Don't yank character with <DEL> key in normal mode

Question

I am using NeoVim with Tmux on an Ubuntu on Windows setup. I have bound neovim's clipboard to the system clipboard by using : set clipboard+=unnamedplus and further configuration inside tmux.

So far, everything works just fine, except for a detail that bothers me.

As of now, when I delete a character in insert mode with DEL, it works just fine. However, when I do that in normal mode, the character is deleted but also copied to the clipboard.

Why is there this difference ? Is there a way to disable this behaviour ?

NOTE: I've also tried this on a Xubuntu machine running the same tmux config and vim.gtk, and I have the same issue

Answer 1

One quick fix I can think of is remapping the del key so it will use _ register. so if you just add nnoremap <Del> "_x into your $MYVIMRC init.nvim for neovim or ~/.vimrc for standard vim it should just do what you ask

Answer 2

This is because <del> is equivalent to x, or dl, which not only delete, but also yank to the unnamed register by default. From :h <del>

["x]<Del>   or                  *<Del>* *x* *dl*
["x]x           Delete [count] characters under and after the cursor
            [into register x] (not |linewise|).  Does the same as
            "dl".
            The <Del> key does not take a [count].  Instead, it
            deletes the last character of the count.
            See |:fixdel| if the <Del> key does not do what you
            want.  See |'whichwrap'| for deleting a line break
            (join lines).  {Vi does not support <Del>}

The fix is really simple. Just add

nnoremap <del> "_x

to your .vimrc file. This will make it delete into the black-hole register (like /dev/null on linux) and leave your other registers the same.