Tmux mouse scrolling without altering copy/paste

clipboardscrollingtmux

I'm having difficultly finding an explanation for allowing the OS default copy/paste capabilities (i.e. highlight a portion of text and then use standard shortcut or right click menu) and allow mouse scrolling at the same time. Mouse mode turns on tmux's own copy/paste system, but leaving it off removes the mouse scrolling. As I'm switching between an IDE, browser, and terminal with tmux I would like the controls to be consistent between all of them. Is there a way to have the standard OS copy/paste controls while also allowing the mouse to scroll in tmux?

(Note: I originally asked, but deleted, this question on SO. I decided it was more appropriate here.)

Best Answer

It depends on whether you are relying upon tmux to interpret the wheel-mouse, or not. If that's tmux — no, you cannot, because tmux would only see the wheel mouse events if it turned on the terminal's mouse operations.

Without turning on the mouse operations, some terminals may send up/down cursor keys to the application when it has switched to the alternate screen. VTE (gnome-terminal) has done that unconditionally for a few years. The same feature is an option(alternateScroll) in xterm. tmux switches to the alternate screen if the terminal description has that in the terminfo smcup and rmcup capabilities. While in the alternate screen, normally (except for this fairly recent up/down cursor feature), the wheel mouse would have no effect on the terminal.

So... you can get some limited use of the wheel mouse while running tmux, and it depends on the terminal and how it is configured.

Related Solutions

Copy / paste text selections between tmux and the clipboard

Use the following tmux.conf with copy-pipe in the new versions of tmux (1.8+):

set -g mouse on
# To copy:
bind-key -n -t emacs-copy M-w copy-pipe "xclip -i -sel p -f | xclip -i -sel c "

# To paste:
bind-key -n C-y run "xclip -o | tmux load-buffer - ; tmux paste-buffer"

prefix+[ into copy-mode
select content with mouse(hold)
M-w to copy that part into system clipboard
C-y the paste it inside tmux, C-v to paste it inside other regular application like web browser.

Tmux Mouse – How to Copy and Paste with a Mouse in Tmux

Put this block of code in your ~/.tmux.conf. This will enable mouse integration letting you copy from a pane with your mouse without having to zoom.

set -g mouse on
bind -n WheelUpPane if-shell -F -t = "#{mouse_any_flag}" "send-keys -M" "if -Ft= '#{pane_in_mode}' 'send-keys -M' 'select-pane -t=; copy-mode -e; send-keys -M'"
bind -n WheelDownPane select-pane -t= \; send-keys -M
bind -n C-WheelUpPane select-pane -t= \; copy-mode -e \; send-keys -M
bind -t vi-copy    C-WheelUpPane   halfpage-up
bind -t vi-copy    C-WheelDownPane halfpage-down
bind -t emacs-copy C-WheelUpPane   halfpage-up
bind -t emacs-copy C-WheelDownPane halfpage-down

# To copy, drag to highlight text in yellow, press Enter and then release mouse
# Use vim keybindings in copy mode
setw -g mode-keys vi
# Update default binding of `Enter` to also use copy-pipe
unbind -t vi-copy Enter
bind-key -t vi-copy Enter copy-pipe "pbcopy"

After that, restart your tmux session. Highlight some text with mouse, but don't let go the mouse. Now while the text is stil highlighted and mouse pressed, press return key. The highlighted text will disappear and will be copied to your clipboard. Now release the mouse.

Apart from this, there are also some cool things you can do with the mouse like scroll up and down, select the active pane, etc.

If you are using a newer version of tmux on macOS, try the following instead of the one above:

# macOS only
set -g mouse on
bind -n WheelUpPane if-shell -F -t = "#{mouse_any_flag}" "send-keys -M" "if -Ft= '#{pane_in_mode}' 'send-keys -M' 'select-pane -t=; copy-mode -e; send-keys -M'"
bind -n WheelDownPane select-pane -t= \; send-keys -M
bind -n C-WheelUpPane select-pane -t= \; copy-mode -e \; send-keys -M
bind -T copy-mode-vi    C-WheelUpPane   send-keys -X halfpage-up
bind -T copy-mode-vi    C-WheelDownPane send-keys -X halfpage-down
bind -T copy-mode-emacs C-WheelUpPane   send-keys -X halfpage-up
bind -T copy-mode-emacs C-WheelDownPane send-keys -X halfpage-down

# To copy, left click and drag to highlight text in yellow, 
# once you release left click yellow text will disappear and will automatically be available in clibboard
# # Use vim keybindings in copy mode
setw -g mode-keys vi
# Update default binding of `Enter` to also use copy-pipe
unbind -T copy-mode-vi Enter
bind-key -T copy-mode-vi Enter send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "pbcopy"
bind-key -T copy-mode-vi MouseDragEnd1Pane send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "pbcopy"

If using iTerm on macOS, goto iTerm2 > Preferences > “General” tab, and in the “Selection” section, check “Applications in terminal may access clipboard”.

And if you are using Linux and a newer version of tmux, then

# Linux only
set -g mouse on
bind -n WheelUpPane if-shell -F -t = "#{mouse_any_flag}" "send-keys -M" "if -Ft= '#{pane_in_mode}' 'send-keys -M' 'select-pane -t=; copy-mode -e; send-keys -M'"
bind -n WheelDownPane select-pane -t= \; send-keys -M
bind -n C-WheelUpPane select-pane -t= \; copy-mode -e \; send-keys -M
bind -T copy-mode-vi    C-WheelUpPane   send-keys -X halfpage-up
bind -T copy-mode-vi    C-WheelDownPane send-keys -X halfpage-down
bind -T copy-mode-emacs C-WheelUpPane   send-keys -X halfpage-up
bind -T copy-mode-emacs C-WheelDownPane send-keys -X halfpage-down

# To copy, left click and drag to highlight text in yellow, 
# once you release left click yellow text will disappear and will automatically be available in clibboard
# # Use vim keybindings in copy mode
setw -g mode-keys vi
# Update default binding of `Enter` to also use copy-pipe
unbind -T copy-mode-vi Enter
bind-key -T copy-mode-vi Enter send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "xclip -selection c"
bind-key -T copy-mode-vi MouseDragEnd1Pane send-keys -X copy-pipe-and-cancel "xclip -in -selection clipboard"

In Debian and Debian based distros (Ubuntu, Kali), you might need to install xclip:

sudo apt-get install -y xclip

(You may also check out https://github.com/gpakosz/.tmux for many other tmux options.)

Best Answer

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Copy / paste text selections between tmux and the clipboard

Tmux Mouse – How to Copy and Paste with a Mouse in Tmux

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