Making `*` register work in Evil mode in terminal Emacs on macOS
reddit / emacs

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linty-org · 2022-04-14 20:54

I am running Evil mode under Doom in a terminal Emacs on macOS. My `*`
Vim register doesn't seem to be hooked up to the system clipboard.
(Normally in Vim if you yank to `"*` your text goes into the system
clipboard, and you can also paste from the system clipboard by pasting
from `"*`.) Is there a way to make the `*` register work?

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pwnedary · 2022-04-15 07:13

Check out [xclip](https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/xclip.html#:~:text=GNU
%20ELPA%20%2D%20xclip,-
xclip&text=This%20package%20allows%20Emacs%20to,for%20the%20package%20
to%20work.) (or Doom may have something of its own...).

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linty-org · 2022-04-15 14:38

How do you get xclip to connect the `*` register to the system
clipboard?

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pwnedary · 2022-04-15 15:33

Edit: Try using the `+` register instead of `*`. It may be that only
that one works.

Should be sufficient to just enable `xclip-mode`.

    select-enable-clipboard nil ; Do not tie unnamed register "" to
system clipboard
    (xclip-mode)

is the all I have in [my](https://github.com/axelf4/dotfiles/blob/00a6
7dfb397c2da50f2cfad2fe4f813924eefc20/.config/emacs/init.el#L111)
config, and I remember it working just fine back when I had to use a
Mac.

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linty-org · 2022-04-15 16:08

TYVM. The following worked for me:

- Install `xclip`. (Add `(package! xclip)` to `packages.el`, then
`doom sync`, then `M-x doom/reload`.)
- By default, this makes it so that normal yank/delete/put uses the
system clipboard, which is not what I want.
- Then, in `config.el`:
```
(xclip-mode) ; Turn on xclip-mode by default.
(setq select-enable-clipboard nil) ; Do not tie the unnamed register
to the system clipboard.
```

As you said, `*` does not work, but `+` does, and `+` also works in
Vim/Neovim, so I am content to learn to use `+` everywhere.

Thanks again!

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pwnedary · 2022-04-15 16:15

Yup. IIRC `*` is for X primary selection and the like, while `+` is
for system clipboard; so `+` is the proper one for this purpose, even
more so on macOS.