Changes: Using the Windows clipboard in Cygwin Vim

Revision as of 03:27, 10 April 2009

One of the challenges of using Cygwin vim is that it does not yank to the Windows clipboard when you type "+y. As a result, you cannot access any content you've yanked from Cygwin vim with any native Windows application.

Using this function:

function! Putclip(type, ...) range
    let sel_save = &selection
    let &selection = "inclusive"
    let reg_save = @@

    if a:type == 'n'
        silent exe a:firstline . "," . a:lastline . "y"
    elseif a:type == 'c'
        silent exe a:1 . "," . a:2 . "y"
    else
        silent exe "normal! `<" . a:type . "`>y"
    endif
    call system('putclip', @@)

    let &selection = sel_save
    let @@ = reg_save
endfunction

And simple mappings, such as:

vnoremap <silent> <leader>y :call Putclip(visualmode(), 1)<CR>
nnoremap <silent> <leader>y :call Putclip('n', 1)<CR>

You can visually select some text then yank it to the Windows clipboard, or use the normal yank options (i.e. 3\y to yank 3 lines based from the current line).

To allow for usage from the command line, add a command to execute Putclip with a range:

com! -nargs=0 -range=% Putclip call Putclip('c', <line1>, <line2>)

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 Using this function:
-<pre>function! Putclip()
+<pre>function! Putclip(type, ...) range
-    let save_z=getreg('z')
+    let sel_save = &selection
-    let save_z_type=getregtype('z')
+    let &selection = "inclusive"
-    normal gv"zy
+    let reg_save = @@
-    call system('putclip', @z)
+    if a:type == 'n'
-    call setreg('z', save_z, save_z_type)
+        silent exe a:firstline . "," . a:lastline . "y"
+    elseif a:type == 'c'
+        silent exe a:1 . "," . a:2 . "y"
+    else
+        silent exe "normal! `<" . a:type . "`>y"
+    endif
+    call system('putclip', @@)
+    let &selection = sel_save
+    let @@ = reg_save
 endfunction</pre>
-And a simple mapping, such as:
+And simple mappings, such as:
+<pre>vnoremap <silent> <leader>y :call Putclip(visualmode(), 1)<CR>
+nnoremap <silent> <leader>y :call Putclip('n', 1)<CR></pre>
+You can visually select some text then yank it to the Windows clipboard, or use the normal yank options (i.e. 3\y to yank 3 lines based from the current line).
+To allow for usage from the command line, add a command to execute Putclip with a range:
-<pre>vnoremap <silent> <leader>y :call Putclip()<CR></pre>
+<pre>com! -nargs=0 -range=% Putclip call Putclip('c', <line1>, <line2>)</pre>
-You can visually select some text then yank it to the Windows clipboard.