How could I enable vim clipboard without sudo and x11 installed?

Question

I am given an account on a new server these days. The new server does not have x11 install, neither do I have sudo. So I cannot install system packages, and I cannot compile with the option -with-x.

But I still want to use vim when I am working on my server, and I need to use the clipboard feature to allow me to copy the contents from and to the vim and other places. How could I do this pleaes?

===== Edit: I got to find that the clipboard provided by the terminal can help. I could paste contents to vim with ctrl+shift+v. But the hot key of ctrl+shift+'c' does not work in the vim. how could I copy from vim like I copy from terminal?

Answer 1

Checking for X11-clipboard support in terminal

From the console, type:

vim --version | grep clipboard

If you see +clipboard or +xterm_clipboard, you are good to go. If it's -clipboard and -xterm_clipboard, you will need to look for a version of Vim that was compiled with clipboard support.

Installing clipboard support

On Debian and Ubuntu, to obtain clipboard support install the package vim-gtk or vim-gnome (not vim-tiny).

sudo apt install vim-gtk3 # go for vim-gtk if vim-gtk3 is not available

Reopen Vim and it should work.

For other operating systems and a reference, check this.

Answer 2

If you want to use the clipboard directly from Vim, you'll need a version compiled with either the +clipboard or +xterm_clipboard features. On non-macOS Unix systems, those generally require at least X11 libraries. Without those features, Vim itself has no way of talking to the clipboard. You'll also need X forwarding enabled on your SSH connection (ssh -X).

Without those features, you can copy and paste from your terminal, but the copy will be only from the data you highlight with your mouse (then copy with Ctrl-Shift-C), just like at the shell. You can also use a terminal multiplexor like screen or tmux (running your remote Vim inside them) and configure it to copy and paste regions from the screen.

Answer 3

First, install xclip (e.g., yay -S xclip).

Next, open your vim config file (e.g., ~/.config/nvim/init.vim).

Finally, add shortcuts:

set clipboard=unnamed,unnamedplus
nnoremap yy Vdugv<esc>
vnoremap y dugv<esc>
vnoremap p P        "<-- This is optional shortcut.