I want to copy text from vim, eg. by selecting in visual mode, then ctrl+insert and I'd like to have the copied text in system buffer, so I can paste it anywhere I like with eg ctrl+v. Is it possible somehow?
Problem arises when I need to copy long text from vim window to buffer. I cannot simply select it all with a mouse and then copy it, because the text doesn't fit in the window.
Yes. Vim has references to the system clipboards as registers, which you can use like any other registers.
The main clipboard is *, so you can highlight in visual mode, then type "*y. If you're using X11 you can copy to the X11 buffer using the + register. Lastly, you can reassign the default register to the clipboard register with :set clipboard=unnamed. If you do this then any copies, yanks, or kills will automatically go to the system clipboard without you manually specifying the register first.
"*y, text doesn't go to system buffer. But X11 buffer + still working fine. Thanks anyway.
The visual selection (v, V, or CTRL+V) can automatically be copied to the X11 selection (* buffer).
In non-gui mode the clipboard option controls this (only supported if +xterm_clipboard appears when you type vim --version). In GUI mode guioptions controls it.
This makes all Visual mode selections automatically go to the X11 primary selection:
set clipboard+=autoselect<br>
set guioptions+=a
This turns it off:
set clipboard-=autoselect<br>
set guioptions-=a
See :help 'clipboard'
(single quotes required).
On OS X you can use pbcopy/pbpaste command-line tools to achieve that.
For instance, to copy the current line, run:
:.!pbcopy "Copy current line clipboard
To copy the whole file:
:!echo "%:p" | pbcopy
Or to copy selected text (using visual mode via: v/V), type !pbcopy after selecting text, so it becomes: :'<,'>!pbcopy, so it'll copy the text into the Clipboard.
See: Mac OS X clipboard sharing
For Linux, use xclip, gpm or something similar.
