Yank to system clipboard

[hovsater]

It would be nice if you could yank the current selection to the system clipboard.

[archseer]

I'd like to see this added, I recommend using https://github.com/alacritty/copypasta since it also includes Wayland support.

Both yank and delete always use register::set:

helix/helix-term/src/commands.rs

Line 1766 in 661dbdc

register::set(reg, values);

Which is a dumb hashmap with a lock right now:

helix/helix-core/src/register.rs

Line 9 in 661dbdc

pub fn get(register: char) -> Option<Vec<String>> {

I think we should special case certain registers inside set/get, in this case + should interface with the clipboard instead of the map.

The register changing via " (i.e. "+y/"+p) could be a command that uses on_next_key to wait for the next key, then change the register on the context, similar to how count is handled inside ui/editor.rs (set_register would have to be added to commands::Context).

on_next_key example:

helix/helix-term/src/commands.rs

Lines 2265 to 2294 in 661dbdc

	cx.on_next_key(move |cx, event| {
	if let KeyEvent {
	code: KeyCode::Char(ch),
	..
	} = event
	{
	// TODO: temporarily show SPC in the mode list
	match ch {
	'f' => file_picker(cx),
	'b' => buffer_picker(cx),
	'v' => vsplit(cx),
	'w' => {
	// save current buffer
	let (view, doc) = cx.current();
	doc.format(view.id); // TODO: merge into save
	tokio::spawn(doc.save());
	}
	'c' => {
	let view_id = cx.view().id;
	// close current split
	cx.editor.close(view_id, /* close_buffer */ false);
	}
	// ' ' => toggle_alternate_buffer(cx),
	// TODO: temporary since space mode took it's old key
	' ' => keep_primary_selection(cx),
	_ => (),
	}
	}
	})
	}

[CBenoit]

If no one is working on that yet, I'll take it
EDIT: I gave a try

[archseer]

Some discussion on the implementation: #119 (comment)

[CBenoit]

We also discussed on matrix about not using registers, for example using commands (clipboard-yank, clipboard-paste), to handle pasting and yanking from system clipboard.
This approach is similar to emacs and kakoune.

idk if this helps inform anything but in kakoune i set user y as yank to clipboard and user p as paste from clipboard and am reasonably happy with that. it doesn't let me do fancy things like idk, copying to the clipboard from somewhere else and executing that as a macro, but i don't really find myself needing more functionality often
since kakoune lacks a + register in the first place
especially since if you don't treat it as a register then you can make the semantics different from registers in the ways that they fundamentally differ

By ash from matrix (I don't know your GitHub ID)

[pickfire]

We also discussed on matrix about not using registers, for example using commands (clipboard-yank, clipboard-paste), to handle pasting and yanking from system clipboard.

I still think using registers is a cleaner approach. Because we have quite some keys that work with clipboard, like ctrl-r * later if we want to paste from clipboard in insert mode.

[tdupes]

Could helix support OSC 52 as a simpler alternative? that is if we only care about yanking to the clipboard and not from it.

[CBenoit]

I guess it could easily be supported as a plugin. I'm not sure if this is useful enough to be part of the core (I personally never used it).

[pickfire]

I guess it could easily be supported as a plugin. I'm not sure if this is useful enough to be part of the core (I personally never used it).

I wish it is in core, I always use this. I missed this in kakoune and I had to manually copy out the region with lots of spaces in kakoune, bad experience.