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https://github.com/abhinav/tmux-fastcopy

easymotion-style text copying for tmux.
https://github.com/abhinav/tmux-fastcopy

tmux

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easymotion-style text copying for tmux.

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README 

        
# tmux-fastcopy



- [Introduction](#introduction)

- [Installation](#installation)

- [Usage](#usage)

  - [Multiple selections](#multiple-selections)

- [Options](#options)

  - [`@fastcopy-key`](#fastcopy-key)

  - [`@fastcopy-action`](#fastcopy-action)

  - [`@fastcopy-shift-action`](#fastcopy-shift-action)

  - [`@fastcopy-alphabet`](#fastcopy-alphabet)

  - [`@fastcopy-regex-*`](#fastcopy-regex-)

    - [Regex names](#regex-names)

- [How to](#how-to)

  - [Access the regex name](#access-the-regex-name)

  - [Copy text to the clipboard](#copy-text-to-the-clipboard)

  - [Select text without copying](#select-text-without-copying)

- [FAQ](#faq)

- [Credits](#credits)

- [Similar projects](#similar-projects)

- [License](#license)



## Introduction









[![Go](https://github.com/abhinav/tmux-fastcopy/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/abhinav/tmux-fastcopy/actions/workflows/ci.yml)

[![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/abhinav/tmux-fastcopy/branch/main/graph/badge.svg?token=WJGAZQH4PI)](https://codecov.io/gh/abhinav/tmux-fastcopy)






tmux-fastcopy aids in copying of text in a tmux pane with ease.



**How?** When you invoke tmux-fastcopy, it inspects your tmux pane and overlays

important pieces of text you may want to copy with very short labels that you

can use to copy them.



**Demos**: A gif is worth a paragraph or two.



  Git hashes



![git hashes demo](doc/static/gitlog.gif)



  File paths



![file paths demo](doc/static/files.gif)



  IP addresses



![IP addresses demo](doc/static/ip.gif)



  UUIDs



![UUIDs demo](doc/static/uuid.gif)



## Installation



Before you install, make sure you are running a supported version of tmux.



```

$ tmux -V

```



Minimum supported version: 2.7.



The following methods of installation are available:



- via [Tmux Plugin Manager](#tmux-plugin-manager)

- [Manual installation](#manual-installation)

- [Binary installation](#binary-installation)



### Tmux Plugin Manager



**Prerequisite**: To use this method, you must have a Go compiler available on

your system.



If you're using [Tmux Plugin Manager](https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm), to

install, add tmux-fastcopy to the plugin list in your `.tmux.conf`:



```

set -g @plugin 'abhinav/tmux-fastcopy'

```



Hit ` + I` to fetch and build it.



### Manual installation



**Prerequisite**: To use this method, you must have a Go compiler available on

your system.



Clone the repository somewhere on your system:



```

git clone https://github.com/abhinav/tmux-fastcopy ~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-fastcopy

```



Source it in your `.tmux.conf`.



```

run-shell ~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-fastcopy/fastcopy.tmux

```



Refresh your tmux server if it's already running.



```

tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf

```



### Binary installation



Instead of installing tmux-fastcopy as a tmux plugin,

you can install it as an independent binary.



Use one of the following to install the binary.



- If you're using **Homebrew**/Linuxbrew, run:



  ```bash

  brew install abhinav/tap/tmux-fastcopy

  ```



- If you're using **ArchLinux**, install it from AUR using the [tmux-fastcopy](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/tmux-fastcopy/) package,

  or the [tmux-fastcopy-bin](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/tmux-fastcopy-bin/) package if you don't want to build it from source.



  ```bash

  git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/tmux-fastcopy.git

  cd tmux-fastcopy

  makepkg -si

  ```



  With an AUR helper like [yay](https://github.com/Jguer/yay), run:



  ```bash

  yay -S tmux-fastcopy

  # or

  yay -S tmux-fastcopy-bin

  ```



- Download a **pre-built binary** from the [releases page](https://github.com/abhinav/tmux-fastcopy/releases)

  and place it on your `$PATH`.



- Build it from source with Go.



  ```bash

  go install github.com/abhinav/tmux-fastcopy@latest

  ```



Once you have the binary installed, add the following to your `.tmux.conf`.



```

bind-key f run-shell -b tmux-fastcopy

```



## Usage



When there is text on the screen you'd like to copy:



1. Press ` + f` to invoke tmux-fastcopy. (You can change this key by

   setting the [`@fastcopy-key`](#fastcopy-key) option.)

2. Enter the label next to the highlighted text to copy that text.

   (You can also [select multiple items](#multiple-selections).)



For example,



![IP addresses demo](doc/static/ip.gif)



By default, the copied text will be placed in your tmux buffer. Paste it by

pressing ` + ]`.



If you'd like to copy the text to your system clipboard, and you're using

tmux >= 3.2, add the following to your .tmux.conf:



```

set-option -g set-clipboard on

set-option -g @fastcopy-action 'tmux load-buffer -w -'

```



See [How to copy text to the clipboard?](#copy-text-to-the-clipboard) for older versions of

tmux.



### Multiple selections



tmux-fastcopy also supports a multi-selection mode.

To select multiple items:



1. Press ` + f` to invoke tmux-fastcopy as usual.

2. Press `Tab`. This enters multi-selection mode.

3. Enter all the labels for text you want to copy.

   If you selected something accidentally,

   enter that label again to deselect it.

4. Press `Tab` or `Enter` to accept your selections.



tmux-fastcopy will join your selections together and copy the result.



## Options



### `@fastcopy-key`



Invoke tmux-fastcopy in tmux with this the `prefix` followed by this key.



**Default**:



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-key f

```



### `@fastcopy-action`



Change how text is copied with this action.



**Default**:



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-action 'tmux load-buffer -'

```



The string specifies the command to run with the selection, as well as the

arguments for the command. The special argument `{}` acts as a placeholder for

the selected text.



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-action 'tmux set-buffer {}'

```



If `{}` is absent from the command, tmux-fastcopy will pass the selected text

to the command over stdin. For example,



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-action pbcopy  # for macOS

```



Note that if the command string uses `{}`,

the selected text is *not* passed via stdin.



#### Execution context



The command string is executed directly by tmux-fastcopy,

so it must be a path to a binary or shell script that is executable.

It is not executed in the context of a full login shell.



The command runs inside the directory of the pane

where tmux-fastcopy was invoked if this information is available from tmux.

It runs with the following environment variables set:



- `FASTCOPY_REGEX_NAME`:

  Name of `@fastcopy-regex` rule that matched.

  See [Regex names](#regex-names) and [Accessing the regex name](#access-the-regex-name)

  for more information.

- `FASTCOPY_TARGET_PANE_ID`:

  Unique identifier for the pane inside which fastcopy was invoked.

  Use this when running tmux operations inside the action

  to target them to that pane.



### `@fastcopy-shift-action`



An alternative action when you select a label while pressing shift.

Nothing happens if this is unset.



**Default**:



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-shift-action ''

```



Similarly to [`@fastcopy-action`], the string specifies a command and its

arguments, and the special argument `{}` (if any) is a placeholder for the

selected text.



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-shift-action "fastcopy-shift.sh {}"

```



The `@fastcopy-shift-action` will run with the same

[execution context](#execution-context)

as the `@fastcopy-action`.



### `@fastcopy-alphabet`



Specify the letters used to generate labels for matched text.



**Default**:



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-alphabet abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

```



This must be a string containing at least two letters, and all of them must be

unique.



For example, if you want to only use the letters from the QWERTY home row, use

the following.



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-alphabet asdfghjkl

```



### `@fastcopy-regex-*`



These specify the regular expressions used to match text.



**Default**:



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-ipv4 "\\b\\d{1,3}(?:\\.\\d{1,3}){3}\\b"

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-gitsha "\\b[0-9a-f]{7,40}\\b"

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-hexaddr "\\b(?i)0x[0-9a-f]{2,}\\b"

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-hexcolor "(?i)#(?:[0-9a-f]{3}|[0-9a-f]{6})\\b"

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-int "(?:-?|\\b)\\d{4,}\\b"

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-path "(?:[\\w\\-\\.]+|~)?(?:/[\\w\\-\\.]+){2,}\\b"

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-uuid "\\b(?i)[0-9a-f]{8}(?:-[0-9a-f]{4}){3}-[0-9a-f]{12}\\b"

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-isodate "\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}"

```



Add new regular expressions by introducing new options with the prefix,

`@fastcopy-regex-`. For example, the following will match Phabricator revision

IDs if they're at least three letters long.



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-phab-diff "\\bD\\d{3,}\\b"

```



**Note**: You must double all `\` symbols inside regular expressions to

escape them properly.



> Read [this FAQ entry](#word-boundary) for an explanation of the `\\b`s

> inside the regular expressions above.



#### Copying substrings



Use regex capturing groups if you wish to copy only a portion of the matched

string. tmux-fastcopy will copy the contents of the first capturing group. For

example,



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-python-import "import ([\\w\\.]+)"

# From "import os.path", copy only "os.path"

```



This also means that to use `(...)` in regular expressions that should copy the

whole string, you should add the `?:` prefix to the start of the capturing

group to ignore it. For example,



```

# Matches commands suggested by 'git status'

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-git-rebase "git rebase --(?:continue|abort)"

```



#### Regex names



The portion after the `@fastcopy-regex-` can be any name that uniquely

identifies this regular expression.



For example, the name of this regular expression is `phab-diff`



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-phab-diff "\\bD\\d{3,}\\b"

```



You cannot have multiple regular expressions with the same name. New regular

expressions with previously used names will overwrite them. For example, this

overwrites the default `hexcolor` regular expression to copy only the color

code, skipping the preceding `#`:



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-hexcolor "(?i)#([0-9a-f]{3}|[0-9a-f]{6})\\b"

```



You can delete previously defined or default regular expressions by setting

them to a blank string.



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-isodate ""

```



The name of the regular expression that matched the selection is available to

the [`@fastcopy-action`](#fastcopy-action) via the `FASTCOPY_REGEX_NAME` environment variable.

See [Accessing the regex name](#access-the-regex-name) for more details.



## How to



### Access the regex name



tmux-fastcopy executes the action with the `FASTCOPY_REGEX_NAME` environment

variable set. This holds the [name of the regex](#regex-names) that matched the

selected string.

If multiple different regexes matched the string, `FASTCOPY_REGEX_NAME` holds a

space-separated list of them.



You can use this to customize the action on a per-regex basis.



For example, the following will copy most strings to the tmux buffer as usual.

However, if the string is matched by the "path" regular expression and it

represents an existing directory, this will open that directory in the file

browser.



```bash

#!/usr/bin/env bash



# Place this inside a file like "fastcopy.sh",

# mark it executable (chmod +x fastcopy.sh),

# and set the @fastcopy-action setting to:

#   '/path/to/fastcopy.sh {}'



if [ "$FASTCOPY_REGEX_NAME" == path ] && [ -d "$1" ]; then

    xdg-open "$1"  # on macOS, use "open" instead

    exit 0

fi



tmux set-buffer -w "$1"

```



### Copy text to the clipboard?



To copy text to your system clipboard, you can use tmux's `set-clipboard`

option and change the action to `tmux load-buffer -w -` if you're using

at least tmux 3.2.



```

set-option -g set-clipboard on

set-option -g @fastcopy-action 'tmux load-buffer -w -'

```



With this option set, and the `-w` flag for `load-buffer`, tmux will use the

OSC52 escape sequence to directly set the clipboard for your terminal

emulator--it should work even through an SSH session. Check out

[A guide on how to copy text from anywhere](https://old.reddit.com/r/vim/comments/k1ydpn/a_guide_on_how_to_copy_text_from_anywhere/) to read more about OSC52.



If you're using an older version of tmux or your terminal emulator does not

support OSC52, you can configure `@fastcopy-action` to have tmux-fastcopy

send the text elsewhere. For example,



```

# On macOS:

set-option -g @fastcopy-action pbcopy



# For Linux systems using X11, install [xclip] and use:

#

#  [xclip]: https://github.com/astrand/xclip

set-option -g @fastcopy-action 'xclip -selection clipboard'



# For Linux systems using Wayland, install [wl-clipboard] and use:

#

#  [wl-clipboard]: https://github.com/bugaevc/wl-clipboard

set-option -g @fastcopy-action wl-copy

```



### Select text without copying



If you'd like to select the matched text rather than copy in,

you can define an action that takes the target pane in copy mode,

and moves your cursor over to the matched text.



The following script should suffice for this:



```bash

#!/usr/bin/env bash



MATCH_TEXT="$1"

PANE_ID="$FASTCOPY_TARGET_PANE_ID"



tmux \

	copy-mode -t "$PANE_ID" ';' \

	send-keys -t "$PANE_ID" -X search-backward-text "$MATCH_TEXT" ';' \

	send-keys -t "$PANE_ID" -X begin-selection ';' \

	send-keys -t "$PANE_ID" -X -N "$((${#MATCH_TEXT} - 1))" cursor-right ';' \

	send-keys -t "$PANE_ID" -X end-selection

```



Explanation



The script above expects the matched text as an argument,

and grabs the target pane ID from the environment.

tmux-fastcopy sets `FASTCOPY_TARGET_PANE_ID` when running the action

(see [Execution context](#execution-context)).



It then runs the following tmux commands on the pane:



- switch it to copy mode

- search for the closest recent instance of the matched text

  and move your cursor there

- begin a selection

- move the cursor to the end of the selected text

- end the selection



The end result of this is that when the action runs,

your cursor will have selected the matched text

leaving you room to adjust the selection before copying.



Place this script in a location of your choice, say, `~/.tmux/select.sh`

and mark it as an executable:



```bash

chmod +x ~/.tmux/select.sh

```



Then add the following to your `~/tmux.conf`.



```tmux

set -g @fastcopy-action "~/.tmux/select.sh {}"

```



Or add the following if you want to do this

only when you press shift along with the label

(see [`@fastcopy-shift-action`](#fastcopy-shift-action)).



```tmux

set -g @fastcopy-shift-action "~/.tmux/select.sh {}"

```



## FAQ



###  What's the `\b` at the ends of some regexes?



The `\b` at either end of the regular expression above specifies that it must

start and/or end at a word boundary. A word boundary is the start or end of a

line, or a non-alphanumeric character.



For example, the regular expression `\bgit\b` will match the string `git`

inside `git rebase --continue` and `git-rebase`, but not inside `github`

because the "h" following the "git" is not a word boundary.



### The entire string did not get copied



If your regular expression uses capturing groups `(...)`, tmux-fastcopy will

only copy the first of these from the matched string.



In the regex below, only the strings "continue" or "abort" will be copied.



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-git-rebase "git rebase --(continue|abort)"

```



To copy the entire string, you can put the whole string in a capturing group,

making it the first capturing group.



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-git-rebase "(git rebase --(continue|abort))"

```



Or you can mark the `(continue|abort)` group as ignored by starting it with

`?:`.



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-git-rebase "git rebase --(?:continue|abort)"

```



### Are regular expressions case sensitive?



Yes, the regular expressions matched by tmux-fastcopy are case sensitive. For

example,



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-github-project "github.com/(\w+/\w+)"

```



This will match `github.com/abhinav/tmux-fastcopy` but not

`GitHub.com/abhinav/tux-fastcopy`.



If you want to turn your regular expression case insensitive, prefix it with

`(?i)`.



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-github-project "(?i)github.com/(\w+/\w+)"

```



### How to overwrite or remove default regexes?



To overwrite or remove default regular expressions, add a new regex to your

`tmux.conf` with the same name as the default one, using a blank string as the

value to delete it.



For example, the following deletes the `isodate` regular expression.



```

set-option -g @fastcopy-regex-isodate ""

```



### Can I have different actions for different regexes?



The `FASTCOPY_REGEX_NAME` environment variable holds the name of the regex that

matched your selection.

You can run different actions on a per-regex basis by inspecting the

`FASTCOPY_REGEX_NAME` environment variable in your

[`@fastcopy-action`](#fastcopy-action).



See [Accessing the regex name](#access-the-regex-name) for more details.



## Credits



The plugin is inspired by functionality provided by the [Vimium](https://vimium.github.io/) and

[Vimperator](http://vimperator.org/vimperator) Chrome and Firefox plugins.



## Similar Projects



- [CrispyConductor/tmux-copy-toolkit](https://github.com/CrispyConductor/tmux-copy-toolkit)

- [fcsonline/tmux-thumbs](https://github.com/fcsonline/tmux-thumbs)

- [Morantron/tmux-fingers](https://github.com/Morantron/tmux-fingers)



## License



This software is distributed under the GPL-2.0 License:



```

tmux-fastcopy

Copyright (C) 2023 Abhinav Gupta



This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify

it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by

the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or

(at your option) any later version.



This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,

but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of

MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the

GNU General Public License for more details.



You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along

with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,

51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

```



The LICENSE file holds the full text of the GPL-2.0 license.