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That PuTTY option to select and then right-click to paste is the best invention after the mouse. Is there any way to make Terminal in OS X do this? Hack the source code? Install something?

Is the source code for the OS X Terminal publicly available?

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7 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Install SIMBL and then install TerminalCopyOnSelect.

  • At first, you should install SIMBL.
  • Download the zipped plugin file I mentioned above and expand it.
  • Copy the extracted file "TerminalCopyOnSelect.bundle" to the plugin directory which is located at ~/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/
  • Terminate all processes of Terminal.app and restart it.
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This is cool. Already something, but what I really wanted was a: CopyOnSelectAndPaste Like putty! – TraderJoeChicago Jan 7 '10 at 17:53
As @Arjan said, Terminal can do this: Choose Edit > Paste Selection (or Shift-Comamnd-V) or Middle-Click, the latter of which I assume is what you meant by “right-click” in your original question. – Chris Page Jan 5 '12 at 8:51
up vote 9 down vote

In Terminal, select something and then within the same Terminal window do one of the following:

  • click and drag the selection (a bit; the mouse pointer will change), and release to paste (hit Esc while dragging to cancel)

  • paste using Shift-Command-V

  • paste using the middle mouse button

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2  
I use Cmd-Shit-V all the time! – Josh Oct 29 '09 at 18:16
LOL. Damn, and I can't edit comments. Shift! – Josh Oct 30 '09 at 16:23
up vote 4 down vote

To answer your 4 questions:

That putty option to select and then right-click to paste in the best invention after the mouse. Is there anyway to make the terminal do this?

No, you can however select the text you want and drag-n-drop your selection to the command prompt.

Hack the source code?

Probably can be done through reverse engineering, but why bother for something so trivial, and the fact that it's illegal :P

Install something?

iTerm as kbisset suggests.

Are the source code for the mac terminal public available?

No but iTerm's is

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“No, you can however select the text you want and drag-n-drop…” The answer is “Yes”. You can Middle-Click to do the same thing as Edit > Paste Selection. “right-click to paste” is likely a typo; either Sergio meant “middle-click to paste” or he’s using a terminal application with a “Paste Selection” contextual menu command. – Chris Page Jan 5 '12 at 8:48
Reverse engineering is not illegal in the United States. Not sure what country you're posting from, though. – samkass Sep 11 '12 at 17:58
up vote 3 down vote

iTerm, an alternative to Terminal, can do this.

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And so can Terminal. Edit > Paste Selection or Middle-Click if you have a three (or more) button mouse. Or drag the text a few pixels and release. – Chris Page Jan 5 '12 at 8:45
up vote 3 down vote

You can launch an X11 server and use xterm. Everything is already in the box.

You can even type xterm& in Terminal.app, and X11 will automatically be launched.

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up vote 1 down vote

You could also install TotalTerminal and enjoy hotkey access to a dropdown Quake-style terminal that has a copy-on-select setting too :-)

TotalTerminal augments the existing Terminal and doesn't replace it so I find it a nicer solution than installing and using another app :-)

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up vote 1 down vote

iTerm2 can do this too. Go to Edit » Paste Special » Paste Selection or click ShiftCommandV.

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