How to paste primary selection into Vim?

Question

I use the middle-click, or CTRL-SHIFT-V to paste indented selection into Vim:

<a>
    <b>
    <c>
</a>

I have tried to

:set nosmartindent
:set nosmarttab

It's used to working, but recently nosmartindent doesn't work any more. The result is something like:

<a>
    <b>
        <c>
        </a>

EDIT

It seems like I should also disable the filetype:

set filetype=text

Then, things go right, no more indents again.

But, should I have to set nosmart*, set filetype=text each time before paste?

honk · Answer 1 · 2011-01-19 20:16:43Z

I assume you are not talking about gvim, but the console vim.

Your vim seems unaware that you are pasting and treats the pasted text as inserted as if typed. Try putting vim in paste mode:

:set paste

Once you are done pasting leave paste mode again:

:set nopaste

See this entry in the vim wiki for more information.

1 Answer