tmux copy and paste not working

Question

I am using tmux on a Raspberry Pi Zero W running Raspberry Pi OS. Every part of tmux seems to work with the exception of copy and paste. I can enter copy mode using Ctrl-b [, but I cannot get anything to highlight using Ctrl-Space or Space.

I do not have a ~/.tmux.conf file. echo $EDITOR returns a blank line. What might the problem be, and how might I fix it?

See if my previous posted answer helps: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/318281/how-to-copy-and-paste-with-a-mouse-with-tmux/318285#318285 — GMaster, Oct 01 '21 at 20:18

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 03 '21 at 18:57

5

I was able to fix it by adding these two lines to .tmux.conf.

setw -g mode-keys vi
bind-key -T copy-mode-vi y send-keys -X copy-selection

It uses space to start selection and y to copy.

answered Oct 03 '21 at 18:57

Quillbert Q.

81

I only needed to use the setw -g mode-keys vi line to fix space, y was already copy (yank). – Pylinux Oct 03 '22 at 08:55
and how to paste? – Arnold Roa Apr 07 '23 at 12:04
@ArnoldRoa you can paste using Ctrl-b followed by ] – Quillbert Q. Apr 08 '23 at 16:25

tmux copy and paste not working

1 Answers1