[sf-lug] > Subject: Re: simple gui editor that will accept a paste

[Riley VanDyke]

> Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 19:45:17 -0800 (PST)
> From: Alex Kleider <a_kleider at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [sf-lug] simple gui editor that will accept a paste
> Alex:
> 
> follow up on my own question:
> it needn't be a gui editor; is there a way that vim can pull something
> in from a previously performed copy action? That copied text must be in
> the system somewhere: in memory, in a temporary file?

Note, first, that Linux copy-and-paste offers a couple of choices.  Middle-clicking pastes the traditional X "selection clipboard" (i.e., text automatically "copied" simply by selecting it), while Gnome / KDE support the Windows / MAC conventions for copy-and-paste (CTRL+C, CTRL+X, CTRL+V).

Next, try installing gvim, which is vim with a GUI front-end.  I know gvim is in the default Ubuntu repositories because I use it as my primary GUI editor.

Then in gvim, in the Edit menu examine the Copy and Paste menu choices.  What you'll see there are the command strings used to place and retrieve information from special vi / vim named buffers.  This in turn will be your entry point into learning how vim uses named buffers -- including one that corresponds to the system-level "clipboard" buffer.

So the answer is that vim will do what you want, but that vim rests on vi, which in turn rests on ex: The latter two having been created in the pre-GUI, command line only, days.  So *commands* rather than pointing-device actions remain the way to get text into and out of buffers...

Finally, for fun also take a look at the geany GUI editor.  It's a self-described "lightweight IDE" which I've come to prefer over gedit (but not over GVIM) for script work and other similar tasks...

Cheers & hope this helps,
Riley