Step 7 of 7

The system clipboard

The system clipboard

Two more special registers connect Helix to the world outside the editor. + is the system clipboard, and * is the primary selection on systems that have one. In a terminal, "+y copies text to your OS clipboard, and "+p pastes from it. Space-y and Space-p are shortcuts for the same thing.

In the editor on this page, there’s a caveat. This build of Helix runs in your browser and doesn’t bridge to the OS clipboard. So + and * behave like ordinary registers here: "+y followed by "+p round-trips inside Helix, but nothing reaches your real clipboard.

Pasting from your OS clipboard does still work, through the browser’s own shortcut: enter insert mode, then press Ctrl-V (Cmd-V on a Mac) and the text is typed into the buffer for you.

Work through the checklist below.

  1. Yank a line into the + register Select the first line of the paragraph (3gg then x) and type "+y.
  2. Paste it back from the + register Move to the bottom of the file (ge) and type "+p.
Yank a line into the + register Select the first line of the paragraph (3gg then x) and type "+y.

Next: Paste it back from the + register

Loading editor…