When using tmux, I often find a need to copy multiple items from one pane or window into another. When those items are located close to each other in a long scrollback buffer, my current workflow typically goes like this:
- Enter the copy mode in the source pane
- Select the first item and copy it.
- Go to the target pane
- Paste the first item where I want
- Go back to the source pane
- Enter the copy mode
- Select the second item and copy it
- Go to the target pane
- Paste the second item.
This is very inefficient. I was looking for a shortcut to get the two items into the buffer within a single invocation of the copy mode. I could then use the buffer stack, pick the items and paste them sequentially in the target pane. This would shave off a few keystrokes, but the bulk of my work lies in locating the appropriate selections in the scrollback.
But right now, as soon as I press a key to select something in the copy mode, tmux quits the copy mode. I really like how I can stay in vim's visual mode after making a selection, using gV
. Is there something similar that I could do in tmux?