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I've noticed that there seems to be potentially three pastes:

1) The default Right click -> paste

2) SHIFT + INSERT

3) Highlight and middle mouse click

But how do they work? I tried Right click and copying a git clone command from bitbucket but when I use SHIFT + INSERT it pastes a newline, right clicking and clicking paste then copies the command successfully. Are they all separate from one another or is there a way I can link them all up?

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There are more than one clipboard in X11, called selections. One is PRIMARY and the other one is CLIPBOARD.

  • The PRIMARY selection is updated as soon as you highlight text. It is used for middle-click, and usually for Shift+Insert.

  • The CLIPBOARD selection is, like the traditional Windows clipboard, updated when you use "Cut/Copy" menu items or Ctrl+X/Ctrl+C, and pasted when you use the "Paste" menu item or Ctrl+V.

(In some programs, like web browsers, Shift+Insert actually pastes from CLIPBOARD.)

You can merge them with autocutsel.

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  • ah I see! Thank you, I did feel like they were separate but didn't really know about it. So thanks for clearing up confusion :)
    – treyBake
    Sep 25, 2018 at 13:13

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