How to Copy Data From Neovim and Paste to Another Editor

1. Overview

Neovim is a highly-configurable and modernized version of Vim, a text editor popular with developers. However, because of its terminal-based interface, users who are inexperienced with Neovim’s functionalities may find it difficult to copy-and-paste text from it into another editor.

In this tutorial, we’ll talk about how to copy data from Neovim and paste to another editor.

2. Using Registers

We can use registers in Neovim to save copied or cut text. These registers can communicate with the system clipboard, allowing us to copy text from Neovim to another editor easily.

First, we’ll use Neovim’s visual mode to select the text we’d like to copy:

v

In this example, we switch to visual mode by pressing v in regular mode. This command lets us highlight text character by character. To choose a part of text to copy, we can use the arrow keys or the h, j, k, and l keys.

Once the text we need is highlighted, we can copy it to the system clipboard using the “+y register:

"+y

The “+ register in this command tells Neovim to copy the yanked text to the system clipboard, and we can then paste this text into another editor with Ctrl+V.

Neovim’s registers provide a durable and simple means to copy text to the system clipboard. By using the “+ register, we can effortlessly copy or move text from Neovim to other editors.

3. Using xclip or xsel

Copying text to the system clipboard in Neovim can be tricky, especially when using a terminal. Tools like xclip or xsel can help by enabling Neovim to communicate with the clipboard more efficiently.

To get started, we can install either xclip or xsel.

First, let’s see how to install xclip:

$ sudo apt install xclip

Alternatively, we can install xsel:

$ sudo apt install xsel

Next, we set up Neovim to use xclip or xsel. To achieve this, we open the Neovim configuration file ~/.config/nvim/init.vim or ~/.config/nvim/init.lua and use the set option to configure the clipboard:

set clipboard+=unnamedplus

This line above instructs Neovim to use the system clipboard for copying and pasting by default. After configuring xclip or xsel, we can use Neovim to copy text to the system clipboard from a terminal session. For example, after selecting text in visual mode, use the “+y command to copy it to the system clipboard:

"+y

This option yanks the selected text onto the system clipboard. We can then use the typical paste command Ctrl+V to paste it into another application, such as a web browser, IDE, or text editor.

Imagine we’re using Neovim to edit a configuration file on a remote server and we need to copy a section of code. Without clipboard functionality, this may require manual retyping or inconvenient workarounds.

With xclip or xsel installed and configured, we can use Neovim’s visual mode to pick the block of code we wish to copy. Yank it to the system clipboard with “+y. Switch to our web browser and press Ctrl+V to paste the content immediately. This technique saves time and reduces mistakes.

4. Conclusion

Copying and pasting data from Neovim to another editor might be challenging, especially for users who are unfamiliar with terminal-based editors. However, Neovim has various feasible options for doing this.

In this article, we looked at different techniques to achieve this. We can readily transfer data between Neovim and other editors by using registers, visual mode, or external utilities such as xclip or xsel.

Mastering these strategies allows us to speed up our workflow and fully utilize Neovim’s capabilities in an integrated development environment. Whether we’re copying a few lines or entire portions of text, these methods make our interactions with Neovim straightforward and flexible.