How do I copy and paste between two Vim instances - shared clipboard?

Question

I use gnu screen and I run vim file1.txt and vim file2.txt in two windows.

How can I copy part of the text from file1.txt and paste it to file2.txt without using temporary files or opening two files under the same Vim instance?

Basically I would like to yank in first window and paste in second one. I need shared clipboard.

Answer 1

One way is to just copy it to the system clipboard from the first instance, then copy it from the system clipboard in the second instance. How exactly you would do this depends on your OS and also your vim clipboard setting.

Another option is to use vim-easyclip which has the ability to share one clipboard across all vim instances (including sharing a history of yanks as well). Internally what it does is mirror your clipboard to a temporary file, so it bypasses using your system clipboard entirely.

Answer 2

I usually end up using xsel to copy to/from the system clipboard:

vmap <leader>y !xsel -i -b && xsel -b <CR>
nmap <leader>p :r !xsel -b <CR>

Answer 3

It really depends on your environment. Basically, we're talking about inter-process communications and this is very much OS specific.

You can use:

1. System clipboard
2. Tmux or screen buffer
3. tmp file

Answer 4

You could solve that by just installing gvim, the grafical version of vim, you don't have to use it or anything. It solves this problem and lets you even put stuff you copied outside vim.

edit: Install gvim and put set clipboard=unnamedplus on your vimrc

Answer 5

I use a temporary file:

Put these lines in .vimrc for both users:

function! Write2Tmp()
    silent! '<,'>w! /tmp/tmp.txt
    call system('chmod 0777 /tmp/tmp.txt > /dev/null 2>&1')
    let g:amount = line("'>") - line("'<") + 1
endfunction

map <silent> <leader>y :call Write2Tmp()<CR>:echo g:amount." lines yanked"<CR>

map <silent> <leader>p :silent! r /tmp/tmp.txt<CR>

First enter visual mode (Shift-V) to select the lines you want to copy. Then use <leader>y and <leader>p to copy and paste between files.

Answer 6

In ideal situation it would be great if you could open two files under one instance:

vim file1.txt file2.txt

If not possible, then you can still do it if the files are accessible on the same host, by opening 1st file and:

1. Copy text in file1.txt (e.g. enter visual mode V, select the text, and yank/copy them by y).

2. Open 2nd file by :Sex.

   ^{You may also use: :e file2.txt, then if you need to use full path, go to 2nd instance and check by 1,Ctrl+g.}

3. Paste your text (e.g. p).

^{Above steps can be done opposite, by opening file2.txt, then file1.txt to copy the text, back to the original file and paste it there.}

Or simply use screen buffer to copy and paste between screen windows (Ctrl+a,[ and Ctrl+a,]).