic the vim way to start a character wise selection, not knowing it would cause problems further down the road with block selections.



$ tmux -V

tmux 1.9a

$ tmux list-keys -t vi-copy  | grep " v "

bind-key -t vi-copy      v begin-selection     # suppressed my block selection mode


Once I took away this binding (by commenting out the line in my .tmux.conf and restarting tmux), it started to work, but it's still rather confusing because it's not the same as vim at all.



With default bindings, it should work as follows:




  1. Make sure you have tmux unning with setw -g mode-keys vi in your .tmux.conf.

  2. type C-a [ to start copy mode

  3. move the cursor to where you want to begin the selection

  4. type v

  5. type Space to start the selection

  6. move the cursor and you will see a rectangular selection

  7. you can press v again to toggle the selection back into character-wise selection or vice-versa.


You don't have to type the v before you press Space. You could start the the character-wise selection with Space first and press v afterwards to toggle to rectangular selection mode.



It's quite different from vim in that in tmux you have to type two characters: Space and v to get into rectangular selection mode. In vim you only have to type Ctrl-V.



Also in vim v starts a character-wise selection, not block.



Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a line-wise selection mode in tmux (Shift-v in vim).

EDIT: It looks like Tmux version 2.0 provides a line-wise selection mode with Shift-v (I haven't tried it yet though!)






share|improve this answer















EDIT: After checking the source code, I've re-written my answer completely.



I originally thought this wasn't possible because I couldn't get this to work, but the other answers are correct about v being the correct key for this, but it's not obvious how to use this, especially if you are used to vim.



Also, it wouldn't work for me because I had v bound to begin-selection - I think I must have blindly copied this idea from somewhere else to mimic the vim way to start a character wise selection, not knowing it would cause problems further down the road with block selections.



$ tmux -V

tmux 1.9a

$ tmux list-keys -t vi-copy  | grep " v "

bind-key -t vi-copy      v begin-selection     # suppressed my block selection mode


Once I took away this binding (by commenting out the line in my .tmux.conf and restarting tmux), it started to work, but it's still rather confusing because it's not the same as vim at all.



With default bindings, it should work as follows:




  1. Make sure you have tmux unning with setw -g mode-keys vi in your .tmux.conf.

  2. type C-a [ to start copy mode

  3. move the cursor to where you want to begin the selection

  4. type v

  5. type Space to start the selection

  6. move the cursor and you will see a rectangular selection

  7. you can press v again to toggle the selection back into character-wise selection or vice-versa.


You don't have to type the v before you press Space. You could start the the character-wise selection with Space first and press v afterwards to toggle to rectangular selection mode.



It's quite different from vim in that in tmux you have to type two characters: Space and v to get into rectangular selection mode. In vim you only have to type Ctrl-V.



Also in vim v starts a character-wise selection, not block.



Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a line-wise selection mode in tmux (Shift-v in vim).

EDIT: It looks like Tmux version 2.0 provides a line-wise selection mode with Shift-v (I haven't tried it yet though!)







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited Oct 16 '15 at 15:13

























answered May 2 '14 at 18:36









LqueryvgLqueryvg

473211




473211













  • Press "v" and you can select lines. No need for space.

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 14 '15 at 6:02






  • 1





    @AmirH.Sadoughi, that's because (as per your answer) you've changed the defaults and bound "v" to begin the selection instead of "space". If you start with an empty .tmux.conf you should find the behaviour I describe is correct; you have to press "space" to start the selection.

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 14 '15 at 19:13








  • 1





    Thanks for correcting me. To address your last sentence (about line-wise selection), I was trying to say that with my config, I can do a block selection with c-v-space, and I can do a line selection with v. so, pressing "prefix v" allows me to select lines.

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 16 '15 at 4:06













  • I find that very hard to believe because line-wise selection was only added to Tmux recently (Shift-v in release 2.0 March 2015), certainly after my answer and long after your original answer. Perhaps you and I are talking about two different things when we talk about line-wise selection. Please compare with the 3 selection modes in VIM (with v, Shift-v and Ctrl-v).

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 16 '15 at 13:02











  • You are right, I just tested it. My v selection is character wise. I am on version 1.9a and don't have the vim-like line-wise selection. So, with version 2.0, the exact three modes that vim has is possible in tmux too, right?

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 16 '15 at 13:19





















  • Press "v" and you can select lines. No need for space.

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 14 '15 at 6:02






  • 1





    @AmirH.Sadoughi, that's because (as per your answer) you've changed the defaults and bound "v" to begin the selection instead of "space". If you start with an empty .tmux.conf you should find the behaviour I describe is correct; you have to press "space" to start the selection.

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 14 '15 at 19:13








  • 1





    Thanks for correcting me. To address your last sentence (about line-wise selection), I was trying to say that with my config, I can do a block selection with c-v-space, and I can do a line selection with v. so, pressing "prefix v" allows me to select lines.

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 16 '15 at 4:06













  • I find that very hard to believe because line-wise selection was only added to Tmux recently (Shift-v in release 2.0 March 2015), certainly after my answer and long after your original answer. Perhaps you and I are talking about two different things when we talk about line-wise selection. Please compare with the 3 selection modes in VIM (with v, Shift-v and Ctrl-v).

    – Lqueryvg
    Oct 16 '15 at 13:02











  • You are right, I just tested it. My v selection is character wise. I am on version 1.9a and don't have the vim-like line-wise selection. So, with version 2.0, the exact three modes that vim has is possible in tmux too, right?

    – Amir H. Sadoughi
    Oct 16 '15 at 13:19



















Press "v" and you can select lines. No need for space.

– Amir H. Sadoughi
Oct 14 '15 at 6:02





Press "v" and you can select lines. No need for space.

– Amir H. Sadoughi
Oct 14 '15 at 6:02




1




1





@AmirH.Sadoughi, that's because (as per your answer) you've changed the defaults and bound "v" to begin the selection instead of "space". If you start with an empty .tmux.conf you should find the behaviour I describe is correct; you have to press "space" to start the selection.

– Lqueryvg
Oct 14 '15 at 19:13







@AmirH.Sadoughi, that's because (as per your answer) you've changed the defaults and bound "v" to begin the selection instead of "space". If you start with an empty .tmux.conf you should find the behaviour I describe is correct; you have to press "space" to start the selection.

– Lqueryvg
Oct 14 '15 at 19:13






1




1





Thanks for correcting me. To address your last sentence (about line-wise selection), I was trying to say that with my config, I can do a block selection with c-v-space, and I can do a line selection with v. so, pressing "prefix v" allows me to select lines.

– Amir H. Sadoughi
Oct 16 '15 at 4:06







Thanks for correcting me. To address your last sentence (about line-wise selection), I was trying to say that with my config, I can do a block selection with c-v-space, and I can do a line selection with v. so, pressing "prefix v" allows me to select lines.

– Amir H. Sadoughi
Oct 16 '15 at 4:06















I find that very hard to believe because line-wise selection was only added to Tmux recently (Shift-v in release 2.0 March 2015), certainly after my answer and long after your original answer. Perhaps you and I are talking about two different things when we talk about line-wise selection. Please compare with the 3 selection modes in VIM (with v, Shift-v and Ctrl-v).

– Lqueryvg
Oct 16 '15 at 13:02





I find that very hard to believe because line-wise selection was only added to Tmux recently (Shift-v in release 2.0 March 2015), certainly after my answer and long after your original answer. Perhaps you and I are talking about two different things when we talk about line-wise selection. Please compare with the 3 selection modes in VIM (with v, Shift-v and Ctrl-v).

– Lqueryvg
Oct 16 '15 at 13:02













You are right, I just tested it. My v selection is character wise. I am on version 1.9a and don't have the vim-like line-wise selection. So, with version 2.0, the exact three modes that vim has is possible in tmux too, right?

– Amir H. Sadoughi
Oct 16 '15 at 13:19







You are right, I just tested it. My v selection is character wise. I am on version 1.9a and don't have the vim-like line-wise selection. So, with version 2.0, the exact three modes that vim has is possible in tmux too, right?

– Amir H. Sadoughi
Oct 16 '15 at 13:19




















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