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Idea #4242: CTRL-C and CTRL-V for copy & paste everywhere!

bug This idea is a duplicate of Idea #3118: Fix copy / paste.
Written by tienm the 11 Mar 08 at 16:09. Category: System. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: New
Rationale
Sometimes CRTL-C works, sometimes (like in evolution) not.

This is confusing. Consistency throughout Ubuntu would be great.

added;

1. Copy & Paste of all types of content between apps
2. Drag-and-drop working for all apps
3. Or CTRL-C/CTRL-V as standard key, but with an exception for the terminal, or a different 2-key combination.


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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #4242
Written by tienm the 11 Mar 08 at 16:09.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #4242 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

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Comments
egroj wrote on the 11 Mar 08 at 17:26
It works for me in evolution, and it can't work everywhere since in the terminal CRTL-C is for closing, you have to use Shift-CRTL-C for copying.

ben.wade wrote on the 11 Mar 08 at 17:52
-1

That depends on the program. And for a lot of things, like the termal, ctrl+c already has a meaning and I don't think anyone is willing to get rid of it.

Vadim P. wrote on the 11 Mar 08 at 17:57
Yeah, ctrl+c in the terminal came waaay before copying, and we'd make a bunch of important people mad if that was changed.

Steve413z wrote on the 11 Mar 08 at 18:41
i agree, we can't do this because of terminal, but this does screw up in other places too

tienm wrote on the 11 Mar 08 at 18:42
It is more about consistency than if it is CTRL-C or an other key (as long it is easy to use and not a 3-key combination).

Ubuntu is a desktop distro willing to develop an easy to use environment, therefore consintency is important.

And yes, CTRL-C is a basic key for controlling your programs in a terminal, so, maybe a different key combination is better :-).



programad wrote on the 11 Mar 08 at 18:56
I noticed that people really like this word "consistency" :-)

tienm wrote on the 11 Mar 08 at 19:03
:-)))

Wachauf_Steheauf wrote on the 11 Mar 08 at 20:19
I agree when they are set to different default key combos +1

ssam wrote on the 11 Mar 08 at 20:36
i use the terminal a lot, but i would not mind having to change the default setting. so +1

ubunteando wrote on the 11 Mar 08 at 22:49
Yeah! Ctrl+C/V for copy/pasting in console now! YEah!

telluric wrote on the 11 Mar 08 at 22:56
+1

Also see Idea #583 which says that if you try to copy/paste vector graphics between apps you are further out of luck.

This is where the X11 "mechanism not policy" fails. There needs to be policy, probably at the level of something like the LSB (Linux Standard Base) that says "your app ain't done until it can copy/paste in the following approved way".

saivann (Brainstorm moderator) wrote on the 11 Mar 08 at 23:48
Not to confound with bug https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/106644 . Some apps does not comply with the latest freedesktop specification for clipboard manager so copying informations from a program that is not fixed to use that specification cause the clipboard to get erased once the program is closed.

nathan_s wrote on the 12 Mar 08 at 03:58
What if I don't want it as Ctrl+C/V? For instance, someone using the Dvorak layout. It should be customizable from one location, not hard-coded.

Vadim P. wrote on the 12 Mar 08 at 04:32
No I think they just mean the default.

And yes, it's really application-dependent.

RJ Hythloday wrote on the 12 Mar 08 at 09:14
I hate 3 key combinations, shift+insert isn't so bad, but I'd prefer the hot keys I already learned in m$.

Arnaudus wrote on the 12 Mar 08 at 09:36
If the aim is to unify copy/paste among GNOME applications, yes, it's a great idea.

acreman wrote on the 12 Mar 08 at 14:01
I do NOT want CTRL-C to act as a copy in the terminal. I use the terminal a lot. Also if it is just a quick copy, I just highlight the text and the press down on the middle mouse buttom to paste. This comes standard in Ubuntu.

wolfwitch wrote on the 12 Mar 08 at 14:02
I agree- it would be great to have more consistency. Glipper helps quite a bit, but things still aren't perfect. Unfortunately CTRL+C will never work in a terminal session, since that has been a BREAK command since the early days of computers, but it should work everywhere else (or any other combination, if a user so-chooses)

This is probably more of an issue for certain application developers or the Gnome folks though.

Eldmannen wrote on the 12 Mar 08 at 14:09
Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V needs to be improved, so it works even when apps are closed.

hagnf wrote on the 12 Mar 08 at 15:16
This issue needs to be adressed very soon, it has been bugging me for some time now.

Some examples:

gnome-terminal paste = shift+insert for mouse-select paste
gnome-terminal paste = ctrl+shift+v for gnome clipboard paste

Yes, there are TWO paste buffers.. the mouse select + middle mouse button/shift+insert AND (shift+)ctrl-c/ctrl-v


Did i say two? I meant three!!
You can also DRAG and DROP with mouse-selections (i think this is also a copy/paste) try it:

1) Open a firefox and a OO-writer;
2) Surf to a webpage with firefox
3) now select something on this page
4) drag this selection to your oo-write document; voila, HTML-source of your selection is in your oo-write document

Now try a ctrl-c of the selection in ff and ctrl-v it in your oo-writer... different result, now the html is 'somewhat' interpreted by oowriter.

Each time different results...

Freedom of choice; sometimes its good, sometimes it really needs unification

Eldmannen wrote on the 12 Mar 08 at 22:45
Everywhere except the terminal. :)

browny_amiga wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 01:27
Yes, everywhere except the terminal, exactly!
If you change it in the terminal, you will break all skripts and programs that have evolved in the last 20 years on millions of systems, which cannot and mustn't be done.

I'll give you my vote, but think that this is not necessary. I use Kubuntu (KDE Ubuntu) and have so far not found any instances (except the terminal) where the copy paste does not work.

hagnf wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 09:31
A cmdbox in windows also has different copy/paste then the rest ;) Seems unavoidable somewhat.

I'd like to know what GUI designers think about this 'issue'.

ryu.mandrake wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 21:57
Why Glipper isn't installed by default??? Works fine with Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V and paste, middle button of the mouse. Small configurable and securised....

freiheit wrote on the 14 Mar 08 at 05:51
My preference would be for Ctrl + C, Ctrl +V to be universal. I use the terminal a lot, but it would be easier for me to remember an alternate combo for break there, then to remember that it is the one app that doesn't use it for copy/paste.

As an alternative that might have more support, allow the user to set it as they want, but warn them that it might be overriding a specific apps settings. That way we can decide, instead of the os deciding for us.

solid_liq wrote on the 14 Mar 08 at 12:16
You can't change ^C and ^V in the terminal, too many apps depend on trapping them as-is. For instance, I use control-c in vim all the time, to get out of edit mode. If ubuntu somehow changed this behavior, I'd switch distros. Period.

probono wrote on the 14 Mar 08 at 19:40
On a related note, making some text active and then pasting it by pressing both mouse buttons *sometime* works, and sometimes it just doesn't...

johan wrote on the 15 Mar 08 at 09:47
Ctrl-C in terminal shouldn't be changed.

YokoZar (Ubuntu developer) wrote on the 16 Mar 08 at 06:45
Right click->Copy should do the exact same thing as Ctrl+C in all cases (except the terminal).

It is infuriating when I select a bit of text in Pidgin, right click to copy it, then go to another tab within the same application and attempt to paste it only to get blankness.

shevegen wrote on the 16 Mar 08 at 14:49
I completely support it.
In practice, I do not really have a problem, but i still agree that this should unifiedly work.

nshepperd wrote on the 19 Mar 08 at 09:57
I much prefer ctrl/shift + insert.
Ctrl-C in terminal is probably going to be impossible to change anyway (and what about Ctrl-X? 'Cut' doesn't even have any meaning in the terminal)

buggyman wrote on the 21 Mar 08 at 05:56
dito, I also agree that CTRL-C/CTRL-X/CTRL-V should be same everywhere!

DavidONE wrote on the 6 Apr 08 at 13:27
+1

CTRL+C, X, V as copy, cut and paste are probably the most commonly used shortcuts. They should be consistent *everywhere* - including terminal. This helps everyone - especially newcomers to Ubuntu.

Just because someone arbitrarily picked CTRL+C for 'close' in terminal in 1984 is not a reason to keep on doing it. This is known as 'progress'. For those who want to live in the past, they can change copy and paste to be different in every app if they want.

P.S. For those who seem to think consistency is something trivial or irrelevant, please search for 'ui design' and educate yourselves.

supercargo wrote on the 8 Apr 08 at 19:20
I like how these key combinations are handled in OS/X.

The common GUI operations are associated with the command key, and the common CLI operations with the control key.

For example, command-a selects all text, and control-a moves the cursor to the beginning of the line, in all text fields. Copy and paste are command-c and command-v everywhere, including the terminal, where control-c and control-v are 'break' and 'insert literal', as expected.

It's too bad something similar probably isn't feasible in Ubuntu.

saivann (Brainstorm moderator) wrote on the 11 Apr 08 at 05:44
DavidONE : Your opinion and arguments are welcome, however please don't forget the ubuntu code of conduct, you can share your point of view without attacking the point of view of other contributors :

"P.S. For those who seem to think consistency is something trivial or irrelevant, please search for 'ui design' and educate yourselves."

http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct

Thanks for your comprehension and for your participation.


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