Simple copy & paste problem

Simple copy & paste problem

[Andrea Crotti]

This is probably very stupid but every time I step into it and it's very
annoying.

Supposing I want to copy something from Safari to emacs.
So I
- select and copy
- select and kill the text I want to substitute
- try to paste

ARGH! Now the text I copied from safari is disappeared...

A workardound is to delete first and then copy-paste.
But is there a smarter way to solve this?
Something like
"if I copied something from the os keep it as first in the kill ring"?

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[Pascal J. Bourguignon]

Andrea Crotti <andrea.crotti.0@gmail.com> writes:

> This is probably very stupid but every time I step into it and it's very
> annoying.
>
> Supposing I want to copy something from Safari to emacs.
> So I
> - select and copy
> - select and kill the text I want to substitute
> - try to paste
>
> ARGH! Now the text I copied from safari is disappeared...


> A workardound is to delete first and then copy-paste.

or:

- select and copy
- yank (it's called yank in emacs, not paste).
- select and kill the text you wanted to substitute


> But is there a smarter way to solve this?
> Something like
> "if I copied something from the os keep it as first in the kill ring"?

Use delete-region-and-yank instead of yank:

(defun delete-region-and-yank (&optional arg)
  "Deletes region if mark is active and yanks the last kill.
Always replaces the region with the yank, whether the region was
selected via keyboard or mouse.  Also works for normal
yank even with ARGS (thus it can be mapped to \\C-y)"
  (interactive "*P")                    ; raw, like yank.
  (message "arg=%S" arg)
  (cond
    (mark-active                        ; delete region
     (let ((str (buffer-substring (point) (mark))))
       (delete-region (point) (mark))
       (if (string=* str (current-kill 0 1))
           (let ((str2 (current-kill 1 1)))
             (kill-new str2 t))))
     (if arg
         (yank arg)
         (yank)))
    ;; else no region selected:
    ((consp arg)                        ; delete forward sexp
     (set-mark (point))
     (forward-sexp 1)
     (delete-region-and-yank))
    (arg (yank arg))
    (t   (yank))))


-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__                     http://www.informatimago.com/

RE: Simple copy & paste problem

[Drew Adams]

> This is probably very stupid but every time I step into it 
> and it's very annoying.
> 
> Supposing I want to copy something from Safari to emacs. So I
> - select and copy
> - select and kill the text I want to substitute
> - try to paste
> 
> ARGH! Now the text I copied from safari is disappeared...
> 
> A workardound is to delete first and then copy-paste.
> But is there a smarter way to solve this?
> Something like
> "if I copied something from the os keep it as first in the kill ring"?

When you report a problem, always mention your Emacs version.

If you are using a development version, then be aware that there is currently a
lot of change being made to the way selection (& copy & paste) behaves. There
are still problems that need to be fixed. Look at the bug list if you want to
see what problems are being discussed.

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[Andrea Crotti]

"Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

>
> When you report a problem, always mention your Emacs version.
>
> If you are using a development version, then be aware that there is currently a
> lot of change being made to the way selection (& copy & paste) behaves. There
> are still problems that need to be fixed. Look at the bug list if you want to
> see what problems are being discussed.

Yes right sorry:
GNU Emacs 23.2.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin10.3.0, NS apple-appkit-1038.29) of
2010-05-09 on linc

On osx 10.6

Well I don't see it as a bug, it's probably the normal behaviour since I
overwrite the last position in the kill ring.

But of course if it could be fixed or there is a nice workaround it
would be much better ;)

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[notbob]

On 2010-08-11, Andrea Crotti <andrea.crotti.0@gmail.com> wrote:

> A workardound is to delete first and then copy-paste.

You call it a workaround.  I call it common sense.  Same number of
steps.

> But is there a smarter way to solve this?
> Something like
> "if I copied something from the os keep it as first in the kill ring"?

Not sure what you are calling a kill ring, but you could use KDE
desktop and its Windows-like clipboard copy/cut/paste approach while
running emacs in konsole.  No doubt there are other options, this
being Linux, not M$ or Apple.

nb

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[Glauber Alex Dias Prado]

Andrea Crotti <andrea.crotti.0@gmail.com> writes:

> This is probably very stupid but every time I step into it and it's very
> annoying.
>
> Supposing I want to copy something from Safari to emacs.
> So I
> - select and copy
> - select and kill the text I want to substitute
> - try to paste
>
> ARGH! Now the text I copied from safari is disappeared...
>
> A workardound is to delete first and then copy-paste.
> But is there a smarter way to solve this?
> Something like
> "if I copied something from the os keep it as first in the kill ring"?

never found something like this what i usually do is paste first then
kill or kill first then paste, dunno how much a solution to this problem
would be os dependant though.

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[Joel James Adamson]

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Andrea Crotti <andrea.crotti.0@gmail.com> writes:

> This is probably very stupid but every time I step into it and it's very
> annoying.
>
> Supposing I want to copy something from Safari to emacs.
> So I
> - select and copy
> - select and kill the text I want to substitute
> - try to paste
>
> ARGH! Now the text I copied from safari is disappeared...
>
> A workardound is to delete first and then copy-paste.
> But is there a smarter way to solve this?
> Something like
> "if I copied something from the os keep it as first in the kill ring"?

How about drag and drop?  Does that work on OS X?  Select the text, then
drag it to Emacs.  That's usually what I do when I want to go from
Firefox to Emacs.

Joel

-- 
Joel J. Adamson
FSF Member #8164
http://www.unc.edu/~adamsonj

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Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[Thierry Volpiatto]

Joel James Adamson <adamsonj@email.unc.edu> writes:

> Andrea Crotti <andrea.crotti.0@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> This is probably very stupid but every time I step into it and it's very
>> annoying.
>>
>> Supposing I want to copy something from Safari to emacs.
>> So I
>> - select and copy
>> - select and kill the text I want to substitute
>> - try to paste
>>
>> ARGH! Now the text I copied from safari is disappeared...
>>
>> A workardound is to delete first and then copy-paste.
>> But is there a smarter way to solve this?
>> Something like
>> "if I copied something from the os keep it as first in the kill ring"?
>
> How about drag and drop?  Does that work on OS X?  Select the text, then
> drag it to Emacs.  That's usually what I do when I want to go from
> Firefox to Emacs.

You can't do that if emacs and firefox are on differents desktops.
But you can use mouse2 (don't know for OSX).
You can use that also:

,----
| (defun yank-from-clipboard ()
|   (interactive)
|   (let ((primary (x-selection 'PRIMARY)))
|     (when primary (insert primary))))
| (global-set-key (kbd "C-c v") 'yank-from-clipboard)
`----

Like that nothing is added to emacs kill-ring.

If you don't mind adding to emacs kill-ring:

,----
| ;; (setq interprogram-paste-function 'x-cut-buffer-or-selection-value)
| ;; (setq x-select-enable-primary t)
`----

-- 
Thierry Volpiatto
Get my Gnupg key:
gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 59F29997 

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[Andrea Crotti]

Thierry Volpiatto <thierry.volpiatto@gmail.com> writes:

>
> You can't do that if emacs and firefox are on differents desktops.
> But you can use mouse2 (don't know for OSX).
> You can use that also:
>
> ,----
> | (defun yank-from-clipboard ()
> |   (interactive)
> |   (let ((primary (x-selection 'PRIMARY)))
> |     (when primary (insert primary))))
> | (global-set-key (kbd "C-c v") 'yank-from-clipboard)
> `----
>

That would be good but then I should use two different key bindings for
pasting, which is a bit annoying.
I also found this variable (by the way, how to you write with that nice
style?
This "cut here" is a bit too much...
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
x-select-enable-clipboard is a variable defined in `C source code'.
It is void as a variable.

Documentation:
Non-nil means cutting and pasting uses the clipboard.
This is in addition to, but in preference to, the primary selection.
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Would not be possible to avoid overwriting the clipboard entry with the
last entry killed?

Or is there a way to understand from emacs if something is copied on the
on the operating system clipboard?

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[Jonathan Groll]

On Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 06:51:03PM +0200, Andrea Crotti wrote:
>This is probably very stupid but every time I step into it and it's very
>annoying.
>
>Supposing I want to copy something from Safari to emacs.
>So I
>- select and copy
>- select and kill the text I want to substitute
>- try to paste

Perhaps consider installing a clipboard manager:
http://theappleblog.com/2009/06/02/10-clipboard-managers-for-os-x/
   
Cheers,
Jonathan

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[Joel James Adamson]

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Thierry Volpiatto <thierry.volpiatto@gmail.com> writes:

> Joel James Adamson <adamsonj@email.unc.edu> writes:
>
>> Andrea Crotti <andrea.crotti.0@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> This is probably very stupid but every time I step into it and it's very
>>> annoying.
>>>
>>> Supposing I want to copy something from Safari to emacs.
>>> So I
>>> - select and copy
>>> - select and kill the text I want to substitute
>>> - try to paste
>>>
>>> ARGH! Now the text I copied from safari is disappeared...
>>>
>>> A workardound is to delete first and then copy-paste.
>>> But is there a smarter way to solve this?
>>> Something like
>>> "if I copied something from the os keep it as first in the kill ring"?
>>
>> How about drag and drop?  Does that work on OS X?  Select the text, then
>> drag it to Emacs.  That's usually what I do when I want to go from
>> Firefox to Emacs.
>
> You can't do that if emacs and firefox are on differents desktops.
> But you can use mouse2 (don't know for OSX).
> You can use that also:

Hi Thierry,

What do you mean I can't?  I do that all the time.  Do you mean desktops
as in virtual desktops, as in many X window managers?  As I said, I do
it all the time.

Joel
-- 
Joel J. Adamson
FSF Member #8164
http://www.unc.edu/~adamsonj

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Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[Thierry Volpiatto]

Joel James Adamson <adamsonj@email.unc.edu> writes:

> Thierry Volpiatto <thierry.volpiatto@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Joel James Adamson <adamsonj@email.unc.edu> writes:
>>
>>> Andrea Crotti <andrea.crotti.0@gmail.com> writes:
>>>
>>>> This is probably very stupid but every time I step into it and it's very
>>>> annoying.
>>>>
>>>> Supposing I want to copy something from Safari to emacs.
>>>> So I
>>>> - select and copy
>>>> - select and kill the text I want to substitute
>>>> - try to paste
>>>>
>>>> ARGH! Now the text I copied from safari is disappeared...
>>>>
>>>> A workardound is to delete first and then copy-paste.
>>>> But is there a smarter way to solve this?
>>>> Something like
>>>> "if I copied something from the os keep it as first in the kill ring"?
>>>
>>> How about drag and drop?  Does that work on OS X?  Select the text, then
>>> drag it to Emacs.  That's usually what I do when I want to go from
>>> Firefox to Emacs.
>>
>> You can't do that if emacs and firefox are on differents desktops.
>> But you can use mouse2 (don't know for OSX).
>> You can use that also:
>
> Hi Thierry,
>
> What do you mean I can't?  I do that all the time.  Do you mean desktops
> as in virtual desktops, as in many X window managers?  As I said, I do
> it all the time.

Hi Joel,
yes i mean desktop of X window managers, they are called groups in my
window manager (stumpwm).
I don't understand how do you drag and drop if you have not the emacs
window and the firefox window on same frame or desktop.
Though i don't use the mouse often, so may be i miss something, thanks
to explain ;-)

-- 
Thierry Volpiatto
Get my Gnupg key:
gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 59F29997 

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[Kevin Rodgers]

Andrea Crotti wrote:
> This is probably very stupid but every time I step into it and it's very
> annoying.
> 
> Supposing I want to copy something from Safari to emacs.
> So I
> - select and copy
> - select and kill the text I want to substitute
> - try to paste
> 
> ARGH! Now the text I copied from safari is disappeared...

Delete the text in Emacs instead of killing it.  I use:

(global-set-key "\C-cw" 'delete-region)	  ; ala C-w and M-C-w

> A workardound is to delete first and then copy-paste.
> But is there a smarter way to solve this?
> Something like
> "if I copied something from the os keep it as first in the kill ring"?

-- 
Kevin Rodgers
Denver, Colorado, USA

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[Leo]

On 2010-08-11 17:51 +0100, Andrea Crotti wrote:
> This is probably very stupid but every time I step into it and it's very
> annoying.
>
> Supposing I want to copy something from Safari to emacs.
> So I
> - select and copy
> - select and kill the text I want to substitute
> - try to paste
>
> ARGH! Now the text I copied from safari is disappeared...
>
> A workardound is to delete first and then copy-paste.
> But is there a smarter way to solve this?
> Something like
> "if I copied something from the os keep it as first in the kill ring"?

Set save-interprogram-paste-before-kill to t. If you think it should
default to t, report it as a bug.

Leo

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[David Combs]

In article <87fwyl9haf.fsf@kuiper.lan.informatimago.com>,
Pascal J. Bourguignon <pjb@informatimago.com> wrote:
>
>Use delete-region-and-yank instead of yank:
>
>(defun delete-region-and-yank (&optional arg)
>  "Deletes region if mark is active and yanks the last kill.
>Always replaces the region with the yank, whether the region was
>selected via keyboard or mouse.  Also works for normal
>yank even with ARGS (thus it can be mapped to \\C-y)"
>  (interactive "*P")                    ; raw, like yank.
>  (message "arg=%S" arg)
>  (cond
>    (mark-active                        ; delete region
>     (let ((str (buffer-substring (point) (mark))))
>       (delete-region (point) (mark))
>       (if (string=* str (current-kill 0 1))
>           (let ((str2 (current-kill 1 1)))
>             (kill-new str2 t))))
>     (if arg
>         (yank arg)
>         (yank)))
>    ;; else no region selected:
>    ((consp arg)                        ; delete forward sexp
>     (set-mark (point))
>     (forward-sexp 1)
>     (delete-region-and-yank))
>    (arg (yank arg))
>    (t   (yank))))
>
>
>-- 
>__Pascal Bourguignon__                     http://www.informatimago.com/


That function, delete-region-and-yank, is not part
of standard emacs -- its yours, you wrote it.

What, writing code is so easy that it flies off
your fingers as fast as you can type?

No, of course not.  So, pjb, what do you have, 
a whole library of these useful tools that you wrote?

With a little annotation of why you wrote function x,
and how it works, you'd have something you could,
if you felt super generous, provide it to everyone,
the library.

(For all I know, you already have!)


(With sufficient annotation (commenting), it'd be good
for additional examples of using elisp).


Thanks!

David

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[David Combs]

In article <mailman.0.1281553020.25709.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>,
Glauber Alex Dias Prado  <smade4@gmail.com> wrote:
>Andrea Crotti <andrea.crotti.0@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> This is probably very stupid but every time I step into it and it's very
>> annoying.
>>
>> Supposing I want to copy something from Safari to emacs.
>> So I
>> - select and copy
>> - select and kill the text I want to substitute
>> - try to paste
>>
>> ARGH! Now the text I copied from safari is disappeared...
>>
>> A workardound is to delete first and then copy-paste.
>> But is there a smarter way to solve this?
>> Something like
>> "if I copied something from the os keep it as first in the kill ring"?
>
>never found something like this what i usually do is paste first then
>kill or kill first then paste, dunno how much a solution to this problem
>would be os dependant though.
>

FWIW, when I want to COPY a region, I do this:
   C-w
   y   (yank it right back -- or C-x u (undo))
   go to other location
   y (again)

David

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[Pascal J. Bourguignon]

dkcombs@panix.com (David Combs) writes:

> In article <87fwyl9haf.fsf@kuiper.lan.informatimago.com>,
> Pascal J. Bourguignon <pjb@informatimago.com> wrote:
>>
>>Use delete-region-and-yank instead of yank:
>>
>>(defun delete-region-and-yank (&optional arg)
>>  "Deletes region if mark is active and yanks the last kill.
>>Always replaces the region with the yank, whether the region was
>>selected via keyboard or mouse.  Also works for normal
>>yank even with ARGS (thus it can be mapped to \\C-y)"
>>  (interactive "*P")                    ; raw, like yank.
>>  (message "arg=%S" arg)
>>  (cond
>>    (mark-active                        ; delete region
>>     (let ((str (buffer-substring (point) (mark))))
>>       (delete-region (point) (mark))
>>       (if (string=* str (current-kill 0 1))
>>           (let ((str2 (current-kill 1 1)))
>>             (kill-new str2 t))))
>>     (if arg
>>         (yank arg)
>>         (yank)))
>>    ;; else no region selected:
>>    ((consp arg)                        ; delete forward sexp
>>     (set-mark (point))
>>     (forward-sexp 1)
>>     (delete-region-and-yank))
>>    (arg (yank arg))
>>    (t   (yank))))
>>
>>
>>-- 
>>__Pascal Bourguignon__                     http://www.informatimago.com/
>
>
> That function, delete-region-and-yank, is not part
> of standard emacs -- its yours, you wrote it.
>
> What, writing code is so easy that it flies off
> your fingers as fast as you can type?

Exactly.



> No, of course not.  

Yes, indeed.


> So, pjb, what do you have, 
> a whole library of these useful tools that you wrote?

Of course, I don't like to do twice the same thing.


> With a little annotation of why you wrote function x,
> and how it works, you'd have something you could,
> if you felt super generous, provide it to everyone,
> the library.

I have, and I do.


> (For all I know, you already have!)

Indeed.

> (With sufficient annotation (commenting), it'd be good
> for additional examples of using elisp).

Why don't you try to follow this little 
link you can find in all my signatures: ---------------+
Why do you think we take the pain of                   |
putting such links in our signatures?                  |
                                                       V
-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__                     http://www.informatimago.com/

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[David Combs]

In article <mailman.4.1281557372.27891.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>,
Thierry Volpiatto  <thierry.volpiatto@gmail.com> wrote:
>Joel James Adamson <adamsonj@email.unc.edu> writes:
...
...
>
>You can't do that if emacs and firefox are on differents desktops.
>But you can use mouse2 (don't know for OSX).

     mouse2 -- what does that do?

>You can use that also:
>
>,----
>| (defun yank-from-clipboard ()
>|   (interactive)
>|   (let ((primary (x-selection 'PRIMARY)))
>|     (when primary (insert primary))))
>| (global-set-key (kbd "C-c v") 'yank-from-clipboard)
>`----
>
>Like that nothing is added to emacs kill-ring.
>
>If you don't mind adding to emacs kill-ring:
>
>,----
>| ;; (setq interprogram-paste-function 'x-cut-buffer-or-selection-value)
>| ;; (setq x-select-enable-primary t)
>`----


x-cut-buffer-or-selection-value is an alias for `x-get-selection-value' in `w32-fns.el'.
(x-cut-buffer-or-selection-value)

Return the value of the current selection.
Consult the selection, then the cut buffer.  Treat empty strings as if
they were unset.


What does that mean?  If there's a selection, use it,
else what's in the cut-buffer?   (cut-buffer -- what's that?)>

And that x-cut-buffer-or-selection-value -- not in 23.0.0.1.  ???



>-- 
>Thierry Volpiatto
>Get my Gnupg key:
>gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 59F29997 
>
>

Thanks!

David

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[David Combs]

In article <mailman.4.1282744218.27059.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>,
Leo  <sdl.web@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 2010-08-11 17:51 +0100, Andrea Crotti wrote:
>> This is probably very stupid but every time I step into it and it's very
>> annoying.
>>
>> Supposing I want to copy something from Safari to emacs.
>> So I
>> - select and copy
>> - select and kill the text I want to substitute
>> - try to paste
>>
>> ARGH! Now the text I copied from safari is disappeared...
>>
>> A workardound is to delete first and then copy-paste.
>> But is there a smarter way to solve this?
>> Something like
>> "if I copied something from the os keep it as first in the kill ring"?
>
>Set save-interprogram-paste-before-kill to t. If you think it should
>default to t, report it as a bug.

No such variable as save-interprogram... in 23.0.0.1, at least
not via C-h v.

David

Re: Simple copy & paste problem

[David Combs]

In article <i5usu1$ois$2@reader1.panix.com>,
David Combs <dkcombs@panix.com> wrote:
>
>FWIW, when I want to COPY a region, I do this:
>   C-w
>   y   (yank it right back -- or C-x u (undo))
>   go to other location
>   y (again)
>
>David
>
>

Oh, and why not M-w?

Because it's much more obvious, "in your face",
what is being copied, when the whole region
disappears (and comes back) than a cursor-bounce.

David