Copy all the lines to clipboard

Question

Is there any way to copy all lines from open file to clipboard in VI editor. I tried yG but it's not using clipboard to store those lines.

So is it possible?

Answer 1

This is what I do to yank the whole file:

ggVGy

Answer 2

If your fingers default to CTRL-A CTRL-C, then try the mappings from $VIMRUNTIME/mswin.vim.

" CTRL-C and CTRL-Insert are Copy
vnoremap <C-C> "+y

" CTRL-A is Select all
noremap <C-A> gggH<C-O>G
inoremap <C-A> <C-O>gg<C-O>gH<C-O>G
cnoremap <C-A> <C-C>gggH<C-O>G
onoremap <C-A> <C-C>gggH<C-O>G
snoremap <C-A> <C-C>gggH<C-O>G
xnoremap <C-A> <C-C>ggVG

I have them mapped to <Leader><C-a> and <Leader><C-c>.

Answer 3

The clipboard is buffer +. To copy to clipboard, do "+y and [movement].

So, gg"+yG will copy the whole file.

Similarly, to paste from clipboard, "+p

Answer 4

on Mac

• copy selected part: visually select text(type v or V in normal mode) and type :w !pbcopy

• copy the whole file :%w !pbcopy

• past from the clipboard :r !pbpaste

Answer 5

Another easy way to copy the entire file if you're having problems using VI, is just by typing "cat filename". It will echo the file to screen and then you can just scroll up and down and copy/paste.

Answer 6

Well, all of these approaches are interesting, however as lazy programmer I use yank all line by using combination of number + y

for example you have source code file with total of 78 lines, you can do as below:

1. gg to get cursor at first line
2. insert 78 + y --> it yanks 78 lines below your cursor and current line